Astrology-Central

Scorpio: Divinatory Meaning

Scorpio (8th house) is the Death sign and it is – in terms of the Soul and Personality. The Personality must die and give way to the Soul. It is the only sign with three symbols, indicating the mental, physical and emotional parts of the personality: the Scorpion who would rather sting himself to death than to pass up a chance at revenge, the Eagle who can fly close to the sun (Spirit), and the Phoenix who rises out of his own ashes. Where you find Scorpio in your chart is where transformation and resurrection must take place.

All water signs are emotional, but Scorpions are particularly irrational when it comes to their emotions. They go to extremes, in both positive and negative respects. There is only black and white in the world of the Scorpion; no gray areas. If you are not their friend, then you are by default their enemy, and you will most definitely be treated that way. As the Left Column of the water signs, Scorpios have a tremendous desire for power and control, and seek these measures at any cost. They do not waver, they do not falter, and they stay their course with total determination and strength, which can sometimes result in unnecessary force and violence.

Pluto rules life and death (transformation and ressurection), as well as the power and energy of the seed, which at best manifests itself as new life. It also gives Scorpios deep sexual desires that are rooted in the compulsion to propagate the human race. In their efforts to “be fruitful and multiply,” Scorpios can go so far as to damage their reproductive and sexual organs, leading to impotency, infertility, and cancer. Scorpio is a fixed sign, which means that they do not like change and want to harness total control over their lives and the lives of those around them. Their greatest fear is to lose control. In the Scorpio world of extremes, love is everything. If they feel their love is not reciprocated, this love can turn into hate. It is very difficult for Scorpios to forgive and forget. The typical Scorpio will not rest until he has hunted you down!

Scorpios see the world in black and white. People and relationships are being measured as friends and enemies. They are thorough; that is why they are not so easy to get along with. They can see right through you. A common physical trait are their penetrating eyes. They have the ability to find your weaknesses and strike. They are formidable enemies.

Scorpio is the symbol of sex and Scorpios are passionate lovers, the most sensually energetic of all the signs. For them, union with the beloved is a sacrament, discovering the meaning of that union which is greater than individuality, and is a marriage of the spirit as well as of flesh. They are capable of the greatest heights of passionate transport, but debauchery and perversion are always dangers, and Scorpios can become sadistic monsters of sensuality and eroticism.

They are good business people. They love money, money is power, and Power is everything — but they are truly powerful when they do not seek it for themselves. They are also good in politics, medicine, and research. They have the potential to be honest and straight, or go to the other way, to be famous mobsters and members of the crime world. It is no coincidence that the mob world is called the "Underworld" and is exactly what Pluto rules!

Scorpio’s biggest challenge is to use their power and talent for good, to relinquish control, to compromise with others. Scorpios get along with other water signs (Pisces and Cancer) and earth signs (Taurus, Capricorn and Virgo). It is very hard for Scorpios to get along with fire signs, especially with Leo, being the Left Column of fire opposite the water. Air signs also have trouble with Scorpio, since the Scorpio is too controlling and possessive, and no one can control air. As hard as they are to get along with, it is through cooperation within relationships, that they will achieve transformation. Their goals are reached through service, purity, compassion, and humility. Then they are truly magnanimous. Then they can be the strongest and most positive people to bring Light into the world.

 KEYWORDS for Scorpio

Medically Speaking

Scorpio governs the pelvis and reproductive and urinary systems and its subjects are said to be prone to ailments of the liver and kidneys, stones and gravel in the bladder or genitals, and other genital ills such as priapism. Abscesses, boils, carbuncles, fistulas, piles, ruptures and ulcers may also affect the Scorpions. 

Kabbalistic Connection

The astrological month of Scorpio, or as it is called in Hebrew Mar-Cheshvan (Bitter Cheshvan), is the Left column water sign, and is ruled by the plant Mars (Ma’adim) and Pluto.

The Book of Formation speaks of seven planets in the solar system. In the last century, three more planets were revealed and as a result, Pluto has been found to bear influence on the sign of Scorpio.

