Scorpio

The Scorpion, focused water, ruled by Mars & Pluto

Still waters run deep. Like the frozen water of an iceberg, Scorpio reveals only a hint of its depth above the surface. Below the apparently solid world of matter, subatomic particles are whirling in a huge invisible dimension of dark matter, moving in and out of the material realm where fields of energy cross and hold for an instant of time. Scorpio is this Underworld, ruled by the dread lord of death, Pluto. Only in 1930 did we discover this remote planet of our solar system, ever mysterious. With Charon, its moon, almost half its size, it could a double planet. Pluto and Charon whirl around each other in space like two enraptured waltzers gazing into each otheršs eyes, the same face fixed on the other, their mutual center of gravity between them. Astronomers now want to declassify it as a planet and call it the largest of the Kuiper belt ice balls. Call it by any word, Pluto is potent.

The Scorpionic underworld can erupt in our lives as a terrifying and devastating power, like that of a volcano or a nuclear bomb--or even falling in love. In the Greek myth, Hades (Pluto) abducted the maiden Persephone to become his Queen of the Shadowlands. In the end this plunge or inner journey revealed the true depth and power of her being. As we delve into our own depths, by choice or necessity, to investigate the deep desires that motivate our lives, we plunge into Plutošs realm. Artistic herald of this century, Picasso, a Scorpio, expresses that chthonic energy in his work, the raw, transmutative power of the underworld realm.

In the Haitian Voudoun, a Plutonian figure is Ghede, venerated as wise beyond all others, guardian of the gateway through which the dead travel and from which life emerges. Greatest of the divine healers, he is the final appeal against death. His dance is the dance of copulation, of fertility. He is worshipped around a cross mounted on a grave, combining the horizontal axis of physical manifestation and the vertical pole of metaphysical resurrection. Ghede is the beginning and the end.

Shiva is the Hindu Pluto. To a deep drumbeat, he, too, dances in ecstatic trance the dance of creation, all the rhythms of life, culminating in the end of the world, where everything dissolves into the invincible cosmic source. He dances in the Hindu burning ghats with the fury of vengeance to dispel negativity and grind the body into ash. All that remains is the heart of the soul, surrendered to his ultimate love. Shivašs divine consort is Kali. Dark-skinned, with blood dripping from her mouth, she brandishes a sword to cut away all that is no longer life giving and vital. Like the Black Madonnas of Christian tradition, she grants miraculous healings that come through her stark power.

Love is the primal source, Scorpios ultimately learn, as they live out the old saying, "Love brings up everything it is not," and purge all selfish desires. During their night sea journey, the dark night of the soul, they meet within themselves all the dragons of resistance that guard the treasure, the pearls of great price hidden deep in underwater caves. With subtle discernment gained after many battles, they surrender to a power greater than themselves and are gloriously reborn like the Phoenix from their own ashes.

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