Full Moon in Scorpio: Reclaiming Your Self-Worth by Living Your Purpose

Full Moon in Scorpio: Reclaiming Your Self-Worth by Living Your Purpose
Moon-Sun Opposition @ 4:42pm CDT, 5-10-17

“Like a beautiful flower full of color and also fragrant, 
even so, fruitful are the fair words of one who practices them.”

--"Pupphavagga: Flowers" (Dhp IV), translated from the Pali by Acharya Buddharakkhita

The Full Flower Moon has always been one of my favorite lunations of the year (even when stressfully aspected). The Taurus-Scorpio axis always seems to enliven the life force within us in some way; it marries depth and celebration into sacred ceremonial space for getting right to the heart of matters. This Moon is also celebrated as the birthday of the Buddha, illuminating the middle path which balances between our two luminaries in opposition upon this axis.

The feeling of this moon, I know well.  I was born under a Scorpio Moon myself, which resides in my 7th house of partnership. To live with, and through, those lessons is to know what it means to push the boundaries of human existence, and come out even more alive than before. Not an easy path, but one important that some of us learn from. The wisdom it can bring is healing for the whole tribe...As not everyone is meant to walk the edge, but can still learn from one who has.

The Taurus fuel from the Sun this season inspires the Gardener within those of us who have Taurus prominent in our natal chart.  I was born with Taurus rising, and Chiron in Taurus conjunct that ascendant in my first house of self. My own natal Chiron (the wounded healer) is currently being transited by the Sun as it moves through the 21st degree of Taurus.  There is a great deal of medicine in this Taurus energy for me, most of which came from discovering and healing the wounds (Chiron) of self-worth and finding the gift within those lessons. The highest vibration of Taurus, for me, is symbolized by the image of a healthy and thriving bee colony that not only loves and supports themselves, but the larger whole outside the hive as well...which benefits from their pollination efforts. Taurus energy honors the sweetness and sensual pleasures of life...The essence of beauty and bliss...And coaxes it out for others to enjoy. Though, in it's lowest vibrations, there is always a bit of a sting to it that can hold you back from fully enjoying yourself and others.

And here we are, this full moon, with an eagle eye set on balancing between extremes... Wanting to elevate ourselves above an opposition to gain perspective on the theme they share. Symbolism is what I use to understand the greater story unfolding. So let's take a look at the sabian symbols illuminated by our luminaries.

Sun in the 21st degree of Taurus:. “A finger pointing to a line in an open book.”

We are searching for meaning within the larger story of human existence. What line of this book draws us to look deeper at ourselves and extract our own medicine, inspiring us to let it shine? I have countless books with highlighted passages and margins filled with my own musings. Many of us have used the practice of grabbing an insightful book during times of confusion, opening it randomly, and blindly pointing to a paragraph that we read into to find guidance. Consider, now, that we are this insightful book. What line of our own story are we currently highlighting? Is it useful to us now? Does it inspire a turning point in our transformation? Is it the turning point that we are finally on the other side of? Does it get get right to the action at the heart of our matter? The sun here illuminates the current focal point we are radiating out into the world. If that current focal point isn't aligned with our whole Self, we may need to shift our focus.

Moon in the 21st degree of Scorpio: “Obeying his conscience, a soldier resists orders.”

When pinpointing what gives our lives meaning and purpose, another light illuminates what we value and what may be out of step with those values.  Societal expectations often trap us into tight little boxes of what seems to be demanded of us, especially in aggressive societies still clinging to the last grasps of what is falling away (like ours). This can keep us small and orderly, for a time anyway. But Scorpionic energy always eventually bubbles up to the surface from what is hidden...And sometimes even has the potential to explode like a volcano if it is too long repressed. We are much larger than those neat little nondescript boxes. We have feelings that are unique to each of us, purpose that we came to learn, and Mysteries yet to be uncovered...Which can look like chaos to the established order of things within societal norms.  If something being asked of us is not truly aligned with who we really are, our conscience (our individual sense of values) steps in to bring us back to our path. We accept the consequences of stepping out of the box, and we assert our inner freedom. The full moon here illuminates that though the powers that we have allowed to control us have grown in influence, we are not spiritually bound to their control (even if otherwise imprisoned).

