Navigating the celestial
Random header image... Refresh for more!

The Depth and Mystery of Scorpio Part I

Phoenix

Scorpio takes us into some of the deepest and most complex of energies.  These energies often remain a mystery to many because they are traditionally labeled taboo.  Religious admonitions are ingrained in the collective that ‘the knowledge of good and evil’ is forbidden, yet Scorpio must deal with these issues.  Is it any wonder that people born under this sign sense a lack of understanding on the part of others; even at times a fear?

These taboo subjects and realms are all ‘Scorpio-ruled’:  power, sex, money (because money often equals power), and death.  The truth is that they are endless sources of fascination for most of us!  Scorpio, however, must go through a life immersion course in some, if not all of these arenas, and ultimately become changed at the deepest of core levels because of this journey into the forbidden realms.

This sign begins as Autumn is at its peak around October 23rd, and ends around November 22nd as the Sun is swiftly losing its strength in the northern hemisphere and the nights are becoming longer.  Decay is rapidly occurring as leaves fall from the trees, plants wither and die, birds migrate south, temperatures drop dramatically, and the silence and coldness of winder approaches.  In the southern hemisphere we have the opposite effect, thus teaching us about the polarity of this sign of death and re-birth.

scorpion

Even in ancient Egypt the zodiacal sign rising during May was Scorpius, which for them heralded the blazing heat of the Sun as it scorched the earth and withered the plants, and brought migrations of scorpions into their midst with their deadly poison.  What we can conclude from each scenario is that Scorpio is a time of extreme change.

This is known as a fixed, water sign.  Cancer was the first, implying an original water source giving forth expression of feelings.  Scorpio represents water that can become solid through freezing, or even stagnant through lack of movement such as murky, swampy water, or perhaps deep water appearing tranquil on the surface yet concealing great turbulence farther down due to earth tremors or even volcanic activity.  These signatures can translate into the personality of a Scorpio as introversion, reserve and depth of strong feelings, or even a certain impenetrable quality difficult for others to perceive and completely understand.

Those born during this time of year with their Sun sign in Scorpio have the directive of first discovering the hidden depths of subconscious feelings and patterns acquired early in life that are often the frozen constellations of ancestral patterns which have long been buried and left to sit somewhere deep in the collective unconscious.  As these feelings and patterns emerge into the psyche of the Scorpio individual they then have the task of separating their conscious self from these ‘complexes’.  This may involve a separation from certain key members of their family of origin, and later experiences involving their intimate partners where they will also have to deal with these issues revolving around the taboo areas of life; money, sex, and power.  This journey, almost always involving both the simultaneous urge to merge, and the equally strong urge to separate, will take them into various life-altering dramas that are intense, confrontational, and ultimately transformative.

What is meant by transformation?  This is a term that we find associated with Scorpio over and over again.  According to Webster’s, ‘trans’ means ‘across’ or ‘through’.  Perhaps Scorpio must journey across one form to another, or through one form to another.  Transform in Webster’s is defined as changing form, appearance, or structure.  There is no particular ethic or moral code implied in this term.  A Scorpio can choose to make whatever change of form, structure, or appearance they so desire.  Yet the symbolism of Scorpio, from an astrological perspective, has come to imply a movement of consciousness that evolves from the most ancient and primal—the Scorpion and the Snake—to the most mystical and spiritual—the mythical ‘Phoenix Bird’.  To understand this we need to go back in time to ancient origins.

07

Ancient Stories and Symbols

The common thread running through Babylonian, Sumerian, Egyptian, and Greek tales of Scorpio was always one of connecting the sign with the ‘Underworld’ whereby a personally painful journey forced the hero or heroine to confront the demonic and thus find from that descent into the darkness and depths a return upwards, again, towards the light and resurrection.  Much of this occult wisdom was embodied in a four-fold process involving first anger (the Scorpion and it’s sting), then introspection (the lizard or snake who moves between the inner earth and the outer realm), the rebirth process (the soaring eagle’s flight towards the Sun), and ending in the realm of some kind of Holy Spirit (the white-winged dove and/or the mythical Phoenix bird rising reborn from it’s own self-made funeral pyre).

