New Moon in Scorpio

The dark depths of Scorpio beckons the Moon low, as the internally focused, subterranean water of Scorpio is the place of the Moon’s fall. The all consuming absorption of the Moon in Scorpio can extract the poisonous toxicity of emotional and psychic terrain, and so with Mars in Cancer ruling the Scorpio Moon with mutual reception, it will be important to engage in practices of purification and centering. Mars in Cancer is applying closely to an opposition with Pluto that has building since September, and was more recently catalyzed by the Libra Solar Eclipse on 2 October and the Aries Full Moon on 17 October. Mars and Pluto opposing one another correlate with epic power struggles, feelings of disempowerment as well as amplified empowerment, fears and anxieties as well as the deepest core of desire felt within inner recesses.

The New Moon in Scorpio can pull us down into the underworld of personal as well as collective emotions, including the great fears correlating with chaotic current events, and yet the Moon in Scorpio can also kindle the resilient courage necessary to traverse whatever difficulties and conflicts could potentially come. There are great mysteries and penetrating insight held within the labyrinth of Scorpio, and so like the cunning Ariadne whose silvery thread can guide us safely into the sacred center of the labyrinth and back again, it will be possible to become more focused and grounded within your purpose and the work that truly matters most to you. Indeed, the Scorpio New Moon is applying to a conjunction with the fixed star Alphecca, the star of Ariadne.

Though Scorpio as fixed sign is known for playing the long game with a slower pace of thorough strategy, the New Moon in Scorpio will spark rapid movements of change. This is partially due to both Mercury and Mars leaving the slower moving water signs of Scorpio and Cancer and entering the faster moving fire signs of Sagittarius and Leo in the days following the lunation. Mercury will leave Scorpio and enter Sagittarius on 2 November, while Mars will leave Cancer and enter Leo on 3 November after completing his opposition with Pluto on the same day. We already know there will be massive collective news occurring in the days following the lunation due to the U.S Presidential Election taking place, but we can also expect twists and turns in personal storylines to take effect. Keep in mind however, that both Mercury and Mars will be stationing retrograde before they leave the signs of Sagittarius and Leo – Mercury stationing retrograde on 25 November in Sagittarius, and Mars stationing retrograde on 6 December at 6°10’ Leo. As a result, the New Moon in Scorpio introduces the first part of story that has many more chapters and many more changes to come.

Indeed, the opposition between Mars and Pluto will stretch from now until the end of April, as Mars will oppose Pluto on 3 November in Cancer and Capricorn, then again on 2 January with Mars retrograde in Leo, and then a final time on 26 April with Mars direct in Leo. So much will be changing between now and the completion of the three oppositions between Mars and Pluto, and so the Scorpio New Moon is a time to center within having faith in the unknown. The relentless perseverance of Scorpio can focus on goals and targets like no other sign, and with Mars and Pluto amplifying the field of passion and desire, there will be an opportunity to gain clarity of your core purpose and desires to focus on cultivating and developing in the season ahead. Mercury in Scorpio is mediating the opposition by forming a trine with Mars and a sextile with Pluto during the Scorpio New Moon. Mercury’s mediation can help in attuning to the deeper dimension at the heart of the clash between Mars and Pluto that can be integrated productively into one’s sense of purpose and focus.

Significantly, the tense opposition between Mars and Pluto is not the only opposition building within the darkness of the Scorpio New Moon. Venus in Sagittarius is also mutually applying to an opposition with Jupiter retrograde in Gemini. This is a dramatically different opposition than the one between Mars and Pluto, in part due to the more hopeful significations of Venus and Jupiter as well as the fact that Venus is being received by Jupiter in his fiery home of Sagittarius. The opposition between Venus and Jupiter can kindle hope and inspiration in the face of whatever fears are invoked by Mars clashing with Pluto, but it will be important to ground hopes within the reality of one’s circumstances. The New Moon in Scorpio is applying to a flowing trine aspect with Saturn retrograde in Pisces, which can be used to gain clarity of the limits of one’s situations and the available time and resources one has to work with.

