Latest / Astrology for Beginners / Halloween, Scorpio, and the Wisdom of the Seasons

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Halloween, Scorpio, and the Wisdom of the Seasons · Astrology for Beginners

• 0:01
  SPEAKER_00: Hello, everyone, and welcome back to the Astrology for Beginners podcast.
• 0:07
  SPEAKER_00: I'm your host, Stefanie Kate Boucher, and I am so glad you're here.
• 0:11
  SPEAKER_00: This is the podcast for you if you've ever been curious about astrology,
• 0:15
  SPEAKER_00: if you've wanted to understand your natal chart or make sense of what's happening in
• 0:19
  SPEAKER_00: the sky,
• 0:20
  SPEAKER_00: but maybe it's felt overwhelming, complicated, or hard to know where to begin.
• 0:26
  SPEAKER_00: My goal here is to break things down in a way that's clear,
• 0:29
  SPEAKER_00: grounded,
• 0:30
  SPEAKER_00: and completely usable in real life so that over time,
• 0:34
  SPEAKER_00: you begin to understand your own chart and the language of the stars.
• 0:39
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you so much for being here and sharing your time with me.
• 0:42
  SPEAKER_00: Hello everyone and welcome back to Astrology for Beginners.
• 0:47
  SPEAKER_00: Hey, here we are y'all.
• 0:49
  SPEAKER_00: It's nearly the end of October.
• 0:51
  SPEAKER_00: Halloween is just a couple of days away, or it will be as this goes live.
• 0:56
  SPEAKER_00: And so I'm curious about how everyone is doing.
• 1:00
  SPEAKER_00: We are really in the thick of our retrograde season here.
• 1:04
  SPEAKER_00: Just over halfway through our Venus retrograde,
• 1:07
  SPEAKER_00: she has officially moved from Scorpio back into Libra.
• 1:12
  SPEAKER_00: Which has certainly shifted the focus of this retrograde for most of us.
• 1:17
  SPEAKER_00: And we're also several days into Mercury's retrograde in Scorpio as well.
• 1:23
  SPEAKER_00: So how is this going for everyone?
• 1:25
  SPEAKER_00: Having, you know,
• 1:26
  SPEAKER_00: two planets,
• 1:28
  SPEAKER_00: retrograde, personal planets in the same part of your chart at the same time.
• 1:32
  SPEAKER_00: Because I gotta tell ya, it's been pretty intense for me and on multiple fronts.
• 1:38
  SPEAKER_00: It's not just impacting one single thing or one topic or theme in my life, it's actually many.
• 1:46
  SPEAKER_00: And that might be because Venus is my chart ruler,
• 1:49
  SPEAKER_00: or it might have something to do with Venus having stationed retrograde right on top
• 1:55
  SPEAKER_00: of my Scorpio moon.
• 1:57
  SPEAKER_00: You can imagine, you know, what that might feel like, but it's been a crazy time for me.
• 2:02
  SPEAKER_00: And I've been sick the past few days, too.
• 2:04
  SPEAKER_00: I've run into so many people who are sick right now.
• 2:08
  SPEAKER_00: And I know we are officially inside cold and flu season.
• 2:12
  SPEAKER_00: It's not uncommon for people to start getting sick this time of year.
• 2:16
  SPEAKER_00: But You know, it feels like more than usual to me.
• 2:20
  SPEAKER_00: That's just my observation anyway.
• 2:22
  SPEAKER_00: And I wonder if all of this introspection And whatever is getting emotionally
• 2:28
  SPEAKER_00: or relationally stirred up for people,
• 2:32
  SPEAKER_00: if people are just kind of collapsing under the pressure or the stress or
• 2:36
  SPEAKER_00: the tension at this point, because we've been at this for a few weeks now.
• 2:40
  SPEAKER_00: And a lot of people with Libra and Scorpio dominant in their charts especially are feeling this.
• 2:47
  SPEAKER_00: And also anybody with fixed signs, like people are really feeling this.
• 2:51
  SPEAKER_00: But Anyway, yes, I am recovering from a fairly nasty cold.
• 2:56
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe you hear that in my voice.
• 2:58
  SPEAKER_00: I've been struggling with my voice for a week or so,
• 3:01
  SPEAKER_00: and I wasn't able to record this as early as I had hoped because I couldn't speak
• 3:06
  SPEAKER_00: with ease.
• 3:07
  SPEAKER_00: But here I am now.
• 3:09
  SPEAKER_00: And with Halloween coming up this weekend, I thought we'd do something else.
• 3:13
  SPEAKER_00: And that's the way that our cultural celebrations,
• 3:15
  SPEAKER_00: our holidays,
• 3:15
  SPEAKER_00: our seasonal traditions seem to correspond so naturally with the astrological signs
• 3:19
  SPEAKER_00: in which they occur.
• 3:39
  SPEAKER_00: In other words,
• 3:40
  SPEAKER_00: long before most of the population in the world was thinking about birth charts
• 3:47
  SPEAKER_00: or planetary transits,
• 3:49
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, of course, some people always were, but most of the population was not.
• 3:55
  SPEAKER_00: You know, people were observing the rhythms of the natural world.
• 3:59
  SPEAKER_00: This is how they organized life, was by the rhythms of nature.
• 4:03
  SPEAKER_00: And People noticed,
• 4:05
  SPEAKER_00: of course,
• 4:06
  SPEAKER_00: that the changing light,
• 4:08
  SPEAKER_00: the turning of the seasons,
• 4:10
  SPEAKER_00: the cycles of growth and decay were significant and impacted their day-to-day life.
• 4:17
  SPEAKER_00: And so they developed rituals, festivals, and all kinds of traditions around those experiences.
• 4:25
  SPEAKER_00: And again,
• 4:27
  SPEAKER_00: what's so interesting to me,
• 4:29
  SPEAKER_00: I always think about this,
• 4:30
  SPEAKER_00: is how often those traditions seem to reflect the The very same themes
• 4:37
  SPEAKER_00: that we associate with the zodiac signs that those celebrations fall under.
