Scorpio New Moon, Friday, November 12, 2004, 6:27 AM PST

In Ancient Greece, Medusa was the most beautiful woman in the world. Her beauty had the power to captivate any man. Original cast member of ‘The Bold and the Beautiful’, Medusa incurred the wrath of Artemis when she took the coveted Poseidon as a lover—in a temple of Artemis, no less. As punishment, Artemis turned Medusa and her sisters into hags, making Medusa hideously ugly, with snakes for hair.

Imagine Medusa’s power and influence for beauty, and thus truth, banished to a dark cave, underground. Medusa is forced to live in a cave, accursed with a wretched form of beauty. Here she remains, unseen, her blood boiling on a high simmer. She grows night vision– penetrating and allergic to the light of day. She becomes a keeper of secrets: the secret of Artemis’ dark shadow of jealousy and betrayal. She learns that her gaze turns mortal and immortals unable to face the hideous truth of their own shadow, to stone. She realizes that truth and beauty are prizes coveted by the most influential and powerful—and that price of ownership is high.

Scorpio is the keeper of secrets, and no one knows more than she that so-called secrets are nothing more than the obvious truth. Funny thing about secrets—they’re not really secret at all, just the white elephant in the room, the dysfunction everyone can see but the owner. Scorpio magnetizes the falsity below the veneer, drawing into her energy the deeper darkness, which refuses to be consciously named. Scorpio’s reputation for impatience with superficiality ultimately bears out in explosive acts of transformative power, call it ‘death by truth’. Yet as a feminine sign banished to the bowels of the earth, this is a truth we may be forced to hold for a very long time. Truth doesn’t have to be a weapon for destruction, but a surgeon’s scalpel; the secrets must remain below the belly in order to essentialize and transform into a palatable & incisive expression.

I digress, back to Medusa. Has she become victim of someone else’s destruction doomed to spend rest of her days living in the bowels? She thinks to herself: Maybe she shouldn’t have used her beauty/power to seduce the God most coveted by Athena, no less in her own temple. But it was her power, to do with as she chose! She sits and sits becoming really mad, very pissed– no, this is rage. She is enraged! She has been brutalized and so becomes brutal. She wants to destroy everyone she sees. A human reaction we understand. We have all experienced this to some degree or another. We sit with the snakes, our hair– our connection to spirit–writhing, venomous, truly unmanageable hair, eh? We develop that acrid taste for revenge. We stew and kill, then stew and kill, recognize our own suffering, stew, kill, recognize our own suffering and on. Enter Perseus, the slayer of suffering, who walks into the cave backwards and using Athena’s shield as mirror slays Medusa via her reflection. The hero never directly looks at Medusa because to kill the truth (Medusa) any way other than by reflection is total death. Knowing that directly facing the stony rage is a death wish he uses the mirror/shield as reflection for his slayer sword. She loses her head (analysis paralysis, negative thinking) and by so doing finally experiences transformation. From her pierced eye, Scorpio’s power to reveal truth, emerges Pegasus, the winged horse of In-sight, wisdom creativity and intuition.

Where Scorpio lives in our birth chart, Medusa sits. New Moon in Scorpio wants us to honor the deep and transformative power of the secret darkness we hide from light, maybe even from ourselves. The secret is a sacred seed and with the moon, our job is protection. Not defense or denial but protection. Protection is merely serving our capacity to reflect, to sit with and hold the truth until the moment is ripe, the moment when truth will not destroy but will transform and heal. It’s the part of our lives where death is imminent and where we are finally ready to embrace the regenerative power of loss.

Medusa/Scorpio sits and stews like a good autumn soup. Eat it too early and it is lifeless, pale, and bland. This is the attack that prematurely attacks itself, the antibiotic without the antidote wiping out without providing the cure. With a strategy however, Scorpio becomes a slayer on the behalf of Truth. Remember the Slayers of the ‘Buffy the Vampire Slayer’ days? The slayer always appears at the right moment as though there were a sub-sonic vampire whistle calling the slayers to battle the bloodsuckers. The magnetic energy (intuition) Medusa generates as she stews is a draw for the dark forces that smell her power and want to taste it. She doesn’t ‘do’ anything; she simply attracts. By setting the stove on simmer, we give ourselves the opportunity to experience the nuance, subtlety & depth of our power/powerlessness in life. Rage & loss beget life; life begets rage & loss. It’s all in the pot.

How do we take on the darkness of our own loss/urge for new life without becoming possessed by, stuck in our emotions or obsessed with rage? How do we protect our self so our spirits aren’t broken, horrified by the heavy truth? Perseus was sent to slay the demon in Medusa, on behalf of Athena, the jailer. That which imprisons us also sets us free. This is the truth of Scorpio and the truth of life. Only by ‘serving time’ do we learn the lessons of power, desire, betrayal and loss.

