Approaching the Scorpio New Moon

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.

The #Occupy movement is throwing this idea into relief, calling out to everyone who is struggling financially to actually look at what these chemical companies, banks and politicians are doing. The continent is sinking into the mire of its own decadence. This is not new – it’s been happening for quite a while. What’s new is the number of people who are looking up from the mire determined to move their socio-political houses – not to higher ground in the same worldview, but perhaps to float on the water of new values altogether. At least until the institutions that fall render their building blocks usable again, repurposed for truly solid structures.

That’s more a picture of the Uranus-Pluto square at work, a current of change and upheaval around, beneath and inside us. The Scorpio New Moon conjunct Atlantis brings the evolutionary impulse to an individual, internal, soul-level place. This is something we can work with. We just have to be willing to dive in, dive deep, and only come up for air when we’re sure we’ve reached a new shore of understanding. The temptation will be to skim the surface; to only flirt with fantasy. But it’s only when you say yes to trying that new, daring thing, when you commit to it in action and initiate first steps, that you actually confront your fears and the myriad possible outcomes besides the ones you are afraid of. That’s when you give the universe an opening in which to meet you halfway and move you to someplace new – perhaps someplace you hadn’t even envisioned was possible. The story of Atlantis is about the failure of the collective; combined with the New Moon, we have a symbol for that failure giving rise to the #Occupy movement and the mechanism by which we collectively can transmute and reform that energy.

Speaking of transmuting energy, there is also a square between Venus and Mars tomorrow. Isabel Hickey describes this as a conflict between passion and love. Or, to put it another way: What if everyone goes for what they want? Wouldn’t the result be chaos? We have assertive Mars in Leo, being squared by equally (perhaps more) assertive Venus in Scorpio. Then what happens? What gives? And if you’re being pulled or pushed in those two directions by that square, how do you decide which way to go? Jupiter in Taurus is not aspecting the Venus-Mars square, but it is opposite the New Moon — providing some solid ground to balance the deep waters. When in doubt, check in with your deepest values before you decide where to dive.

Looking for insights on how this week’s astrology affects your personal Sun and rising signs? Try out Planet Waves Light, our streamlined horoscope service. For deeper cultural context and astrological investigation, the premium Planet Waves subscription includes the same horoscopes, plus extensively-researched articles on Fridays.