The Crescent phase following the New Moon in Virgo arrives with a Moon in early Scorpio. It’s time to consider our direction for this lunar cycle. This Scorpio Moon wants us to dive in.
The beginning of Scorpio is not an easy place for the Moon. It’s the sign of her fall, opposite Taurus, where she’s exalted. This Moon has strong desires, while not being sure she can fulfill them.
The Moon is conjunct Venus, also challenged in Scorpio, since she rules Taurus. She’s in her detriment. This is a Venus with strong desires. She has more assurance of satisfying them than the Moon does, but that doesn’t ensure the outcome will bring happiness or peace.
The Rider-Waite Smith card linked to the first decan of Scorpio is the 5 of Cups. A figure in a dark cloak stands with head bowed, in sorrow or perhaps defeat. The figure faces a flowing stream and three cups tipped over, their contents spilled on the ground. There’s a sense of loss.
Yet behind the figure are the other two cups, still upright. We don’t know what’s in those cups, but they’re not empty. The upright cups remind us if we focus on what’s lost, we lose sight of what’s still here.
The Moon, the messenger of the cosmos, points our attention not only to Venus, but to where Venus is. She squares Pluto, lord of the underworlds. In a deeper register than Venus, over longer time periods, Pluto reminds us not only of loss but of what remains.
We’ve entered the review period of the upcoming Venus retrograde. Now we know this retrograde will include three squares to Pluto, exact on September 15, October 20, and December 9. Did we needed another signal this retrograde will lead us into deep places? If so, here it is.
The Moon and Venus also oppose Chiron at 0º Taurus. This is the same T-square we saw at the New Moon. The Crescent Moon aligns with this pattern to say, “pay attention!” This is the complicated relationship between the deep psyche, healing of old wounds, and the incisive depth of which Venus in Scorpio is capable.
The Virgo New Moon might seem tame in comparison, but remember Virgo’s ability to find strength in small things. Virgo sextiles Scorpio: They help and support each other. Remember all the humble threads that led heroes through labyrinths.
(Let me add one of my favorite books as a child, George MacDonald’s The Princess and the Goblin. The young Princess Irene explores her father’s castle alone and meets a mysterious, compelling older woman who says she is her great-great-grandmother. She gives Irene a ring to wear, which is always linked to an invisible thread Irene can use to find her way back, even from dark places.)
Remember the shallow triangle that connects Pluto, Neptune, and Uranus? At this Crescent Moon, Mercury in Libra transforms that triangle into a Kite pattern as they oppose Neptune and trine Pluto and Uranus. This is a chance to access information about what’s going on in our inner world and the outer one.
With Neptune opposing Mercury, we shouldn’t take everything we hear as solid truth. It’s all information, though, and whatever it is, it might be helpful.
The Sun in late Virgo sextiles Mars in late Cancer. We want our work to benefit our communities.
This Scorpio Crescent Moon invites us to peer into the dark we’ll explore during the Venus retrograde. The presence of Pluto tells us the journey is not only for this present time, but for the future and possibly deep time as well. We can make our plans accordingly.
Title adapted from a image by NEOM on Unsplash
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