Full Moon in Scorpio: A Fey Moon

Supermoon

Full Moon in Scorpio: May 5

Special Note: May will be a month-long adventure for me, as I fly to Scotland tomorrow for intense time on the West coast, exploring Iona and the Hebrides. This begins a long-planned pilgrimage on the tiny island at the center of the ancient Celtic world. I plan to continue posting here, but ask for your patience and flexibility as I look for WIFI cafes and find time to write.

The Beltaine Full Moon in Scorpio arrives just before noon (EDT) on the 5th of May, illuminating the balance between the seen and the unseen, the manifest and the hidden, the mundane and the magical. As in the festival of Beltaine itself, this is a Full Moon that opens the ways between the worlds.

This is a supermoon––the largest, brightest and strongest of this year. The Moon is close to the Earth, and we'll feel her presence more fully than at any other time in 2012. A powerful time for divination, for dreaming, and for strengthening connections with psychic realms.

The grounded and sensuous Grand Trine in Earth continues, inviting us to stay present and fully embodied no matter what travels we might take.

The Moon opposes the Sun (as at all Full Moons), and Ceres and Jupiter too, while keeping a wide but flowing trine to Chiron. The presence of expansive Jupiter and the powerful mythic energies of Ceres and Chiron offer possibilities for revisiting old wounds, revealing stuck patterns, and finding paths of healing.

Venus flows energy with Saturn and Mercury, opening channels of relationship, abundance and artistry. Mars and Uranus are tightly trined as well, bringing in electric energies for unexpected happenings.

This Full Moon happens at 16 degrees of Taurus and Scorpio. Look in your chart to see where Scorpio and Taurus are. Where does the Full Moon fall? What other houses might be affected by Taurus and Scorpio? These areas of life will light up at this time.

Check also for planets and chart angles touched by the Full Moon. The middle degrees of all signs will be affected to some degree, with the fixed signs (Taurus, Leo, Scorpio and Aquarius) most strongly involved.

Ask, at the Full Moon, what can I see now, that was hidden before? What aspects of my New Moon wishes are coming into flower? What patterns, perhaps long in the making, are ripening now?

As I'll be in Scotland, I cannot help but think of the Fae, the High Ones and little ones, the ancient and ever present. Many tales come forward and all may be relevant on the night. One idea asks to be shared now:

In many ancient tales, heroes and heroines are given gifts that come with conditions. Offered great strength, or the promise of being always undefeated, or second sight, the hero must also accept a prohibition, something that must always, or must never, be done. This is the geis, the magical condition.

Fairy Song ~ Arthur Rackham

Somewhere in the tale, the hero is faced with a terrible choice, to break the geis or commit some other prohibited act, and so tragic consequences unfold. Like the patterns of hubris and nemesis in the Greek tales, we see how triumphs and tragedies come wrapped together.

This might seem like a grim theme to introduce into a Full Moon so close to merry Beltaine, and yet Scorpio is the sign of the Shadow, of things we prefer to avoid and cannot escape. This Full Moon is connected to Pluto and Chiron, as well as to benevolent Jupiter––it is well to remember that gifts bring responsibilities.

As we stand in the light of this especially bright Full Moon, we can ask for the courage and canniness to see the full pattern before us, the pitfalls as well as the promises, the darkness as well as the light. If we labor under a geis, perhaps we can find a way to release it and move into a new cycle of our story. If we are offered a gift, we can be sure to read the fine print.

At the Scorpio Full Moon, we celebrate the full round of life from birth to death, and all the adventures in between. Each of us stands at a crossroads where many stories meet. This Full Moon could illuminate the full pattern, if we have the eyes to see it.