Last Quarter: Into the Well

Truth Lies at the Bottom of the Well

Last Quarter Moon in Leo
October 26, 2013 7:40 pm EDT
October 27, 2013 12:40 am GMD

Balsamic Moon in Virgo
October 30, 2013
6:52 pm EDT / 10:52 pm GMT

New Moon in Scorpio
November 3, 2013
7:50 am EST / 12:50 pm GMT

We've entered the Last Quarter, the deepening of the waning lunar phase. We're drawn into Scorpio's realm with a dramatic T-square overnight.

Picture a dark stage, operatic, the proscenium arch very large, the curtains a deep velvet. Everything shadow, everything hushed, and yet already there's a palpable tension. The curtain slowly opens as the orchestral offers the first strains of mysterious music. The movement reveals a lone figure dramatically lit, visible but silent in the midst of a crowded, shadowed throng.

That figure is the Leo Moon, squaring everything in Scorpio plus the South Node in Taurus. A stage filled with fixed signs, strong and committed, sometimes immovable. Earth and Water, deeply yin energy. And then the Leo Moon––a torch in the night.

What can we make of this time we're in? It feels full of significance, portents and omens in every dream, every circumstance, and yet the meanings are elusive. Are we receiving warnings or invitations?

Ahhh, Scorpio! The sign of, perhaps, more paradoxes than any other in the zodiac. Scorpio wants to know everything, feels compelled to uncover secrets, and yet is wary, wary ... so sensitive to hidden dangers. Scorpio understands the need for secrecy, and yet pushes to uncover every taboo. Scorpio is full of fear, and fearless in moving ahead anyway.

"I've been absolutely terrified every moment of my life––and I never let it stop me from doing a single thing I wanted to do." –– Georgie O'Keefe (Scorpio Sun)

With the concentration of planets building around the Scorpio North Node, the sense of fate continues to grow. So it's a good time to look at this whole idea of fate and destiny, to unpack it a little.

hidden well, Glendalough, Ireland

Plenty of religions and traditions will be happy to tell you that Fate (capital "F") trumps all. We are born with a destiny, we can't escape it, we do as God wills. The New Age version is the idea of not being able to escape karma or everything happening for a reason, most often said about someone else who's having a bad time of it.

But is that true?

Astrology is (can be) one of those traditions with its thumb on the "immutable Fate" side of the scales ... and yet, astrology today, practiced at its best, points always to choices, opportunities, open doors.

Astrologer and Jungian analyst Liz Greene believes the world itself changed through our increasing understanding of the unconscious, so that Fate itself has altered, becoming more mutable, less predictable. My experience and study over time suggests we're walking a paradoxical path.

On one hand, we are not completely in control of everything––there are "givens" in our aptitudes and attitudes and sometimes in our circumstances. Some of us carry burdens not wholly our own. On the other, we have so much more freedom than we realize––than, in many cases, we are raised to believe, or our societies want us to know.

JRR Tolkien was fascinated with this theme, which he called the "doom of choice" –– doom not in the sense that it doesn't matter what we do, because Fate will get us, but doom in the sense that what we choose, what we do, matters terribly, and the world changes through our choices.

Notice how Scorpio leads us into deep waters?

Part of the paradox we're in right now involves the challenge of knowing when to wait and when to act. Scorpio can wait forever for the opportune moment. Do we have the insight to know when that is?

Paradoxically, part of the answer may lie in the past. We also have a Grand Earth Trine now, formed of Mars in careful Virgo, Pluto in relentless Capricorn, and the South Node in steady Taurus. As we walk into the shadowy future, our best support is coming from behind. Somewhere, there are lessons––messages from ancestors, learnings from our own experiences, things we know in our bones.

We're in the time of letting go, releasing what no longer serves us to prepare for the New Moon already on her way. And this New Moon arrives with another eclipse, a solar one, a cosmic neon sign saying "This. Is. Important."

It's time to crank up the Scorpionic discernment engine. At this time, we need our attenae up and ready, we need to see in the dark––not in a spirit of anxiety, which will cloud our vision, but in a spirit of adventure.