Scorpio is a multidimensional sign shrouded in layers of mystery to keep occult knowledge protected, which means it often gets misunderstood by the perpetuation of surface appearance (Oh no! A scary scorpion! Don't cross them!)  But the scorpion is not the only symbol of this sign. The higher vibrations of Scorpio are symbolized by the Eagle (and sometimes, the Phoenix). This is fitting symbolism during this moon, for me, as I am integrating the Eagle/Condor archetype into my heart chakra now as part of a process that began with receiving the Harmony Rite of the Q'ero tradition of shamanic healers.

Deb Houlding, in the Mountain Astrologer magazine, wrote about the eagle as an evolved symbol of Scorpio energy:

“If, as the Egyptians thought, scorpions represent initiation into the sacred mysteries, we can consider the sign’s other related creature, the eagle, as a higher expression of Scorpio power. Many ancient astrologers, including Ibn Ezra [Arabic astrologer] , recognised eagle symbolism as valid to this sign, since the biblical prophet Ezekiel described a vision, believed to be drawn from Babylonian astrology and representative of the ‘fixed cross of matter’:

As for the likeness of their faces, they four had the face of a man [Aquarius], and the face of a lion [Leo], on the right side: and they four had the face of an ox [Taurus] on the left side; they four also had the face of an eagle [Scorpio]. (Ezekiel 1 verse 10).

Saint John’s book of the Apocalypse (Revelation 4, v7) also alludes to the vision, of which Fred Gettings, in The Secret Zodiac, writes:

The eagle of St John is the eagle of Scorpio, which sign (alone of all the twelve) has two images, the eagle the symbol of the redeemed and spiritualized Scorpionic nature, the scorpion its fallen, unredeemed and earth-bound nature.

Transcendence from the crawling scorpion to the soaring eagle, still predatory, still conveying the essence of patience and penetration, but capable of flight and height, brings together the theme of destruction and renewal as a story of evolution.”

In the Andes mountains of Peru, the paqos share the prophecy of the Eagle and the Condor... which has unknown origins but is present in the oral traditions of many indigenous tribes of the Western hemisphere. The common thread in this widespread prophecy, as described by anthropologist Jeff Jenkins, is that we come to a time when “the human family would face the choice of evolutionary transformation into symbiotic presence within the more-than-human world or to continue in the destruction of the planet.”

The archetypes within this prophecy represent the coming together of the North (Eagle) and the South (Condor). The Condor represents the path of the heart, intuition, and the feminine. The Eagle represents the path of the mind, industry, and the masculine. Together, they create a bridge of understanding and symbiosis by sharing and learning the medicine of both paths through open communication and mutual empowerment.

The following is my own intuitive account of the prophecy.  I wrote it as a dialogue describing the story of this archetypal alliance growing within my own heart.

Kuntur de Hurin and Anka de Hanan

In the Upper World, Kuntur met with Anka to discuss the coming together of their people's paths.

Anka: They don't understand their potential yet.

Kuntur: They will. More and more are reconnecting. Remembering their larger family.

Anka: My people are still largely destructive, distracted by the dream of the North. They consume and consume, they seem to live for it.

Kuntur: Like Caterpillar, yes... Consuming vegetation to grow larger. But within the chrysalis of transformation, they will change the dream.

Anka: It is difficult to be patient with their process; difficult for them as well.

Kuntur: It is. But it is up to our people to become luminous as Butterfly. It is not up to us whether they succeed or fail.

Anka: Indeed. Right now, it looks like failure. It is as if they have to hit rock bottom before the flower of their collective heart can even reach the earth again to grow.

Kuntur: And my people had to feel rock bottom too, during the past Pachakuti, to unearth the gem of their collective mind away from fear of their oppressors and into alliance with them now.

Anka: How did they survive?

Kuntur: Their spirit is strong. It is the same with your people. There was a lot of death and destruction, but all was not lost. They, too, had to change the dream of the South. It always begins with ancestral lessons, and then manifests within the younger generations.  They are finding their purpose.

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For more information on the 4th Gate of Compassion, where we reclaim the healing of the emotional heart and a renewed ability to truly love yourself and others, check out 4th Chakra: Healing the Heart.