The Sun descends into Scorpio on 23rd. October to 22nd.November 2026, crossing the threshold from the graceful, calm beauty of Libran season into autumnal darkness, wild tumultuous storms, first frosts and creeping mists. Flame coloured leaves whirl and fall, exposing the stark silhouettes of skeletal branches. Winds howl, rattling doors and letterboxes. And maybe some bones.
As the Sun lowers in the sky, lengthening shadows reveal the textures of the landscape. We become more aware of our own shadow terrain within, as it whispers for tending and inclusion. Life transforms as it decays and dies, gifting rich fertility towards next year’s growth. Animals leave trails of nutshells to rot and merge with damp squelchy leaf fall. Fungal smells drift on tendrils of mists mysteriously descending like spectres. And a cloak of damply fertile fetid mulch drapes the Earth as catabolic breakdown gains momentum. The Underworld takes rulership. Light submits to dark. Hidden realms emerge and erupt into our awareness. This is the season of descent.
Setting the scene – Images, dreams, wonderings, life experiences and my grandson Malachi’s questions about Zodiac signs inspire me to explore and scribble these Zodiac musings, during each sign’s season. I portray each Zodiac sign essence as a Theatre of Being, each with it’s own unique ambience, backdrop and characteristics. The Zodiac signs represent twelve aspects of Life. Twelve unfolding journeys with archetypal themes. Twelve ways of being human. Twelve ways of experiencing and engaging with Life. Twelve learning grounds with the potential to find medicine and healing, to become more whole in ourselves. Entering these twelve imaginal realms offers the opportunity to explore a particular facet of Life and being human. In the Zodiac Theatre of Being, we are simultaneously actors and observers.
Welcome to the Scorpio Theatre of Being. Come a-wandering and immerse yourself into this imaginal realm. Bring an open heart and mind. And your curiosity.
You find yourself drawn once more through the Zodiac portal with its weathered ancient symbols carved throughout time, imbued with a richness of magic and mystery which sings through your bones. You are journeying into territory of ancient memory, which re-weaves images into your everyday awareness. As above, so below. As beyond, so here and now.
Scorpio landscape – You behold an archway woven from twisted gnarled dark roots and bones, entwined with ivy, spindle and yew berries, draped with frosty mist-dampened and glistening cobwebs. An awe-inspiring, awe-full dark and strange beauty, which touches something deeply primal within. Is something creeping, deep in the shadows of those spiralling roots? (now you see it, now you don’t) You feel a visceral magnetism, a resistance… and an alluring compelling fascination.
As you cross the threshold of the Scorpio archway, you enter a landscape of darkness. You feel an instinctive need to be aware….to pause, to re-orientate. You sense turbulence – a bubbling and stewing. Yet on the surface, all seems still. A deep river is moving very slowly, then rushing and tumbling over mossy boulders, then slowing again. Mesmerising and darkly enchanting. In the distance, smoke rises from an old volcano, subterranean vibrations murmur, with a sulphurous drift in the air.
Landscapes of intense human experience are slowly revealed – of Edges and Thresholds, flickering in a dreamlike way. An elderly man takes his last breath, after an arduous journey he is now finally resolved to Death’s close embrace, attuned to something or somewhere no-one else can hear. A young person wrestles and battles with shock, impotence, rage and grief in the face of a devastating illness and all they are losing. Loved ones poise on the precipice of grief and its raw, wild tides, starkly aware of aspects of relationship now revealed in the face of loss. A labouring Mother is taken to her edge, birth and first breath are met with potent entwining emotions, and a whole new dimension of Self is opened. Lovers immerse in the wild intensity of sexual passion. Someone skulks down a back street, with a hunger for something deemed forbidden, taboo. A fierce battleground with emergency and relief workers intensely focussed on the edges of life and death. Frontline journalists disseminate stark dark truths which no-one wants to face. Someone reels from the exposure of betrayal. Someone falls apart as their known reality fractures and disintegrates. These are moments which tilt the axis of a life, and from which new layers of self and Life are revealed.
Zodiac sign of Fixed Water a yin-feminine sign of emotional and psychological depth, intensity and complexity. This nature is compellingly drawn towards life experiences which carry depth and potency, magnetised towards journeys of Descent, getting to the bottom of things and unfurling ‘that which lies beneath’. The hidden, the denied, the unwanted, the amputated and buried, which lie stranded in hidden realms and disguises. These excavations may be profoundly illuminating, or may be an initiation akin to opening Pandora’s box, after which life may never be quite the same ever again. Journeys into shadowlands always find us returning with more wisdom, even if our sense of innocence or paradise gets broken along the way. Through journeys of meeting and re-integrating what we deem as our Shadow, we ultimately become more whole.
