Scorpio

Scorpio is the eighth sign. As an evolutionary phase, it can be compared to the period during which many are rearing families and building careers–roughly the period from age thirty to fifty. This is a time when most of us are at our social peak. We know what we can do and are doing it. Our attention is concentrated and focused, more in control than we have been during our earlier years and more interested in having control than we will be in later ones.

Scorpio carries some implication of investment. As described above, we are invested in creating something lasting through the birth and rearing of children and/or through creative production, and/or through accumulation of wealth/estate. In the highest sense, Scorpio refers to being invested with power–literally the power to create life, the structures that support it, and/or a lasting legacy. Whether consciously or not, Scorpio lives with death, in the sense of making one’s personal life have meaning that goes beyond death.

Every Scorpio-type-being has an aura of power/magic, which is symbolically derived from Pluto. Pluto is the planet of personal power. Pluto is relatively new, having been discovered in 1930. Like the planet, personal power is a young concept, one that is still often misunderstood.

All too often, the meaning of personal power has been limited to control and expressed as (emotional) control of others. Those who control others will always find themselves in the control of someone more powerful than themselves. A common belief, related to sanctified emotional blackmail, is that love is the antithesis of control. Applied it states that, "If I love you, you have control of my life," and "If you love me, I (have the right or the power to)control you." Literally it implies sanctioned slavery, suggesting that blood or legal relationships grant ownership of one person by another. All moral or emotional blackmail is designed for control of others. Those who engage in it would do well to consider a recently popular phrase: What goes around, comes around. It is the essential dynamic of power.

Scorpio defines Plutonian power in terms of secret, hidden, occult, fusions. Through Scorpio, Pluto becomes a chemist or alchemist, creating gold or creating dynamite, even atomic and plutonium bombs. In childish possessiveness, in undisciplined aggressiveness, certain groups have used this power to generate weapons so massive that using them on others is obviously suicidal. In Karmic terms, using this kind of force had always been suicidal

The essence of Pluto-Scorpio symbolism is that some things are in our conscious control and some are not. Which are, and which are not, is regulated by our level of awareness. We call Pluto the power planet because, it can refer to the power which is readily or consciously available to an individual, and to the hidden powers which s/he may choose to call on. Historically, these have largely been regulated by the general level of awareness which existed at the time of incarnation. Consequently, Pluto has been regarded as a generational influence. With rising levels of awareness, individuals are learning to function outside the boundaries of the general consciousness, in the realms of positive thinking and magic.

One source of power is derived from merging two into one–as when sperm merges with ova and life begins. Another happens when we realize that our desires are spiritual needs. This realization bypasses old programming that allows needs, but not desires. Another source of spiritual power is the natural development which occurs as youthful separation gives way to the return of mature wholeness. Astrologically, this begins when we merge love and power so that our creative power emerges directly from loving/positive attention. Symbolically, Pluto must merge with Venus, Scorpio with Taurus, and the second house with the eighth. This will occur naturally if not hindered. When we regard love as having an opposite pole called hate, when we say good opposes evil, and/or that some things we (can/do) have and some not, we split these naturally merging polarities apart. The moment we get out of the way and let their powerfully magnetic forces merge naturally, we access power of awesome proportions.

True personal power is invested in personal freedom. It is the right to manage and control our own lives. Inexplicably, it has been widely assumed that this is against the wishes of a parental Deity. Since most Earth-parents expect their children to mature into the use of adult powers, surely the powerful Source of life would also expect its children to do so. The real issue with power is having the wisdom and maturity to use it well, with integrity and benevolence

Scorpio is a sign of being invested with power. All that remains is for Scorpio to realize an enlightened definition of the term personal power. Personal power is intended to be an expression of the creative consciousness. Contrary to what many of us have been taught, personal power is not will-power, nor is it willful control. It is, instead, willingness power–literally the willingness to be an instrument of a Higher Power. In old-fashioned terms, it is the power of prayer. Its simple use requires us to let go and let God.

The more sure we are of what is right to do, the more likely we will be faced with untenable choices. At such times, trying to force our will only creates pain. The wise answer is simply to say, “I am willing to go/do/be/have ______ or not to go/do/be/have __________. Show me the way.”

This is particularly appropriate where Pluto is transiting our charts, for when Pluto is prominent, higher mind tends to push, pull or drag us to follow Spirit whether our thinking mind likes it or not! To some extent, anyone with a prominent Pluto–which includes those with Sun, Mercury, Moon or Ascendant in Scorpio will experience such episodes. The more we learn to let power flow through us, rather than from us the better life will be.

In closing, I will share: this writer has Scorpio Rising with Pluto conjunct the 10th house cusp. It has long been evident that I am not in conscious control of my life. It is equally evident that using the techniques described above works.

I turned 70 this year, and that tends to encourage reflection. Until age 40, I struggled to live a socially acceptable life (marriage, children, etc.). And then as Pluto and Uranus jointly transited my 12th and across into my first house, my life was turned around. It was a kind of rebirth, for in my early forties I began to became the person that I am today.


I was born in Kansas farm country, reared on a farm, with very WASP parents who were a bit behind the times. At the time of my birth and nearly 40 years after, no one could have guessed that I would become a professional astrologer-writer, with 14 published books and an international clientele via the World Wide Web.

God/dess had a surprise for me. Who would have guessed that one could have a calling to be an astrologer? Clearly, I do.