moonletter | blooming again
full moon in scorpio, Inanna, rebirth
moonletter | may 7, 2025
waxing gibbous in Virgo, approaching the Flower Moon in Scorpio
Hello dear reader,
How has your crescent moon week been?
Was it soft and unfolding… or chaotic in ways you didn’t see coming?
Crescent moons sometimes carry this misleading promise of simplicity, as if we are expecting this breath of fresh air and instead there is a full storm brewing behind it. Oh well.
This past week may have brought beginnings, but beginnings are rarely clean and soft. They ask more of us than we think. They stir up old patterns, especially when we have the guts to want something new.
The moon is almost full now, resting in Virgo before she bursts open in Scorpio on May 12.
Virgo sharpens our gaze. She sorts, she edits, she tells the truth even when no one asks. This waxing gibbous moon is a moment of tension. We are close to fullness, but not quite there. It feels like a pause before the bloom (but it isn't really), the moment before something breaks open.
In Virgo, we clean the altar (or the drawers). We take stock. We prepare with intention. If you’ve felt the need to re-organise your calendar, rewrite your affirmations, or dust off old tools of healing, that’s Virgo whispering.
To be honest, Virgo is the sign which I struggle the most with. I’m a very very airy Gemini, Virgo energy feels like it’s pushing me to the dirt, face first. So I try to make the most of it.
Preparing for the Flower Moon
The May full moon is called the Flower Moon for obvious and not-so-obvious reasons.
This full moon in May has been called the Flower Moon for centuries, a name that comes from the Farmer’s Almanac, rooted in traditions passed on by Indigenous peoples in what is now North America. It marks a time when wildflowers burst open in the cold Spring earth. When fields whisper until they burst into song. When colour spills back into the world after the grey stretch of winter.
Many cultures gave this moon different names.
The Cree called it the Budding Moon.
The Dakota, the Planting Moon.
The Algonquin people knew her as the Moon of Shedding Ponies’ Hair.
Each name feels like a tender conversation with the land. Each one speaking of what was seen, what returned, what bloomed again.
(Why do I use these names, if I’m not North American, let alone indigenous? I just like it. It feels like honouring the land, and because I’ve been living in the northern hemisphere for almost 8 years now, and every marker of season helps me cope.)
Does your culture have a name for each full moon? I’d love to know more.
The Flower Moon carries a universal truth in her belly. That beauty, even if once buried, will come back. It speaks of the softness that follows the freeze, and that we too will bloom again, even when we don’t think we can.
Time to unfurl. Time to risk colour. Time to let something open in you that has been waiting in the dark.
Scorpio adds her own flavour to this (I looooove Scorpio energy, hum hum hum juicy). She brings mystery, intensity, and the power of emotional compost. She turns what we shed into what can grow. So this full moon is not just about blooming. It’s about blooming from the things that nearly broke you.
This is a micromoon. That means we can look at ourselves in a smaller, slower, more careful way. Not so much light will be necessary in order to truly see our blooming this time.
Inanna and the promise of return
Have you been following the Inanna series on my “Goddess, Witch, Woman” podcast?
In this cycle, we’ve been walking with Inanna.
She who descended.
She who let go of everything.
She who came back.
So I’m really connecting this energy of the full moon in Scorpio to Inanna’s coming back from the underworld.
The energy of this full moon is not delicate. It is the energy of what comes after collapse. Of what stands again, still shaking, trembling, nonetheless: rising.
Inanna teaches that resurrection is definitely not pretty. It is raw. It is earned.
And it your, mine, ours.
I'm inviting you to come and join me on this week's episode, as well as doing this small ritual on May 12, the full moon.
A ritual for the full moon in scorpio
Create your altar with elements for water, fire, earth, and air.
Place a bowl of water to hold what you’re ready to release.
Light a candle to burn away any lies you’ve believed about yourself.
Hold a stone or a seed in your hand and name what you are ready to have bloom.
Then say,
I descend to remember the parts I buried to survive.
I rise to become more real.
I return to myself, again and again.
Let yourself be quiet after. Let the full moon see you.
Reflection:
What beauty has come from your breaking?
Are you willing to call it sacred?
If blooming didn’t have to look graceful, what would it look like for you right now?
Listen to the story
This week’s episode of Goddess, Witch, Woman is titled Inanna: life – death – return.
It’s for the parts of you that have died and the parts that dared to keep going.
It weaves myth, memory, and allowing our own truth to come up.
You’ll find it on Substack and wherever you listen to your podcasts.
Listen now
This recent essay can be a companion to the Inanna journey and this full moon.
It is a love letter to the ones who’ve had to rise without applause.
To the women who carry rebirth in their bodies like a secret flame.
One final question for you:
What does resurrection look like in your life these days?
See you next week.
Under the moonlight,
Marianna
Share this moonletter
If this touched you, share it with someone else who might need a reminder that they are not broken, just in the middle of becoming. You can also comment, subscribe, and support this work if it feels true to you. It does help me immensely in carrying the work on. Your presence here matters. And it is felt. Thank you.
I really enjoyed your post about the full moon on May 12! I’ve always been curious about astrology, do you believe the full moons truly have an influence on us? I’d love to hear more about your perspective if you're open to sharing. Thanks for the insight. Am just curious and we learn everyday.