Flashlights and Gremlins
When the Sun aspects Saturn (Nov. 4, 2024, 9:36 am), it shines its brilliant light into some of our most fearsome places – and it doesn’t shy away from what it finds there. The Sun in Scorpio is like the intrepid team of investigators from the X-Files, investigating the truth with the aid of gigantic flashlights. And with Saturn still retrograde until next week, most of these investigations have to do with gremlins from the past that still haunt us.
We may uncover these demons in the world around us, or, more likely, within ourselves. They show up in the ways we’re out of integrity with our deepest values; where we’ve taken expedient shortcuts; where shame has caused us to shave away a few points of accuracy from the truth. These are the sorts of missteps that undermine our strength.
Saturn’s purpose is to make us the strongest version of ourselves. And each time we’re willing to face what embarrasses or scares us – a pit filled with spiders, snakes, a vulnerable conversation with someone close to us – we become just a little bit stronger.
The Next Thing
As Mercury trines the North Node (Nov. 6, 2024, 6:31 pm PST), be on the lookout for a message, invitation, or piece of information that lets you know you’re on the right track. The North Node symbolizes of the brass ring that, if we reach for it, almost invariably leads us in a gratifying direction. And since it’s been moving through Aries (since July 2023), that direction has led across a brand new frontier, one we can only reach on our own.
This is a small, minor aspect in an already light astrological news week, but pay attention, so that you don’t miss Mercury’s memo. It might come your way in an email, a text, a social media post, something you hear on a podcast or read in a book. On the heels of Mercury’s several weeks in Scorpio, your focus is clear and your eyes and ears are open in a whole new way. Something you couldn’t recognize or imagine just a month ago suddenly sticks out with blinding clarity. “Here’s the next thing,” it says. “Here’s the direction that leads to happiness.” And so, follow it.
Totally Unsupervised
Mercury goes out-of-bounds (exceeding 23°28’ declination) on November 7. Out-of-bounds planets exceed the boundaries of the Sun’s path through the ecliptic, so they are, symbolically, beyond the Sun’s “supervision.” Planets in this condition accept no rules and know no boundaries – which can get us into trouble from time to time, but which also encourages unique creativity.
Similar to a Mercury/Uranus aspect, Mercury out-of-bounds is helpful for problem-solving and creative breakthroughs, especially since Venus is also out-of-bounds this month. If you’ve been trying without success to complete a creative project, it could be that the answer is to throw the whole thing out and start from scratch. But if it were me (and with the Sun currently trine Saturn), I’d stow current projects someplace safe; we might want to salvage pieces of it next month.
Group Effort
The Scorpio New Moon is among the most intensely personal. Often, it’s when we turn our secrets into fervent wishes and ritual, as though our own magic alone could transform our lives – or even determine the fate of the world.
The Aquarius First Quarter Moon (Nov. 8, 2024, 9:55 pm PST), charged with taking action to move the Scorpio New Moon’s agenda to the next level, has a radically different focus. Change is a communal effort, says Aquarius. It’s also the message of Pluto, the transformer, moving into this sign on Nov. 19 (through 2043).
In the Moon’s Sabian symbol at this First Quarter Moon, A man (is) unmasked.” The intense privacy – even secrecy – of the Scorpio New Moon is ripped away; the collective will is revealed. The transformation, seen in the Sun’s symbol, A woods full of autumn color, is underway. But in contrast to Scorpio’s emphasis on individual transformation, this will be a group effort.
Awakening
We want to believe the best about the people we love. But no one is perfect, however much we love them. And this week’s Venus square to Neptune (Nov. 9, 2024, 5:15 am PST) prompts us to consider whether we can still love those closest to us, even after we’ve seen what’s not so lovely about them.
Even when relationships are doing just fine, this aspect can signal a challenge to basic values. Your politics, figures of inspiration, our approach to earning and managing money… any of these can suddenly be revealed as naïve or wrong-headed. No need for embarrassment; only awakening.
Venus moves quickly, so this transit has only a glancing influence, no more than a couple of days. But if Neptune has been leaning on your chart during its long stay at the last degrees of Pisces, this transit could trigger a larger shift in how and whom you cherish. Is there anyone, or anything, you once believed in, that needs to be let go? Walking away is not always the right response to disillusionment. But sometimes, it’s the only one.
Writing and images © 2017-24 by April Elliott Kent
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