Sylvan E Thorncraft © August 2003

     Scorpio is the intense process of diving beneath the surface, way down deep, understanding secrets, taboo, death, and sacred sexuality.  She embodies the total transformation that can result form this process.  Traditionally her symbol is the scorpion.

     Her card in Tarot is Death/Rebirth (13) which represents the principles of letting go and moving forward35.  Scorpio has three forms that are part of this process, the scorpion with her venomous sting destroying what has been, the snake shows how to release old skins, and the phoenix reminds that it may be possible to rise from the ashes and soar.

    Scorpio is the time of Samhain, a time to honor those who have passed, the grain has been cut and falls back to earth where it will wait for rebirth.  The time of dreams is at hand, the darkness is growing deeper.

     The Scorpio moon is just waning from full, moving towards the disseminating moon.  As the light fades, the process of consolidation and reflection begins.  The moon is rising after sunset and setting after dawn.  The flower is fading but the promise of ripening fruit remains.  This marks a time to start sharing what has been learned, to distribute what has been gathered.

     As I worked with this sign I felt the strong pull of descent.  I looked to serpent myths that spoke of how she is reborn with each new skin, the world serpent who encircles the underworld as the kundalini serpent sleeps coiled in the pelvis.  I felt Innana’s sacrifice at each of the gates on her way to meet Erishkagel, Hekate’s wandering with her dogs by the crossroads, but Persephone spoke to me the loudest.  In early myth she was queen of the underworld who volunteered to descend for part of each year to tend the dead.  Samhain feels like the time of descent.  The journey is treacherous as we confront our fears and  separate from the known self.  By tending the dead, both the cast off parts of ourselves and the ancestral secrets that can only be felt in that deep place, we are able to reemerge with a lighter load and more powerful tools as we follow our life’s path.