The Decan of Transformation
* Co-rulers: Venus and Moon
* Element: Water (Fixed)
* Tarot: 7 of Cups
* Wild Way Oracle: Transformation
* Keywords: Unfulfilled Desires, Loss and Decay, Decomposition
The Burning Question for this New Moon is: What must we relinquish to reclaim our deeper power?This new moon in Scorpio invites us to surrender, release, shed or exfoliate our outdated forms and stories, the hidden emotional debts, unfulfilled desires, and ghost-stories we carry. Who are we, under all that weight?
This is a New Moon that plunges us into deep, dark, warm and still waters and shines a reflective light on the secrets held within. The Moon is in its fall here, a place of secrecy, and hidden (or unacknowledged) desire.
In the fixed, yin or feminine water sign of Scorpio, the Moon navigates shadowy terrain, where feelings run deep and transformation arises through symbolic cycles of death and rebirth.
Picture dark caves or maybe you prefer hot springs, the secrets and unique life that flourishes within murky swamp water or the soggy ashes after the fire. This is the spirit realm of the serpent, the compost heap, the scorpion and the phoenix.
It is ruled by Mars, but here we are offered a battle-weary side of the dusty warrior planet, the fire of conflict has been dampened by inner reflection and growth. This is the watery moat trench, or the hot bath easing aching muscles, where reflection allows old identities to dissolve and obsessions to rot away and transform into fertile soil to nourish the new.
Fixed, Feminine Water: A Scorpio Container
Scorpio is a fixed-water sign, ruled by Mars. In Scorpio, we come face to face with intensity and the underworld of psyche.
Currently, ruler Mars is travelling through Sagittarius, this is an outgoing fire sign which asks to expand and explore rather than digest internally. This means the Scorpio terrain is being stirred from outside, rousing what lies beneath to the surface.
Scorpio is a fixed water sign, deeply yin and subterranean. The water here is still and reflective, it stews, it seeps, it remembers. The water holds intense feelings, depth, and emotional currents.
The fixed modality offers endurance, an inner persistence, willpower and signifies things that can take root and hold. The feminine nature gives it receptivity, together with the Mars rulership, this gives it resolve and the ability to transform whatever it finds.
Rather than flow around obstacles, Scorpio waters are more likely to dissolve them. They hold grief, passion, memory, and metamorphosis.
When the Moon is new here, you may be unaware of the deep emotions being stirred up as the past rises unbidden. It will take time before the Moon’s full light reveals the secrets held within those waters and below the surface. Scorpio teaches us how to contain power, hold pain with dignity, and importantly, to alchemise endings into thresholds of renewal.
The Scorpio New Moon is placed in Decan III, a place of nostalgia and profound release. This is the last and a complex decan of Scorpio, co-ruled by Venus and the Moon, two soft, yin and reflective inner planets of the Night, attempting to soothe and heal the waters of Mars’ domain.
The mood could be said to hold a nostalgic, dreamlike, and longing quality. The shadow is that it can also turn to a harsh side as well, love can turn sour, and bitterness can become a welcome guest. I imagine that Miss Haversham from Great Expectations would have had placements in Scorpio *.
Old desires, hopes and dreams may refuse to die quietly and could come up unexpectedly for re-examination. Release is an important lesson to master here.
It is here we are asked to honestly confront our unfulfilled desires, unrequited loves, our obsessions, and our illusions of control. If you are willing and brave you may choose to look honestly at the reflections and surrender to the transformation that awaits.
The Moon in Her Fall, Protected by Mars
The Moon is in fall in Scorpio, depressed, discomforted, vulnerable, far from her exaltation in Taurus. This lunar placement is often emotionally raw, exposing buried patterns and may bring the desire to cling. Yet from this depth, an unexpected power can arise, the only path for the Moon now is to rise up, but how?
Mars, ruler of Scorpio, has no line of sight from Jupiterian Sagittarius, meaning that Mars cannot offer support to our struggling Lunar emotions at present.
