Barn, transforming in western Maine. Photo by Amanda Painter.

Today is Tuesday, Oct. 25, 2011. Tomorrow is the New Moon in Scorpio. Today, the Moon spends the day in Libra – a much more spacious sign than it was the last time the Moon came through. All of the planets that occupied Libra last month have moved on to Scorpio except Saturn (Juno joined Venus, Mercury and the Sun last night). Not long after the Moon makes the same move, it meets up with the Sun to form the Scorpio New Moon. There is, as one regular commenter put it, a “relative ease of transformation” available in these days. How will you be using it?

For one thing, this New Moon is sextile Pluto in Capricorn. That gives a little extra evolutionary energy, in an aspect that lends itself to easy movement. Since Pluto is one of Scorpio’s rulers, there’s particular resonance there, despite this placement not being a favorite of the Moon’s.

In a natal chart, a Scorpio Moon generally indicates a need to “forgive and forget,” as Isabel Hickey writes. These are physically strong, sensual individuals with deep feelings – and those feelings need to be handled carefully and consciously. This is a challenging placement for the Moon, as it is said to be ‘in fall’ (opposite a sign where it’s very strong — Taurus). But an individual determined to learn empathy toward others and some optimism toward life in general may do well. In any case, the person’s response to life will be deeply passionate.

The New Moon is conjunct the asteroid Atlantis. This evokes the lost continent or the fall (we covered this earlier in the year in the premium issue Here at the Edge of the World). On the most basic level, this is suggesting that we make peace with change. It’s a ‘beyond doom and gloom’ moment, because things are changing. For one thing, Sun-Moon-Atlantis in Scorpio is the image of how it’s always sex that’s going to bring down society, in the minds of the freaked-out. It’s rarely ever seen as the conducts of banks or chemical companies war or politics. Most people treat sex as the culprit, as the ultimate sin.

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Today’s Oracle takes us to the Aries weekly for April 9, 1999.

One of my favorite physical objects on the planet is the Cyclone roller coaster in Coney Island. Built along what was then the precious New York City beach-front, it’s a high, narrow structure with tight curves and multi-level-tracks, and it’s full of surprises. The first of these is that after a slow, clacking, rattling climb to the top of the main drop, all you can see is miles and miles of wide ocean. You are then treated to about fifty-five seconds of twisting, turning delight. The funny thing about the Cyclone is that while many people consider it scary, it’s apparently quite safe. Built in 1927, there have been no customer fatalities in its history. And while experiencing an amusement park ride is not something most people would consider life-changing, the adventure your world seems poised to become is very likely to be quite profound.

Note, The Oracle is a random selection from the Eric Francis horoscope archives. Each day we publish one entry from among the 10,000 in our database. It’s a little slice of horoscope history — but chosen by our Oracle program, which always speaks to the present moment. New horoscopes are published each Friday plus twice a month in Planet Waves subscriber edition and Planet Waves Light. And for your annual reading, check out Light Bridge.

We will have a New Moon in Scorpio on Wednesday at about 3:55 pm EDT. As with every astrological event, those who prepare will be most aware. That preparation necessarily begins with a review of what all New Moons have in common. It would then be appropriate to examine what is different about a New Moon in this particular sign. Finally, it would make sense to correlate the general and specific with the big picture. In our lives, this simple, three step process will provide a valuable clue about how best to adapt our relationships to our place and time.      

In every case, a New Moon is when the luminaries, Sun and Moon, are at the same place in the same sign. It happens about once a month. When two objects are at the same place in the same sign, that is a conjunction. In three dimensions, the conjunction translates as Moon moving between Earth and Sun, with the gravity of both combining to act on our planet from the same direction. That alignment has another consequence. We cannot see our Moon while it is lost in the solar glare, reflecting Sun’s light from the side turned away from us. The periodicity (recurrence at regular intervals), the conjunction aspect, the gravitational effect (most easily seen in the ocean tides), and the invisible lunar disc are all native to every New Moon. That is not the case with where it happens.

Nearly every New Moon is in a sign different from the previous luminary conjunction. That is the first and most fundamental distinction. In astrology, every object in the sky corresponds to something in your life. When an object changes signs, it is as if the corresponding character has changed attire. You know what a difference clothing can make in how others perceive you as well as how comfortable you are. The same is true of luminaries and planets. The costume represented by any given sign does not fit all archetypes equally well. That extends to conjunctions because they represent a merger of energies.

