Where is there ease in your life? Where is there flow?
A review of eclipse season and a deep dive into the grand water trine.
In the last few days I found myself listening to two recent podcast episodes by Luis Mojica (Holistic Life Navigation) called “Navigating Feeling the Present Moment to Find Ease and Joy” and “Navigating Pleasure as a Resource for Healing Trauma”.
Both episodes reminded me of the gentle and soothing grand water trines we have been moving through, amid ongoing cosmic rumbles echoing out from the recent astro upheaval.
Luis, a Somatic Experiencing Practitioner, invites listeners to look around their environment and “feel the absence of threat” in the present moment.
Amid tension or stress are we able to notice and attune ourselves to that which creates a sense of ease, safety, okayness, pleasure or joy?
How much of our being is able to be in relationship with that ease or joy? Can we be present with both the difficulty and the ease simultaneously? Even just a little bit?
It is Scorpio Season for just a couple more days.
Venus, Mercury, and the Sun were sharing space in Scorpio for most of eclipse season. After the lunar eclipse on November 8th, as these planets began reaching the late degrees of Scorpio, they all began to encounter trines with Neptune and Jupiter in Pisces, and Lilith and Pallas Athena in Cancer.
These trines began on November 10th, but they would have become stronger after we cleared some Saturn stuff and the fast-moving Moon entered Cancer on the 12th. The Moon quickly connected all players in the grand water trine (involving Cancer, Scorpio, and Pisces) within the span of about 18 hours, from Sunday afternoon through to the early Monday AM (Nov. 13-14).
Here’s what the sky looked like last Sunday afternoon (Nov. 13th), for example:
The blue water trine is clearly visible in the chart above. This is also basically the same chart that Chris Brennan picked for his monthly auspicious election on the Astrology Podcast for November.
Electional astrology is a technique that is used to “elect” the best time for an event, or to initiate something. The elected chart then becomes the “birth chart” of that event or initiated action. Electional astrology is used in astrological magic and when making talismans to hold the cosmic energy of the moment.
I decided to use this grand trine astrology to make manifestation candles!
Earlier this year I read David Spangler’s book Everyday Miracles: The Inner Art of Manifestation. He is a Capricorn and his book is one of the best manifestation books I’ve read. I appreciated how grounded and systematic it was. I believe it was in this book that he recommends using candles to help delineate and hold the edges of the energetic circle while doing visualization work - while also using a candle in the center as a point of focus and grounding.
With a strong forward-moving Saturn in his home sign of Aquarius rising up toward the eastern horizon (an indication of boundaries with the outside world), and the Moon at home in Cancer uniting an intuitive, magical water trine that included Jupiter (planet of abundance) at home in Pisces… I poured 4 blue candles.
A couple hours later, when Jupiter in Pisces was rising up toward the eastern horizon, I poured a white candle for my center point.
You may have intentionally and proactively used this grand water trine with the Moon, Sunday into Monday… or maybe you just noticed some ease and flow - with relationships, with money, with creative or emotional self-expression. There is often an increased feeling of unity or emotional connectedness with others, during a water trine.
With Scorpio weighted heavily in this trine and black moon lilith involved, there may have also been more capacity to address, integrate and process that which feels shadowy, taboo, or exiled.
Water trines are not loud like fire trines, not fast like air trines, not as productive as earth trines. They are quieter and more subtle. Sometimes it means we cry more because we actually have the space and capacity to slow down enough to feel our feelings. They are not necessarily experienced as subjectively “happy” times, but a trine is still considered a beneficial aspect where the planets work harmoniously together.
A trine is a relationship between planets that bestows ease and flow, in contrast to the “hard aspects” of the opposition and the square that create friction between planets.
Typically, people seem to notice oppositions and squares in life more so than trines. We tend to notice discomfort more so than ease (especially if the discomfort is continuous and ease shows up in the middle of it). So again, amid any tension and stress right now, are we able to notice and attune ourselves to that which creates a sense of ease, safety, okayness, pleasure or joy?
As for the technical specifics, Venus and Mercury in Scorpio trined Neptune in Pisces and Lilith in Cancer on November 10th and 12th. From the 13th to the 14th the Moon in Cancer united the entire grand water trine as I just described. From Nov. 15-16th the Sun trined Neptune in Pisces and Lilith in Cancer, while Venus and Mercury in Scorpio completed a set of beautiful water trines to Jupiter in Pisces.
I should also mention that on Saturday, November 19th, we had the second of three Mars (rx in Gemini) square Neptune (in Pisces) transits, which I referred to in a prior post as the mutable mess. This was a bit of a confuddled interruption in the flow of these grand water trines. Mars square Neptune in Pisces is also a watery transit, but of a more aggravating kind. This long-term influence feels very 7 of cups to me:
Overwhelmed by multiple options? Disillusioned and confused about next steps? If yes, then you are likely feeling this square which has been at play since September, but extra potent this past week and last Saturday.
Back to the gifts of 120°: Finally, around midnight (AST) on the threshold from Sunday to Monday, November 20th - 21st, the Sun in Scorpio makes the last glorious trine to Jupiter in Pisces as it prepares to enter Sagittarius on Tuesday.
