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Scorpio

The most striking and easily recognized of the summer constellations, Scorpio begins to be noticed in the evening sky by mid-spring.

Scorpio is the time of year when autumn has reached its darkest, deepest dormancy. We journey to the underworld at this time. In this journey we face the demons of our dark inner world hidden within our psyches. From making the journey, staying with the quest of self-discovery and eventually, mastery, comes the transformational aspect of Scorpio. But first the depths of the murky, muddy waters must be fully explored and understood.

The issues of sex, death and rebirth are a recurring theme for the Scorpion frequency. The many mundane experiences of these three play themselves out over and over again in human experience until, ultimately, the final death is achieved ... the death of the personality, with all of its attendant selfish concerns and desires, now raised and transmuted into selfless attainment of higher consciousness.

The glyph of Scorpio has been seen by some to be representative of the kundalini force. This vital life force spirals up the spine, serpentlike, to the third eye, balancing the dualities of personality with the unity of consciousness.

Scorpio is the great constellation which influences the turning point both in the life of humanity and the life of the individual human being. The tests of Scorpio are necessarily three in nature as they concern intimately the readiness of the threefold personality:

1. To reorient itself to the life of the soul, and later
2. To evidence readiness for initiation.
3. To demonstrate sensitivity to the Plan thus becoming the one-pointed disciple in Sagittarius.

Of all the signs in the zodiac, Scorpio is the one known as the Burning Ground. Scorpio is depicted in ancient religions as the "Flaming Sword" which guards the inner temple where rest the Secrets of Creation. Although veiled in mystery, its concerns with sex, death and rebirth are all vehicles of change ~ change of major proportion, where choices must be made between high and low, between selfish power and the use of that power to bring healing and joy to others. It thus represents tests and trials where we see, by the conflicts, what illusions we hold. Whenever these illusions are burned away, our consciousness expands and we are able to transcend personal ego to merge with the Universal Spirit. As the snake sheds its skin so that something new may emerge, we leave behind our old selfish, self-centered ways of being and go forward, transformed to a more inclusive manner of loving.

Scorpio is the energy of the atom smashing, of energy released ~ its nature depends upon the direction in which it is focused. Just as with nuclear energy, it can bring a tremendous healing tool or a destructive bomb. Scorpio is the sign most susceptible to these dynamic forces of Dark or Light. It is indeed a time when choice must be made, and that choice will direct the kind of transformation to take place.

Ruled by both transformative Pluto and explosive Mars, many tumultuous passionate experiences engulf the Scorpio native. The deep pools of emotional waters signify the holding or control of deeply repressed emotion. Certainly awareness of the Pluto ideal, still thwarted by the self-serving focus of Mars, generates much frustration as the battle rages on between these antagonistic forces. Mars acts as a bridge between the perceived ideal and what is presently manifesting.

Pluto's dynamic two-fold energy of creation and destruction assists in the annihilation of the lower desires eventually to unfold the qualities of the higher self: selfless service to others, compassion, group awareness. In its early phase of expression, the power of Pluto is easily distorted by the personality into extreme willfullness, ruthlessness and a willingness to let the end justify the means.

The Labors of Hercules myth of the task of Scorpio finds Hercules slaying the nine-headed serpent. As he cut off one head, two more would take its place. Quickly becoming overwhelmed, Hercules finally recalled his teacher's words, "We rise by kneeling." Lifting the monster into the air, it gradually weakened, separated from its place in the mud and mire of the bog, and eventually died. The nine heads represent each of the trouble areas that beset any seeking self-mastery. Three of these heads symbolize misplaced desire associated with sex, money and comfort. Another three concern the passions of fear, hatred and desire for power. The last three heads represent the vices of the unillumined mind: pride, separateness and cruelty.

Hercules had to employ humility, courage and discrimination to deal with his foe ... really the demons that lurk in our own subconscious. The Scorpion task is actually an enormous cleansing process, rooting out and eradicating the baser twists of mind found within our own dark recesses. To acknowledge their existence is the necessary first step. Confronting ~ even embracing ~ the shadow is the task before us all.

The virulent poison of criticism bears mentioning here as it is an offspring of the unillumined mind. Extremely destructive to the one criticising, as well as to the one critiqued, these negative energies can divide groups, causing harm to both physical and subtle bodies, and weaken, confuse and dispirit even the strongest organizations. The tendency to run this judgmental energy is strongly present in powerful minds, and to be avoided whenever possible. Consciously substituting loving thoughts when aware of a critical word or thought can do much to heal this particular head of the hydra. We can see the destructive power assigned to the scorpion in ancient mythology as, after all, it was the sting of the scorpion that resulted in the death of Orion, the mighty Hunter.

At the heart of Scorpio lies the great supergiant Antares, the reddest star in the heavens; it symbolizes that red of desire that underlies life. Exceeded only by Betelgeuse in Orion in size, Antares is the brightest member of the Scorpio group. Its position in a heavily obscured area of the southern sky lies near a huge murky cloud, mirroring the symbology of the murky waters of the realm of the scorpion.

Keep your eye on the eagle; call down the fire;
do not look at the ground; be centered in divinity.

- Alice A. Bailey, The Labours of Hercules, p. 154

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