• 4:45
  SPEAKER_00: Now, I don't want to suggest necessarily
• 4:48
  SPEAKER_00: that every holiday was deliberately scheduled according to astrology
• 4:51
  SPEAKER_00: or anything they were not.
• 4:53
  SPEAKER_00: Different cultures developed their traditions independently for all kinds
• 4:58
  SPEAKER_00: of historical and religious reasons.
• 5:02
  SPEAKER_00: But I do wonder whether astrology and these traditions are
• 5:07
  SPEAKER_00: in some ways different expressions of the same fundamental human experience,
• 5:13
  SPEAKER_00: our relationship with the cycles of nature.
• 5:18
  SPEAKER_00: And I kind of think there's no better example of this.
• 5:23
  SPEAKER_00: Right now, especially, then Halloween and Scorpio season.
• 5:28
  SPEAKER_00: Think about this for a moment.
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  SPEAKER_00: The sun entered Scorpio just a few days ago.
• 5:33
  SPEAKER_00: And then this coming weekend,
• 5:35
  SPEAKER_00: we have Halloween on October 31st,
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  SPEAKER_00: All Saints Day on November 1st, All Souls Day on November 2nd.
• 5:45
  SPEAKER_00: We also have Dia de los Muertos,
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  SPEAKER_00: or the Day of the Dead,
• 5:49
  SPEAKER_00: which is celebrated primarily in Mexico on November 1st and 2nd.
• 5:55
  SPEAKER_00: And of course,
• 5:56
  SPEAKER_00: Halloween has historical connections with Samhain,
• 5:59
  SPEAKER_00: the ancient Gaelic festival that marked the transition into the darker half of
• 6:05
  SPEAKER_00: the year.
• 6:06
  SPEAKER_00: So different traditions,
• 6:07
  SPEAKER_00: different histories,
• 6:09
  SPEAKER_00: different cultures around the world, yet they share some remarkably similar themes.
• 6:14
  SPEAKER_00: They're not exactly the same, but they share some similar themes.
• 6:18
  SPEAKER_00: Death, remembrance,
• 6:21
  SPEAKER_00: ancestors,
• 6:22
  SPEAKER_00: the spirit world,
• 6:24
  SPEAKER_00: the mysterious boundary between what we can see and what we can't see.
• 6:30
  SPEAKER_00: And if you know even a little bit about the sign of Scorpio,
• 6:34
  SPEAKER_00: you can probably already see We're going with this.
• 6:38
  SPEAKER_00: One quick note before we dive farther into this,
• 6:41
  SPEAKER_00: you know,
• 6:41
  SPEAKER_00: I'm approaching this through the tropical zodiac and the seasonal cycle of
• 6:46
  SPEAKER_00: the northern hemisphere.
• 6:47
  SPEAKER_00: And for those of you listening in the southern hemisphere
• 6:50
  SPEAKER_00: where October is spring time,
• 6:53
  SPEAKER_00: And, you know, the relationship between the zodiac and seasons isn't quite the same.
• 6:57
  SPEAKER_00: This isn't going to feel quite as on point for you.
• 7:01
  SPEAKER_00: But nonetheless,
• 7:03
  SPEAKER_00: many of the holidays that people celebrate in
• 7:05
  SPEAKER_00: the Southern Hemisphere still correlate with the seasons in the Northern Hemisphere
• 7:10
  SPEAKER_00: and therefore the zodiac signs that they're in.
• 7:14
  SPEAKER_00: So let's start with Samhain, right?
• 7:17
  SPEAKER_00: Samhain was one of the four major seasonal festivals in the old Gaelic calendar,
• 7:25
  SPEAKER_00: along with Imbolc,
• 7:26
  SPEAKER_00: Beltane, and I can't remember the name of the other one, but there's another one.
• 7:33
  SPEAKER_00: It marked the end of the harvest season and the beginning of winter, right?
• 7:38
  SPEAKER_00: And this was a really significant transition in agricultural communities.
• 7:45
  SPEAKER_00: Wasn't simply a time when the weather got colder,
• 7:48
  SPEAKER_00: the way we think of it now, like this was a huge moment in time, right?
• 7:53
  SPEAKER_00: It was a season that required serious preparation for survival.
• 7:59
  SPEAKER_00: Livestock were brought down from the summer pastures,
• 8:03
  SPEAKER_00: you know,
• 8:04
  SPEAKER_00: food had to be stored for the months ahead,
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  SPEAKER_00: and families had to make decisions about What resources would sustain them through
• 8:13
  SPEAKER_00: the months ahead?
• 8:15
  SPEAKER_00: Survival really wasn't assured over the next several months.
• 8:18
  SPEAKER_00: It required a lot of planning.
• 8:20
  SPEAKER_00: So Samhain represented this threshold, right?
• 8:24
  SPEAKER_00: It was the end of one part of the agricultural year and the beginning of another.
• 8:31
  SPEAKER_00: But Samhain also had a spiritual dimension.
• 8:35
  SPEAKER_00: In Irish folklore,
• 8:37
  SPEAKER_00: you know,
• 8:37
  SPEAKER_00: this was considered kind of a liminal time when The boundary between the human world
• 8:44
  SPEAKER_00: and the spirit world was believed to become more permeable, right?
• 8:50
  SPEAKER_00: The spirit world wasn't necessarily identical to our modern idea of like an afterlife so much.
• 8:57
  SPEAKER_00: It was also associated with supernatural beings and like fairy folk and spirits kind
• 9:05
  SPEAKER_00: of living amongst us, right?
• 9:07
  SPEAKER_00: There were traditions involving bonfires,
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  SPEAKER_00: offerings to the spirits,
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  SPEAKER_00: and in later folklore,
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  SPEAKER_00: disguises were used and lanterns were carved from turnips and things like that,
• 9:19
  SPEAKER_00: which is similar to some of the Halloween traditions that we have now.
