It's the Scorpio New Moon - that magic time of year when the gateway between the worlds of the living and dead swings open. This year the Scorpio New Moon can be felt especially strongly. It intersects exactly with Samhain - the Celtic cross-quarter festival that occurs midway between the Fall Equinox and Winter Solstice. Celebrated as the death of the old year and the beginning of the new, it was once believed that this was the time of year when the spirits of the unseen world drew near to the visible world. All across parts of old Europe in late October bonfires were kindled in honor of the dead, and food and drink were set out to nourish departed ancestors. The nearness of the other side at this time of year is also felt in Mexico. There, on November 2cnd, on the Day of the Dead, families gather for festive picnics beside the graves of departed family members while vendors sell toy coffins and papier-mache skeletons. Flickers of the after-glow of these pre-modern rites still cast their shadows across our bright, high-tech world: in the ghosts, spider's webs and pumpkins decorating suburban front yards in preparation for Halloween.
The mood of invisible change and uncertainty that people sense but cannot put a finger on is reflected in the positions of the planets in the sky at this lunation. Newly direct Neptune casts a shimmering net of enchantment over all, ensnaring us in a luminous web of dreams, and murmurs of singing, haunting spirits. Jupiter's recent entry into Scorpio further magnifies that sign's hidden, esoteric energy. In just two weeks, at the Full Moon, Uranus will station direct, preparing a bubbling witch's cauldron of surprises. Slow moving Saturn's exact square to both the Moon and Sun add a sobering note of reality. Finally, the "cross-quarter" symbolism of Samhain is reflected in a powerful grand cross in the fixed signs, between the Sun, Moon, and Jupiter in Scorpio, retrograde Mars in Taurus, Neptune in Aquarius, and Saturn in Leo. Taken together, the unseen powers of fate and destiny are at work behind the scenes, rearranging the pieces of our lives into new patterns and designs.
For many, the turbulent undercurrents at this time may feel unsettling. But one way to harmonize with the energy of this New Moon might be to focus our soul's attention on that power-point between worlds - the threshold where the living meet the dead, and where the visible and the invisible dimensions intersect. As the ancients intuited, now is a propitious time to seek the support of our otherworldly allies: departed ancestors, soul guides, and the spirits of the planets, stars, oceans, trees, and all of nature. In other words, it is a time to align our personal will with the will of a higher law - to open and receive from the magical realms that encircle and surround our material world with a powerful field of magnetic energy. The living beings of these spiral realms are always there, ready to guide and inspire us - yet our senses have become dulled to their presence.
So this Scorpio New Moon - the enchanter's moon, the magician's new year - take a different approach to life's problems. Still, for a moment, the practical voice of your logical left brain and fine-tune the voice of your intuitive, right brain. Don't listen to the "should's, must's, and ought's" of your social self. Rather, heed the call of your essential real self and tack in the direction it is leading you in. Recognize that your support for this will not come from the outside world, but the unseen world-within-worlds of spirit beings, nature spirits, angels, and ancestors.
Drawing down the energy from the other side, you can receive guidance for your earth-journey from those who have an older, higher, broader, and more spiritual perspective. Listening with your inner ear, you can hear whispered knowledge from the millenia-old wisdom of these invisible spiritual elders. Seeing by the light of your inner eye, your soul can become imprinted with their visions for you. Feeling with your inner senses, you can sense their loving presence protecting you on your path.
In harmony with the potent occult atmosphere of this Scorpio New Moon, it is also a good time to ask for a guiding "life vision" dream; to cast the I Ching, do a Tarot spread, or consult an astrologer. Or, you may want to write down your innermost encounters with your guides and place them in a sacred box, burn them into smoke, or bury them in the ground. Because it is the old world's New Year, choose an image and make a talisman as your spiritual "gold" standard to live by in the coming months. Then, in anticipation of the earthy Taurus Full Moon, let the magic of a new cycle - a New Year of positive possibilities - take root and flower.
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