Nature of New Moons
A New Moon marks the conjunction, or meeting of Moon and Sun. A time when the moon is dark in the sky, too close to the Sun to reflect its light. This is symbolically a fresh beginning, a “seed-moment” of inner intention emerging from darkness into possibility. Demetra George writes in her blog post demetra-george.com , “at the New Moon, the seed of a new vision is cast, the lunar instinct aligns behind the solar purpose”.
For those of us who follow the changes in the sky, this is a moment to pause, sense what wants to come to life, note what changes are happening around us and set an inner tone or intention.
Moon Family: Scorpio III
This New Moon is part of a Lunar Gestational Cycle or Moon Family. Moon Families are a pattern that unfolds over 27 months, or just over 2 years, punctuated by key lunation phases, which recur in the same degree range of the same zodiac sign.
These Moon Families mark developmental arcs, longer stories that build over time. They begin with a seed of intention or insight at the New Moon, find their first visibility nine months later, maybe asking for some adjustment or changes, reach full clarity and culmination after eighteen months, and resolve or integrate after twenty-seven months, when we then move into a time of release, reflection and preparation for the next cycle.
This method is introduced and outlined more fully by Dietrich Pessin in Lunar Shadows III.
* 20th November 2025 — New Moon (Seeding)
* 20th August 2026 — First Quarter (Action)
* 20th May 2027 — Full Moon (Illumination)
* 17th February 2028 — Last Quarter (Integration)
We are entering the seeding phase of this family, so the focus is mainly internal. What emerges here may only bear fruit later in the cycle. The full harvest is still ahead after the first quarter adjustments have been made.
* The seed moment may carry themes of emotional intensity, obsession, hidden truths, or regenerative healing.
* The first visible sprouts of growth will come at the First Quarter Moon on 20th August 2026, when something is asked to be acted upon, or the course is corrected.
* The Full Moon on 20 May 2027 brings that story into full bloom, and its culmination
* last adjustments begin at the Last Quarter Moon on 17 February 2028 when it begins to be time to review what to release and what to carry forward into the next cycle.
Within Scorpio III the tone is one of deep purification and transformation. Unfulfilled desires, loss and decay, and the decomposition of old patterns so that something new may be born.
If you have placements near 25–29° of Scorpio, Taurus, Leo, or Aquarius, this Moon may mark a significant beginning to a new long-term story for you in your journey through grief, healing, release, intimacy, and self-trust.
People with significant placements in Water signs (Scorpio, Pisces, Cancer) or late fixed-sign degrees (Taurus, Leo, Scorpio and Aquarius) may feel this story showing up for them more intensely. Also, those with Mars as their Lord of the Year or Solar Return Ascendant ruler.
You might be asked to work through emotional residue, to reclaim power you gave away, or your may discover that the “fear of letting go” is the trap. The invitation is to clear what is emerging from the deep-water sediment so that the next layer of inner clarity can emerge.
Do you know what house Scorpio is in for your Natal (Birth) chart? This will add more information about what themes might arise. An astrologer or Astro Coach can help you explore this further. You can book a reading with me here.
I have recorded YouTube videos to help you learn how to cast a chart and identify the houses so you can clarify what themes to expect. My Astro Coaching workbook will help you work and co create with the lunations.
You can purchase it here or download it for free when you upgrade your Substack subscription to join Celestia Circle where we gather to look at how the Moon Families are unfolding, and I support you to work with them.
Celestia Astrology is a reader-supported publication. To support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Upgrade to join the Celestia Circle and have support to explore and work with the Moon Families intentionally 🌙
Decan Scorpio III — The Realm of Transformation
This New Moon meets silently in the third decan of Scorpio, a place known as transformative. The co-rulers Venus and the Moon lend a more reflective, relational texture, as they conspire with their fellow planet of the night, sign ruler Mars. Scorpio III is where desire, memory, and emotion become entangled in obsessions, unfulfilled fantasies, and the painful process of letting go.
