The Sun is continuing its journey through the deep, shadowy waters of Scorpio. Life diminishes from the natural world around us as the light of the Sun fades ever more with each passing day. Throughout this process, we have had a collective opportunity to face our fears, delve into unexamined parts of our psyches, and come to terms with old pains, wounds, and triggers in order to integrate and heal them.
Soon, the celestial energy of Scorpio season will reach its peak as the Moon goes full in Taurus on Friday, November 15th, at 4:28 pm eastern time. Taurus is a fixed earth sign ruled by Venus, the Goddess of love, harmony, and all the good things of the material world.
In the ancient magical tradition, full moons represent an apex, an orchestral swell, a culmination of a season. They are the blossoming flowers to the seed of the new moon. The seeds of the new Moon sprout into the flowers of the full Moon. The rewards of our labors over the past few weeks begin to manifest and take shape.
For this reason, Full Moons astrologically indicate completion. The hard work of the past two weeks since the new moon begins to pay off. You begin to see the fruit of your labor. Whatever you had been working towards begins to reveal itself, and you may even find that your actions and focus during the last few weeks actually makes more sense to you - you begin to see what it was all about.
At an individual level, you can use this period of the lunar cycle to celebrate and feel gratitude for the strives that you have made thus far during this Scorpio season. The new Moon in Scorpio created opportunities to integrate the unconscious, face fears, and confront the shadow. Old wounds and past memories oftentimes resurface more clearly during this season - now it is important to feel gratitude for the work you have done thus far.
What strides have you made in your emotional healing process? What inner alchemical gems have you unearthed and polished? What lost aspects of yourself have you integrated and restored? While you may just feel like there’s so much more work to be done, it’s important that you acknowledge the progress you have made up to this point.
In addition to completion, a full Moon also indicates letting go and releasing. A tension arises between the agendas of the Sun and its sign placement in Scorpio and the agendas of the Moon in Taurus. The Sun continues to emphasize inner alchemy, shadow work, and asceticism, while the Moon emphasizes quite different attitudes in Taurus.
The Sign placement of the Moon will determine what kinds of topics and themes are arising for people to release and let go - in this case, Taurus. In contrast to Scorpio’s brooding intensity and preoccupation with death and loss, Taurus privileges beauty, kindness, and reveling in the material goods of existence. While Mars rules Scorpio, Taurus is ruled by Venus, the goddess of good fortune, who provides us with all the fine things of life and helps us to enjoy them with those we love.
When the full Moon occurs in the sign of Taurus, then the oppositional character of Scorpio’s focus on inner work, healing the unconscious and facing fears and Taurus’ priority of pleasure and beauty comes to a head. This alignment reveals habits to grasp and cling to familiar people and things for emotional comfort. Unhealthy tendencies towards avoidance and procrastination to find solace and safety from doing the often painful work of inner healing.
Addictions can rear their ugly head during this time. You may have taken great strides in the ascetic practices of letting go and releasing since the new Moon in Scorpio, getting rid of things that do not serve you and moving forward with the steely, martial resolve to face the shadows. But now you’re tired. You deserve a rest. You deserve a cheat day.
Greed also surfaces. In the face of the inevitable darkness and cold months that are fast approaching, people feel scarcity and fear around their finances and money coming up much more strongly. They want more resources that stave off the inevitable encroaching of darkness, liquid capital that postpones the descent of the world into the darkness of winter, and bribes for the lord of winter to delay his coming.
This tension between the Sun and the Moon also heralds heightened emotions, interpersonal challenges, and social volatility. There’s a classic adage not to do surgery on a full moon, and people who work in hospital settings often find that explosive situations arise much more often on a full moon than otherwise. For this reason, full moons were generally considered to be more malefic and challenging.
Ultimately, the chaotic clamor of releasing control and surrendering into Chaos allows you to see release what needs to be released so you can continue with the intentions you set during the New Moon. This Full moon is about learning how to do without - realizing that you don’t need the things you think you need.
The stone emerald calcite is a specific for addictions. Blue calcite is a specific for deep-seated fear and anxiety, and also helped with drug detox symptoms. Both can be worn on the skin, or the blue calcite can be taken internally in an elixir. Place a very small stone in water for a half hour, then discard that water and place the stone in new water for 4-6 hours. The emerald calcite needs to be placed on a small quartz crystal, and then the quartz crystal can dissolve into the water instead – a process known as potentiation.
If you find yourself worrying or filled with scarcity, spend time outside with your bare feet on the earth, in some place where you can’t see civilization. Better yet, sit or lay down on the earth and let her take all of your weight. Watch your breath and relax your body. After doing this for just a few moments, you’ll begin to detach from the human drama and preoccupation with money and all the fears we have around it. You’ll return to the source of actual nourishment, and will be more restored to do your work in the world when you return.
Allow the Earth to hold you in allways during this Full Moon. Let the stability of the ground beneath our feet, and the energetic umbilical cord she provides for us, calm and nourish the frenetic, grasping intentions of the mind. Release your attachments to security, and allow a deeper, more profound, more-than-human source of security to emerge.