Tomorrow is Samhain here in the northern hemisphere, in the heart of Scorpio season. The astrology of Samhain is the astrology of Scorpio energy. This symbolism is extra strong right now with Mercury and Mars there too. The sign of fixed water takes us into the shadowy realms of our emotions. We can tune in to a deep well of feeling and into the profound cycles of life, death and rebirth. This is a time of darkness – personal, natural, and collective. It’s a time of mystery and transformation, of metamorphosis and healing.
In the stillness of Samhain night, in the deep waters of Scorpio, we can sit with our darkness. We give our attention to our shadow self, our inner processes. We consider what is reflected in the waters of the unconscious. Scorpio pulls us deep into the source of our emotional responses and asks us to examine them, to acknowledge their power. In Scorpio season, we are plunging into the still pools and submerged feelings at the heart of ourselves, seeking understanding and buried treasure.
Releasing the Patterns
We connect with our ancestors at this time and Scorpio carries the energies of our emotional inheritances, the patterns handed down to us through our family line. Shifting these can be painful but is powerful work with the potential to liberate our ancestors as well as ourselves. Scorpio is the sign of elimination as well as regeneration. During Scorpio season we can slough off old energies, and emotional patterns that no longer serve our growth. Both Samhain and Scorpio urge us to embrace energies of release, to honor the necessity of death, to allow our creative selves a fallow period.
Scorpio is the release from form, which we see in the nature around us at Samhain. The trees have, for the most part, shed their leaves. Plants wither and die as winter approaches, and animals hibernate or retreat to find shelter. But a closer look at the skeletal trees reveals the buds already developing in anticipation of the following spring. This is a season of both creation and destruction and the two are inextricably linked. We light the Samhain fires for purification, to purge negative energy. We leave the way clear for a new beginning.
Goddesses and Gods of Scorpio season
Scorpio energy is linked to gods and goddesses of the underworld, the Dark Mother who rules over life, death, and rebirth. The Babylonian goddess Tiamat, often represented as a dragon, made Scorpion women to guard the passage to the underworld. Tiamat was the primordial ocean, the source of all life, the deep waters, and the powerful tides of Scorpio. The goddess Hekate is also linked with Scorpio energies, both in her modern guise as the goddess of witchcraft and thresholds and in her older form as a version of the Great Mother, ruling birth, death, and rebirth.
All journeys to the Underworld, right back to Inanna in Sumerian times, are associated with Scorpio energy. So are the deities encountered there, such as Ereshkigal, sister to Inanna (but quite likely actually a much older deity). We also see the energies of Scorpio in Dark Mother goddesses, the Black Madonna of Christian tradition, and the Veiled Isis of Egypt and modern day occultism.
A Scorpio ritual for release
Cathartic rituals to let go of toxic energy are especially powerful at this time of year. A simple ritual for release allows you to honor everything that has brought you to where you are today, acknowledging its power before letting go of those energies that no longer serve your growth.
This ritual can be done any time between Samhain on October 31st and astrological Samhain on November 7th / 8th. Gather some loose incense to burn on charcoal or loose herbs, an unlit candle, and a fireproof container. Extinguish all the lights in the house, open the windows to let the darkness in, and simply sit with it. Allow yourself to become comfortable with the lack of light, to see and to feel the beauty in the darkness.
Holding your herbs or incense in your hand, summon all those energies from the year that you are ready to release – stagnation, sorrow, pain, negativity. Pour them into your herbs, noticing that without the emotional impact you attach to them, they are simply energy. When you are ready, light a candle and use it to light your charcoal or fire, throwing the herbs into the flames, allowing the energy to transform and be released.
Re-light all your candles from the flames and turn your awareness towards the light and fire of Sagittarius, which will come in due time.
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