• 9:24
  SPEAKER_00: Now, we do need to be a little careful
• 9:26
  SPEAKER_00: about Any claims we make concerning ancient Samhain practices,
• 9:33
  SPEAKER_00: much of what we know comes from medieval Irish literature and folklore,
• 9:39
  SPEAKER_00: and probably not every modern description
• 9:43
  SPEAKER_00: of ancient Celtic ritual can be perfectly verified.
• 9:48
  SPEAKER_00: But still, the central seasonal symbolism is unmistakable, right?
• 9:54
  SPEAKER_00: This was a time of transition.
• 9:56
  SPEAKER_00: There was a lot of uncertainty.
• 9:58
  SPEAKER_00: A lot of preparations taking place and heightened awareness of the unseen things in
• 10:05
  SPEAKER_00: the natural world.
• 10:08
  SPEAKER_00: Then we have the Christian observance of All Saints Day and All Souls Day.
• 10:14
  SPEAKER_00: All Saints Day on November 1st honors the saints of the Christian tradition,
• 10:19
  SPEAKER_00: while All Souls Day, November 2nd, is dedicated to remembrance and prayer.
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  SPEAKER_00: For those who have died.
• 10:27
  SPEAKER_00: And the word Halloween comes from All Hallows' Eve, the evening before All Saints' Day.
• 10:35
  SPEAKER_00: Fun factoid.
• 10:37
  SPEAKER_00: Over time,
• 10:38
  SPEAKER_00: a variety of Christian customs
• 10:41
  SPEAKER_00: and older regional folk traditions all became intertwined.
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  SPEAKER_00: Practices like souling, you know, in which people went door to door seeking faith.
• 10:54
  SPEAKER_00: In exchange for prayers for the dead contributed to the larger history
• 10:59
  SPEAKER_00: of what is now Halloween.
• 11:02
  SPEAKER_00: And I think,
• 11:02
  SPEAKER_00: you know,
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  SPEAKER_00: scholars still debate just how much of modern Halloween can be traced back
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  SPEAKER_00: to Samhain versus earlier Christian traditions and later folk traditions
• 11:12
  SPEAKER_00: and things like that.
• 11:13
  SPEAKER_00: But what's interesting for our purposes is that remembrance of
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  SPEAKER_00: the dead remained such a central part of this time of year.
• 11:22
  SPEAKER_00: And then there's Dia de los Huertos,
• 11:24
  SPEAKER_00: which has its own really distinct, vibrant cultural history.
• 11:30
  SPEAKER_00: In Mexico,
• 11:31
  SPEAKER_00: this tradition combines indigenous Mesoamerican practices of honoring the dead
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  SPEAKER_00: with some elements of the Catholic calendar.
• 11:41
  SPEAKER_00: And families create ofrendas or altars decorated with photographs,
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  SPEAKER_00: candles,
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  SPEAKER_00: marigolds, or foods or objects associated with the loved ones who have passed away.
• 11:55
  SPEAKER_00: But what I find especially beautiful and lovely about this celebration is
• 12:01
  SPEAKER_00: that it isn't It's not really about fearing death.
• 12:04
  SPEAKER_00: It's about remembering and honoring and maintaining that connection you have
• 12:11
  SPEAKER_00: with those who are no longer here.
• 12:17
  SPEAKER_00: And I think this is a really important thing to point out because when we talk
• 12:21
  SPEAKER_00: about Scorpio,
• 12:22
  SPEAKER_00: we often focus so heavily on its associations with darkness or crisis
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  SPEAKER_00: or transformation as something difficult
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  SPEAKER_00: that we overlook something pretty significant,
• 12:34
  SPEAKER_00: which is that Scorpio is also deeply concerned with what endures, right?
• 12:42
  SPEAKER_00: What remains is After something has transformed,
• 12:46
  SPEAKER_00: after something has changed, what do we carry forward with us from the past?
• 12:52
  SPEAKER_00: What continues to connect us to the people, places, and experiences that have shaped us, right?
• 13:02
  SPEAKER_00: And I think that brings us beautifully into the astrology of the season, right?
• 13:10
  SPEAKER_00: So to understand why these traditions seem so fitting for Scorpio,
• 13:14
  SPEAKER_00: let's start with something very basic.
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  SPEAKER_00: Scorpio's place in the zodiac.
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  SPEAKER_00: It's a fixed water sign.
• 13:21
  SPEAKER_00: And in astrology,
• 13:22
  SPEAKER_00: you know,
• 13:23
  SPEAKER_00: the cardinal signs initiate the seasons,
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  SPEAKER_00: while the fixed signs occupy that middle portion of the season, right?
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  SPEAKER_00: It's just right in the middle of the season.
• 13:34
  SPEAKER_00: And then the mutable signs prepare us for the transition into the next season.
• 13:39
  SPEAKER_00: So again, in the Northern Hemisphere, Libra begins at the autumn season.
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  SPEAKER_00: Equinox, the autumnal equinox.
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  SPEAKER_00: Scorpio season carries us through the heart of autumn.
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  SPEAKER_00: And then Sagittarius brings us toward the winter solstice.
• 13:59
  SPEAKER_00: By the time we reach Scorpio season, autumn is no longer just beginning, right?
• 14:04
  SPEAKER_00: The transformation of the world around you is beginning.
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  SPEAKER_00: The leaves have bursted with color by then or they're falling.
• 14:14
  SPEAKER_00: The days are noticeably shorter now.
• 14:16
  SPEAKER_00: Plants are kind of going into their dormant state.
• 14:20
  SPEAKER_00: And the natural world is preparing itself for winter because that's what's coming, right?
• 14:25
  SPEAKER_00: There's an interesting connection here.
• 14:28
  SPEAKER_00: With the four traditional Gaelic seasonal festivals that we talked about earlier,
• 14:35
  SPEAKER_00: the other celebrations fall approximately around the seasonal cross-quarter points,
• 14:40
  SPEAKER_00: the midpoints between the solstices and the equinoxes.
