Scorpio season: the season of personal power, philosophy, intensity, sexuality, mystery, and—underlying it all—shadow work. Thank God it’s over, right?
Well, kind of…
The Full Moon is here, now halfway through the journey it began on November 13th. But—we have to remember to celebrate the progress of our work so far this moon cycle before we begin looking ahead.
Which includes one last revisit to that Moon in Scorpio energy to reflect and review.
What have we cultivated in the first half of this month as our intentions have grown with the waxing moon? What work have we done that deserves to be celebrated today? Are we aligning with the higher expressions of the astrological seasons?
With some tense Scorpio placements in my chart, trust me when I say I know that Scorpio season can be incredibly intense—and the urge to avoid the reality of it can be a strong one.
But hopefully, as Sagittarius season has shone it’s fiery light into our worlds, a certain sense of optimism and hope has been brought into these areas.
And that brings us around to today: the Full Moon in Gemini, where we celebrate the culmination of the last two weeks, maybe with a delicious Full Moon ritual.
In order get complete look at my Full Moon in Gemini ritual, that first involves diving into the intentions I set 14 days ago at the Scorpio new moon.
My new moon in Scorpio ritual included:
- Studying additional planetary energies
- Creating journal prompts & free-writing
- Release/burn ritual
- Monthly affirmation cards
- New moon spell
- Swamp shadow work visualization
In this deep dive, as part of my Full Moon in Gemini ritual, I’m working my way back through this cycles New Moon practice and intentions I set at that time.
I’ll be journaling through the original hand written notes that I popped away in the Moon Rituals section of my Book of Shadows, then looking at how I’ve moved from that energy into honouring the Gemini Full Moon today.
New Moon in Scorpio Ritual & Intentions (13.11.23)
Based on the Scorpio moon energies we looked at above, and knowing that my intuitive practice is written, I created two core journal prompts for my ritual.
As we’re looking at shadow work here, it’s about to get pretty personal pretty fast—so I hope it can work to help someone! Here are my core journal prompts and brief notes from my entries that surrounding the Scorpio new moon:
Journal prompt 1: what blocks me from integrating my shadow side?
- Shame: deep, core beliefs that parts of my shadow/self are unlovable and have to stay pushed down or I will we unlovable.
- Programming: societal beliefs/trauma programming that has taught me specific rules about what to be ashamed of as a young woman.
- Fear of abandonment: beliefs that my entire self as it is will be abandoned, rejected, or ridiculed—traumatic past of bullying and abuse when tried to be self.
- Realization of trauma: to see my shadow in a new light, it means facing why parts of my shadow were formed—and facing that distress.
Journal prompt 2: how can I lean more into my shadow side this month?
- Embrace authentic self and work on boundaries that honour, protect and maintain it.
- Use the mantra: “What would I do if I wasn’t ashamed of X?” throughout the month.
- Keep going back to my own personal philosophy, values, and intuition for guidance.
- Reassess core beliefs getting in the way and trust my inner compass on whether they truly align with who I am now. What can I release?
Personal affirmations for the month
I like to create new moon affirmation cards that I can keep with me to remind me of the energy I intend to cultivate throughout the month. So, working with the themes of this energy, here are the moon cycle affirmations that came up for me:
- I am whole, safe, and completely lovable as I am, shadow and all. I believe that I am safe and lovable now—and I act like it.
- I have the power to transmute my shadow into a portal of divine healing. I lean into my shadow with honesty, integrity and a passion to bring it into the light for healing.
- My insight is spirit insight. I trust it.
What do I need to release in order to align with these New Moon affirmations?
I also did a release ritual, writing out the following release statements and burning them:
- I release old habits that kept me safe for a time but are no longer serving me. I don’t need them anymore.
- I release self-criticism and a lack of self-trust. I release judgments of myself and any arbitrary rules and beliefs that are holding me back.
- I release the avoidance and shame I have attached to my shadow parts.
- I release the history of who I am and come into present connection.
A New Moon in Scorpio Spell
I’ve kept this spell out for the cycle so far to work with, and will be creating a new spell tonight for the Gemini Full Moon to replace it on my altar.
By honour of the dark moon,
I call in power to transmute;
All shadow parts—a portal be,
To Spirit guidance sent for me.
My inner compass set alight,
I cast a spell on this dark night,
With focus, passion, and intensity:
I will it so—so mote it be.
Swamp visualization: shadow work meditation practice
I believe I was introduced to this in a video somewhere but I cannot find it, so if anyone has any credit for the exercise please let me know!
This shadow work swamp meditation was an experience. And I can’t wait to revisit it tonight after the depths I’ve gone to in my soul to align my path and integrate my shadow more this month.
The visualization notes I made in my Book to practice this exercise unguided are as follows:
A Scorpion leads you through the depths of a forest. As you are following the Scorpion, the path gets darker, and you can cast an aura of protection here if you feel drawn to. Eventually, the Scorpion leads you towards a dark, deep swamp. It moves forward, straight into the swamp, and you know that you have to continue to follow it.
The swamp contains all aspects of your shadow self. Everything you are ashamed of, all of the unseen stories and beliefs you hold, all things you don’t want to admit or accept about yourself.
You step your first foot into the swamp, as you see the Scorpion slowly move through the depths ahead of you. The swamp is cold and thick, and part of you wants to recoil, but the Scorpion pulls you to continue.
You wade deeper and deeper through the swamp, until you are totally submerged in your Shadow. It feels too thick to move any further, so you stay submerged there as long as you need for it to start to feel easier to move through.
You eventually manage to pull your limbs forward, and continue to follow the Scorpion through the depths until you slowly start to reemerge out of the other side of the swamp to an all-encompassing, radiant, warm light.
Full Moon in Gemini (27.11.23)
Moving into Gemini Full Moon, we’re bringing communication, curiosity and creativity into these shadows, shining even more light on them.
After hopefully doing the work to act on our new moon intentions over the last 14 days, today might bring the culmination of that work, bringing whatever shadow work we’ve been doing into the light.
This gives us a unique window of opportunity to now move into identifying the inner beliefs that created the shadow in the first place—and releasing them.
This is continuous work, and will be enhanced by the waning of the moon over the next 14 days, which helps us to review, release, and renew our beliefs and thoughts.
But surrounding this full moon, we’re going to see—or at least be presented with—potential new perspectives to some of our deepest insecurities, opening up the door to be able to release them.
Whether that comes in the form of inner breakthroughs that allow us to finally release stories we’ve told ourselves over the years, or whether it’s someone else that brings a new perspective into the light, we are going to be offered opportunities to find true peace of mind.
Full Moon in Gemini ritual
Your Moon ritual practice might look completely different to mine—which is the beauty of any magical path.
For me, I am celebrating today! I have made some serious movements this month in terms of integrating my shadow, and I am so damn proud of myself.
My personal Full Moon ritual activities for today/this evening are:
- Study additional planetary energies
- Reflect on New Moon intentions & celebrate successes
- Identify what needs to be released after new breakthroughs/perspectives/developments
- Salt & essential oil cleansing shower with music that feeds my soul
- Burn & release ritual
- Create Full Moon in Gemini spell
- Swamp meditation
- Thanks to deities
I’m putting off step four currently, so it’s time to stop with the intellectual work and move into the more grounded practices of my ritual. I’ll be sure to add in my Full Moon in Gemini spell once it’s written—I’m such a night owl at the moment!
I hope you’ve enjoyed these general energies and intuitive musings—what do your Full Moon rituals look like?
Eliza Blooms 