We see this transformational journey in the Babylonian epic of Gilgamesh when he encountered the Scorpion-men whose stare would strike death into those who looked deeply into their eyes.  They guarded Mashu, the great twin-peaked mountain which, in turn, guarded the rising and setting of the Sun.  In order for him to ‘pass through’ he had to first journey deep into the darkness for 12 leagues (a period of astronomical time).  His feelings of oppression were enormous as were the feelings of being abandoned.  Yet Gilgamesh, who symbolizes the individual’s Solar/heroic journey, kept his strength, courage, and survived his tribulations emerging after 11 leagues to see the light of dawn, and after the 12th league finally found himself in the garden of the gods.  The inner meaning of this tale implies a soul’s need to face the journey of descent into the unconscious with courage and strength in order to appreciate more fully the light of consciousness once their perils are over.  Reflecting through hindsight brings the realization that the difficulties one passes through are often what are needed to grow and mature.

Three other rich archetypal myths involve this descent into the ‘underworld’, but unlike the lone journey of Gilgamesh they involve a partner with whom the journeyer is closely paired.  In one story Ishtar journeys deep into the bowels of the underworld to find her love Tammuz, in another Kore/Persephone is abducted into the underworld by Hades/Pluto, and in the third Orpheus descends into the underworld to reclaim his beloved bride, Eurydice.

All of these mythic stories repeat common themes about Scorpio involving the paradox of the desire to merge, and the necessity to separate so that the individual is forced to master their inner emotional life.  The initial bond with one of the parents may have kept them under that parent’s deliberate control.  Later, through partnership they must struggle not to repeat that pattern and learn the lesson of gaining personal control in the face of deep emotional bonding.

HadesRapePersSchiaffino-l

The young and lovely Persephone (Kore) was snatched from her dream-like existence with her mother, Demeter by Pluto (Hades) and taken to his deep, mysterious world.  This was a world of raw and primal sexuality, as well as a new kind of bonding with her masculine counterpart.  In truth she gained the power of becoming a queen in this kingdom, while in that other realm of innocence her mother raged with grief at the loss of her child.  That she felt torn between the two realms says much about the turbulent energies that Scorpios must experience in their transformational cycles.  In the story she could have returned to her mother Demeter’s world had she kept herself untainted by desire.  But she just couldn’t resist the taste of the forbidden red, juicy fruit of the Pomegranate (shades of Eve and the Apple) and thus her fate was sealed. She could return for six months out of the year to the surface world of her mother Demeter, but the other six months were to be spent with Pluto.  Interestingly, we really don’t know from the myth how Persephone felt about this arrangement, but we get hints that perhaps she enjoyed her growing power as Hades’ queen when we go to the next story of Orpheus.

ejan23

In this tale the mesmerizing and talented Orpheus falls deeply in love with Eurydice, and they become bonded through marriage.  In one version she is bitten by poisonous snakes and is taken from his side into the underworld.  His passion, bordering on obsession, compels him to pursue her into that other realm to plead for her return.  He meets and charms both Persephone and Pluto, and now we see Persephone as a mature woman equal to her mate.  But Orpheus, like those struck by the lightening of early adult love, cannot fathom a life without his beloved.  His pleadings are acknowledged and he is allowed to escort Eurydice up and out.  Sadly, he does not trust enough to believe that she is right behind him as they are both about to emerge from the underworld.  He has been warned that he cannot look back, but he does, so back into the Plutonian world she goes.

These mighty operatic dramas often fill the lives of those born with Scorpion planets highly stressed, for transformation involving such turbulent energies is part of the separation and regenerative processes whereby they evolve.  Scorpio just doesn’t do things half-way; it’s all or nothing, and the swings between these two polarities are both extreme and intense.

scorpio

The Constellation of Scorpio

To the ancients this was one of the largest constellations with the curved tail of the scorpion, poised to sting, containing 62 visible stars including the brightest, Antares, meaning ‘like Mars’ or ‘rival of Mars’ according to the Greeks.

Antares is truly a giant star, 400 light years from our own Sun, and several hundred times its size.  Its volume is a billion times that of our Sun, yet a small companion, Antares B, just visible with a small telescope, is 100 times smaller, and is green in color.  This is part of the mystery, again, of this sign. Antares, one of the four royal stars marking the equinoxes and solstices, is considered the heart of the scorpion, and the Greeks believed its character to be a combination of the planets Mars and Jupiter; warlike, impulsive, and potentially dangerous.  They felt that anyone born with this star prominent in their birth map would achieve great honor through violence, yet if the star was combined with the Moon, they would find favor in business and domestic matters, and also show an interest in philosophy.

