It didn’t take long for the effects of Jupiter moving into Scorpio last week to hit the taproot of Scorpio’s domain. Anyone paying attention to the news could not have avoided hearing about the sex scandal in Hollywood involving a powerful producer. It opened the floodgates for many women to express their experiences of sexual harassment and rape with this person over three decades. For this to happen so early in the transit seems to indicate how deep (Scorpio) and broad (Jupiter) this can go. As Jupiter plunges further into Scorpio’s territory, the story’s scope will surely widen, take on a universal quality and perhaps be the catalyst for meaningful change, not just in bringing people to account for their behavior but also in our attitudes about what constitutes “acceptable” behavior in relations between the sexes in the 21st century.
Scorpio is also about risk taking and empowerment, and for significant change to happen it will take authentic dialog between both men and women to reveal the entrenched psychological conditioning driving this behavior that will persist if not dealt with openly. When Mercury enters Scorpio on October 17 and conjuncts Jupiter on October 18, the conversation (Mercury) about taboo subjects such as sex (Scorpio) may expand and compel further investigation into the truth (Jupiter) of what is secretly going on in the powerful and persuasive (Scorpio) corridors of all places of business (Scorpio’s ruler Pluto is in Capricorn, which rules the structures of society). Calls (Mercury) for justice (Jupiter) may even grow to encompass the insidiously prevalent existence of sexual misconduct in all arenas of life. Just as Jupiter, the planet that rules law, crossed into the sign that rules sex, it was announced that India’s Supreme Court ruled that if a husband has sex with his wife and she is under 18, he is committing an act of rape. This dramatic ruling could represent a significant deterrence to underage marriage in country that has the highest rate of child brides in the world: 18% of girls are married by the age of 15.
The Libra New Moon on October 19 may bring about even more shocking revelations or surprise shifts in relationships due to its exact opposition to Uranus. This lunar event also carries the potential to catapult us into new territory. The Sun and Moon conjunct in Libra relates to a focus on interactions with others and emphasizes a need for peace and harmony therein. Uranus is a disruptive force that often creates extremely uncomfortable situations, yet it is the moments we are jolted out of our comfort zones that paradigm shifts can occur. While the nature of the Moon is all about programming through memory and survival mechanisms, the nature of Uranus questions that very programming to which we are blindly obedient. When we start to look at the consequences of our thinking, we can begin to make conscious choices. The Sun in Libra would ask what is the loving thing to do; its opposition to Uranus in self-oriented Aries less than two hours before the New Moon requires an answer that reconciles the positions between self and other. When we start to live in a way that serves each person’s uniqueness we become aware that we are capable of playing in a much bigger game than before, on an esoteric field of uncertainty (Uranus) that frees the soul from the shackles of conditioning. The New Moon opposite Uranus is in close alignment to Mercury and Jupiter in Scorpio, which magnifies the stakes but also unites the mind, heart and feelings into an “all in” readiness for a profound new adventure.
Mars crosses the cardinal threshold of 0° Libra on October 22, placing additional symbolic emphasis on the balance between Self and Other. The planet of action and ruler of Aries, Mars is archetypally motivated by pure creative desire with no thought of consequences in its drive for self-determination. Mars in Libra is challenged to share, collaborate and participate in relationships that thrive on the art of giving and receiving. The gift of Libra is “ease,” according to Dane Rudhyar. “Ease is an expression of totally accepted relatedness,” he writes. “It is the utter lack of mental reservation in approaching a relationship and the acts which this relationship demands.” Symbolizing the force of love, Mars in Libra correlates to the challenges the Self faces in mastering the balanced art of living with Other.
The Sun enters Scorpio on October 22, bringing to three the total number of planets under the influence of the sign of the Phoenix. Metaphysically, the Sun in Scorpio is tasked with delving into the mysteries of life and the psychic principles behind the desire for intimacy. At its highest expression, according to Jim Sher, the lesson of Scorpio is to “go beyond seeking the experience of passion to understanding what the intense need for it is. Otherwise its drive is all consuming, and we lose sight of what we’re doing and the consequences thereof.” The Sun in Scorpio’s purpose is to achieve total immersion with such intensity that it can understand any situation completely. Sex is never just about sex, for example, from a holistic point of view. Recognizing this, however, requires being in a state of “non-identification” (Rudhyar’s term for Scorpios’ gift). Beyond the Phoenix, which experiences continuing cycles of death and rebirth, Scorpio can reach even deeper, into the mystery of the ‘burning bush’ that is not consumed by the flames. “We must ask why fiery passion so often destroys both oneself and the object of that passion,” says Sher. “In a word, the answer is ‘ego’ or ‘shadow.’ Scorpio’s intention is to merge with something beyond itself. But when we are identified so deeply that we unconsciously absorb the other into our ‘egoic’ self, we have amplified our self, our ego, at the expense of that other with whom we have merged. They have disappeared into our world. They have died rather than our own small sense of self.” If we allow our ego to be burned in the alchemic ‘burning bush’ process of being at once consumed by passion and the observer of it, then we will experience the mystery of the transformational process.
Here’s the data (Pacific Time and rounded to the nearest whole degree unless otherwise noted):
October 17 – Mercury at 0° Scorpio at 12:59 a.m.
October 18 – Mercury conjunct Jupiter at 2° Scorpio at 1:55 a.m.
October 19 – Sun opposite Uranus at 27° Libra/Aries at 10:34 a.m.
October 19 – Moon conjunct Sun (New Moon) at 27° Libra at 12:12 p.m.
October 22 – Mars at 0° Libra at 11:30 a.m.
October 22 – Sun at 0° Scorpio at 10:27 p.m.
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