DECAN DELINEATIONS
The Sun Through the 1st Decan of Scorpio
Through October 24th until November 2nd—the sun moves through the first decan of Scorpio.
Which is to say: the first ten degrees of Scorpio—a decan associated with the 5 of cups within the tarot… it’s one of those cards one typically hopes isn’t pulled in a reading.
Ahh… but, then again…
The very imagery of the 5 of cups is grim—it pictures a man, all in black, looking much like the grim reaper, with his back to the onlooker, is standing with his head down, as if in mourning… three cups nearby have fallen over, emptied, while two remain upright.
Ugh—what does this mean!!?
Particularly this year—what, with the sun/Venus conjunction occurring at the end of Libra and moving forward, in tandem, into Scorpio, into this decan—not to mention the eclipse within this decan!!!—what are we to take from this in real time?
Interestingly, the three cups which have fallen lie before the tall, dark man whose face we cannot distinguish… the two left upright stand behind him.
This would suggest that not all is lost… two remain upright and full.
Sure—there’s definitely cause for grieving (not to mention the time of year: autumn beginning to chill that much more toward winter… as well as the calendrical dates for occasions such as Halloween, All Saints Day, Samhain, and Dia de los Meurtos—the Day of the Dead)… however, potential remains.
With this card—you might either need to face your losses or your vulnerabilities, your challenges, or your grievances and get to work… or you may need to sit with your pain.
The 5 of cups, still, infamously, is titled the card of ‘disappointment’…
Astrologer Austin Coppock writes of this man of his potential disappointment, “Did this figure attain the object of desire, only to find its pleasures fleeting? Or is it the inevitable rebirth of hunger after satisfaction which he finds so bitter? Perhaps he failed to obtain the object of his hunger altogether. All outcomes breed disappointment, for each is part of the cycle which presides here. Hunger cannot be defeated. Yet it can be managed.”
Truly, all of Life could be applied to this decan, and commonly is—as our perspectives therein and thereof tend to severely predict the directionality of our entire lives…
Hunger cannot be defeated… yet it can be managed.
Continued, Coppock writes, “though this may seem a particularly tortured decan, it is merely one which exposes a hard truth—[through] confronting the cycle, we are less bound to it, and less blind, than if we ignore it… lashed to a wheel whose revolutions we understand, our movements can be plotted, predicted.”
I’ve been gently expressing for weeks now that the last two weeks of October could be particularly harsh… and there will very likely be something needing confronted in a painfully personal way—something only you can do… something no one can do for you.
Which brings me to—Mars.
What’s Mars doing at this time?—oh!—slowing, stationing, and turning retrograde.
Retrograde, in Gemini.
Mars.
Mars, retrograde—in Gemini.
Oh boy.
And through this time period of the first decan of Scorpio, Mars is connecting to both Neptune and Jupiter, by square, though not exactly, as though that’s consoling—Jupiter moves back into Pisces, while Neptune moves back into the twenty-second degree of Pisces… all of this feels so messy and conflicted! —so emotionally severe and potentially, unnecessarily painful!!!
Do not necessarily trust every thought that comes to your mind and is transported into a feeling and is rerouted throughout your adrenal system and then transcribed directly to the lingual portion of your brain to be vocalized through your mouth.
Mars stationing retrograde in Gemini—particularly through this week—will be somewhat debilitating and internally challenging, as Mars wants to move and move forwardly, to separate and/or sever through things which obstruct, and to otherwise conquer whatever it is motivated toward… and retrograde in Gemini halts all of this.
Further, it not only halts all of this—it complicates the potentially uncomplicated.
It questions everything.
And this infuriates Mars… but when Mars is infuriated—through Gemini—nasty things are laid out loud and mean remarks are made without warrant or provocation…
Mars becomes petty. A walking tantrum of verbal jabs.
Still, quite interestingly, within this particular decan, occurring through the same time frame—this decan, specifically, motivates Mars to break stuff; to break something just because you can…
Perhaps, instead of saying something you may or may not regret—throw something breakable you no longer need at the wall? Or throw it on the ground…
Symbolically speaking, this would speak to the severing of emotional blockage—particularly if you’re struggling with an inability to honestly confront yourself with your own vulnerabilities and/or matters, or issues…
How you navigate Mars within your chart through this period—not to mention the entire retrograde phase—will absolutely reflect how harshly an environment it could be for you to move through…
Where is Mars moving within your chart? —what sector of your reality is Mars failing to function within? —how are you working with this transiting Mars within your reality?—our movements can be plotted, predicted…
>breathing< take a moment… and >breathing< again…
Interestingly, tarot writer Jessica Dore writes of this card, that “we can feel the full impacts of a situation—a misstep or backslide that led to a deeply painful experience or tragic loss, perhaps—and then we can let the material and emotional consequence teach us… having felt the full weight of a painful thing, we can turn on our heel and move forward with an equal level of fullness, maybe even toward a gift… feeling the repercussions of our behaviors initiates us into the space where we can learn to do better.”