The ancient astronomer/astrologers felt most of the stars of Scorpio to be ominous in energies.  Today we know that this part of space contains the strongest X-ray source in the celestial sky, including Scorius X-1, a binary star.  These x-rays are caused by an acceleration of gas moving to speeds of light and streaming into intense gravitational and magnetic fields.

Interestingly, the boundaries of Scorpio were redrawn in 1928, just before the discovery of Pluto, Scorpio’s more modern ruler, so that today the Sun spends only 9 brief days each year passing through the stars of this constellation, while spending the remaining two-thirds of the month in the constellation of Ophiucus.  And, of course, now astronomers (well, a few!) have demoted Pluto from planetary status to some sub-group. Does this mean that our planetary consciousness no longer has struggles with money, sex, power, and death?  Hmmm…. Or is this called major denial by the plutocracy?

The Constellation of Ophiucus

This constellation actually sits above Scorpio slightly and today, because of the precession of the equinoxes, the Sun actually spends a great deal of time passing through it.  The ancients named it thus because to them it was an image of Asclepius, the healer and honor student of Chiron, wrestling with a giant serpent.  Symbolized here is a process.  In order to get from Scorpio to Sagittarius one must wrestle with this serpent power, and gain greater knowledge and control of the secrets of life and death which this serpent holds.

SerpentSerpent Wisdom

Serpent Wisdom is a very specific kind of knowing.  This wisdom can only be gained through the realm of feelings (water), and is not really accessible to the left brain of logic.  It is feminine wisdom, the chthonic, mysterious, dark, underworld side of the feminine that holds the keys to life, death, sex, and transformation whereby the active Shakti energy of the Devine Mother is released at the base of the spine, and travels upwards towards the crown chakra.  This vital, animating force is within every human being, but is not awakened necessarily by sexual activity alone unless the practice is one of sustained discipline through such methods as tantra.  It requires strong intention and introspective types of meditation, trance states, shamanic practices, or the sacred use of certain psychotropic plants, mushrooms, or sometimes even snake venom to chemically alter and spark the pineal gland into opening like the lotus flower into full-blown levels of awareness beyond the experience of duality, where the field of consciousness is both creative and unified.  This is truly the birth-right of every human being.  Why have we allowed it to be shut down by those ‘authorities’ who would prevent us from knowing the ultimate freedom?

Scorpios have a penchant for being able to access these trance-like states of consciousness.  Sometimes they are born gifted with the natural awareness, but lose it through the hypnogogic down-loading of ‘civilized’ conditioning.  Cassandra, the gifted prophetic visionary, was said to have been left as a child with snakes who were fond of licking her ears.  Some children have a natural love of snakes until conditioned fear cuts them off from ther chthonic source of wisdom.  Snake goddesses were common and prevalent in many older cultures such as Crete during the Taurean Age.  Serpents have come to represent the secrets of life, death, and rebirth.  The gifts of prophecy used to be linked to Serpent Wisdom as in the Oracle of Delphi.  Patriarchal religions managed to destroy this wisdom by propagating the belief that the snake was loathsome and evil.

medical_symbol

Strangely, howver, the snake endures in spite of such overlays.  Take a look at the Caduceus again and you’ll see that modern AMA-type medicine continues to work with this powerful symbol even if they simultaneously prefer laboratory produced pharmaceuticals, radiation, and ‘chemical war-fare’ in their treatment of disease.  Mechanized views of reality divorce us from the primeval realm of nature, and now our bodies are treated more like bio-chemical ‘machines’ devoid of the life-force animating power of the Kundalini.  Some of this lopsidedness is now changing thanks to the merging of East-West philosophies, and quantum physics.  Bio-energetic medicine does work with this serpent life-force.

We see in all of this the movement of trans-formation at work. Scorpio is where we move between the realms in powerful and life-altering ways.  The occult wisdom of Scorpio teaches us that we must descend time and time again into the primal realms as a path to mastery before we can become fully conscious.

This ends Part I of our Scorpio journey.  In Part II I will look at Scorpio’s glyph, the qualities and characteristics of Scorpio people, the parts of the body ruled by Scorpio, the Shadow, Scorpio in relationship, and finally some famous Scorpio people.

