Just in case Super-Storm Sandy is all it’s projected to be, I’m posting an earlier version of a blog post on my list for this week.

A super-juicy Taurus full moon, a super cocktail of a storm, and the cross-quarter festival of Samhain all in the coming week seem a perfect expression of the energies of Now.

Since curiosity and a spirit of exploration will serve us well now, let’s explore …

We’ve been experiencing another shift in energies over the last month, with an increased dose of Scorpio flavor added to the mix when Saturn, the North Node and the Sun wandered into the archetype of the Scorpion-Eagle-Phoenix.

(Mars and Mercury had recent transits as well, and Mercury will revisit Scorpio during its upcoming retrograde, adding power to the homeopathic dose of Scorpio juju we’re immersed in.)

All that to say that it’ll likely get harder for surface-skimmers to avoid the Great Depths and Dark Nights over the next few years.

The Underworld journeyers and Dark Night veterans will find the energies (and related initiations) familiar and can be wise guides. But many of us are also feeling battle-wearied by long cycles of seemingly perpetual Scorpionic-Plutonic experiences of death, loss and transformation, so we’ll be digging more deeply, too.

So just what energies and archetypes are afoot?

If you read the typical astro-fodder about both Saturn and Scorpio, you’ll likely notice that both get a big, bad, scary rap. Then again, the ‘big, bad and scary’ proliferate amongst the drama-lovers and ‘fear-button’ pushers.

We have plenty enough drama now, as the big Uranus-Pluto-Saturn energies of unavoidable initiation and transformation meet in the cosmic-Earth kitchen and cook up uber-intensity. So we don’t need any more man-made Scare-Drama, but we’ll get plenty of that, too.

That’s where the gifts of Scorpio and the other energy-archetypes can be a huge help to us now and onward.

Knowing about the energy-archetypes is relevant because whether we know it or not, we’re living the archetypes and mythologies, and we either consciously interpret and express them (thus shifting the dysfunctional patterns in our psyches and the collective) or they live us in the Old Fogey Sociopath Patriarch forms we’ve inherited.

The scare-stories about Scorpio focus primarily on its association with death and transformation, but also something much deeper … much more ancient and powerful.

Scorpio’s modern-day ruler is Pluto, named after the Roman god of the Underworld (Hades to the Greeks).

Pluto-ruled Scorpio goes to the depths, on a treasure hunt for your soul essence and power that you’ve delegated (or that’s been appropriated) by those who abuse it and thus don’t deserve it. Pluto says, “Time to reclaim that.”

The symbols or totems for Scorpio are scorpion, eagle and phoenix ~ the latter the symbol for regeneration and rebirth, a key part of the transformation too often left out of Scorpio-Pluto discussions.

(The phoenix is a mythical bird of amazing beauty, who rises anew from the ashes of its former self — a quintessential symbol of shamanic death and rebirth.)

But one of the most important bits of information about Scorpio is that before the scorpion arrived on the totem scene, Scorpio’s symbol was the snake…uh huh, that snake.

Now we’re cooking ~ Scorpio and the snake are perfect together.

As a water sign, Scorpio is Divinely Feminine and associated with the depths, linking it with ancient, cthonic, primordial goddesses.

So before Mssr. Pluto arrived on the scene, Persephone was already the wise, initiated Queen of the Underworld, having earned her crown as Walker Between the Worlds.

The snake, for its part, was associated with the oracle priestesses, the great goddess, transformation (shedding its skin), the sensual and erotic, the Mysteries, magi-shaman, and the deepest Wisdom … think Medusa with that snakey hair of hers, or the outlawed (by the Patriarchs) feisty goddesses like Lilith.

All of these got a seriously bad rap during the Patriarchal age (and I’ve explored them all in Sophia’s Children … gateway link below).

So now that we’re in Scorpio season, that’s one of the themes to notice ~ What was once revered as sacred and holy-powerful but got its sacredness smeared and decimated by the Crabby Paters over the last couple of thousand years?

It’s time to dive deep to reclaim these jewels that have been hidden away in the depths, and strengthen those gifts you may be in the process of reclaiming.

Here are a few related posts from the Sophia’s Children archive to get you in the mood and to use to help align you with the vibe:

Black Madonna and Dark Goddess posts

Plus a musing or two on Medusa, the amazing Lilith, and the Dark Night of the Soul initiations.

Remember, though we’re each on our own authentic solo-journey, we’re diving and reclaiming together.

More musings soon …

Lots of love,
Jamie

p.s. My technology continues to be crabby, too, so I’m still not able to upload pretty pictures in the posts. You’ll find plenty in the archived blog posts I link to, though.