The Celtic Wheel of the Year has turned toward the fallow season, as Samhain (aka Halloween) marks the end of one year, and the beginning of the Celtic New Year. This is said to be a time when the veil between worlds is thin, inviting reflection on what has passed and what is ready to be released. Have you been feeling any of this? I had a funny communication of sorts while cleaning out our coat closet. I had washed all of our ball caps. (Did you know you can do that? Just put them in the washer on the gentle cycle, then let them air dry on the counter. Et voilà! Just make sure the bills aren’t vintage cardboard - that would be a disaster.) As I was stacking our now clean and dry ball caps into two neat and tidy piles up on the closet shelf, one ball cap did not want to stack neatly. It was our dear departed friend John’s “Die Cruisin” hat that Brando inherited. John would wear it backwards, with the bill curled up like a scroll - not vertically like an old farmer might (so it fits in their back pocket better), but horizontally. Maybe this is a thing that Harley riders do so the hat doesn’t fly off while cruising down the road? I don’t know. I do know that I had a giggle when I saw that it wouldn’t stack neatly, and said to John, 'Well, there you go, you are still, from beyond the grave, messing with my cleaning and organizing. I know that pleases you greatly’.
The new Moon at 16°53’ Scorpio occurs on Monday, November 9 at 1:02 am CST.
Scorpio: the sign of fixed water, the iceberg that only a small portion of which is visible, but that unseen mass of hidden density beneath the surface can take you down - no matter how titanic you believe yourself to be. Sounds a bit harsh, doesn’t it? Well, Scorpio does seem to be one of the most vilified signs in pop astrology, but I use this metaphor in the best way possible. I loves me some Scorpio energy - so deep, so sensitive, yet so able to experience the darkest depths without getting overwhelmed. And in those darkest depths, they are able to find the value in what is hidden there, typically doing so by cleansing the area of any metaphorical metabolic waste that has served its purpose and needs to go. Is it any wonder that Scorpio season coincides with Samhain in the Celtic Wheel of the Year? It’s good stuff, man! Let’s acknowledge, however, that just as it is necessary to prepare for the fallow season of autumn and the upcoming dormant season of winter, it is also necessary to prepare ourselves for those forays into the intensity that is Scorpio. Especially if we’re not familiar with these intense, cleansing energies that assist us in experiencing the depth and stillness of the iceberg that can destroy even the most titanic notions within us, simply by being in our path. So gird yourself for this upcoming Scorpio new Moon - allow yourself to feel as deeply as Scorpio does, and allow for the cleansing away of any waste material that has accumulated that needs to be released, and then maybe at this lunation some wonderful new notion can be seeded in the wreckage of any of our outdated titanic notions.
The Sun and Moon at 16°53’ Scorpio are square the North Node at 26°11’ Aquarius and the South Node at 26°11’ Leo, Jupiter at 25°14’ Leo, and Mars at 22°40’ Leo.
Any planet square the nodes can symbolize a way that we can drift off course. So at this lunation, let’s keep our eyes on the prize while we set intentions. And what is the prize? Well, let’s look to the Moon’s nodes to see what that may be. Let’s start with Mars, the ruler of Scorpio, conjunct the South Node. Let me break that down a bit further: the traditional ruler of Scorpio is Mars. The modern ruler of Scorpio is Pluto, and while I concede that there are many, many traits that Scorpio and Pluto share, I don’t like using outer planets as sign rulers. One reason for this is that, as my teacher Dr. Safron Rossi says, the outer planets symbolize deeper processes that unfold within us. So to think of the outer planets as sign rulers seems to me to portray them as smaller or simpler, or possibly more comprehensible than their significations indicate. But that’s a discussion for another time. Let’s first take a look at what Mars, the traditional ruler of Scorpio, is doing in this new Moon chart.