• 14:45
  SPEAKER_00: And those correspond roughly to the middle of the four fixed signs,
• 14:50
  SPEAKER_00: Scorpio, Aquarius, Taurus, and Leo.
• 14:55
  SPEAKER_00: That doesn't mean
• 14:57
  SPEAKER_00: that these ancient folks were calculating their festivals according
• 15:00
  SPEAKER_00: to zodiac degrees.
• 15:02
  SPEAKER_00: That's a modern astrological correspondence more.
• 15:05
  SPEAKER_00: But I think it's pretty fascinating that these seasonal turning points fall within
• 15:10
  SPEAKER_00: the fixed signs,
• 15:11
  SPEAKER_00: which symbolizes, I think, the consolidation and sustaining of seasonal energy.
• 15:21
  SPEAKER_00: Now let's think about Scorpio's element and modality here.
• 15:25
  SPEAKER_00: Water, fixed water.
• 15:27
  SPEAKER_00: Water in astrology is associated with emotion.
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  SPEAKER_00: Memory, intuition, and our sort of internal life, our internal experiences.
• 15:38
  SPEAKER_00: And then fixed energy is concerned with stability and endurance,
• 15:43
  SPEAKER_00: preservation, and maintaining what's been established, right?
• 15:52
  SPEAKER_00: Here's what we get.
• 15:53
  SPEAKER_00: Scorpio is often described as emotionally intense,
• 15:58
  SPEAKER_00: and that can certainly be one expression of fixed water for sure,
• 16:03
  SPEAKER_00: but perhaps another way to understand it is having An energy or an emotional energy
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  SPEAKER_00: that holds, that sticks, right?
• 16:13
  SPEAKER_00: It holds onto memories.
• 16:15
  SPEAKER_00: It holds onto attachments.
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  SPEAKER_00: It holds emotional experiences that aren't always visible to everyone else.
• 16:25
  SPEAKER_00: If Cancer,
• 16:27
  SPEAKER_00: our cardinal water sign,
• 16:28
  SPEAKER_00: is associated with the movement of the tides and changing emotions and Pisces,
• 16:34
  SPEAKER_00: mutable water with water that flows and is constantly morphing
• 16:38
  SPEAKER_00: and changing its shape, we might imagine Scorpio as a deep, still well, right?
• 16:46
  SPEAKER_00: Or that deep, still lake or something.
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  SPEAKER_00: We can't necessarily see what's all the way at the bottom of that.
• 16:54
  SPEAKER_00: But that doesn't mean there's nothing there.
• 16:56
  SPEAKER_00: And I think this symbolism connects wonderfully with the traditions
• 17:00
  SPEAKER_00: of remembrance we've been discussing because remembrance is in some ways a kind
• 17:05
  SPEAKER_00: of holding, isn't it?
• 17:06
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, we preserve our stories.
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  SPEAKER_00: We maintain connections.
• 17:12
  SPEAKER_00: We carry our experiences and our memories forward even after the circumstances
• 17:20
  SPEAKER_00: in our lives have changed, right?
• 17:23
  SPEAKER_00: Scorpio is traditionally ruled by Mars, and in modern astrology, it's associated with Pluto.
• 17:31
  SPEAKER_00: I think both planetary rulers offer something.
• 17:34
  SPEAKER_00: Mars is the planet of action and courage, conflict and survival.
• 17:39
  SPEAKER_00: We often think of Mars through Aries at the other sign it rules,
• 17:43
  SPEAKER_00: where its energy can be really direct and assertive and impulsive, immediate.
• 17:47
  SPEAKER_00: But Scorpio represents a different way of using Mars energy, right?
• 17:53
  SPEAKER_00: This is like Mars operating through fixed water.
• 17:56
  SPEAKER_00: It may be more strategic in how it takes actions.
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  SPEAKER_00: It's protective.
• 18:02
  SPEAKER_00: It's persistent.
• 18:03
  SPEAKER_00: Doesn't want to give up, right?
• 18:05
  SPEAKER_00: It's concerned with defending whatever it is that truly matters.
• 18:12
  SPEAKER_00: If Ares is the warrior who rushes onto the battlefield...
• 18:15
  SPEAKER_00: Scorpio might be,
• 18:18
  SPEAKER_00: you know,
• 18:18
  SPEAKER_00: the general or the guard watching carefully and making sure people survive, right?
• 18:25
  SPEAKER_00: Like what's the overarching mechanism through which we're going to do all of this so
• 18:30
  SPEAKER_00: that we win or we survive?
• 18:33
  SPEAKER_00: And hey,
• 18:34
  SPEAKER_00: that might be an interesting connection to Samhain in a way
• 18:37
  SPEAKER_00: because Samhain wasn't only about the dead or the spirit world.
• 18:40
  SPEAKER_00: It was also about survival through the winter, right?
• 18:44
  SPEAKER_00: It was about making sure there was enough food,
• 18:47
  SPEAKER_00: shelter,
• 18:48
  SPEAKER_00: and protection of the community to carry everybody
• 18:51
  SPEAKER_00: through this difficult season coming up.
• 18:55
  SPEAKER_00: And then we have Pluto.
• 18:57
  SPEAKER_00: In modern astrology,
• 18:58
  SPEAKER_00: Pluto represents profound transformation,
• 19:01
  SPEAKER_00: hidden forces, power,
• 19:05
  SPEAKER_00: breakdown, regeneration, and there's a fascinating mythological connection here.
• 19:13
  SPEAKER_00: Pluto was associated not only with the underworld and the dead,
• 19:19
  SPEAKER_00: but also with the wealth hidden beneath the earth.
• 19:23
  SPEAKER_00: Like remember,
• 19:23
  SPEAKER_00: Pluto's kind of literally what's hidden underneath the ground and digging down deep
• 19:28
  SPEAKER_00: to find what's in the ground.
