What is it about a Full Moon? Why does it seem so magical? Why might it make some people “crazy”? The astrological answer is in the illumination of the two “lights”, the Sun and the Moon, through opposite signs of the Zodiac.
The Zodiac can be viewed as 6 pairs of opposite signs, or polarities. The signs of each pair are poles of an axis whose function they both share and serve in contradictory, yet complementary, ways. For example, Taurus (birth) is at one end of the axis it shares with Scorpio (death), the sign at the other end. There’s a time for everything, including “a time to be born and a time to die”. It’s the natural economy, the way all values in Time are kept in balance with one another. A different value is toggled in each of the 6 polarities.
Sunlight is the light of conscious life, shining steadily on our thoughts and activities through a single sign for a whole month at a time. Moonlight is the light of unconscious life, reflecting our feelings, moods and dreams through signs that change every 2 - 2.5 days. While we are always functioning in the present in the objective clock time of the Sun, we may feeland dream of a remembered or imaginary past or future in the subjective dreamtime of the Moon.
During the days and nights when the Moon is Full, the Sun and Moon are in opposite signs, ‘speaking’ to us simultaneously from opposite poles of an axis. The Sun affirms conditions of the current moment. The Moon reminds us that there was or will be another moment in time with conditions exactly the opposite of whatever they are now.
The effect of the contrast between the opposing lights is a feeling of bittersweet poignancy as we experience simultaneous contradictory emotions. They are equally compelling. We seem to be stuck with one of them, while the other haunts us from somewhere out of reach. For relief from any discomfort from the effect, we can seek connection with the paradoxical center point between the two extremes, where they meet in timeless union and perfect peace.
In this series, we explore the Full Moon’s effects each month as the two lights confront each other across successive sign polarities.
Full Moon in Scorpio: Forewarning of Mortality
When the Moon is Full in Scorpio, the Sun is opposing it from Taurus. The two lights are illuminating the Taurus-Scorpio axis, bringing us in touch with its complementary energies. The purpose of Taurus-Scorpio is appreciation of thetrue value of life on earth. It stimulates simultaneous awareness of the beginning and the ending of a life (or any impermanent structure) in the physical world. We’re aware that it lasts on earth for a limited span of time, and then it’s gone.
Taurus is the fertile sign at the birth end of this axis. A Taurus description suggests that something is newly made, solid, attractive, and desirable. Taurus is productive and abundant; it makes something. Like a peaceful farm or factory, there’s wealth in whatever it makes, and an inclination to preserve and build on existing abundance.
Scorpio is the barren sign at the death end of this axis. A Scorpio description suggests that something is dead, decaying, worn out, and in need of replacement. Scorpio is unsatisfied and desirous; it lacks something and feels the lack. Like a hectic marketplace, there’s need for whatever is lacking, and eagerness to negotiate for trade.
This polarity of opposite signs is potentially complementary, because one end of it is in need and the other possesses an abundant supply. Optimally the supplies meet the needs, and there is a symbiotic balance between the two. Each person keeps valued and needed goods, and submits other things to market or ‘recycling’ where they can ‘fertilize’ new growth. Nourishing farm-grown produce eventually goes to feed hungry families; assets enjoyed by the living eventually become inheritances for heirs of the dead to enjoy. In other versions of the Taurus-Scorpio exchange, otherwise unused cash grows through wise investments, or new benefits become available to partners who share resources. We experience the same polarity on an emotional level of exchange through our attachments to people we care about and want around us.
Like all the polarities, this one can be well balanced and rewarding or unbalanced and dysfunctional. It doesn’t work well when the contributions from both ends of it aren’t approximately equal. Either way, it signifies attachment through investment, whether material, emotional, or both. It’s there while it’s there to meet a need. Whether or not it’s a happy experience while it lasts, we can be surprised by our feelings of loss when it ends.
"Gather Ye Rosebuds While Ye May" paintings by John William Waterhouse 1908 (left) and 1909 (right)
Gather ye rosebuds while ye may, Old Time is still a-flying; And this same flower that smiles today Tomorrow will be dying.
The glorious lamp of heaven, the sun, The higher he's a-getting, The sooner will his race be run, And nearer he's to setting.
