The new moon (and partial solar eclipse) becomes exact at 2° of Scorpio on October 25th, 2022 at 5:49 a.m. CST. It’s time to lay things to rest. We cut cords and release what is decaying so that it composts and nourishes new fertile ground.
The major themes presented by this eclipse include inner shadow work, jealousy, security, control, debt, lack consciousness, grief, letting go of old dreams and old structures and misuse of our power. We are called to align to what is more in resonance with who we truly are now. We must purge what is consuming us to create a more authentic life.
During an eclipse, the light of consciousness, symbolized by the sun, is extinguished, allowing the shadow of our patterns and buried emotions to be reflected and symbolized by the moon, and emerge from its state of suppression. When our outward light switches off, we connect to our intuitive voice to navigate from within. Eclipses facilitate a shift in consciousness and advance us along the path of our soul’s evolution.
A solar eclipse is a new moon imbued with karmic significance, allowing for a more divinely-destined potential to be born. Typically new moons are a time to set new intentions, but during the eclipse season we practice a higher form of surrender to the divinity that lives within us and guides our soul’s journey. This is a time to step out of our way and into our deepest soul prayer and mystical presence to rise to meet our potential.
This Energy Has Been Building Since April 2022
This solar eclipse is the first of a pair, and it offers an honest look into the depths of our unconscious. Our desire to make a change now moves into the forefront. The urge to move forward feels pressing. In times of uncertainty, we require space to go within and intuitively listen and align to our inner vision. The eclipses teach us to enter the river of change and embark on a new journey. We add another layer to the growth that we initiated six months ago. Looking back to that time, what themes were emerging? Where did we feel a deep impulse for change? We continue that soul renovation further, into the Scorpio/Taurus area of our lives.
As Scorpio and Taurus are both fixed signs, they serve as stabilizers of the Zodiac. Fixed signs’ roots run deep and this can make opening to change a bit of a challenge. This eclipse season reflects the ways in which we resist the changes we know we need to make. We are initiated into serious change, like being a witness to climatic demolition. We now enter our own inner cycle of death-demolition-rebirth. What arises now will set into motion our spiritual rebirth that will integrate over the next six months. Can we move forward trusting the intuitive winds guiding us in a new direction even though they threaten our current perception of security?
“She held a universe within her that was constantly changing. Knowing peace because of chaos, self-love from pain and rebirth from the stars that had died along her journey.”
E. Corona
This solar eclipse shines a light on our relationship to attachments. What do we continue to cling to that is no longer filled with lifeforce? In order to let go and transform, we must bring it into the light. Where in our lives has the light gone out? What are we grieving? What are our obsessions? Where does our mind return again and again, keeping us distracted from present moment awareness? What messages are our intuitive feelings speaking? The path has already been charted. We just need to release our ego attachments and surrender to the natural flow of change that is emerging. This time can be thrilling, we may feel unhinged at times, but there is an ultimate freedom when we allow ourselves to connect deeply to the feeling of what we fear and turn it over to a higher power.
We Practice Radical Trust
We dive deep into our unconscious associations of security to form a new bond of trust with our higher selves. Despite what the ego tells us, we are not running this show. We shed our inner control freak to remember who we really are. The part of ourselves that existed before we incarnated in this form and chose this soul contract. The part of ourselves that understood the divine orchestration of this epic life experience. Our karma is not punishment from the past, but rather a divinely directed dance to experience, discover and merge with our soul. Our experiences awaken us to new parts of ourselves. This moment is magic. Eclipses hold incredible spiritual potential. We surrender what our ego is clutching on to so that we can allow and align with our cosmic destiny. We discover more of our soul gifts and our true power. We hold reverence for ancient reckoning.
This solar eclipse activates our power to reinvigorate our lives, to draw from our heritage and deepen our connection with the magic of each moment.
Scorpio as an Archetype
Scorpio is the sign of death, alchemy and metamorphosis, representing the mundane and profound cycle of life. This archetype understands that in nature’s great cycles, decay is just as essential as growth. Without breakdown, our systems become contaminated. Through releasing what poisons us we can purify new growth. This is an important time to deep clean your energetic field. Bring conscious awareness to what needs to be purged. This eclipse calls us inward. That may look like exhaustion and a loss of energy. Attempting to push ahead may bring frustrations, resistance and big emotions to the surface. It may feel incredibly overwhelming to allow what has been suppressed to be felt.
The shadow of Scorpio arises when we misuse our power. We may feel so insecure in a part of ourselves that we have to take someone else down (and often ourselves too in the process) through manipulation, coercion, secrets and betrayal instead of doing the work to develop that part of ourselves. Scorpio is associated with the scapegoat archetype that is either scapegoated by others who won’t look at a part of themselves or scapegoats another to transfer their pain rather than feeling it. Being seen fully can seem so vulnerable that we feel compelled to take the focus off ourselves and we divert the attention, blame and focus onto the other.