• 19:30
  SPEAKER_00: So if you take this very literally on earth,
• 19:33
  SPEAKER_00: this is minerals,
• 19:35
  SPEAKER_00: seeds, the riches and sustenance that exists underground even where we can't see it.
• 19:42
  SPEAKER_00: So the underworld wasn't just a place of death.
• 19:46
  SPEAKER_00: It was also associated with hidden gems and hidden resources that were valuable.
• 19:53
  SPEAKER_00: And I really love that metaphor for Scorpio because sometimes,
• 19:59
  SPEAKER_00: you know, things that we really need aren't immediately visible.
• 20:04
  SPEAKER_00: It may be our emotional resilience,
• 20:07
  SPEAKER_00: the wisdom we've inherited from our ancestors,
• 20:10
  SPEAKER_00: the relationships we've cultivated and maintained,
• 20:14
  SPEAKER_00: or the inner resources we have or that we discover when times are difficult.
• 20:22
  SPEAKER_00: There's something else about Scorpio I've also found interesting too.
• 20:25
  SPEAKER_00: You know, we call Scorpio the sign of transformation.
• 20:29
  SPEAKER_00: But it's also a fixed sign,
• 20:30
  SPEAKER_00: and fixed signs by definition tend to want to preserve things and resist change.
• 20:36
  SPEAKER_00: So how do we reconcile those two ideas between transformation and resistance to change?
• 20:43
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe part of the answer is that Scorpio's transformation isn't necessarily easy or comfortable.
• 20:51
  SPEAKER_00: When we become so deeply attached to something, letting go can be very difficult.
• 20:56
  SPEAKER_00: And yet...
• 20:58
  SPEAKER_00: The very things we've worked so hard to preserve eventually do need to change.
• 21:03
  SPEAKER_00: They always do.
• 21:05
  SPEAKER_00: And this is where the natural world, once again, offers a nice metaphor here, right?
• 21:12
  SPEAKER_00: Let's think about a tree in autumn, for instance, right?
• 21:18
  SPEAKER_00: The tree kind of begins to slow down, right?
• 21:21
  SPEAKER_00: It knows that it needs to conserve its resources.
• 21:25
  SPEAKER_00: So it begins sort of like reclaiming its nutrients, right?
• 21:29
  SPEAKER_00: It kind of gets this protective layer around where each leaf attaches to the branch.
• 21:37
  SPEAKER_00: And it kind of like knows that it can't like sustain all these leaves.
• 21:41
  SPEAKER_00: So the leaf eventually drops away,
• 21:43
  SPEAKER_00: but the tree has held onto and preserved all Everything it needs to have in order
• 21:50
  SPEAKER_00: to survive the winter.
• 21:51
  SPEAKER_00: It's let go of what's non-essential.
• 21:55
  SPEAKER_00: So that it can hold on to what is essential.
• 21:58
  SPEAKER_00: So the loss of leaf isn't like truly a loss for the tree.
• 22:03
  SPEAKER_00: It's part of the tree's ongoing process of survival or strategy of survival, right?
• 22:09
  SPEAKER_00: And the tree doesn't just get rid of everything, right?
• 22:11
  SPEAKER_00: Everything else remains.
• 22:12
  SPEAKER_00: Its roots remain.
• 22:13
  SPEAKER_00: The trunk remains.
• 22:15
  SPEAKER_00: The essential structure of the tree remains.
• 22:20
  SPEAKER_00: It releases what it can no longer sustain and is non-essential
• 22:25
  SPEAKER_00: and protects what it needs for the future.
• 22:27
  SPEAKER_00: So I think that's kind of a nice illustration about Scorpio.
• 22:31
  SPEAKER_00: And it's interesting that the tree does this primarily during Scorpio season.
• 22:36
  SPEAKER_00: Transformation isn't about destroying recklessly what came before, right?
• 22:43
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes or always really, it's about discerning things.
• 22:47
  SPEAKER_00: What really needs to change or what you really need to let go of
• 22:51
  SPEAKER_00: or what's non-essential anymore, right?
• 22:54
  SPEAKER_00: So that something important can continue.
• 22:56
  SPEAKER_00: So that the things you really need to have moving forward, you can have going forward.
• 23:02
  SPEAKER_00: And that brings us back to Mars and Pluto.
• 23:04
  SPEAKER_00: Mars protects and preserves.
• 23:06
  SPEAKER_00: Pluto transforms and then regenerates, right?
• 23:10
  SPEAKER_00: Pluto is, it destroys in a way, but then it also regenerates.
• 23:14
  SPEAKER_00: That's the next part of the process for Pluto.
• 23:17
  SPEAKER_00: And Scorpio with its modern symbolic interpretation is kind of both of those things.
• 23:23
  SPEAKER_00: It really is Mars and Pluto.
• 23:27
  SPEAKER_00: We also have some interesting planetary activity taking place around this Halloween season.
• 23:33
  SPEAKER_00: Venus is retrograde, of course, having moved back from Scorpio into Libra.
• 23:38
  SPEAKER_00: And Mercury is also in its retrograde cycle in Scorpio.
• 23:44
  SPEAKER_00: Astrologically retrogrades are often interpreted as periods of revisiting something
• 23:49
  SPEAKER_00: or reconsidering things or reassessing things.
• 23:53
  SPEAKER_00: So here we are in a season already associated with remembrance and reflection
• 23:59
  SPEAKER_00: with planetary symbolism that reinforces the idea of looking back.
• 24:05
  SPEAKER_00: Venus kind of has us reconsidering relationships and attachments and what we value.
• 24:11
  SPEAKER_00: Mercury is encouraging us to revisit old conversations,
• 24:16
  SPEAKER_00: ways of communicating, memories, beliefs, ways of thinking.
• 24:23
  SPEAKER_00: And I wouldn't say that these transits require us
• 24:27
  SPEAKER_00: to do anything really specific right now,
• 24:30
  SPEAKER_00: but they offer another interesting symbolic layer of the season here.
