The new moon is Scorpio is always a time for deep internal reflection, when the shadow side (the parts of our lives and our minds that we fear or don’t like to look at) is closer to us, harder to push down or ignore.. The moon is in fall in Scorpio (check out the Chronos & Chaos glossary to read about planets in fall), a Marsian sign where depth & intensity of experience is valued above comfort and familiarity. It can open up the chance to discover things about yourself that you’d pushed down for self-protection or acceptance, or allow you to begin a process of profound transformation because we’re actually making space for, learning to care for, the scary and abject thoughts, feelings, behaviors, and memories within us.
Scorpio is of course, the scorpion, but the scarab also influenced the development of the sign. In ancient Egypt, the Nile floods would bring torrents of thick mud that made the land swampy. Scorpio is a fixed water sign, so stagnant water, bogs, and swamps are some of the environments the sign rules. The time of floods was also the time of scarabs. What could easily be seen as gross and unpleasant (rivers of mud & giant beetles aren’t exactly Venusian) is in fact exactly what transforms the landscape and makes the desert explode with life and nutrients. If we can have faith that the muck and slime of our lives, the freaky beetles of our unconscious minds, are evidence of a fundamental transformation, the decomposition that we need for new life, it becomes more possible to sit with those feelings, those experiences, and be present with them without running or trying to shove them back under the muck. Just this act of being present with the shadow is an act of care. We don’t always need to change it, understand it, analyze it; sometimes taking the lunar approach to Scorpionic material can be so helpful: have compassion for all the parts of yourself, particularly those parts you’ve been told are unclean, contagious, ugly, or dangerous. Does it feel bad to sit with these things? Try feeling the sensation of the emotion in your body without telling a story about it or trying to understand it logically. Is it shame? is it fear? is it jealousy? What part of the body does the feeling attach to? what physical sensation does it have: prickly? hot? empty? This process of sensing powerful emotion in the body & mediating the compulsion to either disassociate or exert control, can be an alchemical practice in which things we thought were impossible to change can mysteriously but fundamentally shift form.
(But remember: you cannot do healing work in an actual triggered state (i.e. when you’re having the fight, flight, or freeze response), so don’t force yourself to sit with anything if it is putting you into survival mode. Start with smaller discomforts, and consider working with a trauma therapist if you feel like you need support to go deeper (the new moon in Scorpio is the perfect time to search for a therapist! Feel very free to ask me for advice about different modalities of trauma therapy and I can let you know about my experience & research). We can also get together and see what guidance your chart has to offer; readings are not a replacement for other kinds of trauma work, but can be a beautiful tool to reveal invaluable information and figure out what therapeutic or spiritual modalities & approaches will work best for you.)
Finally, the ruler of Scorpio is Mars, and Mars is currently in Scorpio with the sun & moon (within a degree!). While this turns up the volatility & the potential for conflict, the ruler of the sign in its own domicile has the resources it needs to achieve its aims. It may feel more like a battle because of Mars’ influence, but the warrior deity’s strength and willpower are on your side, are yours to embody.