The symbol of Scorpio The Scorpion is a creature with immense power and capacity to survive, well armoured with a strong waxy exoskeleton, powerfully gripping claws and a venomous sting. A scorpion slows down its metabolism and burrows deep underground into cool darkness, enabling its survival amidst the harsh arid conditions of desert life. Scorpio nature carries the deep bone-knowing of creaturely instincts – the knowing in your waters, the rising of hackles, and the ability to feel your way in the dark. This visceral instinct sniffs out and perceives undertows, motivations, unspoken feelings and agendas.
Instinct Within this realm lies immense power and life learning for Scorpio – and a need to ‘BEWARE’ (be aware). Instincts are wise, yet what we may perceive as ‘instinctive knowing’ may actually be a twisted version which is infused with fear and suspicion. Amidst struggles to process emotionally charged experiences and to lay old bones to rest, our perceptions may become distorted. A Scorpio journey of experiential learning is getting to know the particular sensations, locations or quality of how our deep true instincts present themselves. Learning when it is wise to trust our feelings, or when to step back and re-view. The visceral instinct of Scorpio thrives when it is honoured, valued and heeded as a life-navigation tool. And learning the language of our instincts is an act of reclamation in a world where rational and reason and scientifically ‘proof’ is dominant.
Truth and transformation Scorpio has a hunger and passion for Truth-revealing, determined and compelled to find ‘it. Truth may be that feeling, desire, motivation or fact which pricks and flickers beneath our conscious awareness. Or it may be something deliberately severed from self-presentation to the world of others. It can be immensely challenging to accept and bear, whether it arises within, from carefully sealed subterranean strata, or whether it is dealt by another. The art of self-compassion greatly facilitates absorbing Truth. And the art of truth-telling with compassion may greatly soften the blow and aid the process of inclusion.
Let’s not forget that Scorpio has a sting in it’s tail, and truth may be revealed or dealt sharply and painfully. Yet within even the most challenging delivery may lie transformative healing potential, akin to the sting or deep ache of the acupuncture needle which penetrates points of resistance, opens blocks and facilitates a renewal of life-flow. A newly revealed truth may deeply rock and threaten the foundations of who we believe ourselves to be, who we identify as. We may sometimes prefer to ignore, avoid or deny it, rather than face a shatteringly altered image and deeper truth of who we truly are. Both desire and resistance are common bedfellows in this terrain. Yet the urge to face dragons and monsters in the deep is strong within Scorpio nature, as their presence is instinctively known and courage is at the core of this sign. Once acknowledged, these wild wise creatures demand a place at our table, where they may reveal another face of themselves, as guardians of hidden treasure. This is the Scorpio journey of transformation.
Emotional intensity Scorpio feelings are experienced with potent intensity. They burn with passion – love or hate, wildfire-inflamed or ice-cold. The more intense the emotion, the more likely it is to be well-shrouded and disguised. Still waters run deep. Amidst the grip of powerful emotions, Scorpio may skilfully mask or deflect, in an act of self-protection. Visible or ‘exposed’ emotions may necessitate navigating other people’s responses, which may feel overwhelming alongside an already deeply intense, tender and raw inner process. And perhaps overly demanding of an outward energy and focus which Scorpio would really rather turn within.
In the grip of intense feelings, or when submerged within emotional riptides of Life, Scorpio nature may experience a fusion of intense fascination alongside fear and terror of being disempowered, abducted and out of control. There is a deep urge towards experiencing states of being which are typically found on Life’s Edges – high risk, extreme, challenging, life or death experiences, and through profoundly intense bonding with another. This ‘altered’ states, of being immersed and bonded with a force ‘beyond’ the Self, may connect and ignite Scorpio into a deeper strata of aliveness. Yet it may also threaten engulfment, immersion and drowning. A moth to a fiery flame of intensity. Attraction-repulsion. Ecstasy and agony, the passionate stuff of Life, the intense all-consuming gripping exciting battle of Eros and Thanatos. These are the essences of Life which infuse and inspire creative expression through art, music, literature, theatre, poetry. And maybe through the artist’s flow of expression, we are able to experience something which we crave…to be deeply touched and moved, through being a participatory observer, relatively safe in our own skin.
Angel and Devil Scorpio is passionately self-determined, quietly wilfull and tenacious. This is a sign of enduring love, loyalty and commitment to beloved ones. Scorpio essence may be seen in the one who shines with enduring love and compassion, accompanying someone in physical or emotional agony, with the rare and precious ability to sit in the darkness and accompany pain in the most deeply engaged, loving and abiding way. A steadfast lantern-holder in the depths.
