Venus in Scorpio

 Venus Anadynomene (Venus of the Sea) by Théodore Chasseriau (1838)

You’d think that the combination of Venus and Scorpio would be a luscious positive.

Well, it can be. It’s just that the positives which come with Venus in Scorpio tend to come at too high a cost. Or consequences which we don’t much like. This passage often is the very essence of getting one thing and losing another. And no, they don’t even have to be connected.

It’s strange.

And yet, it’s not strange at all. Scorpio is interactive. It’s also the polarity sign to Taurus, the sign where we see Venus’ rulership take its most simplistic human form. Venus in Taurus is about wanting comfort. Safety. Security. Venus in Taurus embodies the drive to feel satisfied with life, and to feel worthwhile with what we do, have, or have accomplished…and through what we do, have or accomplish.

Polarities being what they are, on one hand Scorpio represents all what we may do or try which will get us to that place of satisfaction or security.

And on the other, Scorpio tests us. We talk about Scorpio as a sign all about life’s temptations, life’s gambles, life offering us opportunities or challenging us to present sufficient presence of self respect to earn an opportunity to achieve.

An aurora over Alaska photographed by Joshua Strang, USAF

 
Into which comes Venus, a planet which aims to deliver results – the results that we want, which will satisfy us or make us happy.

The formula for success in Scorpio requires that we take into account what everybody wants. And to do that, we have to value everyone equally and not assume that we know what they consider valuable. Or what their priorities are.

That’s where Venus, as emblem of wanting what we want, doesn’t fit so well with Scorpio. This is not a sign where Venus is going to be generous. (At least not without an effort!) In fact, Venus in Scorpio tends to tickle our presumptuous and most selfish instincts.

And that leads to manipulation. And emotional con games.

And karma. During the three-plus weeks of Venus in Scorpio, we can expect to see bits of karma in action.

All this begins on November 22nd at 1:21 in the morning – if you’re in the UT/+0 time zone, that is. And of course, with Saturn sitting at 5 Scorpio as Venus insinuates itself into its Scorpio guise, the standard 5-degree orb takes effect the moment Venus crosses into the Scorpio Zone.

Expect things to get really intense and intensely real. And for some, very expensive. After all, Saturn-Venus connections are well known as a symbol of finance. If this was a ‘cooler’ sign like Capricorn (which Saturn rules) we’d expect to think in terms of business dealings and long term planning. But since this is Scorpio, and Scorpio is the realm of all we want (often whether it’s good for us or not!) there’s certainly a more than decent chance that temptation will reign.

And to think…Thursday the 22nd is Thanksgiving in the United States! Oh, I wonder what that means!
Could it be that people might eat too much?

And since Thursday the 22nd leads to a weekend which traditionally begins an avalanche of holiday shopping, is this a good sign for the economy?

Maybe so, yes. And since as Venus is entering Scorpio, Mercury (also in Scorpio) is slowing down to take its station/direct on Monday the 26th…that being the very day that transiting Venus conjuncts Saturn, there’s a lot to be said for ‘turns of fortune’ occurring during this time.

Astronaut Ed Lu took this stunning photo of Hurricane Isabel from the International

Space Station (ISS) in September 2003. The reference I make here is not literal, but

figurative - as in, the hurricanes which devastate our lives for various reasons.

(photo credit: NASA)

 
Oh yes…and there is a little surprise package called a Lunar Eclipse waiting to get dropped in our laps come November 28th.

The sum of all of this suggests that people will fall into two very different camps during the first days of Venus passing through Scorpio. It’s not quite the Hatfields and McCoys, and not your typical outline of ‘have’ versus ‘have not.’ Call it one mindset which splurges happily in the present against another which makes its move based on caution and some future bottom line.

Friction comes wherever and however these two factions meet.

Again, the secret here is taking the aims, opinions and priorities of everyone into account. These weeks of Venus in Scorpio can be a time of tremendous generosity. There will be moments which occur in each of our lives when we have a chance to join with someone rather than to act purely in our own benefit.

The question is not what you do, but why you do it. If you make a sacrifice of time or reprioritize because someone needs a little help and you can get your chores done anyway, helping out is a plus. What Scorpio never supports is abdicating your responsibilities, your worth, your values to those ‘dictated’ by someone else or some group.

So don’t be fooled – most of all by your Self. This is exactly the kind of influence under which we would expect to see people doing what they ‘have’ to do or what is ‘expected of them’ when that doesn’t suit their nature or their beliefs. To surrender that under anything in Scorpio is to be going into a debt of disrespect with yourself.

Venus will be in Scorpio until early on December 16th. During the December part of this transit Uranus goes direct (while Pluto is foisting a myriad of details on us)…all of which will conspire in many a life to prompt a lot of thinking which amounts to:

WHAT THE HECK AM I DOING?

Many of us are going to recognize (maybe at long last?) that what we’re doing doesn’t satisfy us (‘satisfy’ being the magic Venus word) as we might want it to. Things aren’t satisfying. Or satisfactory. They don’t ‘feel’ right.

In the wake of a late Scorpio solar eclipse this seems rather fitting. Life has been giving all of us a hefty dose of emotion-provoking reality, whoever we are and however or wherever we live.

So as we go through what we need to do, what it may be traditional to do, as we get together with those who mean something to us, or as part of making some meaningful gesture…we will be reflecting.

 In the midst of our coldest moments, sometimes comes inspiration.

(Wintertime in Barvaria - photo credit: Bermd Reuschenberg, December 2004)

What do I really think is important? When all is said and done is satisfaction really about comfort or my personal security…or is satisfaction about knowing you’ve done what you could, whatever that means in any given circumstance?

If you come to that answer, you will have made the most out of Venus in Scorpio. And to the degree that you go beyond the surface, the momentary desire, the symbolic or personal and deliver yourself into a realm of truly caring, you will find that others respond positively.

And thus life tells us how we’re doing.

And what still remains to be done.
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