Scorpio - transforming from the foundations up!

This New Moon is in the first degree of Scorpio, which means that, from 23 October for thirty days, the Sun will be moving through Scorpio holding our faces towards what’s really going on under the surfaces - including beneath our own coping strategies! Scorpio covers everything that flows in a hidden way - banking and daily finances, how laws are made and societies are policed, the fields of addiction and of psychological health, issues of pollutants and waste disposal, and so on. Scorpio is where we go for the hard truth, as this is the foundation of our earthly lives. Only from there can we rise to the heights of understanding and compassion - a real transformation.

Deliver your truth - kindly

Most beautifully, this particular New Moon is focussing us on the heart of our relationships (Venus exactly on Sun and Moon) - the best, the worst, the truth of how we feel, what we want, our resentments and secret desires, our hopes and disappointments - all rooted in our past relating experience, right back to conception and probably before.
Honesty and kindness to ourselves and to others will be the best approach to whatever rises - in fact nothing short of this will work (Venus trine Neptune). This is not a time to hide our truth, nor try to present only that part of it we think is acceptable. As long as we endeavour to speak from our hearts, wanting the best for everyone, the results will be that the bits we have neglected till now will begin falling into place. As we own it all, and accept the less-than-perfect bits of feeling and behaviour without judging ourselves, we can experience an integration of heart and mind with the finer aspects of our nature.

The past surrounds us - the present is in our centre

This process of transformation is being assisted in two ways this month: the first involves having the hard bits in our face, making sure we don’t miss what needs to change (Saturn in Scorpio, and Pluto sextile Chiron). The second helpful energy is an impulse to communicate with warmth and humour and a desire to sort things out beneficially for all (Mercury on North Node in Libra sextile Jupiter in Leo).
We are liable to find ourselves lurching between these two states: a painful reaction to something, followed by sharing that leads to understanding (Saturn square Jupiter). Anyone who won’t let the hurt slip into the past is likely to find themselves left behind in this roller-coaster of emotional reactions. The hurt stems from the past and needs to give way to reality checks in the present. Blame has no place in this process, and neither does guilt. And we need to notice our tendency to judge and criticise, even when it’s only a whisper in the back of our minds. The tender growing places need protecting with the heart’s wisdom.

We can change the world ?

The Full Moon chart, 6 November, shows a sweet pattern (a cradle of aspects) reflecting the understanding resulting from any efforts to stay with our relating. And out of that place we become able to DO something to alleviate the suffering in our world, both personal and global (the pattern includes Mars in Capricorn). This work could be intense, and needs to include the warm enjoyment of putting our hearts into it (the cradle squared by Jupiter in Leo, whose ruler, the Sun, still conjuncts Venus).

. . . don’t procrastinate . . .

November is the last of the nine months that Jupiter moves directly through the Zodiac - in December, it begins the four months of appearing to move backwards (Jupiter retrograde from 22 Leo to 12 Leo). This will be a time when forward progress of our worldly projects tends to slow down, and re-grouping is more appropriate before the next surge forward begins in April 2015. So, make the most of this month’s growth, rather than putting off any forward moves. This will give you more experience to chew over, and you will then carry on from a stronger foundation.

Astronomy - 1. Mercury retrograde (Mercury Rx 4-25 October)

Mercury only appears retrograde when going round the other side of the Sun, that is, the Sun is between Mercury and the Earth. (The same goes for Venus). When Mercury is between Earth and Sun, it is overtaking us and so moves faster through the Zodiac than Earth, faster with respect to the constellations beyond.
The shadow period of any retrograde movement includes that part of the Zodiac that will be traversed three times in the process, the retrograde part being a kind of re-tracing one’s steps. Perhaps we are learning more through experiencing the same area of life at a deeper level.

Astronomy - 2. five New Moons before March 15

This New Moon is at the very beginning of Scorpio, and the following four New Moons will also be in the first degree of the next four signs - Sagittarius (22 November), Capricorn (22 December), Aquarius (20 January) and Pisces (18 February). It seems to me that each of these months the New Moon drops us in the deep end of the next sign, which could feel like lurching into a new field of endeavour or feeling. (It means that the Sun occupies that sign throughout the month, rather than changing sign part way through.)
It could, for all of us, be like climbing a series of steps, as long as we make the most of the sign the Sun is occupying. For anyone who has a planet in their birth chart at 0 degrees or 14 degrees of any sign, these five months show intense development - 0 degrees connecting to the New Moon, and 14 degrees to the Full Moon.