Full Moon in Scorpio, 7 May 2020, 11h45 BST
May’s Supermoon is all about catharsis, purging and letting go at a very deep level. With Pluto, ruler of Scorpio, retrograde, we are being asked to plumb the depths of our psyche to find those hidden fears, unconscious beliefs, or buried memories that need to heal or be acknowledged in order for us to come unstuck and move on.
It’s time to face the truth about certain connections, experiences or patterns, and to slough off any layers of dross – negativity, fears and old ways of being – that may be keeping us from truly embracing the bright new future that was promised to us at the Taurus New Moon.
In other words, you have a choice now: Evolve or Repeat. This theme is likely to continue into retrograde season, when Pluto, Venus, Jupiter and Saturn will all take turns to make us turn inwards, or backwards, and reassess where we may have made unhealthy choices, held ourselves back, or remained stuck in patterns, situations or beliefs that were really not serving our highest good. We could call this cosmic hindsight 2020. Watch my extended Venus retrograde video to find out more about how this is likely to play out in money and relationships over the next two months.
Sabian Symbol
A QUIET PATH THROUGH WOODS BRILLIANT IN AUTUMN COLOURING
Keywords: Rewards of plenty. Transformations through the different seasons of one’s life. Overcoming battles and disappointments. Finding peace. Layers of personality issues flaking off with maturity. Gardens, sometimes off the beaten track. Taking time out to reflect on nature. The feeling of change in the air. Mature and elegant responses. Rich colors. Memories and memoirs. Taking life one day at a time. Overcoming loss through positive attitudes. Warm responses. A calm knowingness. Reverence and respect. Having a “been there, done that” attitude.
The Caution: The Caution: Being too late for the harvest. Concentrating on the past. Being oblivious to nature’s beauty. Resisting the flow of the seasons. Feeling that winter is upon you with no way out. Issues of growing old. Being alone in one’s “autumn years”.
Purging Fear and Embracing Change
Taking place in the 18th degree of Scorpio, the Sabian symbol for which is ‘A woods rich in autumn colouring.’ (see more above), this lunar phase is also urging us to open up the door to value – to allow in the winds of change that will enable the seeds we planted at the Taurus New Moon to flower and then become the fruits of fall. And these winds, astrologically speaking, do certainly appear to be positive, despite present appearances, especially if we take into account the trines between Pluto, Neptune, Mercury and the Sun that will be happening at this particular Moon phase. More on which later on this forecast…
All of which suggests that we focus less on the drama and intensity of our emotions, which are likely to be amplified by the Supermoon, and more on what we can actually CAN do right now to survive and thrive, despite current setbacks or restrictions. This includes letting go of what’s holding us back, which could be less outer circumstances and more an undervaluing of ourselves and our gifts, strengths and abilities. Again, something that Venus retrograde is likely to highlight for us.
Or, alternatively it could be a fear of failure, of poverty, or even of success, especially if this requires us to stretch ourselves outside of our comfort zones. Perhaps it is no coincidence then, that the lunar nodes also switch signs this month, heading into Gemini and Sagittarius where they will remain for the next 18 months or so – that is three eclipse cycles. So it is worth pointing out that this will be the last full moon before we head into eclipse season, which begins at the Full Moon in Sagittarius in early June, which is also a lunar eclipse.
Moving Forward Involves Acknowledging the Past
Psychologically and spiritually, even though we may feel that where we may be headed in the future will, more than likely, be a better place than where we have come from, this doesn’t mean that we do not feel any sense of loss during the process of letting go. Or any fear or trepidation at what may lie ahead.
Change always involves a saying goodbye to what was in order to make space for what will be. especially if it means releasing habits, people or situations with whom we have become both fond and familiar.
Herein lies the agony and the ecstacy of this Full Moon in Scorpio. Understanding, acknowledging – and fully comprehending – the price we may have to pay for our growth, our freedom, for our future. However, Scorpio is a water sign – and so the message of this Scorpio Moon is that, although it may be painful to face up to difficult emotions, ultimately, you’ve got to feel it to heal it. There is only one way forward and that is THROUGH.
The Taurus-Scorpio Lunar Axis: Change is the Only Constant
In contrast to last month’s exalted New Moon in Taurus, the mistress of growth, change and fertility is considered to be in fall in the sign of Scorpio, no doubt in part, because of the literal way that the trees shed their leaves. However, on a metaphorical level, it is also about gratitude – for the abundance of the season of mellow fruitfulness (October) – but also a sense of gracious acceptance about what comes next – for at this time of year in the northern hemisphere, the Sun is slowing sinking in the sky and the days are growing shorter. Harvest season may still be with us, but we are now preparing for the long, lean months ahead. In short, to quip a well-known phrase from Game of Thrones, it is at this time of year that we become all to aware that ‘winter is coming’. And, of course, although at the time of this Supermoon, the northern hemisphere is moving into summer, it is autumn in the southern hemisphere, so this Sabian Symbol will literally reflect where some of you are in the seasonal cycle. Even if you aren’t physically heading into winter, metaphorically speaking, many people are facing the months ahead with fear and dread due to financial uncertainty, so the instinct to squirrel away resources and cut down on expenditure, as one would in preparation for winter, is no less prevalent. Of this symbol, Lynda Hill writes:
Winter is coming and with it the need to recuperate and restore energy. It is time to let the past go and prepare for making new plans. Whether your “harvest” has been successful or not, there will be many lessons and benefits from what has occurred. This Symbol is about the opportunity and maybe even the need to take time to quietly appreciate this shift of energy.
Lynda Hill, Sabian Oracle
Freedom, Movement and the Merkaba
The key message from the cosmos right now seems to be that, like the shoulder seasons, spring and autumn, everything is currently in a state of flux and movement. Interesting then, that at this Full Moon, Venus, who is so prominent right now due to her square to Neptune, will be located close to the fixed star Capella.
