Moon into Scorpio: Facing the Shadow

Sunday morning through Tuesday morning

Just after noon today (12:31pm EDT), the Moon enters Scorpio's murky waters, where her first aspect is a flowing trine with visionary Neptune. We're heading toward the Full Moon in Scorpio, which arrives arrives Tuesday morning (7:09am EDT), at the end of the Moon's transit through Scorpio.

The forging of the Ring by Alan Lee

We feel the Shadow drawing near, the presence of things we have lost, things we fear, things that are taboo, things that are numinous. Neptune's presence intensifies our felt sense of fascination, obsession, and magic.

This afternoon, the Moon opposes Mars in Taurus just as Venus and Mercury transition from Aries into Taurus. This Scorpio-Taurus connection foreshadows the Full Moon opposition with the Taurus Sun. These two signs share a steady focus and intensity. Both fixed signs, they are loyal and sometimes immovable. Yet their styles and interests are quite different.

Taurus loves the manifest world. Calm, patient and sensual, he revels in the sights, sounds, scents and textures of what is, nurturing all things that grow. Scorpio is drawn to the hidden world. Keenly aware of what is not said, not seen, not acknowledged, he understands the power of what is denied, wanting to master occult lore and occult ways of knowing.

At the Full Moon, and with today's Moon-Mars opposition, these two illuminate each other, highlighting their differences even as they complement and complete each other.

In The Lord of the Rings, we meet Taurus and Scorpio in Sam and Frodo. Together, they tell a story about this Full Moon.

Sam Gamgee is Taurus to the bone. A gardener who longed for a simple life, his great loyalty to his friend and master led him into hell, and brought him home again. On his journey, he carried salt, and cooking pans, only letting the pans go in Mordor with great regret. Galadriel's gift to him was a mallorn seed, and earth, gifts he used to rejuvenate the gardens of the Shire.

Tolkien based Sam on ordinary soldiers he knew in the trenches of WWI, men whose steadfastness and simple, strong values brought them and others through. Gamgee is a kind of cotton wool used to wrap wounds. His full name was Samwise, and he was later known as Samwise Gardener.

Bag End by Alan Lee

The key issue in Scorpio is power, where it resides, who wields it, and how. Frodo carried not just his own Shadow, but the Shadow of his world. An unlikely Scorpionic hero in appearance, he was different, a little fey, an elf friend, who had prophetic dreams and premonitions. He also faced the darkness in Gollum, who shadowed him literally and metaphorically, the image of what repression can create.

These two traveled together, as Scorpio and Taurus do over the next few days. On Monday, the Moon is unaspected, traveling alone, as Mercury and Venus meet each other and sextile Neptune the cosmic storyteller. This journey is one of facing Shadow without getting lost in it, bringing the boon back to create a rich and satisfying life.

Tuesday morning, the Moon's only and final aspect is the Full Moon. This Full Moon is a T-square, with Neptune squaring Sun and Moon. This is an out-of-sign square, with Sun and Moon in late degrees and Neptune at the beginning of Pisces. Neptune sprinkles fairy dust over this Full Moon, inviting us to view both sides as part of a single image, which of course they are.