We're called to stand up for ourselves, to say our names, to be courageous in the face of challenge. The opening image is a drawing by Frances MacDonald, Scottish designer and artist, less well known than her sister Margaret in part because her husband destroyed much of her work after her death. This is the negative power of Scorpio––unhealthy control––and not where we want to be.

Now is the time for radical honesty, with ourselves first of all. We want the sustenance of the deep well, the clear water, the true stream. We can find it.

"My friends, do not lose heart. We were made for these times." ––Clarissa Pinkola Estes

    

Toward the Scorpio New Moon: The Power of Water

powerful waters at Poulanass

Disseminating Moon in Gemini
October 22, 2013
4:53 pm EDT / 9:53 pm GMD

Last Quarter Moon in Leo
October 26, 2013, 7:41 pm EDT
October 27, 2013, 12:41 am GMD

Balsamic Moon in Virgo
October 30, 2013
6:52 pm EDT / 10:52 pm GMT

New Moon in Scorpio
November 3, 2013
7:50 am EST / 12:50 pm GMT

Yesterday's Disseminating Moon in upbeat Gemini was opposite Venus in adventurous Sagittarius, creating an optimistic mood. Maybe the Full Aries Moon was a bit startling, but sure, it was exciting, wasn't it? Pull up a chair, and I'll tell you all about it ...

Today, the Sun has entered Scorpio, another intensification of the shadowy energy gathering around us. The Sun trines Neptune today, which could bring on some confusing fog, or could deepen connection with our creative energies. Poetry, lyricism, dreams––all powerful today.

At the Last Quarter, the Leo Moon will challenge our poetical dreaminess, pushing for expression, for passion, for action. Scorpio energy continues to gain in strength: Sun, North Node, Saturn and Mercury all tightly clustered. The fire of the Leo Moon might be enough to shed some light into the shadows, but then again, it's vital to remember that Scorpio is also a fixed sign.

Traveling in Ireland, I've been brought again and again up against the power of water. Her lush green countryside––the result of the rains, from soft to lashing. The stark beauty of the Burren––carved by water working slowly on limestone. The peat that has kept families warm, baking bread and brewing tea for generations––the action of water and vegetation and pressure.

And today, walking down along the cascading waterfall called Poulanass, no one could miss the rushing power of water carving through granite, pounding down the hillsides, swirling among the rocks.

Elementally, we think of Water as yin: quiet, quiescent, receptive, taking the shape of whatever container offers itself. But in the fixed sign of Scorpio, we face the full power of Water to change, dissolve, break open, and reshape entire landscapes.

The Balsamic Moon in Virgo comes just as Mars, also in Virgo, trines Pluto in Capricorn and forms an awkward inconjunct to Uranus in Aries. Ordinarily, Mars loves the impulsive fire of Aries, which he rules.

In Virgo, Mars takes more measured actions, moving carefully, step by step, to accomplish the transformative projects we have in hand.

Throughout this waning lunar cycle, we experience the powers of Water. First, the dreamy mistiness of Sun trine Neptune. Then, the challenge of the Leo Last Quarter, pushing for action, not content with dreams. Then the Balsamic Moon in Virgo, echoing Mars' message to watch our step, to follow the plan.

In a way, this waning Moon time is like hiking down the length of a waterfall. It's beautiful to watch the waters coursing through forests and over boulders. But seeing the gathered power, we can't help but think, what can this water do? How can this force be focused?

Following on from the Full Moon, we have ideas and plans. We know, now, what needs to be changed. The opportunity here is to work with Water to get those changes made––to let go of what needs to be dissolved, washed away, carried out to sea.

By the time we reach the Scorpio New Moon, we'll be scoured ourselves, ready to let in new dreams, new power, new waters.
    

Mercury Retrograde: Depth of Focus

The Seer, Wildwood Tarot

Mercury stations retrograde
October 21, 2013
6:29 am EDT / 11:29 am GMD

Uranus–Pluto square
November 1, 2013
6:30 am EDT / 10:30 am GMT

New Moon in Scorpio
November 3, 2013
7:50 am EST / 12:50 om GMT

Astrological Samhain
November 7, 2013
1:14 am EST / 6:14 am GMT

Mercury stations direct
November 10, 2013
4:12 pm EST / 9:12 pm GMT

We've entered our last Mercury retrograde for this year, the last in the Water element. Following on the heels of the fiery intensity of the Aries Full Moon, Mercury's station (the moment he slows down and stops before turning back) ushers in the season of Samhain.

