Water Seriers Part Two: Scorpio

Water Series

Part Two: Scorpio

4/15/2023

Last week we started our expedition of the water elements. We reviewed the Cancer architype. If you read that blog or otherwise know the water elements, then you are familiar with the connection of water and emotions. Cancer’s evolutionary aim looks like learning to feel emotions. That is it. Simply feel. But, if all we ever did was feel emotions then we won’t make it far on our evolutionary path. In fact, if all you ever got to do was feel the hard shit then life might be tough. Scorpio is the next sign of the water elements. In pop astrology Scorpio often gets a bad name. You may think that the bad name Scorpio stuff doesn’t apply to you if you aren’t a Scorpio Sun or predominantly Scorpionic type. And think this as you may, but we all have Scorpio somewhere in our chart. Within our chart, we all have an eighth house and not to mention Pluto and Mars! Hopefully after reading this blog, you won’t believe all the less than pleasant things we hear about the Scorpions of the world. Afterall, we each have our inner Scorpion!

Intensity

Scorpio builds off the energy of its watery cousin Cancer. Feeling the feels has been done. Thanks Cancer. Scorpio is ready to face all emotions with real, raw, pinpoint focus. The complexities of Scorpio summarized into one word would be impossible, but intense might be a good place to start. Facing all our own emotional baggage takes a certain type of laser focus, that is if we don’t want the same shit coming up over and over again and again. Scorpio can discern truths to the core. This energy can pierce the emotional baggage of our deepest Cancerian places and unpack it piece by piece. Scorpio has an incredible job and as you can imagine, the stakes are high. What happens when we can’t figure out our Scorpio baggage? We will get there but first let’s meet your Scorpion self on its best and brightest days.

Scorpio High Road

The scorpion has pinchers and a stinger full of neurotoxic venom. The scorpion can certainly harm you, but it doesn’t really want to! It would much rather use these defense mechanisms to pierce through difficult emotions and process them. Often such emotions lay buried so deep within our unconscious mind that we don’t know they are there until some trigger happens. The unconscious is the Scorpios’ favorite territory. This energy brings the capacity to understand that even “dark” emotions and thoughts can be healthy. The key to successful navigation of this energy is a commitment to honest self-exploration and a peace treaty with such “taboo” human subjects including death and sexuality.

We Are All Going to Die!

That is right, death. The one guarantee in life is death of the physical body. Life can look a lot different for those who have made peace with this inevitable truth. The old cliché “live everyday like it was your last”, well that’s a lot easier to achieve if you have truly examined yourself and what this whole death thing means to you anyway. On a personal note, I work closely with patients near the end of their lives every day. My experience has been that It is certainly the exception to find someone who has really processed their body’s mortality and made some peace with it. I would make a guess and say that these types have some stronger than average Scorpio placements or activity in their charts.

A strong scorpion individual is wise and likely often provides counsel to family and friends. Think about that for a moment. Who do you go to for counsel? Probably not someone you feel like is judging you or giving you dishonest advice! The truth can often be hard to digest but the scorpions of the world will dish it out as they see it. This can be too much for some people! But, a high road scorpion knows no judgement because they understand that as humans, we all have our shit! Life is not truly all dinner party pleasantries where I tell you “I’m fine” in some small talk. Nope, Scorpio sees right through that because they have done their own inner work. Scorpio has done the shadow work and they wear the badge of compassion to show for it. Scorpio sees “I’m fine” at table 4 having her 5th glass of wine in 90 minutes and feels empathy and compassion for that state of “I’m fine”. Certainly not the “pop” astrology Scorpio that you have read about! If you are lucky, you have some scorpions you can turn to in life when you need to release that musky ole suitcase full of skeletons.

Dark Scorpio

Knowing that the high road of Scorpio looks a lot like deep inner work then you can likely guess what happens when Scorpio is stuck. There is a chance that you have been stuck in such a place. Super deep and strong emotions, maybe even some that seem too complex to unravel can lead to moodiness, depression, and hiding from ourselves. Sometimes this hiding looks like escapist behaviors including numbing out with drugs or alcohol. Often when we are hiding from ourselves, we project what we are hiding onto others.

Think about the outwardly vocal homophobic. It is easy to judge this person as simply what we see, a homophobic. But, somewhere deep inside that person lies some unresolved baggage around his or her own sexuality. Next time you are treated poorly for seemingly no reason, just remember that someone else’s issues with you has much more to do with them! Or better yet, next time you find yourself offended by someone else’s behavior take a deep dive into your inner scorpion world. Why is this behavior upsetting me? What unhealed places within me are being revealed? When you approach life like this it is much easier to stay on the high side of Scorpio rather than internalizing everything and becoming depressed and miserable.

