Scorpio New Moon, Samhain, the Ancestors and a Spooky Election

An astrological survey of our moment in time.

This article is cross-posted to Chiron Return subscribers from Planet Waves on Substack. The New Moon is at 8:47 am EDT Friday. There will be a new Planet Waves FM tonight.

Melissa at Pere Lachaise, Day of the Dead 2006. Photo by Eric Francis - Book of Blue, Paris

Dear Friend and Reader:

We are in a rich moment. Thursday was Halloween (properly called Samhain, which is pronounced sah-wen). In various Old Religion calendars, today is the last day of the year; Friday is the first day of the new year; and overnight is “the night between the worlds,” which belongs to neither year.

Friday morning, we experience the New Moon in Scorpio. 

This suspension of normal time overnight from the 31st to the 1st is related to the notion that we are in the time when the veil between the worlds of the living and the dead is the thinnest: that is Scorpio. 

For centuries and across cultures, this part of the season is about acknowledging the ancestors. Hence we have Day of the Dead, All Souls Day, All Saints Day and ghosts and goblins adorning people’s front yards.

Dinner for a hobgoblin. Photo by Eric Francis.

Honoring the Inner Tradition

The inner tradition here worth honoring: visiting the graves of relatives, or any graves, really; honoring those who have left us the past year; and standing up for the dead — which means speaking for them. You can also speak to them, thank them, offer forgiveness, pay their debts, and in other ways do your best to resolve unfinished business.

Are they really dead? I guess we’ll find out, or not.

My description of a meal for a hobgoblin gives a good idea for offerings if you visit a cemetery: tobacco, some spongy fruit like eggplant or squash; some alcohol; and maybe a biscuit. If you’ve never done this, it’s fun. The graves don’t have to be people you know.

This time of year (at least where the season is turning to winter) it’s easy to feel the planet we live on is a kind of pass-through zone for souls…or something. Tap in just a little and you can feel that movement.