In the Northern Hemisphere, the month of Scorpio - October 23 through November 22 - is the time of year when summer is giving way to winter. The last flowers have bloomed, the leaves are changing color and the hillsides are brown. Dark, cold winter looms inevitably ahead.

Scorpio has a reputation as a serious sign. These are people you don't want to mess around with. After all, who can take lightly the issues related to the sign Scorpio - sex, death and the occult? Scorpio is associated with Mars and Pluto - two heavy-handed Olympians. Mars was the god of war; in an astrological chart Mars describes our ability to protect ourselves and to get what we want. Pluto was the god of the underworld and symbolizes the inevitability of death. Pluto is associated with transformation and is said to rule events such as earthquakes and volcanic eruptions.

Scorpio represents some pretty intense forces in life. And indeed, most Scorpios are intense individuals - although you won't necessarily see that on the surface. These are very private people who do not like to put their stuff out for all to see. Letting others see what one is really feeling is a way to lose power in the eternal game of life.

Power is a key issue for Scorpio - as it is for the other three "fixed" signs as well - Taurus, Leo and Aquarius. Scorpio understands that power is an essential aspect of human relationships - and that not all can be seen on the surface of any interaction between two humans. This water sign pays attention to all that is not said, but is deeply felt. Scorpio is a relationship sign; most natives long deeply for a total and complete exchange between themselves and another. This longing is the basis of a deeply felt sexual drive. The expression of this "urge to merge" ranges from the sublime to the degraded depending on the age, maturity and evolution of the individual.

Scorpio represents the point on the wheel of the zodiac when the individual is moving toward integration into the collective. First comes the desire to relate - expressed in Libra - and then the desire to ground the relationship in physical reality. Scorpio is associated with the human practices that bind relationship - sex, business contracts (including the marriage contract) and ritual. In Scorpio the separation from the collective is felt most painfully. The desire to escape the confines of the human body and to merge with the "other" is intense. How the "other" is defined, and the means utilized to pursue this "other", becomes the major path of growth for the Scorpio individual.

Sign of the Times Archive:

 Aries  |  Taurus  |  Gemini  |  Cancer  |  Leo  |  Virgo  |  Libra  |  Scorpio  |  Sagittarius  |  Capricorn  |  Aquarius  |  Pisces 

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