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The 2023 Scorpio Full Moon reaches its maximum phase at 10:34a PDT on Friday 5th May 2023 (14°58’). This 2023 Scorpio Full Moon is also a Penumbral Lunar Eclipse visible throughout Asia, the South Pacific-Australasian regions, and the eastern side of the African continent which experience the maximum eclipse only twelve minutes before the Full Moon’s maximum phase. During a Lunar Eclipse, the Earth prevents the Sun’s light from being reflected upon the Moon’s surface, creating a shadow of the Earth upon the Moon’s surface instead. The symbolism of this eclipse cannot be denied, especially with the Moon in Scorpio and the Sun in Taurus. It is our own actions, our own resistance to change, which makes this event so profound.

The Taurus-Scorpio polarity reveals the extremes that can occur when living into what we believe are our values and morals. It reveals the intimacy of these matters – how deeply we, as humans, can intuitively and emotionally feel what we value, what we need. For some of us, this awareness of our needs is so strong, it feels like a matter of life-and-death when we are asked to reassess them, or worse, when they are being challenged. We feel our lives are threatened if we don’t get what we’re used to getting, or in some cases, if we get something we’re not used to getting.

Allowing ourselves to feel these intense emotions can be challenging, yet having our deepest emotional truths revealed may feel devastating. Scorpio is rarely one to put all its business out there for all to see. Scorpio feels things deeply. Scorpio feels things intensely. Scorpio is not for the faint of heart. Scorpio can break you, especially when made vulnerable by the revelations of the Taurus Sun.

Yes, the light in this lunar eclipse comes from the Taurus Sun, and its fixed earth energy brings forward our personal values and morals which are often rooted in the state of our physical, material, and financial resources and experiences which represents our personal lifestyles. This could also be translated more simply into bringing our personal survival needs to our personal and collective attention. Basically, we need to assess our values by determining which values best support our survival.

What is needed to survive may seem simple enough. Air, water, food, shelter, clothing… but that’s usually not all that’s required for us to feel like our “basic” needs are truly being fulfilled. We may also value intellectual stimulation, emotional support, spirituality or religious faith, being in good physical and/or mental health, having money, or possessing particular material goods as much if not more than the usual resource fundamentals.

That, and Taurus energy tends to seek a comfortable level of resource and experience – an acceptable “shade of gray” – then stand firm in it, declaring it as its comfort zone and refusing to budge from that position… until forced to move out of it.

This is where the Full Moon in Scorpio’s balancing work begins.

Scorpio is a fixed water sign, and its energy opposes and therefore reflects the light of the Taurus Sun. I often think of Scorpio as “still waters run deep” because Scorpio isn’t afraid to get below the surface and dive deep into the shadows to get to the (emotional and spiritual) bottom of things. There’s more than plenty to dive into right now, which is why this 2023 Scorpio Full Moon also being an eclipse is such a powerful event. With the Earth temporarily blocking the Sun’s reflection, many of us may find ourselves trying to go about the day-to-day as if everything is fine and we’re perfectly solid, stable, and secure in our lives.

Honestly, that’s not truly the case for anyone right now.

The reality is that our world, our planet, and our individual and collective selves are undergoing major changes. These changes are occurring on multiple levels – personal, societal, cultural, global… physical, mental, emotional, spiritual… This is no time for pretending that changes are not occurring. They are, and many of the changes are major. Those who are simply shrugging their shoulders and trying to go about their day like nothing is happening are doing so because nothing is happening to themselves or their lives directly (yet). They’re doing this because to acknowledge that changes are occurring means they may need to acknowledge that they, too, must change… and they don’t want to change.

Scorpio is traditionally ruled by the planet, Mars, but in modern astrology, it is associated with the dwarf planet, Pluto, which represents power, influence, and the process of transformation. Transformation isn’t simple change – it’s the death of one way of being in order to allow a new form of being to emerge. Think caterpillar to butterfly.

