Scorpio season (October 22-November 21) is a time to turn within and explore the depths of our emotions and identities, to take stock of our inner resources and inner power.
During Scorpio season, we honor our intuition and those parts of ourselves that are intense, probing, loyal, unwavering, and committed. We also honor the parts of ourselves that we typically put into shadow.
In astrology, the essential elements of each sign help inform our understanding of the sign and its significations.
Here are the seven essential elements you need to know about Scorpio.
(1) Season: Autumn
Scorpio season refers to the period when the Sun is traveling through the sign of Scorpio on the zodiac, which is a map of the sky. It generally begins around October 22 and lasts until November 21.
The season of a sign helps us understand its general qualities and significations. In the northern hemisphere, Scorpio arrives at the peak of Autumn.
At this part of the year, the theme of death and decay are inescapable. The fading grass is strewn with golden leaves and the shadows fall longer as darkness onsets earlier in the day.
This is the season of Halloween, All Saint’s Day, Samhain, and the Day of the Dead.
Scorpio is a sign associated with the transformative cycle of death and rebirth. Its season invites us to shed what no longer serves us, to promote our next stage of growth and evolution.
(2) Modality: Fixed
In the wheel of the zodiac, every sign falls into one of three modalities:
Cardinal signs initiate seasons. Fixed signs anchor seasons. Mutable signs transition to the next season.
Scorpio is a fixed sign, which means it anchors the autumn season in the Northern hemisphere.
Scorpio sits opposite from Taurus, the fixed earth sign that anchors spring. In contrast to the blooming flowers of Taurus season, Scorpio season shows us the decay of nature. It arrives at the peak of autumn, when the evenings are growing longer and cooler, and the faded grass is littered with golden leaves.
As a fixed sign, Scorpio is unwavering in its commitment: to people, ideas, emotions. Its nature to go deep means that with Scorpio you get a deep-seated, enduring commitment. The Scorpio part of us is steadfast and loyal, but can also hold onto emotions, grudges, and secrets for too long.
Like the other fixed signs, Scorpio creates a space for us to find grounding and anchoring, but it doesn’t like change.
Scorpio has a quiet power and an understated confidence. It’s a power that comes from within, rather than what is conferred on a person from the outside. Scorpio’s power comes from a deep inner knowing, a connection to its own depths, and its unwavering commitment to stay the course until it gets what it wants.
(3) Element: Water
Each sign is associated with one of the four main elements: fire, earth, air, or water. Each of these elements is associated with different significations relating to our psyches.
Scorpio is a water sign, which is associated with the emotions.
As a fixed water sign, Scorpio is distinct from the vast ocean of Pisces and the running streams of Cancer.
Scorpio is the still waters beneath the surface of waves, or the block of ice that requires a pick-axe to break apart. It can be cold and unyielding, but still strong.
If you dig deep enough into the earth, you will eventually hit long-buried pools of water. This is the deep waters of Scorpio, reachable only by those who are committed, obsessed, and determined to reach the depths.
Scorpio energy is powerful, but not necessarily loud. It has a laser-sharp focus, a powerful drive, and a strong desire to probe and get to the bottom of things. Scorpio is about depth. Scorpio isn’t afraid of anything, even the darkest truths.
The Scorpio part of us is deeply passionate, sometimes to the point of obsessive. It goes deep down into the rabbit holes until it gets to the bottom of things. It seeks out what is hidden and buried: the dark secrets, the subtle injustices and inequality.
(4) Polarity: Yin
Each sign has a polarity of Yin or Yang. Scorpio is yin energy.
Yin is nocturnal, dark, cold, and wet, while yang is diurnal, light, hot, and dry.
Yin is feminine, passive, receptive, introspective, and reflective. Water can receive whatever flavors are infused into it and can take the shape of whatever mold it is poured into.
Yin is associated with qualities of coolness, darkness, and stillness, which align with Scorpio’s nature to plunge the depths. Scorpio is the depths of the still waters.
Activities associated with yin energy include nourishing, nurturing, desire, silence, surrender, listening, dreaming, feeling, and calmness.
Yin energy also represents the mystery of the unknown and the mystical and magical realms of the unseen.
(5) Ruling Planet: Mars
Every sign has a planetary ruler — the planet that is in charge of that sign and everything that happens there. Every planet except the Sun and the Moon rules two signs. One sign represents the planet’s Yang energy and one sign represents its Yin energy.
In traditional astrology, Scorpio is ruled by Mars. Mars is most often known for its Yang energy as the Warrior planet. It is hot and firey. It cuts, severs, and probes.
Scorpio is ruled by Yin Mars, as opposed to Aries, which is ruled by the Yang aspect of Mars. Aries, as the outward expression of Mars’ energy, is about trailblazing new paths and taking dynamic, extroverted action.
As the inward expression of Mars, Scorpio is about penetrating deep and cutting to the core. Scorpio’s Martial passion is introverted, inwardly expressed through fierce emotions and loyalties.
Whereas the outward expression of Mars might be expressed as rage and anger that result in physical warfare, in Scorpio those emotions will be stew under the surface and manifest in psychological or emotional warfare.
In ancient times, Mars was also associated with the lord of the underworld, a quality that is currently ascribed to Pluto, which is the modern ruler of Scorpio. This connection with the underworld adds to Scorpio’s significations with death and rebirth, as well as power dynamics, secrets, shadow, and mystery.
(6) Symbol: The Scorpion
Scorpio’s symbol is the scorpion, a hard-shelled reptile that grows by the process of molting.
As it grows too big for its shell, the scorpion literally crawls out of its hard outer skin, revealing the soft tenderness that lies underneath. Then it forms a new outer shell that fits where it is now.
It’s a simultaneous death and rebirth. But as it abandons its old skin — it’s old identity — in favor of a new outer layer, it doesn’t lose the essence of what’s underneath the shell.
Similarly, Scorpio season invites us to shed the identities that no longer serve us, to allow the death of parts we’ve outgrown, as the basis for our continual transformation.
(7) In the Body: Excretory System
Every sign is associated with a body part and system. Scorpio is associated with both the reproductive organs and the excretory system. This reinforces its transformative nature: it controls elimination (death) and reproduction (new life).
Understanding Your Inner Scorpio
Even if you were not born in Scorpio season, you have Scorpio within you. Understanding these core elements of a sign can helps us better understand its significations and how it operates, so we can better understand that part of ourselves.
Stay tuned for Part 2, in which I’ll share 5 key themes of Scorpio season.
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[…] Part 1 of this series, we explored the seven essential elements of Scorpio, which invites us to work with its powerful […]