The new moon in Sagittarius on November 23rd looks really beautiful and hopeful. The Sun is still holding an out-of-sign trine to Jupiter in Pisces during the new moon (meaning a non-exact trine involving planets in signs of different elements). Jupiter is the ruler of the new moon and Jupiter is stationing direct as the lunation cycle begins again in Sagittarius! This timing seems rather auspicious.
In the chart below you can see the sun and moon at the same degree restarting the lunation cycle on November 23rd, and the “S” next to Jupiter indicating it is stationing direct:
Furthermore, Venus and Mercury conjoined the prior Monday evening (Nov. 21st) and they are still in a sweet conjunction in Sagittarius as the new moon perfects.
So look for ease and flow with this final water trine involving the Sun and Jupiter around Nov. 20th-21st, and then as the new moon lands on Nov. 23rd and Jupiter gets ready to move forward, look for (or create) a pivot and an inception moment marking an opportunity for growth and expansion.
What else am I going to discuss in this post?
i.e. reasons to keep reading:
First I will review and reflect on the very dynamic astrological weather we just had during eclipse season (how it showed up in my life and in the news) - particularly the money themes around the lunar eclipse in Taurus.
Then, in honour of the grand water trine at play and the final days of Scorpio season, I will go deep into how I perceive the relationships between the three water signs. I will focus specifically on Scorpio’s interesting position between Cancer and Pisces as the “middle sibling” of the three (the in-between water sign) and how this relational position helps us more deeply understand the nature of Scorpio.
I will explore the theme of money through the lens of all three water signs to demonstrate their differences and show how they also complement each other.
Finally, I squeeze in a short artsy film piece I found that I have been saving to share during Scorpio season, called The Death of Albine.
As many of you know already, I write (very) long-form posts! Because of the length, your email provider may cut off the end of this post. You can click through to read it on Substack, or look for the link at the bottom of the email version of this post (wherever your provider cuts it off), to expand it and “view entire message”.
Reflections on Eclipse Season
Eclipse Season astro (especially late October through the second week of November) may have been subjectively experienced as good or not so good on a personal level, but at the very least it would have served as a plot device to drive forward a story in your life (or many stories) with great momentum. There was a lot of change-making interactions in the cosmos during this time.
To recap, the long-term Uranus-Saturn square in Taurus and Aquarius was aggressively reactivated both by the lunar (full moon) eclipse itself on November 8th in Taurus, and by all the planets in Scorpio moving through an opposition first to Uranus and then immediately hitting a square to Saturn from November 5th - 11th.
Earlier on October 25th, we had the solar (new moon) eclipse in Scorpio landing next to Venus at the beginning of Scorpio Season. The Taurus-Scorpio polarity has been quite loud lately.
In the background, the previously mentioned retrograde Mars square to Neptune aspect (in Gemini and Pisces) has lingered with its ongoing nebulous mass of confusing options, chaotic communications (e.g. Twitter), and shifting data points.
Personally, the lunar eclipse in Taurus (the sign most commonly associated with money) aligned with a new income stream opening up for me. Within my circle of friends and family I observed long-awaited money finally being deposited and received, new bank accounts were opened in ways that had great symbolic meaning, and a surprisingly large sum of promotional bonuses were bestowed.
Myself and my friends and family weren’t the only ones experiencing an unexpected Uranus + North Node + Eclipse in Taurus moment of financial expansion. This also happened on Tuesday, November 8th:
Eclipses catalyze change. What are gains for some, are often losses for others. Eclipses also reveal that which was previously hidden.
The saga of the wild SBF FTX fiasco began to play out in the public eye beginning around the time of the $-oriented lunar eclipse in Taurus.
SBF stands for Sam Bankman-Fried, the former CEO of FTX - which until recently, was one of the largest cryptocurrency exchanges.
A few days before the eclipse, rumors spread that FTX may be in serious trouble and people began panicking and pulling their funds. On the day of the eclipse, Binance, another large cryptocurrency exchange, responded to FTX’s plea for help and stated their intention to acquire FTX in order to help cover the liquidity crunch. By the following day Binance had pulled out of the acquisition, and by November 11th, as the Sun slammed into its square with Saturn, the planet of consequences, SBF resigned and FTX filed for bankruptcy.
Lots of drama in the crypto world with themes landing on the Taurus-Scorpio axis.
SBF ran FTX with his 10 roommates in the Bahamas who have all been romantically involved with each other at one point? SBF built a backdoor into FTX software to move billions without triggering alerts? FTX has been hacked and its apps are now malware? Will SBF be charged for brazen criminal fraud of epic proportions despite being one of the largest donors to the US’ Democratic party and its associated organizations?
Taurus is also referenced when describing the values that people use to guide their decisions. SBF, a self-titled “effective altruist”, had his values under scrutiny when he agreed to a DM-interview with a Vox reporter:
If the North Node of the Moon (which triggers eclipses) is the head of the dragon (as per Vedic astrology) that describes an insatiable hunger (for money, perhaps, in the sign of Taurus) then I think this dragon just swallowed SBF.
Personally, I found the final Saturn squares on November 10th-11th to be the hardest part of those dynamic seven days that included a wild lunar eclipse conjunct Uranus and the fixed square clashes that began on November 5th.