The darker face of this sign may be seen in the ice cold rejection or unforgiving vengefulness towards those who have once been trusted, who then deceive, manipulate, or betray this trust. An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth. In such terrain, Scorpio may be absolute in their severance of connection or cruelly vengeful, unleashing fury and spite.
‘Forgive and forget’ lacks common sensical wisdom to Scorpio – a wiser approach would be deemed to be ‘Acknowledge and remember’, as this approach reflects a wisdom of acceptance of that which has happened, and a remembering of what was revealed and realised, for self-survival and protection.
Fate A core Scorpio theme is Fate, that mysterious and powerful force which infuses Life beyond choice or plan or conscious wish – those life experiences we are dealt and pathways we are drawn along which shape and impact us deeply. Within Scorpio lies a bone-deep knowing that death, shit and wonder are all part of Life and they do not politely announce themselves prior to knocking on the door. That life is full of grace and grit and pearls. Scorpio craves being in control and in self-possession, seeking where self-direction and agency are possible, in the face of the knowing that Fate is non-negotiable and does not bend to human will.
Fate is a divine force of glittering starry darkness, of fertile primal swamp, of womb and tomb and the inevitable journey inbetween. Fate does not deal or differentiate in good or bad, fair or unfair. We love it when Fate brings us good fortune, fortuitious meetings, blessings and welcome gifts. We fear and curse it when it brings us mis-fortune, loss, pain or restriction. Our relationship with Fate is very conditional. This mysterious essence of life is well-portrayed in Greek mythology, in Hades, Lord of the Underworld and in the Three Fates or Moirai – Clotho (spins the thread of Life), Atropis (measures and weaves the thread ) and Lachesis (cuts the thread of Life). These three sisters are Underworld goddesses with irrevocable power, and as Hades, their word is absolute and may not be altered by any other deity.
Maybe the deepest and most hard-won Scorpio Truth is that our empowerment lies in how we dance with Fate in a way which honours both Fate and ourselves. This is a journey of learning again and again, what to hold onto, and what to let go of. And this is a journey within which we may discover deep compassion and wisdom, stumbling and resisting as we go. Sometimes the most profound essences of Self are discovered through the visitations of loss, through the enforced journey of Descent. And into dis-covery.
Survival and control Any aspects of life which are beyond any possibility of personal ‘control’ may stimulate a Scorpionic desire to survive and be in control of something. Finding what we are able to do and be, in the face of Fate – what is within our control – our capability, skill and capacity, and ultimately the attitude which we bring, can only be discovered through real life experience. Intensive learning curves in relationship with Fate are commonly experienced when life is penetrated by an unbidden force or event, amidst danger, in an altered state or whenever we meet a life-threshold.
This depth-charging emotional signature motivates Scorpio nature to work or engage in areas of enquiry and excavation, where an unshakable and steady presence of wisdom, compassion and endurance during times of transformation is essential. In therapy, midwifery of birth or death, palliative care, grief support, death-work, medical or psychological diagnostics, intensive care, search and rescue missions, forensic anthropology, detective, spy, investigative journalism, archeology, therapeutic support during times of crisis, transformative arts. Every Scorpio will not have these job titles, yet look closely and you will see they bring these qualities to whatever work they do as a way of being and doing.
Desire Scorpio calls to us towards our deepest desires, with an alluring siren song. It may be through meetings with Fate, abductions, or eruptions that we are beckoned into intimacy with these riches of our Underworld….which may be disturbing to who we ‘think’ we are, the ‘Self’ which we and society have pared off and co-created as ‘safe to show the world’. We may hide or attempt to amputate our desires in the hope they may simply disappear. But Scorpio is driven to excavate, reveal, and disclose….and albeit disturbing, this enables truth-woven wholeness. We may come to see that the snarling fire breathing dragons and the wild beasts of our subterranean dreams have been fiercely protecting our gold and treasure, until we are ready to hold it for ourselves in the profound act of inclusion.
Emotional processing Scorpio has an instinctive urge to process that which is revealed in the Underworld. For smoking out poisons and releasing that which no longer has relevance. For leaving things behind, burning bridges, transforming the narrative and moving on. The motivation? Survival. This is an instinctive urge to listen and move with inner tides, when something magnetises focus within, into stewing and bubbling and hatching. It is an art of knowing when to sit and wait, when to gently stir, or let it stew, and knowing when the stewing is done and the process is complete. When to avoid poking or prodding or the urge to hurry things up and get it done and over. And when to heed another level or visitation, calling you to go further, or deeper.
