Scorpio rules the deep invisible realms, what the five senses cannot detect, but we “know” and “feel” in our gut – like energy. Energy is invisible, moving around us all the time. That is the truth. Yet we don’t often acknowledge the truth that the funk we’re feeling is actually funky stuff we’re picking up on around us. We tend to think something is “off” with us, when the reality is we’re either overtly, or unconsciously tuned into an energy field(s) that isn’t our own.

Then, like a fly buzzing in the corner of our room, or a pebble in our shoe, what starts off as a small irksome thing can become disproportionately big, developing into full blown case of overwhelm.

Our perspective gets compromised.

We lose our center.

We spin out.

The condition of energetic overwhelm is caused by one thing: being overly tuned into external energy fields, often multiple ones (there’s a fly -AND- a pebble!) to the point that we lose sense of our center and spiral into confusion, anxiety and a host of other problematic emotions.

What perfect storm creates energetic overwhelm? Energies from global or local events, our immediate environment, relationships, and our relationship with our self are always interacting. Lunations, nodal changes (the nodes just moved from Leo/Aqu to Can/Cap), the shifts of the planets (the past week or so Jupiter was in the last, or crisis, degree of Scorpio, and has now moved to expansive Sagittarius)…all stir up new energies. Collective events, like the election we just had here in the US, and the daylight savings time change, also can lead to an upsurge in weird strangeness, thus adding another fly in the room –or our field.

So, when energies get super intense, as they have been, here’s how to bring yourself back:

Slow your energy down. Anxiety/overwhelm/panic is a fast energy. The antidote is to slow down. Energetically, I mean. Imagine dropping down, down, deep into your core. Slow your breathing. Slow any racing feelings you feel. Nowhere to go, no one to be. Slowwwwww.

Ask, Where am I? Go into your body. Are you in there? Probably not. Set the intention to get back into your field, your self. Your energy has been overly tuned into other, external fields.

Drop into presence. “What do you mean I’m not present; I can’t do anything but be present?!”, or so says anxiety. The great paradox of anxiety is that it drops us right into the moment. That’s by design. Anxiety’s only focus is this very second because you’ve left the present moment. Know that no matter how present you think you are, if you are feeling anxiety you are being the opposite of present to yourself. You are overly tuned in to external energy and thought fields.

Find the place inside your energy body that is always okay, calm, peaceful. It IS there, even during the most distracting and intense emotions. Perhaps your head knows it is there, but you can’t feel it. The vital thing is to connect energetically with that place inside, so you can feel and experience that truth in your body.  Once you locate that place, drop in. You want to feel a “connect”. It may feel like a clicking into place or a “yes”, or a sigh, whatever it feels like to you the goal is to not just think “I’m okay” (and not believe it) but to feel totally that “I’m okay”. Wait for it to happen… (remember, slow). Wait to connect with that energy. It may take a minute or two to get the connect. Then a few more minutes to allow it to deepen, shift, for the Ego to get familiar with feeling peaceful energy and move through your field.

No mind. If your thoughts wander or try to work too hard at this, gently guide them back to your energy body. This is NOT a mental exercise. Even though it’s natural to try, your mind cannot truly comprehend, or do energy work. Just as you wouldn’t give your car to someone without a license to drive, when you see it start to get into the driver’s seat, kindly ask your mind to be the passenger. How will you know if you’re “in your head?” Problem solving, analyzing, judging, controlling. How will you know if you’re in your energy body? Surrender, curiosity, acceptance.

…Then allow the energy to naturally find it’s way home.

If the above doesn’t work, do “whatever works.” Sometimes nothing seems to work. Overwhelm shifts to panic, the Ego feels out of control. If you’re in this energy state, you’re feeling too much, too fast. It happens. Please be gentle with yourself, because judging yourself for feeling this way will only make it more difficult to locate your center again. Be extra kind and generous with you. Now is the time to go with “whatever works.” This means doing what it takes for you, no matter how silly, outrageous, embarrassing or weird it sounds.

Here’s my own list:

–Shake. Animals discharge fight or flight by shaking. The action of shaking sends a message to the amygdala, the primal brain stem, that all is well. Soldiers suffering from PTSD have experienced tremendous healing through shaking therapies. Just a few brief (30 second or so) rounds of full body shaking can take your panic from 10 to 2 (or zero). I always recommend this to people who are working through discharging conditioned trauma energies. It really works.

–Have sex. It may sound counterintuitive, like sex is the last thing you want to have when you’re feeling overwhelmed…but you’re in your head, you want to be in your body. Sex helps you to focus on how things feel from the inside which calms, relaxes and goes a long way in getting you back to center. There’s a reason why you often hear about soldiers looking for/wanting sex. It’s not just being horny or randy. Like shaking, sex calms the fight or flight mechanism.

-Take a cold shower. There’s something about the gentle “shock” of cold water that soothes the nervous system.  Try: a cold shower, cold water on the face, jumping in a pool of water or ocean.

–Drink a cup of coffee. I know, again, maybe this sounds counter-intuitive. People focus so much on caffeine as overstimulating and potentially anxiety producing, but little is discussed about the dopamine in coffee. Dopamine is the neurotransmitter responsible for mood regulation, which is why, during times of overwhelm/panic/anxiety, some people actually find coffee therapeutically calming.

-Do something pleasurable. “I’m melting down… and you’re asking me to enjoy myself?” Yes. Have you ever felt awful, like it was the end of the world, convinced you’d never experience another day of pleasure in your entire life, then you see a chocolate chip cookie, a dessert you love, or an object of desire or beauty, a puppy or kitty or horse, and despite your devastation all of your energy suddenly turns toward THAT THING THAT YOU ENJOY (or would like to)? Yep. That. Indulge it. That beautiful distraction can help you return to your center… though it’s not actually a distraction at all. You are joy, you are love, you are beauty, you are peace. That’s why you’re drawn toward these joys. Pleasure, allowing yourself to gravitate towards it, is your own intelligence at work: You are actually recognizing, resonating with and nourishing the real energy your True Self.

Ultimately “whatever works” means doing that thing you need, what works just for you.

There are a lot of big energies out there that feel yucky, icky, awful. A secret to working with and mastering Scorpio/Pluto energy is recognizing that a) you can feel all these things you feel and b) you’re not going to die if you feel them c) and you don’t have to like these uncomfortable energies to be okay with them… because that’s the only way you’ll be able to let them go. It’s okay, and human, to want to feel comfortable and peaceful all the time…but you won’t, always…so it’s okay to feel (even extremely) uncomfortable sometimes, too.

Energetic overwhelm can be very convincing in its capacity to mess with your perception, creating big scary shadows out of little things, but it is just another energy state to work with. You just need to recognize that you are off center, and then guide your self back to home to who you truly are.