Full Moon in Scorpio: Unapologetically Real

Georgia O'Keeffe ~ Deer's Skull with Pedernal (1936)

Yesterday, we experienced our annual Full Moon in the fixed water sign of Scorpio, harbinger of raw release and rebirth. Honestly, no other sign makes me feel so humble. I experience the energy of Scorpio searing my soul, seeing straight through me, plunging me deeper into self-honesty. When the archetypal Serpent Eagle soars through the full moon skies, we are awed in the wake of astonishing authenticity.

This stuff is not for sissies. In stepping forth as un-phony, un-repressed, and wholly ourselves, we take tremendous risks - the risk of being disliked, confronted, labeled ‘crazy,’ disagreeable – you name it. It can be mortifying to express ourselves to a person, a group, an institution and tell our truth. How do we stand up to authority, a parent, a boss, a professor, or even the superego morass – the collective “shoulds” of society – when it is downright terrifying?

This is where we draw strength from Scorpio, which, in its highest expression, has cultivated the willingness to “die” in order to truly live. Take, for example, the great Scorpio artist Georgia O’Keeffe (1887-1986), who bucked the system by breaking out of the ivory halls of conventional art school in the early 1900’s. It was absolutely imperative: O'Keeffe had to do her own thing, she had to express that which she felt in her very bones, onto the canvas.

"I've been absolutely terrified every moment of my life - and I've never let it keep me from doing a single thing I wanted to do." ~ Georgia O'Keeffe

In 1916, Alfred Stieglitz, the photographer and art promoter who was instrumental in bringing Georgia to the attention of the American public said, when he saw Georgia’s first round of breakthrough drawings, “At last… a woman on paper.” He hailed her art, because he knew that she had unlocked the code of authentic self-expression, a huge creative breakthrough for a woman in the early part of the 20^th Century, her artistic coming-out preceding even the liberating Roaring Twenties.

Georgia O'Keeffe

Over the course of her long, prolific life, O’Keeffe dug deeper and deeper into that molten core to produce some of the most invigorating, honest paintings in American modernism. Unafraid of her own Scorpio shadow, she made her home at aptly named Ghost Ranch in Taos, New Mexico. Georgia quickly discovered her need to be in the desert mountains, with the wild freedom, the searing sun on her face, and the rules and regulations of organized society far, far away. Here, with Nature as her unwavering confidante, she could soar in any direction. As a result, the whole world benefits greatly from her profound courage and commitment to live – and tell – her truth.

Georgia O'Keeffe ~ Red Canna (1924)

Nobody sees a flower - really - it is so small it takes time - we haven't time - and to see takes time, like to have a friend takes time. ~ Georgia O’Keeffe

This is the magic of Scorpio: when we speak, paint, write, embody our truth – even if it scares the living daylights out of us – we will be rewarded. We will have intimacy with ourselves, with others, with life as with death. Even conflict – faced with dignity, respect, and personal responsibility – becomes a new ground for meaningful contact. As the poet-philosopher David Whyte (also a Scorpio) writes: “To feel abandoned is to deny the intimacy of your surroundings.”

At this full moon time, we are reminded that not only do we begin to heal when the wound is lanced, the others in our lives are also relieved. And, ultimately, our very planet breathes a sigh of relief, for the truth has come up and out. Sometimes it blows up like a volcanic blast, sometimes like slow-moving lava oozing toward the sea. However it happens, just like Mother Earth needs to release, so do we. The trick is to recognize what, and how, and when. In this way, we avoid harming others in the process. With conscious self-expression, there’s less likely to be shrapnel that could cause inadvertent damage. Instead, we meet our self and the other - wholly and honestly - to experience the searing heat and glory of raw intimacy.

Sometimes it takes darkness and the sweet / confinement of your aloneness / to learn / anything or anyone / that does not bring you alive / is too small for you.

~ David Whyte, Scorpio poet-philosopher (from a highly recommended podcast, “The Conversational Nature of Reality,” which you can download here.)

Georgia O'Keeffe ~ No. 13 Special (1916-17)

Erin Reese is an author, spiritual guide, astrologer, and modern psychic reader based in the San Francisco Bay Area. She works with clients all over the world. For readings and spiritual counseling by Skype, phone or email, contact her directly. She can be reached at erin@erinreese.com.