New Moon in Scorpio

(Hokusai Dragon)

From “October” by Louise Gluck:

"Summer after summer has ended,
balm after violence:
it does me no good
to be good to me now;
violence has changed me."


This is tonight, Thursday 23rd October, around 11 pm (GMT). Sun, moon and Venus conjunct at 0 degrees Scorpio, the very start of the sign.

Kind of an amazing new moon – and partial solar eclipse - in the sign of intensity and extremes. Death and rebirth – that is Scorpio's terrain. Transformation.

And new moons represent new beginnings. So all told, this is about a radical change. A rebirth of sorts. Or a death... but it's the same thing.

As we have the sun, the moon and Venus all crossing from Libra into Scorpio, I think it will feel like a fast phase-shift... especially as regards relational and money matters. We shift from Libran pleasantry into Scorpionic depth and intensity in the course of a day.

I think people will feel this shift pretty clearly. Either a relationship is OVER or it's for the long haul. Either your money situation is solid or you're cleaned out. Either your values and commitments can go the distance, or they're a house of sand. You'll be in no doubt.

Let what has to die, die. There's no room for wishful thinking or sentimentality here – it's about the bottom line. Scorpio can be ruthless. You cut away the deadwood and rot so that new life can grow. The point is regeneration and healing.

It is also about conserving your resources - you can't throw good money after bad, or carry the past around with you forever. You can't waste energy on things that are not viable.

Scary and hardcore as Scorpio can be, the situation looks very positive overall. The sun–moon–Venus conjunction is supported by a sextile to Mars in the late degrees of Sagittarius (energy and enthusiasm) and a trine to Neptune in Pisces (compassion and faith). Those are the only aspects the new moon makes, and both are pretty nice.

So it's definitely a good time to get clear of the past and to start something new. To be reborn or transformed in some way.

Maybe it's a shift or transformation in your thinking that's required – a mental breakthrough. Mercury, planet of mind and communication, is currently retrograde in Libra, getting set to go direct a few days after the new moon (26th October). He is in range of the Uranus-Pluto square and conjunct the north node in Libra, making a cardinal t-square.

All this speaks of an internal mental shift or rebalancing – one that can blow the lid right off your usual mental habits. It looks liberating – an epiphany that there's no going back from maybe, or a new point of view. Satori, even.

I am emphasising the positives here, because to me this new moon looks like a tremendous opportunity to slough off the past like an old skin. But keep in mind, we are in the thick of Uranus square Pluto, which is fairly wrenching stuff. Plus, Scorpio is about extremes. It's either the best or the worst that is in us - no middle ground.

And Venus and the moon are not particularly comfortable in this sign. Venus is in detriment, meaning she can't function too well here. She likes peace and harmony, but the kind of peace you get in Scorpio is nothing like what peace means to Libra (the preceding sign, which Venus rules). In Libra, everyone's at a party being polite and making small talk and pretending to like each other, and Venus is quite ok with that! In Scorpio, things are only peaceful because the party has been nuked into submission and everyone is fucking dead.

And the moon is in her fall in Scorpio, meaning she's really kind of messed up by the emotional intensities of the sign. The moon has to do with comfort, nurturance and emotional fulfillment...but Scorpio is an inherently uncomfortable and extreme energy, and about as easy to fulfill as a black hole.

So these gentle 'feminine' energies go all edgy and femme fatale in Scorpio, and it's very magnetic and intense...but there's nothing light or fun about it. Everything is life-or-death.

A moon in Scorpio looks a bit like this:

Erzulie Danto, vodou madonna

And here is Venus in Scorpio.

'Poison' by Yumiko Kayukawa

If you can give this stuff the depth it requires, you'll benefit and be transformed. If you can't do depth and transformation, death and rebirth - you get the cheapest substitute, which is drama. Plenty of people prefer drama and keep going back for more.

Anyway, the skies are getting simpler and clearer as we head into Scorpio season, which is fitting. Stark and intense, but in a good way. By Halloween we'll have planets in Scorpio, Capricorn and Pisces all beneficially aspecting each other, which looks really helpful. Especially as we're heading into the ugly tensions of the Uranus-Pluto square on the 15th December... There'll be plenty of emotional strength and grounding to draw on, and it will be needed.

I hate to be harping on about the same themes all the time, but we have two more months before Saturn leaves Scorpio, and Saturn in Scorpio is all about getting the rotten garbage out of your life. So if you're still clinging to an addiction, a bad relationship, a fantasy, an ideology - anything draining or false or rotten - stop it already. Purge yourself of that shit while you can. That's what this time is for.

Saturn rewards effort. You have to put in the work, dig deep, excise the rottenness...whatever form it takes. If you don't do this now, you will likely have some psychological gangrene to deal with further down the line.

Happy Halloween, fellow legions of the undead. Hope it's fun!

Chinnamasta party