This Eclipse Ignites Spiritual Alchemy
Scorpio is associated with the alchemist. Spiritual alchemy is an ancient philosophy that uses the metaphor of transforming metals into gold to reach spiritual enlightenment. It is used to foster contentment, peace and awareness by freeing one’s essence from the constraints of one’s acquired persona, which is where we have adapted patterns and behaviors.
Alchemy is used to achieve contentment, harmony and awareness by liberating one’s essence from one’s acquired personality. The personality contains the inauthentic part of the self, including one’s beliefs, concepts, opinions, wounds, fears and phobias. In this way, the transmutation of lead into gold functions as a metaphor for the process of self-actualization and spiritual rebirth.
An Initiation Into Emotional Mastery
We are asked to face the music and reap what we have sown. This necessitates becoming radically honest with where we are at and feeling into what is true for us. We are invited to look deeper into the patterns that drive our action. We shed the stories, patterns and beliefs that we have been addicted to. What empowers us most is self responsibility. We are tasked with taking full ownership of when we are reacting vs responding to life, and we are asked to be present and aware enough to understand and feel the difference. A response is considerate and deliberate. A reaction is meeting one action with another action. Our western culture has normalized the use of high drama and compelling language to build a following, create intimacy, establish trust and draw attention. When we feel vulnerable, exposed or seen, it may signal a threat to our nervous system and cause a knee-jerk reaction. Something painfully familiar signals our nervous system. Emotions may overwhelm us. We may react to the intensity inside of us or say things like I was attacked or I feel attacked, when that isn’t the case. It is normalized in our culture to speak of a literal death when it is actually a metaphor.
“Your greatest challenges are never about what other people do, but rather about how you respond. They are about whether you can accept, understand, and thus rise above the emotions that others’ actions cause inside you. Spiritual growth is not about you changing the world; it is about going within and changing yourself.”
Robert Schwartz
Understanding the emotional storm and the feelings buried deep under the emotions is important in helping us see when our reactions are not based on the present situation. We may snap at the person in front of us when we are actually reacting to a memory from our childhood. We are asked to evolve our emotional maturity during this time and hold space for our own stuff so that we don’t transfer our pain into another to escape, but can instead cultivate presence within ourselves. In order to truly know the deepest parts of ourselves we must make space to feel our feelings. This eclipse is an initiation into somatic shadow work. It is essential that we learn to accept and integrate the shadow parts of ourselves so that we can evolve from karmic entanglements and enter into our true soul alchemy. What would it feel like to embody and be with all the parts of ourselves and allow the wisdom of our experiences to inform and guide us?
This eclipse offers healing medicine and awareness around our ancestral trauma. What are we trying to protect? What beliefs have we inherited? What are our families’ stories of survival? We are breaking through the ceiling of our ancestral lines, beliefs and stories. This is an evolve or repeat moment. There is no turning back. What threads have been woven through your lineage that you are now ready to release? Evolution continues to call us forward for new experiences. What of our lineage can be brought into ritual to be released and what can we transcend and include in our next steps? This is an important time of spiritual rebirth. We are meant to draw from our ancestry to enhance our connection to the magic of nature, to the awe and wonder of living in the mystery of this life. A new self is being born to meet the cosmic song of the collective and align with our values and soul expression. What new patterns are you being called to start?
“Our Ancestors knew that healing comes in cycles and circles. One generation carries the pain so that the next can live and heal. One cannot live without the other, each is the other’s hope, meaning and strength.”
Gemma B. Benton
The Cosmic Weather
Mars and Saturn are both of significance in this solar eclipse chart due to their station phases – Mars is about to go retrograde (on October 30th), and Saturn just finished its 4.5-month retrograde phase (that began on June 4th). The energy of these archetypal forces are felt more intensely as they slow down to pivot toward a new course.
Venus is conjunct the solar eclipse in Scorpio, bringing our desire for deeper connections to the forefront. We have the opportunity to tell a new story around intimacy, trust, soul connections and business partnerships. There is a new door of intimacy available. There is an important need to take time with ourselves and feel where love is guiding us. What does this new way of intimate connection feel like in our bodies? What hasn’t been said that needs to be shared? What feels like dead weight that needs to be released? Where are our relationships being rebirthed? Love leads us to our most profound transformation.
Additionally, Pluto and Mars are both involved in two different squares, and Saturn is still in a square relationship with Uranus. Squares are 90° aspects that indicate a turn we must take if we are to evolve. They create a tension that wakes us up to an unconscious part of ourselves and challenges us to expand and grow beyond who we were previously.
This eclipse is aligned with the dwarf planet Haumea, which offers spiritual rebirth, creative life force energy and connection to the magic of the natural world. Haumea works to create psychic unity through our collective timelines. In the sign of Libra, Haumea calls back the balance between people, nations, religions and the earth so that we can strive for welfare, justice and harmony for all.
The Invitation
This solar eclipse catches us in our tracks and offers us the opportunity to face the things that are difficult so that we can get intentional about the love and life we are creating, be totally honest with ourselves and take the needed action steps to align with our soul’s plan. We draw on the wisdom and healing medicine of our ancestors to remind us of our cosmic contract and the magic of living in the mystery. We birth a new self to meet these new times in our lives.