The Argentinian astrologer María Laura Mattivi called the Scorpio season: Dying to be Reborn, a time when we “must look where we don’t want to see”. The yearly lunation in Scorpio often brings secrets to light after thorough digging for information. At a personal level, autumn reminds us that winter is ahead and it is time to shed what will only rob our energy, digging deeply in ourselves as relationship individuals to find what must die to nurture a rebirth, just like trees drop in wondrous and colorful scenes the leaves that will serve as mulch and nurture the seeds. Scorpio represents the power we obtain from our personal relationships so it stands to reason that we will reflect deeply in our relatedness. The Night Force has asserted its dominance over the individualistic Day Force and we realize that we are stronger for our relationships, not in spite of them.
With these energies as background, the lunation in Scorpio will begin with the new moon on November 1 at 5:47 a.m. in California, 6:47 a.m. in Mexico City, or 1:47 p.m. in Central Europe. The exact conjunction of Sun and Moon that defines a new moon will occur at Scorpio 9°35′, as you can see in the chart below, near the two o’clock position if it were a clock face.
November 1, 2024
12:46:59 hours GMT
Before analyzing it further, let’s look at the major chart configurations. First, the exact opposition between Pluto (Capricorn 29°45′) and Mars (Cancer 29°04′), may be seen in blue right at the 5–11 o’clock axis. This powerful opposition forms a Kite configuration with Mercury (Scorpio 28°13′) and Neptune (Pisces 27°29′) who, as we will see later, is gaining in overall importance.
Another close opposition is formed between Uranus (Taurus 25°53′) and Mercury, near the 1–7 axis, which also forms a Kite with Neptune and Mars. And yet another opposition, a “Kite-less” one, is formed between Venus near the top (Sagittarius 17°45′) and Jupiter (Gemini 20°27′), the latter forming an exact sextile with Chiron (Aries 20°25′). The trine between Venus and Chiron completes a Mystic Triangle with the Venus–Jupiter opposition. Finally, at Pisces 12°52′, Saturn forms a trine with the new-moon conjunction which energizes its degree meaning; more about that later. It has slowed down to 35% of its average speed and will be exactly stationary just a few hours prior to the next full moon.
Opposition Mars–Pluto
Scorpio immediately brings to mind Pluto, its ruler. In the previous article, we reviewed the meaning of Pluto in Capricorn as it gradually accelerates to its final goodbye to the sign. We also said a few words about its opposition with Mars, its lower octave, which formed a Grand Cross with the full moon. In particular, we mentioned that Pluto is humanity’s shepherd at our current stage of consciousness and symbolizes what theologians call Divine Will. Whereas Pluto represents the will of the collective, Mars does the same for our individual will and so we labeled their opposition a Test of Wills, the article’s title. Such test of wills can become a violent power struggle if the individual will is not aligned with the collective will, which is often the case when our will responds to ego desires, or if the collective will goes against our individual values. In addition, there is a sense of urgency for results, since Pluto is speeding up to its final entrance into Aquarius.
The opposition with Mars will be the last major aspect of Pluto while still in Capricorn. It will be exact for the first time on November 3 but, at the new moon, both planets will already be in their anaretic degrees (29°01’–30°00′), accentuating the sign’s positive and negative archetypes. The test of wills will remain in orb through April 2025, even forming two more exact oppositions: on January 3, with Mars retrograde, and on April 26; both with Pluto already in Aquarius. Every sign opposition pits the Day and the Night forces against each other at the same relative level, which is maximum at the solstices. Mars is therefore at maximum individuality in Cancer and Pluto at maximum collectivity in Capricorn. The process driving our individual will (Mars) is in the phase of generating power from our personal integration (Cancer), so we are talking about our willpower. But it is pitted against the process driving humanity’s growth in consciousness in accordance to its current needs (Pluto) that is in the phase of generating power from humanity’s integration (Capricorn), namely our collective Dharma.
