At 10:30am PDT this morning, the Scorpio Moon will Oppose the Taurus Sun, the relentless beam of the light of consciousness itself will be turned off for a moment, and then turned back on again, and nothing will quite be the same. All Full Moons are moments of deep release, where the unconscious mind opens and allows for things from deep below the surface to be extricated from our consciousness. When it is an eclipse, this idea goes to a much deeper and more transformational level. And when the sign is Scorpio, now we’re talking about release down to the level of death. Every death is followed by a rebirth, and this eclipse takes this idea to an almost literal level. Scorpio is the sign ruled by Pluto, the Lord of the Underworld, and this is where we understand that all of life is simply a preparation for a graceful death. And like all the little deaths that we practice through life, this eclipse is one of them.
The Sun is in the Taurus mansion, as is the retrograding Mercury, Uranus the Great Awakener, and of course the North Node that generates the eclipse in the first place. Taurus is a sign ruled by Venus, so it is grounded in love. It is also the sign where we connect with our values, both literally in the form of money, cash and prizes, but also, Taurus is where we learn to love being here in a body as a source of pleasure and delight. In Scorpio we are releasing any and all blocks, known and unknown, conscious and unconscious, that inhibit our ability to give and receive love, and inhabit our desires more fully. And while I will use words like love, intimacy, and relationship to talk about this eclipse, please also remember that love, and the receiving of it, includes all the ways that life can feel loving and abundant, not just relationally. It is through Taurus that we understand that we deserve a life filled with all that our heart desires.
Uranus and the Sun are only 6-degrees away from each other, close enough to vibrate each other profoundly. As a result, this eclipse takes the notion of anything-can-happen-and-probably-will to an extreme. Even the most unchangeable circumstances can change when Uranus throws his flash of lighting around, and so the transformative quality of Scorpio gets a huge boost. Move another 6-degrees, and the retrograding Mercury is also directly participating in this lunation. The fact that Mercury is moving backward has been making this eclipse season even more befuddling and chaotic. But there is great value in having the planet of our perceptions turned toward the unconscious by virtue of being in this backward posture. Deep releases happen in the below, and Mercury is right down in there, helping such releases occur all the way to the root cause of thought and perception that inhibit us from feeling more love.
Venus has been very active as we move into today’s eclipse, so our hearts have been prepared for the surgery that we are experiencing. She is in Gemini, Mercury’s sign, and Mercury is in Taurus, Venus’s sign. This is known as mutual reception, and allows two planets to work with each other much more powerfully, because they are in each other’s homes. Venus in Gemini allows us to tap into our emotions with great mental perception because she is in Mercury’s sign. Mercury in Taurus is all about grounding our thoughts, perceptions, and communication in love, and gets lots of help from Venus as he is in his backward journey. In keeping with the image of psychic surgery, this is such a perfect setup between mind and heart, and any transformation and death/rebirth that we move through during this eclipse season will absolutely show up in how we think and perceive (Mercury) and feel and express (Venus).
Jupiter is in Aries right now, but just before this lunar cycle ends, the planet of manifestation will enter Taurus, where he will spend the next thirteen months. In fact, the intentions we set at the next New Moon will involve Jupiter ingressing Taurus as part of that lunation. So, what we release now, and what we intend with the next New Moon, will have the planet through which we understand abundance in all its forms will move through the same house in your natal chart that the Sun has been lighting up this spring (winter down under). Think of this as the benefit to come, inspiring you to surrender more powerfully to the intensity of this moment. Yesterday, Venus passed through a Sextile with Jupiter, so truly, the solar system has our back with love and abundance dancing so freely with each other in this eclipse.
The Sun and Moon are also Squaring Black Moon Lilith in Leo, so this eclipse has an added element of shadow, sexuality, and the ability to process and release our deepest shame. This adds to the intensity of the eclipse, but is the final element that makes it a psychic surgery in my estimation. If you know your natal chart, look to the Taurus/Scorpio polarity for some focus about what areas of your life may be receiving the most change. If you feel to ritualize this Full Moon, get spicy, as Scorpio delights in all sorts of passions. Also include some water, as Scorpio is a water sign; you can bet there will be a bath in my world sometime today.
Scorpio is a mansion of deep feelings and intense emotionality, and the feels should be pretty wild right now. If your emotions are overwhelming you, you are not alone. I walked into my acupuncturist’s office this morning after a week away feeling pretty good, but when he asked how my trip was, I simply burst into tears. It’s like that. Allow, allow, allow, and remember that purification often requires tremendous emotional surrender. Change is hard, death is terrifying. The more we practice the little deaths, the more prepared we will be for the big one that life itself is asking us to do with as much grace as we can.
