Zen thought

"I saw old Autumn in the misty morn
Stand, shadowless like Silence, listening
To Silence."
- Thomas Hood

This is an interesting post about the essential oils associated with Scorpio

From Suzanne Bovenizer cmt, cst

Scorpios are perceptive and intuitive and thus make good healers (once they have embarked on their own self-healing process). You will find them comfortable being psychotherapists, counselors, psychics, sex therapists, hands-on therapists and body workers of all kinds. Because of the Scorpio’s ability to insightfully see deep within their patient/client, they can encourage the patient to go into their own dark scary psychological and emotional places without fear. They extend a strong sense of support and trust to the client, offering them the light to see into their own personal underworld. Essential oils that can assist the journey into this dark and deep inner world are frankincense, patchouli, elemi, neroli, galbanum, myrrh, juniper, cypress, sandalwood, benzoin, cedarwood and vetiver. These oils not only help the client, but also are great friends to the Scorpio, who loves traveling to the underworld and back, thanks to their ruling planet of Pluto.

I was just thinking of a blend with franincense - and benzoin. Actually - I was contenplating all these wood oils. Heh.

She goes on to say:

Scorpios have a highly developed sense of sensuality and enjoy exploring sexual pleasure with all their senses, although the challenge for the Scorpio is to ground the experience rather than go into sexual overdrive. They need to find a way to accept their vulnerability and open their hearts rather than surrender to the purely physical eroticism of sex. Oils that support and ground sexual awareness and sensual pleasure are rose, neroli, jasmine, ylang ylang, geranium, chamomile, palmarosa, melissa, rosewood, patchouli, lavender and angelica, and thus resonate in the Scorpion frequency. Those born in Scorpio, being in a water sign, love baths in sensual salubrious settings. Adding essential oils to the bath water or to massage oils and body creams can bring a Scorpio into ecstatic realms of heart-felt pleasure. This is their playing ground and a candle lit bathroom, warm scented water, delicate music, delicious wine or chocolate and someone their to caress their body will melt any Scorpio’s heart.

And I was thinking of blending the frankincense with rose, ylang ylang, chamomile, lavender & melissa - to ground and calm the heart. Calm the passion & excitement somewhat.

Will Nov. 5th ever come?

Heh.

Happy Birthday Scorpios!

The Sun in mysterious Scorpio invites you to delve into the Underworld and investigate what's hidden beneath the surface of everyday life. The Scorpion's goal is transformation at the deepest level, by bringing light to shadows and secrets and cutting through external appearances to uncover the core of truth.

Like the snake -- one of the animals associated with Scorpio -- this sign teaches that shedding the old is sometimes necessary for new growth, and that death is an essential part of life. As autumn starts to fade into winter (at least in the Northern Hemisphere), days grow darker and signs of death and decay abound in the natural world, reminding us of our own mortality.

It's not a coincidence that Halloween, All Saints Day and Day of the Dead happen during the Scorpio season. The veil between material reality and the realm of spirits -- the visible and invisible worlds -- is said to grow thin, heightening our ability to access magic and connect with those who have passed.

Find out where you're being called to look beneath the surface, release the old and transform at a deep level by looking up your zodiac sign below.

Hunter's Moon - October 14th

Hunter's Moon - in Aries. Conjunct my natal moon - and I'm howling tonight! :-)

It's a full Moon with the potential to instill a sense of awe and wonder, of living in times where we will essentially be creating the world anew - especially with Uranus & Saturn in opposition. The Aries spirit of the full Moon helps us believe in new beginnings, even as we're grieving the loss of the old.

The King is dead. All hail the King.

More about Uranus in opposition to Saturn

Molly's Astrology has an interesting article that makes a couple of good points:

Saturn opposite Uranus happens every 40 years or so. It is a culmination of a cycle that begins when Saturn conjoins Uranus. This year’s opposition is the culmination of the Saturn Uranus cycle that began in 1988. Last time we saw Saturn opposite Uranus was in the mid 1960s.

Think what was happening in 1988 - in 1987 we had 'Black Monday' the Wall Street market crash. Think Gordon Gekko: Greed is Good. The end of Ronald Reagan's term in office - Iran/Iraq War - USSR/Afganistan War - Iran/Contra affair....think how much these memes are coming back these days...

Molly expands on what I posted earlier:

Saturn and Uranus are mortal enemies in mythology. They aren’t great together in astrology either. Their meeting signals tension and irritability, technology problems, and folks who are offbeat or out of step. Issues and problems that have been festering beneath the surface for a while are emerging in a way that probably shouldn’t surprise us, but it does. The rules of the game are changing, folks.

Saturn in Virgo affects our guts and digestive systems. Uranus in Pisces amps up the nervous energy in and around us, affecting our endocrine balance and sleep patterns. According to Ebertin in Combination of Stellar Influences, Saturn with Uranus brings “inhibitions of rhythm.”1

These inhibitions of rhythm kick us out of step on many levels— health, relationships, work. Disruptions in our routines. And we often experience electrical disturbances or technology problems when Uranus is under stress. Uranus energy brings change through instability. There are often sudden and unexpected events that shake our foundations and force us to look at things in a new way. This is the blessing of it. When old structures and connections are broken, we have the opportunity to update with something new and better.

