Observing Inner & Outer Duality
Medicine For The Lunar Eclipse, Inner Conflict, & Shadows During Scorpio Season
Autumn is my absolute favorite season, specifically late October and early November! Scorpio season! During this time, for me, there is an undeniable shift in the energy inward.
A more meaningful and deliberate showing up.
I am not sure what comes first, the slowing down or the showing up, but either way, Scorpio's influence is evident to me.
Scorpio has got a bad rap and I'd say that some of it is understandable for the most part... But, I invite us all to remember we are all Scorpios in one way or many!
So... Judging "Scorpios" (or any other zodiacal sign, for that matter) is just a projection.
I said what I said!
Okay, okay, enough about Scorpio... Well, not really...
This weekend's Lunar Eclipse is in Taurus… But hot damn our inner Scorpios will be showing up to the table! Good, bad, or ugly.
On Saturday, October 28th at 4:14 pm EST, we will step through the apex of the partial Lunar Eclipse in Taurus. To have a Lunar Eclipse there must be a Full Moon, so, let's look to the Full Moon first. For more about what happens astronomically and astrologically during an Eclipse, check out this article...
Whenever there is a Full Moon the Moon and the Sun are in opposition to each other. The great thing about a "Full Moon opposition" is the two zodiacal signs involved are typically complimentary and understand each other even if they do not agree, so there is potential to make the opposition a little less conflicting.
The trouble present for signs involved with a Full Moon is they just cannot seem to understand each other. They struggle to meet in the middle and often find themselves going toe to toe. While the signs naturally sit in complementary positions on the zodiac, during a Full Moon, they also influence the psychological urges of the planets found in them. The two planets involved during a Full Moon are the Sun and the Moon.
Generically speaking, the Moon corresponds with unconscious psychological urges around our feelings and needs, and the Sun corresponds with conscious psychological urges around our sense of power.
Think about the conflict inherent in this! During Full Moons, these two aspects of our being are in opposition! Consciously or unconsciously, manifesting in the outer world or not. There is potential for this energy to affect all of us depending on the amount of inner work we have done on ourselves in relation to the zodical motifs present. Again, in this case, Taurus (Moon) and Scorpio (Sun).
What prescribes the potential for less inner conflict during a Full Moon or any other astrological event? The amount of successful inner work we have done around the motifs and energies at play! (This is why some people are affected heavily by certain astrological events and others are not.)
We will unpack more about these zodiacal influences and what they mean for us, but first, let's look at the added Eclipse energy!
Surely it is nothing new to hear Eclipses bring about big chaos and permanent change but what I often see missing is the explanation as to why this is...
The change and therefore transformation during Eclipses is entirely based on and guided by the change and transformation needed internally and innately connected to us as individuals and collectives. (More on the influence of Eclipses on collectives in another post.)
So, if we are pointing outward and blaming what we see in the outer and inner worlds on others... Or blaming the position of the planets for what we see in the outer and inner worlds, we have it all wrong!
Astrology invites us to see where we have evolved and where we still have work to do.
During a Full Moon, we usually have the opportunity to see Lunar motifs (unconscious) fully illuminated by Solar energy (conscious), and there are culmination energies at play. Completion and closure of sorts, this looks different for all of us, but when there is an Eclipse, Lunar illumination is Eclipsed by the Earth's Shadow... Literally and symbolically.
What this means is things are not illuminated at culmination because the Moon has been Eclipsed.
Eclipse by definition, means to obscure. To obscure is to keep from being seen... To conceal.
This is a time when our conscious urges around our sense of power and identity (the Sun) and our unconscious (and culminating) urges around our feelings and needs (the Moon) are going toe-to-toe, one of them concealed. Shadow work anyone?
While planets speak to all the psychological urges present in human nature, conscious and unconscious. Zodiacal signs speak to how these psychological urges manifest in our lives. Each sign corresponds to a specific set of values, motivations, desires, and agendas that effect the psychological urge.
Middle-ground Taurus values simplicity, comfort, and structure. During a Full Moon in Taurus without an Eclipse, we may be culminating lessons around these motifs as they apply to our feelings and needs. But the Solar Scorpio opposition paired with the Eclipse energy might have Scorpio values overriding Taurus values. Middle-ground Scorpio values intensity, depth (often uncomfortable), and change. I emphasize “middle ground” because there is a whole sliding scale on either side of it that can be beneficial or detrimental.
The invitation I offer all of us is to remember healthy Taurus values of simplicity, comfort, and structure if we feel overwhelmed by complex Scorpionic energies in ourselves or others. Let's slow down and search for Taurus's inclination for embodiment and stillness. We may not naturally feel it as it is Eclipsed so we have to consciously bypass the concealment.
Let's drop into our bodies... Put our feet on the ground... Eat a nourishing harvest soup or salad... And/or listen to music that moves our hearts and Souls... These things will help us as we enter what may very much feel like a chaotic version of the Taurus/Scorpio duality.
The Moon instinctively calls us to the act of nurturing and Taurus wants to keep it simple... Let's try.
The Sun wills us toward personal power and Scorpio wants us to unravel complexity in the name of radical honesty. Let’s observe.
Whichever way we go can be extremely healing and transformative… If we listen and if we remain in some sort of gentle swing of the pendulum of balance.
Back to how I opened this article...
Scorpio has a very meaningful and deliberate way of showing up and there is an evolutionary design embedded in Scorpio to know/have/speak absolute truth. Again, each of us will experience this differently depending on how much personal inner work we have done around Scorpio energy within ourselves. This will influence whether or not we experience Scorpio in beneficial or detrimental ways. The same goes for our personal Taurus energies.
Let's remember Scorpio's importance in our subjective evolution and observe our urges to challenge, go deep, know more, and transform while we slow down, root into our bodies, and resist taking action. We can still have some sort of balance with the Tauras/Scorpio duality, we just have to be intentional about it and be willing to look at the invitation for change coming in.
Good thing the overriding energy of this Eclipse may be conscious and Scorpionic because Scorpio, when in higher vibrations, excels at both of these things… Intentionality and change.
I don't usually advise much "action taking" during Lunar Eclipses. Inner curiosity, inner observation, inner note-taking, inner compassion, inner reconciling... Sure...
Action... No. Ritual... No. Decisions. Absolutely not!
We will have plenty of time on the other side of the apex of the Eclipse to pull at the threads of what comes up. Less doing during the Eclipse offers us more awareness of unconscious stuff that has been concealed, "control" over the Shadowy nature of things, and prospects for beneficial conclusions to the choices we make for the things we find.
Let's explore the duality of our inner worlds while we explore the duality of the nature of the cosmos!
The energies will be either wonderful or debilitating, either way, we are being challenged to make some sort of inner change! Let's be intentional about the actions and choices we make while we are in the midst of this Eclipse season... After all, Eclipses are known to be doorways to permanent change, are they not? And that sort of transformation deserves our utmost attention, intention, and honesty.
So, what will it be?
And who will you be afterward?
Blessings,
Mary