7:34  am  AHST  5/5/2023
10:34  am    PDT  5/5/2023

  1:34  pm    EDT  5/5/2023
 5:34  pm   GMT  5/5/2023

This Full Moon takes place around Beltane, a cross-quarter day, halfway between Equinox and the upcoming Solstice. To the Ojibwe this is called the Flower Moon. But astrologically, this Lunar Eclipse Moon in Scorpio is powerfully intense, which is one of the bywords for Scorpio. Scorpio energy is characteristically intense, meaning it can have a laser-sharp focus that can intimidate some people who aren’t used to that kind of scrutiny. And, like any archetypal energy, it can be used for helping intentions or co-opted by the ego for its own designs. But we all have Scorpio somewhere in our chart, and in our psyche. Looking at the house that is ruled by Scorpio in your natal chart will tell you about where this energy colors what part of your psyche.

So, intensity rules for the next two weeks. But how will we use that intensity? It’s helped along by a trine (120˚ angle) to Mars in Cancer, which can make things even more emotionally charged than usual, or even more focussed upon nurturing others and self. And with a Lunar Eclipse point in the lunation cycle, along with a Mercury retrograde still in progress, life seems a bit unclear, possibly overwhelming at times. Shadow contents are lurking everywhere, it seems. But this is, like any transit, an opportunity for examining just what parts of shadow contents are arriving for you right now, and to be a witness to them, learning to not necessarily identify with them, but to see how seductive they can be, as they represent old patterns we’ve learned in the past.

The Sun at this Lunar Eclipse is approaching a conjunction with Uranus (exact May 9^th). Sun/Uranus combinations often are experienced as a desire for freedom from constraint. For the next week or so we’re feeling the tightness of whatever reins we’re being subjected to in our lives. The desire for self-expression becomes stronger. This is an energy we can utilize to find our true voice, our unique self-expression.

Soon, in mid-May, things will shift. Jupiter on May 15^th will finally exit the agitating and excitable sign of Aries, and enter into the calmness of Taurus. Jupiter rules our feelings of expansion, but in Taurus it’s more like “slow-growth” is a focus. And since Taurus is the essential earth sign, this may signal a year when we finally see some substantial changes in global attitudes toward climate change. (Jupiter spends about a year in each sign). Mercury will have gone direct the day before, so this is the beginning of things starting to calm down a bit from where they’ve been.

However, as Jupiter enters 0˚ of Taurus it forms an exact right angle (a square) to Pluto at 0˚ of Aquarius (now retrograde). Squares are challenges to self-scrutiny, and Taurus (materiality) square to Aquarius (principles) asks us about our values, challenges the societal norms which are decidedly materialistic at this point in our evolution. Jupiter square to Pluto calls us to examine the motivations behind our drives, our obsessions, our need to achieve and push through life. Where are we so driven that we neglect our basic needs or the needs of others, the needs for beauty, for love, for quiet, and rest?

On a global level, there may be more in the offing around the failure of banks as Pluto’s relentless drive to uncover hidden motivations and corruption in our billionaire-based economic system comes up against Jupiter’s Taurean ideas of “too big to fail”. We shall see. Capitalism as it now stands has to be part of the paradigm shift, from “me” to “we.” Since Jupiter will be in Taurus for the next year, this opening square to Pluto creates a signature to this cycle that must involve changes in our world economy, Taurus ruling what we value, and Aquarius asking us to adhere to a higher principle than profit.

Pluto will be retrograding back into Capricorn in June, and will give us our last transformational blast around exposure of corruption and changes in governmental systems until it leaves that sign forever (in our lifetimes) on January 20, 2024. Pluto’s last presence in the sign that rules the structures of our governments heralds some final results. Think of the January 6^th insurrection committee, but more intense, the culmination of their efforts.  

Finally, since this is Beltane, a time when, in ancient lore, the spirit world is closer to our awareness than at other times of the year, in combination with the Lunar Eclipse, we can allow ourselves to dive deeply into our imaginations, to receive insight and perhaps revive our delight in being a part of Creation. Connecting with the natural world during this time, being silent and aware, allows an opening to receive that which is beyond our conscious awareness, and yet is deeply resonant with our timeless self.