Saturn is the reminder of mortality, the deliverer of consequences and boundaries, and the big reality check.
Prior to those Saturn squares, during the build-up toward the eclipse a new income stream opened up as I mentioned, and I unexpectedly responded to a fitness and nutrition related IG ad. Within days I found myself changing my diet to include more protein which noticeably increased my energy. Taurus has an affinity with food and more energy via protein, was a welcome eclipse development in my life.
I also launched into creating a large scale macramé wall hanging using a pattern called Medusa, thus named for the diamond panels that look like snakes. Interestingly I had selected this pattern back during Taurus season when the Sun was conjunct the star Algol - named after Medusa’s snake covered head. The process of creating it was (mostly) really satisfying.
But then, as Mercury and the Sun began slamming into Saturn Nov. 10th and 11th (and FTX was filing for bankruptcy), I was burying my ten year old bearded dragon who chose the lunar eclipse portal as her cue to depart (I’m sad, but I have to say, her timing was on point).
I was also undoing knot after knot in my macramé project under Saturn’s stern watchful eyes as I worked my way back to correct an error. There were triggers and conflicts galore, and I was given reason enough to return to my magical books on protective house warding.
How did you fare this eclipse season? Good, I hope!
There have been many recent comparisons made between SBF’s situation and Elizabeth Holmes, the former billionaire founder of the biotech startup Theranos, as people wonder whether Sam will receive the same punishment as she just did for fraud.
On November 18th, Elizabeth Holmes was sentenced to 11 + years in prison for deceiving patients and investors with her faulty blood-testing nanotechnology. Although this final sentencing date happened the week after the lunar eclipse and the Saturn squares, the lunar eclipse in Taurus directly opposed Holmes’ Saturn in Scorpio, catching it in the crossfire as Saturn continued to hang out on her Aquarius Sun (she’s currently experiencing her second waxing Saturn square).
Saturn transits won’t let you get away with anything. There’s no shortcuts with Saturn. Whether it’s a punishment or a reward, the consequences (or karma) of one’s actions come knocking.
There was a US mid-term election the day of the dramatic lunar eclipse, which I admit I didn’t follow too closely, but as to be expected there was transition and change during that day - though relatively peacefully I think?
The Twitter shit show was much more chaotic than the mid-term election.
Elon Musk finalized his acquisition of Twitter on October 27th around the time of the solar eclipse in Scorpio, Jupiter retrograding back into Pisces, and Mercury entering Scorpio.
As I described in my previous post, Twitter’s birth chart is being hit by all the major astrology right now while Pluto, the planet of power, death and rebirth, sits on its descendant.
As I said: “Obviously Twitter is having one hell of a ride.” And it continues.
As the lunar eclipse in Taurus peaked, money themes emerged prominently in the Twitter narrative. The Twitter Blue subscription service was rolled out at this time, offering the identity-validating blue checkmark to anyone who was willing to pay $8 a month for it (previously the checkmark was given for free based on certain criteria).
The blue checkmarks are intended to prevent fake accounts and the impersonation of people with a significant public presence. However, Elon’s effort to make the verification badge more accessible, backfired. Twitter was flooded by witty impersonators who were more than willing to pay $8 to have some fun.
Some suffered more than others from this wave of impersonators:
I would say Eli Lilly caught the downward plummet of the Uranian eclipse roller coaster on the Taurus-Scorpio polarity of money and power when a “verified” fake Eli Lilly account tweeted: “We are excited to announce that insulin is now free” and the real Eli Lilly stocks nose-dived (as Mercury and the Sun completed squares to Saturn).
On the flip side, Eli Lilly’s sudden financial losses started a public conversation about the pharmaceutical company overpricing lifesaving medication.
Many of the stories featured in my eclipse season review highlight technology, power, and money.
On a similar note, the day after the lunar eclipse in Taurus on November 8th, Meta (aka, Facebook) announced they will be laying off 11,000 employees (13% of their workforce) mirroring the recent job losses for about 50% of Twitter’s employees in response to Musks’ orders.
Fyi, the chart of Meta’s founder Mark Zuckerberg revolves around the Scorpio-Taurus axis.
However, although these big moves clustered around the change-making eclipses in Scorpio and Taurus, there’s a trend here that feels even bigger than the eclipse-related shake-ups. I can see Uranus in Taurus thirsting for high-risk innovation and change, squaring off with Saturn in Aquarius who demands stable foundations and prudent, honest actions for the good of the collective - this Uranus-Saturn square was activated by the eclipses.
I also sense that we’re beginning to feel the rumbles of Pluto (planet of death and rebirth) about to make its first foray into Aquarius (a sign of futuristic tech) in March 2023.
These headlines and images from The Atlantic rather ominously speak to a cosmic transition underway as Pluto gets ready to leave Capricorn for Aquarius (and Saturn prepares to leave Aquarius for Pisces).
Indeed, journalist Derek Thompson writes:
“More likely, we are in an intermission between technological epochs. We’ve mostly passed through the browser era, the social-media era, and the smartphone-app-economy era. But in the past few months, the explosion of artificial-intelligence programs suggests that something quite spectacular and possibly a little terrifying is on the horizon. Ten years from now, looking back on the 2022 tech recession, we may say that this moment was a paroxysm of scandals and layoffs between two discrete movements.”
