If you’d prefer to listen to this check it out on Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts! The podcast episode includes my rationale behind the prompt questions as well as a semi-guided visualization exercise all of which is also at the bottom of this blog post.

🤔What is an Eclipse?🤔

Astronomically: an Eclipse occurs any time a New or Full Moon occurs in the same sign as the North or South Node. The North and South Nodes are not physical bodies but are mathematical points. The points exist where the path of the Moon’s orbit crosses the path of the Ecliptic/Sun’s path around the Earth. When a Solar Eclipse occurs it is because the Sun is partially eclipsed (or, out of sight/blocked from view) by the Moon moving in front of the Sun (from our Earthly perspective). Fun Fact: Every single planet has Nodes!

Astrologically: Eclipses are intense and transformational times. We often experience major changes&difficulties related to the themes of the part of our chart that the Eclipse falls in. Eclipses are a great time to intentionally engage in Shadow Work&Meditation.

👀What To Look Out For👀

This New Moon in Scorpio features the Sun&Moon (and Venus) in the early degrees of Scorpio hanging out with the South Node. Venus, has just moved through the cleansing rays of the Sun and is asking us to consider what Values&Desires we hold that are not being honored. In Scorpio we have the chance to play in the dark. We get to reacquaint ourselves with those parts of our psyche/inner child/subconscious/erotic that we have tamped down out of fear&shame&self-preservation.

This New Moon is asking that we focus on what needs transforming. Where are you burnt out? What are you absolutely tired of repeating? What do you want&need to let go of within yourself? What do you, genuinely, secretly, selfishly desire?

📝Shadow Work Prompts🃏

Warning: This is not a process meant to replace the support of a medical professional (therapist, psychiatrist, counselor, etc). This is not meant to be used to process trauma that you are not already well-acquainted with. I do not encourage you to use this to process big feelings that you do not have the support to handle at this time! Be gentle with yourself.

Feel free to journal on these or use them to guide a Divinatory Reading (Tarot, Oracle, Dice, Playing Cards, etc.)

• What resistance within me is preventing my transformation?
  • Remember that if something doesn’t feel quite ready to change or go…then maybe it isn’t. Consider that you are the authority on what you need and do not need and then get honest with yourself.
  • It may feel silly that you are resisting a transformation that will yield positive change for your life: but admit it anyway. It’s not that we are abysmal creatures who love misery it is that sometimes we fear things that are good for us because they are unfamiliar. And the unfamiliar is a threat to our safety. How can you let your body/inner child/nervous system know that change is safe?
• What fear is holding me back from asking for what I desire?
  • Too many of us tamp down our desire and make it an unwelcome guest in our lives. If you’re unsure of what you desire, then your task is to get reacquainted with pleasure to unlock your desirous nature.
  • A nudge: what excites you? What could you do for hours on end with no regard for time? If there were no barriers and we lived in a perfect world what would you be doing right now? Once you have your answers, find a way to minimize the cock blockers of your joy.
• What parts of yourself must you leave behind in order to move forward freely?
  • Word to the Wise: this is not about cutting parts of yourself off or killing your Ego. This is about gentleness, grief and kindness.
  • Acknowledge that you needed the parts of yourself/patterns/beliefs that you are shedding now because they protected you in the past.
  • Accept that you are moving on to a new landscape where those parts of self/patterns/beliefs are no longer in alignment with your desires.
  • Send love back to all those past versions of you. Send love forward to who you are becoming.

🧘🏿Visualization/Meditation Exercise🌀

I highly encourage you to listen to the semi-guided meditation in the Podcast ep. of the Hermit’s Choice that accompanies this post! Below is a brief outline of the process.

Start by surrounding yourself with things that ground you. Some examples:

• your favorite meditation music
• incense
• a beloved plant or familiar
• a glass of water
• snacks
• pen&paper
• voice recorder/smart phone

• Once you’ve completed the journaling/divination exercise above, imagine a large portal appearing before you. It is a portal to a version of you that has shed the limiting beliefs you’ve already named.
  • Get into the sensory info of it all. What does it sound like? How big is it? What can you see in it?
• Before getting into the portal tie a rope around your waist so that, should you get lost or scared: you can guide yourself back to your current reality.
• Now step into the portal.
  • How does it feel to be inside of it? What does it sound like? How long is the path? What can you see beyond the end of the portal?
• Make your way through to the other side of the portal. Explore this new landscape.
  • Is it different from where you came from? What do you see around you?
• As you explore this place you’ll find that you can only go so far as the rope connecting you back to your past reality is pulling you back toward the portal.
• As you examine the rope you see that it is no longer made of fiber but is instead made of the fears&shame that you identified in your journaling/divination.
• A pair of scissors appears in front of you. You cut the rope. The rope slinks backward through the portal, as it closes.
  • What was released? What do you feel in your body as a result of your newfound freedom? Happiness? Excitement? Grief?
  • Hold space for what comes up and allow it to pass as you journey forward in this landscape crafted from your Joy.
• Close the ritual by thanking the Gods/Benevolent Ancestors/The Cosmos/etc. for the insights you’ve received.