Coming into relationship with Saturn retrograde in Pisces is important due to the fact that Saturn will station direct on the same day as the upcoming Full Moon in Taurus on 15 November. The Full Moon in Taurus is also applying to a conjunction with Uranus and will be the final Full Moon to form a conjunction with Uranus in Taurus for another eighty years or so. The stationing of Saturn at the upcoming Full Moon will correlate with dramatic collective events, which as we have seen so far will include water issues among other themes, but will also bring tests and consequences related to whatever Saturn process you have been involved in. As a result, use the Scorpio New Moon to cut away distractions and take care of the details of tasks and work that need your focus, as well as tending to the relationships and other issues that are in most need of your attention. During the waxing phase of the forthcoming lunar cycle, Mercury in Sagittarius will form a square aspect with Saturn on 12 November as Saturn is stationing which will bring tests and important messages regarding whatever issues Saturn is relating to in your life.

After Mercury in Sagittarius forms a square with Saturn in Pisces on 12 November the star of Hermes will apply toward an opposition with Jupiter retrograde in Gemini at the time of the Taurus Full Moon that is also conjoining Uranus. Thus Mercury will be delivering the first installment of news concerning the larger implications of the Saturn and Jupiter cycle that began in 2020 and has reached its waxing square phase in 2024; due to Mercury stationing retrograde on 25 November in Sagittarius, however, this will only be the first wave of messages that will be playing out in larger storylines through the end of the year. With the Full Moon applying to Uranus as well as Neptune, and Mercury also in a mutually received opposition with Jupiter, we can expect the upcoming Taurus Full Moon to include bombastic, idealistic, mythic, enchanting, and deceptive messaging and events to sort through. Thus the more you can become focused on your inner resolve and integrity with the Scorpio New Moon, the better you can use your moral compass to navigate through the disorienting lunar cycle to come.

After the fireworks of the Taurus Full Moon, there will be another key astrological event that occurs in the forthcoming lunar cycle: the entrance of Pluto into Aquarius. We have already had Pluto enter Aquarius two times, the first time in 2023 and the second time in the beginning of 2024. This time around, however, Pluto will be entering Aquarius without going back to Capricorn. As a result, the Scorpio New Moon also will herald the final weeks of our experience of Pluto in Capricorn in our lifetimes. Pluto has been in Capricorn since 2008 and has told an important story that is now coming to an end. Pluto timelines are long but reveal slow transformative processes that usher us into new levels of personal empowerment by the end. Consider and celebrate how much you have grown since 2008, honoring the losses and trials you have also had to face along the way.

Interestingly, in the final week of our experience of Pluto in Capricorn, Venus will enter the sign of the Goatfish on 11 November. The co-presence of Venus with Pluto may bring up additional layers of insight into the lessons you’ve learned during the time of Pluto in Capricorn. Venus will be glowing bright in her evening star phase as she enters Capricorn and will begin moving toward a harmonious sextile aspect with Saturn in her exaltation of Pisces that she will complete later in the month on 22 November. Once Venus is in Capricorn she can assist with grounding into the practical work and business we need to take care of, but before she does she will form a catalyzing square aspect with Neptune in Pisces on 9 November. The square between Venus and Neptune can tap into imaginal resources that can lift vision to broader expanses than the restrictions of the moment, but keep in mind that you could also be led into escapism that is more distracting than productive. Importantly, however, is the fact that within the month ahead Venus will be moving from an opposition with Jupiter into a square with Neptune followed by a sextile with Saturn, making Venus and our experiences of beauty, love, relationships, pleasures, and aesthetics an important source of insight into the larger patterns taking shape.

Scorpio 1 Decan

The New Moon in Scorpio is in the first decan of Scorpio associated with the Five of Cups arcanum illustrated above by Pamela Colman Smith. The image is full of desire and despair, as a figure cloaked in black stares with fixation upon three spilled chalices. Yet the remaining two upright chalices suggest the possibility of quenching the thirst of desire elsewhere, regenerating the cycle of desirous pursuit and sudden loss all over again. There is also a river flowing underneath a bridge behind the figure, evoking the flux philosophy of Heraclitus that no one ever steps in the same river twice due to the river as well as the person always changing. It is a fitting image to associate with the first decan of Scorpio as it captures the fundamental nature of having desires within our constantly shifting world in which we must deal with the loss of what we desire most of all. As T. Susan Chang has written, “by facing the 5 of Cups, we learn what matters most in life and resolve to fight for it.” Fittingly, Mars is the ruler of the first face of Scorpio. 