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Photo by Amanda Painter.

Today is Monday, Oct. 24, 2011. The waning Moon begins the day in Virgo and enters Libra at 11:50 am EDT, on its way to the Scorpio New Moon on Wednesday. The Sun moved into Scorpio yesterday just after 2:30 pm EDT, so we start the workweek with solar energy in a new flavor.

While the week’s aspects present opportunity for inner and outer conflict, there are openings to other possibilities. It’s helpful to look at astrology as presenting choices, which may occur on what you can think of as layers of experience. If we go a little deeper, we get to another layer. For example, the Sun is now trine Chiron in Pisces, opening up the flow of energy between these two planets and signs.

That flow might be healing energy, in the form of an emotional flow. Barbara Hand Clow writes that “Chiron aspecting the Sun sets up a dynamic of knowing who we are with the soul in the body, and this spiritual fusion does not develop without service to others.” This is especially true with Chiron in Pisces, a service-oriented sign. In particular, Sun-Chiron-Pisces has creative flair. Remember, artists serve people! Also, note that Sun-Chiron can be about father. Involving the water signs, that means the emotional nature of men and the emotional needs or consequences of creative action. It’s a ‘be aware for opportunities’ kind of thing. The men you now meet may go beyond your notion of men in the past, especially your father.

The rest of the week is marked mainly by inner planet aspects involving Mars, the traditional ruler of Scorpio. Two of our personal planets in Scorpio, Venus and Mercury, are squaring the third this week — Mars (which is placed in Leo). This is, among other things, about understanding the psychology of desire, on the emotional and mental levels. With that Leo Mars, there is something about defining ourselves by what we want — and then assessing the results of that. We have an image of leveraging ourselves through some sort of transformation between our female and male aspects, plus that space within that seemingly has no gender (Mercury). Scorpio energy is powerful and Leo is fiery, so expect your emotions and drive to need some sort of outlet as you investigate. (Cue Sun trine Chiron: a creative outlet, or gentle emotional expression, for example.)

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Today’s Oracle takes us to the Cancer weekly for June 11, 1999.

Your house of hearth and home has been wrought with consternation, complication and constipation through much of the spring, but if my measurements of the cosmic angles are correct, that’s all likely to be dissolving now, and yielding to your own will to grow, change and make progress in your life. For a while you adapted to the difficulty; now the difficulty will be adapting to you. Remember, you are not seeking perfect balance or a trophy for people-pleasing. You are seeking a state of mind in which it is okay to state not just your needs, but your desires; not just to live with your fears, but to grow beyond them.

Note, The Oracle is a random selection from the Eric Francis horoscope archives. Each day we publish one entry from among the 10,000 in our database. It’s a little slice of horoscope history — but chosen by our Oracle program, which always speaks to the present moment. New horoscopes are published each Friday plus twice a month in Planet Waves subscriber edition and Planet Waves Light. And for your annual reading, check out Light Bridge.

Hey there — we won’t have a tarot feature today, though we will be back at midnight ET with an overview of the week’s astrology.

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Today’s Oracle takes us to the Cancer weekly for Feb. 23, 2004.

Make a career move, and make it soon. Of course, it may make you first, and from the look of things you’d have nothing at all to complain about. This is more than a lucky break. It’s part of a growth process that’s in a particularly nutritious phase right now, just in time for the Spring to start stirring the Earth. You’ll need to get accustomed to a level of visibility and perhaps adulation that don’t befit your retiring image. But that’s just an image, and you need a new one. It’s a lot more bright and vivid than the one you’re trading it in for.

Note, The Oracle is a random selection from the Eric Francis horoscope archives. Each day we publish one entry from among the 10,000 in our database. It’s a little slice of horoscope history — but chosen by our Oracle program, which always speaks to the present moment. New horoscopes are published each Friday plus twice a month in Planet Waves subscriber edition and Planet Waves Light. And for your annual reading, check out Light Bridge.

There are many ways to use Planet Waves horoscopes, written by Eric Francis, but only one way to read them: become a subscriber. You’re invited to try them out free for one month by clicking here. Then decide for yourself if you’d like to keep them with you on your path. Subscriptions include horoscopes on Fridays and articles by Eric on Tuesdays and Fridays, plus access to full-issue archives and the Oracle divinatory tool. Stop by the Planet Waves Store to see the full range of written and audio astrology offerings.