“We must bring our own light to the darkness.” -unknown

Scorpio season is often one of my more creatively prolific times. I look forward to Scorpio all year. But this year is different. Saturn is in Scorpio. All around, emotions are more intensely felt, as is what’s bugging us. Whether we consciously realize it or not, many are fed up with something – politics, untruths, our depression, our illness, our Self. That’s Saturn in Scorpio.

I don’t generally feel this way about the Sun’s yearly visit to Scorpio. But the chronic pain I’ve been diligently working on is not going away, preventing creative surges. Adding insult to injury, I lost a precious ring given to me by my husband for our sixth-year anniversary. It must’ve slipped off at the gym, after being freshly scrubbed and sauna’d. I posted a horary chart on Facebook, asking: Where’s my ring? I received tons of interesting replies from astrologers, psychics and intuitives – it could be in my closet, under a multi-coloured carpet, next to a luxury car or a swamp-like place. Despite not having found the ring (yet), horary is always a fun exercise, and it helped keep my spirits up during this Saturn in Scorpio time, when, apparently, life can seem a bitter pill, and spirits can despair.

Scorpio is the sign of change and transformation. That Great Work, while emotionally and soulfully compelling (Scorpio), is also hard (Saturn). Many come to the precipice of change, only to back away. Saturn rules our fears, and Scorpio, our unconscious, and our unconscious resistance. As one health coaching client exclaimed, “Don’t make me give up my coffee!!” Ironically, I hadn’t suggested it. Saturn in Scorpio can also present events over which we have no control, but which we must use to mature: a heartbroken friend realizes her ex-boyfriend is living down the street of her new neighborhood – with his new girlfriend.

Saturn in Scorpio is bringing up a lot of resistance and pain. It can feel like having one’s back against a wall. It’s hard to work with our own resistance, and even moreso when we’re blind to it. What is resistance? Being angry about or bored with an issue is resistance. Avoiding looking deeper into why we’re stuck is resistance, or doing nothing about something that’s consciously screaming for our attention and help. Scorpio rules our ancient pains, and these pains run deep, especially if something in our life has been stuck, and stuck for a very long time.  I’ve been feeling this way about my chronic pain; I find myself thinking, I thought this was over! If this sounds like both Saturn and Mars, you’re right. Mars is Scorpio’s traditional ruler. If Saturn is aspecting planets or angles in your chart, now is the time to do something about that special brand of torture that only you can name.

This Scorpio New Moon is no ordinary new moon, but a solar eclipse. Eclipses are many things: unpredictable, emotional, shocking, moving us further along the path. They can bring “wipe-outs” in an area of our life –as the eclipse in my second house of possessions proves. If this new moon feels hard (Saturn), we can do a few things to help. We can practice gratitude as an antidote to negativity. We can acknowledge our resistance by accepting that we indeed have it. Or we may ask to be shown where our resistance is, how to work with our pain and suffering underneath the resistance. Scorpio brings a touch of the underworld above ground, and everyone’s underworld is different. We can feel our feelings. If we’re feeling embittered, remember: no person is untouched by hardship, pain.

Scorpio rules the process of snake, to eagle to phoenix. It takes work to rise above our base emotions of negativity and to step into a new way of relating to our self, and to life. It’s easy to fall to the lowest common denominator, to complain, but negativity is toxic, to self and those around us. During Scorpio season the way to honor our feelings and not let them pull us down is to fully experience the energy and then let go. Remember: we each carry our own light to the darkness. Our light is not dependent on circumstances or others, but sometimes we need to remember we possess it. May this solar eclipse help you reconnect with that light you possess deep within. May this solar eclipse help you release whatever it is keeping you from flying.