♏ Scorpio

Scorpio – ♏ – Scorpion – Reincarnation – October 23/November 21 – Water – Fixed – Yin (-) – Interpersonal – Pluto

Scorpio is the Scorpion. He is strongly associated with the thirteenth Trump of the Tarot deck, Death. It is this association with Death that comes out most strongly in Scorpio’s association with the House of Reincarnation, as Reincarnation and the Cycle/Circle of Life is the meaning of Death in most Tarot readings. In its association with this House, Scorpio represents cyclical change, sexual relationships, rebirth, and hidden meanings and transformation. Scorpio is a complex Sun Sign, as in many regards by its nature it is the Sun Sign of complexity and inner meaning.

Scorpio is also in the element of Water, meaning that it is a passive Sign that deals with emotions (its passivity, of course, best exemplified by its Yin polarity). Scorpio transforms and renews, but it does not initiate this action; rather, it transforms and renews once a cycle is completed. In this way, Scorpio is of the Fixed Modality, representing stability through movement (similar to the meaning of the Tarot card the Two of Disks/Pentacles/Coins, or Change) and cycles. It takes the new ideas thought up by Libras and transforms them into something more accessible to others, making them more emotional, in keeping with Scorpio’s watery theme. At the same time, however, the original meaning of these ideas are not lost, and a deeper level of understanding always exists in whatever a Scorpio might say. They have deep personalities and complex emotions, but do their best to maintain the status quo by constantly transforming the situation around them.

The Sun Sign of Scorpio is also of the Interpersonal orientation, meaning that Scorpios define themselves in terms of their relationships to other people. Indeed, Scorpios transform the ideas of the Libras for the sake of others, and do their best to create security for those around them by their constant adjustments and renewals. Terr Pratchett best expressed this idea of constant renewal to create stability in his book Thief of Time, with the idea that at the hypothetical smallest possible unit of time, the universe is destroyed and then created, constantly in a cycle of destruction and creation. Scorpio represents this idea astrologically.

Scorpio is ruled by the planet of Pluto, which reinforces its association with the spirit of Death, representing renewal and transformation.