october: from justice to death

hello friends, and welcome to scorpio season.

as someone with a lot happening in my sixth house of scorpio, i feel very attached to this sign, very defensive of it. scorpio is intense, observant, curious, in a way that gets a lot of flack. it's an easy sign to stereotype and dismiss.

but i love this seasonal shift into the shadows, and i love my own intensity. i love what it has brought me, what it has empowered me to discover. this energy permits me to keep transforming myself, to be along with the ride every single time i learn something new about who i am, what i want, where i'm going.

justice and libra are known for beauty and balance, venus-ruled loveliness that celebrates values and connection and aesthetics. but after the recognition of what matters, we get the opportunity to leave what doesn't behind with scorpio. and while death's sting can be sharp, it also opens doors.

let's get into it.

balance is important.

libra season, and the archetype of justice, point to balance in the form of perspective, awareness, observation, and listening. libra's cardinal air wants information, wants to pursue truth, wants everyone to have a voice in decisions and choices. what do we value? what do we crave? what do we need to feel safe and supported? what is worth fighting for?

when we look at our world, our society, ourselves clearly, when we allow all of the truth to come in, it invites change. nothing is perfect, and we are hardly living in an ideal world: most of us have experienced struggle, many have experienced trauma, all of us have had bad days and weeks and months. yet justice is a card of idealism, the belief that we can make things better, not only for us but for those around us. what kind of world do we want to make?

the thing is, making that world anew requires some shifts. if things are broken, failing, beyond repair or reimagining, we have to start over. and in order to start over, we have to leave some things behind.

enter death.

of course, the transition in the tarot from justice to death includes a very important archetype: the hanged one. this archetype of preparation, of quiet waiting, of recognizing our yearnings and grappling with all that we cannot control, carves out deliberate space for surrender. it's a chance to breathe and break, if we need to: a time of watching the world keep spinning without us, of inverting our gaze and imagining what might be possible when we begin to move of our own accord again.

death can be scary. tarot readers love to talk about how this isn't a bad card, how it symbolizes rebirth and transformation, how it's necessary and beautiful - and i believe all of that. i've said it myself.

but i think it's essential to acknowledge that death also brings grief, sorrow, mourning. even if we know that what is leaving us needs to go, even if we can recognize where growth has stopped and rot has begun, even if we feel in our bones that this change is the best possible thing, that doesn't make pain just evaporate.

grief is good. it's important. it's powerful. grief reminds us of how we love, fiercely and fully. grief reconnects us with what matters, even when that reminder hurts. grief shifts our perspective, opens our eyes, reignites our passions.

through death, through loss, through rebirth, we remember what we want, and what we are leaving behind.

in numerology, death is a four card (archetype 13 / 1 + 3 = 4), putting it alongside the emperor and themes of foundations, order, structure, boundaries, discipline, and protection. fours are guardians and systems, methods of respect, functional barriers that help us shield what matters and keep out what doesn't. death is part of the natural order of life, a necessary piece of the cycle - and when we love and light this darkness away, when we refuse to allow those shadows to take up space, we deny an essential part of ourselves. we ignore the importance of clearing away the rot, releasing the dead, so that we can continue to live.

this scorpio season, what are you ready to surrender? when have you sat in the energy of the hanged one, and how has it prepared you for this transformation? how can you make deliberate space for grief, instead of forcing yourself to press on?

for more on fixed water, death, and moving into scorpio energy, don't miss my latest round of tarotscopes over at autostraddle. have a beautiful, transformative scorpio season.