05 Nov Inner Movements of the Soul~November 6th-12th, 2017

This week, the Sun makes its way into the heart of Scorpio, where desire burns for union. This realm is ultimately a wordless place, best understood through myth and symbol.

In the season of death, many familiar things begin to dissolve, swallowed up by darkness. On Tuesday, Venus will join the Sun and Jupiter in Scorpio, adding her voice to the chorus that is calling you into a metamorphosis. With Venus in the underworld, you may feel haunted by ghosts, aware of how much of your inner world is made up of distant echoes and fading pictures. Some people in your life will begin to lose their luster and weakened ideas will reveal their crumbling foundations.

In this lonely and contemplative space, you may feel like you are dying for something real, something that makes you feel alive. The swelling passion inherent to this part of the zodiac will help you break through outworn bonds, throwing them to the ground in the fervent rush towards something that is pulsing with life-force. Say goodbye to the dessicated job, the unavailable lover or the uninspired studies.

In the wake of such swift sacrifices, this rush of blood promises to bring you towards a deeper communion with someone or something that nourishes your soul.

It is the nature of Scorpio season to summon many hungers. The only natural response is to feed yourself with ecstatic experience. This week, in your quieter moments, I invite you to enjoy one of the most beloved operas of all time, Tristan und Isolde by Richard Wagner.

In Wagner’s mind, art was not for art’s sake, but was meant to inspire transformation in the human soul. As a composer, Wagner shunned music theory, considering those types of compositions to be lifeless and artificial. In his experience, the power of music was derived through ecstatic emotional states and harmony flowed from divine inspiration. Thus, his operas were written as ecstatic myths, presented as natural and living things born from the inner movements of his soul.

“Life and death, the whole import and existence of the outer world, here hang on nothing but the inner movements of the soul.”

In 1865, amidst political turmoil and personal devastation, Wagner premiered Tristan und Isolde,  an epic based upon the centuries old Arthurian legend. The story begins with Sir Tristan, a loyal Cornish knight, being ordered across the sea to escort a beautiful Princess named Isolde back home to become the King’s bride. On the return voyage, Sir Tristan and Princess Isolde fall in love. Knowing their love to be forbidden, they yearn for the release of death, drinking poison to end their suffering.

As fate would have it, the drink they thought was poison turns out to be a powerful love potion. Rather than being released, they become subsumed by the Dionysian.

Together they sing,

Descend O night of love.

By the time they arrive at court, Tristan is so swept up and enchanted that he no longer acknowledges the King to be his ruler. While still entwined in a narcotic haze, Tristan and Isolde are discovered by the King. And by the third act, Tristan is killed in a fight, dying in Isolde’s arms.

Softly and gently, how he smiles, how his eyes fondly open

In the final aria, entitled Liebestod (meaning love death) Isolde sings of Tristan, whom she knows has found life beyond death. Following this vision, Isolde chooses to let go of life, peacefully entering into eternity by her own free will.

do you not see? how he shines ever brighter.

The last notes of music in Tristan und Isolde offer an exultant moment of conclusion and union. Wagner summons an evocation of ethereal bliss, transforming tragedy into revelation. Rising above the orchestra, a refrain of their love song soars, a wordless herald of love’s eternity.

Predicated upon loss, pain and death, Wagner once explained why tragedies are so transformative and nourishing to the soul.

“The spectacle of a noble soul striving against adversities and often failing, but never crushed, is one which touches the heart most deeply, and is the proper subject of tragedy.”

Evoked in operatic splendor, Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde offers a perfect meditation on the emotional intensity of Scorpio. Filled with hunger, intimacy, death, and resurrection, this opera inspires a renewed faith in the process of death and rebirth, offering illumination through the music’s majestic promise of the soul’s renewal.

Monday/Tuesday: Birth of Tragedy

The week begins with the waning Moon in Gemini, an ideal time to sift and sort, looking for lackluster compositions, business ideas, or studies that can be weeded out. Take some time to examine the many cyclones of information that are whirling around in your mind. In any act of clearing some of this detritus away, more mental energy will become available for necessary problem solving and creative efforts. Clean up your desktop. Toss out old mail. Donate the lifeless books on your shelf. And kill your darlings in the editing process.

In the early morning on Tuesday, Venus will leave her place of rulership in Libra, slipping into the dark waters of Scorpio. With Venus joining both the Sun and Jupiter, know that the area of your chart where Scorpio is will now become extra amplified and magnetic.

The Sun makes a poetic performance out of its dark night of the soul and Jupiter has a lot of mystical revelation to gain from the Scorpio’s transformative realm. But Scorpio is Venus’ sign of detriment, making it a somewhat hostile environment.

Some of Venus‘ more voluptuous curves are chiseled down, cheeks gaunt and eyes gleaming with nocturnal visions. But her homesickness for the loveliness of Libra will quickly adapt, relishing the freedom of the pleasure-seeking nightlife. Sharpened by raw power and magnetism, Venus in Scorpio may attract many desires to your doorstep, allowing you to indulge in some very deep satisfaction.

But whether these enjoyments arrive as love, money, or career opportunities, Venus’ attractive powers will be drawing from the darkest recesses of your psyche. In many pleasures and indulgences, the shadows of repressed pain and self-sabotage will follow.

Venus’ transit through Scorpio can be a great gift when you allow the positive and negative emotional experiences to inspire healing, purifying your desires of misguided intentions. Take pleasure in healing your relationships, accept yourself more deeply, and remain humble in the use of your power.

Wednesday/Thursday: Noble Soul

On Thursday, the Sun will sextile Pluto in Capricorn. Like diffuse light being concentrated into a laser beam, this aspect between the Sun and Pluto will increase your willpower and focus. This increased power will be of great benefit in any area of life that requires more visionary energy. Used for study, the intensity of insight and focus will invite you to penetrate much deeper into a subject. Used for work, a deeper level of concentration will empower you to make great strides forward. In the service of relationships, you might engage in a very healing conversation that brings many necessary things into the light for healing or forgiveness.

Friday/Saturday/Sunday: Shines Ever Brighter

The highlight of the weekend is on Saturday, with a fire trine lighting up between Saturn in Sagittarius and Uranus in Aries. This is not the easiest trine, since Saturn represents the weight and gravity of time and Uranus represents liberation from the limitations of time.

Thus, some extra aggravation may arise due to the inherent tension produced between Saturn and Uranus. However, this trine will bring many positive outcomes, finding great purpose for the experience of both restriction and freedom. 

Watch for reckless rebellions that find maturity through dignified actions. With Saturn’s careful deliberation and Uranus’ vision, many robust business plans, building projects, and creative collaborations can be brought into fruition. Suffice it to say that this combination of mature reasoning and visionary invention can influence your haphazard ideas to become transformed into well-laid plans. 

If nothing else, this is the kind of transit that will make you think deeply about time. The span of one life, only a brief candle consumed by its flame so quickly. The weight of such thoughts will be greatly lightened by a glimmering sense of your soul’s eternity.