Processing may be a commited exploration and revelation, done deliberately and consciously, maybe with therapy or ceremony creating a holding container. Or it may happen unconsciously, with shadows flickering beneath the surface of our awareness, pricking dreams and liminal moments.Truth processing is a deeply personal and subjective journey and Scorpio knows it demands time. Without hurry or pressure, safely percolating. With a ‘Private – Keep Out’ sign on the door. The wisdom of knowing when to let something rest and simply ‘be’, and when to actively engage, is grown through experience. And learning, again through experience, whether we are tending towards the suspension and pond-skating of avoidance, or diving in too fast and too deep leading to the danger of submerging for too long or getting lost in the labyrinth. This journeying is akin to being within a chrysalis or an alchemical vessel, tender and vulnerable.. needing a protective enclosure to shapeshift within and to eventually unfurl in a transformed state, emerging according to it’s own instinctive wisdom and rhythm.
There is a thoroughness and determination in this fixed water sign to face, accept and metabolise discovered Truths. Or alternatively, when experiencing immense pain or shame, to avoid, filter or hide them. Maybe manipulating oneself or others ‘off the trail’, using smokes and mirrors, burying aspects of Self in shame. Maybe biding time. Journeying in the Underworld is a journey which demands courage and tenacity alongside a willingness to face shadows and dark woods of the soul. Knowing when the process of Underworlding is complete, (at least for the moment), when wings are ready to open, is an unfolding process of learning for this sign. As is wisely knowing that becoming lost in a tangly dark forest demands a henchman or woman alongside – someone who has themselves journeyed in this place and found their way through, who may accompany this part of the journey with steadfast wisdom and compassion. The dark forests of life need a lantern-holder who knows this place, who may bear witness and walk alongside with steadfastness and compassion.
The inate Wild Knowing within nature – Scorpio has a wisdom which is adaptive and responsive to the shifting environment, enabling survival. There is much we can learn from beholding these natural cycles. Everything in nature emerges into birth, rises, sustains, then eventually releases, shapeshifts, dissolves and disintegrates, before moving into its next phase or form. As human beings and creatures of the Earth, we are also subject to these tides and flows. Yielding to this truth of the rhythmic pulse of Life which permeates all, demands courage, perseverance and endurance. And every renewed commitment to this process of accepting and yielding may create steadier roots when winds of challenge or change next shake our branches, and connect us more fully with the wonder of being amidst the dance of Life, and Death.
A snake knows when the time has come to retreat into darkness, to lays motionless, with milky eerie eyes, its old skin lumpily and slowly releasing until the natural time comes to shed. Then it writhes beyond and ‘out’ of it’s old ghost-like skin, moist and iridescent, shedding to reveal a shining new underlayer. A caterpillar knows when to spin its cocoon, within which the wrestle of transformation occurs…and in time, a butterfly emerges. Phoenix burns in the flames then rises again from the ashes, transformed and renewed. And we, all creatures, know these cycles of becoming and releasing, like the art of breathing…inhaling and exhaling, taking in what we need and releasing that which is no longer necessary.
Scorpio season brings a feeling of the Wild Beneath of life, creeping through the cracks and erupting through fissures. Making its entrance. Demanding a place. The wild creaturely nature within us is rising. The wolf is howling….
The veil is thin at this time of year. Samhain, Remembrance day, Dia de Muertos (Day of the Dead) are all festivals of connection with the spirit world – the dead are included in these celebrations in an honouring and recognition of how they touched our lives. And just in case including death and dying as part of our reality provokes fear and resistance, Halloween, gives the opportunity to dress up as a devil, skeleton or ghost and pretend to outwit Death for a night, howling and chasing away that most powerful force which interweaves with Life.
In Scorpio season we re-member. We are aware of the presence of who has moved on, shapeshifted and gone beyond our physical everyday realm, and yet has woven powerful threads of meaning amidst our life tapestry. We become more aware of our own mortality as we behold the nature cycle of descent, fall and endings all around us. Death is perhaps the greatest reminder that we are not in control of everything. Shock, impotence, rage and grief commonly strike alongside truly grasping this Truth. Again and again during our lifetime, we are pulled by the unseen force of Fate, onto yet another journey of being relationship with that which we cannot control. Where ultimately we may dis-cover a centering into our lodestone, and perhaps eventually a profound peace and acceptance as we ‘rage, rage against the dying of the light’
May we remember that the darkest hour is before dawn, when a shimmering golden halo emerges out of the sloeblack, slow black, crow black night.