Full Moon in Scorpio: I'm not afraid, you're afraid
Untitled, artist: Adams Carvalho
The Full Moon in Scorpio on May 18th has you getting reacquainted with your anger, rage, love, sadness: it’s time to feel it all…but let’s talk about it later. With the sign of Scorpio united with the moon, there’s intensity, drama, very deep mother love [note: emotion] but it’s all frozen and the inside doesn’t always look how it does on the outside. This water sign is notoriously symbolized by ice—water, but make it hard and impenetrable. The energy of ice in the warmth of springtime seems a little out of place, right? Actually it’s like the last frost, it’s the Great Thaw™ that accompanies fragrant opportunity and wild growth. You are being asked to weather a melting process that will show you what is in there frozen: what you need and what you only think you need. Get ready for emotional surprises.
Scorpio is a sign that doesn’t trust easily because it senses things underneath the conversation like instinctual responses, body language, and pheromones that might escape a less sensitive sign altogether. It doesn’t, however, like to give away its own cards. It needs time to watch the patterns and assess the environment for safety before it shows how vulnerable and nurturing it is. Even though Scorpio is a scaredy cat about showing its feels, it’s a brave sign when it counts. This full moon you’re learning to be brave in a way that gets you in touch with hunger, anger, instinct—in other words, the real shit. This moon is a welcome departure from going through the motions, maintaining the status quo for the sake of peace and quiet. You are challenging yourself to look at the real things by “melting the ice” on deeper feelings you’d rather numb with Taurean pastimes (food, drink, sex, sleep) and slowly reanimating your authentic self like a frog undergoing a metamorphosis from breathing water to air.
You will be getting comfortable with what it means to feel secure in full exposure by having a couple old crutches stripped away from you over the next two weeks. There are rewards with losing your footing: you can lose a few fears in the name of self-revelation. Imagine it’s nighttime: you see a reflection in the water on the ground and it looks like you’ve come across a very deep pond. You realize there’s no way around it—you prepare to swim, you jump in. But you misjudged the depth and it’s so shallow you can walk across no problem! There’s a lot to say for being brave enough to fall into something of uncertain depth. There are rewards when we are willing to risk it all to cross the water. Here on this Full Moon in Scorpio, you’re learning you are safer than you ever imagined to take risks, to admit when you’re cornered, to give up and see that everything’s ok or even better than your worst fears led you to believe.
With the moon quincunx to Mars, whatever gets moulted out of your life during this period is a HUGE blessing. Don’t be afraid of making a mess. It’s the most important sign that things are about to be rearranged for the better when the dust clears.