Tuesday, October 24, 2006

All these planets in Scorpio...

The Sun is now in Scorpio, season of mists and Freudian slips, inappropriate obsessive crushes and raging paranoia. And starting today we have a rare of line-up of 5 planets in Scorpio. Along with the Sun, there’s Mars, Venus and Jupiter; and Mercury, which also adds significance by turning retrograde on 28th October.

Maybe it’s all these planets in Scorpio that gave me the urge to dust off my 1910 edition of Wuthering Heights (bought from a bookshop in Bronte country), wrap myself up in my favourite faux fur throw and nestle down for the chilly autumn evenings, dreaming dreams of dark-eyed vagabonds with a gypsy soul and fierce unbridled ardour, chasing love amongst the bleak and ruthless, wild and windy moorland.

If you want to get a feel for the best and worst that Scorpio has to offer, Wuthering Heights is a great place to start. It’s Scorpionic through and through. The strong loyalty/betrayal/revenge theme, the unshakable passion that defies death do us part vows, and the messy, messy manipulative control dramas; it’s no surprise to find Emily Bronte had her ascendant in this sign, as well as south node of the Moon.

So in praise of Venus conjunct Mars, etc, in Scorpio, here are a couple of quotes from the most terrifying of twosomes, Cathy and Heathcliff...


This is Cathy, caught between Heathcliff’s rock and hard place:

"If all else perished, and he remained, I should still continue to be; and if all else remained, and he were annihilated, the universe would turn to a mighty stranger: I should not seem a part of it. My love for Linton is like the foliage in the woods: time will change it... My love for Heathcliff resembles the eternal rocks beneath: a source of little visible delight, but necessary. Nelly, I am Heathcliff! He's always, always in my mind: not as a pleasure, any more than I am always a pleasure to myself, but as my own being."


And this is Heathcliff's hymn of the uber-obsessed:

"And I pray one prayer - I repeat it till my tongue stiffens - Catherine Earnshaw, may you not rest as long as I am living! You said I killed you - haunt me, then! The murdered do haunt their murderers, I believe. I know that ghosts have wandered the earth. Be with me always - take any form - drive me mad! only do not leave me in this abyss, where I cannot find you!... I cannot live without my life! I cannot live without my soul!”

This is the thing with Scorpio. When it’s important, it's life and death, all or nothing. No middle ground. No grey areas. It's an all encompassing, utterly absorbing, and inescapable power that Scorpio deals in, and touching on this kind of energy can drive people to do strange things. They can turn unrecognisable even to themselves. Even the quiet ones, who of course by Scorpio standards are the worst.

But don’t forget that Scorpio, like all other signs of the zodiac, is ultimately positive, purposeful and well designed as a medium to experience the best that the mystery of life has to offer. It’s through Scorpio that we come to know Love by first meeting what Love is not. It’s up to us how much we allow ourselves to be impacted by that knowledge, and how much we are willing to let go of what Love is not.
One of the most powerful symbols associated with this sign is the phoenix rising from the ashes. It's transformation, it's rebirth and renewal. And in Wuthering Heights it happens through Cathy's daughter and her relationship with Hareton.



There'll be more to come no doubt on this Scorpio theme over the coming weeks, check out what my fellow astrology bloggers have to say on all this too, especially Kathryn Cassidy at Collaborate With Fate, who has a couple of great articles dealing in detail with this upcoming Scorpio alignment here and here.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Ah Barbara, divine writing! Seriously, I'm kinda goosepimply. THIS really got me:

"It’s through Scorpio that we come to know Love by first meeting what Love is not."

And I suddenly flashed on a whole lot of obsessive relationships that suddenly make 'sense'. Sense in a Scorpionic kind of way.

Scorpio ascendant, Neptune in Scorpio in 12th house--- and I feel GREAT in an ultimate spaced out way. Life IS a dream, I will read the Gnostic bible! I will never be irritated by the mundanities of existence again! Until the next planetary shift I suppose. So I'm having a GOOD time. Is anyone else?

Barbara Palliser said...

