Balsamic Moon: Past is Prologue

a clean sweep

Balsamic Moon in Scorpio
December 9, 2012

Today, we enjoy the balanced, lovely Libra Moon. Tomorrow ... well, tomorrow, we reach the Balsamic Moon.

This half-a-square (semisquare) between Moon and Sun ushers in the final phase of a powerful lunar cycle that began in Scorpio, and brought us so much of this shadowy, deep, insightful, obsessive, relentless, passionate, psychic sign's energy.

Look at the Balsamic Moon chart. Note the rather large emphasis in Scorpio: Mercury, North Node and Venus together. Moon and Saturn together, trining Neptune and Chiron in Pisces. The Sun is valiantly trying to stay alight and upbeat in Sagittarius, but we're swimming in deep waters here.

What's past is prologue, a line from Shakespeare's The Tempest, neatly captures the feelings of this turning. Often quoted to show the value of understanding the past, in the play, it's actually said to justify evil––Antonio tells Sebastian, in effect, they are prisoners of the past and can't be other than they are.

Which is it? Scorpio, more than any other sign, looks at both sides of every coin, then bites to test its value.

Yes, we live out patterns, habits, choices we made in the past. Yes, we are influenced by choices others made in the past––ancestors, leaders, sometimes random people whose lives touched ours. Does that make us prisoners? Scorpio would say, decisively, no.

Yet, the route to freedom is neither easy nor well lit. At this Balsamic Moon, we're invited to look into the dark corners of our lives. We've been through intense transformations lately (and are still, this is ongoing). All those dramatic shifts have shaken things loose. It's time to take inventory and sweep out the corners.

What things do you know, really, deeply know, it's time to let go of? With Moon and Saturn conjunct, there's no shirking, no pretending you didn't notice or hadn't realized. No big eyes and innocent manner. Bad habits, worn out ideas, stuff you don't use, relationships that drain you ... now's the time.

The coming New Moon is in generous, optimistic, philosophical Sagittarius. Mercury will have moved back into Sag by then, helping shift the energy into celebration and gratitude. Hold on to that thought, the idea of a new beginning in the sign of Dickens' Ghost of Christmas Present, the giant who freely gives the milk of human kindness to all.

For the next few days, we finish the alchemical work we began at the Scorpio New Moon, cleaning up messes, learning from any failed experiments, holding tight to the philosopher's stone of our successes, preparing the way for what is to come.