Dore adds, that “shame makes it difficult to do that.”
Continued, “people who struggle with compulsive behavior often experience intense shame after doing a habitual thing that they swore they’d stop doing—the intensity of the shame around the ‘forbidden’ behavior stimulates an avoidance response that makes the person unable to look directly at or feel into a misstep and its aftermath.”
When shame is embodied and struggled with—learning from mistakes as an opportunity is torturous… though, it may be tine to ‘get over’ your shame…
Learning is transformation and transformation is Scorpio—one cannot learn and understand Scorpio without submitting to a transformation, be it willingly or not—as your movements can be plotted, predicted.
And so let’s delineate the sun’s aspects through this decan…
The sun continues to move in tandem with Venus into the first decan of Scorpio… and this touches most intimately through the zero-point degree of Scorpio, into the first degree of Scorpio, all the while separating from a square to Pluto…
Quickly, Venus begins to move just more quickly enough to move beyond the sun—while the sun remains within its own space through the second degree on October 25th… and the third, fourth, fifth, and sixth… the seventh, eighth and ninth degree, alone, into the tenth, upon November 2nd. Basically, it’s an entire week of solar movement simply shining brightly down upon the darknesses (of Scorpio—which is to suggest: our darknesses)… darknesses which can be plotted, predicted…
And this is the extent of the sun’s aspecting through the first decan of Scorpio.
Allow me to translate the first ten degrees of Scorpio to you so that you may have a more illuminated look—so that you may have a very bright and empowering light—to put upon the first decan… the first ten degrees of Scorpio.
I wrote in a separate post, as mentioned above, the very deeply and intrinsically interrelatedness between this specific sun and Venus conjunction… the ‘shared ignition’ this conjunction communicated—the mind-center, which is to say the ego-center, opening to the heart-centeredness… and the nearly magical reconciliation between these two forces—the mind, and the heart—it’s incredible and most original, truly, through how each of us has chosen to utilize these energies.
And so now—allow me to delineate these first ten degrees of Scorpio…
1* Scorpio/October 24—this energy is more about other people, and sharing experiences… powers struggles; getting one’s mind around the full parameters of one’ situations; having the greater reality on one’s side; forcing people to come to grips with something they’s rather not look at… sometimes we find ourselves in situations where we don’t understand the ‘customs’ or the language—and you’ll need a ‘tour guide’; there may be a need to be punctual at all times as others could leave without you in their eagerness for getting on with things… take in as much information as possible.
2* Scorpio/October 25—impressions are left behind through this degree; you may find yourself somewhat paralyzed upon a singular memory… perhaps one from the past—perhaps this memory is on of sacrifice, a sacrifice which was made in an effort to transport you to where you find yourself now… maintaining emotional equilibrium in difficult situations; learning to roll with the punches; ignoring or forgiving annoying behaviors; learning to release emotional toxins in a socially acceptable way; having fixed romantic expectations; trying to give concrete form to one’s values and aesthetic ideals in every situation; attending to important details; now something has cracked and everything has suddenly been let out, spilled, or wasted… there is probably little that can be done, but now there is a need to be careful of how you handle the situation—what you say and what you do as things need to be broken… so that their contents can be released or revealed and fully appreciated.
3* Scorpio/October 26—planning and improvements and working together… teamwork; working to make one’s home or workplace a loving and harmonious place; giving concrete form to one’s dreams; having a concrete plan ; getting ahead of one’s self; learning to compromise; emotional persuasiveness; working own na relationship; patching up disagreements; the importance of getting off on the right foot… any efforts directed toward giving value and stability to one’s community will be rewarded in some measure; sometimes a home or community needs to be built or renovated in some way, with people coming together with everyone putting in their share of dedication, commitment, and hard labor; there can be a feeling that there is so much to do on the domestic scene that other considerations have to be put on hold for the time being… people must all have a higher sense of purpose, otherwise some may work at cross-purposes, undermining people… is there a need for people to assist you because someone in your life has left behind their responsibilities?
4* Scorpio/October 27—illuminations… enlightenments… holding a candle of vigil, and saying prayers—the divine spirit speaks/flows through—insights being granted while discernment still important… higher meanings understood through more rational mentalities of discernment—though alternatives meanings also available through more primitive/physical abilities to work with the spirit itself… first entry into the ‘spirit world’, with all its scary projections; probing into the darker corners of the mind in order to dispel negative influences; cultural housecleaning; throwing away outworn elements of a tradition, and bringing new blood to what is still relevant; throwing a fresh new light on a situation; seeing things that are invisible to others or pretending to be; storytellers; initiating others in to a tradition; acting as a guide to the dream world or underworld; purification and refinement of spiritual energies… your situation may require a fresh attitude in order to create room fro new developments and a renewed sense of vitality… you may be feeling a sense of loneliness and alienation; any form of light needs to be shed on the dark corners of one’s mind… try to focus on those things that bring you a sense of love and fulfillment; you may find yourself entering realms that you have only imagined or not truly dreamed possible… proclaiming a level of devotion to a person, situation or task can reaffirm that commitment and take it to deeper levels; of you feel that you are burdened by responsibilities in this situation—take heart and adopt a sincere and uncomplicated attitude to what you lave to do… there’s purity of heart and motive available to you.
