the full moon lunar eclipse at 14’58 scorpio is exact on friday may 5th, 2023 at 1:34pm EDT (exact midpoint of the lunar eclipse is 1:22pm EDT). this a very powerful eclipse as it is a lunar gate, a solar gate and an eclipse all wrapped in one. the full moon in scorpio is lunar beltane and may 5th just under an hour later we have the precise solar gate of beltane- aligning the lunar and solar versions of this High Holy Day and magnifying it tenfold by it being an eclipse!
beltane is one of the 8 Holy Gateways of the sun through the wheel of the year- and it is the Gate of Fertility and Abundance. i will have my solar gate call up by 5/1 if not sooner but let me tell you the abundance and fertility energy of this gateway is EXCEPTIONAL!!!! (you can find the solar gate calls here- https://divineharmony.com/solar-gate-calls/)
this full moon eclipse is the midpoint of the current eclipse cycle we are in that began with the super rare Hybrid Solar Eclipse at the Karmic Completion degree of 29 Aries- exact on april 19th (you can read the lunar insight i wrote on this new moon eclipse here- https://divineharmony.com/lunar-insight/rare-hybrid-black-moon-solar-eclipse-at-the-29th-degree-of-aries-4-20-23/). we are in the eclipse portal which is a time of heightened endings and new beginnings. eclipses align with the nodes of the moon- either the north node of destiny or the south node of karma. that new moon eclipse was a north node eclipse and this full moon eclipse is a south node eclipse- so this one is bringing to Light what is karmic, stuck in the shadows and needs to be dealt with and release. this can play out emotionally, physically, relationally and otherwise.
the full moon in scorpio is also called the Buddha Moon (aka Wesak) as it is the full moon under which the buddha attained enlightenment. why would a full moon in scorpio be the one full moon to serve this end? well scorpio is the sign that i like to call ‘the eye of the needle’. it is the sign under which we are confronted by all our shadow, unconscious desires and fears. if we can stay present during these intense scorpio portals- we can truly move through the eye of the needle and catapult ourselves into another dimension of consciousness in radical and powerful ways. this is exactly what the Buddha did!
the full moon is at 15 scorpio and the sun that is opposite is at 15 taurus- these are the precise mid fixed degrees between fall and winter and spring and summer. they are the PRECISE solar gateway degrees and having them activated by an eclipse is potent. one way of looking at the wheel of the year is that spring and fall are the tipping points into the light half of the year and dark half of the year. but the more ancient celtic way of looking at it was that it was at beltane and samhain that the tipping points occurred. so these turning points of dark and light are activated right now- which can manifest as us needing to confront our shadow and own our light- personally and collectively.
beltane is the Gate of Fertility but we could also call it the Gate of Life, whereas samhain is the Gate of Death and Descent. in the yin and yang of life there is dark and there is Light, there is birth and there is death, their is gain and there is loss. the only true constant is the flux and change that happens- like the wheel of fortune card in the tarot where rise is followed by fall which is followed by rise again. these are cyclic energies of nature and the cosmos and they are normal. yet we as humans often seek to control them or worse, get rid of one side of the coin. we want light and expansion and life and gain! but we do not want shadow, contraction, death or loss. as such we have split off the side of the cycle of life we fear and we project it onto others in the form of good and evil, duality and polarity.
this very powerful solar & lunar eclipse gateway can be a time to come to terms with our own balance or lack thereof in this dynamic. are you too obsessed with the Light? as taylor swift says can you ‘stare directly at the sun but never in a mirror’- implying that you can overdo your Light and refuse to see your shadow? or are you on the other side of the spectrum always seeing the shadow but not owning your light and radiance? honest self reflections are key to finding where your own balancing act is calling you forward.
in the eclipse chart we have SO MUCH TAURUS with jupiter about to join in (as of may 16th). the taurus activations include the north node, mercury retrograde, vesta, the sun and uranus! the taurus part of your chart is getting some big energetic activations and openings!!! (tune into weekly/lunar/yearly horoscopes for more info). we essentially have a sun/uranus conjunction in taurus (which perfects on may 9th) opposite the moon in scorpio- so the Rebel, Revolutionary and Great Awakener has his thumbprint on the eclipse chart.
uranus at best is about change, freedom and liberation. uranus in taurus is about changing our values, waking up radical new self Love, and it is about a REVOLUTION IN EMBODIMENT (see my blog all about this here- https://divineharmony.com/astrology-blog/uranus-in-taurus-the-embodiment-revolution/). the shadow uranus though can show up as upheaval, chaos, instability and sudden change you did not see coming. with uranus just past his square to hygeia (exact 5/4)- there can be focus on what needs healing in the collective as well as on the personal level. pay attention!
the two rulers of this lunation are mars and pluto. mars is in cancer heading to square eris, while pluto is retrograde in aquarius (just having stationed on may 1st) heading back to the karmic completion degree of 29 capricorn where he will square the nodal axis in late july/early august. mars is the lower will and pluto is the Higher Will. we want the ego self to serve the Higher Self- not the other way around. wherever we have done it the opposite way- personally and/or collectively- we can find things coming to a head right now.