• 24:36
  SPEAKER_00: And this is a question I get a lot.
• 24:38
  SPEAKER_00: A lot of listeners have been asking lately, you know, how can I actually work with this energy?
• 24:43
  SPEAKER_00: Like, how can I use a Venus retrograde to the fullest?
• 24:48
  SPEAKER_00: How can I make sure that I'm getting what I'm supposed to be getting out of this energy?
• 24:52
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 24:53
  SPEAKER_00: And that's kind of a difficult question.
• 24:55
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 24:57
  SPEAKER_00: You don't really have to do anything in particular other than be aware and mindful
• 25:02
  SPEAKER_00: of what's happening because the process,
• 25:04
  SPEAKER_00: the energy will automatically kind of bring into your life what needs to be brought
• 25:09
  SPEAKER_00: in.
• 25:09
  SPEAKER_00: And then you just have to be aware enough to understand it and respond to it in real time.
• 25:14
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 25:15
  SPEAKER_00: And this is where knowing the astrology can help.
• 25:18
  SPEAKER_00: But how can we actually work with this energy?
• 25:21
  SPEAKER_00: You know,
• 25:21
  SPEAKER_00: how could we honor this season and this holiday and this celebration in a way
• 25:27
  SPEAKER_00: that feels meaningful to us?
• 25:30
  SPEAKER_00: Let's talk about that a little.
• 25:33
  SPEAKER_00: I do want to make something clear before we get into that.
• 25:37
  SPEAKER_00: You don't have to practice any particular spiritual tradition
• 25:42
  SPEAKER_00: or have any particular set of beliefs or you don't have to perform any kind
• 25:46
  SPEAKER_00: of old nature rituals or anything like that to connect with the symbolism
• 25:54
  SPEAKER_00: And I also don't ever want to suggest that we need to be constantly doing something
• 25:59
  SPEAKER_00: with every astrological event.
• 26:02
  SPEAKER_00: Again, sometimes just noticing the season and reflecting on the themes is enough.
• 26:08
  SPEAKER_00: Staying aware of the themes that are being brought in is enough.
• 26:12
  SPEAKER_00: Like a lot of the rest of it kind of takes care of itself if you're aware.
• 26:17
  SPEAKER_00: But if you'd like to bring a little more intention to this time of year, here are a few ideas.
• 26:22
  SPEAKER_00: One is remember those who came before you, right?
• 26:27
  SPEAKER_00: Make some space for remembrance.
• 26:29
  SPEAKER_00: And this could be as simple as looking through old photos,
• 26:32
  SPEAKER_00: cooking a recipe that reminds you of someone,
• 26:35
  SPEAKER_00: sharing a family story, lighting a candle in honor of a loved one.
• 26:41
  SPEAKER_00: This is actually a religious tradition for many people,
• 26:44
  SPEAKER_00: and there was a reason behind it when it was created.
• 26:48
  SPEAKER_00: And when I say ancestors, I don't even necessarily mean only biological family.
• 26:53
  SPEAKER_00: Not everybody has an easy relationship with their family history, right?
• 26:57
  SPEAKER_00: But we can also think about The people who influenced us along the way,
• 27:02
  SPEAKER_00: the people who taught us,
• 27:03
  SPEAKER_00: the people who supported us, the people who helped shape the people we've become.
• 27:10
  SPEAKER_00: Could be a grandparent, could be a teacher, could be a mentor, could be a friend.
• 27:15
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe it's someone whose work or wisdom has influenced your life,
• 27:21
  SPEAKER_00: even though you never knew them personally at all, but they've influenced you.
• 27:27
  SPEAKER_00: And for me,
• 27:28
  SPEAKER_00: as someone who practices astrology,
• 27:30
  SPEAKER_00: I sometimes think about the many generations of astrologers whose observations
• 27:36
  SPEAKER_00: or writings or ideas have contributed to the body of knowledge
• 27:42
  SPEAKER_00: that we are all working with today, right?
• 27:44
  SPEAKER_00: We are all in some way building upon what and who came before us.
• 27:50
  SPEAKER_00: And this is where remembrance becomes something more than just nostalgia.
• 27:55
  SPEAKER_00: It becomes a chance to reflect on what we've inherited.
• 28:00
  SPEAKER_00: And this is not just about possessions,
• 28:03
  SPEAKER_00: but it's about beliefs and our values and the strengths we carry,
• 28:08
  SPEAKER_00: the traditions we carry, the patterns by which we live.
• 28:13
  SPEAKER_00: Some of these things exist.
• 28:15
  SPEAKER_00: So one thing you can think about is what you've inherited that you want
• 28:18
  SPEAKER_00: to carry forward and what might you be choosing not to pass
• 28:21
  SPEAKER_00: or carry forward next.
• 28:21
  SPEAKER_00: Second idea.
• 28:23
  SPEAKER_00: Acknowledge
• 28:39
  SPEAKER_00: What is ending?
• 28:40
  SPEAKER_00: Whatever it is that is ending, you know, it's just kind of about noticing endings, right?
• 28:46
  SPEAKER_00: One of the things I really appreciate when it comes to observing
• 28:51
  SPEAKER_00: the natural world is that it reminds us that endings are not always a sign
• 28:57
  SPEAKER_00: that something has gone wrong.
• 28:58
  SPEAKER_00: They're an ordinary part of life, right?
• 29:00
  SPEAKER_00: Everything ends.
• 29:01
  SPEAKER_00: Every cycle ends.
• 29:02
  SPEAKER_00: Every circumstance ends.
• 29:04
  SPEAKER_00: Everything's always changing all the time.
• 29:08
  SPEAKER_00: In the fall, trees aren't failing because their leaves are falling, right?
• 29:13
  SPEAKER_00: They're responding to the changing conditions that are happening all around them.
• 29:18
  SPEAKER_00: That's what they need to do.
• 29:19
  SPEAKER_00: They need to evolve and change and adapt.