Diving into the Grand Water Trine
It’s time to come up for air out of the turbulent storm of eclipse season and… dive into the flow of the grand water trine!
We are currently experiencing the Sun in Scorpio trining Jupiter in Pisces as previously mentioned, so this exploration is relevant to the current astrology, but I really just wanted to go deep into the relationship between the water signs.
There are four elements in astrology - earth, water, fire and air - and there are three signs that belong to each element in the zodiac wheel.
Trines are harmonious 120 degree aspects that connect signs of the same element. A grand trine is an aspect that connects all three signs of the same element at once, as illustrated below.
In the order of the zodiac wheel, Cancer is the fourth zodiac sign - but the first water sign. Scorpio is the eighth zodiac sign, but the second water sign. Pisces is the twelfth and last zodiac sign, and the third water sign.
The water trio begins with Cancer, whose quality is cardinal - it initiates and leads. Cancer is ruled by the Moon and in the northern hemisphere it is dominant in the summer. The summer solstice in late June is the first day of Cancer season.
Next is Scorpio, which is of a fixed quality - it maintains and persists. Scorpio is ruled by Mars and in the northern hemisphere Scorpio is dominant in the autumn around Halloween.
Finally Pisces completes the trio with its quality of mutability - it shapeshifts and transitions. Pisces is ruled by Jupiter and in the northern hemisphere Pisces is dominant in the late winter. The end of Pisces Season and the beginning of Aries Season will always be marked by the spring equinox in late March.
I believe the particular zodiacal arrangement of Cancer, then Scorpio, then Pisces, is very important to understanding these signs. I’ll get into that more soon, but first here are some watery mood boards I collaged to demonstrate the distinct “vibe” of each water sign!
Cancer, cardinal water ruled by the Moon:
Think: A family cottage by a sheltered lake; nostalgia for childhood summers on the lake; summer reunions near water with bbqs and potlucks; refreshing dips after a hot day; jumping off the dock; racing hermit crabs; sand castles; playtime on the beach or in boats; feeling safe and relaxed, together with loved ones; bonfires and roasting marshmallows as the moon rises over the lake.
Scorpio, fixed water ruled by Mars:
Think: Murky depths; trying to peer past the water’s surface… nervous, not wanting to fall in, but undeniably curious nevertheless; swamps; stagnant water; scary creatures that lurk near beaches or rivers waiting for unsuspecting humans; stepping gingerly on iced-over water unsure if it will hold you; seeing the tip of an iceberg and feeling awe that 90% of it is underwater; the necessity of having to wade through cold slimy water to get to the other side; seeing your breath hover like a small cloud in the air as you stand next to a body of water on a crisp winter day.
Pisces, mutable water ruled by Jupiter:
Think: Endless ocean depths and horizons; the thrill and terror of being in a tiny boat in the middle of water for as far as the eye can see; swimming with dolphins; deep sea diving; the steady lapping of waves on the beach lulling you to sleep; quiet retreats to a body of water to recover or rejuvenate; meditating on the beach; floating on the surface of the water in a starfish pose with your eyes closed; stepping beneath a thunderous waterfall; dancing in the rain; watching the expanse of stars at night move overhead while they are reflected on the ocean surface by or beneath you.
Hopefully you *felt* those photo collections land!
Now I’m going to go through all three again, but I’ll leave Scorpio until last.
♋ Cancer, cardinal water ruled by the moon:
The sign of Cancer is the watery point of origin; whether this is the primordial waters that spawned living creatures in many creation myths, or whether this is the womb waters during pregnancy.
Cancer represents individual mothers and the lived experience of being a human mother, but Cancer is also mother earth and “the mother land”. People with strong Cancer signature in their chart can be very nationalistic, or they may have deep emotional attachments to their historic roots and the land/culture they were born into.
Cancer is the concept of “home.” Cancer helps us to be at home on planet earth.
Cancer describes cells dividing and multiplying in unique ways. Cancer is about growing and developing in time and space - and the relationships and emotional connections that take shape simultaneously in response to this process.
Through the processes of Cancer we become water-filled creatures with bodies that are eventually distinguishable from our parents’ bodies.
We enter this world and begin to build, grow and cultivate our life’s journey as separate distinct human beings while in relationship to other distinct and separate human beings - as well as to our lineage and the natural world.
The Moon, as the ruler or guardian of the sign of Cancer, is the only celestial body commonly used in astrology that orbits the Earth instead of the Sun (aside from the lunar nodes and the lilith point, which lack a physical presence and are derived from the movement of the moon).
There is something very intimate about the Earth’s relationship with the Moon, the celestial luminary of the night. With its fast-moving, fluctuating appearance in our darkened sky; it is often understood in astrology to represent the ups and downs of daily incarnate life.
When I think of the Moon and Cancer, I think of this classic children’s book that is still beloved, 70+ years since it was first published:
When we look to the Moon to glean further insights into Cancer, it really anchors us into the experience of being an incarnate human creature in time and space.
Cancer describes how we emotionally undertake this task; nurturing our daily growth process while in relationship with the beings that surround us.
