Pluto in Capricorn squaring my Aries Moon has brought a deep plunge into unconscious material I’ve been carrying around for years. It’s been gritty and tough and it has pushed me to acquire new healing tools. For the past 18 months or so, similar to a shaman, I have been regularly dipping into what we in the EFT (emotional freedom technique) universe call “The Matrix”, emotionally releasing highly charged trauma episodes and re-imprinting a new reality for my younger self by giving her the resources, support, truth and wisdom she lacked. Imagine re-writing the script of your worst nightmare, how joyous and liberating it would feel to finally get what you most needed.

It’s pretty magical, but it’s not magic. Part of it is about tapping on energy meridians to simply acknowledge and allow the emotions to flow and release- kind of like crying but without tears. But it goes deeper, and here’s where it gets interesting: You discover it’s not the trauma itself that leaves a scar, but the belief you formed as a result of the trauma and how you keep replaying it in your life, in a law of attraction kind of way. Even if you were physically, verbally or emotionally violated, that violation was over the moment after it occurred, it’s the core beliefs you form that haunt you. It’s the core belief about life and your self, not remembering the event (the bankruptcy, tragedy, loss, heartbreak) that perpetuates suffering. For instance, I have a chronic illness. Often this is a neutral fact, but other times I feel disempowered and victimized by the symptoms (a problem for many with chronic conditions), which is not consistent with today’s reality where I do feel quite empowered in my daily life. I’ve come to understand that when I go down the rabbit hole what is actually happening is that I am being taken over by a younger self, who formed a belief, and now her reality is overtaking mine. I’m literally possessed by a ghost. There’s no better way to describe it (here’s an example of the technique).

The seasonal Scorpio Sun presents a rich, dappling interplay of dark and light; the shadows are starker, the quality of light somehow more poignant, despite being less available to us. The trees are losing their leaves. The rains are finally starting in California. We, too, are in a season of release and, eventual, renewal. Scorpio’s penetrating gaze has turned itself upon us humans: What can you let go of? Where are you tiring of compulsive patterns? What repressed material is surfacing, begging for attention? You may be aware that Saturn is in Sagittarius squaring Neptune in Pisces. Right now, doing inner work on belief systems and your worldview makes sense.

During Scorpio time the veils part between the visible and invisible worlds. The ghosts who visit us aren’t usually spooks, but spirit possessions of a different sort. Maybe we keep repeating a pattern and don’t know why. Perhaps we’re stuck and unable to move forward. Scorpio/Pluto has a flair for the dramatic. Boo! As adults, things that go bump in the night have less to do with haunted houses and more to do with scary stuff emerging from the unconscious.  Now’s the time to be humble and conscious about what erupts.

This Scorpio New Moon is sextile Jupiter in Virgo and trine Chiron in Pisces. Bold new beginnings are at hand, with great potential for healing and integration (Chiron) and opportunities to acquire new skills and levels of mastery (Jupiter). Scorpio’s “hidden resources” are waiting for you to claim them; look to the house in which this moon falls to activate new levels of empowerment. If what you’re attempting to do over the next month feels risky-scary, outside your comfort zone and a bit empowering, you’re probably on the right track. Scorpio season isn’t for wimps. Jupiter nudges us to reach a little higher, in this area, go a little deeper. And sometimes a little push is all we need.