5* Scorpio/October 28—security is both being looked for, and is necessary… something solid and reliable to hold on to today… getting to know one’s limits by testing them; stony, self-possession; living close to the edge; taking risks because it makes on feel more alive; participating fully in life; getting others to participate; learning from one’s passionate involvements and teaching what one has learned from one’s passionate involvement; finding a stable emotional bedrock under temporary mood swings; discoveries bring permanent hearty values that transcend the storms and shipwrecks of passion; refusing to be diverted from one’s more serious ends; self-possession… one can feel under assault from a larger and crueler reality, though there is a strength available with which you can resist; you’re possible dealing with trying with trying to change the face of the rock-hard and established reality of life… you may find you are under emotional assault—how can you really make any difference in this situation? How long can things continue with the same energy? How long can you endure without changing? How long can you keep doing this?
6* Scorpio/October 29—ambitions… and resourcefulness; eagerness; news about new opportunity; preparing yourself with news, or change… confronting other people’s underlying motives; investigating fishy explanations; unmasking deceit and half-truths; circling in on a hunch; identifying a key piece of a puzzle; testing one’s hunches by seeing if they the power to stir others…; taking potshots an setting off a chain reaction; getting the full scoop; critically examining one’s own desires; being hip to one’s own game; betraying one’s ideal; dodging other people’s agendas and protecting one’s own interests; learning who one’s real friends are; exposing some mystery… before you set out, you need to make sure you have an adequate map of the new territory that you’re exploring—the choice is often between an established, fairly stable situation and an unstable, temporary or risky situation… learning to discriminate just what is and what is not possible will enhance your judgement of what’s worth pursuing… whatever the outcome—the trick is to enjoy the journey….
7* Scorpio/October 30—Involvement… this degree speaks to the rejection of superficial experience, a desire for deep and enduring relationship, and a tendency to saturate or immerse the self totally in everything of current interest… to dig deeply for what you want… motivations playing a very big part in some strange occurrence… and your greatest advantage lies in you persistence… strutting one’s stuff; uncovering and parading one’s native gifts; presenting the public with a surprising new truth; self-exploration; standing one’s own; giving the public what it wants; exploring all of one’s gifts; trusting and elaborating upon one’s first instinctive take on a situation, offering free solutions to preexisting problems; thinking things through before presenting them; making a strong first impression… you may need to get deep below the surface to find out what’s really going on… it is down within your subconscious and intuitive wisdom that you must search for solutions; letting go of the intellect and allowing yourself to take a deep plunge into your inner self can reveal talents and wonders that you may have only imagined were there… if you feel out of your depth, there may be a sense of having no light to see what’s goin got or no oxygen for drawing a breath… you can handle the pressure as long as you are not pushing against it, or by changing your perceptions of that pressure…
8* Scorpio/October 31—Magic, transformation, inspiration, and the healing power of romance… and reconciliation… being aware of dangerous sexual or political undercurrents, without feeding them with too much psychic energy; taking a stand when faced with life’s challenges; being aware of undercurrents; taking a stand when faced with life’s challenges; directing others in some bold enterprise; managing power responsibly; feeling potent… there may be a strong sense of things being ‘reflected’; what is it about your situation that may need more reflection?—is there a need to really take a good, close look inside yourself or another?—or are things being evaluated from a merely superficial level with everything being a mere reflection of someone or something else?
9* Scorpio/November 1—The focus is now on health, repair, rehabilitation, maintenance, corrective measures, restoration, health, speech, preventing gossip, improvement of appearance… insistently pointing out a personal or social problem that needs immediate attention, before it gets out of hand; timely diagnosis; accurate and detailed observation; making people deal with issues they’d sooner ignore; protecting the body-politic from malign influences; exposing and rooting out political, social, or moral corruption; hitting a nerve; pushing people’s buttons in order to see if one’s intuitions are correct; lashing out irrationally…it is important to take responsibility for efficient functioning to continue; whatever the situation, you may need help at this time to cope with some of the difficulties that might arise in this period…
10* Scorpio/November 2—The focus now morphs into the nurturing and renewing of relationships, with those who mean the most to you… asserting one’s individuality, but respecting the basic requirements of the group; conflict between one’s own desires and one’s duty to family and society; being carefree; taking responsibility for the well-being of the the group; parenting; being authoritative; preserving old values without sacrificing good will for external facades; negotiating or arguing about social or political rules; policymaking; shaping public opinion; working for society; reorganizing group or corporate enterprises along more functional lines; reintegrating problem areas; promoting a rich family life… if there’s a situation where you feel alienated from someone you’d like to reconnect with, try sharing a meal and see how this ‘breaks the ice’… there may be some old issues that need to be worked through—have you been avoiding socializing with like-minded people lately?
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