Entering the Scorpio Zone

It happens every October 23nd (sometimes on the 22nd), but trust me, you ain't seen anything like this particular Sun-in-Scorpio ingress. If you are susceptible to motion sickness, grab the Dramamine; if you are susceptible to jet lag, break out them melatonin pills.

We're not talking about subtlety here. When you went to bed last night, the Sun, Moon, and Venus were all in Libra. As of this writing, the Sun has entered Scorpio, Venus is in the last gasp of Libra, and the Moon is just behind Venus in very late Libra. So right now, we are straddling the astrological equivalent of the International Date Line. Within three hours Venus and the Moon enter Scorpio, almost instantly come together in a conjunction (5:12 p.m. ET), and the Solar Eclipse occurs just before 6 p.m.

This very rare stellium at 0 degrees of Scorpio may serve as a much-needed renewal trigger for water-sign individuals (or those who have many planets in the water element), as Scorpio is all about transformation and regeneration, the phoenix rising from the ashes. Since Venus is involved (and catches up with the Sun this Saturday at 3:31 a.m.), this need for renewal specifically focuses on love and sex -- the latter, of course, is a Scorpio specialty, but the former can be tricky to handle in the sign of the Scorpion, as jealousy and possessiveness can get in the way. The main challenge is to allow yourself to love and desire intensely without trying to own or control the object of your love...if you freak out, your love is sure to object. However, this could be a great time to experiment with BDSM or roleplay in a safe, intimate environment.

Libra can never decide what it truly wants; it swings back and forth on its scales. Scorpio, by contrast, tends toward a starkly black-and-white philosophy and cranks its amp to 11 (that's a Spinal Tap reference, in case you didn't know). For Scorpio, it's yes or no -- "maybe" is for suckers. It's good or bad, right or wrong, stay or go, now or never -- not "it depends." It's all or nothing -- there are no half measures. As you might imagine, this attitude runs into a lot of trouble in situations where compromise and conflict resolution are called for (school, work, family, relationships, friendships, politics -- am I leaving anything out?) and just like shit, ambivalence happens.

Scorpio is a paradox in that it is so stealthy yet also tends to apply its desires with a Vulcan grip; it is perceptive and far more sensitive than its badass rep would suggest, yet its will to not merely survive, but to come out on top cannot be denied. However, the way Scorpio rolls can come in very handy in competition, war, and survival-oriented shit. Scorpio is indeed a survivor (as is the sign Cancer, albeit using a very different tactic).

Such dramatic, whole-hog intensity can also shine through in the arts: think of Pablo Picasso and art nouveau master Theophile Steinlen (both Suns in Scorpio) and Rembrandt (Moon in Scorpio); Maya Plisetskaya, considered one of the best ballerinas of the 20th century; John Keats, Dylan Thomas, Anne Sexton, Sylvia Plath, Fydor Dostoyevsky, and Kurt Vonnegut. On a personal level, I credit William Steig (Scorpio, Moon in Pisces) perhaps most of all for my deciding at a very tender age to become a writer and artist. It reached me on that primal a level. (Primal is another Scorpio domain.) And the first time I heard Scorpio Grace Slick of the Jefferson Airplane sing in her piercing, challenging voice:

When the truth is found
To be lies
And all the joy
Within you dies
Don't you want somebody to love?
Don't you need somebody to love?
Wouldn't you love somebody to love?
You've got to find somebody to love...

It wormed its way inside my angst-filled, Moon-in-Scorpio teen soul and drowned out all the '80s pop pap that I had been ingesting every time I watched MTV or tuned my "box" to Z100 or WPLJ (including, sorry to say, recent offerings from the Jefferson Starship -- "We Built This City on Rock and Roll" and "Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now" both made me want to vomit). The late 1960s-era Jefferson Airplane was packed with talent, but it simply could not have flown so high, nor delved so deep, without Gracie.