This is the decan Austin Coppock named the Crow, the guardian of thresholds, and the bird who is known to pick through bones and shiny objects, deciphering meaning and value from the remnants. It is where we might scavenge the past and repurpose loss into wisdom. A bird of deep memory and transformation. Crows will remember, crows mourn their dead and crows collect the shiny fragments of life. They are scavengers and seers, bridging life and death, the known and the unknown, as they protect the threshold of Scorpio.
Austin Coppock writes that this decan contains a “formula of liberation, for if we were not capable of laying our desires to rest, returning them to pure energy, we would be enchained forever, prisoners of what we once held dear”. Again, I think of the story and lesson of Miss Haversham, which forever haunts young girls as a warning to release lost love.
Kira Ryberg captures the emotional texture of this decan through the lens of nostalgia, memory, and the haunting pull of what once was or might have been. It’s a decan of longing, both poetic and painful. There is an ache for something lost, something imagined, something that once was or what we think could have been. It matters, then, what we choose to do with these emotions, what will Mars choose to sustain? How might we create a safe and healthy container for this nostalgia that allows us to move on?
Wild Way Oracle card -Transformation
The Wild Way Oracle card for this decan is called Transformation, showing the mythic image of the cormorant. The card shows the bird, emerging from the water, head up and wings outstretched. The Sun, which isn't visible, has broken through the grey, cloudy sky and is bathing the bird in its rays. We see a full mirror image reflection of the bird in the water.
The card offers keywords to help and guide us at this time:
-Unfulfilled Desires
-Loss and Decay
-Decomposition
Exerpt from the Wild Way Oracle Book by Nicola Allan:
“..Cormorant is possessed by obsession. He dives to depths uncharted but returns to the surface with barely a sardine. As he slowly dries out his wings, he wonders what could have been. Though instead of grasping onto this, he releases the hungry ghosts and is transformed. A defeated and bedraggled seabird turns into a creature who is both wistful and wise. He can try fishing in a different spot tomorrow. Do you need to give something up that just cannot be? You are reminded that this often creates space for an alternative and much better option to emerge.”
We can benefit by using this time to get clear on what we really want, and what we may be holding onto that could be blocking it, and why.
Do you need to give something up that just cannot be? Releasing may create the space for an alternative and much better option to emerge. It is most likely if this affects your chart, that you already know what is calling to be released, what is already beginning to feel unhealthy for you.
As the decan is ruled by Venus (the attraction principle) and the Moon (our emotional body), the threshold we cross now is likely to not be just abstract, it is likely to also be felt, lived in our relationships, memory, and hidden longings.
Seven of Cups – Enchanting Illusions
The tarot card correspondence for this decan is the Seven of Cups, a haunting vision of illusion, enchantment and temptation. A figure which we see from behind, stands gazing up at a cloud holding possibilities. There are 7 floating chalices, each containing a different dream, desire, or perhaps danger. There are riches, power, love, mystery, and destruction swirling before them, treasure, triumph, tempting if only they could be certain of what is real, each cup a spell. This illustrates Scorpio III’s lesson, discernment is born not in fantasy, but in the slow clarity of what dreams cannot deliver.
In this watery, nocturnal ruled space of dim light, discernment is challenging. Are these images prophetic visions or mere distractions? Which desire is worth pursuing, and which might be a poison apple?
How can any of us tell which is real, or if all is as it seems? What do you want to see in a cup that may be an Illusion?
For this New Moon, the Seven of Cups reminds us that too many options, longing, or an inability to discern truth from fantasy can paralyse us - that phrase we hear now, analysis paralysis! It speaks to the heartache of wanting what we know cannot be, how we can easily become attached to that dream and stop questioning it so that we eventually lose sight of the real possibilities before us. Finally, we hope to reach the wisdom that can come from choosing clarity over chaos and illusion.
In the dark of this New Moon, inviting inner reflection, the Seven of Cups asks us to:
* Name any illusions you might have been chasing
* Ask what has possessed your attention, your dreams or heart. How do you know it is true for you?
* Release any fixations, reclaim your vision and prepare to recalibrate.
We cannot transform what we refuse to let go of. But if we can name the fantasy for what it is, we begin a process of realisation. Who knows, as the Moon Family story arc progresses, you may find something better, truer, or more aligned, just waiting for you, previously obscured by the clutter of the choices.
Hidden Richness- Dreaming the Decans
This verse from T. Susan Chang’s Dreaming the Decans beautifully evokes the imaginative, decaying magic of this decan:
Images arise in me,Fictions born in fantasy.By some secret sorceryWhat I imagine comes to be.
Seeker, lost in endless dreamingDivine the truth within the seeming.Husks and remnants, dirty dregs,Incubate my precious eggs,Find the richness in decayHidden from the light of day.
This illustrates how Scorpio III symbolises the underworld of the water signs, containing psychic sediment, the emotional depth, but also the hidden wealth buried in decay.
The Astrological Conversation
This New Moon may be complex and emotionally intense, as we might expect when the Moon is in her fall in Scorpio. The Moon here must work hard to rise up again from her place of greatest challenge. Her usual nurturing light becomes filtered through underground, cthonic waters, slow, fixed, hidden, pressurised. She is uncomfortable, but facing her truths and allowing that discomfort to inform her journey through the 3 Decans of Scorpio. Finally, reaching this decan of transformation to complete the experience before emerging reborn.
I like to think she becomes re-empowered here to continue on her journey where she nurtures and cares for us all, connecting with all the planets on her monthly trip around the zodiac. Temporarily, she is less able to tend to our needs as she first needs to address her own, as all Mothers must at times.
* The fallen Moon meets the Sun in Scorpio (at 28°11′), marking the New Moon. They are joined by Mercury in cazimi, within very close conjunction. Here it is said to be in the Throne Room of the King, the Sun, an elevated position, with the Sun and Moon. This suggests that the unconscious emotional content, Moon, meets the conscious identity, Sun, through our minds and thoughts, the mental principle, Mercury, offering a rare moment of clarity beneath the surface and the potential to bring new words and ideas to this intense lunation once Mercury re-emerges. It is worth noting dream insights and meditating for breakthroughs and downloads from Mercury at this time of Cazimi and New Moon.
* Venus is co-present in this stellium, but she is in Scorpio II, here her laughter grows quieter. Love must hold passion for her, attractions hold an all-or-nothing quality and demand sacred trust. Venus brings a relational, value-oriented tone. She asks what relationships, what values must dissolve or transform now?
* Mars, as ruler of Scorpio, is in the next sign of Sagittarius. This means there is a blind spot, Mars cannot offer help or direction and supervision because the planet is said to be ‘averse’, the rays of light it casts do not reach around the corner to Scorpio. Mars is on a solo quest to find his own faith and mission here in Sagittarius.
* The grand trine is separating and reforming. Retrograde and exalted Jupiter in Cancer, together with retrograde Saturn in Pisces, form a whole sign grand water trine with the Scorpio stellium. The Moon and Sun recently left an exact trine to these planets and Venus will be the next planet to complete the exact trine. This water-dominated triangle suggests past emotional stories returning, unstoppable flows of feeling that loop back. Events from earlier in the month may still be looking for healing, and this may be an ongoing, longer-term story for you.
* Cazimi Mercury has also formed an exact opposition with retrograde Uranus newly returned to Taurus. Uranus is back in Taurus for the last time, for most of us for our lifetimes. It will turn direct at 27 degrees of Taurus on 4th February 2026, then return to Gemini on 26th April 2026. It will not return to Taurus after that until April 2102, 76 years.
This opposing tension between internal transformation of the New Moon and our minds (Scorpio) and external/earthly disruption (Taurus) may bring unexpected revelations, awakenings, and sudden value-shifts to the surface.
Journaling Prompts & Ritual Suggestions
Journaling Prompts:
* What emotional story keeps repeating in my life that I have long outgrown?