• 29:23
  SPEAKER_00: And so there's something useful about remembering that our lives move through seasons too.
• 29:29
  SPEAKER_00: Our roles change.
• 29:31
  SPEAKER_00: Our relationships evolve.
• 29:33
  SPEAKER_00: Our priorities shift.
• 29:34
  SPEAKER_00: Things that once felt important may no longer occupy the same place in our lives anymore.
• 29:44
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes we recognize these changes immediately and we're okay with them.
• 29:48
  SPEAKER_00: Other times we realize in hindsight that,
• 29:51
  SPEAKER_00: you know,
• 29:51
  SPEAKER_00: something has kind of quietly come to an end when we weren't paying attention.
• 29:57
  SPEAKER_00: So perhaps just take a little space in the next few days,
• 30:01
  SPEAKER_00: take a walk or something,
• 30:02
  SPEAKER_00: go look at the trees and notice what's happening around you, right?
• 30:06
  SPEAKER_00: The bare branches, the changing quality of the light, right?
• 30:11
  SPEAKER_00: The earlier darkness.
• 30:13
  SPEAKER_00: The leaves that are collecting all around the ground.
• 30:17
  SPEAKER_00: And you can then think to yourself about what it is in your life
• 30:20
  SPEAKER_00: that has also reached completion.
• 30:22
  SPEAKER_00: You don't have to force yourself to release anything.
• 30:25
  SPEAKER_00: That's not what I'm talking about.
• 30:26
  SPEAKER_00: But just notice what may already be changing.
• 30:30
  SPEAKER_00: And maybe...
• 30:32
  SPEAKER_00: The most important part of this exercise is recognizing that you don't have to rush
• 30:37
  SPEAKER_00: to replace whatever has ended.
• 30:39
  SPEAKER_00: You don't even have to know where you're going next.
• 30:42
  SPEAKER_00: There's just a little value sometimes in allowing some space between one chapter and
• 30:47
  SPEAKER_00: the next chapter.
• 30:48
  SPEAKER_00: It's okay to be in that liminal space.
• 30:53
  SPEAKER_00: Next, make room for introspection.
• 30:55
  SPEAKER_00: I suspect we're all kind of doing this right now anyway with
• 30:58
  SPEAKER_00: so much retrograde energy that we're just swimming in, right?
• 31:02
  SPEAKER_00: But give yourself time for reflection if you're not.
• 31:05
  SPEAKER_00: Scorpio's fixed water energy is beautifully suited to exploring the
• 31:11
  SPEAKER_00: The emotional experiences that are taking place beneath our everyday activities,
• 31:18
  SPEAKER_00: beneath our everyday awareness.
• 31:20
  SPEAKER_00: And with Mercury,
• 31:21
  SPEAKER_00: Retrograde and Scorpio,
• 31:23
  SPEAKER_00: there's this additional emphasis on revisiting things and reconsidering things.
• 31:28
  SPEAKER_00: So you could go back and read an old journal.
• 31:31
  SPEAKER_00: Or think about a conversation that you had that's really stuck with you.
• 31:36
  SPEAKER_00: Or spend a few minutes writing about something that's been occupying your thoughts
• 31:41
  SPEAKER_00: and maybe you're doing that mental looping thing.
• 31:43
  SPEAKER_00: And if you can finally just like write it all down,
• 31:48
  SPEAKER_00: it might stop looping and something might start to make more sense
• 31:52
  SPEAKER_00: or you might start to see it a little differently.
• 31:54
  SPEAKER_00: I do that sometimes and it can really change a set of thoughts.
• 32:00
  SPEAKER_00: So think about what you're carrying emotionally right now,
• 32:04
  SPEAKER_00: and is there something you're holding on to that no longer serves you, right?
• 32:09
  SPEAKER_00: Is there anything in your life that, like, could use some more honesty?
• 32:13
  SPEAKER_00: Like, could you pay a little more attention to something or address it with
• 32:16
  SPEAKER_00: a little bit more honesty?
• 32:19
  SPEAKER_00: And let's approach these concepts with curiosity rather than judgment, if we can.
• 32:26
  SPEAKER_00: You don't have to uncover some hidden psychological truth or resolve,
• 32:31
  SPEAKER_00: fully resolve any kind of longstanding emotional pattern all in one day,
• 32:36
  SPEAKER_00: because that's probably not going to happen, right?
• 32:39
  SPEAKER_00: But we just want to become more aware of what we're experiencing, right?
• 32:43
  SPEAKER_00: And just kind of accept that as a process.
• 32:46
  SPEAKER_00: And then I would say recognize and protect,
• 32:51
  SPEAKER_00: because this is Scorpio, recognize and protect what it is that sustains you, right?
• 32:56
  SPEAKER_00: We're approaching winter here, so recognize what sustains you.
• 33:00
  SPEAKER_00: This is a really nice way of thinking about Samhain and Scorpio season, right?
• 33:04
  SPEAKER_00: Take stock of what sustains you.
• 33:07
  SPEAKER_00: You know,
• 33:07
  SPEAKER_00: historically,
• 33:08
  SPEAKER_00: again, Samhain marked the transition from harvest season into winter, right?
• 33:12
  SPEAKER_00: People needed to know what resources they had available,
• 33:16
  SPEAKER_00: what needed to be saved and preserved,
• 33:19
  SPEAKER_00: and how long things would last and how they were going to make it through
• 33:22
  SPEAKER_00: the colder months when not as much food was available.
• 33:27
  SPEAKER_00: And so while most of us these days aren't working with livestock
• 33:31
  SPEAKER_00: and bringing sheep down from mountain pastures or preparing
• 33:35
  SPEAKER_00: an entire winter's supply of food in a short time,
• 33:40
  SPEAKER_00: we still do have needs that deserve some attention.
• 33:42
  SPEAKER_00: We need some form of nourishment.
• 33:44
  SPEAKER_00: We need rest.
• 33:46
  SPEAKER_00: We need communities and relationships with people that support us.
