Thunderous cheers erupted from the audience at a recent Jon Stewart show when guest Malala Yousafzai declared that a woman’s power is not just equal to a man’s, but superior. A shocking statement from a young woman raised in Pakistan, where, under Taliban rule, females are not only forbidden to go to school but cannot have their names written on any documents – effectively denying their very existence.
Exactly two years after a Taliban gunman shot her in the head for her activism, last week 17-year-old Malala became the youngest person ever to receive the Nobel Peace Prize. Following her recovery in a British hospital, the preternaturally poised young woman had authored a best-selling book, I Am Malala, and had been touring the world speaking out for female education.
Malala credits her supportive father, Ziauddin, for making her such a strong warrior. At Malala’s birth, he dared to write her name in the family tree – a 300-year-old document that had never mentioned a female. And, he defied Taliban restrictions by putting Malala in school – urging her to “unlearn the lesson of obedience.”
The younger Yousafzai received news of her Nobel Prize just prior to the upcoming Scorpio New Moon (October 23, 2:56 p.m. PDT), which is also a potent solar eclipse exactly conjunct Venus. Scorpio is the sign of female empowerment, and the New Moon’s conjunction to Venus symbolizes the Goddess arising from darkness and obscurity to reclaim her rightful place in the world.
The eclipse is in Malala’s third house (life-changing information coming through), just as lucky Jupiter transits her brave, colorful Venus in Leo (ruler of her career point). As a caring Cancer with the Moon conjunct warrior Mars in peace-and-justice-oriented Libra and courageous Leo rising, Malala says she intends to keep championing the rights of women, no matter the consequences to herself.
The Scorpio season can often be a heavy time of anger, loss and grieving. These dark emotions, however, are like the muddy water from which the beautiful lotus arises—much as the incandescent Malala arose from a dark, repressive regime (and near death) to bravely speak out for change.
If your darkness is related to financial lack, take heart that a Wealth New Moon is upon us. Try this ritual from my book, Astro Feng Shui: Making Magic in Your Home and Life, to bury the past and make way for an influx of blessings and prosperity.
Image by Claudia Fernety. To see more of Claudia’s work, visit her website.
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