♓ Pisces, mutable water ruled by Jupiter:
In contrast to the separate incarnate life experience we find in Cancer - which is what allows for relationship between distinct beings - in the last water sign we all merge back into the oneness that existed before Cancerian cells began to divide and multiply.
Pisces is no boundaries. No separateness. Pisces is transpersonal. It’s beyond space and time. Pisces is dreamtime. Pisces is a psychedelic trip and altered states of consciousness. Pisces is the capacity for imagination where absolutely anything can happen outside of the constraints of tangible, incarnate life.
Pisces is oneness, infinity, and nondualism.
I believe the concept of nondualism is essential to understanding Pisces.
Nonduality is beyond opposites such as good/bad, true/false, me/you - opposites that Cancer depends on in order to create relationships and determine who and what are safe for emotional connection.
Nonduality is a rather ambiguous concept that by its nature defies words, so I’m going to get some help from meditation teacher Michael Taft, to explain it:
“Nonduality is the experience of intimacy with all things; a sense of identity with the entire universe. In this experience, the sense of being a witness or seer of things vanishes completely, and instead you feel yourself to be whatever thing you are beholding. You don’t see the mountain, you are the mountain. You don’t hear a bird, you are birdsong.
…Thus awareness is no longer split into an experiencer and the thing that is experienced, there is just pure experience with no divisions. Experience itself, without a subject or an object, without a seer or a seen, is the essence of nonduality.
Every culture worldwide has known about nonduality, and they have developed hundreds of techniques to help human beings to have this experience… nondual awareness is something that underlies all your perceptions of yourself, the world, and the transcendental. It’s there for you to find, if you want to go looking.
In Hindu contexts, nonduality is called advaita, which literally means “not-two-ness” and is the source of the English word nonduality… In Buddhist tradition, nonduality is called no-self (anatta), emptiness (shunyata), or rigpa.
To say it simply, nonduality is the essence of awakening; what is also called enlightenment, liberation, realization, divine union…
The basic understanding of nonduality in a religious context is that it is the true, real view of ultimate reality. Because everything is made of consciousness, to see that everything is one in awareness is to see ultimate reality.
…Nondual experience is something that is always available, and also something that you may spend the rest of your life cultivating, deepening, and integrating into your everyday experience… nondual experience is something that, once seen, it cannot be unseen. You and your relationship with other people and the world are forever changed.” ~ Michael Taft
Because of Pisces’ affinity with nondual awareness or a nondual reality, existing in a human body within time and space can be a very uncomfortable and painful experience for a Pisces-type who yearns to experience themself as one with the universe. The spectrum of dissociation is mostly a Piscean thing.
Pisces, as with Cancer, is often described by its emotional nature and deep capacity for empathy and love.
While this holds truth, Pisces’ love is nonspecific whereas Cancer’s love is offered to those within the chosen nest (e.g. family, friends, folks of the same nationality or culture). Here’s Albert Einstein speaking to this point through the lens of his nondualistic Pisces Sun:
“A human being is a part of the whole, called by us “Universe”, a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings as something separated from the rest — a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty.”
~ Albert Einstein (Sun in Pisces)
To further contrast and compare Cancer and Pisces I’ll use animism as an example. I see animism as being Cancerian as it facilitates very specific and personable one-to-one relationships with the more-than-human world. However, I also see animism as being Piscean in that it views all of existence as being animated with life force; taking part in the oneness that unites us all.
Pisces is ruled by Jupiter, a large gas planet that orbits the Sun. The word “expansive” is probably Jupiter’s most often used keyword, and one that is deeply relevant for Piscean yearnings.
Meditation, psychedelics, transcendent spiritual experiences - all of these I locate within Pisces’ realm to the extent that they help people expand beyond the limits of the mind, time, space and materiality, to access nondual awareness.
♏ Scorpio, fixed water ruled by Mars:
I saved Scorpio for last because I want to really highlight the space that exists between Cancer and Pisces - that’s where Scorpio sets up residence as the middle water sign sibling.
I've heard it’s hard being the middle sibling, right?! There can often be a struggle to carve out your identity in ways that set you apart from your younger and older sibling.
In general, I would say Scorpio has done a pretty good job of that. To the point where people are often surprised that Scorpio is actually a water sign because it “seems so different from Cancer and Pisces.”
I am going to try and demonstrate Scorpio’s unique role as the connecting water sign via its position as the being in-between the symbolic domains of Cancer and Pisces, while also describing the similarities between the three water signs.
What does it mean to be pulled between the intimacy of the home nest and timeless infinity?
What does it mean to be pulled between the moment of conception/birth and the mysterious vastness of the afterlife?
What does it mean to inhabit a human body temporarily, while sensing there’s something immortal about existence?
What does it mean to be between the polarity of separateness and oneness, dualism and nondualism (which is a paradox)?
What does it mean to be in relationship with separate beings while also recognizing we are all different expressions of the same life force?
Following these questions can lead us to the heart of Scorpio.
Scorpio is ruled by Mars, the warrior of the sky (who also rules Aries).
Scorpio is thus, a battlefield. But it is the host to battles that happens mostly internally; in the realm of the subconscious, the psyche, and the emotions.