In Henrich Corenelius Agrippa’s The Celestial World, translated by Eric Purdue, the image for the first face of Scorpio reveals the destructive side of desire: “In the first face of Scorpio rises a woman with a good face and condition, along with two men beating each other.” Austin Coppock in his book on the decans 36 Faces ascribed the image of “A Jawbone” to the first decan of Scorpio, declaring hunger as its chief concern. Coppock synthesized the ancient textual images of this face around the constantly circulating cycle of desire, including consuming hunger, satiation, the loss of what one desires, and the competitive violence that can be constellated when pursuing desires. Coppock concluded that within the first decan of Scorpio “we are brought to confront the cycle of hungers which are the price and pleasure of incarnate being,” yet by coming into relationship with it “we are less bound to it, and less blind, than if we ignore it.”  

Demetra George’s translation of The Sacred Book of Hermes to Asclepius (a Greek language text ascribed to Hermes Trismegistus during early Roman Imperial period, possibly around 50 CE) revealed the image of the first decan of Scorpio to be a man with a bull’s face and four wings who is girdled, carrying a small water urn in his right hand and a sceptre in his left. Containment of this powerful figure by a belt evokes the image of Aphrodite’s girdle that has been associated with her many charms of desire, and in connection with the Scorpio New Moon also being within the bounds of Venus and conjoining Alphecca, a star said to have a nature similar to Venus, the water urn symbolically connects with the experience of purification necessary during the lunation to release the poisons of collective fears and connect with the heart of true desire found within the darkness of the Moon.

Fascinatingly, the Hellenistic text 36 Airs of the Zodiac ascribed a different representation of desire to this face: the Numphai (Nymphs), feminine nature spirits who reside in sacred streams, springs, groves, and grottoes. Austin Coppock in 36 Faces speculated that the attribution of the nymphs to this face relates to them being shown as objects of desires for mortals and immortals in mythology. Combined with the desirous nature of this face, the presence of the nymphs also brings to mind the ecstatic Dionysus who often ran freely with wild nymphs and whose all consuming desires incited dismemberment and rebirth. Yet perhaps most of all, the presence of the Nymphs in the first decan of Scorpio represents the eros of spirit incarnating in matter and the infusion of the worldly matter surrounding us with divine spirit and desire. 

Returning to the image of the Five of Cups, the flowing river in the background can also be viewed as a habitat of nymphs that contains the medicine we need for coming to terms with the endless cycle of desires present in the first face of Scorpio. Like Psyche who repeatedly leapt into rivers during her quest to unite with Eros, we must follow desires through their mysterious initiations and reckonings of soul in order to have a fully lived life. In commentaries in the appendix of Liber Novus, Carl Jung described Eros as a force of “dissolution and movement” that runs counter to the “ordering and insistence” of Logos. Jung declared Eros to be “a principle that contains a commingling of all the fundamental activities of the soul,” stating that it “is not form-giving but form-fulfilling . . . it is not the bed and direction of the stream but the impetuous water flowing in it.” Rather than insisting on the control of ordering and paddling against the forceful currents of collective events that will be rushing with speed in the month ahead, find ways to enter the stream of flowing life force in ways that will allow for fulfillment of your purpose. 

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I’ve also made a video on the New Moon in Scorpio for my YouTube channel you can watch here:

References

Agrippa, Heinrich Cornelius. (2021). Three Occult Books of Philosophy. Translated by Eric Purdue. Inner Traditions.

Coppock, Austin. (2014). 36 Faces: The History, Astrology and Magic of the Decans. Three Hands Press.

Chang, T. Susan. (2021). 36 Secrets: A Decanic Journey through the Minor Arcana of the Tarot. Anima Mundi Press.

George, Demetra. (2021). Egyptian Decans: Star Gods of Time. Astrology University.