November 14th ~ 21st
I’ve never tried to block out the memories of the past, even though some are painful. I don’t understand people who hide from their past. Everything you live through helps to make you the person you are now. ~ Sophia Loren
This year, as Jupiter stationed for its retrograde phase it was making an almost perfect trine to Saturn. And as it always does every time it stations, Jupiter was also closing in on a trine to the Sun, creating a Grand Trine in the Water signs, just in time for the New Moon at 28º Scorpio 12’ next week. With all of the water signs occupied by the Sun, the Moon, Mercury, Jupiter, Saturn and Neptune, we will be diving into the very depths of our being with this Moon. We are being compelled to feel the feelings, to meet all the denizens at the door: the shames, the fears, the grief, the remorse, the guilt, as well as the joys, the passions, and the magic that is Scorpio. And there’s no other way around it, but to move right through it.
On Tuesday, retrograde Mercury will return to Scorpio forming an exact conjunction the New Moon on Thursday. Mercury disappears from the sky when it enters the heart of the Sun. The inferior conjunction of the Sun and Mercury is the nascent beginning of the next Mercury cycle. This is Mercury’s New Moon as well. It is in the middle of its retrograde phase when Mercury’s outer effectiveness is being eclipsed, that its inner essential nature is at its height.
The subtle insights that Mercury brings us at the New Moon are deeply significant for our own inner growth and mental awareness. But in order to hear that inner voice, speaking to us through our feelings, through our passions, through our instincts, we are going to have to listen quite closely. For the insights that Mercury in Scorpio can bring, is a deep inner knowing conveyed through symbols, sounds, and the senses.
And with the Sun, Moon and Mercury all in opposition to Uranus, what we are being shown this week, albeit shocking and and maybe even alarming, could also be incredibly enlightening. Be read for a few twists and turns with this New Moon. Uranus weather is often quick, and we will need to be vigilant in order to register that what we are seeing, hearing and being made aware of, is indeed true.
At the New Moon, the Sun, Moon and Mercury will all be closely trine Neptune in Pisces, trine Saturn also in Pisces, and trine Jupiter in Cancer, while opposing Uranus. Astrologers call this a Kite formation, in which the potential implied by the Grand Trine is further activated and potentiated by the planet Uranus. Uranus not only opposes the New Moon and Mercury, but forms an exact sextile to Neptune, on Thursday, just hours after the New Moon.
Uranus, which has now returned to Taurus can indeed be illuminating. Sometimes shockingly so. Secrets are revealed. Pennies are made irrelevant. We come to realize that the old ways of doing things need an update, and that we are now standing on the threshold of something new and different. But before we get there, with 5 planets retrograde and 7 planets (including Sun and Moon) in the last degrees of their signs, we are compelled to face our past.
Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it. ~ George Santayana
Without our history we have no context for where we are now. 7 planets in the late degrees of their signs and 5 of these are also retrograde. All are reminding us that the past is important. Who we were and who we now are. What motivates and moves us. And that without our past we have no present and will have no future. We are tasked with making sense of the present by remembering, exploring, processing and shining a light on past events, that are relevant to our present and our future. Nothing is sacred in the sign of Scorpio, the sign of Birth, Death, and Rebirth, and all things Taboo: sexuality, scandal, mental illness, the abuses and negligence of too much power and corruption. Nothing is off the table.
Change is imminent. But first we are needing to tie up the loose ends of the past, release what is getting in the way of our ability to be open to the changes that are being seeded here within the New Moon. Do not be afraid to look in the dark places. The workers in the water and earth signs are distilling, purifying, processing and making sense of what was, so that we will be able to make better choices in the future.
With Mercury returning to Scorpio on Tuesday we are able to take that deep dive along with the New Moon in order to confront our own demons: our fears, the feelings, the habits, the doubts, the old ways of thinking that still have a hold on us, and prevent us from living our own best lives. Whatever is standing in the way of our own freedom, our ability to live authentically, will be challenged with this New Moon.
We live in a transitional era of profound pain and tragic identity quest, but the agony of our age is the labor pain of rebirth. The beginning is near. ~ Marshall McLuhan
New Moons are times of new beginnings. And accompanied by the exact sextile between Uranus and Neptune, we are not just compelled to revisit the past, but are being given a glimpse of the possibilities that await us in the future. And combined with the almost exact trine between Jupiter and Saturn, this Moon is also about creating a plan for the future:
What can you do to improve your current circumstances?
Where do you want to grow? What is standing in your way?
Where have you been limiting yourself with old assumptions and rules that are no longer relevant for where you are now?
This is about seeking understanding, and trying to find our way, our position, in these extraordinary, unpredictable and changeable times.
Sextiles imply opportunities. There is nothing to compel us or force us to change with the Uranus/Neptune sextile. Progress may just seem to naturally evolve out of the fabric of our everyday lives. However, any attempts to enact progressive changes will be buoyed by this transit that has been and will be exact 5 times: (August 28, 2025; November 20, 2025; July 25, 2026; January 15, 2027; and June 6, 2027). The last time these two were sextile were in the late 60’s: Hello bellbottoms, Hendrix, and Janis Joplin, along with a series of progressive movements that were symbolic of the era (the anti-war movement, civil rights, women’s rights, the environmental movement which culminated with Earth Day in 1970). All conceived in the aftermath of the revolutionary Uranus/Pluto conjunction of the mid-60’s.
The New Moon in Scorpio encourages us to make promises to ourselves to create better habits, to make a commitment to even transform our own lives. Some positive ways to use the New Moon in Scorpio next Wednesday or Thursday (depending on where you are in the world) might be:
Transforming a habit or pattern of behavior that has been holding you back or preventing you from growing. If there was one thing that you might want to change in yourself or your life, what might that be?
Saying No More to negative influences. This Moon is about cultivating those things, alliances and experiences that feed your mind, body and soul, rather than depleting it.
Making a commitment to a plan for self-improvement. In what ways are you wanting to be a healthier, stronger, more fit, and happier version of yourself?
The best time to make intentions or affirmations with the New Moon at 28º Scorpio 12’ would be during the New Moon phase which begins with the New Moon on November 19th (10:48 pm Pacific time) or November 20th (1:48 am Eastern Time; 6:48 am Greenwich Time); and ends with the Crescent Moon on November 24th.
Scorpio is a sign of transformational change. Some of the themes of this Moon can have to do with overcoming self-limiting narratives and beliefs; healing deep wounds from the past, and learning how to use our own power, position and resources in positive and constructive ways.
Some positive affirmations or intentions for this New Moon might be:
Out of the ashes of the past, I have the ability to create a better and more meaningful future.
When I embrace my own power, I become an instrument for positive change in the world and in my own life.
I am endowed with the magical ability to transform problems into happiness.
I am profound and have depths of potential as yet unrealized.
I want to see myself purifying and releasing those things that are no longer necessary, and are keeping me from growing.
I am powerful and capable of taking on even the most daunting of challenges.
For the New Moon for your natal sign or by natal house placement, check out this week’s horoscopes: