The essence of transformation for Scorpio individuals is inherently mystical, though it does not adhere to what has come to be known as Christian mysticism, which calls for a more self-denying, sacrificial, ascetic, and otherworldly orientation.  Immersion, not transcendence, is the mystical path which takes one down into physicality first through experiences of deep emotion that are linked with sexuality.  Raw and intense feelings that can become obsessive create a context for experiencing the heights and depths of awareness in the crucible where ego death often occurs for those working with Scorpio.  This deep immersion has been likened to the experience of drowning in order to flow beyond it, or like facing the dragon in the dungeon who guards its hoard, before obtaining the treasure and ascending back to the world of light with the gold.  Alchemy probably describes this process best where heat and pressure slowly but surely metamorphosize the base raw elements into the refined gold.

QUALITIES AND CHARACTERISTICS

How do Scorpio people (including those with Sun, Ascendant, Moon, many personal planets in Scorpio, planets in the 8th house, or a strong Pluto) experience such ego deaths and transformations during the course of their ordinary lives?  After all, there are millions and millions of such souls in a world of 7 billion now.  Intensity is probably a key word to describe a variety of situations involving relationships with others that separate a Scorpio experience from the mundane.  When a Scorpio is engaged, they are in it all the way.  Nothing is done superficially.  It is better to plunge right in with everything you’ve got.  If that is not an option, better to be with nothing.  This is not a ’straddle-the-fence’ type of experience.

Sexually they will actively engage, but not in the natural ease and relaxed style of a Taurus or Leo.  Yes sexuality is to be enjoyed for the orgasmic pleasure that it brings, but it goes deeper than that for Scorpio types.  There is often the experience of ego death through orgasmic merging that includes both death and supreme ego gratification simultaneously as love, sex, drama, and intensity are all mixed and blended together in one living peak experience to be shared with another.  Scorpio is one of the least promiscuous of the signs.  They prefer to be alone and celibate rather than waste their energies on superficial and ho-hum sexual/love encounters.  They do not need relationship for appearance, convenience, or even dependency needs. They desire to merge at the deepest and most all-inclusive level, and often it is difficult for them to find anyone willing and able to dance through life with them in that close, tango-type of embrace.  Probably only a Scorpio can fully understand another Scorpio, because the emotions felt are so primal and do not lend themselves to verbal communication and intellectual analysis.

This is a deep, sensitive, water sign whose major difficulty in relating to others is that hardly anyone is willing to go the heights or depths of their emotional needs and understandings.  This is a different kind of knowledge more akin to indigenous cultures where people felt with all of their senses and intuitive instincts what they ‘knew’ and communicated telepathically with not just humans, but with animals, plants, rocks, sky, water, earth, and what they termed ‘the spirits’ within those elementals.  So when Scorpios try to convey what they apprehend, others may misinterpret the message.  Is it any wonder that they may, in turn, prefer to just keep silent?

Yes, misunderstandings can breed secrecy especially when a Scorpio type feels insecure and begins to self-blame for trying to communicate to others the level of primal awareness that they sense instinctively and feel.  I remember vividly how this can play itself out in real life.  When one of our sons, who is a Scorpio, was just five years old, he started to draw highly colorful and dramatic pictures of dragons.  He was also captivated by the story, ‘The Legend of Sleepy Hollow’ which we had as a Disney record.  He would listen to this record over and over again, and began to draw pictures from his imagination of the headless horseman during drawing time in school.  He was attending a Waldorf School at the kindergarten level.  We had chosen this school for him because of its emphasis on creativity, and the first teacher we interviewed was kind and sensitive.  He loved her, but she had to leave the school and a new teacher, large and bold with fiery red hair, took over.  She became highly agitated and called us in for a parent-teacher conference accusing us of exposing our little boy to too much violence on TV.  We explained to her that we had no TV at home, and that these images were the result of the story he was fascinated with, and also that we felt they were emerging from within his own psyche. She would have none of it!  She only wanted little ‘angels’ in her class who produced ’soft’ images in pastel tones.  He liked red, black, and strong colors and images.  Fortunately we did not reinforce the effort to control his visual communications at home.  He was free to express whatever he needed to with pen, crayon, or paint.

