Depth of Power : The New Moon in Scorpio

It’s the journey that steels us.
The stumbling and
picking yourself back up,
the seeking, that staves off fear
and fills us with hope.

- Dr. Karen Tate -

The secret grin of the New Moon in Scorpio marks the end of the season of Samhain. Now we tumble headfirst into the dark. If Libra is about weighing our options, than Scorpio is about measuring our depths. A Scorpio Moon can bring heightened sensitivity to many of us and the New Moon is especially activating to our psychic centers. We find ourselves wanting to howl at the Moon, run our fingers through the starlight, and dissolve back into the earth from whence we came. The ecstatic, the erotic, the enchanted all become elevated during a Scorpio New Moon.

Even if folks don’t know much about western astrology they’ll know that Scorpio is supposed to be the sign of sex. I’m don't know the story of where Scorpio got that reputation from but it might be from the intense nature that this sign can bring out in folks. Perhaps it’s the intensity of exploration Scorpios tend to take and the resulting deaths (of ego, of expectation, of past selves) both big and little (and the subsequent rebirths). What I do know is that Scorpio is a sign of shadow work and transformation. At the New Moon in Libra we were asked to cut away the expectations of others and to choose to live our lives as we want to. Then the New Moon in Scorpio arrives and asks us, “Yes, that’s fine, but what lies beneath?”

Photo by Lyndsey Marie

Scorpio is a fixed water sign which means that it’s an ocean with no sea floor. In the mutable water sign of Pisces we are asked to feel while in the cardinal water sign of Cancer we are asked to shelter. In Scorpio we are asked to know. The depths that Scorpio takes us to aren’t always comfortable. They can feel be pressurized, yet endlessly vast, and what we thought was up is really down, what we thought was truth was really just assumption. But the mystery unfolds when it is sought and so it is the calling of Scorpio to seek. Who of us as healers has not met someone and marveled at the vastness of both their pain as well as their remarkable resilience? That is the power of Scorpio. 

Blessed Thistle (Cnicus bendictus)
The New Moon in Scorpio Plant Ally

Spiky and unexpectedly useful, Blessed Thistle is already distinguished as a Scorpio herb by the doctrine of signatures. Blessed Thistle has recorded use since ancient Greece and is a powerful bitter herb that awakens a damp and weak digestion (listen for sounds of gurgling, poor digestion of fats, as well as feelings of distention and flatulence). 

As an alterative, Blessed Thistle’s eliminatory powers are applied to the blood and acting as a purifier. In combination with its skin-opening diaphoretic properties, Blessed Thistle helps to re-establish balance or homeostasis in the body. The herb is also a nervine and can be used to relieve spastic pain and headaches, especially when brought on by nervous tension. Blessed Thistle relieves brain fog and has a markedly uplifting effect.

Blessed Thistle is a very protective herb and can be used in all sorts of charms and rituals for boundary-setting, warding, and making safe people and places. It’s an herb that helps keep us safe as we journey into our depths. Blessed Thistle also has a resonance with students, both for its medicinal use for clearing brain fog and its magickal properties in awakening the inner spark of inspiration.

Flower + Gems Essences for the New Moon in Scorpio: Pennyroyal (Mentha pulegium), Holly (Ilex aquifolium), Rowan (Sorbus aucuparia), Snowdrop (Galanthus nivalis), Aquamarine, Bloodstone, Tiger’s Eye.

Essential Oils of Scorpio: Patchouli (Pogostemon cablin), Pine (Pinus sylvestris), Black Pepper (Piper nigrum), Rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis), Pennyroyal (Mentha pulegium).

Photo by Falco Negenman

Scrying the Depths

What better way to dive into the depths than through the ancient art of water scrying? The key to successful scrying is learning how to relax your gaze which means being able to look at a fixed point and allow your vision to grow soft and blurry around the edges. For our rite, you can focus on a specific issue that you want revelation around (such as a path of healing for a particular ailment) or simply ask to have it be revealed something that you need to know as part of your personal development as a healer.

You will need a bowl of water and candle. Begin in a sacred way (read the New Moon in Aquarius post for further inspiration). Place the bowl of water in front of you and the candle in a place where it illuminates the water, but you cannot sees its reflection. With you intention in mind, touch your third eye and say:

Vision beyond vision,
open to me.

Touch the right side of the bowl and say:

The depths are known…

Touch the left side of the bowl and say:

And revealed to me.

Repeat this ritual sequence twice more. Press your palms together and hold them over the bowl. Open them slowly, visualizing the veil between the known and unknown parting, and the bowl acting as a portal for you to gaze through. Relax your gaze and let the images arise. 

After a period has passed and your scrying is complete, hold your hands over the bowl and slowly bring them together, visualizing the veil between the known and unknown coming back together. Touch your third eye and say:

I have seen what has been shown.

Touch the left side of the bowl and say:

The depths have revealed…

Touch the right side of the bowl and say:

What is to be known.

