What better glass, darkly, through which to view life’s fleeting nature, its fathomless depths, than that of the sign of Scorpio?
Scorpio New Moon
Now is Scorpio’s season
The thirty degree band of the sky as viewed from Earth, occupying from 240 to 270 degrees of the 360 degree zodiac, is the sector called Scorpio, the beginning of the final quarter of the zodiacal year. The Sun, our marker for the unfolding of the year and the changing of the seasons, entered Scorpio this year on the 22nd October, and leaves it for Sagittarius on the 21st November – heading for Capricorn and the winter Solstice on 21st December: the Sun’s most remote point for us in the North.
The astronomy leads us to the symbolic meaning of Scorpio. It is the time of late autumn: in this season the clocks go back, making darkness come earlier. It is the time of grass dying off, trees being stripped bare of leaves, a time of retreat: warmer clothes, more heating, putting things off, often, “….until the New Year”. Energy is lower. Winter flu scythes away many of our old folk. In Greek myth, the goddess Demeter goes into mourning for her beloved daughter Persephone, abducted to his Underworld realm by Hades, king of darkness. The Upper world mourns with her.
A Scorpio poet’s view
However – descent into darkness harbours its own deep, creative purpose. The Scottish poet Christopher Whyte, born with several planets in Scorpio, expresses that purpose with profound eloquence in this extract from his poem Rex Tenebrarum (King of Darkness), an English translation by the poet himself of a poem written in Scottish Gaelic:
“……How heavy the earth is above the seed
that struggles and thrusts, looking for nourishment
from the sun, and showers to freshen it!
But if it wasn’t rooted in the darkness,
in a warm, enclosed place filled with worms,
it could do nothing with air or light…..
King of the darkness, king of the world,
when I saw two faces in the mirror
superimposed, made one, I understood
that you have to be reconciled.
Unless the sapling knows
where its roots are sunk, and the whole
plant admits that life
and nourishment come from darkness;
unless it has unequivocal
love for what bore and raised it
how can there be a rich
summer flowering for our hopes? “
The astrological writer Paul Wright reveals in his fine, acclaimed book The Literary Zodiac, the way in which “writers express cosmic patterns in their creative work….”. In the above extract Christopher Whyte’s deep roots in the sign of Scorpio have enabled him powerfully and accurately to capture and express the essence of that sector’s meaning and challenge to us.
All powerfully charged dimensions of life belong to Scorpio: that stage of the human journey challenges us with those facets of life which most powerfully compel us, attract us, repel us, scare us – and transform us.
Another poet very strongly rooted in the sign of Scorpio, Dylan Thomas, talks about ‘deaths and entrances’. Thomas was born, fittingly, in Scorpio’s season: on the 27th October 1914, the year of the start of the Great War.
If we can face and grapple with our deepest attractions, compulsions, power drives, fears and repulsions, then we can experience – through staying with the struggle, seeking support where we can, having faith in the transformative dimensions of life – the symbolic death of aspects of the ‘old order’ holding us back from entry into a more complete and authentic expression of who it is we actually are.
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What does this New Moon, ushering in Scorpio’s season, mean to you? Do share your thoughts and feelings!
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Christopher Whyte
Christopher Whyte has translated Rilke, Tsvetaeva and Pasolini into English. He published four novels between 1995 and 2000 and his fifth poetry collection, in Scottish Gaelic, appeared in 2013. His translation of the work of the Russian poet Marina Tsvetaeva (1892-1941) “Moscow in the Plague Year” was published in 2014 (New York, Archipelago Press 2014). He lives in Budapest, Hungary and writes full-time.
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700 words copyright Anne Whitaker/Christopher Whyte 2016
Licensed under Creative Commons – for conditions see Home Page
Astrology: Questions and Answers 
Reblogged this on Orthometry.
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Many thanks, GT!