There is a deep sense of conflict and struggle with Scorpio, and we can see this in its placement as the middle sibling to Cancer and Pisces.
Scorpio is expected to lead us through all the required transformations that take us from the protected realm of Cancer where cells divide, separate and multiply… to the surrender of Pisces where cells merge back into Source.
That’s a big ask. A big job.
If Cancer is birth and Pisces is the release of the physical body at the end of life, then from a water sign perspective, Scorpio represents all the gains and losses throughout the life span that help us practice releasing.
Most people have heard that Scorpio is about “transformation” in a pheonix-rising-from-the-ashes kind of way; dramatic transformations that could be described as a death and rebirth story.
Yet… Scorpio is a fixed sign.
Like the other four signs that share in this fixed modality (Taurus, Aquarius and Leo) Scorpio resists change. This is where Scorpio gets its reputation for being intensely loyal as well as obsessive or stubborn (like the other fixed signs). Fixed signs excel at maintaining what is, at holding on to something come hell or high water, at persisting against all odds.
Herein lies Scorpio’s struggle.
Scorpio is tasked with undertaking an act of alchemy by unifying opposites; the separateness found in Cancer’s domain.
Typically tension increases as Scorpio is pulled in two directions by both Cancer and Pisces, until a tipping point is reached.
Suddenly a Mars-fueled volcano erupts beneath Scorpio’s stagnant waters.
A tsunami wave forms and floods the surrounding area.
The landscape is irrevocably reshaped.
💲MONEY, through the lens of the three water signs
Money is the perfect medium through which to ground this abstract and conceptual water sign exploration.
We usually think of the Earth signs when we think of money (i.e. Taurus, Virgo, and Capricorn). It makes sense that these signs (especially Taurus) would have an affinity with money because of their orientation toward the material world.
However, both Earth and Water are considered to be receptive elements in astrology (Earth and Water signs have also been called the feminine signs). Both Earth and Water signs have a lot to say about money.
Air and Fire have a role to play in the world of money by spreading it around and motivating us to gain it, to spend it, to share it, to do something with it.
But it’s the absorbent Earth and Water sign polarities that primarily collect, gather, store and manage, money and material resources.
(In this discussion I’m talking about the signs as pure archetypes or energies - actual birth charts are more complex than this)
Cancer (opposite the earth sign of Capricorn) collects money to line its nest, to support the “creations” (e.g., humans, artistic projects, pets) it’s nurturing. Cancer tends to be nostalgic and holds on to resources that remind them of past times. They have a strong desire to protect their money and resources, and to accumulate wealth in order to maintain a sense of security and to fund the new initiatives they are birthing into the world.
Cancer is strongly inclined to invest in their physical home, properties, family care-giving, as well as organizations aligned with their cultural or historic roots. Cancer is also motivated to support other people or groups that are doing nurturing work that they value.
Pisces (opposite the earth sign of Virgo) has a relationship to money that can express in extremely different ways. On one hand, because of this affinity to unboundaried “oneness” with all of existence, Pisces might take a spiritual vow of poverty and trust in god/others to provide them with what they need to survive. Pisces might also be overly self-sacrificial and generous with money, or struggle with other people stealing or claiming ownership over their work or creations - or vice versa (because we are all one, right?).
As the most non-material sign of the zodiac, Pisces’ relationship to money is sometimes a tricky one, but if it can tap into money within a nondual framework, there truly are no limits to Piscean receptivity to $. Tony Robbins, for example, is a Pisces Sun and a famous and wealthy motivational speaker who designs programs like Unleash the Power Within that will: “help you unlock and unleash the forces inside that can help you break through any limit and create the quality of life you desire.”
Scorpio (opposite to the earth sign of Taurus) has a relationship to money that reflects its middle sibling role, in-between Cancer and Pisces.
Below is a list of money themes that emerge prominently in Scorpio’s realm (they are also relevant for the 8th house which has a strong affinity with Scorpio symbolism). All of the items on this list involve connections or entanglements with others that are facilitated through money.
Through inheritances, you remain tethered to the person who died (and potentially to the other people in the will).
Through debts and loans, you are connected to those who have borrowed or lended.
Through sharing and merging finances, you becoming more deeply entangled with a romantic or business partner.
Through insurance payments, you are connected to the company (and everyone else paying them) who will cover your potential losses in exchange for your regular contributions.
Through paying taxes, you are in relationship with your government who promises to maintain and improve your country in return.
Through child support payments, you remain involved with your ex-partner.
Through stock market investments, you become connected to the fate of various companies and you share in their successes and failures.
And through buying just about anything in our current society, you become connected and complicit with awful business practices and the worst crimes out there, via the constant circulation of money and outsourcing.
The list above seems to be louder for Scorpio-dominant people. These forms of financial connection often become central narratives for a Scorpio-driven life in rather dramatic ways.
However, we all have Scorpio in our charts and there is no way to escape our global interdependency and interconnectedness as we engage with money.
The first example in the list above - inheritances - is an easy one to map on to the water trio. The nurturing relationship between a parent and child is very Cancerian. The parent accumulates money over their lifetime, and when they pass over (a Piscean release) they leave behind material resources that then get passed down to their children.
