3:45 AM PDT, May 7, 2020

10:45 AM UTC May 7, 2020

Full Moon in Scorpio and Venus Retrograde

Scorpio, the sign of emotional intensity, governs this Full Moon, which is also even more powerful as it is the fourth (and final this year) of four SuperMoons in a row, being at perigee, or much closer to the Earth than usual. You may notice its powerful brightness over these next few nights. Its gravitational and electromagnetic pull is also much stronger at this time. This Full Moon signifies an event which the Buddhists call the Wesak Moon. This commemorates the birth and death of the Buddha, and is an important holiday in many parts of Asia. It is said that the Buddha makes a yearly approach to the earth plane at the moment of this Full Moon, to give us blessings.

All signs in the zodiac are paired, each with their opposite. The Taurus/Scorpio polarity is referred to as my values and possessions (Taurus) versus other people’s values and possessions (Scorpio). But it is much more than that. Taurus is the first earth sign in the zodiac and governs our lessons in how we navigate getting our individual needs met in the visible material world. Scorpio on the other hand, is a water sign (feelings) and governs our principles and beliefs around our relationships with others. It rules the material things we share together, as well as the territory of our invisible worlds, the hidden aspects of our deep inter-relatedness, and karmic soul connections. It’s “my stuff” versus “your stuff” but ultimately the lesson is “our stuff”.

This Full Moon also aspects the ongoing Jupiter/Pluto conjunction, that harbinger of economic slowdown, reversal of values and reforming of the existing systems which organize our resources. The last time these two conjoined was 2008 during the “Great Recession,” at a similar time when the government bailed out banks and the oil and gas industries, setting the tone for the environmental and economic mess we find ourselves in once again. With Mercury in Taurus (our ideas and thoughts about our material world) conjoined the Sun, these issues are even more powerfully at the forefront. The Full Moon also trines Neptune, which gives us the possibility of establishing deep connections to the greater “we” of our Higher Selves. Perhaps we may dream up some insights into creating new ways of managing our resources on Planet Earth.

Venus, the ruler of Taurus, will soon be going retrograde on the 12th, along with Saturn (on the 10^th) and Jupiter (on the 14^th). This backward turning of these three planets (from the Earth’s perspective) signifies a time of inward review, time to take care of the immense problems we face at this time, rather than beginning anything new. It’s a time for finishing up, tackling old problems, and evaluating what needs to be done.

I have been watching Venus closely for the past many months. Her brilliant presence in the night sky has been comforting to see each night before she sets in the west. She represents the heart chakra, and the values of love and relationship that can carry us through the most difficult of times. Soon, she will retrograde back toward a conjunction with the Sun on June 3^rd, and then after 7 days will appear to us as a “morning star” for the next nine months.

Venus is a very special planet, as her orbit when it conjoins with the Earth over an 8 year period forms a pentagram. The evening/morning star shift is an archetypal symbol of rejuvenation and rebirth, similar to the myth of Inanna, who was the Sumerian equivalent of Venus.  In a sense, we are all entering a descent into the underworld, a re-acquaintance with our shadow Venus, in order to find a new way of being, and expand our ability to love. Where do we cut ourselves off from loving? Where do we give in to fear of loss, or dying? (Scorpio). Venus will be retro in the sign of Gemini during this phase of her regeneration, which points toward our minds, and the thoughts that we tell ourselves, the ways we communicate. These thoughts and ways can be uplifting to the heart, or damaging, and though they are “programmed” into us, ultimately they can be shifted by the choices we make. Venus’s combustion with the Sun on June 8^th is a rebirth time for our deeply wounded feminine. The average 40 days and 40 nights of her retrograde period is an ancient archetypal interval of challenge signifying regeneration and rebirth. For the next year and a half, her appearance at dawn augurs a kind of wakeup call for our hearts, to truly learn that love is the most powerful force.

Also, the Nodes of the Moon, which navigate through the signs about every 18 months, are shifting from Cancer/Capricorn to Gemini/Sagittarius. The North Node (our future destiny) of Cancer has brought us more deeply into the home, whether for us personally or for those news casters and artists sitting in their own home offices broadcasting to us. The South Node (what must be revamped) in Capricorn has shown us the outmoded nature of our global systems, and the imbalance of wealth. Now the North Node in Gemini asks us to begin a new era of developing new ideas, new intellectual achievements, new ways of communicating. And the South Node in Sagittarius shows us how our religions and philosophies have betrayed us and kept us disparate, locked into old beliefs that no longer serve humanity’s need to unite to a common cause: our survival. Oh the times, they are a-changin’.

Use the fierce aspect of this Scorpio Moon to examine how you can promote your awareness of your connections with others, to how you are deeply connected to the world around you, even though we have been separated by distancing. We may find these connections in our dreaming, or through a deep inner silence that would not be achieved in the busy, driven world we have temporarily left behind. Within the deepest inner silence, the wisdom of the world is available to us.