We're ready! Here we are!
And other ghostly messages from the depths
Image found via Pinterest and ain't it good
IT’S SCORPIO SEASON, BABY! Patron sign of ghosts and ghouls and sex and death and rebirth. As a Scorpio moon (and many other Scorpio chart placements), I work heavily with all of Scorpio’s themes and energies on an ongoing basis. It’s a deep emotional well that I’ve come to sincerely appreciate. Scorpio invites me into layers of myself that I grew up learning to repress, the act of which helps me to reclaim very powerful and helpful aspects of my personality/desires/impulses. Scorpio reminds me to be wonderfully, painfully, and strikingly human.
I invite my beloved astrology skeptics to take the chips on your shoulders, dip them in queso, and hang in there with me for this newsletter. I love a skeptic. I, too, am skeptical of systems and processes that don’t readily seem to make sense or be of use to me. I think we should actually be skeptical of ALL systems and processes at first, and I think we should also be entirely willing to investigate systems and processes thoroughly to see how they may or may not fit into our personal toolboxes before we write them off. You may end up appreciating astrology or you may not, but at least you set aside your biases to find out.
Astrology has never been a 100% certain die-hard system for me. It has its flaws, most notably lumping people in to categories and flaunting predictions that have a 50/50 chance of playing out. It also certainly has the side-eye of plenty of people who think that it is meaningless and silly. For me, it’s been a consistent resource for wonder, research and discovery, and most importantly it’s been a tried-and-true mapping system for working on myself. We have a New Moon and a Solar Eclipse coming up tomorrow (both in Scorpio, too!) and these events typically bring invitations into:
Pieces of the self that are ready to die so that we can make room for what’s next
Inner transformation that, if we look at the last 6-9 months (sometimes even longer), we can totally see playing itself out and we can plan and prepare for some significant emotional and relational questions and situations to come up
Looking at what we want to experience next in our lives based on what is currently concluding, being an active participant in the unfolding and creating
Allowing tense/rocky relationships to die or transform and taking responsibility for our part in creating boundaries, communicating, grieving, and celebrating
Whether you believe the planets have conjured up these themes for us to work with or not, look at how helpful this list could be if you’re the type of person who really doesn’t know where or how to begin your own emotional caretaking. What I’m curious about is not whether you believe in astrology, but whether you have a supportive system in place. How often are you checking in with the themes of your life? Do you have the courage to take an honest look and listen? Do you feel that life happens to you or with you and through you? It is a great, big, wonderful act of self love to make time for tending to yourself and your gorgeous growth.
I have been surrounded by death, animal signs, and other loud heralds of transformation lately. This is a big indicator of energy moving. I hit that poor porcupine on the road last week, saw a squirrel get shot this weekend, almost stepped on two snakes, carefully avoided squashing no less than 12 fuzzy caterpillars, followed a small woodpecker from tree to tree, and have been dreaming of black crows flying above me and nudging me. Now, I could ignore all of this, or I could sit with it and check in with myself and realize that I have been asking myself and the universe for some BIG things this year. I’ve been doing what I need to do to usher them in, but there are some pieces that are slightly out of my hands, like timing.
These desires need space.
Lots and lots of space.
Space that can only be created through allowing some massive habits and resistances to completely die and/or transform.
It always shocks me when I think that I’ve made it so far with some level of self regard or self acceptance, that I believe I’ve really come to a great place (which I have, not to discount it), and then all of a sudden I get these striking epiphanies about layers of self judgment and shame and guilt that I didn't even know were there because they’d been so quiet! What is really happening is that I finally cleared more of the noise and sediment from over them, and now they have room to come screaming to the surface, shouting “We’re ready! Here we are! Look at what you do to yourself! How sad! Why? We need love! We need attention! Look look look!” And I am at once so overwhelmed and grateful and ready and not ready at all to be with any of it.
But - here it is. Who am I to ignore it? Who am I to hear the depths of myself and reject it? I am devoted to myself, so, onward. It’s as simple as that.
I’ve dreamt twice in the last month about finding old plants that I thought were dead. I picked them up, began to dig around in the soil or push it aside, and suddenly found all this new growth and fresh seeds shooting up in front of my eyes. Now if that ain’t foreshadowing, I don’t know what is.
May you use this season to dig up the parts of yourself that are desperate for love and care.
May you use this season to light apple spice candles and eat fresh bread with butter and kiss your pets again and again as you snuggle together and wait for the good death of winter.
May you set down your grievances long enough to find out which of them are actually ready to leave.
May you make space for what’s to come.
Until next time. I love you. Thanks.