May 7, 2020 6:45 AM EST
This is a beautiful and powerful full moon that supports us in making the transitions and changes we have recognized, at a deep level, that we need to make given the evolving dynamics of our current reality. Two months into a new relationship with ourselves, each other, our work lives, and our home lives, there are few who cannot say they have recognized at least some of what needs to change and transform in order to support and empower ourselves individually and collectively. This could be as simple as reorganizing our home to better suit our families needs, or as dramatic as major shifts around our expectations in various areas of our life.
Scorpio is the sign of death and transformation. Death is a feared concept in the modern West, but this has not always been the case. As multiple truisms and slogans can attest, we cannot experience or have something new if something old does not die first. As a baby is born, a mother faces the death of her life as an ‘independent’ entity. As a butterfly flies, the caterpillar and chrysalis die. Spring, and the Taurus season we are currently traveling, is the time of fresh growth. That growth comes at the cost of the old, which is what the Scorpio full moon reminds us of.
If we TRULY want change, in our personal lives, and in the collective, then we must choose differently. That is allowing a part of ourselves to die. Perhaps it was the part of ourself that was reliant on conveniences or experiences that are no longer available to us at the moment. Who are we without these things? Scorpio is not afraid to ask these deep questions and plumb the depths of our innermost desires and motivations.
It can be dark. Scorpio’s ruler, Pluto/Hades, is at home in the underworld. How brave can we be to face these uncomfortable aspects of ourselves? Of our culture? The parts that may (or may not) have been neatly hidden or squirreled away under the masks and busyness of everyday lives. The braver we are, the deeper we go- the bigger the reward. It is here that we find the alchemical gold that is the crux of the transformation process.
As Scorpio represents the deepest depths of our internal psyche, and often the pain and trauma that is stored there, it also represents the highest of highs (the eagle and the scorpion are BOTH symbols of this noble sign), the elevation that is possible in our lives, in our spirits, when we confront and accept these parts of ourself.
Scorpio’s lower vibrational nature tries to control and manipulate from a place of fear. This full moon invites us to look at where and how we do this. And then to gently release it. To choose differently. To choose for love and for trust. From that softer place, Scorpio’s innate powers of perception are rightly attuned to healing and helping. And Scorpio rises into it’s 3rd and final symbol- the phoenix, strengthened and empowered through its struggle and ready to share its awe-inspiring beauty and wisdom with all.
As a culture we too can become like the phoenix now, if we choose to be. Transformed, and rising stronger, rather than returning to old and entrenched patterns that strive to control and manipulate. Cultures are made up of individuals, so this rests on each of us making that choice individually.
It is telling that Venus, the planet associated with values, relationships and money is highly exalted at this full moon. It is stationing at 21 degrees of Gemini, the degree where it will begin its retrograde on May 13th. The North Node has moved into Gemini mere hours before the full moon. This places a very strong emphasis on adapting and re-shaping our ideas and ways of communicating- especially about relationships, money, resources and values. This will be a dominant theme for the next several months, and longer. Full details about the highly significant nodal axis shift here.
Mars and Pluto, the co-rulers of Scorpio, are the co-rulers of the full moon. Mars at 26 degrees of Aquarius is in a loose square to both the sun and moon, emphasizing the need for change and adjustment. Like Venus, Pluto is highly exalted at the full moon, having just turned retrograde at 24 degrees Capricorn. Pluto is another ally helping us with this psychological excavation process.
And the full moon itself is in a gorgeous supportive trine with nebulous Neptune at 20 degrees of Pisces. Neptune in Pisces has been on a slow and steady path for years, re-connecting us to our true spiritual nature. But Neptune’s mysterious process is often one of slowly stripping away and eroding what no longer serves (rather than the potentially jarring or uncomfortable revelations that can be associated with Pluto and Scorpio). With Neptune it’s as though we wake up one day, and realize that slowly over time our lives have shifted and we are no longer who we were, or where we were. This can feel scary. Or empowering. In its highest sense, this full moon in Scorpio wants us to experience it as empowering. No matter who we are or where we are at, or what the past few months or years have been like for us. This is the time to turn the suffering and pain and confusion into alchemical gold. To embrace where we are and who we are NOW, and claim our power from that place- the only place where we can truly claim our power.
Catharsis is a word that is frequently associated with Scorpio. With Scorpio we do not merely tidy the house, take things to the dumpster, and be done with it. We mine that process for all its deep and healing transformative potential. We honor and acknowledge what is being released so that it can truly make room for the new.
Spend some time around this full moon with the parts of yourself, and ways you have known yourself, that you are ready to release. However wonderful or objectionable you find these parts or memories, honor them as expressions that had their place or served their purpose, but may not longer be necessary or appropriate for you now.
By the same token, there may be parts of our lives that will simply “never be the same” after the recent events. Rather than rush to try to re-claim the old, or fill the void with something new, we are encouraged now to sit with what we have ‘lost’.
An often skipped step that is important here is grieving. Not getting lost, or frozen, in the grief: Scorpio can slow its process by denying grief or becoming immobilized by it. Simply honoring it, feeling it, and releasing it is all that is requiring. That is, of course, easier said than done. Especially given that few of us have had proper ‘education’ and support when it comes to healthy rituals around release and grief. Scorpio is our teacher on these matters.
Honoring and feeling our darkest and most painful emotions as deeply as this full moon in Scorpio is capable of is a brave and transformative act. It may hurt. It may bring unanticipated tears and sadness. But it’s catharsis is a healing balm like no other, it is the very essence of divine transmutation. Beyond it, a new birth awaits, whose character and nature we are determining with every breath and thought. Breathe light, positivity and possibility into the shadow spaces this Scorpio full moon is helping us excavate.
*Artist unknown
vibrational-astrology.com 