I'm starting to get comfy in this Scorpio vibe, yes, it's all good for me too. Didn't think it would be with Mercury stationing on my Neptune in 3rd.

I'm having Mercury retro stuff happen yet it just isn't bothering me, not touching the sides. Maybe it's because Jupiter is there. It all just feels GOOD

xxxxxx

osirisisis said...

Hey author i am scorp myself and have been contributing articles to different astroblogs, hope this throws clarity. Cathy and heathcliff both were definitely scorps

At the onset I have no biases against Scorpio girls. I have long been dealing with Scorpio girls, and their psychology is one of the most intricate. It is not to denigrate them or accuse them, just to make them turn around and face the facts so things become more easy for themselves as well as their intimate acquaintances.

The one slush that Scorpio girls have in plenty is Vanity. Here we need to make a distinction between pride, vanity and arrogance – all three of which are hallmarks of a powerful ego – and Scorpio gals have more of this ego power than the men do.

Pride is obsession and attention-seeking displays of yourself and your possessions, like a peacock flaunting its feathers.

Vanity is a social evil which comes out of meritocracy. For instance, owning a limousine is fine, but looking down upon the other man not owning one is bad. An attitude of if I am seen with this clown, it shall be degrading is vanity.

Arrogance is downright abuse of power.

I have often come across Scorpio gals who are caught at the crossroads between following their hearts in love vis a vis the misguidance of the ego. This can be demonstrated from the scenario from Wuthering Heights where the housekeeper Ellen questions Catherine. Catherine is torn between her heartful love of Healthcliff (a mere servant) versus the egocentric ambitious choice of marrying Edgar Linton ( a landlord).

Ellen (E): Why do you love Mr. Edgar
Catherine (C): He is young
E: Bad
C: He is handsome
E: Bad
C: He is handsome to be with
E: Bad
C: He is rich and I shall be the richest woman in this neighborhood
E: Worst of all.
C: And he loves me
E: You would love him without the last if he possess the first four qualities and with it you would not until he had former four attractions

That is when Cathy breaks down to confess that her love of Healthcliff is like the rock beneath and that for Edgar like the Autumn foliage which time shall change. She dreams a dream where the angels take her to Heavens (Edgar Linton’s palace) she cries to come home (to Heathcliff) and she is accursed and thrown down where she wakes up sobbing for joy. The ending of Cathy is a great tragedy and a death arising out of a severely asundered heart.

Oftentimes I have seen Scorp gals in such a dilemma between material ambitions, social acceptances and vainglorious aspirations and following the course of their heart. In the process, they break their lives as well as their significant others. Another case is one of Grace Kelly. I am not aware of any Heathcliff in her life but the Edgar was definitely HRH Rainier.

The challenge for a Scorp gal is be true to her heart and soul. What she thinks of as from her soul might in fact be just from the depth of her ego; this can be misguiding.

Adage: The heart has its way of which reason knows nothing and finally love sees you through. Seek ye the kingdom of heaven within yourself and these things shall be added unto you.

Following ones heart adheres to the highest psychological principle of self-esteem, self-love and honoring of ones self.

M said...

Just came across this, i'm interested in astrology myself and really enjoyed reading this! Plus i'm a big fan of Wuthering Heights. I agree with the whole connection between the novel and Scorpio, but in the book, Catherine is born in the summer, making her either a Cancer, a Leo or a Virgo. (Maybe Gemini but i'd say that's more springtime). Which sign do you think she would be? Or perhaps she has a strong Scorpio ascendant or lots of Scorpio in her birthchart?

Barbara Palliser said...

she's gotta be a Leo??? or is the drama queen theme too obvious?

I watched a psychic programme years back that visited Bronte village and the psychic suggested that Emily Bronte was conciously or unconciously writing her relationship with her brother Branwell when she wrote Wuthering Heights.

I find this interesting as Emily was a Leo with Cancer moon, and scorp asc. Branwell was Cancer sun, with either a Scorp or Sag Moon, conjunct jupiter in sag. (Unknown asc)

I reckon its a good match for Cathy n Heathcliff... what do you think?