We’re smack in the middle of the eclipse season between the partial Solar Eclipse of late October and the Full Moon Eclipse of November 8th. As these eclipses – something gets concealed and revealed – are in the signs of Taurus & Scorpio, and we’re also in the time of Samhain, here in the Northern parts, I’d say collectively, we’re crossing the threshold into the Underworld of the ancients. On November 8, during the Full Moon Eclipse, we’ll have this dichotomy more starkly present, with the Moon in Taurus and Sun, Mercury, and Venus all in Scorpio.
Think of Scorpio as still waters run deep. It’s depth psychology, shadow dance, and seeing what gives but also takes our powers. It’s survival but also immense riches and hidden sources of power and strength/resilience. Taurus brings us back to the wisdom of Nature (with capital N) and how the cycle of resources, its ebb and flow has its rhythm. Disrespect the wisdom of the RHYTHM at your own peril. Taurus is the resources we inherently have – it’s MINE and starts with our bodies.
Realigning with our bodies & nature
We often see folks saying that we’re spirits having a human experience. I want to add that we arrive at SOUL/SPIRIT through this BODY, through this NATURE. It’s not by abandoning the inherent and deeply interwoven wisdom of this BODY and this NATURE that we will gain the so-called “kingdom of heaven” or “ascension,” etc.
Our collective manic relationship with MATTER (i.e., etymologically linked to MOTHER – so you can see our issues with MOTHER FIGURE) is more about how MISALIGNED and DISCONNECTED we are with it than anything else because we can’t get enough of what we don’t need! Collectively we’re rubbing the genie bottle completely wrong! It’s about crafting a relationship, not demanding.
Look at what we’re saying: We must ‘Save the Earth.’ No, Earth has taken quite the abuse, but it has weathered stranger times and was reborn again and again. The real meaning that should be spelled out clearly is, ‘ We have to save ourselves!’
By saying ‘Save the Earth,’ we’re still tiptoeing around our fear of death, something that as we navigate this Scorpio/Eclipse season, we should put on our Courageous Pants (aka our adulting pants) and face the unconcealed truth.
What can each of us do?
While we can paint either full drama or escapist bubble gum with astrology, remember it doesn’t ‘make things’ happen, but it illuminates a choice point for how we can navigate these liminal times. We have a choice to either lose our minds like headless chickens or we can stretch ourselves out of our comfort zones and start relating to what’s around us – both nature, the cosmos, and the archetypal events – in a relational way.
Ask yourself:
- What are these events illuminating in my life?
- What is asking me to honor in my life?
- What action steps* can I take to right my relationship with this area of my life?
- What about my relationship with my resources (Taurus – your body, material things, money, etc.) needs to be explored in depth to bring it to the right alignment? (Scorpio – dive deep, look under the hood, depth psychology, etc.)
*When thinking about action steps, think small rather than epic. We can’t eat an elephant all at once. Take it to bite-size. Small incremental steps do more to the overall success than trying to go big and pulling your psychological and motivational muscles. There’s a lot of power and potency in small.
What was and what is yet to be
When we’re on the cusp of significant changes, one aspect is always the return of the REPRESSED. Now, these can be seen as unconscious zombies from our past that bring horror to our eyes and grief to our hearts, but, and this is a big and hopeful, they’re also gifts and talents that, for whatever reason, we buried/hid, and now they return to be reintegrated in our lives. Think of this both in your personal life as well as collectively.
The return of the REPRESSED can also be seen as an experience of ATONEMENT where we are called to properly bury the dead so that they may rest in peace and stop haunting us.
As we’re riding the DRAGON in this Eclipse Season, this quote from the poet Rilke comes to mind as a reflective Koan for all of us:
“How should we be able to forget those ancient myths that are at the beginning of all peoples, the myths about dragons that at the last moment turn into princesses; perhaps all the dragons of our lives are princesses who are only waiting to see us once beautiful and brave. Perhaps everything terrible is in its deepest being something helpless that wants help from us.”