It is often through the arts—visual, musical, dramatic—that Scorpios can communicate most clearly. Picasso, the artist, who remained loyal primarily to himself and started with absolutely nothing, shows the Scorpio penchant for dealing with the raw and primal at a core level.  His anti-war painting‘Guernica’ vividly portrays what Scorpio is capable of seeing and understanding.  Certain writers have also made the effort to convey in words the depth of emotion that a Scorpio can feel such as Camus, Malraux, Edgar Allen Poe, and Dostoevsky.

Confrontations with power comes early in the lives of most Scorpios.  It is often over issues of values that these confrontations occur, starting with parents, then teachers, and later in life with the outer world of interpersonal relationships which can run the gamut from emotional and sexual relationships, where tremendous energy is invested, to relationships where money becomes more the issue such as joint finances, business ventures, investments.  In this present modern world, money = power, especially in capitalistic societies.  Capitalism often breeds competition and competition can breed both possessiveness and jealousies which, in turn, lead to resentments which can lead to acts of aggression, conflicts of will, and finally open hostilities.  Cut-throat, dog-eat-dog, the rat-race—such terms emerge from the frantic and obsessive drive to out-maneuver, under-cut, and destroy the competition.  Mergers and hostile take-overs are common Scorpionic actions in today’s corporate world.  Consolidation of more and more power/money in the hands of the few has resulted from a capitalistic model which initially put forth the premise that a free-market world with no regulations is good for all.  These are actually Scorpio/8th house issues in the cosmology of astrology.  Darwinian evolutionary theory of eat-and-be-eaten or the survival of the fittest shows the confrontation of power at the most basic of levels—survival.  Only the death of ego can truly resolve these extreme battles that emerge when one is pitted against someone else rather than in joining forces with them to create something greater than just the sum of the parts.  All Scorpio issues involve the willingness to let go of something in exchange for something greater that is more inclusive rather than exclusive.  We don’t see this model working very well in today’s world of extreme wealth now hoarded by fewer and fewer individuals.  This is certainly a new form of ‘dragon energy’.  Individuals with a great deal of Scorpio energy must face and confront these types of issues in some form during the course of their lives.  I’ve seen it play out in all sorts of ways.  It can be as ’simple’ (but not to the participants) as the handling of joint finances with a spouse who is super-controlling, or how to handle such an ex-spouse in the aftermath of a divorce, but it can also move into sectors like inheritance, taxes, investment swindles, bankruptcies, or legal battles in civil court over issues involving money.  The bottom line in all of these scenarios is values.  What do you value?  Can you reconcile your values with someone else’s values?

It is difficult to maintain a MORAL COMPASS in a world obsessed with death and destruction. This is the Scorpio’s challenge, for the world of appearances seems to want to consume itself endlessly, and this simply can not continue for the human species to survive on this planet.  I’m going to quote Daniel Ellsberg from his book, SECRETS, A Memoir of Vietnam and the Pentagon Papers. This passage comes on page 275 of the book.  He is sitting on the floor of a men’s bathroom (Scorpio!) experiencing an epiphany after hearing a young activist, Randy Kehler, speaking about nonviolence as a way of life in the face of a world dominated by fear.  His heart has ‘broken wide open’ and he is sobbing.  This is his Scorpionic realization: “…We are eating our young…On both sides of the barricade we are using them, using them up, ‘wasting’ them.  This is what my country has come to.  We have come to this.  The best thing that the best young men of our country can do with their lives is to go to prison.  My son, Robert, was thirteen.  This war would still be going on when he turned eighteen.  (It was)  My son was born to face prison.  Another line kept repeating itself in my head, a refrain from a song by Leonard Cohen: ‘That’s right, it’s come to this, yes, it’s come to this. And wasn’t it a long way down, ah, wasn’t it a strange way down?’”  This was written about life in America in August of 1969.

