Scorpio New Moon -and- Opening the Lion Heart

Image used with permission @LollyBeHealing

The 2016 Scorpio New Moon comes at the end of an intense week triggered by Mercury’s superior solar conjunction in Scorpio, and Venus transiting sextile Jupiter and conjunct Saturn.  We are all on the front lines of our own hearts, and we are discovering deep truths about what it means to be a warrior. Lioness Venus, carrying the energy of Leo through her current cycle, is a powerful presence in the experience of this moment.

Venus is conjunct Saturn now, resonating deep into our journey- near the end of 2015, as Venus went retrograde in Leo to begin this Leo cycle, Saturn was ending his transit through Scorpio, and entering Sagittarius, where he would be partnered with Venus throughout 2016.

The Scorpio New Moon is conjunct Mercury, still sending downloads from behind the Sun, and in collaboration with Neptune and asteroid Psyche as they align on the lunar nodes.

Asteroid Psyche is approaching her first opposition to Neptune, there will be two others due to her upcoming retrograde.  However she will only have one conjunction to the north node, which exacts November 6th.  Psyche on the north node in Virgo is about getting your shit together, not to make others happy, but because you need to do it for yourself.  Neptune on the south node is about possibilities- the subconscious realities that find their way into our manifestations, quantum realities, fantasies, or plans and goals that we haven’t even dreamed up yet. Neptune exact trine Mercury during the new moon opens a channel to this world, so the unknown possibilities can find a way to make themselves known in our minds. The sextile from Sun/Moon/Mercury to Psyche gives us the ability to seize the opportunity to practice self-mastery and achieve self-realization.

Earlier this week, Mars transited sextile Chiron in Pisces, and square Uranus/Eris in Aries, activating scenarios where we faced our pain from the radical new perspective of personal sovereignity that we’ve developed since August 2015.  During the new moon, Mars approaches a square to Ceres and a trine to Sedna, which builds on those scenarios in ways that give us understanding of all facets, understanding the karmic journey of our abusers and oppressors, which fundamentally changes our approach to resistance and offense.  A warrior is someone who is at peace.  A warrior is someone who wishes no harm upon their enemies.  A warrior knows their elders and ancestors.  A warrior burns sage and bangs the heartbeat drum. 

It is with this meditation and intention that we pass through the Scorpio New Moon conjunct Mercury, and into the fourth ascending gate of Inanna, the gate of the Lion’s Heart.  On November 2nd, as Mars exacts his aspects to Ceres and Sedna, and the Sun still holding on to the sextile/trine to Psyche on the north node and Neptune on the south node, Moon transits conjunct Venus at 19 Sagittarius.

 

November 2nd, 2016, three days after the Scorpio new moon, the waxing crescent moon joins Venus in the sunset haze for the fourth ascending gate of Inanna/Venus as the Sovereign Queen (the Leo cycle of Venus). The fourth ascending Moon/Venus conjunction corresponds to the Heart Chakra, which is our organ for multidimensional perceptions and expressions of love(the pure state of consciousness that transforms energy to matter) and connection to source. The Heart Chakra generates a toroidal electromagnetic field around the human body, which carries our thoughts and emotions outside of our physical bodies, and absorbs the thoughts and emotions of others.  Many of the uses of the Heart Chakra have been culturally associated with the physical heart organ: it is the foundation of our experience of emotions, and therefore at the basis of how we filter our experience of reality; feeling buoyant and free during the experience of love and connection, feeling crushed and broken during the experience of separation and loss. True and complete Heart Chakra activation requires the ability to stay connected to the buoyancy of source, even as we shield ourselves and stand against those who wish us harm. As the Moon crosses over Venus for the fourth time since she has risen from the Underworld of superior solar conjunction in Leo, we state our intentions to blossom into the fullness of our Heart Chakra, the Heart of the Lion.

We set our intentions to be a peaceful warrior during the Scorpio New Moon conjunct Mercury, and as Mercury transits sextile Pluto we can see instant manifestation of those intentions.  Instant.  The Lion’s Heart conjunction of Moon/Venus is sextile asteroid Athena in Aquarius, joining this heart activation to the wisdom of the collective heart- when our hearts are open, we are connected to every other open heart- this is the power of the people that cannot be destroyed by violence- this is the power of spirit that oppressors fear.

