on scorpio season

hello, friends, and welcome to scorpio season.

this is my favorite time of year — not only because it's my birthday season, but also because i love autumn, love the cooling weather, love the way you can smell the turning leaves and crisping air. it feels like everything slows down, like every moment of daylight and twilight and deep, dark night becomes more charged.

yet this particular scorpio season is aching with grief, anger, sorrow, as the world watches palestine. i've been posting about this regularly on instagram, but you can continue to check my stories for resources, information, and accounts to follow.

scorpio season is also the time of samhain, when people start talking about the thinning of the veil and the beckoning dead and the witches' new year. and while i don't work with the wheel of the year in my own practice, the equinoxes and solstices do feel very special to me, opportunities to honor the changing seasons and shifting winds.

as the sun moves into scorpio, as we contemplate death and rebirth, as we consider what it means to move into the darker months of the year, i have a few thoughts on this intense, powerful, and insightful sign. but rather than just focusing on the death archetype, i want to continue branching beyond the golden dawn correspondences to expand our perspective, looking at scorpio through the lens of numerology.

let's go, fellow weirdos.

scorpio is our sign of fixed water: a deep well, still waters that run deep, water that sustains. while cardinal cancer is an emotional force and mutable pisces is wide and vast, scorpio is the water that springs from underground, that watches and waits, that protects and purifies.

while in traditional astrology scorpio is associated with the 8th house, we can also look at scorpio as living in both october (month 10 // 1+0 = 1) and november (month 11 // 1+1 = 2): giving us numbers 1 and 2 to look at, and holding space for 0 as well: renewals and beginnings and endings, decisions and agreements, awakenings and transformations, reckoning with truths, tapping into authenticity. the 8th house, like numbers 0, 1, and 2, are associated with big moves, big moments, big energies. this is the magic that hovers in the in-between, the ways that we see and value ourselves, the choices we make and how they reflect who we truly are.

these numbers initiate the nine-card numerological sequence, setting the tone for the rest of the fool's journey. they are a call to return to self, to remember who we are, to listen to that inner voice and let it guide us forward.

when we turn to the major arcana, the fool, the magician, and the priestess are a trio that demand authenticity, truth, and personal discovery. the fool's desire begins the journey but also lives in every heartbeat, pushing us forward, reminding us of what we are working towards. the magician sees opportunity and potential in everything, longs to make a mark, anticipates all of the change and discovery that is ahead. and the priestess brings us back to self, urging patience and wisdom, reminding us of how unique and important our magic is, giving us space to tap into intuition and move in a way that is right for us.

none of these archetypes succumb to the pressure of expectation from anyone else: they stay true to themselves, no matter what it might involve. and we can say the same of scorpio: passionate and intense, loves delving deep into mystery, more concerned with what is true than what is palatable.

the golden dawn association for scorpio is, as mentioned earlier, death: card 13, fitting into the four // emperor constellation. this is boundaries, limits, laws that can or cannot be broken. death is a natural part of life, a transformation that must be undergone, an initiation that changes us permanently and powerfully.

as my wonderful partner reminded me the other day during a lovely dinner with some brilliant astrologers, tarot readers, and spiritual workers i admire, scorpio often reflects what scares us, which varies by culture. here in america, scorpio is often associated with death and sex because those are topics the dominant culture in this country tends to avoid, downplay, or try to control. scorpio can activate the things we fear, the things we try not to engage with, the things that make us uncomfortable.

but averting our eyes doesn't make things go away. and the things we are reluctant to engage with often have deep, powerful truths to share.

important to note that in the tarot, this is a natural but inevitable death — not a violent death, not life being snatched away, not something or someone being broken before their time. this is necessary death, a death of ego or relationship or goal or ambition or perspective. this is a death that paves the way for new life, new seeds to be planted, new truths to be uncovered.

and sometimes, this is a death that has already happened, that we simply have not accepted or recognized yet.

as we move into scorpio season, remember that is an opportunity to define who we are, to draw a line between our past, our present, and our future. what are you aching to leave behind? what is no longer growing, that you are still trying to feed and nourish? what has already ended, and how can you respectfully grieve and honor this shift?

and in holding space for this ending, how are you clearing the way for an eventual new beginning?

if this season has you feeling eager to wade into creativity, longing for community, or craving playful exploration, please check out my latest offering: sanctuary of the empress. this month-long creative container uses tarot prompts and the empress archetype to inspire, encourage, and support your creative ambitions, no matter what form they take. it also includes access to my new online community, the 3am.tarot sanctuary, where you can connect with me and other tarot lovers in a private, inclusive digital space.

and if you missed yesterday's announcement, please don't hesitate to contact me for a discount if you're part of a marginalized group and financial struggles are a barrier to participating, or with any questions you may have. the container begins november 1, and i'd love to have you join us.

wishing you a transformative, inspiring, and safe scorpio season, friends.