We all know the stories about the Dragonslayers – St. George, Perseus, Archangel Michael.  They battle to slay the dragon.   For they see the Dragon as Darkness.   They see it as Evil. They see the Dragon as Death.

There are other ways to meet the Dragon, to meet Death – the way Bilbo Baggins riddles with the great dragon, Smaug; the way Ged/Sparrowhawk riddles with the Dragons of Earthsea.  This way entails respecting the Dragon.  This way sees the Dragon as the guardian of vast treasures, deep Wisdom. To gain these treasures, you only have to answer the riddles of Life poised by the Dragon.

Scorpios can use either approach to their own Dark Dragon.  And on Scorpio New Moons, we’re all Scorpios!   So how will we meet the dragons of our own inner darkness?  Repression or integration.  Your choice.

On new Moons, we get to begin again.  Each new Moon offers us a chance to explore and make conscious the energy of its sign.  This Scorpio new Moon offers us the chance to face our inner dragon and answer the riddle:What needs to die in you so that life can be transformed?   Only you can find the right answer.   But you have to dig for it.

Scorpio is the sign that confronts us with the task of transformation.   Since Scorpio is a fixed water sign, it deals with old emotions that are stuck and causing old reactions, old biases, old emotional hurts.   These emotions can be destructive to our well-being, but they’re so much a part of us that we take them for granted.    If you’re born a Scorpio, you’ve come into this lifetime to deal with a backload of old emotional wounds (perhaps from other lifetimes - or this one) that need to be purified and transformed.

Scorpio is a powerful sign – how could it be otherwise when it rules physical, emotional and spiritual death, rebirth and transformation.   Deeply emotional and yet hidden, Scorpionic energy evokes passion and tenacity, hidden strengths and unknown reserves of power.  It rules the underworld of our emotional being, all the deep, dark secret places within us that need to be brought to light.  In alchemy, the process of healing these feelings is called solution, the cleansing and dissolving in water.  It relates psychologically to the dissolving of old complexes, especially sexual complexes.

Scorpio is connected to sexuality in a very different way than the sexuality of Taurus.  In Taurus, sexuality is mostly about fertility and procreation, as well as sensual delight.  In Scorpio, our sexuality is tuned to an aspect of our inner life: the urge to merge in union with another, and through another, to a great wholeness.   In Western culture, where sexuality has been viewed as sinful (thereby twisting this most beautiful human gift into violence, domination and pornography), we have lost touch with the mystical purpose of sex: sex as a gate to cosmic consciousness, sex as a means to go beyond self, to experience ecstasy in a transcendent union with another.

In Scorpio, we are called upon to lose ourselves in that merging and become part of something bigger than ourselves, just as in winter ancient people gathered together to survive.  Scorpio desires more than a balance with the Other; Scorpio wants to merge with the Other as the first step in merging with a more cosmic consciousness.   This type of sexuality gives us a glimpse of that greater union the soul seeks with spirit.   It is also the beginning of our psychic identification with the group.   In Libra, we think about our connection with another or the group.  In Scorpio, we feel it.

Perhaps that’s why Scorpio is comfortable dealing with the realms of the dead. Those realms are not so different once we allow ourselves to surrender the ego to other powers of being.

New Moon in Scorpio, November 16-17, 2009

This new Moon at 25* Scorpio is in a waning square (challenging our perspective) to the Aquarian conjunction of Neptune, Chiron and Jupiter.  These planets are encouraging a new vision of healing and unity in the collective mind (Aquarius).  In squaring the new Moon, they challenge each of us to release old fears, worries and prejudices that barricade our hearts from each other and keep us from embracing a new, healing vision for ourselves and the world.  If we can heart-fully accept a new vision of life, one that offers equality and freedom for all, that releases us from ancient prejudices, that values love above war, joy above pain, connection above separation, then we heal that Scorpio part of each of us.

Uranus in Pisces trining the new Moon helps us stay open and awake to spirit, so use the power of the imagination (through Jung’s Active Imagination) to work on this deep excavation and awaken to what’s in your depths.

The Sabian Symbol for 25* Scorpio is:An X-ray photograph.

This image goes along with the intent of the Scorpio new Moon.  If we can see down to the inner cause, we can transform ourselves.   When we look at the basic structures of our lives – both private and collective – we can see which are viable and which ones we need to transform if we want a rich and full life.

Saturn in Libra square Pluto in Capricorn, November 15, 2009

The first waning square between intense Pluto and conservative Saturn is coming up this weekend.  Waning squares challenge us to become more conscious about our perspective on life.   What will really serve the future?   Pluto and Saturn are two of the three big energies that influenced the 60s revolutions.   When you combine Pluto, the instinctive power urge to destroy what no longer serves the needs of evolving life and Saturn, the master of the limitations of material reality, we can either get great repression of those instinctual energies to maintain the status quo or we can use the energy to re-structure our personal behavior and our cultural perspective.   Like the x-ray photo of the Sabian symbol for this new Moon, this first meeting of Saturn and Pluto provides us with the opportunity to discriminate between the real and the unreal, truth and falsehood.   Don’t be fooled by the outer show, the cover-up that hides the reality of the situation.

Saturn and Pluto form two more exact squares on January 4, 2010 and August 21, 2010, and Uranus will join them from Aries on July 26, 2010, forming a T-square, an aspect of great energy and self-motivation, and yet unbalanced until the missing leg is filled in.  This would be in the early degrees of Cancer, and the issue is healing the emotional body so you can nurture yourself.   So use this celestial mandate for change, especially Cancers born in late June.

We’ll have much more to do from June 2012 to March 2015, when Uranus and Pluto form their first waxing square since the 60s.   Freedom, Revolution and Evolution will be the name of the game.   Will we be ready to achieve that peacefully, or will we once again engage in wars?   Uranus in Aries during these years will help us achieve what we dream of now.

Pluto and Saturn move slowly around the Sun: Pluto takes 248 years to make one orbit of the Sun and Saturn takes around 30 years.  When they come together in any aspect, they symbolize a big shift in cultural structures.   This energy can produce deep shock waves if we fight it.   Pluto opposed Saturn in the late summer of 2001, right around 9/11.   So on this waning square, we need to ask: On a collective level, what have we learned from these 8 years of war?  What essential belief do we have to let go of, let die?   What do we have to conserve for the future?  And personally, with Capricorn and Libra emphasized in this square, we are all going to be held accountable for our sense of responsibility and for our actions towards others.(For more on Saturn in Libra, see my Taurus Full Moon newsletter)

As we enter the dark part of the cycle of the year, say a prayer for our world and for yourself.  It never hurts to ask for help when diving deep. What we do now, personally and collectively, will have a profound bearing on what happens from 2012 to 2015.   So choose how you confront your dragon.   It’s a matter of Life and Death and Life renewed.

Dear American friends, Have a thankful Thanksgiving and find a way to share yourself with someone.  When we gather together, we are strong.

Cathy Pagano

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