Full Moon in Scorpio
Shadow and the Anchored Ascent
All week, I’ve felt the momentum building toward this full moon, today, May 12th.
My dreams have been shadowy and strange — dark houses, scarabs, hidden figures — and in the day-to-day, a quiet stirring. Old griefs, flashes of anger, and old stories have been resurfacing. Maybe it’s simply the Scorpio full moon; maybe it’s where I am on my path. Either way, the themes of shadow and limitation seem to be coming in from many directions.
Here’s a reflection on what I sense is here for us now.
“Exercising choice over how you perceive the sensations of happenings in your life and psyche is a profound step in releasing attachment to being “helpless” and at the mercy of “cruel fate.”
― Carolyn Elliott
This full moon draws us into the depths. Scorpio rules what we’d rather not see — the shadows, the old wounds, the forgotten layers of self. These are the parts that manipulate, cling, avoid, or ache. The parts, as Jung wrote, "a person has no wish to be." And yet is.
But the gift of a healthy Scorpio is that it knows that we are all full of shit and contradictions.
We all carry parts that may seek control, avoid discomfort, create chaos, or sabotage what we most desire. The medicine is not to bypass, repress, or spiritually manipulate these parts but to sit with them long enough to know their shape, their voice, their roots.
The work is to get to know them — to know ourselves well enough to recognize when these old patterns stir and to meet them with greater honesty and humility each time.
The surfacing of shadows can sometimes feel like regression, like, “Really? This shit again?!” But what if, instead, it’s evidence of how far we’ve come? We can now see more, feel more, and sit with greater complexity than we once could. What once overwhelmed us now meets a more mature, capable us.
Scorpio ultimately asks us to face our fears. When we can learn to sit with those fears—to meet the parts of ourselves we most wish to hide—there is real liberation. We’ve seen the worst, and survived it. Once we own our darkness, what power can be held over us? Nothing. It’s like blackmail: when you’ve already spoken all your truths, no one can threaten you with them. In many ways, we blackmail ourselves. We hold parts of us hostage, perhaps hoping to outrun them. This moon asks us to open the door instead.
And here’s the thing, shadows evolve. They will appear again, but in different forms or situations. This isn’t a sign of being stuck; it’s telling of our capacity to hold more of ourselves- shadow and light. Perhaps, the shadow is not something we ever escape from; it is something we continuously grow into and in that, become more real, of greater substance.
Opposing this moon is Uranus conjunct the sun. Uranus, sky god and awakener, reminds us that revelation often arrives through disruption. He shakes what has grown rigid to liberate what is most true now. His disruptive flashes are not in vain. They are in service to our greatest authenticity.
This full moon, like all moons, holds much potential. But this one, in particular, invites us toward greater liberation through the means of facing what we’ve avoided or hidden — or what has been unconsciously shaping us.
Carl Jung once wrote that neurosis is always a substitute for legitimate suffering.
When we avoid the clean pain of facing our shadows and limitations, the psyche diverts into patterns that imprison rather than transform.
Neurosis simply is the persistence of patterns or being in a loop — emotional, behavioral, or cognitive — that causes distress. They stem from unresolved inner conflict and avoidance of deeper emotional work.
If you’d like to reflect more deeply, here are prompts for each rising sign based on where Scorpio falls in your chart:
Aries Rising (8th House)
Where are you ready to loosen old fears or entanglements?
What exchange asks for more freedom or trust?
Taurus Rising (7th House)
Where can you be clearer about your needs?
What does true connection — not obligation — look like now?
Gemini Rising (6th House)
What daily patterns are ready to shift?
How can you tend to work and body with more integrity?
Cancer Rising (5th House)
Where can you express what’s creatively true?
What risks feel worth taking?
Leo Rising (4th House)
What old family stories are ready to be unearthed?
How can you root into a home that holds all of you?
Virgo Rising (3rd House)
What truth is ready to be written, spoken, or shared?
How can you express yourself with greater courage?
Libra Rising (2nd House)
Where do you feel called to redefine partnerships in your life?
What balance between self and others needs to shift?
Scorpio Rising (1st House)
What part of you is ready to be seen more fully?
Where can you show up with deeper self-trust?
Sagittarius Rising (12th House)
What inner story is ready to be released?
Where can you surrender control to reconnect with yourself?
Capricorn Rising (11th House)
What stories have shaped your vision?
What connections feel true to the future you are longing for?
Aquarius Rising (10th House)
What is your vision of success?
How can you soften your ambition to align with what feels authentic?
Pisces Rising (9th House)
What beliefs are ready to be let go of?
What perspectives is your intuition leading you to explore?
As I finish writing this, a friend called to share how many people around her are moving through major initiations right now — especially within their most vulnerable and intimate relationships. Which feels fitting. Scorpio also speaks to our deepest ties, the bonds where our rawest, most hidden selves are present.
This moon illuminates those spaces, asking us to see what usually stays hidden— or what only our closest connections witness, if even them.
The Sabian symbol for this moon is a rabbit metamorphosed into a fairy.
This speaks of refining instinct — taking raw urges and shaping them into something more conscious and more ethereal. It reminds us of the role imagination plays here. The work is not to let fantasies run wild but to learn to dance with them, to let our imagination inspire us toward what is possible — even in the shadowed places.
Even in the dark, even here, there is the capacity to shape something true, something shimmering, something of wonder.
So may we meet what is surfacing at this time with courage, with honesty, and always with compassion.
With you,
Mel
