I've been feeling very odd and moody lately. I've been having strange dreams and bizarre sleep patterns. Out of the blue, someone I haven't heard from in ages started sending me stupid and offensive text messages - WTF? After watching a silly movie on television I went on a twenty-minute crying jag. Just yesterday I had this impulse to sell everything I own and move away to some foreign country where no one knows me and no one who does could ever find me. What is up with that? That does not seem like something a sane and happy person would do. And then I figured it out. Today is a Full Moon in Scorpio. More precisely, it will be Full at 10:11 pm EDT. Apparently, this is the second Full Moon in Scorpio this year. Oh lucky me!

This Taurus had not been paying attention to her ephemeris or I would have braced myself. We all know how a Full Moon can make things feel a little wonky. For a Taurus, having Scorpio as my opposite, its effects can sometimes feel complementary but often feel scary or even threatening. No wonder I'm feeling a bit undone.

Scorpio is ruled by Mars and Pluto. These influences bring out strong desires and passions. People tend to get moody, with heightened sensitivity to everything, especially to personal offenses and insults. It's easy to get aggressive, critical and impatient. Scorpio has a suspicious and secretive nature, which can lead to feelings of jealousy, making social interactions, especially with the opposite sex, extremely tricky. Watch out for the Scorpion's sting!

According to Cafe Astrology:

The Taurus-Scorpio polarity deals with the balance between all that is mine (Taurus) and all that is yours (Scorpio). It also emphasizes the concept of form (Taurus) versus transformation (Scorpio). While Taurus deals with matter, personal values, material goods, possessions, and security, Scorpio rules the destruction of form, shared possessions, change, and transformation. The Sun in Taurus wants us to be happy with the simple, tangible things in life, while the Scorpio Moon draws our attention to complexities, intangibles, and mysteries. Neglecting either end of the axis will surely backfire on us. Ideally, a balance should be found between the two energies, and this is what the Full Moon invites us to do. This Full Moon is about emotional declarations. Something has been building inside of us, likely of an intimate nature, and now is the time when the energy of the cosmos fairly demands that we let it out. Over the next two weeks, we will discover what this declaration means for us. For now, we can't sit on our feelings. We need to express them. The Full Moon illuminates this conflict between collecting and sharing.

With the Moon full and bright in the sky, symbolic "illumination" occurs in our own lives. However, these new feelings and revelations are emotional ones, as emotions burst forth into our consciousness. It's time to express ourselves, and to let things out of our systems. Of course, we might want to exercise some care while doing so, knowing that what is coming out of us is new and not particularly rational as yet. Full Moons are about exposing or illuminating issues that are already there, but that have not yet been dealt with.

This explains so much about the agitation I've been feeling lately over having to make a decision about my living situation and trying to make heads and tails about what's going on with a romantic relationship. Being a Taurus, the thought of uprooting my life is stressful enough as it is. Part of what I've been thinking through is exactly how to make things simple and happy and whether my current living situation will support me in that. And there are plenty of complexities, intangibles and mysteries involved since I'm trying to factor a relationship and whether it has any bearing on my decision about where to live. Thanks Moon, for popping into Scorpio today to add a monkey wrench into the already mixed up soup that is my emotional state at the moment. You couldn't have settled nicely into Libra? I would have taken Virgo!

When given an astrological wallop, what's a witch to do?

In this particular case, given that it's Scorpio we're talking about, I'd say I need a little astrological anti-venum. Not enough to kill the critter, just enough to take the sting out of his, well, sting so that he can't incapacitate me. I want to benefit from the Scorpio energy that can serve me at this time, but I need to feel that the kinder, gentler Taurus energy has half a chance. Instinct tells me that in addition to taking general protective action, I should try to boost the energy that will offset the one I'm trying to overcome. In this case that means Taurus, my own Sun sign, which is Scorpio's opposite on the wheel of the zodiac. Taurus is ruled by Venus, so it might be a good idea to appeal to her for help.

Since I am not one of those witches with a cupboard fully stocked with herbs and oils and other magickal ingredients (although I always wish I could become one of those witches), I rarely have ingredients on hand to whip up a specific potion or spell. So, in a pinch, I tend to turn to candle magick. You just need to find a candle in an appropriate color, inscribe it with something to represent your desired outcome, light the sucker, et voila! (Intention goes without saying.) For today, I'm going to use a black candle for protection and to absorb negative energy and a green candle to represent Taurus, Venus, Earth, healing and balance. When inscribing candles for magickal purposes, remember to carve images and words from the wick downward for things you want to bring to you; for things you want to banish or remove, carve from the bottom of the candle upward.

While there are many, many references for color correspondences for candle magick, I used details on the properties of black and green candles from a website on candle colors and magickal properties:

BLACK: Burned for positive purposes, this colour opens up the deeper levels of the unconscious. Black is used in rituals to induce a deep meditational state and is good for banishing evil or negativity. Connects to self control, quiet power, and resilience, as it absorbs negativity and destroys it; offers strength and support in spells; protects from retribution and is also an aid during loss.

GREEN:
The colour that connects to nature, fertility, and rejuvenation. Stimulates work involving financial issues and money; aids good fortune, prosperity, luck; ambition and success. Bringer of love and renewal, it is an emotional soother and balancer, used to counteract greed and jealousy. A good colour for treating headaches, colds and nervousness. Green is the colour of the Earth element and is a Goddess Symbol.

I will spend some time today considering the best things for me to inscribe on my black and green candles, given my particular situation and how I need some help to deal with the upset caused by this Full Moon in Scorpio. Once I've settled on what I want to use, I'll carve my candles and get my altar ready. Around 10 pm I'll sit at my altar, create a sacred space, fill my candles with intent, and, at the moment the Moon is completely Full - 10:11 - I will light my candles. I'll keep them burning until I go to bed and then I'll blow them out. It would certainly be one hell of a Scorpion sting if I let my house burn down!

Sweet Venus, please come to hold my hand and help me hold my tongue. No venom here! Let sweet Taurus rule the day. I'd like some change and transformation, just as long as it's toward happiness and security in my new love. Blessed be!

Posted by Angela-Eloise at 1:46 PM