The parent continues to exist through memories, through spirit form, but also through cold hard cash. This is where we find Scorpio; at this intersection, receiving the material wealth from their Cancerian parent after they have passed on. Pisces reminds us that no one and nothing truly disappears - it just recirculates after it passes through Scorpio’s alchemical realms.
Carolyn Elliot, the often controversial author of Existential Kink, sent out a series of free promotional emails years ago, for a course called Wealth. I didn’t end up enrolling in the course, but I did print out all the promotional emails and I have reread them a couple times over the years.
I think her (and Dave Burns with whom she was co-teaching) did an incredible job at illuminating the role of the water signs in the world of money - especially Scorpio and Pisces. She never mentioned astrology and I don’t think this water-sign relevance was intentional, but I found her insights so intriguing.
Right away, there was Pisces with the nondualism:
“What’s not yet so widely understood, is that money and all the energies surrounding it (sales, business, debt, gifts, receiving) have exactly the same excellent tantric potential [as sexual energy] to be used as fuel for nondual awakening.” ~ Carolyn Elliot
And Cancer with the animistic relationality:
“What’s the solution? …I believe it has to do with recognizing that money as a spirit, a living intelligence, has zero concern for anyone’s moral quality, but a whole lot of concern for galvanizing their nondual perception.” ~ Carolyn Elliot
Scorpio was also immediately present as she discussed the secrecy and taboos that surround money, and the way that money moves around through interactions with our unconscious -
“…money has a weird, slippery daemonic quality that simultaneously makes it very amenable to shadow work magic and which also causes it to show up as a force that so often eludes our rational, conscious intentions — i.e., we humans often tend to spend more than we mean to, earn less than we want, end up having our emotions pulled mercilessly in various directions by the vicissitudes of our finances.
The slipperiness of money, the way it frequently escapes our rational plans and notions, can be very frustrating - but when we get willing to become intimate with its wyrd, fateful, underworld nature - we open a door to befriending the spirit itself.” ~ Carolyn Elliot
As Dave Burns relayed his experiences of being called to the “initiatory medicine/poison path of money shamanism,” he described this process through Scorpio and Piscean language:
“Some days I had experiences of radical non-dual awareness, sensing the entire matrix of interlocking paradoxes within the fabric of reality and feeling as if I had absolute control over the flow of money through musical manipulation of the matrix.
Some days I was literally curled up on the floor, feeling utterly trapped, powerless, and humiliated.
…My teacher was Money herself - and she had been teaching, healing, and initiating me through experiences of both beautiful transcendence and utter ego annihilation every step of the way.” ~ Dave Burns
As I mentioned before, psychedelics are primarily a Piscean phenomenon and interestingly Carolyn perceives money as a very powerful psychedelic substance because it “amplifies the psyche, especially contents that are usually unconscious.”
Carolyn’s approach to money is decidedly water-based rather than earth-based. One of her first pieces of advice is to empathize with the spirit of Money:
“any powerful relationship is built first and foremost on a foundation of deeply heartfelt empathy. In other words: the more fully we can come to terms with our own painful incarnation here on this planet, the better our relationship with Money will become… and, the better our relationship with Money, the more skillfully we can enjoy our incarnation on this planet.” ~ Carolyn Elliot
So much Cancer here within the broader context of Carolyn discussing how both humans and the spirit of Money yearn to feel “at home.”
Remember in my last post where I wrote that in Scorpio realms we encounter intersecting themes of deep desire, power and agency?
Back to Carolyn Elliot’s insights:
“Money functions as both a store of power… and as a medium for exchange of value, which is to say, a medium for exchange of desire, because economic value is a purely social function and only what is desired by people has “value” in the economic sense.
So money sits at this mysterious, highly charged intersection of desire and power - in order to express your desire with money (i.e., to buy something that you want) you have to be willing to part with a portion of your stored-up power. We call people who only relate to money as an expression of their desire, “frivolous spenders,” and people who only relate to money as a store of power and personal security, “misers".”
In other words, in order to make wise decisions with money you have to constantly balance your agency of desire and power, which isn’t easy. So I’d say that all the dark problems that seem to be connected to money are actually much more primally connected to the way that human souls deal with desire, power and agency.
Money is basically public sex. In the same way that erotic love is a uniquely potent manifestation of desire’s intersection with the private, money is a similarly potent manifestation of desire’s intersection with the public.
…monetary value is derived fundamentally from desirability, and money requires at least three people to exist (unlike sex, clearly, which requires only two - and some would say - only one). Since money is transferable debt, it has no purpose without the capacity to be transferred to a third person.
…all the magical work one must do with desire itself in order to heal one’s relationship to money inevitably bleeds into one’s relationship with sex, love and partnership, through the permeable wall that exists between the two.”~ Carolyn Elliot
Carolyn and Dave go on to write a lot about animism, subject-to-subject relating, shadow work, and existential kink techniques to melt all the ick emotions most of us have around money.
The one last piece I wanted to share from her writing, touches on something that I think is so important from a water-sign perspective on money:
“An increase in wealth makes you more permeable to connection, relationship, community, and a sense of indebtedness to the world around you.