Below I will quote at length from the article I wrote at the beginning of the Leo cycle of Venus, which explains the energies and themes of Venus that have such a powerful presence during the Scorpio New Moon:

“We are orienting ourselves to the new epoch that began on Winter Solstice of 2012.  On Winter Solstice of 2016, our orientation will be complete, the prelude will be done and the new epoch will truly begin.  So this period of testing is extremely important.  Are we still clinging to 3D reality, or have we stepped into 5D?  The easiest test was presented to us (at the beginning of the Leo cycle of Venus) in the least subtle hologram of all time, the murder of Cecil the Lion.  Cecil was named after Cecil Rhodes, the brutal British Imperialist who colonized and ravaged southern Africa, for whom Rhodesia was named before it was called Zimbabwe.  He was lured away from his protected parklands in a cowardly manner, and suffered for days as he was killed with the most unprofessional and sloppy sportsmanship imaginable.  The 3D reaction to this spectacular energy exchange was grief for Cecil, and wishes for revenge against the so-called hunter.  Quite a difficult test indeed, to avoid these 3D emotional traps.

To be clear, I am not trying to imply that sorrow and anger is an “incorrect” response to the news of Cecil’s passing, quite the opposite.  This is a moment of great sorrow for our planet, the Lion was only a symbol, and a quite layered and conflicted symbol when the legacy of his namesake is taken into consideration. The test of ascension and orientation to the new epoch is our reaction to the sorrow, our identification or lack of identification with it, and our reaction to it.  If you had even a single fleeting moment of compassion for the ones who killed Cecil, you are on the right track.  If you considered that the energy exchange between Cecil and his killers was agreed upon by all souls involved prior to incarnation, to catapult all parties into the crisis that would reveal their true nature and true path, you are even closer. If one truly understands that all matter that is manifested in this world is a part of us and we are a part of it, and that the way we choose to see it is a reflection of our own consciousness, then there could be no real grief for Cecil, who has died to illuminate the ways that we have been struck down by serpents for no other reason but our inherent beauty, greatness, and sovereignty(keeping in mind that what we consider our greatness is often the product of what was developed and established in a poisoned, capitalist, misogynist, white supremacist culture, just as Cecil was named for an imperial colonizer).  And there can be no hatred for the weak, power-hungry man that killed the Lion, only identification with the weak and power-hungry parts of ourselves that seek to display our status in ways that may impress some, but disgust others.

Lynda Hill offers these insights on the Sabian Symbol of the degree held by the Sun when Cecil perished:

“Leo 4: SOMEONE FORMALLY DRESSED STANDS NEAR TROPHIES BROUGHT BACK FROM A HUNTING EXPEDITION …This Symbol speaks of awards and trophies and displaying what one is capable of or what’s been achieved or won. Putting on your best and showing people what you’re made of is great, but it is one thing to achieve something and yet another to display one’s achievements for all to see. There may be an urge to impress others, but some people will not be pleased with the display, some can be very impressed whilst others may be distinctly unimpressed. Think carefully of the effects before you proclaim your winnings or awards or show what you’ve conquered. Remember; trophies come in all shapes and sizes… Trophies of conquest. The will to prove oneself. Showing one’s animal instincts for the benefit of society. Daring and courage. Notches on the belt. Diplomas. Guns and bullets.” -Lynda Hill

…The focus of these charts is the planet Venus, heading in retrograde to meet the Sun in inferior conjunction(between Sun and Earth). The previous cycle was a Capricorn cycle, Venus as wise crone. The wisest crones on earth at this time must be the Council of 13 Indigenous Grandmothers, women who claim their power and authority both despite and because of the fact that their cultures are among the most oppressed and threatened in the entire world. This new cycle of Venus in Leo is the cycle of the sovereign queen, and the archetype of this Leonic queen is equally oppressed and threatened. The sovereignty of Venus in Leo comes not from her worldly status but from her status as a survivor of brutal violence and suppression, and her ability to tame her ego and connect to source. Google images for “Strength Tarot” to see several variations of the theme of the Strength card: A woman lovingly, gently holding the open jaws of a Lion.  It is not with force, but with self-love, the the ego is controlled.

It’s not uncommon to see people on the spiritual path attempting to destroy their egos in the exact same manner that Cecil was destroyed. The world reacting with horror and turning against the idea of big game hunting will be a big step towards humans and wildlife coexisting in peace, which will have an energetic equivalent effect on the psyche of each individual, allowing us all to finally be at peace with our egos. Taming the ego is not an act of force, the goal is not to destroy it, but to make friends with it, to coexist peacefully.  Real strength is gentle.

The take away message is that what often holds us back from our true path as spiritual people is the fact that we have slaughtered our egos, the glorious trophy head mounted on the wall. We may have hunted and killed our egos in a cowardly, or legitimately sportsmanlike way, but we are entering a level of awareness that requires us  coexist at peace with our egos. Allow the spirit of the Lion, liberated from embodiment, to merge with you, and reclaim your sovereignty as a vessel united with source.”