Scorpio Meditations

". . .as dying, and behold, we live. . ."

“Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone. . .”

These are appropriate Dark Moon (November 1st)¹ meditations as we transition into Scorpio season.² With the United States presidential election fast approaching, I think it is significant that we are entering this foreboding sign right now. It would seem to be urging us to look deep into our existential darkness, to behold our frailties, vulnerabilities, and to sup with our despair.

This practice isn’t exactly anything new for our current times, the 21st Century Modern Man is familiar with it, angst and depression have become his food day and night. It seems to be the perpetual season of the decade in not only our respective countries, but in many of our individual lives. I’ve known it intimately myself. And while I have only just been observing the sky for a short time now, with the recent solar storms which have given us Northern Lights all the way down into southern North America, the hard eclipse season this year, difficult planetary oppositions and conjunctions, and the recent Tsuchinshan ATLAS comet, the atmosphere above is reflecting tumultuous times below and a continued difficult road ahead. I think it would be premature to in any way indicate a lessening of sorrows, and Scorpio reminds us to remain sober. “So then let us not sleep, as others do, but let us keep awake and be sober.”

However, this is not intended to be a wallowing contemplation of darkness separate from the context of Light. The presence of darkness does not indicate the absence of light, love, and grace. If we only had the existential void, we would have no hope, but since we do have hope, we wait for it with patience (long-suffering). For what is a season but an allotted time? It is not meant to go on without end, but there is a time and a season for everything under Heaven. And the crescendo of Time and Space is leading us forward to the redemption of all things.

For this reason, I believe Scorpio’s song speaks of deeper spiritual truths than what might be indicative on the surface. For although the rulership of this sign is Pluto (appropriately the planet connected to “the underworld”), its primary and oldest rulership was Mars.³ I have been thinking that it seems strange that a Water Sign and a Feminine Sign should be given Mars as its rulership, which is primarily assertive and even violent energy. Perhaps one can conjure images of Death stalking his prey with a bloody scythe to make the atmosphere more appropriate for Scorpio (and Halloween season), but I think there is a much more nuanced understanding and therefore a deeper meaning.

Mars, in mythological lore, wasn’t originally the god of war, but the god of vegetation and fertility. Under the name of Mars Silvanus, he presided over forests and mountains, looking after the cattle with images of plants, trees, and horses becoming associated with his name. He was a “springtime divinity,” the month of March being consecrated in his name. His warrior persona only came later and soon superseded his other functions, but this original silvanism of Mars shows us a duality to its masculine energy (Ward pg. 82-83).

To me this indicates that while Mars’ militarism can be directed wrongly, leading to strife, violence, and war, its militarism directed towards a more chivalric and pacific end actually preserves life, enabling it to thrive. I’m just thinking of Adam’s intended role given to him by God. When God creates Man, He tells him to not only to prosper, but to subdue and rule the earth - these are hard, aggressive masculine words intended for a bold and labor intensive purpose, but where does God actually place the newly created Man after giving him this charge? In the Garden, he was to be a gardener, Man was meant to cultivate through his subjugation of the Earth, working with Nature through his rulership, not to ravage or destroy it.

In this same way, Mars’ hardened temperament wasn’t an indication of a hardened heart of militancy and bloodlust, but a hardened and virtuous heart meant as means of protection, love, and community (Ward pg. 89-90). Mars, by necessity, has two faces, one directed outwards to guard and protect, and one directed inwards to nurture and love. A warrior king is still needed to protect a kingdom, but he can also be gentle enough to carry a babe in his arms and have his hands open to the needy and displaced. This is why I love that Scorpio, a sign that is associated with receptive, intuitive feminine energy is given Mars as part of its song. We begin to see that Scorpio’s associations with darkness, grief, and even death are also intended to have life-giving ends too, it is transformational. Mars in Scorpio reminds us of the plurality of all things, darkness and light, joy and sorrow, male and female, are meant to reflect a Higher Ideal, wherein that which ascends to heaven, is that which descended, the obedience of the One who walks the transfiguring path through death and into life.

Speaking of which. . .

Entering Retrograde

Significantly, both Mercury and Mars will be/have been entering retrograde, Mercury appropriately within Scorpio and Mars in Cancer (both of these are Water/Feminine signs.) I am still learning about retrograde, the apparent backwards motion of planets due to the varying speeds of planets orbiting in relation to Earth’s orbit, “retracing their steps” as it were, and their meanings and interpretations within astrology (Brennan pg. 207). However, the cycles of retrograde for Mercury and Mars are usually associated with the breakdown in communication, technology, and transportation. With the social and political unrests, climate effects on cities and infrastructure, outright wars and persistence of wars, it seems like retrograde season is an all the time kind of season these days regardless of the position and movements of the planets. Yet I can see how Scorpio’s sting could sharpen the effects of Mercury’s retrograde or how Cancer’s moody, emotional lines could lead to a stormy, angry, and self-protective Mars retrograde. Continuing our somber meditations, though, I would like to draw out a particular refrain.

Mercury Retrograde in Scorpio.

Mars Retrograde in Cancer.

I love how astrologer Jessica Davidson described retrograde as the planets “having descended into the underworld” (Davidson pg. 7). If we think of a retrograde within this more symbolic understanding, we get this idea of descending into the earth, of dissolution, of dying. “. . .unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies. . .” the planets could be thought of as passing through a kind of death, a necessary part of its cycle, although it is not meant to remain there; there must be a “ressurection of the dead.” For if there is no “ascension,” (the planets stationing direct once more) then there would be no meaning or hope within the perceived cycle of the planet’s orbit and journey around Sol. And this archetypical pattern of hope is the fundamental pattern, it is the Christological pattern. “Truly, truly, I say to you, you will see heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.” Christ, in obedience to His Father, like a planet obeying the laws of gravity and orbital motion around the Sun, descended to Earth and to Death, even to death upon the Cross, and plundered Hades (passing through the underworld), and in doing so was found worthy to ascend to the Heavens, seated for all time at the right hand of His Father.

So we see that this cycle found within Nature and reflected in the heavens above, is a fundamental one, and not one that is an end unto itself, like a reflection of a reflection building towards an empty eternity, but one that is meant to transform “from one degree of glory to another” towards union with the Originating Image, “For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.” (2 Corinthians 4:6)

Scorpio’s song and the planets that dance, turn, and glory in her house, although portent grievous and grim realities, is not meant to be heard separate from the intertwining patterns and melodies of this beautiful truth, that in dying we can live, and not only live but be transformed and renewed towards the cumulation of all these archetypes, namely Jesus Christ, who is the firstfruits of the dead. “. . .by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive.”

“. . .but if it dies, it bears much fruit.”

1. When I use the term “Dark Moon,” it is what is usually meant by “New Moon.” I am intentionally wanting to make the distinction between the time the Moon’s face is completely within shadow, therefore hidden from us, vs. when the next Moon cycle begins, which I would personally call “New Moon.”

2. I am using a blend of sidereal and tropical astrology for my interpretations within this post.

3. Appropriately, both Mars and Pluto are moving into opposition right now, which will only intensify Scorpio’s lines and the emotions stirring within these planetary movements through this next month.