Saturday, November 10, 2012

Shedding Skins at the Alpha Snake New Moon

Photo: Willow

The New Moon on November 13 is a total solar eclipse at 21 degrees Scorpio, and it packs a punch.

Eclipses can be very dramatic (and sometimes traumatic). They're super-charged New and Full Moons that can kick up major events - both natural and occult-planned. Eclipses can be seen as unstable, backdrop change indicators. With a New Moon solar eclipse like this one, one very potent layer of things is ending, burning itself out, and another is beginning.

This New Moon could potentially bring some drama, as it conjuncts both the unfortunate fixed star Alpha Serpentis (Unukalhai) and the Scorpio North Node. Spicy.

Alpha Serpentis is the Alpha Snake. The Head Reptilian Honcho. In sidereal astrology, this fixed star has been associated with suicide, insanity, accidents, love problems, loss, and earthquakes. All the fun stuff. Snakes have a complex and powerful symbolism. They're associated with regeneration and healing and also with poisons/medicines that can heal or kill. Homeopathy. Coming from another layer of the symbolism, they're associated with all things shifty, shady, and darkly cunning.

Snakes are naturally associated with the sign of Scorpio, which makes this New Moon that much more powerful. Doubling up on the snakey Scorpy. We have to be careful here.

Scorpio is precious medicine, but it can kill you if you aren't careful.

From a previous post:

"Scorpio is venomous - you'd better believe it. But it also has the poison that heals those last resort cases, and at this point on Planet Earth, we're all pretty much enmeshed in one of those."

With the sign of Scorpio, something has to die so that something else can live. Extreme, tragic, dramatic. Also just real life on Planet Earth.

We're shedding multiple skins here at this New Moon eclipse - as many as we can skim off - in an attempt to proactively drop deadweight that could slow us down or trip us up as Saturn moves further into Scorpio. 

Saturn enters its retrograde shadow at 4 degrees Scorpio on November 14 in an awkward and uncomfortable 150-degree quincunx aspect to Uranus in Aries. Uranus in Aries has nothing but our future direction in mind. Saturn in Scorpio lets us know in no uncertain terms that we have much to address and resolve before we move on. We've gone in the wrong directions entirely in the past, unaware of some crucial layer of context, and we can't afford that now. We have to be directed from the root, from the core, from the soul with no false illusions about the scenarios we find ourselves in on this planet.

Things start to get more dense and complicated once Saturn enters the retrograde shadow, and this Scorpio New Moon is one last chance to drop what we need to drop and reconfigure where we need to reconfigure. The weight of collective karmic charge will be arduous enough over the next three years without dragging along with us layers of the situation we could easily have sloughed off.

Expect and capitalize on opportunities for resolution and completion.

The deadweight we're wriggling out of here could involve situations and relationships that are no longer earning their keep (maybe they never were). It could involve enervating emotional and psychological patterns we're straight-up sick of. It could involve versions of ourselves that have become brittle, lifeless, cardboard cut-outs. Or it could involve unrealized, obsessed-upon desires that have kept us tied up, constricted, hamstrung.

We're letting go of energy drains and recommiting in more vital directions.

With so much Scorpio in the zodiac (Sun, Moon, North Node, Saturn, and soon-to-be Mercury Rx), this New Moon is a full, emotional-body cleansing, which could be exhausting depending how much there is to purge. Full Moons are generally high energy points, while New Moons are low energy points. Give yourself and others lots of down time for the reconstitution back into full physical form following this one.

Traditionally, eclipses were in effect only in the areas where they were visible. Only those areas could expect the dramatic (and sometimes traumatic) events and super-charged backdrop changes. This makes sense. Before telephones, internet, or mass media, if you couldn't see an eclipse with your own two eyes, you wouldn't know it was happening. The current rules would have a little more grey area, in my opinion. With mass media, we can be aware that an eclipse is occurring somewhere else in the world, and with internet, we can even "see" it online.

This eclipse will be visible in parts of Australia, New Caledonia, New Zealand, South America, and Antarctica.

The following 28 days should be particularly dramatic and renewal-oriented for those with strong Scorpio in the natal chart.

As a New Moon involves the slow emergence out of a dark period into a new cycle, related events are not always immediately apparent. Scorpio is one of the signs that is particularly process-oriented, so the process gets a big kick start here, but the full results may only be apparent later.