Mars, the traditional ruler of the month of Scorpio, is the planet and Greek god of war, which makes all Scorpios warriors who have the drive to eliminate their enemy no matter what toll it takes on anyone else. This is the hardest Tikun (correction) of Scorpions – to find the Central Column, control the urge to avenge, and to live, love and let go. Mar-Cheshvan, as the month is formally known, in Hebrew means bitter Cheshvan. However, it can be transformed into Ram Cheshvan (elevated Cheshvan). Our job throughout the month is to transform that which is bitter into sweet, that which is lowly to lofty. It takes a strong consciousness and self-control to achieve this transformation.

John of Berry’s Petites Heures
France, Paris 14th Century.

The Fixed Signs like the status quo and will put up with almost anything rather than have to make any kind of changes. They like a routine, their routine, they like knowing what to expect tomorrow and the next day, and for this reason, will stick to something longer than they should, rather than edit anything. They are determined, persistent, stubborn, strong-willed, resolute, stable. Their minds are penetrating, and memories are excellent.

These signs are the middle months of each season.

The Fixed Signs doe in order follow the Equinoctial and Tropicks; and they are called fixed, for that when Sun enters into them, the season of the yeer is fixed, and we doe more evidently perceive either Heat or Cold, Moysture or Drinesse. The fixed Signes are these, Taurus, Leo, Scorpio, Aquarius.
— William Lilly, Christian Astrology (1647)

Others are called immovable, and they are Taurus, Leo, Scorpio and Aquarius,
for they are the middle ones and the air stays in one element.
— Avraham Ibn Eza (1092-1167 C.E), The Book of Reasons

HOUSES: The Succeedent Houses (2nd, 5th, 8th, 11th) correspond to the Fixed Signs. Not as powerful as the Angular placements, they denote financial affairs, stability, and purpose.

TAURUS (Fixed Earth)

Taurus: Keywords are stubborn, materialistic, sensual. The most "fixed" of the fixed signs. People with several placements here (particularly Venus) incline to the more material, sensual side of life — and laziness.

LEO (Fixed Fire)

Leo: Keywords are flamboyant, showy, playful. This is the sign of show business. No matter what the profession, the typical Leo sun-sign (and Sun-ruled) people act as if they are on stage. They carry themselves regally. They need the attention, the applause, no matter what their profession.

SCORPIO (Fixed Water)

Scorpio: Keywords are secretive, obsessive, sexy. Scorpio has a talent for uncovering secrets, but you will never get anything out of them that they are not willing to share. Scorpio placements are good for any profession involving healing (death and rebirth – Pluto-ruled) or investigating (detective, scientific investigations, etc.). The tendency to extremes affects other areas of the life as well. The negative side of Scorpio is jealously and vengeance.

AQUARIUS (Fixed Air)

Aquarius: Keywords are strange, unusual, shocking, far-out, peculiar, socially-unacceptable, and all these only on a slow day! Uranus-ruled, this is also the sign of genius. In the horoscope, it shows where we have the potential to transcend the ordinary. This is also the sign of friendship; Aquarius sun-sign folks are said to be closer to their friends than to their own families.

*Trivia: Did you know that the Tarot major arcana card The World features the 4 fixed signs in the corners?

The Water Triplicity is represented by the lymphatic temperament exhibiting as languid, anemic, pallid, weak-pulsed, lack of red corpuscles in the blood, and deficient vascular action.

The water signs (Cancer, Scorpio and Pisces) are known as emotional, plastic, contemplative. They tend to feel things very deeply and function from an emotional level whether that be in a positive or negative manner.

These are the emotional signs, those capable of exercising compassion, feeling love (and hate), and expressing affection. By their sensitivity they moderate the ideas of air, the unimaginative practicality of earth and the careless energy of fire. With their imagination and dreams they provide human life
with its religious and mystical spirituality.

Related HOUSES : The 4th (end of physical body), 8th (death & liberation of soul), & 12th (results of our choices) houses are naturally ruled by Water signs and are considered the Houses of Endings or the Terminal Houses. Many planets in these houses describes someone who is emotional, sensitive, spiritual.

Keywords: addictive, artistic, broody, caring, compassionate, controlling, destructive, dreamy, easy-going, emotional, feeling, grasping, healing, hoarding, intuitive, kind, lacking in standards or morals, moody, over-emotional, protective, receptive, revengeful, sacrificial, sensitive, smothering, spiritual, supportive, sympathetic, untidy.

In Medical Astrology and Astro-Meteorology the Water element is of the humour Phlegmatic, being cold and moist. Planets that are such are Moon and Venus.

