This week's Scorpio Full Moon is in lunar eclipse. Earth moves into perfect alignment between Moon and Sun at a time in the month when they directly oppose each other in the heavens. Astrologically, this current axis of opposition is said to place emphasis on the often problematic tension between 'all that's mine' (Sun in Taurus) and 'all that's yours' (Moon in Scorpio). It's a common theme in our present era, punctuated as it is, by an incessant desire for external validation. However, throw the amplifying influence of a lunar eclipse into the emotional mix and the unsettling comparisons and judgements could get blown even further out of whack.

Without cautious awareness of our behaviour, the next fortnight is likely to see us at our green-eyed, jealous worst with nothing and no one seeming quite good enough to make us happy. The grass will appear greener on the opposite side of the room let alone on the other side of the hill and our projection of others' happiness (mistakenly presumed at our expense) is likely to turn us into seething, hateful monsters of dissatisfaction. It may be difficult to stop this internal purgatory spilling over into our external experience. We'll want what we want and we'll want it NOW...so be warned - we're unlikely to be a patient, forgiving barrel of laughs after perusing the live feeds of our latest 'friends' on TikTok.

That said, armed with a degree of forewarned self awareness, there's a more balanced perspective to be sought amidst the social media battlefields. In astrological speak, the full moon in Scorpio with it's ruling planet Pluto, helps govern the process of evolution and metamorphosis: the archetypes linked to psychological death, rebirth, and regeneration. Translating this into our own lives: if we can arrest the flow of deeply personal self judgements of inadequacy that give rise to jealousy (self-hate by any other name) we make space to re-imagine ourselves reliably locating happiness in the simple things in life; actively finding time to do nothing but smell the roses. Who knows, once through the jealousy tantrums, a bit of Scorpio Lunar Eclipse impetus might even help us transform ourselves into someone we like!

A shortage of self love lies at the heart of our planetary predicament. Pervading global contemporary culture erroneously equates competitive dog eat dog notions with 'human nature', derived from the often deliberately misrepresented Darwinian theories of natural selection. Without love and compassion for self we distance ourselves from each other and our environment, establishing divisions where intelligent evolution creates none. The scientific evidence detailing the interconnected nature of everything is now irrefutable. Many physicists and biologists now maintain that the apparent separation of matter is but a myth. Everything communicates with and informs everything else in one unified field of existence. To love ourselves therefore, is in fact to love everything, to align compassionately with our greater undivided Self so to speak. By extension, to cause pain or damage to perceived ‘other’ is to harm oneself.

Knowing yourself is the beginning of all wisdom.

(Aristotle)

Historically, there have been (and still are) plenty of peaceful societies that evolved cultures of co-operative interdependence, between people and the natural environment, in which both parties have thrived. Modern society has systematically buldozered (quite literally) thousands of years of detailed anthropic understanding of complex ecosystems in an insatiable desire for power and profit (not necessarily in that order). Humanity is tangibly poorer for the ongoing destruction of human biodiversity we have imposed, notwithstanding the accelerating climate catastrophe we have established over the last 200 years. Swathes of priceless experiential understanding, evidencing how to live in harmony with the ecosystems that support us, have been lost in modern thinking's misguided thirst for conquest... in essence a self defeating manifestation of self loathing.

The overarching intelligence of all existence is a never ending cycle of change, of birth and rebirth, within which humanity is inextricably entwined. Mentally, we have become divorced from this reality by cloaking ourselves for 'protection' with any number of misguided beliefs and comforts that distract us temporarily from the truth that we are all connected to everything else. As a species, and as individuals, we have devised a philosophy of denial that has not served the whole. In focusing exclusively on individual gains in a world personified by a perceived sense of lack, we create division - a manmade notion totally at odds with the self sustaining, symbiotic, interconnected reality of intelligent evolution and existence.

To be curious about that which is not one's concern while still in ignorance of oneself is absurd.

(Plato)

Like any web of deceit, as our philosophy of denial has grown in complexity, the lies have become increasingly impenetrable and indistinguishable from the truth. We are now in an epoch where whoever shouts loudest dominates the narrative of people and planet regardless of the merit in their message. In extreme cases the shouting manifests as brutality and bombs. Sadly, we have come to unconsciously adopt ideas in an echo chamber that perpetuates misery and destruction rather than liberty and creativity. In effect we buy into, and vote for, a hell of our own making.....and here we sit, suffering in some perplexed state of disempowered inertia hoping everything is going to turn out OK for everyone at some point in the distant future.