November 4, 2009  73 Comments
Categories: Astrology | Tags: , , , , ,

73 comments

1 ThePaganSun { 07.15.14 at 1:17 pm }

No, I read them and also thought it was pretty unfair. And people can be “biased” without being those signs since they can still be favorable to them. : /

2 Genevieve Vierling { 07.16.14 at 10:59 am }

Oh my! You’re not easy to ‘please’, but that’s OK 🙂 The length of these articles really had nothing to do with ‘bias’; for some I had more time on my hands. Writing a blog is rather serendipity according to time and circumstance I have found. Even the sign of Cancer got two articles with one more promised that I never fulfilled I see. Quite frankly, I am basically a practitioner and my private practice dictates how much or little time I have left for blogging.

3 Paul { 07.21.14 at 9:17 pm }

lookin’ fwrd to it.
be good to yourself, ma’am 🙂

4 Abhishek Ranjan { 09.15.14 at 8:37 am }

sir,i read this ur article..i found that many things happen with me based on this..my dob-31/oct/1989(time-3:20)..can u tell me something about myself..

5 Genevieve Vierling { 09.15.14 at 6:58 pm }

Dear Abhishek,
I’ll take a fast look, but I need to know if your time is AM or PM! Also need to know WHERE you were born to have the right orientation of the wheel. For an in-depth please contact me personally because this is how I make my living. 🙂

6 P { 11.21.14 at 4:07 pm }

This is my 2nd read of this and I have to say these articles are all really good; this one stands out.

7 Brody { 12.19.15 at 6:26 pm }

I am the 11/7 Scorpio.

Nothing, hails in comparison.

8 Vic { 03.27.16 at 11:35 am }

All true , even the Ophiucus “healing approach” , I’am Scorpio an I’m very interessed in pharmacy , unconscious and other taboos since I was very young. Is also true the shamanic love and non verbal communication with plants and animals , I’m very attracted by the nature and space and also everything “non verbal”. One thing that I’ve never understand is that people, and expecially girls are afraid of me , maybe is because of my silent nature , really strange is something i’ve never understand . Regarding famous people we cannot remember DiCaprio for his passion and Gerard Butler , the protagonist of “300” a truly scorpionic movie , all red and black , that shows Leonidas a very evolved scorpio that sacrifice himself for Sparta . Not irrilevant are also Auguste Verneuil, known for inventing the first commercially viable process for the manufacture of synthetic gemstones. A similar process was invented afterwards by Jan Czochralski , also Scorpio , 🙂

9 Genevieve Vierling { 03.30.16 at 2:35 pm }

You’ve added more first person insights into this most mysterious of signs Vic. Thank you! I”ll have to check out that movie “300”.

10 Fadairo Adebisi { 09.05.16 at 1:00 am }

I love this, nice one

11 Liza Alexandra Madigan { 09.18.17 at 2:57 am }

This is an amazing exposition of Scorpio… born 11.18.72 at 7:30p… I completely identify with the archetypical, mythical and historical scorpios’ fated journey.

12 Genevieve Vierling { 09.20.17 at 6:16 pm }

Thank you Liza. I appreciate your feed-back because I know Scorpios aren’t easy ‘to please’. 🙂 I see both Sun and Mars are in Scorpio in your chart as well as Moon in Aries ruled by that Mars. You’ll have transit Jupiter going over your Mars soon. I wish you grace in fulfilling your aims!

13 Jamia { 11.11.17 at 7:08 am }

Thank you, Genevieve. I appreciate the depth of exploration in your Scorpio series, and the time and expertise you wove into them. Blessings, Jamia

14 ThePaganSun { 11.28.17 at 6:54 pm }

I see now. Thanks for your reply.

15 shirley { 10.01.18 at 8:20 am }

I loved the whole break down, and will research more as I never thought of looking at it from those perspectives. I am a triple Scorpio I would like to know What are you insights on a triple Scorpio

16 Genevieve Vierling { 10.14.18 at 4:38 pm }

Dear Shirley, I live with a ‘Double Scorpio’ so I know a bit how it is with you. Does your Moon rise ahead of your Sun, or follow behind. That makes an enormous difference quite frankly; New Moon or Imminent Moon. In any case you need time to sort things out for yourself and to trust your intuitive and instinctive sides of your nature. You have a great deal of power. I’m sure you can feel that. It’s just how to use it and when to use it. Do you have a close confidant? That really helps to draw you out of yourself. There is an enigma you must solve within such a deep core Self. Time alone can bring answers of course, but you also need ‘the other’ to relate to and mirror back to you what you can’t see in yourself.

