Autumn in the northern hemisphere ushers the transition between the light and the dark. Where leaves turn and fall. Where time begins to slow. Where we are reminded of cycles of death and rebirth, letting go and beginnings. Autumn is both powerfully intimidating in uncertainty but poignantly beautiful in its grace.
That is Scorpio.
The god of the underworld doesn’t pull punches. While many signs represent change, Scorpio represents a specific flavor. Like all water signs, the Scorpio part of us carries the gift of intuition. Just not the type that is invited to entertain at parties. Scorpio truth does not wade in the shallow waters of rainbows and butterflies, expressing all those things we want to hear. It is the part of us that eagerly excavates all the stuff we all bury deep inside. Scorpio is our guide to and through the underworld. This is why Scorpio types are some of the greatest healers we know. They understand fundamental transformation can only happen when we see the totality of who we are. The most brilliant treasure is often found in the most unknown or yet undiscovered parts.
“You don’t find light by avoiding the darkness.” ~S. Kelley Harrell
The good news for Scorpio times is that incredible (like mind-blowing) transformation is possible. The challenging news? It’s going to require some hard questions, choices, accountability, and power pivots. It will likely require a journey through the shadows of our underworlds.
Words like intensity, power, strength, sovereignty and potential come to mind. You see, a Scorpio talent is its ability to uncover any thread of dishonesty or subterfuge. Transformative change cannot happen in any personal spin. We first have to get really, really real. So, expect to experience situations where you most resist looking. Expect to be asked to honor what you are most trying to avoid.
Because Scorpio times have a way of getting us honest, often brutally so. Anything that isn’t “working” will require assessment on a deeper level. Secrets coming to light is a huge theme for the entire year and especially relevant during this time. Transparency is key. The veil is thin between what we think we know and what is. We might as well fling the doors to our inner closets open, lest they be opened for us.
Because they are being opened one way or another. Uranus in Taurus opposes this New Moon, linking the alchemy of intense transformation with unexpected liberation. We can expect truth bombs of the technical variety to arise in areas of security, simplicity, our values, and very esteem systems. We are also entering eclipse season where the revelations always precede the reckoning.
There is this immense wisdom at our fingertips. Literally.
If we are brave enough to see it.
Wisdom is a loaded word, though, easily romanticized in some circles as a lofty goal of elite “awakening”. In truth, it is much more grounded, authentic, and often raw. It is the force within us that offers us the ability to discern clearly, judge without bias, and be humbly accountable. Wisdom is associated with words like transcendence, compassion, ethics, integrity, and virtue. However, real wisdom is more an experience of “not knowing”, an open mind to learn, rather than having all the answers. Wisdom is also earned, not given.
Sometimes wisdom hits us between the eyes-intense, obvious, and relevant. Life events happen to broaden our grit and resiliency by taking us into the darkness, where we return transformed. Sometimes wisdom sneaks in the back door with repeated, more subtle lessons. Sometimes we go looking for it. Sometimes it comes looking for us. Sometimes wisdom is revealed in intensity. Sometimes it is found in the quiet. The exact flavor of your current wisdom process depends on the house and sign, of course (contact me for more on that, or find 12° Scorpio in your chart), but in general, this New Moon does ask us to look a bit deeper into the stillness.
Because often, the silence has much to teach. The dance between Taurus and Scorpio is the balance of both revelation and recovery. Wisdom is forged in both.
So at this New Moon, I encourage us all to stop for a moment…or twenty. To rest our gaze. To quiet our biases, habits, and fear so we can really listen. To FEEL into some more finite understanding of what is right in front of us. To look back to look forward. To get to the root of our intentions. To see what we may not want to see. To pare down to what is most of value in our lives. To connect to that soul empathy so it can become the lighthouse of our intention.
Because true wisdom and the power that comes with it also summons responsibility. As difficult and challenging as that is.
The ability to respond is the actual magic of co-creation, not the pseudo-fantasy-type thinking we often hear in certain self-help circles. It is the gritty work of choosing a new path when the one we are walking is no longer taking us in an authentic direction. It involves making new choices, even when it is especially hard to go against the grain of habit. It is about grounding in accountability by compassionately honoring mistakes and failures for the teaching moments they are. It is about getting really real acknowledging what is, which isn’t always what we want it to be. To respond means, we choose to end reaction and thus any re-enaction. The ability to respond is where change really lives. That is wisdom too.
So look for the feathers of wisdom all around you. It is showing up everywhere. It is in uncomfortable conversations. The difficult moments. The joys. The intense feelings. The frustrations. The endings. The beginnings. The love. The loss. The triggers. The connections. The outrage. The forgiveness. The sunsets. The moon rises. The smallest pebble. The bluest ocean. The storms. The stillness. The injustice. The redemption. The revealing. The reckoning. The synchronicities. The pauses. The pushes. The darkness. The light.
But wisdom only opens the door. It is our responsibility to walk through it.
“Real shadow work does not leave us intact; it is not some neat and tidy process but rather an inherently messy one, as vital and unpredictably alive as birth. The ass it kicks is the one upon which you are sitting; the pain it brings up is the pain we’ve been fleeing most of our life; the psychoemotional breakdowns it catalyzes are the precursors to hugely relevant breakthroughs; the doors it opens are doors that have shown up year after year in our dreams, awaiting our entry. Real shadow work not only breaks us down but also breaks us open, turning frozen yesterday into fluid now.”
Want to better understand what this time is revealing in you? Contact me for a reading.
Photo by Faye Cornish on Unsplash.