And so we don the protective power of Athena’s mirror/shield as psychic protection against forces that have the power to wipe us out. Wisdom, beauty and truth are in our service. We honor our distrust for superficiality and triviality, allowing our gaze to penetrate veneers. We willingly keep secrets because we honor the sacred power in darkness, knowing it will transform when the time is right. We understand Life as the ultimate teacher of Truth and become Life’s passionate devotees– this passion infuses our actions with integrity even as we stare down the darkness of mystery. Like the starfish who re-grows a lost limb, we realize that we lose is not lost forever, just regenerated in a new way. And ultimately, we recover a knowing: that we have enough faith in life’s love for us to know that we too will grow a new limb, relationship, treasure, dream or skill. This is the power of the New Moon in Scorpio.

11/12 Mars moves into Scorpio on this New Moon day, your perfect tool for crafting a long-term strategy. Obviously this Mars says: first reflect, action draws to you as a result of your power. Know that your urges for self-assertion have both a forcefulness and fixity–unlike the previous few months spent in Libra’s Waffle House.

11/14-11/15 Mars trines Uranus. Uranus exit from backward motion (June-November) has us actively looking for new approaches to tired circumstances, patterns. With Mars, we have the opportunity to re-vision our behavior, our ability to respond to life. The visionary warrior appears.

Venus in Libra sextiles Pluto in Sagittarius and we receive a little gemstone from the salt mines. With minor digging we may uncover a kernel of truth in relationship with our closest partners, something of value, substance. This is music to Capricorn’s ears as today and the next we’re looking for the substance behind the flash and style.

11/18 The moon heads into it’s monthly first quarter square, this time in the sign of Aquarius, enhancing the Saturn retrograde feeling we’ve all recently encountered. How do we move ahead when limitations linger like bedraggled bedfellows? Imagine a hospital corridor: ‘I know I’m healing, but look at all these people walking around real slow like with tubes and bandages.’ The bone has been effectively set (Sun trine Saturn), but the doctor just told you that it will be a few more months than anticipated (Saturn retrograde). Despite the delays, with Uranus as co-ruler of Aquarius, we have enough spunk to be upbeat. Heading into 11/19, Venus in Libra squares retrograde Saturn in Cancer providing enough frustration to send anyone into the underbelly of Scorpio. Relationships are tested and wallets feel the pinch. It may be time to integrate a give and take around emotional and security needs. If you find yourself and partner in a row, cool off. Saturn is a cool, dry planet and is asking for the distance of detachment. A little primer on Saturn retrograde:

Saturn mantras: The good things in life are worth waiting for. Negative emotions mellow with age. Sell no wine before its time. All in good time. Patience is a virtue. I wish I knew then what I know now. Wisdom is golden. Good things come to those who wait.

Feel the necessity for re-working a foundational issue and apply your own mantra to the place where you find your bottom line needs reinforcements.

11/20 Mercury conjuncts Pluto in Sagittarius. Mercury in Sag is prone to foot-in-mouth disease, mentally running ahead of itself. As he bumps into something hidden or previously unseen, information provides rich discourse. Sun moves into Sagittarius 11/21, ready to create that festive mood we associate with the holiday hustle and bustle. Where are our motivations? Idealism is high and we find ourselves ‘in the spirit’, connecting with purpose and meaning throughout our own particular style of holiday worship. This year, holidays are appreciated through Jupiter in Libra—generosity with loved ones, many social events and interesting discourse. We use Jupiter best when we strive to honor everyone at the Thanksgiving table by learning from one another’s philosophy, perspective. Sign o’ the times –it’s a good lesson for us all.

11/24-25 Sun squares Uranus providing us with the perfect Jupiter practice. Some disruptions in plans, last minute changes are possible. Like a rowdy distant cousin from back home interrupting the flow of your feng-shui’d holiday table, accommodating the unexpected is on your late night shopping run. Sushi meets cranberry sauce while the take-it-slow–and-easy Taurus moon somehow makes it palatable. Our holiday culminates in full bellies on the eve of the full moon. Expect to be more stuffed than usual!

Red & Green Alert: Mercury the Magnific goes retrograde 11/30-12/24 just in time for holiday shopping season! Do I have to spell it out? No electronics or mechanical gadgets should be purchased 11/30 or after. In fact, those of you who are familiar with Mercury’s antics know that about 2 wks. prior and at least one week following we do not sign contracts, make big purchases (especially related to communications) or expect the details of our day to day life to go forward, hardly. Get your holiday plans down, presents purchased, as soon as possible. Saving grace, Santa’s reindeer are recovered from their winter flu by 12/24. Yes Tiny Tim, Christmas comes to the children after all.