Perhaps nowhere in the world is this confrontation of wills more evident than in the conflict between Israel and Iran which escalated right around the last full moon. The destruction of the terrorist organizations backed by Iran had to precede any rising of consciousness in the region, but so the moral corruption present in the current alliance of Israel and the US had to be exposed. While this is being accomplished with violence, it has not escalated into a full regional war that, along with the war in Ukraine and the tensions around Taiwan and the Korean peninsula, could ignite another world war. This is because Neptune is in charge this time of the rise in consciousness we are experiencing. The last time humanity had a similar change in consciousness, symbolized as a Minor Grand Trine between the three transpersonal planets, was during WWII. The threat of a nuclear war after witnessing the destructive power locked inside Uranium and Plutonium caused the needed realization in humanity that it can destroy itself. However, recall that the configuration was led by Pluto back then, not Neptune.
Water Grand Trine
As mentioned earlier, the opposition is part of a Kite configuration with Mercury and Neptune, having Mars as the leader and Pluto as the pilot of the configuration. A Kite always contains a Grand Trine, a configuration where the energies of the three planets flow easily through their trines but without beginning or end. In this case it is formed between Neptune, Mercury and Mars, all in water signs. The opposition to one of the three planets focuses the Grand Trine, which is why it is called the leader (Mars). The entire energy of the Grand Trine is available to understand the complementarity of the pilot’s and the leader’s archetypes. However the Kite is not a configuration of action but of consciousness. Of course, this will apply as well to the other Kite formed around the opposition of Mercury and Uranus. At a personal level, the Pluto-piloted Kite may help us realize how to align our desires and our will to the will of humanity. In the medium term, humanity is seeking a higher level of consciousness but remember that the quantum leap we will experience through the rest of the decade will be guided by Neptune.
Neptune Takes the Reigns
Neptune will guide us? You must think I am joking when looking at what Neptune has done for the last twelve years, since February, 2012 when it entered Pisces. The proliferation of disinformation and “fake news” in which we live gained traction during that year’s US election. Neptune may not seem today like an illuminating guide but remember that it is also the higher octave of Venus, capable of fostering relationships based on universal love and compassion. The fog of Pisces that dissolves the sharpness of forms, including dangerous ones, will soon dissipate to reveal ideal conditions to set sail. Neptune will enter Aries in March, 2025 for a seven-month stay in which we will get a glimpse of what it will be to live under a higher-level mentality. In October, Neptune will briefly return to Pisces before making a grand entrance to a new zodiacal cycle in January, 2026, literally alongside Saturn. I will say more about this in the preview for 2025 that I hope to write in December.
Even the calmest oceans have undercurrents stronger than large rivers, and Pisces is the sign of the oceans and other large masses of water. Its ruler, Neptune, represents the processes that deal with amorphous masses such as the human migrations caused in grand part by the materialistic western mentality. The prototypical oceanic force is a tsunami, a wall of water that plows through everything, a seemingly unstoppable force that eventually leaves a desolate sameness. We speak now of mass migrations around the globe but we have not experienced (yet) a tsunami of people requiring a place to live because their land can no longer provide for them due to climate change, local wars, or abuse by corporate greed or government corruption.
Mystic Configurations
As mentioned earlier, Neptune is also part of a Kite around the Mercury–Uranus opposition that pits our rational mind against our intuition, once again softened by Neptune but this time activated by Mars. Please refer to the new-moon chart and observe that the Mars–Pluto and Mercury–Uranus oppositions form the diagonals of a rectangle of sextiles and trines that join the four planets Such configuration is called a Mystic Rectangle and it can be a very successful configuration to center the oppositions’ polarities. While it requires work, mostly reflexive, once the polarities are experienced as complementary, the configuration is very stable and it is easy to remain centered. Normally, the trick is to involve the trines and sextiles of the Mystic Rectangle but in this case we have two Kites to ease the process. And the key resides in Neptune who completes the Kites and can bring universal love and compassion to our reflections, especially during the lunation’s waning phases.
Venus, the other personal planet besides the lights, is also involved in an opposition with Jupiter which forms a Mystic Triangle, sort of a half Kite, with Chiron. In a Mystic Triangle, you may remember, the planet not in opposition provides a creative and productive alternative to the polarity. Venus and Jupiter can work together to expand our relationships, be that in number or scope. Having Chiron involved will inject healing energy to that expansion. Venus in Sagittarius is ruled by Jupiter and thus concerned with justice, together they can produce great philosophical insights.