The trouble is, this increased feeling of permeability and connectedness that comes with increased money in your bank account is highly sensational and tricky to navigate, so rather often people react to it by shutting down and becoming aloof or elitist, building gated communities and fortress-like strongholds…
A big part of the magical journey of becoming willing to increase the amount of wealth we receive in life (while remaining empathic, loving people) has to do with learning how to skillfully handle the terrifying sensations of expanded permeability and connection.” ~Carolyn Elliot
Which water sign is the most permeable?
Pisces.
Once we navigate desire, power and agency with Scorpio, according to Carolyn we will need to increase our capacity for Piscean experiences of permeability and non-dual awareness.
If Carolyn had taken an earth-based approach to money in these promotional emails (as so many do), they would have read very differently!
I hope perhaps, that perceiving money through the lens of the water signs has offered new insights into the relationships between Cancer, Scorpio and Pisces, and the multi-faceted nature of all three.
I’m now wrapping up this post as the Sun in Scorpio is just minutes away from perfecting its trine with Jupiter in Pisces. If you are reading this on Monday, November 21st, know that there’s a cosmic invitation to flow, grow and expand with ease, whether in regards to money, relationships, creative or emotional self-expression.
And if you are reading this at any time this week, there is a beautiful new moon that lands on Wednesday and it wants to call forth your brightest vision for the future!
The Death of Albine
This post is already quite long, but I had saved this artistic discovery for Scorpio Season and I need to squeeze it in!
I came across the work of Rebecca Louise Law a few months ago; a British artist who creates “immersive installations with natural materials” - primarily preserved flowers. All her gorgeous installations can be viewed on her website and on her instagram account.
Flowers are primarily the domain of Taurus.
Preserved flowers or dying flowers demonstrate the Taurus-Scorpio polarity.
Flowers are beautiful, but flowers are fleeting; soon Scorpio’s rotting and composting process will claim them all.
After browsing her installations I’m sure you too would agree that the Taurus-Scorpio polarity must be prominent in the chart of this artist.
Curator Jochen Wierich writes of Rebecca Law’s work:
“Her art takes the viewer into that transitional space where the extremes of life and death intersect.”
In particular it was her film collaboration with Found Studio, titled “The Death of Albine,” that really caught my attention.
The film’s website states that it “takes its inspiration from elements of the French novel ‘The Sinful Priest’, by Emile Zola. The novel centers on a love affair between a young priest and an innocent girl, Albine. After Albine is abandoned by her lover, she decides to tear the flowers from the garden, in which they consummated their affair, to make a deathbed, where she then lies down and dies.”
This tragic tale, written in 1874, also inspired a painting by John Collier (1895) that shares the same title as Rebecca Law’s film project - The Death of Albine:
The short, visually stunning film itself can be found here, or below:
**Content warning: theme of suicide. My careful-conscientious-self is conflicted with my artistic-in-love-with-symbolism-self with sharing this film!
The story of The Sinful Priest touches on other Scorpio-Taurus themes involving power, love, sex and betrayal, but at this time of the year as I find myself bracing for the coming cold of winter, it is the symbolic depiction of the seasonal shifts and natural cycle of life that really resonated with me.
You could also map the progression of water signs (Cancer to Scorpio to Pisces) on to this story, as a beginning-middle-end structure so to speak.
Below is an excerpt from the end of the ‘The Sinful Priest’ that speaks to this time of continual descent in the Northern hemisphere:
She had always obeyed the voices of the trees. She could not remember having injured a single flower. She had ever been the beloved daughter of the greenery, yielding to it with full belief in the happiness which it promised to her.
She halted and looked around her. The great gloomy masses of foliage preserved deep silence. The paths were blocked with black walls of darkness. The distant lawns were lulling to sleep the breezes that kissed them. She thrust out her hands. It could not all end thus. But her voice choked beneath the silent trees. Three times she implored the garden to answer her, but no explanation fell from its lofty branches, not a leaf seemed to be moved with pity for her. She was entering into the fatal sternness of winter.
She caught sound of a gentle murmur speeding along the ground. It was the farewell of the plants, wishing one another a happy death. To have drunk in the sunshine for a whole season, to have lived ever blossoming, to have breathed continual perfume, and then, at the first blast, to depart, with the hope of springing up again elsewhere, was not that sufficiently long and full a life which obstinate craving for further existence would mar?
…She stayed her steps once more; but she no longer protested as she stood there amidst the deep stillness of the Garden. She now believed that she understood everything.
…And never had the garden loved her so much as it did now; she had shown herself ungrateful in accusing it, for all the time she had remained its best-beloved child. The motionless boughs, the paths blocked up with darkness, the lawns where the breezes fell asleep, had only become mute in order that they might lure her on to taste the joys of long silence… Perhaps they had already willed that she should spring up next summer as a rose in the flower-garden, or a pale willow in the meadow-lands, or a tender birch in the forest.
Yes, it was the great law of life.
~Emile Zola
I live in a place where the seasonal shifts are very apparent.
I was thinking recently, how devastating it would be if someone told me right now that spring and summer were not planning to return - that we were headed into endless winter.
The melancholy that pervades this time of the year is bearable because it is the great law of life that the wheel will continue to turn, the cycle will continue to spiral, and the roses will spring forth once more.