The veil is always thin
What is the thinnest veil you can imagine?
For me, it's a fresh spider web strung between bare, spindly twigs with only the tiniest hints of buds-to-be showing. Dew hasn't yet graced this web with its sparkle, and thus increased its density. It is only - and miraculously - a carefully crocheted portion of the forest, consisting of thin strands of spider silk, held aloft by the breathiest whisperings of sleeping, dreaming trees.
Mid-autumn is known as "the time of the thin veil," when that which separates us from our ancestors - and more generally, all those who have passed - is less opaque than usual. Messages in both directions are transmitted more easily through this sheer fabric.
Mind what you say and what you think now. Great-great-grandma is listening. She's also got something to say, so prick up your ears.
What makes the veil thin now is the preciousness of life. Before modern technologies ensured that most of us would survive the winter, the living became reflective as the temperatures cooled each year. Homage was paid to those who had passed in previous winters so that if one - young or old - ended up joining them in the land of the dead, it would be a happy reunion.
These are not the autumnal thoughts most of us entertain in first world countries in the 21st century. And yet life remains precious. Life is a thread as thin and tenuous as the silk of spiders - subtle, delicate, exquisite, precarious. And yet our ancestors and the other dead are never far away. Not in mid-autumn. Not ever.
Our ancestors course through our veins, are woven into the very fabric of our cells. We walk upon soil that was at one time a living, beating heart, and before that...
stardust
.
Sun in Scorpio: 10/22/16 - 11/21/16
When the center of our solar system appears to travel through the sign of Scorpio, we do well to look beyond the appearances of things, to dig beneath the surface, to commune with the roots. The root word of Scorpio means "to cut." And so we cut away the extraneous at this time, prune back to the essentials, and thus disclose a previously obscured truth.
Let's define roots:
Ancestors and parents.
Teachers and other past influences.
The love that lies beneath your longings.
The fear that lies beneath your anger, striving, insecurity, anxiety, and surface fears.
How to prune back to the essentials:
Recognize the fleetingness of your life.
Recognize the fleetingness of everyone, every experience, everything you encounter.
That should clarify things.
Herbs for the solar month of Scorpio:
Roots: GARLIC to help you see in the dark, and also for protection from microbial and other kinds of pernicious influences. GINGER to warm the interior and decongest physical, mental and spiritual blockages.
MUSHROOMS of all kinds, which create life from death, and teach us about the underlying interconnectedness of all things.
Scoprio New Moon: 10/30 at 10:38 AM PDT
New moons are when we find a quiet stillness within, from which emerges clarity of direction for the month to come. We do not make our move now. We notice in which direction it is now time to move.
This is our monthly seeding time. Viewed through a Scorpionic lens, a seed embodies potency.
What power do you wish to bring forth -
into your body?
into your mind?
into your life?
into humanity?
What practices will germinate that seed?
Make time for this stillness and quiet. Schedule it into your Sunday. You'll also feel other, more tense, dramatic and active influences (read Pluto section in last month's post), triggered now by Mars (will, desire, motion). Surrender to all of it. Sleep in, meditate, and then engage in creative improvisations (dance, music, visual art, writing) to benefit from Neptune's intuitive, dreamy and harmonious influence on today's new moon. Balance action with receptivity and reflection.
Taurus Super Full Moon: 11/14 at 5:52 AM PST
Throughout its monthly orbit, the moon fluctuates in its proximity to the Earth. Like the heat of fire or the chill of ice, the closer the moon is to us the more we feel it. This "super" full moon is the closest full moon of 2016.
You will feel it.
Full moons bring us to a point of fullest expression. It's a very outwards and active time, the opposite of a tender, quiet, still new moon. It's also a time of tension. At this moon, the tension is happening in many places at once. The Scorpio sun and Taurus moon illuminate the tension between safety and risk, between peace and drama, between maintaining what is and letting death occur so that rebirth can follow. There's a time and place for each side of this equation. In general, the impetus now is towards transformation, but that doesn't mean you want to throw the baby out with the bath water.
Here's your rule of thumb for this time period:
Hold fast to what matters most, and let the rest go.
Meanwhile, a backdrop of longterm tension increases, pulling us between building empowering structures (for good or ill - the choice is yours), revolutionizing our lives and communities, and expanding on the justice, peace and beauty in the world and in our lives. This configuration also involves a lot of pulling skeletons out of closets - on both the personal and societal level. Through this influence, which began in 2012 and culminated throughout 2013-2015, the racism, sexism, and degrading of the environment in the U.S. have been irrevocably swept out from under the rug. Now comes the long hard journey of healing the dis-ease of our culture. So it is with our own personal demons. We need to face them down, and in doing so, we heal.
What skeletons can you pull out of your closet?
Hint: Skeletons often hide behind projections, so...
What most upsets you in the actions of others?
How can you witness these flaws in yourself and others with compassion?
Hint: Replace judgment with forgiveness.
Astrology 101 class in Oakland: 11/15
Thinly veiled as a guide to working with an astrological calendar, this class teaches you a lot of the basics of astrology - basics most people tend to gloss over in their quest to understand themselves. Yet who we are exists in a sea of changing influences - the topic of this class. Understanding those influences helps us see that illusive self that bobs about in the ever-changing sea of time and space more clearly and truly. Sign up here.
Neptune stations direct: 11/19
The retrogrades of Neptune do not wreak havoc on our earthly lives the way Mercury retrogrades can. These periods define more subtle yet still notable shifts in our awareness and experience, pointing us towards deeper layers of imagination, awareness, compassion, and forgiveness. Neptune stationed retrograde on 6/13/16, in an explosively tense configuration that stimulated bigger dreams that put us in deeper service to our truest beliefs. But first something needed to dissolve.
What have you let go of since June?
What still needs compassionate awareness and/or forgiving?
What bigger (or truer) dreams have emerged since June?
Neptune stations direct on 11/19/16 amid both harmonious and smaller challenging aspects. Now the big questions are -
What solid structures can you build to help you realize your dreams?
Can you clearly articulate the underlying message of your dreams effectively?
Are you open to the wisdom to be gained in dream-weaving's inevitable setbacks and delays?
Bringing it all back home, Scorpio-style:
You can garner more support in manifesting your dreams by tapping into your roots - your ancestors, your past influences, and the underlying potency and truth of what's calling you.
Next month...
We experience an increase of tensions, a helpful kick from a grand fire trine, the last of three super full moons in a row, and another round of Mercury in retrograde. Until then, here's wishing you an empowering and transformative month. As always, feel free to contact me or schedule an astrology consultation or healing session. Thanks for reading, Rae