Whatever it is in a state of alchemical morph (related to the house in your natal chart where the eclipse falls), things start to move coming out of this New Moon.

So we're standing on the Dark of the Moon side of this Alpha Snake portal from 3:22 p.m. CST today until 4:08 p.m. on November 13, stripping down to our most vital essentials. But we're also determining what makes it through with us to the other side.

Ensuring we're leaving detrimental influences on the other side of this portal is going to take some steel-willed concentration and focus. Mercury Rx is backing into its second square to Neptune in Pisces, clouding our vision, and some fairly unpleasant things could be slipped by us if we're not vigilant.

We all, ultimately, have to be responsible for what we bring through this New Moon portal. For what we mix into our own Scorpionic alchemical soup. There are certain dynamics, people, and situations we should just not be playing with now.

From a previous post:

"Underlying loyalties shake out under this Moon, and we start to get a clearer picture of where people stand as we head deeper into Saturn in Scorpio. Incompatibilities glossed over during Saturn in Libra are pushed to the surface, like it or not. Crossed motivations send up sparks. Lips will curl, unconsciously, showing our fangs if we come too near those with whom we lack inherent common ground. The ties that bound friendly allies during Saturn in Libra snap like dry, autumn twigs under Saturn in Scorpio. Soul compatibility is something altogether different.

Soul-deep incompatibilities go from cracks, to divisions, to chasms. There can be no doubt where we stand on the other side of this New Moon portal."

The Moon will be very active within the Dark of the Moon/Balsamic phase heading into Tuesday's New Moon. From Libra, it will square Pluto, trine Jupiter, and Juno, conjunct Venus, and sextile Mars. From Scorpio, it will trine Neptune, Chiron, and Ceres, conjunct Saturn, quincunx Uranus, and sextile Pluto. This brings a lot of elements into the mix.

With the conjunctions to Venus and Saturn, determining the right alchemy for relationships - both personal and professional - as well as correct boundaries are a big part of the process.

Understand your own bottom line. Watch for slippery-tongued plays on your compassion, your pity, your guilt, your sense of the spiritual, and your idea of what a "good person" should be and do. Filter the Neptunian-heightened impressions coming to you now in both waking and dreaming worlds. These are all ways we can be fooled now.

The combination of strong Scorpio with a Mercury-Neptune square makes things ripe for "you're not who I thought you were" experiences where we realize our interplay with another person is not what we were hoping. Scorpio loves laying waste to an illusion.

The focus now is on resolution, completion, finishing, letting it burn out, dropping it, spinning it off, getting lighter.

If in doubt, let it go, and this includes ties to people. Close out old, unsatisfying dynamics without fear: anything that is meant to go on from here will regenerate into something better, clearer, stronger, and more vital later on.

Set the tone how you would like it, no compromises, and don't let anything slip through your own New Moon portal for which you are not willing to be personally responsible.

13 comments:

Lea said...

Can I crawl under a rock and come out in the middle of January? Just askin' :>)

Anonymous said...

Thanks Willow, much appreciate this post;)

Merryweather said...

This post made me feel very empowered! I am ALL ABOUT this energy - I've had ENOUGH of Neptune nonsense - and I'm ready for what's real and authentic. Thanks Willow!

jahna said...

i *love* your posts Willow!

i love your Scorpionic attention to detail and ferreting out of little darknesses of the soul.

perhaps it's because i'm at my 51st-solar-return (all those scorpio transits are touching down HARD in my chart as i'm stellium-girl) that i'd like to share this with your readers. AND, says Banana:

don't be afraid of the Scorpio in your chart! it's not ALL dark! it can be fun fun fun to ride this emotional roller coaster! it's not "safe" but it's NEVER boring! and your friends should LOVE being along for the ride: mine do!

i'm known as "the tender one" in my peer group. i'm allowed more leeway than others in that they allow me to turn into my Scorpio self, examine my insides then come back with some crazy-assed stories to tell.

EMBRACE CHANGE! Embrace the change and truth and difference of Scorpio in your chart and in your life! Vanquishing the dark LEADS STRAIGHT TO THE LIGHT!

in LOVE and LIGHT to you Willow Readers, in these 'dark' Scorpionic days...
kisses! *muah!*
jahna

Anonymous said...