Just to make life more interesting, the dramatic shift from Libra to Scorpio is occuring with Mercury stationing direct and Mars at the end of Sagittarius -- so two more shifts are in store for us. When Mercury appears from Earth's perspective to be stationery, this is an excellent time to meditate, focus, and also to find things, people, and feelings you'd lost over the past month, especially in mid-September. Don't overthink it -- chances are very likely these lost things will turn up unexpectedly.

As for Mars leaving Sagittarius and entering Capricorn in a few days -- stay tuned for that; I think I've given you Dear Readers quite enough food for thought for one post. Now go out and find somebody to love -- starting with yourself.

Wrapping up Sun in Scorpio on a Full Moon

I've been incommunicado during most of the Scorpio period for a variety of reasons.

For starters, just a few days after Halloween, during a routine eye exam at my local eyewear store for the Visually Challenged, it was discovered I had a small hole in my left retina.

That Friday, during the very dark of the Moon in Scorpio, I got pyrotechnically ill not once, but two times at a lovely dinner party, from either too much to drink or too many samosas, and yet my abrupt excursions to the bathroom miraculously went undetected by all except for my Taller Half.

Upon further examination two days later by an opthalmologist who used to play tennis with my father, the "small hole" in my left retina had morphed into a larger rip, plus there were a few others, and the retina had already begun to detach. The eye operation as considered minor due to the fact that I was awake the entire time and not screaming in pain (though I did inwardly squirm with discomfort and a general sense of ickiness), yet the ordeal left me blurry and sore and quite out of the mood for astrologizing, or much of anything except for sleeping and watching reruns of Bad Girls Club on the Oxygen Network.

I am not looking forward to my follow-up exam at the end of the month, but I was extremely lucky my eye problem was detected at this time, for next year, with Uranus in Aries (eyes) squaring Pluto and opposing my Uranus, my left retina might have slipped its moorings altogether.

Last week, with the Moon robustly waxing, found me freelancing in an actual office for the first time in 5 years. On the way to my first day at the office, I decided I had enough time to pick up my new vintage eyeglasses in Chinatown, where I slipped on a leaf and fell on my chin and right knee in the middle of Mott Street. I managed to mop up the blood and buy a new pair of cheap tights and still show up at the office with my new glasses bang on time. I guess the Sun/Jupiter trine made all that possible--including my not being seriously injured. The workplace had great people and high energy, and they seemed to like my work...yet I was also trying to work on another at-home freelance project and prepare for a featured reading performance at the Cornelia Street Cafe. By midweek I was getting very nervous because I still wasn't absolutely sure of my performance program, which is something I like to lock in at least five days ahead of time so I can get in a lot of practice.

Fortunately on Thursday Jupiter and Venus both turned direct in signs that are considered very strong for those two planets: Pisces (Jupiter and Libra (Venus). Plus we got an inspiring Sun/Uranus trine in the wee hours of Friday Brooklyn Standard Time, so after I got home from the office I was able to figure it all out plus do a marathon run-through before passing out at 3 a.m. While still in bed the next morning, the Moon now in Taurus, I figured out what I was going to wear.

The poetry and prose performance itself, with the Sun less than a degree away from my very strongly aspected Neptune, went very well and I'm glad I bothered to find a videographer to film (Neptune!) it plus my Taller Half's performance. A gaggle of good friends showed up at Cornelia St. and we had a fun time afterward at an Indian restaurant--and despite drinking plenty of wine and ingesting plenty of spices, my digestive system did not revolt.

Now on the verge of the Full Moon in the last degrees of Scorpio and Taurus, this is a good time to take stock of the entire Scorpio period and balance intense ego needs and desire for taking sexual and financial risks with emotional sensuality and desire for comfort and security. Overindulgence in food, drink, drugs, and/or sex is a real possibility with this Sun/Moon combination, so try to be moderate in your extreme needs and wants.

It is indeed of great significance that this is the second Full Moon in a row that falls in the last degree of a sign. And it will happen again next month.

Stay tuned for my Thanksgiving report!