Full Moon in Scorpio — May 20, 2008, 02:11 UT

By Kirsti Melto and Eric Francis

This is the second, and more intense of the two Scorpio Full Moons of the season. What was seed at the Beltane New Moon two weeks before has now rooted and matured. The lunar cycle, beginning with the New Moon and developing towards the Full Moon, finally peaks when the Sun and Moon are opposite each other and the Moon is reflecting the maximum amount of sunlight. This light gives us objectivity and consciousness to make decisions.

If the Taurus New Moon during Beltane was about balancing the male and female energies, this Full Moon in Scorpio is about solidifying that balance. At the New Moon, the Sun and Moon were exactly together; now they are face to face, seeing what they are getting. The Scorpio sign is powerful because it dares to look at the core of reality, and allows us to understand better our true nature.

Saturn is squaring the Sun-Moon opposition right at the midpoint of the two, functioning as an anchor for the attained balance. The Moon, previously in the April Full Moon chart sextile to Saturn, is now forming a more intense aspect to Saturn by the square.

As part of the Fixed Cross pattern, the Sun and Moon are occupying the last degree of the Taurus-Scorpio axis. Taurus, Leo, Scorpio and Aquarius are the four fixed signs. They manifest as willpower. A Grand Cross indicates strength and enduring. While squares are aspects of growth and development, crosses can be very dynamic. With all this energy abounding, we can also feel pulled in four different directions at once, which is worth keeping in mind.

The Sun, Moon, Saturn and Neptune are the main planets forming the Grand Cross. Saturn has already entered the mutable sign Virgo. The Centaur planet Okyrhoe is tightly conjunct Saturn. According to astrologer Mark A. Holmes, Okyrhoe seems to indicate, among other things, an ability to stand up for one’s beliefs or principles. Okyrhoe’s position opposite Neptune helps to avoid the possible confusion in grasping the realities, which sometimes results from the Saturn-Neptune opposition.

Also, plutino Orcus is in conjunction with Saturn but with a wider orb and being still in Leo, thus forming the fourth leg or arm of the Fixed Cross. Orcus was a Roman underworld deity, sometimes indentified with Pluto. Mark A. Holmes suggests that among the astrological attributes of Orcus are “boldnessâ€? and “having something to say.â€? Among Francesco Schiavinotto’s keywords for Orcus are â€?fight for survivalâ€? – also one of the attributes for Scorpio — and “endeavors aimed towards the boundary of the achievable.â€? This indicates that the struggle for balance is not wasted in the end.

Pluto, the modern ruler of Scorpio is retrograding in the first degree of Capricorn and forming an exact square to the Aries Point, a point which is associated with big events linking the public and private orders of reality. The effect is symbolically not just doubled but multiplied because of two consecutive Scorpio Full Moons and also Pluto retrograde travelling those degrees that it has gone through before.

Both Mercury and Venus are in their own signs, Mercury in Gemini and Venus in Taurus. Planets are said to be strong in their own sign, because they are in a sign with which they have much in common. Mercury is already in the echo phase, which began on May 11. Venus is applying conjunction to the Sun. Venus squares Neptune later on the day of the Full Moon.

A struggle between femininity and masculinity can be sensed in the aspects of Venus and Mars. Venus forms aspects with many planets, while Mars, the traditional ruler of Scorpio, looks a bit lonely in Leo making no other main aspects except for a trine to the Moon. The fiery Mars is though quite at home in a fire sign.

Chiron and Neptune are on the North Node of the Moon. Interestingly, these three are at the midpoint of Jupiter and Uranus. Jupiter is sextiling Uranus. Chiron is a planet of awareness and can be very helpful in pursuing objectivity. Neptune’s influence here may be twofold: Neptune may blur that awareness, but on the other hand there’s the possibility of dissolving boundaries.

The Moon is trining asteroid Lilith in the last degree of Pisces, conjunct the Aries Point. Lilith tells about the original woman inside the woman. She can also represent the crisis that “being the real me” brings into the lives of both women and men. Finding the real woman inside is necessary, though, before the balance between the male and the female can be stabilized.

Leave a Reply