Pluto and Mars

Scorpio is one sign of dual rulership. Traditionally Scorpio is ruled by Mars. But then along came the discovery of Pluto (1930) and Astrologers quickly made the association between Pluto and Scorpio. Even the actual discovery of Pluto is symbolic. An unseen world coming to light! It is important to look at both planets when unpacking your Scorpio “stuff”. Here I will focus primarily on Pluto. You can review Mars in the Aries blog, but for now suffice it to say that Mars is passionate and intense. That certainly fits our theme here. And, Pluto is the Lord of the Underworld. This also fits Scorpio like a glove. Both planets are too important to be ignored.

Pluto

As we have seen with the Scorpio energy, the high side of this family can be a beautiful thing. With a name like “Lord of the Underworld” Pluto may quickly get dismissed as bad or dark energy. The underworld or Hell as we may understand it, applies to those deep, dark places where we don’t want to go. Most people don’t want to burn in Hell. But, if we can go through Hell and come out the other side we are almost always better for it. This can apply to any challenging time in life. We have all had those dances with the depths of Hell. Yet here you are reading this so you survived! Some pieces of you may have died and maybe that was necessary.

Those Plutonian happenings in life can be great lessons and times of re-birth, if we allow them to be. We have likely all met someone who has been stuck in a Plutonian place and refused to learn the lessons. Chances are they will continue to draw similar circumstances into their life, louder and louder each time. The universe is trying to get the point across, but the person only continues to feel victimized and angry at the world. Pluto can suck you down into the underworld but play your cards (or your Natal Chart) right and you can be the Phoenix rising from the ashes.

Generations

As an outer planet Pluto has a long year! About 248 Earth years to be exact. That means Pluto remains in a sign for an entire generation. I will give away my age by saying that my Pluto lies in Scorpio. An early “Millennial” I am! Think about this generation for a minute. The older generations have struggled to figure us out. How can we be so open about our sexuality and hot button issues of social reform and justice? We are a passionate generation here to unravel the truth. Pluto thrives in Scorpio! This is not our grandparents’ placement for sure. We will not stand to have the wool pulled over our eyes. It is so complex, but next time you hear someone speaking negatively of Millennials (or any generation), look at it from the perspective of Pluto. What are the collective lessons meant to be learned within each generation and what are the generational curses passed on to be healed?

Wounds and Soul

Astrology is a vast field. There are many types and different traditions. Add in the human element and we understand also that every astrologer has their own flavor. I have read some works that depict Pluto as representing the soul itself. Others view Pluto as a wound that you have come to heal. I personally resonate with the latter. I believe your chart in its entirety represents your soul. Narrowing it down to one planet or point in the sky seems too small to encompass the vastness of the soul. Either way you spin it, you could probably have an entire Pluto reading and get some amazing insights into where you can be the phoenix rising from the ashes!

8th House

As the 8th sign Scorpio belongs to the 8th house. It would be too narrow to call this the house of death or sexuality. These topics are certainly contained here. But, all things occult belong here as well. Scorpio is far too deep to only be concerned with sex and death. In his “Book of Water” Steven Forrest beautifully describes the 8th house as the part of the human experience involving that which provokes feelings of fear or denial. This accurately includes the occult into the mix. It is easy to claim that anything we can’t see with our eyes therefore must not exist. Take for example the spirit world. The thought of spirit in any context outside of the Holy Ghost may downright scare some people. Yet does that mean that this world doesn’t really exist? Ahhh what a Scorpio question.

Medicine

There is no such thing as an impossible predicament when it comes to your natal chart. You are never doomed to the victimhood and despair that can be the low side of Scorpio. Your chart offers you every chance to get things right if you choose. This is not always the easy path, but it is the path that your soul wants you to take for evolution. Even your tricky Pluto placements can be resolved by looking at the harmonious aspects involved.

The balance of Scorpio energy lies across the Zodiac in the second house where Taurus naturally resides. Taurus is of the Earth family and loves to be grounded. The evolutionary goal of Taurus is to never let any great questions haunt your mind. Taurus stays grounded by being present in the body. A clear distinction exists between Taurus and Scorpio which is why they lie in opposition. Striking a balance is key. If you ever find yourself leaning into deep shadow work and becoming overwhelmed with emotion, then the invitation is always to return to your body. Take a few deep breaths. Work with your hands by gardening, making art, cooking and really explore how these things feel! Try to identify where in your body you feel the emotion. Breathe. Always breathe. Taurus is of the Earth and offers you some dry land to dock after dredging the deep waters of Scorpio.

 Next Steps

You can learn an enormous amount about yourself by looking at your Scorpio family placements. Wherever Scorpio lands, the 8th house, Pluto, and Mars can all point to areas of your life where great healing and transformation can occur. Of course, dissecting this is complicated and may be best suited to the hands of a professional! But, don’t be afraid to take a look and start unraveling some of this yourself. And remember, there is always more to discover! We will continue our journey through deep waters. Next up is the dreamy, mystical, and wise Pisces clan. As the last sign in the Zodiac and last blog of the element series, this is not one you want to miss!