Saturn at Pisces 13°
The square between Venus with Saturn, both forming sesquiquadrate aspects with Mars, may bring awareness and a degree of structure to our needs and desires, perhaps in connection to our dreams, fantasies or illusions (Saturn in Pisces). That said, Saturn will be in the thirteenth degree of Pisces from October 27 until December 4. The Sabian symbol for Pisces 13° has the image: “An ancient sword, used in many battles, is displayed in a museum”, with the keynote: Through the effectual use of his will a consecrated man can become a symbol of courage for all those who follow in his footsteps.
Make no mistake, willpower is the ultimate spiritual sword. Rudhyar writes: “Whenever found, this symbol emphasizes the imperative need to make use of the will in meeting the basic challenges of the inner life as well as outer adversaries”—emphasis mine. Once an individual operates at the spiritual level, the willpower he uses is not really his own but Divine Will that flows through his mind, which serves as the focusing agent. It is what occultists call the Power of the Brotherhood: the energy of the Whole operating through the one-pointed individual who has made this Whole aware of the need for its use in a particular situation; in this case, the aforementioned alignment of our individual will. I remind you that Saturn will receive creative solar energy through its trine with the Sun–Moon conjunction.
Sun–Moon Conjunction
Despite presenting several important configurations, the new-moon chart has just two aspects that compel to action: the square between Venus and Saturn, shown in red, and the Sun–Moon conjunction in Scorpio. All of the awareness and integration mentioned above obtain their energy from the tenth degree of Scorpio, where Sun and Moon are located and which has the image: “A fellowship supper reunites old comrades”, further explained as the overtones of human relationships based on a community of work or experiences. Rudhyar writes: “Whenever the symbol appears, it suggests the importance of establishing or strengthening links with those with whom one has shared, or can share, living experiences”. The symbol’s keyword is: Comradeship.
Discussion
Unfortunately, the word “comrade” was hijacked by the USSR and has been associated with communism but, in the truer sense of the word, those of us who are co-creating a new civilization based on a higher level of consciousness are, indeed, comrades. If we follow Rudhyar’s advice, it behooves us to continue visualizing a world based on abundance, not scarcity, knowing that the community supporting the transformation, nay, the metamorphosis of humanity, grows daily. It is said that we have achieved critical mass, so to speak, enough of us welcoming a subtler level of consciousness to irreversibly rise the level in humanity. And it won’t take long, major changes will be in place by 2030.
The Mars and Pluto opposition is crucial for ourselves and for humanity, which is the reason it will be with us for several months. Nothing is fated in astrology, the planetary processes only guide us, as Heather Ensworth often says, but we have free will, symbolized by Mars. Saturn is strongly energized at the new moon and will be spending over a month at the degree which encourages us to align our will with the Will of the Brotherhood and use its power. Our shepherd Pluto is guiding us, along with Uranus and Neptune, to co-create a new civilization. The exact Mars–Pluto opposition will occur two days prior to the US presidential elections where the individual wills of the people will align themselves to one collective will or the other. And they couldn’t be more different. While this is perhaps the most vivid example, there will be many more in the months ahead, albeit with a different flavor, especially when Mars is in Leo and, of course, Pluto in Aquarius.
The Mystic Rectangle and Neptune give us the clues to approach the alignment of wills dilemma. We need to use both, reasoning and intuition, under the inspirational guidance of Neptune, the planet of universal love and compassion.
Wrapping Up…
We are entering a time of profound choices, being asked to align our personal will in the direction of humanity’s growth. As María Laura said, we must look where we don’t want to see, in the depths of ourselves, to find our place in humanity, as co-creators of the new world.
In its final days through Capricorn, Pluto is exposing the rigidity of the old patriarchal structures that no longer serve us. Meanwhile Mars is ready to reset our relationship with the sacred masculine so that it no longer relies on brandishing power over others.
Other than Pluto, all the non-personal planets are retrograde, supporting a time of inner realization regarding the old paradigms’ futility. Pluto has empowered the ruling elites while exposing their amoral behavior and they no longer have the legitimacy needed to continue in power for long. The changes will not be immediate but nonetheless will arrive quicker than many are expecting.
As a personal note, I just received four out-of-print books written by Rudhyar that I hunted down in specialty bookstores in Europe and the US. In particular, two in which he explores the psychological implications of his philosophy. I’m sure you will read their influence in future articles, though I don’t expect surprises.
Always Love. 🌹🙏💖
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