The collective’s Liminal Journey
Developmentally, it’s clear that we’re collectively caught between what was and is yet to be a quintessential LIMINAL JOURNEY. We’ve already crossed the threshold and are in the thick of what the ancients call THE DESCENT. For the ancients to leave the known world meant that we needed to be clear about our motivations and the need for a proper guide to help us navigate these foreign landscapes. The main red flag of caution was against EGO HUBRIS (excessive pride) because this would lead to being overwhelmed by the power of the Unconscious, and one wouldn’t be able to return with the treasure/the boon to share with the living.
What you do for your healing and realignment benefits you and the collective. Personal Inner Work is healing for the individual and the collective. It means it’s one less person being dragged by the maelstrom of larger forces of transformation. Here are some ideas for exploring the depths.
Why dive deep?
- To RESCUE parts of yourself – elements that have been dismissed, set aside, or lost due to trauma and life events. In the Shamanic worldview, this is akin to SOUL RETRIEVAL work. But it can be as simple as remembering and bringing back aspects of your personality and sense of self to your daily life. Who have you been that could be brought back to your life now to help things feel more alive?
- ACQUIRE INFORMATION and engage with DIFFERENT TYPES OF KNOWING. Be open to different types of information and knowledge that may illuminate a resolution to a life’s problem. Think more using your imagination, intuition, or even your own rational mind. This is akin to using your inferior function in terms of Analytical Psychology, as in using your non-dominant ‘hand’ to do something that generally your dominant ‘hand’ takes for granted. Stretch your mind and bring a beginner’s mind.
- GET SOMETHING YOU NEED from your INNER RESOURCES. What has been locked away/up and now can be freed up? Remember, this upcoming Full Moon Eclipse has both Moon & Uranus together, and Uranus is about breaking the chains that bind.
The Collective’s Middle Passage (or Midlife Crisis)
Whenever we leave the known status quo, we’re being initiated. The crossing of the threshold, that archetypal line between what was and what is still becoming, has a few common patterns:
- SEPARATION – leaving the known and being introduced to something Other.
- VOLUNTARY WITHDRAWAL – when one leaves the known to embark into the ‘wilderness’ on their quest.
- ORDEAL/CHALLENGES – undergoing a symbolic death with the possible aim of a kind of resurrection/rebirth.
- GESTATION/REBIRTH – being in the metaphorical belly of the whale (voluntarily or not.)
Looking at what’s unfolding in the world, we can clearly see these initiatory patterns taking place. One core theme of the union of Saturn/Pluto in Capricorn that happened in early 2020 but set the birth chart (tone) for their entire 33+ years is a reckoning with our relationship with DEATH and MATURATION.
Capricorn is a realm of experience that invites MASTERY and evolves from our youth to old age, hopefully ELDERING. Our midlives is how we traverse this landscape between youth and eldering. We’re being called to be better ANCESTORS to the future generations, a classic Capricornian theme.
In my coaching practice, I see these themes rise consciously and unconsciously. Clients are wondering how their lives and what they do intersects with the broader world. In late 2019, I said we’re moving into a time when it’s ALL HANDS ON DECK. And one of the ways we can see this manifest is in more folks realizing that what they do for themselves has repercussions for the collective.
So in this inward time of the season of Scorpio, I share with you this quote from the writer and poet David Whyte:
“…What shape waits in the seed of you to grow and spread its branches against a future sky?”
Remember, Scorpio season is about going into the depths to recover the treasure that is ours to reclaim. When the Sun arrives in Sagittarius in late November, we can gaze towards the light at the end of the tunnel and glimpse the future possibilities and dreams in the stars above.
If more of us are less fearful about going into the depths, we’ll be helping the collective heal from centuries upon centuries of bad PR regarding the depths. For now, remember that in depths, while we may wrestle with our demons, dragons, and even angels, it’s here that resides our inner gold. Paraphrasing what Rilke said: perhaps our dragons are our beautiful sovereign selves under the enchantment of our forgetting.
By looking at them and accepting them, they’ll finally shed their scales and claws and be transformed.
Photo Credits:
Main image: Tom Gainor – via Unsplash
Subsequent images: Matthew Henry, Martin Sanchez, Iswanto Arif, Karim Aazzouzi and Jonatan Pie via Unsplash
