Red Tent Round Up #1: November New Moon in Scorpio

Wise Words on: Creative Expression, Postnatal Recovery, The Social Synapse & Stunning Syntax with Dark & Stormy Sound Scapes.

The concept of the Red Tent is a revived Native American tradition where the community held space for women during menstruation, honouring their physical embodiment of the natural cycles and heightened intuitive capacity at this time.

As many women menstruate with the New Moon, this monthly round-up of material, relevant to the astrology, is intended to be both comforting and thought-provoking for all women embracing the slow, dark depths of this transformational period (pun absolutely intended).

This Red Tent Round-Up will be published monthly, just before the New Moon, with the Sabian Symbol for the degree of the New Moon provided for reflection. The rest is my redistribution of words and works from the Wise Women (and Men!) I am fortunate to have happened upon. Le grá, in love.

This New Moon occurs at 20 degrees of Scorpio, Monday (Moon-Day) 13th November 2023, 09:27 GMT.

Scorpio Keywords: Sex, Death, Security, Transformation, Desire, Intuition, Impermanence

Photo by Adi Goldstein on Unsplash

The Sabian Symbol (Dane Rudhyar & Elsie Wheeler) for 20 Scorpio:

A WOMAN DRAWS AWAY TWO DARK CURTAINS CLOSING THE ENTRANCE TO A SACRED PATHWAY.

The revelation to the human consciousness of what lies beyond dualistic knowledge. The “Woman within” — the faith that is rooted in the deepest intuitions of the soul — is seen here as the hierophant unveiling the realities which the either-or, pro-and-con mind of man alone cannot perceive. The path to the mystic’s “unitive life” is opened up once the darkness of fear, egocentricity and dualistic morality is removed. It reveals what a positive reliance upon faith and intuition can bring about. Courage is needed to go through the veiling darkness — the courage to venture beyond the familiar and the traditionally known, to PLUNGE AHEAD INTO THE UNKNOWN.

A fitting symbol for the initiation of a Red Tent Round-Up. A New Moon in Scorpio asks us to go DEEP, to penetrate the stagnant surface of the lake that dwells within.

There are three symbols of Scorpio: the Scorpion that attacks so viciously, often stinging itself in the process. The Eagle, with keen perception and insight. The Phoenix, that which claims life anew from its own destruction, its own ashes.

The twentieth degree of Scorpio heralds the transformation from the Eagle (the Decan of the Sun) to the Phoenix (The Decan of Venus). Scorpio explores desire, unafraid of primal urges, seeking sensual ecstasy and finding transformation in the process.

Photo by Leon Pauleikhoff on Unsplash

The host of the New Moon, a passionate Mars, is in chariot in Scorpio, celebrating the loyal and luminous lovers, bringing some steam. Uranus adds electricity, perhaps a breakthrough, and intensifies Scorpio’s gravitation towards all things taboo or counter-culture.

Scorpio is steadfast, loyal, dedicated to its lovers, to its desires, to sexual expression. Issues around trust, fortitude, self-control, and self-discipline are thematic with such a Scorpio emphasis, as is anything dark, macabre, mysterious or taboo.

Scorpio understands like no other the role of impermanence in this life. Material gain, outside of that which provides grounding and stability, is unimportant to Scorpio.

If you have heavy Scorpio placements, physical symptoms could indicate psychosomatic/deep emotional issues seeking resolution. Potentially a situation that urges you to tap into bodily wisdom and intuition to find a solution.

New Moons are seeding moments, so situations pertaining to these themes may reveal themselves during the next Taurus Full Moon in April 2024.

This is a particularly potent New Moon for anyone with planets in fixed signs (Taurus, Leo, Scorpio, Aquarius) on the angles (1st, 4th, 7th and 10th Houses).

See Scorpio Scribbles (Journal Prompts) for this New Moon scattered throughout this post.

THE ARTISTRY ALCOVE

The Yoni Flowers of Gabrielle Abbott

Growing life is more than just tending to a garden, or birthing beautiful babies. Our relationship with our Yonis, and our sexual expression, fuels the creative process in every manifestation.

Gabrielle Abbott claims her sexual autonomy and creative expression through her Yoni Flowers.

Our sexual expression and our creative output waxes and wanes with our (Lunar) cycle, and with our ever-evolving relationship with our Yoni.

Gabrielle Abbott initially started Yoniflowers as a private art therapy project, but as her relationship with her Yoni blossomed, she decided to share her project with the world.

I conceived the Yoniflower project as a way to encourage female empowerment and self-love.