That age is best which is the first, When youth and blood are warmer; But being spent, the worse, and worst Times still succeed the former.
Then be not coy, but use your time, And while ye may, go marry; For having lost but once your prime, You may forever tarry.
The influence of the Taurus Sun puts us mentally in life mode. The natural world is awake and green; flowers are blooming, everything’s growing, and beauty is all around. We find ourselves in a world that is new, young, and full of life and promise. It’s a rich treasure that can delight us and give us all we need, that invites us to indulge and enjoy.
But the glow of the Full Moon in Scorpio is a warning that the luxury in which we now bask is fleeting. The flowers will fade; the time of fertility will pass; the time of harvest will come; the green leaves will redden and fall. Indeed, a time will come when all the forms that are now vibrant and alive will lie still and dead.
The above drawing is All is Vanity (1892) by Charles Allan Gilbert. It illustrates perfectly the paradoxical center point of the Taurus-Scorpio axis. What is the subject of the drawing? That depends on your perspective! If you see a woman seated and primping at a dressing table, you are looking at it from the perspective of the Taurus Sun. If you see a stark white skull, you are looking at it from the perspective of the Scorpio Moon. Either of those interpretations comes from a perspective somewhere in time.
But from the timelesscentral perspective to which the Full Moon beckons us, one sees both images simultaneously and intuitively grasps their combined meaning: Youth and physical beauty are only temporary. Does that mean they’re bad? No. It means we can only enjoy them for a limited time, and we’d be unwise to either take them for granted or allow our whole life to revolve around them as though they were permanent.
This sweet season when the earth is bursting with youth and beauty is a time to be savoring life, not to be dwelling on the inevitability of death — except for those few mysterious hours of forewarning when the Moon is Full in Scorpio.
How a Full Moon in Scorpio Might Feel
The songs below express some feelings individuals might experience under a Full Moon in Scorpio.
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The Two Trees
English Translation:
Beloved gaze in thine own heart
The holy tree is growing there
From joy the holy branches start
And all the trembling flowers they bear
The changing colours of its fruit
Have dowered the stars with merry light
The surety of its hidden root
Has planted quiet in the night
The shaking of its leafy head
Has given the waves their melody
And made my lips and music wed
Murmuring a wizard song for thee
There the Loves a circle go
The flaming circle of our days
Gyring, spiring to and fro
In those great ignorant leafy ways
Remembering all that shaken hair
And how the winged sandals dart
Thine eyes grow full of tender care
Beloved gaze in thine own heart
Gaze no more in the bitter glass
The demons with their subtle guile
Lift up before us when they pass
Or only gaze a little while
For there a fatal image grows
That the stormy night receives
Roots half hidden under snows
Broken boughs and blackened leaves
For all things turn to barrenness
In the dim glass the demons hold
The glass of outer weariness
Made when God slept in times of old
There through the broken branches go
The ravens of unresting thought
Flying, crying, to and fro
Cruel claw and hungry throat
Or else they stand and sniff the wind
And shake their ragged wings, alas
Thy tender eyes grow all unkind
Gaze no more in the bitter glass
Beloved gaze in thine own heart
The holy tree is growing there
From joy the holy branches start
And all the trembling flowers they bear
Remembering all that shaken hair
And how the winged sandals dart
Thine eyes grow full of tender care
Beloved gaze in thine own heart
Mignonne, Allons Voir si la Rose (from a poem written in 1545 by Pierre de Ronsard)
English Translation:
Darling, let us go and see if the rose
That just this morn had changed its clothes
To robes of purple in the sun,
Has changed again now day is done.
The folds of its robe purpurean
And its blush with yours were as one.
Alas! You see in just how little time,
My sweet, the rose has fallen from its prime,
Alas, alas, to see its beauty fade!
O Nature’s cruelty is vast,
That such a flow’r can only last
From dawn until the evening’s shade!
And so, you must believe me, dear,
So long as your age doth appear
In all its greenest novelty
Embrace, embrace your radiant youth
For like this flower, in all truth,
Cruel age will tarnish your beauty.
Translation by Thomas Daughton