Danielle Ellsberg was born with a strong Sun/Uranus conjunction in Aries squaring tightly a Jupiter/Pluto conjunction in Cancer.  His life, however, is a textbook on Scorpio issues.  Remember, Mars rules both signs classically.  He took the high road morally after struggling for years with his own confrontations with power.  If you want to learn the Scorpionic path, just read his book—all 457 pages.  He went to the depths, where the Scorpion can dwell, and ultimately sting itself into oblivion, but he decided to become like the Eagle and see the truly big picture, before transforming into the Dove through his Phoenix rising journey.

Remember, the typical Scorpio person may not appear powerful, or even dramatic.  They may look quite ordinary (Scorpio Bill Gates is a good example) and can easily be passed by until there is a confrontation. Then their ability to fight will emerge.

I’ve got to say this, as well, about Scorpio, which is often so maligned as a sign.  I have a data file in my software program of over a hundred infamous criminals.  I looked at every single name in that file and only found one that was a Scorpio.  Yes, that’s right!  Charles Manson was the only notorious criminal born under that sign on file.  This is definitely something to ponder.  A lot of champions for reformation have been Scorpios, including Martin Luther who resisted excommunication and began the actual Reformation.  A Frenchman named Blanqui opposed capitalism early on and managed to organize the socialist movement from his prison cell.  Robert Kennedy, born into a family of great wealth, political power, and strong connections with the mob, tried to take the path of morality, nonetheless.  He was against the Vietnam War, and had he become President, our country’s history might have swerved away from the extreme destructive path we now are on, but—alas—he was assassinated, cut down in his prime.

The penetrating mind of Scorpios make them powerful investigators, researchers, detectives, psychologists, and medical practitioners.  They are good at holding confidence and keeping secrets.  When they use these abilities to help others rather than aid power mongers to gain more control over others, they are truly some of the most caring and socially-skilled workers on the planet.  They are hard-working, determined, brave, reliable, and loyal to an extreme with an enormous capacity to plunge to the depths and stay the course through remarkable powers of concentration.  If you need a tough but sensitive, and highly perceptive champion to help the healing process on any level, hire a Scorpio.  They love to pursue the hidden realms, the taboo territories.  They untangle mysteries with the tenaciousness of a blood-hound, and they are also capable of grasping all the complexities of an issue while keeping their nose pointed towards the target.

SCORPIO’S SHADOW SIDE

What a paradox we have here.  Scorpio must deal with the shadow, both in themselves and in others.  Primarily, people will accuse Scorpio of just being too intense, too possessive, too much!  Perhaps the shadow involves their getting enmeshed in family patterns that involve power issues or conspiracies, plots, and intrigues, such as the classic Romeo and Juliet drama where all the shadowy elements played themselves out in this tragic love story; secrecy, violence, revenge, and the final utterly tragic suicide in the darkness of the family crypt by the innocent Juliet.

Total immersion can be the ‘frog in the well’ kind of perception where the bigger picture is simply not visible, and thus desperation at the futility of a situation consumes Scorpio and leads to acts of self-destruction.  Scorpio is balanced by its opposite sign, Taurus, which lends earth practicality and sensibility to extreme emotions running the risk of turning into obsessions.

The other kind of shadow element would be the frozen body of unforgiveness that can plague this sign.  Holding on forever to a grudge, a bitter resentment of someone, or some grievance, and allowing that initial hurt and disappointment to fester in the depths of one’s unconscious can lead to either vengeance, or holding a stubborn emotional stance to the death.  Forgiveness takes conscious work, but once one truly forgives one is free and clear of old wounds that never seem to heal.  In order for this kind of transformation to take place, a Scorpio must truly face with full conscious light their pain, anger, and raw emotions surrounding the initial issue that led to such a frozen state.

