NOTES
ON SIDEREAL SCORPIO
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Note: This article is an abridged draft which is posted temporarily until the full article (or chapter) on Scorpio is completed. This article contains a brief introduction to zodiac signs, and was originally placed on the Yahoo Sidereal astrology forum.
To study signs I believe we have to go back to the dawn of astrology in Mesopotamia and Hellenistic times. Three important concepts come from Mesopotamia:
(1) A 12 sign zodiac of 30 degree signs with sign boundaries marked by various stars. (There is no record of a zodiac marked by Aldebaran/Antares.)
(2) The exaltation (secret places) constellations (not signs) of the planets
(3) The sign trigons where each trigon was considered a distinct entity of three signs linked to one of the four winds.
Astrology today still has the same 12 sign zodiac, and the Greeks adopted the planetary “secret houses” and fit them to the zodiac signs. Sign trigons (triplicities) have always been recognized through the centuries. It can probably be said that a debt we owe to tropical astrology is the recognition of the distinct “energies” of the trigons (so-called fire, earth, air and water). Hellenistic astrology also added the category of diurnal (of the solar sect) and nocturnal (of the lunar sect) signs which today we call masculine and feminine signs.
It doesn’t matter what sign names we give to these specific tones or energies. The energy seems to belong to unique divisions of the ecliptic. These energies are harmonic in nature, but as yet we don’t know what astronomical factor is the initiation point of harmonics. We can only observe that what seem to be harmonics exist.
Sidereal Scorpio belongs to the emotionally expressive, outwardly focused Cancer trigon. In Hellenistic times this trigon was said to come under the rulership of Mars and Venus. Lilly gave this trigon to Mars alone. Right off the bat we can see that Mars is not a suitable ruler for quieter, more inner directed tropical Cancer-Scorpio-Pisces, but would much better fit tropical “fire” signs. These “fiery” signs are in the ecliptic area of the sidereal Cancer trigon, suitably ruled by Mars. So the first theoretical concept on which to build Scorpio characteristics is the unique energy of its trigon (which incorporates the diurnal/nocturnal (male/female) divisions).
In Scorpio we’d have the most blatant expression of the energy of this trigon since Scorpio’s traditional lord is Mars. In Hellenistic times Mars was said to be more like itself in Scorpio, its own nocturnal sign rather than Aries, a diurnal sign belonging to the Sun-Jupiter trigon. So the second theoretical concept for Scorpio would be the characteristics of the Greek Ares/Roman Mars.
Yes, relating signs to western deities does restrict their meanings, but astrology as we know it today is built on a solidly western foundation. This western foundation is also the basis of the Jyotish zodiac. In Hellenistic times each sign was said to be “the star of” one of the Greek deities. The God acted as sort of a protector of the sign. So here I’m giving a very much abridged list of concepts for Scorpio, especially as related to the Greek Ares.
CANCER TRIGON WITH SOME ARES/MARS:
Emotionally
expressive, out-going energy; Likes exchange and repartee. May tend to
instigate arguments and “rock the boat” for attention or just for the
love of interaction with others. This love of energy exchange can be expressed
in athletic competition. Scorpio likes didactic exchange and having many
friends.
GREEK ARES/ROMAN MARS:
Freedom loving, wants to go
its own way. Ares was something of a rebellious outcast among the Gods, and was
not liked for this reason.
Tends to be ceaselessly active: Ares was happy in the thick of battle, not one to sit around thinking and contemplating philosophy.
Direct and quick: possible “foot in mouth” disease: The God of war wasn’t into empathy, preferred jumping into any battle at hand.
Others can feel a strong psychic energy from this sign (The fiery action-oriented energy of Ares/Mars.)
Planets in this sign may coerce others through its strong energy.
Acts first, thinks later (Mars action-energy) Thus can be heedless and insensitive.
Scorpio can be linked to crime and bloodshed: Ares was not favored on Olympus because of his fierceness and love of battle.
Scorpio can be linked to athletics, again due to the rulership of Ares/Mars who was primarily a physically active god.
Body part: external genitals (sexual area)
Group Involvement: Ares/Mars typically operated in the midst of an army. An army is a group of people with a single goal, and Scorpio can relate to group endeavors of any kind. It can be an excellent sign for political endeavors and activism, for (in theory) it can relate to the mobilization of group energy. The group may be a classroom of students with Scorpio taking the teaching role, the local football or basketball team, an activist group fighting for civil rights, or even the family when it operates as a unified whole. (Incidently, this places group activity in the 8th house rather than the 11th.) The strongly Scorpio individual may find himself working with different groups of people for social, humane or religious causes.
The above encompasses the main points of a beginning theory for Sidereal Scorpio. The next step was to search ADB for charts with stelliums in Scorpio.
SCORPIO HOROSCOPES
Seaching ADB for Scorpio horoscopes turned out to be a very interesting exercise. As a beginning, I searched for two types of charts:
(1) Scorpio stelliums which incluced Sun, Moon, Mars and
Mercury
(2) Charts with Sun in Scorpio in 10th square the
ascendant within 7 degrees. These charts invariably had additional planets in
Scorpio.
In all there were 28 charts with enough information in the biography to use for this small project.
