Scorpio Musings

She rises from deep below the surface. She is the Buried Ones... and the energy that unearths them. She is the Queen of Transformation. She is death. She is underworld. She flows forth destructive reformation. In Her grips I am screaming. She is Scorpio.

Here we are in the zodiacal Scorpio season. Scorpio is a fixed water sign. Water signs are associated with emotions. Fixed signs are strong, deeply rooted, and unyielding.

Our psalm for this underworld journey is the song Pele. How is Pele, the Goddess of Fire and Volcanoes, connected to Scorpio, sign of deep waters? Pele's liquid fire comes from far below the earth's surface and runs over the land and into the seas, transforming everything in Her path. Her destructive flow is unyielding and Her power is undeniable. The song Pele honors the creative and transformative power of anger and voice, of sacred rage, which is embodied so fully in this historical moment through Black Lives Matter, Indigenous-led environmental justice movements and the unearthing of the true history of the country called the United States of America. Speaking truth to the racism, slavery, genocide and all manner of unspeakable violence that brought into being a country that identifies itself as a model of freedom and independence for all is Scorpio at her best.

In modern astrological schools, Scorpio is ruled by Pluto, a planet named for the Greco-Roman god of the underworld, a mysterious entity presiding over the dead and buried. The archetypes that underlie these patriarchal names predate human existence. The energy we are talking about when we say “Scorpio” or “Pluto,” is very nearly delegitimized by the historical moment in which these names came forth. When we shed the patriarchal projections and limitations they impose, we can see Pele rising to the surface once again. She is older, wiser, darker, stronger and far more expansive than Pluto. It is Her spirit that we feel move through us when we experience Scorpio energy.

Astrologically, the United States is moving through their Pluto return, a moment when Pluto is in the same position in the sky as it was when a handful of white men declared that this land was theirs, simultaneously spouting words of freedom and liberty while still violently oppressing, owning and displacing other human beings. As Pluto is a slow moving cosmic body, this is the first (and likely the last) Pluto return this nation has ever experienced. The hidden, minimized or justified cruelty that formed this country is being laid bare more extensively than at any other time in history. Holy fury will set us free. Holy fury is the compassion fueled and sacred rage evoked in response to present and past violence, particularly violence perpetrated by white, self-proclaimed Christian men towards any who were not/are not white, Christian men.

Holy fury is also the energy inside of the rage. The energy that propels what's beneath the surface to rise up, destroying what does not belong and bringing justice, or karmic fulfillment, in its place. Lush communities of flowers, plants, trees and animals come to life from the ashes of Pele's volcanic explosions. So too, justice, truth and shared power are going to rise from the ashes of exposing genocide, greed and hate.

If we shift now from the macrocosm to the microcosm, where do you find yourself in relation to this energy? Intimidated? Numb? Enlivened? Irritated? Disengaged? Enraged? Grief-stricken? Overwhelmed? There's no wrong answer. The work is in being with what you find as gently and openly as you can. In some moments, you simply don't have access to gentleness, and that is holy too. In these moments, it is pure fire ripping through you. We are in a collective moment in which Pele's magma is breaking forth and moving through each of us. You have entered a birthing process that is also a dying process. Some of your armor will go up in flames.

Scorpio is scorching, painful, breaking through the psychic chains, the mantle, the crust...naming a wound not yet named or a fear too shrouded in shame to admit to even yourself. Pele is your companion on this journey. She is a worthy guide who knows the way. Whenever you are in underworld energy, She is there by your side. Even, or rather, especially when you are on your knees pleading, sobbing, when your blood is boiling and you're screaming nonsense, when it seems all love and compassion have totally forsaken you and you find yourself in the bowels of hell. She is with you there. She doesn't float above the surface of things, She can't. She is here for the wicked raw excavating of things you didn't even know you had hidden within you. She stays by your side to help you stay by your own side, to remind you that you are no less loved for your scars and shadows. It doesn't serve you or the world to hide those places from yourself. It is in knowing these that we birth new life upon this land. When the hidden things break through with the fire of consciousness, we can truly be of service, be in integrity, and love ourselves completely.

Prayer for Scorpio Season

Creative Mother, to you I pray

Goddess Pele, to you I pray

Volcanic, Explosive Queen

Ruler of the hidden and unseen

Guide me on my underworld journey

Grant me the courage to face

What I cannot see

Awaken me

Transform me

Destroy and Re-From me

Holy Fury, set me free

Note: This is the first in a thirteen chapter journey through the songs of Somebody Calling, and the zodiacal calendar. Full disclaimer, I am a psychotherapist, I am not an astrologer, so my musings on the zodiacal energies of these songs is that of a layperson. The next installment will emerge at the Winter Solstice and the subsequent chapters will come out every month thereafter, somewhere between the 20th and 22nd. You may note that we are jumping from Scorpio to Capricorn. This is intentional in order to conclude with the expansive, hopeful energy of Sagittarius in 2021. If you are interested in exploring astrology further, I highly recommend the following founts of wisdom:

If you are interested in exploring the underworld of your own psychic terrain with a spiritually grounded psychotherapist, you can learn more about me and how I work here.

If you would like to participate in a New Moon in Scorpio Women's Goddess Circle with Spiral Muse priestess Kathleen, find details here.