23 Oct Not A Dream By Day ~ October 24th-30th, 2016

This week is shrouded in the darkness of the Sun’s passage through Scorpio as well as the waning Moon’s indigo mood. Scorpio season is the time to commune with death, letting mourning and melancholy flow through your experience without resistance.

When darkness overwhelms the light, there is a feeling of loss accompanied by a yearning for revivification of the sentimental past. In this darkness we are left to dream, our hopes and fears decaying and dissolving into the earth below.

Once accustomed to the season of death, the sorrowful tone of this week can be perceived as very beautiful. After all, life lived without pause for requiem represents a very limited repertoire. There is never a better time for prayer and for contemplation than in the face of death.

And so, at the dawn of Scorpio season,  you will feel whispering prayers pouring forth from deep within, offered with the fervent sincerity that can only be found in a very dark hour of need.

For further inspection of these dark nights of the soul, let’s read one of Edgar Allan Poe’s earliest poems-written when he was only eighteen years old.

A Dream

By Edgar Allan Poe

In visions of the dark night

I have dreamed of joy departed—

But a waking dream of life and light

Hath left me broken-hearted.

Ah! what is not a dream by day

To him whose eyes are cast

On things around him with a ray

Turned back upon the past?

That holy dream —that holy dream,

While all the world were chiding,

Hath cheered me as a lovely beam

A lonely spirit guiding.

What though that light, thro’ storm and night,

So trembled from afar—

What could there be more purely bright

In Truth’s day-star?

Who could be better to illuminate the depths of Scorpio’s emotional churning than Edgar Allan Poe? His very name is attached to a swirl of Scorpionic imagery:  madmen, murderers, magic, and the tragical corpses of beautiful young women.

Poe’s writings were morbid, mysterious and of course, metaphysical. And as all poets should be, Poe was fascinated by dreams and it is upon this subject that he wrote the poem that best expresses this week’s energies.

In, A Dream, Edgar Allan Poe describes how grief is embedded within the waking life of day and pure joy is embedded within the darkness of dreamtime, where past and present co-exist. 

The poem seems choked, barely able to come up for air. In response to the grim reality of death, the poem supposes that dreams offer escape, where memory can freely revive what has been lost. 

Poe thankfully finds solace in the depths, offering the reader a sense that dreams derived from this intensity of feeling do offer a guiding light, as bright as “Truth’s day-star“.

This is all the advice one needs to navigate through Scorpio season, facing the darkness it brings with that guiding light from within.

Monday/Tuesday: Visions of the Dark Night

On Monday, Mercury will leave the equanimous sign of Libra and enter into the dark watery realm of Scorpio, where it will remain until November 12th. With Mercury in Scorpio, the conscious mind and all of its communicative powers will shift from lofty intellectual airs into penetrating instincts regarding human nature.

It is under Mercury in Scorpio’s influence that the United States will cast its vote for the next President indicating that after all is said and done with idealism, votes will be cast from a place of raw emotion no matter how much evidence there may be to contradict your feelings.

If you really want to challenge yourself, consider how your compassion and idealism has been enslaved by the political machine. Try to discover the root of your reactionary political impulses and whether or not these roots represent deep psychic wounds that need to be healed.

Outside of world politics, the shift of Mercury into Scorpio will usher in a deeper understanding of all those you communicate with. As such, truth will have a way of being dragged up to the surface, meaning that you may encounter more secrets and betrayals than usual.

Observe how you behave under such circumstances, where power shifts suddenly through the revelation and concealment of facts. Are you one that seizes upon opportunity to climb up or are you one that remains quietly on the sidelines until the dust settles?

On Tuesday, Venus in Sagittarius will square Neptune in Pisces. The exultant experience of love and beauty that you rely on for cheer will be left vulnerable to distortion and delusion. Your self-image and your romantic life may feel like a walk through a funhouse labyrinth of mirrors.

You may face a hideous vision so striking that you recoil in fear. Or you may become lost in a vision so deceptively pleasing that you ignore obvious warning signs. Try to maintain good humor and awareness of your distorted perceptions so that no conflicts or difficulties arise. This is an aspect that calls you to find that inner light of guidance, so necessary for navigating the darkness of the night.

Wednesday/Thursday – That Holy Dream

In the middle of the week, Venus in Sagittarius will sextile Jupiter in Libra which will favor socializing and alert you to express gratitude for everyone in your life that loves you. There will be a realization of how many people’s lives you touch and how many have touched yours.

You will find yourself smiling at least once with the thought, “what would I do without …” Indeed, your friends, family and lovers are life’s greatest gifts, even if they are no longer with you.

This sensation of warmth and love will brighten that inner light which guides you onward through the night.

On Thursday, the Mercury will conjunct the Sun in Scorpio which will feel like the emergence of “Truth’s day-star”. When Self (Sun) and Mind (Mercury) conjoin, there is a heightened level of ability to ask important questions and seek the light of truth with ultimate clarity.

During Scorpio season, these questions and revelations will surround the hidden and mysterious realms of life, the things that lurk in shadows and behind mundane reality. This would be an excellent time to solve a mystery, to write a poem, to have a dream therapy session or to perform artful divination about something important.

Friday/Saturday/Sunday: Storm and Night

Over the weekend, Mars in its exaltation in Capricorn will square the volatile Uranus in Aries. Mars, representing aggressive force and strategy in a tense aspect with Uranus’ explosive force of liberation may bring about some strange behaviors in you and everyone else. The key to using this energy for your benefit is to control (Mars in Capricorn) a rebellion (Uranus in Aries). Allow for time this weekend to do something stimulating and unusual.

If an opportunity to stretch yourself and push your boundaries presents itself, then take it and enjoy it! If you have long been hoping to experiment with your art, your routine, or your consciousness, indulge in that impulse this weekend!

On Saturday, the urge to experiment will be joined by Venus’ conjunction with Saturn in Sagittarius. This aspect will imbue with the wisdom of “waste not, want not”. There is nothing so precious as time, therefore let this weekend be a holy sacrament to the truth that time is the only thing of real value and thus it must be appreciated and used wisely. This weekend, even if you are stuck indoors, there is no excuse to give in to boredom and apathy.

On Sunday, there will be a New Moon in Scorpio accompanied by Mercury’s trine to Neptune in Pisces. When Mercury trines Neptune, your awareness of the stream of consciousness that nourishes all living things will be especially vivid. Your experience of empathy will also be greatly enhanced, possibly even for those that you have sworn off completely. Your dreams for the next few evenings will reveal much to you if you take the time to write them down.

With the New Moon in Scorpio, the messages contained within your daydreams and your night visions are of utmost importance. Under Scorpio’s murky influence, you have an opportunity to face the darkness and fear that surrounds the season of death.

The purpose of such haunted days and nights is to thrust you so far into the unknown that you see beyond this world and thus grow in spirit and deepen in soul. You shall be glad of this experience one day.

Withdraw into stillness and rest assured that you will continue to be guided through storm and night.