The pressing need for change in human behaviour is obvious and yet accepting change in our lives remains one of the hardest things to do. I would argue that the process can start by developing a personal internal dialogue that explores what is actually happening around and within us rather than what we have been culturally conditioned to believe. (NOTE: Please do not confuse this with conspiracy theorising which ultimately predates on a victim mentality.) An open, empowering internal discussion might calmly consider: am I really a naturally competitive creature and if not, what IS my true nature? Is my default setting to get 'stuff' at the expense of anyone or anything else? Am I happier when I allow things to unfold naturally in my life or when I'm striving for total control? (Wise up folks - no one is ever in total control despite their desire to be so.) Who...or perhaps what, am I?

Unhurried contemplation of these ideas leads to further questions in a naturally expansive quest for self knowledge and love. It can form the bedrock from which we then joyfully explore our relationships with everything else, a process that many wisdom traditions suggest is the purpose of human existence. In the simple questioning of oneself, we realign with and reflect the natural, intelligent vitality of evolution - a far more faithful reading of Darwinism. It's a wee bit abstract but those same wisdom traditions add that intelligent vitality IS what we are: our energetic totality, and a small quiet internal conversation can be the first step on the path toward that personal realisation.

The question of whether or not there is a God or truth or reality or whatever you like to call it, can never be answered by books, by priests, philosopher's or saviours. Nobody and nothing can answer the question but you yourself, and that is why you must know yourself - Immaturity lies only in total ignorance of self.

(Jiddu Krishnamurti)

And instigating that conversation needn't be an arduous task even if it represents a challenge. It arises spontaneously from an acceptance that change is the natural order of things. It involves a willingness to give up certain ideas we have about ourselves and others so that our lives are no longer dominated by the longlist of fear - the fear of loss, loneliness and pain; of worthlessness, powerlessness, humiliation, betrayal and ultimately of death.

We have been conditioned into a fear fed, blame culture from the moment most of us were born. As previously mentioned, that culture has given rise to competitive, individualised notions that only the strongest will survive, ie: in order for our dreams to be realised, those of another must be forfeited. Dog eat dog; winners and losers; economic opportunity costs. This contracted, combative misconception of life has blinded us with its simplistic, brutal ignorance and has distilled into a global society that is struggling even to care. As long as our garbage is regularly picked up (both literally and metaphorically) to be dumped on someone else's doorstep, we can sleep easy at night. A question about the permissible notion of wasteful garbage (airborne plastic pollution spiralling around the globe – article) simply does not arise.

However, if we choose to look again, to refresh our inherent internal capacities to see, we can witness, appreciate and then cherish the sustaining natural life process that has generously allowed us to come up with all the distracting, useless crap we employ to avoid confronting our fears. Everywhere we find ourselves, the opportunity exists to look at our circumstances through a different lens of perception. Where there is conflict we can resolve to see peaceful resolution. Where there is hopelessness we can work toward optimistic purpose. Where there is fear we can opt to see and feel love.

This can happen now....and we have to do very little other than make a little space to turn inward, to start an internal conversation that restores faith and purpose to our lives for the benefit of All. And how do we do that? It can be as simple as regularly sitting in silence to watch our own thought process as it gives birth to words and action. In mindful observance of thought, we empower conscious response to circumstance, enabling choice to add only good stuff into life's melting pot - or, at the very least, do less damage.

The suggestion under this Scorpio Lunar Eclipse is therefore to ignore this week's envy marinated social media transmissions and invigorate our own intuitive perceptions; to examine our own peculiar reactions, habituated behaviours and beliefs as potential impediments to our enjoyment of life. Put another way, the coming days are a very constructive time in which to simply sit and wait: to listen to and observe ourselves - to watch the beauty of our own internal flower gardens unfold and almost immediately bloom in the external world reflected around us.

Good things come to those that wait.

(English proverb)

Release from our painful misperceptions lies in patient, appreciative engagement with the great mystery of Life that can never be fathomed but of which we are an extricable, valuable and perfect part. We are the very playground of our own experience. To permit ourselves to wait, to allow the good stuff to come in its own time, ironically speeds up this playful process of self discovery. It's a lovely paradox. In the patient wait to hear and respond to the familiarity of one's own true voice, one reconnects with the immediate unifying vitality of the present moment. In that consciously observed pause we can let go of the past and stop anticipating the future. Bliss is the regular outcome. We shouldn't wait to enjoy it.

To know yourself as the Being underneath the thinker, the stillness underneath the mental noise, the love and joy underneath the pain, is freedom, salvation, enlightenment.

(Eckhart Tolle)