Skins are being shed, indeed... ;)

Anonymous said...

I am dying.I am so beat down with horrible past memories I can hardly live.I have to move from Hawaii to Alaska,I can hardly stand the conversation that goes on inside,on and on..is there an end..early years of abuse well up unexpectedly....kauai

Willow said...

I think a move from Hawaii is a good idea, kauai. What about the middle Americana move to be around the kids? Perhaps see a counsellor that you like and trust to help you with the things that are surfacing. It's helpful to have a touchstone when everything seems so overwhelming.

"I've had ENOUGH of Neptune nonsense"

Yeah, the way people are going on, you'd think Neptune didn't station direct at this time every single year.

I guess because it's a zero Pisces station, Neptune in its own sign, people are a little more looney about it than usual.

But they also seem to forget that Chiron is, like, five degrees away.

Getting too drunk on Neptune energy is NOT a good idea.

KauriFireHorse said...

OK, glad I read this Willow, but scared. Been feeling a build-up of anxiety and tension all day today, and been unable to focus. Tomorrow (the day of the Eclipse) I am flying to London (England) and back in a day to take part in a crucial end-of-funding-programme meeting summing up about 5 years of very Aquarian-era work. Good timing for a New Moon! But I am also leaving my partner in charge of getting some building work done in my flat, since I won't be there. This is a big deal for our relationship (me trusting her with my home) - but also- the Eclipse is taking place in my Fourth House. And 1 degree off conjunct my natal Neptune. So many arggghhhs I can't even begin to.. am just worried. Actually this would make a good post for the Wicked Web Forum.. but loads to do to prepare for tomorrow. Pray for me, Wicked Sisters ;-)

Willow said...

I'm sending complication-free good vibes your way!

You'll have a really good idea of where you stand on multiple fronts by the end of this week, so consider that a good thing.

abluelily said...

I am being severely challenged with this build up being a cancerian the moon always impacts but this eclipse is in my 1st house squaring natal uranus in leo, my blood pressure has shot sky high and the anxiety keeps trying to as well, but I am working on the fears as they rise to leave behind, unfortunately there seem to be many people passing over these passed 10 days, i close, so it really is a doozy, letting go of all thoughts, emotions, people and situations that no longer are who i am, hopefully beginning new life in this world, but whatever, i have faith and my mind is almost genuinely at peace, and hopefully on final stretch to home as this is on the final degree of my 1st house, I have worked hard on what really matters and now to enjoy and share the fruits of that labour, the remainder is not in my hands, Goddess/God willing I will remain of service. Blessings to all who will see it as such.

tea said...

wow, this post definitely shed light on some events that have happened in the past week! namely with my family. saturn in libra, and saturn in virgo before it, were defined by compromising myself for the sake of peaceful relationships with family. most of these compromises were really damaging to my own sense of self and mental health, and the further we go into saturn in scorpio, the more i see that the less i compromise, the better off i am. and that just because people are blood does not mean they need to be kept in your life at all costs. my sun is in virgo, and about half of all my other planets are in libra, so i have self sacrificing/conflict avoiding tendencies in the first place, and saturn in my two major planets these past 5+ years has been tough. hopefully this new moon will give me courage to let go of that which doesn't serve me, including relationships (ah, scary!). my north node is in aries, so independence and empowerment always seem to be life lessons that hit me over the head again and again.
another question....the only planet i have in scorpio is pluto. it is also the only planet i have in a water sign at all. wondering how all these scorpionic events will generally influence those of us without much natal scorpio.
keep up the depth delving, eye opening work!

Angularity said...

Interesting. Not sure how much of an effect this eclipse will have on me since it's one degree off one of my outer planets, but I was just thinking about closing off an unsatisfying dynamic. It's small in the scheme of things, but I was giving this dynamic way too much mental energy.

Willow said...

The New Moon is in effect for everyone, same as always, regardless of the eclipse effects.

Too much can be made of eclipses at times in the internet astrology of the day, in my opinion.

People like to drum up some smassive, life-altering event going on (especially with all the "End Times" furor), but eclipses happen in pairs every six months. Not every eclipse is going to rock your world. Not even the majority will.