I began drawing Yoniflowers as a way to overcome my own internalized misogyny, which caused me to feel uncomfortable with my body and sexuality. The flowers were a small act of personal resistance (and healing) to wounds inflicted by a patriarchal culture.

Flowers are sexual organs. Ovaries, eggs, and sperm, all refer to botanical parts of a plant. Human sexuality is just as beautiful and natural. Why not treat our own eroticism with the same respect and appreciation that we give to a bouquet of roses?

Gabrielle Abbott

Gabrielle Abbott's Yoniflower Project invites women to foster their own authentic expression.

Gabrielle’s story resonates deeply, and I invite you to reflect upon your own ever-changing relationship with creative and sexual expression.

Have you always expressed yourself authentically? Were there times you thought you were, but it was actually coming from a place of insecurity and fear?

I’ll give a personal example:

I think back to when I was a young woman, when I was most creatively inhibited and my self-esteem was entirely founded upon how many heads turned when I walked into a pub. My self-expression centered upon what I lacked - make-up because I wasn’t “pretty” enough, flattering clothes because I wasn’t “skinny” enough, a chemistry degree because I wasn’t “accomplished” enough. I didn’t make art because I wasn’t “naturally talented” enough.

Despite outwardly expressing myself most “femininely” (make-up, nails, hair etc), or “yin/anima” as I prefer due to gender misappropriation, I was actually living out my most “masculine” or “yang/animus” expression. I was at my most competitive, jealous, domineering, etc.

Today I feel more grounded in my creative and collaborative Divine Feminine power than ever, and my partner probably grooms himself more thoroughly. Clothing facilitates comfortable creativity. I study for the sake of inspiration. I think more about what I can give than what I can take.

Internally, I am at peace with the woman I have become and how she walks through the world.

I would love to hear how you relate to your anima/animus, yin/yang, or however you prefer to conceptualize it.

Scorpio Scribbles:

If your Yoni was a flower, what would it look like?

What fruits will/has it produce(d)?

Do you think all women have a complicated relationship with their Yoni?

How has this changed for you over time? Why?

Invite your partner to describe what sort of images represent their conception of the Yoni?

If childbirth has been witnessed, did this change for them/you afterwards?

RELISHING READS

Why Postnatal Recovery Matters by Sophie Messager

I’m currently in training to become a birth doula and lapping up the lengthy list of suggested reading materials. In Why Postnatal Recovery Matters, Sophie Messager explores the importance of postpartum recovery practices within a global context, contrasting the paucity of care received by birth givers within the Western system.

She gives such thoughtful examples of practical postpartum supports, and of course, these can be applied to anyone going through a major transitional period in their lives. The four central tenets to her theory of optimal recovery are rest, nourishment, bodywork and social support.

Scorpio Scribbles:

How do you regenerate yourself after a tiring or depleting experience?

PODCAST PANORAMA

Exploring the Social Synapse of Unresolved Trauma in Trauma Rewired

My bestie Scorpio pal (incidentally) recommended this episode of the Trauma Rewired podcast, Birthing and Medical Trauma. Birth trauma was a subject dear to my heart before I had actually experienced it, and my pal Kate is studying Somatic Therapy.

This podcast series is dedicated to trauma within the “social synapse”. I love this image, where the lingering trauma we all carry silently bleeds into the space where healthcare providers and receivers intersect, akin to the communication that occurs within the synapses of a distressed brain.

Layli Long Soldier’s Authentic Experience of Motherhood in Thresholds

I recently happened upon the poetry of activist writer and Oglala Lakota citizen, Layli Long Soldier, and I’m a little bit obsessed with her now. She describes having to step into the uncertainty of Motherhood, trusting that abundance will find her, despite her circumstances.

Layli describes the playful yet philosophical discussions between her and her Mother that opened her mind and supported her path toward poetry.

Also, I just adore how she plays with syntax and structure in her poems Obligations 1 and Obligations 2, all the while conveying such wisdom and tantalizing little threads of her story.

Scorpio Scribbles:

What has been your most transformative experience? How is this guiding you forward now?

Sound Scapes

When I thought about the dark and stormy Scorpio vibe, and any music I have been recently listening to that resonates, Chelsea Wolfe sprang to mind, and I was indeed correct. I checked, and she’s a very Scorpio lady.

Wolfe has the most hauntingly beautiful voice, and Flatlands almost always reduces me to tears of yearning for the countryside home of my childhood.

A.O.B.

My Scorpio pal Kate and I are currently creating a Shadow Work course - she is bringing the shadows and I’m casting some light with a little astrology stuff. Will be posting more about this soon.

Retreat. Regenerate. Rebirth. Xx