Scorpio Full Moon: On the Wings of Change

A butterfly is a delicate, ephemeral creature. So, the Zuni Butterfly Dance, which took place off a dusty, remote New Mexico road, came as a shock to many. As Clarissa Pinkola Estes describes it in Women Who Run with the Wolves, the dancer, Maria Lujan, was a large, elderly native woman with long, gray hair wearing a one-shouldered, red-and-black blanket dress and sporting butterfly wings.

“Her heavy body and her very skinny legs made her look like a hopping spider wrapped in a tamale,” observed Estes. Lujan danced, sweeping her feather fan up and down, shell bracelets rattling, and power descended. As drummers and chanters sent their prayers heavenward, Lujan – a living repository of wisdom – pollinated and strengthened the earth and its people with the spirit of the butterfly.

Now that it’s spring in the Northern Hemisphere, butterflies are busy pollinating flowers. With an average lifespan of just one month in its winged form, the butterfly fascinates us with its ability to change form through metamorphosis. How a butterfly transforms from a wormlike creature into a dazzling, angelic-looking being that defies gravity has made it a symbol of renewal, especially for indigenous cultures.

“Butterfly Maiden is the fertilizing force,” explains Estes, a Jungian analyst and chronicler of the deep feminine in various cultures. “She cross-fertilizes, just as the soul fertilizes the mind with nightdreams, just as archetypes fertilize the mundane world. She brings the opposites together by taking a little from here and putting it there. Transformation is no more complicated than that. This is how the butterfly does it. This is how the soul does it. A little changes much.”

This is a good message to keep in mind at the Scorpio Full Moon (April 23, 4:49 p.m. PDT), often considered a moon of magic. While extra potent in its own right, with the Sun at 4 degrees Taurus and Moon at 4 degrees Scorpio squared by kick-ass Pluto at 2 degrees Aquarius (all stubborn, fixed signs), this lunation also brings the April 8 New Moon eclipse into its fullest expression. That’s a lot of power. With Pluto so prominent, not only through the square but also as the modern ruler of the Scorpio Moon, it’s a do-or-die time that could be likened to the phase when the butterfly breaks free and takes flight.

Adding to its impact, this Full Moon falls just three days after the April 20 Jupiter-Uranus conjunction, which begins a new 14-year cycle of breakthroughs and a thirst for the new. There is a lightning-bolt of change energy – and potential good fortune – reverberating in the ethers. And the square from Pluto in Aquarius to the Sun and Moon amplifies this Uranus-Aquarius theme. If you have planets at the first five degrees of fixed signs (Taurus, Leo, Scorpio, Aquarius), you might feel like you can’t avoid a date with destiny. Yet Mercury is still retrograde through April 25 and in its shadow through early May. It may be best to wait until the May 7 New Moon to make any life-altering decisions, particularly if you have the Sun or Ascendant in Gemini or Virgo, both Mercury-ruled signs.

Even if these cycles aren’t closely impacting your chart, you’ve no doubt been witnessing abrupt changes in the lives of others and on the world stage. We’re all in a cauldron of change – and the forces of transformation aren’t taking No for an answer. Much will be revealed at the upcoming Full Moon. Pay attention to what is arising from the shadows into the light. You needn’t be scared of it – just recognize what you’re dealing with. If it becomes clear that something’s not working, either fix it or end it. If you’ve been resisting a change that you know is inevitable, this Full Moon could force the issue.

Pluto in innovative Aquarius will up-level our consciousness over the next 20 years. This is only the beginning, and beginnings can be rough. Let your instincts guide you, and trust that things will work out over time. If you’re feeling scattered or confused, follow Maria Lujan’s example. Put on your favorite clothing and music and do a butterfly dance of your own. Or, do something else that makes you feel happy and powerful. Commune with the butterflies in your garden. Most of all, remember that you are a fertilizing force. This magical Full Moon brings diametrical opposites together to help us cross-fertilize the energies of heaven and earth. No matter your age, sex or status, put on your butterfly wings and fly!