Mars in Leo at 22°40’, conjunct both Jupiter in Leo at 25°14, and South Node in Leo at 26°11’:
Mars has also just entered the retrograde shadow at 20°55’ Leo on Thursday, November 5, which simply means that Mars will be retrograding back to that same degree in Leo during the upcoming Mars retrograde. The Mars retrograde begins on January 10, 2027, and ends on April 1, 2027. Does this mean that any intentions that we set at this Scorpio new Moon may be further fleshed out during the upcoming Mars retrograde? Maybe! Let’s keep some space open for that possibility.
Now let’s look into the symbolism of Mars and Jupiter conjunct the South Node in Leo. How can we as individuals courageously and confidently step into a leadership role, with the aim of being a true leader? By true leader, I mean somebody who leads not for the glory, power, or ego stroke, but to truly be of service to humanity - to lead people toward a better life in some way. I’m not saying you have to forget about how glorious and powerful you are, no! Not in Leo, certainly, and certainly not with Jupiter there - you gotta double down on that glorious power in Leo, but it is of utmost importance to use that glory and power to benefit and serve the greater good, not simply to make yourself feel important and adored. Not that there’s anything wrong with feeling important and adored! Just don’t let that feeling end in smug satisfaction - pay that feeling forward as they say, or put another way, use your powers for good, not evil. With Leo energy, I love the idea of “noblesse oblige”, a French term meaning “nobility obligates”. This term illustrates the idea that with power comes the responsibility to be generous and caring toward those less powerful. Even if we feel that we have relatively little power in the grand scheme of things, we can always use what power we do have to help empower others. This is what this configuration of planets seems to be asking of us all.
Venus Retrograde in Libra at 23°19’ sextile to Mars, Jupiter and South Node in Leo, and trine to North Node in Aquarius
Venus has now emerged as the Warrior Queen Morning Star in Libra, but she remains retrograde until Friday, November 15th. While she has come out of the metaphorical situation room, she has still not yet taken the podium at center stage to declare herself Warrior Queen. However, she is giving some supportive aspects to all of these Leo planets, and also to the lunar nodes at this new Moon. Is there something that you have worked out during Venus’s retrograde journey that you can now apply to how you may use your power to empower others? Or how you can use what you learned about yourself during Venus’s retrograde to courageously and confidently step into a leadership role, with the aim of being a true leader? If so, it seems that Venus is lending all manner of irresistibly refined and elegant charm to the endeavor.
Mercury Retrograde in Scorpio at 06°51’ square to Pluto in Aquarius at 03°12’:
Here we have Mercury in their psychopomp guise - the mover between worlds, the guide of souls into and out of the underworld. We also have the ability to think deeply, to imagine deeply, to focus intently on what it is that we’re pondering. Since Mercury is retrograde, it may be that something comes up for reassessment in some way - a recurring issue, some way of thinking about or imagining things that needs some adjustment or tweaking. It could be that we’re called to have deep conversations - perhaps ones that we’ve had before, or that we’ve danced around having before. Perhaps now the time and energies are right to engage in some Real Talk - that honest Scorpionic conversation that may sting a bit in the doing, but will ultimately be cleansing, and will allow for the composting of played-out patterns, attitudes, or behaviors, clearing a path forward of renewal for all involved.
As a reminder: Steph from Thrift Bandit Vintage has graciously agreed to share her rad space with me for conducting in-person astrology sessions (and also with Dawn Frary of Folkloracle for in-person Tarot readings - highly, highly recommend!). This is all super right on time, since as I’ve said before, I recently learned from Dr. Justin Sipla of the Carver College of Medicine that “vibing” aka interactional synchronization is a real thing that happens when we are in close proximity to one another, looking each other in the eye and communicating. We literally can get on the same wavelength as our neurons start to fire together. Pretty cool that we’ve got some scientific proof for something many of us have known all along! As another plus, Steph will leave her payment information in the shop, so you can shop for some beautifully curated thrift items before or after your astrology session. Retail therapy + Cosmic exploration, anyone?? I’m still trying to wrap my work/life reality around setting up a regular schedule for in-person consultations, but for the time being, you can send me a message at chitchatastrology@gmail.com and I will open up a custom appointment time for you on my online scheduler - with enough notice.