The thing is… many of us are afraid to undergo the transformation process. We aren’t sure what will remain of our current lifestyles or relationships after we take our new form. It terrifies some of us so much, we cling to our comfort zones… until they become so uncomfortable, we can no longer remain within them.

This 2023 Scorpio Full Moon Lunar Eclipse, for many of us, will bring that moment of intolerable discomfort.

That’s because unlike Taurus, Scorpio sees everything in “black-or-white” terms. There’s no gray in Scorpio’s world. You’re in or you’re out. You are or you aren’t… which makes Scorpio’s energy a perfect complement to the energy of this 2023 Scorpio Full Moon and Lunar Eclipse.

This combination of energies won’t allow any of us to stay in our gray areas. Our emotions may be brought to their breaking points, and our emotion-driven actions will reveal the (Scorpio) extremes we are choosing for ourselves whether we want them to be revealed or not. This Full Moon Eclipse is forcing us out of our (Taurus) comfort zones and onto the paths toward the next chapters of our personal life journeys and of humanity’s evolution.

This is not cause for despair! In fact, for some of us, this is going to be an amazing period of breakthrough and liberation like no other! Some of us are about to conquer emotional and spiritual shadows that we’ve avoided for a long time. In some cases, for way too long. This moment may be long overdue.

In contrast, this eclipse will also reveal the lengths people (and entities) will go to in order to maintain their comfort zones and/or status quos. It will put on full display how many people are truly ready for the transformation of themselves and their lives.

And we’ll know who is who because of how people respond emotionally. We’ll know who’s going through the most intense emotional discomfort of all.

The numerology of this 2023 Scorpio Full Moon Lunar Eclipse only makes this event more emotionally and spiritually intense. It occurs on an 8 Universal Day of power and influence from the Middle East westward – an energy which can be used to empowering and/or disempowering ends. In the East Asian regions, this event reaches its maximum phase and totality on a 9 Universal Day of fulfillments, completions, and endings. This indicates to me that those under the 8 day energy may be about to or are already in the midst of choosing whether they’re undergoing their transformation process or not; while those under the 9 day energy are likely to have already made their choices (or had their choices made for them), and are beginning to reap the returns of their decisions.

These day energies are occurring under the umbrella of a 3 Universal Month of growth and expansion through learning, and a 7 Universal Year of rest, reflection, analysis, and regrouping. In other words, many of us will be learning not only about the reach and limits of others’ power and influence, we may also may be learning how much personal power we have to push ourselves forward and to set boundaries with others. This is an excellent time to reflect on your past – to assess how you’ve either stepped into and used your power in the past, or how you’ve surrendered your personal power to others in order to “stay safe” or “avoid change.”

Change will be difficult to avoid, though, because another quirk for this day is the 5:5 Portal energy. Five represents change, and the fact that this 2023 Scorpio Full Moon Lunar Eclipse is occurring on this day indicates that any steps taken to effect change on this day will not only take hold, but may happen more quickly and/or powerfully than expected. It would be wise not to take change, or the possibility of it, lightly today.

For more detailed insights into this 2023 Scorpio Full Moon and Lunar Eclipse, here are the astrological transits occurring within 5° at the time of the Full Moon’s maximum phase:

(wide) (Taurus Sun conjunct Uranus) opposite Scorpio Moon (14-18°) – As our social and societal values evolve, we must tune in emotionally and spiritually with how these evolutionary shifts feel for us individually and collectively.  The Sun’s revelations will help us ground our energy, and will make the changes seem more tangible and real for us.

(wide) FIXED GRAND SQUARE/GRAND CROSS – Taurus North Node square Leo Pallas Athena square Scorpio South Node square Aquarius Pluto Retrograde (0-4°) – We are being called upon if not pushed to embrace new values and construct new comfort zones, different than the ones before. By having our patterns of unique self-expression revealed and by facing the harsh realities of the technological advances of our societies, the Scorpio South Node’s energy indicates that the past is finally undergoing its death in order to be transformed into the emotional-spiritual conscience of our future. The once-imagined future is beginning to reveal itself, and we are being forced to take note and decide what other seeds of change we’re going to be planting over these next six months to have realized in that future.