Ground and center, ending the right by blowing out the candle and pouring out the water (preferably outside) and saying, “Blessed be!”

Oracle

With a divinatory tool of your choosing ask the following question. You can also ponder it during meditation or through journaling.

When I gaze into my depths what is gazing back at me?

Additional queries to consider:

What emotions have I repressed that need to be honored and expressed?
How does resentment or jealously prevent me from living my dreams?

Tarot Cards of Scorpio

Every card within the tarot deck has an astrological association. The following correspondences follow the system laid out by the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn. You can add these cards to your altar as part of your New Moon in Libra magick or use them in readings to help with determining celestial influence or timing (i.e. this will come to pass at when the Moon is in Scorpio).

• The Sign of Scorpio: Death
• The Water Signs of Cancer, Scorpio, + Pisces: Ace of Cups
• Mars in Scorpio: Five of Cups
• Sun in Scorpio: Six of Cups
• Venus in Scorpio: Seven of Cups

Find all of the New Moon Healers Project posts right over here. Be sure to share your insights and experiences in the comments below or via instagram with the tag #NewMoonHealersProject.

Need more astroherbology in your life? You can learn more about the astroherbology of Scorpio by reading my in-depth profile on the sign. Check out the magick of each phase of the Moon. For those of you ready to learn how to live your magick and create your herbal remedies by the cycle of Moon and star, you're invited to join the The Lunar Apothecary.

Blessed New Moon, wise healers.
May your healing be healing to us all.
May our healing be healing to you.
Blessed be! Blessed be! Blessed be!

Moonpath: Week 3

In my cells
are magnetic maps
of vast ocean spaces
Saya Wolf

Say "hiya" to Week 3 of our Moonpath, clever ones!

Honesty in goal-setting and accomplishing our goals is key, clever ones. We've got to be honest with ourselves in what is reasonable to take on in just a week's time. Is learning the entire esoteric history of the tarot really attainable in a week? Becoming the most talented pastry chef and learning how to take the best photos of your marvelous food all in a week's time truly realistic? Excited and ambitious though you may be (and that is fantastic and inspirational gold, so keep that fire burning!) we can be our own worst road block on the path to our dreams when we create giant goals to be accomplished in an unrealistically short period of time. When those big goals don't get done we can get caught up in a cycle of feeling like we're not getting any closer to our goals. Then those treacherous thoughts of "I don't deserve those dreams" begin to wriggle their way into our brain caves like monstrous little memes. Don't give up your brain cave to monstrous memes, clever ones!

Do this right now:

• Write down one BIG dream.
  • Cedar Snufflegort wants to become a registered community herbalist.
• Under that big dream, write three big steps that you need to take to accomplish that dream.
  • Cedar's three big steps are:
    • Learn about her herbal education options (she knows she wants to attend an herbal school but doesn't know what her options are)
    • Stock her apothecary with herbs, tools, and books
    • Learn at least 50 herbs and their uses
  • Just a quick note: Cedar's herbal journey is her own and the above steps are not the "required, official, approved" way of becoming an herbalist. There is thankfully no such thing!
• Now, choose one of those three big steps to focus on.
  • Cedar has chosen to focus on learning about her 50 herbs because she just can't wait to meet some cool plants!
• Under your chosen big step, begin to break it down into bite-size actions that can be accomplished with relative ease.
  • Cedar decides to study 2 - 3 herbs each month to begin. She knows that she'll probably learn a lot more each month once she chooses a school she'll probably be studying more than that at a time, but 2 - 3 herbs seems like a reasonable an attainable goal for her to commit to right now. This step is broken down further each month when she chooses her specific herbs. She begins with Dandelion to begin with because it grows in her neighborhood. This goal will also help her stock her Apothecary in a mindful and deliberate way. 
  • She puts purchasing loose leaf paper and a binder to organize all of her notes in on her list.
  • Another step is to visit her local library and see what books on herbalism they have in stock so she can start building her reference library.

  • Learn more about easy steps on beginning your herbal studies!

Cedar Snufflegort's dream of becoming a community herbalist went from being "Holy heck! How am I going to do that?!" to "Holy heck, I've got a vision of where I'm going and it looks pretty dang clear!" Feel free to invoke the energy of courageous Cedar Snufflegort whenever you're feeling overwhelmed and be sure to practice the steps she followed to keep the vision of your dreams clear on the horizon til you finally reach them!

Be sure to join me next week, when I throw these rules out the window!

So, clever one, with a sense of greater clarity, you're invited to do the following:

• Prioritize your 1 - 3 study + practice goals for the week.
• Pursue these 1 - 3 study goals by choosing what you will do to accomplish them. Then do them!
• Make Pleasure in your practice.

Check out tips for success on our original post!

So how are you walking your Moonpath this week?
Post your goals below!

The Moon will be in her Waning Quarter phase in the sign of Scorpio on the February 11th (PST).
She'll be sitting in the 19th Mansion so named Al-Shaulah or the Sting.
What unwanted energies or situations might you be hiding from?