Here is the timing for setting intentions for this new Moon in Scorpio at 16°53’:
Monday morning, November 9, 1:02 am through Friday morning, November 13, 2:33 am
Note: when setting intentions, avoid the Void-of-Course Moon times of:
Monday, November 10, 5:25 pm - Tuesday, November 10, 2:35 am (9 hours, 10 min)
Thursday, November 12, 5:29 am - 2:27 pm (8 hours 58 min)
Setting intentions or manifesting by house placement (or area of life) topics;
if the New Moon falls in your:
1st house general meaning: Identity, Appearance, First impressions, Style, Self-image
1st house more nuanced meaning: How we approach life, The lens through which we perceive existence, Developing the self which we allow others to see, Forming, presenting, and maintaining identity
2nd house general meaning: Money, possessions, income, tools of the trade, personal values
2nd house more nuanced meaning: Developing healthy self-esteem and personal worth through cultivation of our value system, The value placed on the personal role of finances and what we receive, seek, or earn in life
3rd house general meaning: Neighbors, siblings, early education, communication, ideas, writing
3rd house more nuanced meaning: Development of practical skills, Inner cleverness at examining and using the various angles that life presents, What we learn from our daily encounters with life, Capacities for adapting
4th house general meaning: Home, family, roots
4th house more nuanced meaning: The way we create an individual personality outside of direct family influence, Developing self-sufficiency, Defining our own lives, A basic and fundamental side of our nature
5th house general meaning: Creativity, children, self-expression, pleasure, play, romance, sports, gambling
5th house more nuanced meaning: Giving and receiving love, Learning to find enjoyment or satisfaction from the routine tasks of life, Integrating creativity and self-expression
6th house general meaning: Physical health, wellness, daily work, routines, pets, employment
6th house more nuanced meaning: Improvement of self through applied discipline, How we handle both our internally generated rejection and the possible rejection from others, The efficient functioning of our body, Feedback from the body
7th house general meaning: One to one relationships, The Other
7th house more nuanced meaning: Cooperation, Compromise, and Competition, Working through disagreement and finding mutual satisfaction, Learning to live peacefully with the opinions of others without compromising your own interest or feelings, Learning interpersonal skills.
8th house general meaning: Death, taxes, inheritance, debt, shared money, psyche
8th house more nuanced meaning: Exchange of financial, emotional, and sexual energies, Intimacy, Entanglements, Understanding deep motivations within our psyche, Removal of any kind, including the mysterious removal of the self from the body at death
9th house general meaning: Travel, Formal studies, Philosophy, Religion, Meaning, Belief systems
9th house more nuanced meaning: Expanding your mind - through education, travel, new directions, Compare what the universe offers to what you presently know, Defining your personal ethics, philosophy, truths, basic understanding of how life works, Seeking inner unfolding
10th house general meaning: Career, Reputation, Vocation, Profession, Contribution to society
10th house more nuanced meaning: Setting high standards of conduct and meeting these standards, Gaining, using and wielding authority and how we use authority that others may grant us, How we handle the rewards or recognition received from our prior activities, The reputation we build through our actions, intentions, and directives, Acting in socially and morally correct ways
11th house general meaning: Friend groups, Organizations, Community, Hopes, Aspirations, Luck
11th house more nuanced meaning: Urges to improve the lot of self or others, Motivations for seeking change, Expectations about creating our niche in the world, Our perception of and attitude about humanity, Our needs for others in roles outside of a one-to-one companionship, Impersonal friendliness, Shaping or effecting change within the social or political system - because the old way no longer works well and a new way of seeing current reality is needed
12th house general meaning: Institutions, Solitude, Mental health, Ancestral forces, Unconscious
12th house more nuanced meaning: The hidden, the subjective, the inner, the changing part of inner definitions, Inner world exploration, Themes of escape, The mental mindset we create can limit us to narrow definitions of life - breaking through these narrow definitions, Facing and breaking through the barriers we create for ourselves