Capella is the sixth brightest star in the sky and forms part of the constellation of Auriga, the Charioteer. In the Phaedrus, Plato uses the metaphor of a charioteer driving a two-horse biga to describe the human condition:
“First the charioteer of the human soul drives a pair, and secondly one of the horses is noble and of noble breed, but the other quite the opposite in breed and character. Therefore in our case the driving is necessarily difficult and troublesome.”
Plato, Phaedrus 246b
This is the image we see in card number 7 of the Major Arcana in the Rider-Waite tarot deck. (See below)
The Chariot card is associated with the Sign of Cancer because it is from this sign that souls were thought to descend into the body – and the earth plane – at birth. The link between the Cancer, the Moon and motherhood is here emphasized by the cresents on the shoulder lapels of the Emperor who attempts to drive his ceremonial vehicle – his merkaba – forward.
The Paradoxical Need for Armour
Of course, he is also wearing armour, and there is no getting away from the fact that chariots were used in battle. Perhaps because of this, Capella is associated with the fierce lunar goddesses of the hunt – the Greek Artemis/Roman Diana. And right now, there is no question that we do need to protect ourselves right now – from viruses of both the body and the mind. The link between Mars, planet of war, to the sign of Scorpio (it used to be the nocturnal sign of Mars before Pluto was discovered in the 1930’s) and the Chariot card (note the Charioteer’s breastplate of armour – quite typical of Moon Scorpio’s who are very secretive and do not wear their heart – or their vulnerability – on their sleeve) brings us full circle back to the Scorpio Full Moon. And with that the message to do what you can to keep yourself and loved ones from harm (ie. have good boundaries and health practices), but not to let paranoia overwhelm you or your fears (the black horse) get the better of you.To instead keep driving your vehicle forward like the charioteer towards a brighter future, using the reigns of your willpower and higher mind.
Indeed, at the Supermoon, the Moon will be coming OUT of the Via Combusta, which ends at 15 Scorpio, and so will well and truly be out of the trials, tribulations and dangers associated with the Plutonian Underworld. We therefore perhaps need to heed the tale of Orpheus and Eurydice when leaving the Underworld – have faith that all is well, don’t doubt that the future will be good or that our appeals ot the cosmos have been in vain or be paranoid because we sdo not yet see any outer signs that things are manifesting for us and not look back to what is familar in a bid to reassure ourselves or temporarily assuage our fears.
As an addendum, Capella was also associated with horses (something must pull the chariot, after all!), which Bernadette Brady interprets as a desire for freedom and movement. And let’s face it, many people are growing tired of being cooped up at home all day. And like a restless horse, are champing at the bit to be let out for a good run, a holiday, or even just a trip to the beach! It wouldn’t surprise me if this Full Moon sees more and more people beginning to question the logic of the mainstream narrative about the wisdom of keeping people locked up, out of the sun and fresh air (no sitting on park benches, heaven forbid!), all the while letting their livelihoods, immune systems and the economy deteriorate. And more importantly, to examine the fear-based mentality that underpins it more closely. After all, Pluto, the revealer of hidden truths – is retrograde – calling on us all to delve beneath the surface and try to get to the bottom of what is really going on, and more importantly, how to transition past the current global standstill.
Movement, Flux & Cyclical Time
Here it is worth pausing for a minute to consider though, that although Scorpio is the zodiac sign most closely associated with Death, as it is does in the tarot (interesting that the Death Card # 13 breaks down to a 4), it is also associated with rebirth (Judgement = 20, which breaks down to a 2 – the number of the Moon). This sign is all about the transition from the earth-bound snake/scorpion to the eagle or Phoenix, rising from the ashes. Death followed by Rebirth.
So at this Full Moon, we are being asked to embrace the circular movement of the soul, which does not perish at the death of the body, but is reborn into the realm of spirit, only for the cycle of transmigration to be repeated. Which does beg the question: If we know, deep down, that we are spiritual beings having an earthly experience, then why are we so afraid of physical death? A true revisioning – an inversion of how we have come to view this rite of passage, is what the Scorpio Full Moon is asking us to do – thereby, freeing ourselves from the fear-based paradigm so prevalent within the collective consciousness right now.
Pluto & Neptune: Treasures of the Deep
Two of the outer planets that will be prominent during this particular Full Moon are Pluto and Neptune, which will be making postive aspects to the luminaries and to Mercury in Taurus. Both, in their own way, are associated with death and the afterlife – Pluto is Lord of the underworld, the Graeco-Roman realm of the dead and the modern concept of the Unconscious, while Neptune is associated with the 12th house of loosening boundaries between individual and collective, and the ‘happy escape’ of the individual soul from the prison of its physicial body, to merging with ‘all that is’. So I do really feel that we are being asked to come to terms with death, to befriend it and in doing so, to transcend the fear of it – to alchemically transmute it into something more positive.
More than that, though, both planets are associated with the treasures of the deep: Pluto, with mines and the precious gems and minerals hidden in the bowels of the earth; and Neptune, with the pearls and coral found in the ocean. Both planets will be making positive aspects to Mercury, the Sun and Moon at the Full Moon, which should add a rather magical element to this particular moon phase. One that invites us to consider what good can come from the current pandemic – what psychic/artistic talents or spiritual connections/ realisations is it sparking in us? How is it making us more creative about how we do our work and get around current restrictions? How is it inspiring us to change society so that it works more effectively for everybody?
I do think that if we allow ourselves to let go – to surrender to the inevitability of change – and of death, to open ourselves up to the mysteries of existence and wisdom from higher sources, then we allow grace and divine will/spiritual intervention, to flow in. And who knows what miracles or wonderful possibilities that might invite in!
