New Moon Eclipse in Scorpio Conjunct Saturn: Final Resolution of Via Combusta Themes

The New Moon eclipse falls at 11 degrees Scorpio on November 3 (6:50 a.m. CST), sandwiched in conjunction between Saturn at 13 degrees Scorpio and the North Node and Mercury, conjunct at 7 degrees Scorpio.

This is an important New Moon for a number of reasons.

As stated previously on the blog, Saturn is currently travelling through an area of Scorpio (11 to 16 degrees) to which it will not return in retrograde motion. Saturn is making only one pass through these degrees of the zodiac. This is it. So we have one kick at the cat with the themes of these degrees and one kick at the cat only.

As Saturn shoots through this zone (October 14 to November 26), we have to focus quite intently on keeping the energy in our lives just right. We are cementing a foundation now, halfway through the Saturn in Scorpio transit, that will either support our emotional and psychological health and development for the next 29 years or create hassles, issues, and karmic setbacks at various times over the next 29 years.

As usual with Saturn, we have to be quite serious about things. And in Scorpio, we have to fully understand our lessons - each and every angle - and integrate them into our selves and into our lives. No half-assing it.

If we have doubts, concerns, or intuitive misgivings about anyone or anything in our lives now, we're required to wait before making any further commitments.

From a previous post:

"If all our energetic ducks are in a row and if all the power dynamics have been worked out satisfactorily, this time period (Oct. 14 - Nov. 26) can result in some fairly easy progress with natural next steps occurring with projects and in career.

People will be moving into more structured and solid positions of authority this fall quarter, and this particularly includes positions involving shared power, money, and resources.

Under the ongoing stressors, people who have not fully earned their authority or positions, who have not set the right energetic foundations, will soon be in over their heads, however.

With Saturn conjunct the North Node this fall, be careful not to take on too much, too fast - no matter how promising things seem. The commitments we make or deepen this fall could be life changing and deeply altering for us over the long term. We must be very careful to follow our intuition down to the last twinge regarding decision and commitments made at this time, particularly involving legal contracts or money."

Not only is Saturn crossing the halfway point in the sign of Scorpio in this "single pass zone," but it is also completing its transit of the Via Combusta.

From a previous post:

"The Via Combusta is an area of the zodiac between 15 degrees Libra and 15 degrees Scorpio (except for 23 and 24 degrees Libra) known as the burning path or combustible way. Traditionally, it is associated with "unfortunate and ineffectual events."

My interpretation of the Via Combusta is humanized and comes from the point-of-view of a person experiencing life with key natal placements in this area.

When the Via Combusta is strongly highlighted, there is a feeling of running the gauntlet through sometimes seemingly insurmountable odds, collective karma, booby traps and friction, very often related to relationship dynamics, which are Libra and Scorpio territory.

There's a fire in the Via Combusta and within people with a strong Via Combusta signature that keeps them burning, burning, burning a path through life as you would imagine a shooting star burning an accelerated path through the night's sky. There's a feeling here that one has to keep going, no matter what, through the wreckage of old, crystallized layers that would keep us stultified, constricted, and unsatisfied with old wounds perpetually reopened by a revolving cast of characters.

The basic goal of the Via Combusta is to reach escape velocity. In space travel, this is the point a space shuttle reaches when its speed and momentum allow it to escape the effects of gravity pulling it back down to Earth. In the case of the Via Combusta, it's about reaching the points of awareness and pure momentum where we escape the gravity of the sticky, tricky wreckage trying to draw us back into old territory, especially involving old constructs and dynamics of relating.

But with Saturn in the Via Combusta, we have to earn the right to pass. We have to prove that we're mature enough, serious enough, and that we've taken full responsibility for moving on completely, resolving the bits of dramatic charge and the last karmic tendrils that would catch us, tempt us, and drag us back. This is escape velocity for the long-term, under the weight of Saturn."

With Saturn now completing its transit of the Via Combusta (November 21), we have to prove that we've earned our advancement beyond the sticky relational and energetic traps that could hamper us over the long run.

In Scorpio, we're dealing with dynamics that make us uncomfortable. These are dynamics that scare us, that trigger us or others, that feel as if we will never be free of them. They involved long-ingrained ruts and patterns. They are hidden, unspoken dynamics that latch onto us through ancestral lines. These are dynamics that have been the bane of many existences for generations, things that have been carried forward and carried forward - until now.

With Saturn at the tail end of the the Via Combusta zone of Scorpio, we have to be willing to eliminate every last unsatisfactory dynamic, even if that means standing alone under our own power for a while.