• 33:51
  SPEAKER_00: We need practical resources.
• 33:54
  SPEAKER_00: We need routines and structures that Help us get through daily life.
• 33:59
  SPEAKER_00: So perhaps this season we can consider what we already have,
• 34:05
  SPEAKER_00: what resources we have that deserve care.
• 34:08
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe that could mean making time for someone important to you.
• 34:13
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe it means shoring up your routines a little bit for the next few months.
• 34:17
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe it's something really super practical,
• 34:20
  SPEAKER_00: like organizing your finances or getting your home ready for the winter months,
• 34:25
  SPEAKER_00: winterizing some things, or just making sure you're getting enough rest.
• 34:29
  SPEAKER_00: People need a lot more sleep in the colder months, the darker months.
• 34:34
  SPEAKER_00: And I want to emphasize something else here.
• 34:37
  SPEAKER_00: We hear so much about, you know, releasing and surrendering and letting things go.
• 34:45
  SPEAKER_00: And there are certainly times when that's appropriate, but not everything has to be surrendered.
• 34:49
  SPEAKER_00: Just because we talk about that a lot doesn't mean that you just have
• 34:52
  SPEAKER_00: to start surrendering everything, right?
• 34:54
  SPEAKER_00: Again, this is also about protecting what matters.
• 34:57
  SPEAKER_00: Surrendering what you don't need in order to protect what really matters, right?
• 35:03
  SPEAKER_00: So again,
• 35:05
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes the best response to a changing season like this with the fall is
• 35:10
  SPEAKER_00: to replenish our resources,
• 35:12
  SPEAKER_00: strengthen our foundations,
• 35:14
  SPEAKER_00: care for the people and the things and the routines that sustain us so
• 35:18
  SPEAKER_00: that we have what we need to move forward.
• 35:22
  SPEAKER_00: So again, Useful question.
• 35:25
  SPEAKER_00: What do I need to let go of?
• 35:27
  SPEAKER_00: What is worth preserving?
• 35:29
  SPEAKER_00: What will sustain me in the months ahead?
• 35:32
  SPEAKER_00: And what do I need to do right now to sort of shore up those things and care
• 35:36
  SPEAKER_00: for those things and give them a little love?
• 35:40
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, so as we approach Halloween,
• 35:43
  SPEAKER_00: which is this weekend,
• 35:45
  SPEAKER_00: Samhain and these various traditions of remembrance,
• 35:50
  SPEAKER_00: I hope this discussion has given you a little bit of a different way of thinking
• 35:54
  SPEAKER_00: about the season if you haven't had a chance to do that too much before.
• 35:58
  SPEAKER_00: Because what I find so interesting is that people across all these different times
• 36:04
  SPEAKER_00: and all these different cultures have developed ways of acknowledging
• 36:08
  SPEAKER_00: the What are pretty much the same fundamental realities, right?
• 36:12
  SPEAKER_00: That life moves in cycles,
• 36:14
  SPEAKER_00: everything changes,
• 36:16
  SPEAKER_00: that change and metaphorical death and loss are all part of the human experience.
• 36:21
  SPEAKER_00: But so are our memories and our continuity and our sense of renewal and our ability
• 36:28
  SPEAKER_00: to renew and regenerate ourselves.
• 36:31
  SPEAKER_00: And the things that we can't see and can't touch and can't prove,
• 36:38
  SPEAKER_00: Still hold meaning in our lives.
• 36:41
  SPEAKER_00: And I love astrology for that reason because it's this really nice symbolic language
• 36:46
  SPEAKER_00: that helps us explore those experiences.
• 36:49
  SPEAKER_00: You know,
• 36:49
  SPEAKER_00: it gives us a way to recognize patterns and to live a little more consciously
• 36:54
  SPEAKER_00: within these changing relationships.
• 36:56
  SPEAKER_00: Rhythms of the year and also the seasons of our lives.
• 37:01
  SPEAKER_00: So if you'd like to take something from this episode into your holiday weekend,
• 37:07
  SPEAKER_00: I'll leave you with these things, right?
• 37:10
  SPEAKER_00: Again, we've covered it all, but I'll reiterate here.
• 37:12
  SPEAKER_00: What is it from the past that you want to remember and honor this weekend?
• 37:18
  SPEAKER_00: What is it that might have reached its completion in your life and
• 37:23
  SPEAKER_00: that is no longer necessary and that you can let go of so
• 37:27
  SPEAKER_00: that you can focus your energy on what's essential?
• 37:33
  SPEAKER_00: And also what is essential and deserves more of your honest attention, right?
• 37:39
  SPEAKER_00: What do you want to preserve and protect and nourish as you move into the next season?
• 37:46
  SPEAKER_00: Just notice what, if any, of those concepts or questions resonates with you right now.
• 37:53
  SPEAKER_00: Again, Scorpio season is about taking a good,
• 37:55
  SPEAKER_00: honest look at what's changing and to protect what matters as we move forward.
• 38:04
  SPEAKER_00: I hope you have a wonderful Halloween.
• 38:06
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you so much for joining this conversation with me today.
• 38:11
  SPEAKER_00: Enjoy the holidays, however you choose to celebrate it, and whichever ones you celebrate.
• 38:16
  SPEAKER_00: And I will be back soon with more Halloween.
• 38:20
  SPEAKER_00: Just a reminder that we do have a new moon in Scorpio coming up.
• 38:26
  SPEAKER_00: My new moon gathering is going to be on Wednesday, November 4th.
• 38:30
  SPEAKER_00: And if you'd like to attend and hear about what that's going to be bringing up,
• 38:35
  SPEAKER_00: I will put that link for you in the show notes.
• 38:38
  SPEAKER_00: Thanks again for being here, everyone.
• 38:40
  SPEAKER_00: I appreciate you all so much.
• 38:42
  SPEAKER_00: Have a good weekend.
• 38:43
  SPEAKER_00: And until I see you next time, take good care.
• 38:46
  [music]