SCORPIO RELATIONSHIPS

The search for the beloved is a drive towards full-on union of body-mind-heart-and-soul. Nothing less truly satisfies.  Compromise with those who are less than the ‘total package’ may be a challenge.  This is an all or nothing sign.  Many Scorpios will remain for years single rather than settle for less, because they desire all.  Because this is a fixed, water sign both deeply emotional and sensitive, natives are slow to embark on a serious relationship, but also slow to leave a committed one, because they truly are able to empathize with their partner’s feelings, unles they still have a large unconscious shadow side blocking them.

Others may see them as demanding, especially yang types who desire greater freedom and separateness, but a Scorpio’s underlying devotion is equally as strong and they can truly know how to treat their mate with the utmost love, sensitivity, and respect.  Like their Libran neighbor, they can be extremely romantic as long as courtship moves into the boudoir.  They respond deeply to tenderness and a kind of surrender that is devoid of passivity.  Passive, they are not, unless burdened by repressions.

Their underlying desire for total commitment and trust is pursued with a single-mindedness that can appear obsessive.  With the right person they reveal all with passionate abandon, but with the wrong person they shut down and withdraw into some unfathomable place.

When rejected or betrayed, their pain can transform into extreme anger which is often directed inward unless they have the confidence to express it openly.  Such pain can shut them down for long periods of time, much like their fixed Leo counterpart, where they may actually nurse the pain privately rather than ‘licking’ it to heal.  Pain that goes untended by healing methods that help to release and allow for an outward flow can turn toxic and freeze them into bitterness.  Thawing out this pain is often through a new relationship that honors their wound and melts it away through love and compassion.

Scorpios are not interested in parent/child type of relationships.  They often don’t relate well to nurturing roles in that sense. They like x-rated, adult relationships.  If they have a healthy relationship with their true mate and partner, however, they can admirable come to the plate as parents of their own children and often are more than willing to commit to children not even their own that need someone who cares.  But ‘gaga goo goo’ types of love aren’t really their thing. Even Scorpio children are often in a hurry to get the babyhood stage over with and get on with moving into adulthood, the sooner the better.  Yes, they may be termed precocious sexually, but they are only following their basic drive and nature which arises quickly with puberty.

BODY RULERSHIPS OF SCORPIO

All the ’secret’ parts of the body are Scorpio ruled; that includes the genitals, the anus, the bladder, and the colon.  Again, we see the themes of processes involving separation and regeneration.  The organs of elimination are both the colon and the bladder. What is not needed by the organism must pass through and out of the body organism.  What a metaphor for this process in Scorpio’s lives!  They each must be willing gto ‘let go’ otherwise stagnation and toxicity are sure to set in.

The genitalia distinguish strong sexual characteristics in each gender and ripen fast at puberty.  This is not a particularly androgynous sign.  Mata Hari was a Scorpio female. Scorpio men, like their other watery brothers, are often quite masculine in appearance and characteristics.  Yet people baring this sign are not lnecessarily robust in appearance despite their strong physical magnetism.

Eros, the life instinct, and Thanatos, the death instinct, are both strong forces with Scorpios and their physiology.  Health issues can revolve around these two themes and many Scorpios face horrendous physical issues involving life/death struggles.  Yet the life force can be amazingly strong and their ability to endure is akin to Capricorns.  Scorpio is considered a long-lived sign since the vital sexual force of the kundalini is strong in their beings.

The eyes of a Scorpio seem to be one of their most telling and distinctive features.  They have an intensity, a penetrating gaze that some are enchanted and mesmerized by, and others are deeply uncomfortable with.

This brings to a conclusion Part II of my Scorpio articles.  This has been a highly complex sign to write about, and the lengthiness of my writing prohibits me from going further into personality profiles.  That will have to wait for another time…