(Remember that in general these would be in tropical Sagittarius, though planets very early in sidereal Scorpio would also be in tropical Scorpio.) All these charts may be viewed and printed from the Wiki ADB site: http://www.astro.com/astro-databank/Main_Page
Findings:
8 charts belonged to media
personalities and actors/actresses
7 belonged to sports professionals
3
belonged to teachers/professors, writers who founded their own schools
3
were activists or politicians
3 were performing musicians (singers)
1
pragmatic astrologer who worked with factual data and had a number of surgeries
(Mars)
3 really bad criminals (homocides)
Now at first glance this seems like an eclectic group, but when biographical data is studied, there are some common themes. Note that there are no “loner” occupations in this group--no artists or designers or writers who create in isolation. No lab technicians or lone inventors. So let’s take a look at the individuals:
MEDIA PERSONALITIES
Howard Sheldon (4 planet stellium plus So Node in 2nd and
3rd), astrologer, radio show host listed in the Guiness Book of World Records
as taking 388,289 phone calls in a single night. (speed, high energy)
Incidentally, Sheldon has the same birth date as the infamous and
macabre mass murderer, Ted Bundy, whom I’ll discuss below.
Dick Clark (4 planet stellium), “oldest living teenager,” emcee, disk jockey. Called “indefatigable” (More quotes below)
Danny DeVito (4 planet stellium), actor, director (quotes below)
Alessandro Momo (N Node, Sun, Saturn, Mercury in 10th); Actor, sex symbol (Personality not known)
Lorraine Kelly (5 planet stellium in 12th); Journalist, TV presenter; Impressed her employers with the speed that she arrived on locations. Called the sexiest woman on TV.
Eric Edwards (Venus, Sun, Mercury in 7th); porn star [sex] in over 500 films; Also director and film editor--active
SPORTS (7)
ALL of the sports people
(athletes, commentators, managers, owners) were involved in team sports: rugby,
baseball, soccer, football, hockey. Olympic hockey coach Shannon Miller was
also a police woman (Sun/Mer/Moon/Ve/Mars in Scorpio 6th and
7th)
ACTIVISTS
James
Groppi (Sun/Mer/Ve/MC in 10th) Priest who was active in civil
rights.
David Feinberg (N Node/Sun/Sat/Mer/MC in 10th);
political activist, arrested several times.
TEACHERS/PROFESSORS
(3) Wrote books, founded
schools (with a MISSION to “spread the word”) These include Karen
Hamaker-Zondag (Sun/Mercury in 10th) Why was she a teacher/writer
rather than an athelete? This is where Hellenistic astrology is helpful. Both
Sun and Mercury are in the terms of Mercury. Also included is Bruno Huber whose
10th house Sun is in the terms of Mercury.
SINGERS/SONGWRITERS (all with Scorpio stelliums); Why a singing profession rather than athletics? Astrologers know that zodiac signs can assist chart interpretation, but we also need aspects and other factors to complete chart analysis. Lately I've found the Hellenistic and Medieval terms or bounds helpful in noting key activities for a person. The bounds are specific areas of each sign that are said to come under the rulership of one of the five traditional planets. Thus, an athlete may have no Scorpio planets, but key planets may be in the bounds of Mars. In the case of the three musicians, the vibrant energy of Scorpio is present, but Venus points to music rather than athletics.
Harry Chapin: Mercury applies to Venus (2 degree orb) in the bounds of Saturn in the 5th in Venus-ruled Taurus)
Gene Clark: Venus on the ascendant (folk and country rock)
Livingston Taylor: (Sun/Ve/Me/MC Scorpio); Venus applies to Mercury
All three are energetic performers.
CRIMINALS
Pablo Escobar, drug kingpin
and terrorist. Why? MC/Sun/Mer in 10th in Scorpio, but
squared by Mars/Saturn in Leo in the bound of Mars. Sun/Mercury
“collects” the energy of “Martian” Saturn/Mars in the
7th.
And finally the infamous Ted Bundy (Mer/Sun/S.Node/Mars/Moon in Scorpio in 4th) It’s interesting to compare Bundy’s chart with Howard Sheldon who was born the same day, but much earlier. In Sheldon’s chart Mars is at the end of the stellium, not applying to any planet. In Bundy’s chart Mars has moved to within a few degrees of applying to the Moon. There are other differences, but this illustrates the importance of the order of planets in a stellium, one of the factors emphasized in both Jyotish and Hellenistic astrology. Containment is important: which two planets enclose any other planet.
SUMMARY
It would seem that in general
Scorpio is a youthful, high octane, energetic sign. Those with planets in
Scorpio will want to be “up and doing.” They may excel as a member of
sports teams, be political, social or religious activists, be teachers with a
cause who may enjoy founding schools for the dissemination of doctrine, or they
may be energetic media hosts or performing musicians or actors/actresses who
take youthful, athletic roles. This is not a sign for quiet studious
occupations, and it’s not a sign for artists who may mainly work alone in
their studios. In this list there are no work-alone artists or designers or
other occupations that aren’t linked to many others in the environment.
The writers in the group are also activists or teacher/founders.
SOME QUOTES:
Dick Clark: “What I do...is what people
want.”
Off camera, Clark was known as a driven perfectionist and
demanding taskmaster with an ego- deflating temper.
“I hate lazy
people...”
A patron of perpetual youth.
“I’ve been real
lucky to be involved in SO MANY PEOPLE’S lives.
Danny DeVito:
Active in social causes
“It’s only got to do with who you are and your ABILITY TO SNOW
PEOPLE into giving you work.”
Because many ADB bios are very brief, often the information isn’t there for sign concepts. Then we have to extrapolate judged on news reports or how individuals actually spend their lives. Ideally, the discussion of sign traits would take place in a large classroom of astrologers who possess stacks of charts of people they know with large sign stelliums. As can be seen from this brief discussion of Scorpio, the actual traits are probably rather simple and fundamental. They don’t involve complex psychology, which is always in the planets.
Signs seem to relate to a type of energy the person expresses or is comfortable with in the environment. Thus, an occupation or profession relates to that energy. Scorpio doesn’t want to sit at home twiddling its thumbs. It wants to perform, organize, teach, act, be involved in life in the world outside.
Therese Hamtilton
22 September 2009
©2009 Therese Hamilton