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You are welcome! I think I hear a song of some kind hidden in here, maybe something like “Ode to Billy Joe”…. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HaRacIzZSPo
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You could be right, GT! I remember the song well…it haunted the middle period of my youth for quite a while. Very dark…
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Perfect for “Scorpio Season,” right? As an aside, I was born and grew up in the “delta” myself. (But not precisely in the region where the song was set.) I know the feeling / culture / mindset well.
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Thanks for this really enjoyable little article Anne – couple of things tho
on an astrological note how do you arrive at the 270 – 300 degrees sector, what are you using as your starting point? I normally associate Scorpio with 210-240…..and Cap with 270-300….
on a more personal note, and I profess a certain bias, with Mars ruling my Sun, Scorp Asc and Pluto squaring the horizon….but, people focus so much on the dark side of Scorpio; the entry into the winter months, which itself is hemisphere biased, and its seasonal connotations are easy meat and I often wonder if it is the non-Scorpio projection that we are seeing, at least colouring this view, as well as a more discreet cultural bias…..it is beyond doubt that Scorps can be moody, but, they can also be very funny, yes sardonic at an extreme, but, acutely observant with it…..so, I would like to lay down the gauntlet and challenge you to write about the ‘light’ within Scorpio…..
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Many thanks for taking the time and trouble to pick up on my typo, Rob. Duly fixed…
The whole post – especially the extract from Christopher Whyte’s wonderfully celebratory poem – is an evocation and affirmation of the potent creative power of Scorpio energy, and the light that flows from facing and honouring that dark power. What a pity it didn’t resonate with you…
Many thanks for dropping by.
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Via Facebook: 7.11.16:
Allan Wong:
Beautifully written.A joy to read.
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Many thanks, Allan, and for all your generous support of my work.
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Via Facebook: 7.11.16:
Stephanie Marie Cordodor:
Its a season but for me its everyday, every minute, every second I live with scorpio energy. Sun-0 degrees scorpio, mercury retrograde in scorpio conjunct uranus in my 9th, sun, pluto and lilith in my 8th.
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Thanks for your feedback, Stephanie! My, that is intense…and thanks for sharing the post.
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Via Facebook:
8.11.16:
Wilma Gibson
Being a sidereal girl, I was telling folk to put their costumes for Halloween away until 16th Nov…when the Sun enters Scorpio on the sidereal calendar. When the portals to the underworld are opened and the ferry man carries the dead to the other side…but also when the reverse can happen…so to speak. I was conceived at Halloween (tropically so)…born (harvested) on a Lammas full moon. I like the story of Lugh and his half mortal son, Cuchulain. The watery depths of Scorpio too deep to fathom, even unto themselves…go too deep and you may drown down there.
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Hi Wilma, thanks for dropping by with this intriguing sidereal take…yes, I too am a fan of those powerful, dark stories of the Ulster Cycle and the Táin Bó Cúailnge that legendary tale from early Irish literature…very Scorpionic!
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8.11.16:
Mo Batchelor
the sentence in bold at the end is the crux of my experienced spirituality boiled down to poetic truth, throughout my life. I have Neptune in Scorpio conjunct Jupiter and North Node in Libra, with Scorpio on the western horizon…
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Hi Mo
thank you so much for affirming this. The statement arises from my own lifetime experience of having Pluto conjunct five planets in the 12th House, square Jupiter in Scorpio. So it pleases me greatly that the essence of my conclusion resonates with your life’s experience!
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For me The New Moon in Scorpio heralds MY time of year. Being a Sagittarian (but a bit of a secret Scorpio) and a redheaded Celt, this time of year resonates with my soul. Vibrant colours and moody weather reflect my inner being and when the Sun shines at this time of year it illuminates with an intensity no summer day can ever hope to match. Keep your apathetic summer – for me THIS is the time of year I feel alive!! I daresay that will not surprise you Anne ;-D
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Many thanks for this poetic affirmation, Carole! And – NO – I am not surprised. Feel much the same way myself…
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