CANCER: Cardinal Water

Cancer: In the Zodiac, it follows the air sign, Gemini. Gemini is like a toddler whose attention can be easily distracted, flitting from thing to thing. Cardinal Cancer is like a toddler who grabs on to something, won’t let go, and throws a tantrum when mommy or daddy tries to take it away. And the Cancer mood swings are legendary.

Let me give you a few tips about dealing with those who have the sign of Cancer strong in their horoscopes (the Sun, Moon, or Ascendant in Cancer). In this case, you can include those who have the Moon within six degrees of the Ascendant as well.

Cancer men who travel are known for setting up comfortable places they tend to revisit – like a girl in every port. All kidding aside, Cancerians need that security.

The house with the sign of Cancer on the cusp shows one of the places in or lives where we can be loving and nurturing, protecting the helpless (including animals). On the negative side, it can show where we can be moody and irrationally needy. This is the area of our lives where, if we can’t get our way, we tend to retreat while grasping and holding onto anything that gives us the illusion of security.

The other area of our lives where we can act like this is shown by the house occupied by the ruler of the sign of Cancer, the Moon.

SCORPIO: Fixed Water

Scorpio: This is the sign of extremes, all or nothing. It follows the air sign Libra, sign of balance. To understand Scorpio, read the novels of Dostoyevsky, who was a Fixed Scorpio Sun-Sign, and examine the characters closely.

The house that has Scorpio at the cusp is one of the places in your life where you have the greatest potential for major Good or Evil. Power is the keyword of Scorpio / Pluto and one may be driven by compulsive “subconscious forces”.

All of the fixed signs tend to be stubborn and unyielding. Taurus is that way out of sheer inertia. Like a large boulder, once it starts moving, it simply can’t stop. Leo stands firm out of pride.  Aquarius, an Air sign, refuses to budge without a logical reason. With Scorpio, it is pure emotional intensity, the kind that can rise up when one is involved in a fight to the death.

Scorpio is super secretive. Don’t ever try to pry any personal information out of a Scorpio. You have to let them coem to you in their own time. This sign is the best natural born detective in the zodiac. If you want to know the dirt about someone, find a Scorpio Sun-Sign person who knows them. 

PISCES: Mutable Water

Pisces: Pisces can be the most agreeable sign in the zodiac, mainly because they hate confrontation. People with a strong Pisces emphasis in their horoscopes seem to agree with almost anyone. If, a few minutes later, they happen to talk to someone with the opposite opinion, they will agree with them too. Then, they go off and something completely different from both. Deep down inside, Mutable Pisces doesn’t want to upset people. In fact, if you complain to a Pisces about trouble you are having with someone they don’t even know, they will start making excuses for that other person. They feel compassion for someone they never met.

Let me emphasize again that this refers only to the influence of this one sign. When doing a horoscope, you have to take the entire chart into account, and there are a myriad of other factors to consider besides the Sun-Sign. Richard Ramirez and John Wayne Gacy, both infamous serial killers were Pisces Sun-Signs, and they showed little compassion for their victims.

The House with Pisces on the cusp will be one of the places in your horoscope where you can be your most tolerant and compassionate, as well as your most imaginative, deluded, or even escapist. Pisces/Neptune can be self-destructive and refuse to deal with reality. The other place to watch for these things is the house where your planet Neptune is located.

CLASSICAL RULERSHIPS (traditional astrology)

This set of signs is ruled by Mars by day and also by night. Considered cold and moist.

Finally, the Cancer triplicity is nocturnal, comprising Cancer, Scorpio, and Pisces. The rulers of these signs are the Moon, Mars, and Jupiter, but because Jupiter is diurnal it is substituted for nocturnal Venus.

Aries trigon – Sun, Jupiter, Saturn
Cancer trigon – Venus, Mars, Moon
Libra trigon – Saturn, Mercury, Jupiter
Capricorn trigon – Venus, Moon, Mars

Most early astrologers used all three planets, rotating their priority by day and night, but many later ones, including Lilly, chose to use only the principal rulers. Perhaps they rejected the convoluted logic that lay behind the definition of sect, or perhaps they were confused by Ptolemy who only mentions two rulers for the Aries and Capricorn triplicities, yet mentions three rulers for the others!