BLESSING TRIANGLE: Aquarius Pluto Retrograde sextile Aries White Moon Selene sextile Gemini Juno (0-2°) – Technology’s potential influence on humanity’s future now emerging actually plays a very positive role in our choice of seeds for the future. We’re getting a second chance to prepare for what’s coming as result. What type of future are we committed to building for ourselves and each other? Those questions are being asked now (finally!).

NODAL “YOD”/BOOMERANG: Aries White Moon Selene semi-sextile Taurus North Node semi-sextile Gemini Juno with Aries White Moon Selene quincunx Scorpio South Node quincunx Gemini Juno (2-4°) – The fact that recent events have many of us assessing what future we’re committed to, by default, we are also looking at which elements of our past must be released in order move toward that future. This is definitely a call toward a leveling-up of our individual lives so that we can, in turn, level each other up through exchanges of ideas and information.

Cancer Black Moon Lilith trine Pisces Neptune (26°) – Warning! Delusional beliefs ahead! Though trines are often considered “positive” transits, this particular trine indicates that some of us may take these changes and these emotional energies very personally. Having our emotional protective bubbles burst by reality may result in the imagining of alternative realities in order to deal with the emotional pain of the factual reality we are living in now.

(Aries Eris conjunct Jupiter) sextile Gemini Venus (24-27°) – Growing awareness of our individuality encourages one-on-one exchanges of ideas and information which can be very helpful in learning how to redirect resentment and frustration into something positive in one’s life.

(Aries Eris conjunct Jupiter) square Cancer Black Moon Lilith (24-27°) – Growing awareness of our individuality challenges our egos which also seek emotional support. Anger, a sense of betrayal, and/or resentment may increase as we realize that we may be on our own in regard to our emotional well-being. This is a call for self-love, but if you’re looking outside yourself for it, this could be a very difficult time for you.

Aries Chiron semi-sextile (Taurus Sun conjunct Uranus) (14-18°) – If you’ve been doing the work to heal your self-identity, you may begin to experience some of the reward for that work by learning that as society evolves, you’re on the correct side of the evolutionary shift. You understand that there is individual responsibility to the greater whole of humanity – that a healed you is in better service to the world than a wounded you.

Taurus Uranus sextile Cancer Mars (18-21°) – The values’ evolution continues, and that means your emotional truth is continuing to evolve as well. If you are emotionally open to these changes, you may find yourself taking actions to contribute to the collective evolution of human kind. However, if you’re not open to these changes, you may find yourself taking emotionally-defensive actions.

Cancer Mars sextile Virgo Ceres Retrograde (21-23°) – Your actions in response to inevitable change may find you facing a question: Which values work for you, which ones don’t work for you, and why?

Taurus Mercury Retrograde conjunct Vesta (8-9°) – Each and all of us are reassessing our personal values now, figuring out which of those values are worth dedicating our efforts to upholding. Which values are still worth standing for? Which values work for you in this stage of your life journey? Now’s an excellent time to sort that out for yourself.

The energy of this 2023 Scorpio Full Moon and Penumbral Lunar Eclipse will be felt from Tuesday 2nd May through Monday 8th May 2023, though there will be a number of opportunities to plant seeds for the future during the next six months. Some of these opportunities will be second chances – it would be wise to consider them seriously if they’re coming around again.

However, the star of this Scorpio Full Moon Eclipse phase will be our emotions. And as we experience this moment of intolerable discomfort in our personal values journey, will the conditions you experience find you having a breakdown… or will you, despite the challenge, recognize your breakthrough?

We’re about to find out.

Thank you for reading and sharing Signs and Numbers. Until next time…

~ Light, Love, and Blessings,
Grace