At this point, we have to prove ourselves unwilling to take scraps any longer. We have to prove ourselves unwilling to make due with subpar treatment or with a lack of consideration from others. And we have to confront and challenge, head-on, each instance of this shoddy treatment in order to cement new boundaries and standards in our lives. Each unsatisfactory dynamic has to be addressed and the energy of it re-directed.

Mars at 11 degrees Virgo is exactly sextile the Scorpio New Moon, and this re-direction of energy must be very precise. We must look oh-so-carefully at our own motivations and how we go about getting what we think we want. We must look at what we're doing, eliminating any areas of manipulation being used on our part to get what we think we want. And we have to get ourselves out of the reach of the manipulative grasp of others, also.

As much as possible, we have to eliminate areas where we're keeping ourselves stuck out of habit, emotional attachment, lack of awareness, or fear. With Saturn in the Pisces decan of Scorpio, we have the power now to dissolve fear-based energy patterns and ruts, propelling ourselves onto a new foundation for growth and development.

There is a breaking of habits required at this Scorpio New Moon, consciously altering our habitual emotional reactions and psychological patterns and re-training ourselves and the people in our lives accordingly.

There is an emotional and psychological regeneration coming through this Scorpio New Moon. A clearing. A weight being lifted off us. Concentrated layers we've been struggling under can be made visible, can disappear. But we have to gather all our courage and go for it.

The New Moon falls in a conjunction to Mercury and the North Node in Scorpio, and a big part of this involves analyzing and then voicing the hidden energy dynamics that leave us short, that use or drain us. We have to speak up, or it continues.

The Sun and Mercury Rx form their interior conjunction at 9 degrees Scorpio on November 1 under the Uranus-Pluto square and the Dark of the Moon. This Sun-Mercury conjunction is a little too hot to handle, as we are re-visiting the massively potent energy and themes of the Venus-Saturn-North Node conjunction of September 18.

Fall equinox (in the northern hemisphere) was one concentrated, complex, and potentially painful son-of-a-bitch. We processed a huge amount of energy through our physical, emotional, and psychic bodies at that time - and we're still processing!

Now, as the Sun and Mercury form a conjunction here along with the North Node, we are brought back into that equinox energy and will hopefully pick up some new perspective on all that has occurred since the days and nights balanced. This Sun-Mercury conjunction shines some light on the mysteries of that time period, and it all becomes even clearer as Mercury makes its final pass over the North Node in Scorpio on November 18.

We've been dealing with highly concentrated and highly karmic scenarios since Saturn entered Scorpio in October 2012.

But there is a sliver of light visible as we come out of this Scorpio New Moon, leading us into a new chapter, emotionally and psychologically liberated from many of the issues and fears that have preyed upon us.

We just have to want it more than anything - this escape velocity, this liberation, this new platform, this advancement beyond old traps.

Here, at the Via Combusta New Moon eclipse in Scorpio, we take responsibility for the energy we want in our lives, and we take responsibility for eliminating anything less.

We advance the new eclipse backdrop, dropping old scenes and setting the stage to our liking.

Since December 6, 2010, Saturn has been in the Via Combusta. It will leave this burning path November 21, 2013.

Because the advancement related to Saturn is gradual, step-by-step, and completed over the course of time, it's easy to lose sight of just how much progress we've made. When we're under Saturn's thumb, we keep our heads down, nose-to-grindstone, or we suffer the consequences.

But now, as Saturn zips through the final degrees of the Via Combusta, marking the halfway point through the sign of Scorpio, we can take a quick peek at how far we've come since December 2010, particularly in relationships.

Trust that there is a reason for your challenges - there was then, and there is now.

Saturn entered the Via Combusta so that we had the fire and the fuel to change our foundations. This is heavy, time-consuming work. We needed those potent, karmic, concentrated Via Combusta scenarios because they provided the most energy and the greatest possibility for advancement beyond old forms, particularly in relationship.

But we are soon through this burning zone. The alchemical reaction is reaching its peak. The molten lava we've been riding, shaping, and directing will soon start to cool and harden. As Saturn moves beyond the burning way, our scenarios become less fiery, less unpredictable, and less malleable. We will soon be left with the full reality and the full responsibility of what we've built.

At the time of this Scorpio New Moon eclipse and for the following 28-day lunar cycle, focus on using the last of the Via Combusta fire to set things just right in your life, in your relationships, and in your foundations. Work on the last little details, the last unresolved hotspots that could come back to bite you. Keep going until you've cleared your entire plate, and that will satisfy you and Saturn both.