Scorpio - from the Box of Stars

Depth, intensity, passion, sexuality, death, rebirth, regeneration,
transformation, secrecy, loyalty, single-mindedness

The great red star, Antares, one of the royal stars of ancient Persia, which marks the heart of Scorpio, can be seen on the southern horizon on summer evenings in the northern hemisphere.

The Sun in Scorpio

With the Sun in Scorpio, you are a passionate person and you never do things by half measures. Still waters run deep with you and you do not show your feelings to anyone or everyone who comes along. Others may accuse you of being secretive or hard to fathom, but it is the very power of your emotions that makes you so cautious. For you can be hurt, and, when you are, you do not take it lightly, and you tend to take revenge. However, you are loyal to the end to those who do not let you down, and your perseverance and determination mean that you can overcome the greatest setbacks.

For Scorpio is the sign of transformation and regeneration, and your ability to leave the past behind you and

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The Myths and Legends of Scorpio

As the Golden Huntsman, Orion, sets in the west each spring, his enemy, the Scorpion, rises in the eastern sky. For this is the Scorpion who, at the command of Artemis, the chaste goddess of hunting and the moon, stung the handsome Orion and caused his death, from which even Asclepius, the god of healing, could not save him.

The Scorpion was also thought to have stung the horses of the sun god's chariot when Phaeton drove them, causing them to bolt and career through the heavens, drying up rivers and scorching the earth below. It has also always been greatly feared by sailors, as its autumn setting promised storms.

But the Scorpion was really formed in about 5000 BC in the Euphrates valley, where it was sacred to the god of war and was a symbol of the darkness and decay of the waning year. Gilgamesh, the Babylonian prototype of all our heroes, was challenged by a scorpion-man who guarded the gates of the sunrise, which were great folding doors in the steep side of the mountains of the East.

Alchemy

For the alchemists, who believed that they could produce gold by releasing the spirit from its bondage in matter, November, Scorpio's season, when the earth decays, was their busiest time of year. Only then could the spirit be released, and base metal be transmuted into gold.

Pluto and Mars, Rulers of Scorpio

The ruling planet of your personal chart is the one that rules your Rising Sign.

However, if Scorpio is your Sun Sign, its ruler, Pluto, will also play an important role in your psychology.

Pluto

Pluto Lord of the Underworld, governs the unconscious mind, as well as hidden riches. Secrets, intense emotions, soul truths and sudden endings and beginnings are also ruled by mysterious Pluto, the most recently discovered and most distant of the planets. It gives magnetism and an almost X-ray insight into others' motives. Its position at birth shows where change and soul growth can occur.

Because it is the furthest planet from the Sun, Pluto takes so long to travel through one zodiac sign that you share its influence by sign with your whole generation, as you do with Uranus and Neptune.

Mars, the Ancient Ruler of Scorpio

The god of action and of war, portrayed with helmet, shield and sword, Mars rules strength, courage, leadership, decisiveness and sexuality, as well as rashness and aggression. The wolf and the woodpecker were sacred to Mars. The dynamic 'red planet' which belongs to him stands between us and the outer solar system.

The fiery and dynamic planet, Mars, rules your will power, sexuality and drive. Its sign and house position, as well as the links it makes to other planets, show your energy and motivation. It is the action planet, revealing where, and how, you are assertive, as well as your courage - and aggression. It also rules your sex drive and your general libido.

The Stars

Antares

The great, red heart of Scorpio, Antares, 'the rival of Mars', was one of the Persian Royal Stars in 3000 BC, and is the Chinese 'Heart of the Green Dragon'. Antares, like the other red 'supergiant', Betelgeux (or Betelgeuse) in Orion, which rises as it sets, portends war and martial honours. It is surrounded by a huge red nebula, invisible to the naked eye, and is 700 times larger, and 9000 times brighter than our sun. North of the Scorpion's tail, where the birthplace of Mars was thought to be located, lies the famous Butterfly star cluster, appearing to the naked eye as a fuzzy patch half the diameter of the full moon.

To Locate

The Scorpion of the zodiac, with its curving tail, lies on the zodiac band between Libra, which once made up its claws, and the wild centaur, Sagittarius, who aims his arrow at its heart. Antares, the great red star that marks the heart of Scorpio, is 9000 times brighter than our sun.

Scorpio also lies between Hydra and Serpentarius (now Ophiuchus, the Serpent Bearer), but most of its stars are invisible from the northern hemisphere. Antares can be seen on summer evenings, a great, red star low on the southern horizon from the northern hemisphere. It is high in the northern sky during the winter from the southern hemisphere.

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