Scorpio Season: Decay and The Art of Grieving
Welcome to Scorpio season, the time when the Sun ingresses in the tropical sign of the Scorpion.
Having grown up in Western Europe, late October-November has consistently been my least favourite time of the year. Cold, grey and sad, with the days getting shorter and none of the holidays typically celebrated in the U.S like Halloween or Thanksgiving to bring in some excitement, I would dread this season and it couldn’t be over fast enough to my taste.
Years later, when I developed my interest in astrology, I was hardly surprised to learn that the sign of Scorpio was traditionally ruled by planet Mars, the lesser malefic. Strife, discord and resentment all felt very appropriate in relation to how I felt towards this season. Since then, I have learned a great deal, and perhaps one of the most useful lessons astrology has taught me: everything has its place, and its role to play — including the not-so-fun times. Let me tell you a bit about Scorpio season and its importance!
It’s important to remember that a ‘season’ refers to the time of the year the Sun transits this sign in the tropical zodiac (not the actual constellation because of precession, but the area of the sky we have designed as such). As the giver of light, life and the centre of our solar system, the Sun illuminates a specific area when it transits a sign. Its journey through the zodiac shows the importance of seasonality, a factor which has always been crucial to humanity as it indicated when and where to live, harvest food, gather for social and sacred rites, etc. When we describes the signs, it’s always in relation to seasonality & weather conditions (in the Northern hemisphere) for that reason: they are at the centre of human life & societies. Each sign shows one of three moments in a given season.
When the Sun is in Scorpio, it’s in a fixed, water sign: fixed, because it represents the middle of autumn. In the Northern hemisphere, the weather is getting harsher, everything starts to feel really autumn-y. Most importantly, this is when things are in a process of decay: the harvest of Virgo Season has passed, the first brown leaves of Libra season have been swept: we are now in the *dead* of autumn, and well past the equinox.
In modern astrology, a great emphasis has been put on Scorpio (and Pluto, by association) on the process of ‘transformation’. What is transforming there? Scorpio season makes it quite obvious: we are moving from an abundant period, to one of scarcity. The plants & trees have to decay and die, so that the soil may be nourished, recover and perform its annual cycles so that abundance may come back.
Sometimes, we are quick to try & find the positive in an inherently negative process: as soon as we talk decay & death, we want to talk about renewal. About the necessary aspect of this cycle, so that we can have better days ahead. And it’s important to talk about this, to feed our hopes & light to give us strength! I believe it’s as equally important to talk about the ugly, difficult part for the sake of it, so that we can understand and honour its role.
All around the world, the summer of 2022 has been a difficult one: record droughts and heatwaves, floods and other natural disasters, all signs that climate change is more serious than ever, and that we have to find solutions accordingly. Why is that? The absurdity of our current mode of consumption is being exposed: exponential growth on finite resources, when we are perfectly capable of living within the limits of what we already have. This is because we don’t let nature rest, recover and carry out its cycles: birth, growth, maturity, decay and death. We fish, harvest, kill when it isn’t the time yet.
I am not saying this to fuel anxiety about the state of the world, but to illuminate how astrology reflects these essential cycles, and why perpetually looking for perfection and constant growth/achievement/life when it isn’t there is not sustainable: we are part of this cycle. Scorpio season is a time for “corruption” as an essential Mars quality: a time of austerity, parsimony and fundamentally: doing our best with what we got, even and especially when it’s not much. This is perhaps illustrated by the characteristics of Scorpio as a sign: ‘obsession’ is a key word, alongside persistence, fixation, inward-looking intensity, a quiet yet piercing and perceptive gaze into things. Scorpio as a fixed water signs may be symbolised by an extremely strong stream of water, like karcher: intense, focused, and ultimately revealing. It has the persistence & precision of Mars. During Scorpio season, the lack of abundance pushes us to make tactical choices, forcing us to review limited options rather than having the abundance of choice.
This is particularly true in 2022, as the North & South Node are respectively transiting the Taurus/Scorpio axis. The solar eclipse on October 25, 2022 marks a crucial moment, as Venus (the planet of harmony and pleasure) is debilitated while the fallen Moon all transit this sign. In the dramatic moment of an eclipse, we are forced to look at the unpleasant yet profound realities represented by the season: we need to make room for separation, scarcity and austerity. We need to make more space for decay and natural processes of decline around us, so that things may be reborn once again. This means: slowing down, and tending to the sick, the suffering within and outside of ourselves.
Our societies rarely make room for this. Capitalism and ‘exponential growth’ ideologies provoke deaths by the billions, but refuse to provide decent forms of care, or to make space for those who are fragile, weak and who need help. It refuses to slow down, even when pandemics and natural disasters show how unbalanced, unnatural and unfair the system is. The eclipse in Scorpio illuminates what we have known for decades: this is not sustainable.
This isn’t to stay that you should ‘make the most of a difficult time’: humans are repulsed by decaying or rotten things for a reason, which is that consuming something rotten or expired can result in illness & death. This is to say that you have every right to feel revulsed, hopeless and tired by the state of things. You are allowed to not want constant productivity, to slow down and rest. If nature isn’t moving, why should you? Let this Scorpio season remind you that you are not a machine, and it’s not because it’s extremely hard to change a broken system that you can’t feel upset and exhausted by it. Another world is possible, but before envisioning it, you can also take the time you need to mourn, and just feel upset with no obligation to turn it into something beautiful. Even autumn aesthetics have their limits.
A very literal example of the necessity of decay as represented by the sign of Scorpio is fire-stick farming, an agricultural practice of Aboriginal Australians (and practiced by many other Indigenous people & cultures around the globe). This practice consists in burning vegetation in specific areas: this allows the soil to recover and become more fertile, increases biodiversity, control weeds and reduce the risk of fire & destruction in these areas. As illustrated by this (very Martial and fiery) example, death and decay are not only beneficial to life, they are an essential part of it and must be given there rightful place. Scorpio season is about just that: by giving their place to grief and mourning, we make room for life.
This Scorpio season, I hope you receive all the space you need to be slow and strategic about your resources. May this eclipse start a season of change and of rest: we all deserve it.