The Unconscious Rudder: Scorpio Moon and North Node

Infinite Dreams Tarot @2013 MP Lynch

Wednesday, July 17, 2013
between the First Quarter and Gibbous Moons
Moon in Scorpio

The unconscious is the rudder controlling everything up above.

 ––Marion Woodman

As I write this morning, the Scorpio Moon conjunct the North Node, focusing our attention on where we are and where we're going.

This Moon–North Node conjunction forms one of two strong Grand Water Trines: Moon–North Node at 13 Scorpio, Mercury retrograde at 13 Cancer, and Chiron at 13 Pisces.

The second Grand Water Trine links Saturn at 4 Scorpio with Neptune at 4 Pisces and Jupiter at 4 Cancer, with Mars conjunct Jupiter at 2 Cancer.

Could we ask for a stronger invitation to look under the boat and see what kind of shape our rudder is in?

This day, of all other days, if you haven't found an hour to spend with dreams, intuition, insights, journals, the Shadow, old patterns, complexes, some or all of these, do it today.

That's really it, all that needs to be said.

OK, I'll say something about the idea of the unconscious as a rudder. The unconscious is (by definition) the stuff we're not aware of. It's our blind spots, what we deny, what we don't want to admit to even to ourselves, what scares us, what might be true.

The unconscious includes the things our culture says are taboo, as well as the things we've learned through painful life experience are taboo for us. It's vital to know that what we hide in Shadow, what we dump into our long black bag, includes powerful creative gifts as well as unpleasant and uncomfortable truths.

"I am a good person and could never do anything wrong, so it's good that I can clearly see how wrong those people are over there."

and

"I couldn't possibly paint watercolors ... It's much more important for me to take care of my family."

are BOTH Shadow messages. And the crazy thing is, we can only connect with the creative energy when we embrace the "bad" stuff.

Does that mean it's OK to behave cruelly? No, it doesn't. What it does mean is we need to look within and see the possibility of cruelty, the impulse to anger, the desire to grab whatever we want, because that awareness opens us to the fullness of life, to compassion, and to creative expression.

Remember that the purpose of the rudder is to steer the boat. The goal is to keep a light hand on the tiller, turning a bit one way or the other, to get where we wish to go.

The light hand responds to conditions we see around us and to what we feel coming from the rudder underneath the water. Sometimes we maneuver around a rock we clearly see; sometimes we feel the rudder resist and know it's time to stop and see what's going on under the boat.

Take time today to sense your hand on the tiller. Does it respond smoothly, easily? Is something stuck? Find a safe and quiet cove. Drop anchor, and slip over the side. Take a look at the rudder. If seaweed or fishing line or something else is impeding your ability to steer, unwind it, cut it, release it, heal it. Then you can push out to sea again, ready to steer a steady course.

A note on today's image: For some months now, I've been working on a new project that came to me in a dream. Called the Infinite Dreams Tarot, this deck is wound through with what I've learned about dreams and dreamwork, and from dreams. It will be a while before the project is complete, and this felt like a good day to share a first image. This is the Moon card.