Scorpio Season
scorpio
October 23rd - November 21st
Rulers - Pluto and Mars
Shrewd, Magnetic, Controlling, Stubborn, Brave, Intense, Intuitive
Look, goddammit, Scorpio season is not what everyone thinks it is. It isn't that Scorpio wants to cause pain or exert sexual control (although such tendencies are definitely present) so much as Scorpio needs to uncover truth. Fall children cannot be blamed when those truths are usually entangled with the aforementioned pain and sexual entanglement - that is simply the human condition, and it bothers Scorpio when people try to hide from it. The sign of autumn and natural death is both feared and desired, not because of nefarious manipulation, (well, not always due to that) but because scorpion children suss out difficult revelations and force reckonings that are both terrifying and necessary, requiring destruction and rebirth of the self. A Scorpio might kill you, and they might also save you - by engendering the kind of self-confrontation that makes most other signs tremble, cower, and run. They're also really, really, inexplicably hot. I'd say Scorpio is sorry, but they're never sorry. Deal with it.
ELEMENT
Full disclosure: Scorpios hate that they are water signs. They hate it. If the aquatic zodiac brings images of blubbery tears and eternal hurt feelings to mind, making you want to smack someone and find an Aries to go hang out with, you're not alone - Scorpio feels that way too.
Much to their chagrin, the deep, capital F feelings of Cancer are present in autumn children, but they are far more skillfully hidden, often channeled into psychological or occult work that soothes the Scorpio desire to control emotion. Shadow decks like this one can be difficult for many to interpret, but Scorpio essentially lives in these shadowy places. Depressive Piscean tendencies skirt the edges of Scorpio life as well, but they tend to transform into dark determination in the Scorpio mind, usually released as terrible, obsessive vengeance. Onyx, obsidian, and black tourmaline can help ground Scorpio and protect them from their own violent urges.
MODALITY
" I'm so far inside you now I am your silhouette."
Greg Dulli
Fixed signs anchor the world with their immutable determination, quite literally in the case of tarot and witchcraft, wherein Taurus, Leo, Scorpio, and Aquarius signify the unchanging directions of the universe. The Bull will not budge in his sensuality, The Lion remains firm in his actions, and Aquarius knows his thoughts and intelligence are unimpeachable. For Scorpio, it is feelings that rarely change, making this fixed water sign like black ice on the road - it looks like something harmless and common until you touch it, and then all hell breaks loose. The myth of Hades (Pluto for you Romans reading this) and Persephone is historically associated with Scorpio, who often exhibits unrelenting obsession as the Lord of the Underworld pursuing his greatest desire. If Cancer is a summer lake and Pisces the sublimation of ice into fog, Scorpio is the newly frozen pond surrounded by stalactites - weird, mesmerizing, and lethal. Blessed with powers of persuasion rivaling Satan himself, most Scorpios love to be gifted with tools that get them both who and what they want, so candles, spell kits, and aromatherapy are all on the table this season.
TAROT
Like its adjacent zodiac sign, the thirteenth card of the tarot is subject to pervasive myths and misapprehensions regarding its axis meaning. Death and his pale horse usually ride in to actualize what Hunter S. Thompson referred to as "an agonizing reappraisal of the whole scene,'" which can happen socially, culturally, globally, emotionally, and yes, sometimes physically in the form of natural death. It always shows up when drastic change is imminent and necessary, occurring whether we enjoy the fallout or not. Death reversed doesn't mean the change can be prevented, but will perhaps be transmuted due to procrastination or refusal to face reality. We can forgive Scorpios* their proclivity for destruction, then, because it comes from a place of charity - we cannot become immortal, soaring phoenix without burning everything to ashes first, and fortune favors the brave. It is common to bemoan certain deficiencies in the Scorpios around us, their lack of equitable assessment, inability to forgive, and stubborn refusal to consider literally any point of view beside their own. Yet few other signs display the kind of bravery that Scorpios possess in abundance - staggering and immovable, like looking death in the face and never flinching.
*Although, Scorpio, people might be more forgiving if you stopped wearing a thigh dagger and relaying conversations you had in a mortuary with deceased relatives during casual interactions. Maybe cool it with the cemetery shit in mixed company, is all we're saying.
STYLE
"There is something about fashion that can make people really nervous."
Anna Wintour
The Grande Dame and resident Vogue Scorpio is not wrong; fashion can be weaponized to shatter boundaries and burn down preconceptions, fraying certain nerves of less adventurous souls along the way. For this reason alone, Scorpio is not often garbed in overtly showy or scandalous ensembles - not only is it unnecessary, but showy, sex-forward outfits are seen as conventional by Scorpio, who loves nothing more than to challenge and irritate through sartorialism. This is a sign that will wear a high thigh harness to accentuate the pelvic anatomy they rule, but will also pair it with a bat-like cape and knitted pants to obscure the message. Why? Because it is unexpected, which knocks admirers off their game and solidifies the power of perception firmly in Scorpio's manipulative grip.
Silhouettes that manage to be simultaneously intimate and alarming are ideal for scorpions; think formidably large jackets, knits that telegraph authority and power, and streamlined leather pants. For Scorpios capable of a bit more levity,(and the gods know most of them need it) look to sexualized prints with a bit of cheekiness, or layering pieces illustrated with artistic weapons.
Given their Plutonian obsession for extremes, most Scorpios will either go heavy with adornment or eschew it altogether. For the former, contemplate unique pieces that incorporate necromantic leanings, like vertebrae earrings or coffin nail pendants, ensuring that Scorpio's happy place, (which, fyi, is wherever dead people hang out) always follows them.
MUSIC
"You're just the torch to put the flame to all our guilt and shame - and I'll rise like an ember in your name ."
Jeff Buckley
Eighth house denizens have more animal avatars than any other zodiac sign, because dramatic transformation is a constant state for them. Much as the scorpion evolves into the wolf, which then evolves into a fiery phoenix, this playlist includes bitter resentment and violent tendencies that morph slowly into love songs* and the circumspect, zen acceptance of endings. Swans, The Police, Bauhaus, Chelsea Wolfe, Hozier, and adorable Scorpio Jeff Buckley make heavy contributions to keep us all determined, mystical, obsessive, and in control.
*By that we mean lust. These are unabashedly lust songs.