iyar: scorpio lunar eclipse & taurus season

taurus season, at its most earthly, balanced core, is about love.

ruled by venus, taurus teaches us what we need,

deserve, grow through, reciprocate, & learn, in love-

whether internally, interpersonally, or collectively.

we find ritual in relation; sacredness in liberating desire. taurus season asks that we root into all that is known & felt on this earthly plane, while also urging us to reach, expand, spread, unfurl. like the earth under our feet, taurus knows that stillness and motion must always exist in balance.

with the moon full in scorpio, we're pulled to the depths. we’re asked to plunge heartfirst into all that is unseen and unknown; to sink our teeth into each delicious, tender uncertainty, knowing that mystery, questions, and change are the only constant. that change stirs & guides our growth.

within the lens of love, taurean fixed earth energy finds power and spirituality through grounded rhythm, ritual, and sensuality. mirroring them on opposite sides of the axis, scorpionic fixed water energy pools with passion & intensity through feeling and marveling at meanings, queries, & ideas of love within & beyond this plane of existence. like water & earth, we are encompassed by these balances.

eclipses inherently embody so much of what scorpio represents: they are light from a celestial body that becomes obscured by the passage of another celestial body beyond the observer.

they unearth and deal with blockages in what we see, yet they carve space to witness brilliant shifts in illumination, perspective, and understanding.

what seeds are we planting & choosing to nurture in this springtime season around love, intimacy, trust? what rhythms feel so deeply rooted or stagnant that we need to give more care & attention towards gently shifting & transforming them into newness? what do we need to weed?

eclipses are moments of introspection and change. yet they also are natural moments of revisiting old people, places, and patterns that have molded & shaped us- much like the earth’s rocks, cliffs, mountains, and oceans over generations of time.

what have we learned & internalized about love? how can we gently excavate our lifetimes of experiences in order to better witness the layers of sediment within us? to notice & discern where we’ve hardened, or where the seas can soften us? the taurus//scorpio axis teaches us that we have ecosystems that allow us to flourish, and fears that contour our heart spaces. & somewhere in between: the hope & truth of being precious.

how can we envision revisiting past pain as an eclipse; a powerful moment that serves as a needed reminder of all that we’ve come from- all that has died and transmuted and returned as growth- while letting it pass like a celestial body coming between us and our light, our love? our capacity?

our vast potential to feel and grow with love, or be in love?

ruled by pluto, scorpio focuses on power, transformation, transmutation, & deep lessons. scorpio teaches us that love is grief and grief is love. that death is a part of life; a wave that washes us bare and asks for surrender yet fills us up. that there is blissful beauty and necessity in all the messy complexities, circles, cycles, & spirals of life.

with today's eclipse squaring saturn & trine neptune, the energy emphasizes rules, restrictions, illusions & dreams.

what rules and restrictions are we placing on ourselves, especially when it comes to something as deep, visceral, indescribable, and uncontrollable as love? as humbling and powerful as the emotions, intimacy, & connectedness that love stirs & awakens in us?

what illusions rooted in control can we trade instead for dreams that make space for tender expression through trust, intimacy, ecstasy, reclamation, love, liberation?

like mystery, scorpio deals with what is hidden.

when we dig into our emotions & beliefs, especially subconsciously- can we locate their origins and how long they have nested in us? can we make a permanent, safe home in our bodies not only for the grief & pain we hold, but for hope, joy, renewal, & freedom too?

what are the ways we try to control outcomes, or claim//cling to power? how can we look more deeply into the shadows & narratives that we knowingly or unknowingly are telling our hearts about love, what we deserve, or what our hearts are truly capable of? are we moving in fear or flow? where can we instead- through tenderness, patience, wonder, excitement- find release?

to control love is not possible. it is boundless & majestic.

it is ritual & rite. we must witness and honor it as such.

at home in mystery, a scorpio full moon in taurus season calls us towards the mysteries within love. towards the journeys that pull us from the mapped route. towards a rejection of rules. towards the underlying truth in every indescribable, reverberating heartsong and feeling where words may fall short- even as they sprawl across pages like lovers under trees. we move towards acceptance & release; flowing through expression and trusting intuition.

mystery is this embrace of the unknown.

when we deny ourselves mystery & unknowingness, we deny all that could be known & learned. when we deny ourselves experiences- even ones that stir fear or past pain- we deny ourselves beauty, loss, grief, passion, growth. we hold our hearts hostage and deny ourselves the deep trust, love, & commitment of witnessing self.

"they know they don't know, and they know why they don't know,

and in this, they know.” -hadar cohen on godself

as scorpio deals with growth, death, and lifetimes- this witnessing of self is inseparable from healing our lineages. the hebrew month of iyar (( אִייָר )) is a sacred, ritualistic time for jewish people in tending the ancestral flame; noticing patterns within and beyond our lifetimes.

Rav Kohenet Taya Mâ Shere writes that in Iyar,

"we journey from liberation (pesach) to revelation (shavuot). Iyar is a portal month that invites deep practice, showing up, and a devotion of attention that supports transformation at the root.

Iyar is saturated with the process of counting the Omer, pulsing with the essence energy of the sephirot mapped onto each day. [...] counting the omer can include a mystical journey through the sephirot- the divine emanations on the kabbalistic tree of life- toward self-exploration and transformation.”

"Jewish tradition asks us to honor those who came before us, engaging practices of ancestral reverence including yahrzeit observance, kaddish recitation, and graveside pilgrimage. yet systemic oppression, violence, and either chosen or forced diaspora along our lineages has led many of us to experience fracture from these lineages, and from the idea that we can cultivate and tend direct connection with our ancient ancestors.

welcome connection with a righteous ancestor- perhaps one new to you, far beyond remembered stories or names. you might invite this connection by simply sitting in a quiet place & turning your attention inward & toward them. or welcome them through an act of creation. cook a particular dish, pray a sacred text, or make music or art that you sense may have resonance for a particular lineage. place a stone- as a memory marker & a portal between worlds-at a spot in nature where you experience peace. give attention to your greatest desires & dreams in relation to your ancestral lines- be it connection, healing, or clearer boundaries- and listen for what comes.”

i’ve spoken in the past about the taurus//scorpio axis as being one of trust. how do we trust ourselves so deeply and wholly that we allow ourselves to simply be? to allow our hearts to feel in their deepest, liberated expressions? to allow our bodies to remember and honor all we’ve been through without controlling the present with rigidity rooted in fear?

joseph campbell writes, "there is an important idea in nietzsche, of amor fati, the 'love of your fate,' which is in fact your life. as he says, if you say no to a single factor in your life, you have unraveled the whole thing. [...]

the demon that you can swallow gives you its power,

and the greater life's pain, the greater life's reply.”

may we to honor & liberate our lineages exactly because we are choosing to honor and liberate ourselves. may we allow ourselves to be free through truths & balance; knowing that we are all waxing & waning, ebbing & flowing, learning & grieving, withholding & letting, stretching & deepening.