Scorpio October 23-November 21

There is a place above where Scorpio bent,
In tail and arms surrounds a vast extent.
In a wide circuit of the heavens he shines,
And fills the place of two celestial signs. 

Scorpio is the eighth sign of the Zodiac. It ushers in the advent of winter. It is a fixed water sign which is traditionally represented by the Scorpion.  It is ruled by Pluto with a strong supporting influence from Mars. Some of you are probably wondering how this can be since Pluto was declassified as a planet in 2006.  Well, to answer your question, before Pluto was discovered, Mars was, indeed,  Scorpio's ruler; then,  when Pluto was discovered in 1930,  it was became Scorpio's ruling planet because it shared so many traits with the sign.  The fact is, Pluto hasn't changed, only its classification by astronomers is different.  Named for the mythological god of the afterlife, the realm of the dead, it still carries the same meanings--transformations, death, the underworld, the unconscious mind, and deep spiritual matters.

As a sign of transformation, Scorpio ushers in the advent of winter.  It is most associated with birth, life, death, sex, and  sensuality. The Scorpio experiences emotions more intensely than any other sign of the Zodiac. Although vibrant and passionate, as a fixed sign, they are not very adaptable, and would much prefer to keep things as they are.  The water element symbolizes emotion, and as such,  Scorpio is a sign of extreme emotions, but is also highly private and secretive Lying underneath is tremendous power, and the Scorpio will dominate and control anyone that lets them.  Scorpios struggle to transform some aspect of themselves. This is the sign of secrets, power, and intensity. The key phrase for Scorpio is 'I create'. 

Scorpio is one of the most ancient of the constellations, originally much extended in the direction of Virgo, the claws of the Scorpion occupying the region of the sky where we now see the constellation Libra.  It originates from the constellation Scorpius which lies between Libra to the West and Sagittarius to the East.  In early times this sign was represented by various symbols, sometimes by a snake or crocodile, but most commonly as a Scorpion. As an example, in very ancient astrology, that of the Egyptians, Chaldeans,  and Hebrews,  the constellation was represented not by the familiar scorpion, but by the serpent.  In the Hebrew zodiac, Scorpio is referred to the tribe of Dan because it is written, 'Dan shall be a serpent by the way, an adder in the path.'  The Arabs knew it as 'the Scorpion's Heart,' and even now it is often called 'Cor Scorpii,' the heart of the Scorpion.

The heart with lustre of amazing force
Refulgent vibrates; faint the other parts,
And ill-defined by stars of meaner note. 

It is referred to in the Epic of Gilgamesh we find Scorpio as the dark guardian of the threshold of the Otherworld when, on his journey, Gilgamesh must   travel through the land of the Scorpion Men who guard the mountains he must cross to enter the Otherworld.  In India, the serpent is associated with Shakti, the feminine aspect of God. 

In the Book of the Dead seven scorpions accompany Isis, when her son,  Horus,  was bitten by one scorpion of the most deadly species, her scorpion friends saved her son out of love for her.  The scorpion also stands for Seth, the Trickster and brother of Nephthys, queen of the Land of the Dead.  He is the nemesis and opponent of Osiris, and Isis the Magician, and  Serket  was originally the deification of the scorpion.

To the ancient Greeks, the constellation Scorpius was related to the death of the hunter Orion, the Greek hunter who was rumored to be the most handsome man in the world.  In one version of this myth, Artemis sent the scorpion after Orion when he tried to rape her. Both Orion and the scorpion were placed in the sky, but on opposite sides so that as the scorpion rises in the east, Orion, as if in fear,  flees below the western horizon...   

...and, to this day, it looks as if the scorpion is always chasing after Orion in the nighttime sky