I know I have been having sleep issues, and have switched to a very simple diet: rice, beans, veggies & fruit diet...it was time for this change. We all need to focus on what we need to do for ourselves to be healthy and simplify. How much extra 'stuff' do we get that just clutters and causes additional stress? Uranus comes in like a wild-eyed revolutionary and breaks things up - so that we HAVE to start anew. Saturn, the demanding Karmic taskmaster, gives us the foundations to begin building again. This process can be very disturbing and upsetting - but we can start new, fresh - and build something even better than what was destroyed.

Again, from Molly:

What I have been noticing most with Saturn in Virgo and Uranus in Pisces is fear. It has come up a lot in my work with clients. Fear can get you all tied up in knots so that you aren’t thinking straight. Then you make bad decisions, which have bad consequences, which makes you more fearful. It’s a vicious cycle. If this sounds like you, here’s my advice— you need to realize that the fear is the #1 problem. The fear itself is, in all likelihood a bigger problem than the object of your fear. Take care of the fear first. This is not so hard if you take it one step at a time. Remember to breathe deeply, remember to eat well, take care of your body and your mind. Nourish, nourish, nourish. Remember that what you focus on gets bigger. And you are in control of your focus. Don’t focus on how and where you are powerless. Focus on your options for solving the problem or making it through the hard times. And keep breathing!

Good advice.

Some aromatherapy tips for dealing with stress

Like a lot of people, the current world and political situation has me pretty much stressed out. Being the Aries moon that I am - I get angry and want to fight - but that isn't really very helpful or healthy. So what I am doing to calm myself is to avoid watching the news & staying out of political debates (as much as I love to engage in them) and listen to soothing music, meditate more, and I have blended a synergy of essential oils - rose, melissa, chamomille, marjoram, and frankinscense.

Very lovely - very calming. And all these oils have hypotensive properties - which is a big plus these days.

Astrology is about cycles

There will be good times - there will be bad times. There is always an endless cycle.

To everything there is a season,
a time for every purpose under the sun.
A time to be born and a time to die;
a time to plant and a time to pluck up that which is planted;
a time to kill and a time to heal ...
a time to weep and a time to laugh;
a time to mourn and a time to dance ...
a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing;
a time to lose and a time to seek;
a time to rend and a time to sew;
a time to keep silent and a time to speak;
a time to love and a time to hate;
a time for war and a time for peace.

ecclesiastes 3:1-8

So What the Heck is going on with the Stars?

There is a major aspect that has been impacting us - Saturn in Virgo in opposition to Uranus in Pisces.

Saturn represents form, responsibility, duty - it's considered a malefic (bad planet) and the Karmic taskmaster. Virgo is an Earth sign - noted for their attention to detail and need for security.

Uranus represents radical, unexpected change - like revolution - but these changes can lead to new beginnings. You have to break some eggs to get an omlet sort of deal. In Pisces - emotional, visionary - and deception are some traits of this water sign.

Both Pisces & Virgo are mutable signs - indicating that they can change with not a lot of pressure...(doesn't that sound like the stock market....) This opposition can represent the need to balance new wild change and revolution (Uranus) against the old way things were expected to be responsibly done (Saturn).

We're not done yet. Uranus is retrograde - meaning that it is moving 'backwards' - and will have another direct hit with Saturn next month.

From another astrologer:

Last month we pointed out, both here and in our Matrix monthly, that we are returning to a period with a bowl chart in the sky (edged by Saturn and Uranus, with all planets inside them) for half the month, and a lunar bucket the other half, the first time since 2001. When the Moon is inside the bowl, we return to Saturn-led bowl chart order, and when the Moon is outside of the bowl, our satellite becomes the wildly emotional handle of a bucket chart, and everybody gets crazy. September proved to be uncannily on time, as Lehman Brothers’ bankruptcy was announced just when the Moon passed Uranus (surprise!) on 9/14 and broke into the open. All hell broke loose and the world economy went nuts for two weeks until the Moon finished her crazy trek and tucked herself back into the bowl with the conjunction to Saturn on 9/28 and the accompanying massive bail-out bill – the first version of which itself failed, from being introduced on a terminally old Moon, but will eventually in some form put things temporarily back on firmer footing.

The Moon, associated with mass behavior (hysterical or otherwise) is very much the focus as we move back into another similar round in October. The weekend of October 11-12 opens up the next round (two weeks of various panicky forms of “October surprise”), which then closes with the weekend of October 25-26, as again only one-half of the sky is inhabited until after the election. As we also pointed out, Pluto headed for its momentous sign change and the Saturn-Uranus opposition (the edges of the bowl) becoming exact on U.S. election day November 4 also give an extra feeling of ground-swell change, within which we all have little room to steer, the “following sea” of last month’s editorial.

Imagine yourself on a ship in heavy weather – when you’re on deck, it seems like chaos (Moon outside the bowl) but when you go below it feels so much cozier and safer, but you know it’s really not. Go up for air again, if you’re getting a little seasick, and the whole experience repeats. Get used to it, because that will be the rhythm for the next few months and into mid-February, after which the Sun and inner planets begin to spread out of the bowl for a six-month hiatus, before it begins all over again. It’s the pumping rhythm of major change, whether it’s the kind you want to believe in or not…