17 sheisavirgo { 09.05.20 at 1:37 pm }

I really enjoyed this article. I will be 40 years old in a couple of weeks. I was first introduced to astrology at 16 years old. I more recently , the last 3 years started to understand that we are more than our Sun sign. (the entire natal chart) Since I was a young adolescent, I have always attracted Scorpio suns. I will be honest and say I am not found of Scorpio Suns, at all. Here’s why. I have always found them to be dominant passive aggressive in nature, or dominant passive assertive , or pretending to admire you, while secretly resenting you because they are insecure or they are not being glorified.

I would call Sun Scorpios, low vibrational. Their frequency tends to be awry most of the time. I think I am qualified to make this assessment because why? I am a Virgo Sun, and Scorpio 0 degree rising, Mars and Uranus in Scorpio in the 1st house, Pluto in the 12th house close to my ascendant.I have yet to meet a kind Scorpio sun, but Scorpio risings I have meet, and they seem more mature, more evolved, more forgiving, more understanding, more agreeable , seek truth and balance.

I have been in this life before. It would be too much to type my supernatural experiences that I have endured my entire life, alone! No one has saved me but ME! I had very little help from the Gods and Goddesses of our dimensions. I am patiently waiting to speak to someone who can understand the paranormal things I have been through. You can see it in my eyes. For so long I was told my eyes look evil, like a witch. They really do glow. They are fierce, like the phoenix’s eyes. Sun Scorpios goal is to rise to ascension, but this cannot be done when Sun Scorpio is plotting revenge, or bragging. Scorpios seem to be comfortable wobbling in the scorching hot ground with its tail poked up in the air ready to sting. Why? When you can begin to soar like the eagle, but you’ll have to let go and stop trying to live up to the name Scorpio as if it’s the baddest of all zodiacs. There are many other signs who are more pleasant to be around. Think of Demi Moore the actress. I read her memoir, and even after all that writing she did, in the end she still portrayed herself as the victim , refusing to see how toxic she really is and how she has no friends who can really tolerate her for too long.

18 Genevieve A. Vierling { 09.19.20 at 1:38 pm }

Dear sheisavirgo, You’ve written a very thoughtful and astute commentary on your experiences with Scorpios. Thank you! I agree that this is one of those signs which can drop to the lowest but also soar to the highest. I’m sorry you have had such negative experiences with Sun sign Scorpios. I have actually been married to one for almost 50 years now!! We also have a son who is a Sun Sign Scorpio, and now a little granddaughter as well. One of the things I admired deeply when first meeting my husband was his ability not to be swayed by fortune or fame, for he had a business which dealt with extremely wealthy people and he was surrounded by a lot of underworld people as well. I admired his integrity quite frankly. Our son has often been described by some as one of the kindest and most loving of men. So perhaps I have been blessed with more conscious Scorpios. Our son IS a Virgo Ascendant while my husband is a double Scorpio with Moon in Pisces. Yes, the Moon gives him greater sensitivity for sure.

I do understand your description of the passive aggressive nature of some Scorpios. I think part of it stems from their endless inner questioning of motive and also their issues with trust. Many have enormous lessons on that level. I’ll tell you a little story about that: my husband was hospitalized with extreme polio at the age of 11 years. In those days you stayed in a ward full of other polio patients. When he first arrived there was a boy next to him with polio who was suffering terribly one night and cried, and called endlessly for a nurse to come and help him because he was choking lyingT on his back, and paralyzed to help himself. No one came, and he died. That experience was shocking for an 11 year old boy, and when the nurse finally came and found the boy dead, she looked sternly at my husband lying there. He didn’t say a word, but he felt he couldn’t trust after that, and there was no one to teach him otherwise. That created some of what you have described in terms of insecurity.

As to your supernatural experiences, I do hope you will find others to validate and help guide you. My foray into that realm has been a long one and I was fortunate to find some good teachers who helped me with my own psychic development. I’m sure you have the Wiccan legacy in you. Your Pluto in the 12th is a sure key so close to your ascendant. You might want to pick up a copy of Jeff Green’s book, “Pluto, The Evolutionary Journey of the Soul.” My very best to you as you enter your 40s and really start to become productive.

Leave a Comment