* If I were to fill Seven of Cups of dreams and wishes right now, what would I choose? Are any of them an illusion, and which is most real for you?
* What value or relationship am I attached to that is asking for transformation in some form?
* How can I honour the grief, nostalgia or longing I feel, yet move through it toward something different?
* What new seed of intention do I plant beneath the surface in this moment?
* Sit quietly with a journal and candle in a dim space. Visualise diving into dark Scorpionic water and reaching down to retrieve one object in the sediment, then bring it to the surface as a symbol of what you must release. When it reaches the light, reflect on how, or if, it has changed for you, bless and thank it, and let it go. Journal your insights to hold the memory.
Scorpio III: A Devotional Reflection
The Cormorant of the Wild Way Oracle swims alone. Obsessed, he dives again and again for what he cannot have. But at some point, he releases the hunger and the fixation on that favourite diving place. In that letting go, he transforms, not into something shiny or perfect, but into something wiser.
What desire must you lay to rest with this New Moon? What illusion is ready to fall away, so that something more real may grow in its place? How can you release it lightly?
Can you create your own watery ritual to symbolise this release? Speak your story, for one last time, tell it to a falling leaf, a stick or a stone before casting it into flowing water, maybe? Then allow it to be carried far away from you.
Let this New Moon carry your grief, your ache, your old story down into the depths. It never gets a happier ending, no matter how many times you retell it or replay it in your head. And then, rise lighter. Rise ready.
And Finally…
In bringing all these threads together, we must then return to our burning question: What must we relinquish to reclaim our deeper power? The New Moon in Scorpio is calling us to dive beneath the surface, to acknowledge the ghosts of our past, the cups of longing, the patterns that no longer yield fruit. To do the journalling work, and maybe also the painful rituals of release.
Allow the guardian crow to guide you through the decay of the past to the potential treasure you may have buried and forgotten. Welcome nostalgia to soften your heart, but you cannot stay, as it may blind you to what must be laid to rest.
We are invited to seed something new in this rich, dark soil of inner transformation.
This Scorpio New Moon teaches that we have reached a threshold. Will you move through it, or stay with Miss Haversham in the past? Consider whether what’s ending may never have truly been?What remains? Maybe it is you.More awake. More clear.More open to what is.
And the next day, you can try fishing in a different spot.
Travel well, friends.
Sonia
* Note: I looked up the chart for when Great Expectations was first serialised on 1 December, 1860. There was no surprise to find Venus in Scorpio, in the first decan ruled by Mars in Pisces, in Venus’ Exaltation, so a mixed reception between them. There was also a Cancer Moon, approaching the last quarter phase. Interestingly, Uranus was in Gemini and Neptune in Pisces. Perhaps the generational lessons of that story are coming back into our consciousness.
Chapters
00:00 Unveiling the Scorpio New Moon’s Mysteries
05:15 Navigating Emotional Depths and Transformations
08:40 The Cycle of Lunar Intentions and Growth
14:28 Releasing Illusions and Embracing New Beginnings
19:53 The Power of Letting Go and Inner Reflection
24:42 Borealis.mp4
My books are open if you would like a personal and individual Astrology reading. I set a healing Reiki intention for every client, based on your chart before the reading. You can opt of this when you book at CelestiaAstrology.com
Celestia Circle meets monthly to look ahead at the Lunations and the Moon Families.
Celestia Astrology is a reader-supported publication. To support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Join the Celestia Circle Community working with Moon Families by upgrading to paid here 🌙
Please do leave a comment below, I would love to hear your thoughts, experiences or questions.
References:
AustinCoppock.com The Decans: Images and Applications
Bernadette Brady, Predictive Astrology The Eagle and the Lark
Dietrich Pessin Lunar Families III
KiraRyberg.com The 36 Decans
T Susan Chang Dreaming the Decans
The Wild Way Oracle deck and Oracle Guide Book by Nicola Allan @nicola_allan on Instagram & Twitter