At Samhain, deep in Autumn in the Northern hemisphere, we enter the dark time of the year. This is the time of stories around the fire, of mending and making, of looking within. For the ancient Celts, this was where (and how) everything began––in the depths of quiet yin.

The astrological year begins at the Spring Equinox, with fiery yang Aries energy. We felt a burst of that at the Full Moon, and now, only a few days later, we're dropped into the depths of something ancient and dark.

This is the waning cycle of the Moon, but this post is not my usual post for this time––I will write another in a few days describing what the Moon will be up to. We've entered an intense and focused time within a much larger cycle now, and it feels important to get oriented.

dive in ...

Samhain arrives every year, after all ... the time of Scorpio, the energy of fixed Water that asks us to look our fears in the face, embrace our Shadow, have tea with our demons.

Scorpio time is also for connecting deeply with what fuels us, what brings meaning and creative fire into our lives. And for honoring the past and the ancestors.

These themes are connected: We fear what we don't understand and don't want to face, often these things come from the past, and are shadowy. The things modern culture wants most to ignore––age, death, decay, depth––these are Scorpio things and the source of all new life.

This year... well, this year we're offered extra Scorpio. A Scorpio main course with Scorpio on the side, and some Scorpio sauce.

Mercury's retrograde in Scorpio opens the door and nudges (pushes?) us through. The usual caveats apply––double check plans and schedules, make extra backups of important files, and avoid leaping to conclusions about what you think someone meant when they said that to you. But this is not what Mercury retrograde is about.

The mess-ups in communication come about because our attention is being directed elsewhere. The ordinary details of life are not where our hearts and minds want to be right now. We're being drawn into the depth of our own lives, the lives around us, the life of our world. 

This is the time to examine our deepest goals and desires, to face our darkest fears. Mercury stations retrograde while trining (in a deep flow of energy) with Jupiter in Cancer. This connection reminds us of the waves of Water energy we swam in this summer, when so much was happening in the sign of Cancer.

Now we're asked to take all of those emotions to a new level, placing them in a context that includes the past, potential futures, and the creation of meaningful lives.

The next exact Pluto–Uranus square's coming right up too. Pluto rules Scorpio, and remains in mutual reception with Saturn who is in Scorpio. This square, coming at this time and during the waning lunar cycle, says, Let go! It's time to take off the water wings, leave the shallow water, and trust that we can swim to the far shore.

The New Moon in Scorpio will be conjunct Saturn, Mercury retrograde, and the North Node, offering an open portal for new beginnings in the deepest parts of our psyches. This New Moon arrives with a Solar Eclipse, giving extra energy and resonance to whatever seeds we plant. Astrological Samhain (when the Sun reaches 15 Scorpio) and the ending of the retrograde will follow.

... the water's fine

By the time we reach that far shore, we'll be in a waxing cycle, growing something new. We'll also have changed our clocks, which may carry extra symbolic weight this year––it certainly will for me, because I will experience it twice. We'll "fall back" here in Ireland before I leave, and then I'll "fall back" again in the US a few days after I arrive.

In the next days and weeks, be aware that whatever happens is likely to feel "extra" ... extra strong, extra important, extra meaningful. And most likely, it will be. We're entering a time when signs and portents could be anywhere and everywhere.

I invite you to choose the deep over the superficial. One thing I've learned on my long travels is how easy it is for me to allow ordinary anxieties (Did I lock the door? Did I pay that bill? Is she angry about what I said?) to keep me from experiencing the layers of deeper emotion underneath. I think this is fairly common, and something we want to get beyond, especially now.

These next few weeks invite us to look closely at who we are, how we feel, what fuels us, what blocks us, and where we go from here. Ordinary live recedes. We're called into a reflective time. That cave might feel scary but there are riches within. Take the plunge!