New Moon in Scorpio: Welcome, Dead!

11.1.05


At New Moons, we set intentions. We sow the grains of our future. We commit to, henceforth, devote our energies and efforts to a specific purpose… whether for two weeks, a month or indefinitely, but beyond the here and now, sustained at least until a sprout pokes up from the dark ground.

At the Scorpio New Moon, which occurs today (Tue Nov 1), we have our most optimal opportunity of the year to pledge communion with the dead… to open ourselves to the wisdom of who and what has already come and gone, for enhanced understanding of how we ended up here now.

The 'dead' are not just the spooky ghosts of people who formerly lived, but all residual traces of what once was—including broken hearts, family secrets, childhood wounds, squelched passions and unrequited desires. The dead stick around where there's unfinished business, losses not mourned or guilt not absolved or conclusions not accepted as final. And they scare us so badly with their barely-consciously-detectable reminders of the pain we felt (or tried to avoid feeling, as the case may be), since we so direly fear returning to those depths of pain.

For as long as we pretend everything is hunky-dory, that we didn't fall to pieces when Mom died or Dad told us we were stupid and wouldn't amount to shit, that we don't wish we hadn't started having sex so young or let him beat us bloody or gave up the dream job to remain subservient and safe… the dead continue to haunt us. We give them only enough life so we can spy their outlines late at night, half-awake, in our dreams… or whenever we find ourselves suddenly out of control, screaming obscenities, aching to be treated cruelly or to do the cruel-treating, hitting, screaming, praying ourselves or someone else dead. Death, in its dormant unconscious silhouette, merely begets more death.

But for death to complete its cycle into life reborn, we must set a place for it at the table. We must permit our fury and dishonor, regret and grief to speak… to release stagnant debris, to help others face their own darkness, for a final conclusion, in the name of truth, to live all the way while we've still got the chance.

Energy doesn't just disintegrate or disappear. It must be invited to change form, to transmute from lifeless waste to rich fertilizer, or it merely obstructs our ability to replant the fields.

Jupiter's entry into Scorpio last week makes this a better year than we've seen in a while to set these purgative intentions, to invest our day-to-day lives with more conscious awareness of the blood and bones and ashes upon which they are built.

Pick just one skeleton, and toss it out of its hiding-place closet. Sit it on the couch next to you, pour it a beer, and ask it why the hell it continues to torment you. You might be surprised when it actually answers.

In Mexican tradition, today is El Día de los Muertos (or 'Day of the Dead'), when ancestors are celebrated with a joyous, rather than mournful, tone. There's much inspiration to be drawn from such celebrations now, during the time of year when the curtain between the living and the dead is at its thinnest. Explore for yourself.

Day of the Dead (Wikipedia)
Day of the Dead in Mexico (Mary J. Andrade, writer/photographer)
Mexico's Day of the Dead Links (Mexico Connect)