the full moon is conjunct zuben elgenubi- one of the two scales of balance in the libra constellation that are part of the Gateway of Truth and Portal of Intiation. this is the star that is about positive social reform and can bring some very positive shifts socially but also internally in terms of our emotions, shadow and karma. BUT WE HAVE TO BE WILLING TO DO THE WORK TO GET THERE.
this is a powerful lunation!!! use the energies wisely for purging, releasing, detoxing and clearing that which no longer supports your evolution and growth. so mote it be!
i leave you with the Star Sparks degrees for the Sun and Moon as well as the Sabian Symbol degrees. they are all insightful and worth reading in full below.
blessings…
~harmony
(title is a rumi quote)
STAR SPARKS
by ellias lonsdale
Taurus 15 His best friend sings a song at his funeral
When we surrender, when we inwardly reconcile ourselves to those things we cannot change, we set into motion a sequence of events in a whole new direction. Included amongst these fresh events is the distinct possibility that what we gave over and could no longer cling to will return to us in another form and be redeemed in it’s sacrifice, in it’s completion, in it’s ability to let go of the past and link with something greater, even amidst sufferings and losses.
Usually it does take these chains of events, these fixed inevitables to spring us from what we have previously created and become identified within. This is especially because what we have wrought in the past is so very substantial and permeating. We come out of a lineage that is intensively real and binding. And our only way quite often to metamorphose this whole stream into where it needs to go now is to take it upon ourselves to dramatize all that it means to die unto ourselves and our worlds in a radical depth movement.
There arises on the inside a grace, a blessing, a gift that could not arise in an easier light. We do realize what it is that carries us through and what it is that stops us. We get down to a core lesson that may prove to be our springboard into an entirely different octave of existence. And at the innermost center of this ritual drama, we may be granted an ending vision of our purpose and our essential path, at a level beyond what we could dream up when we were entangled.
We are seeking here to send ourselves beyond all that we’ve ever known by entering upon earth existence at a very intense level and cracking through the collective and ancestral codes to embrace the world beyond death.
Scorpio 15 A woman with a gold tooth
She knows something which nothing in this world can ever make her forget. She cleaves to this pivotal ingredient with the utmost tenacity. And she taps it as her key to earth existence.
What she is onto is the path of the Goddess, in all its serpentine windings. She knows this path from forever. And she is at home, deeply in tune with everything this guides her toward, while being incredibly uncommitted to anything else.
For she bears a fierce focus upon what she deems to be essential, underneath any phenomenal appearances. Her being is aflame with the power of the feminine depths of this earth. She can do or be anything if she is close enough to that fire inside.
Whenever she wanders into worlds of business as usual, she loses all currency. For she does not belong where passion is relegated to private rights. Only as she stays within the depths of life’s passion, can she find her way through the wilderness of the outer.
This simple lesson repeats itself in a thousand variations. It is hard to get it because we have lost our Goddess sense and we do not circulate these truths as self-evident and basic. So it feels like working too hard to find something so close at hand.
We inwardly demand of ourselves that we remember and rekindle the path of ecstatic, celebrated oneness with all forms of life, in a pagan open portal way of being. Often we must embrace our most outrageous selves to find our way back to this ancient place. Yet when we get there, it’s all about joy and love and all the good things, not what’s been by this golden thread, getting lost and confined and distorted. When we get to the heart of it, our real being chimes back, all smiles.
SABIAN SYMBOLS
by dane rudhyar
PHASE 45 (TAURUS 15°): HEAD COVERED WITH A RAKISH SILK HAT, MUFFLED AGAINST THE COLD, A MAN BRAVES A STORM.
KEYNOTE: The courage needed to meet the crises precipitated by social ambition.
The man with the silk hat has seen some of his ambitious efforts bring him social success; but he learns that often “nothing fails like success.” The storm may be within him, or it may attack his social status. He is ready to face it daringly. This shows a willingness to accept crises and to go through them — and therefore great character, the soil upon which a higher kind of consciousness may develop.
This is the fifth and final stage of this ninth five-fold sequence of symbols. It implies a transition to a new level at which the individual who has learned from experience demonstrates a truly mature mind. What is revealed here is CHARACTER under adverse circumstances.
PHASE 225 (SCORPIO 15°): CHILDREN PLAYING AROUND FIVE MOUNDS OF SAND.
KEYNOTE: Early steps in the development of a mind seeking to be attuned to the higher level of human evolution.
This is a particularly cryptic symbol. It may be deciphered if one realizes that Man’s essential destiny is to develop as a five-fold being, a “Pentagram” or five-pointed star. Number 5 symbolizes mind in its most creative and penetrating aspect, while number 4 refers to the life processes operating at present within the earth’s biosphere. Our Western civilization has realized only the lower level of this vibration 5; i.e. mind contaminated by compulsive instincts and emotional involvement. Some individuals, however, are born with a special potential for development of the higher, creative mind, and in social circumstances favoring this development. In most cases, they are still “playing around” with their unusual capacity. They are in the kindergarten stage of this higher mind development.
In this final stage of the forty-fifth sequence of five symbols the transcendent possibilities of mental evolution, which require interpersonal communion in consciousness, are evoked. The free spirit of true scientific inquiry is only a foreshadowing of such a type of mind, which demands dedication to mankind as a whole. What is seen here is FUTURE-ORIENTED GROWTH.