64 Horoscope Guide
These last remarks seem particularly ger-
mane when one of the signs in question –
Scorpio, Venus’ detriment – has to do with
the hidden realm, the place of deep nourish-
ment that will not bear fruit until later. All of
which provides us with a nice segue into this
month’s inner-outer discussion, where we
will look at the aspects between both transit-
ing Mercury and transiting Venus in Scorpio,
and, if you please, natal Uranus positions in
Fixed signs.
Mercury, Venus, Scorpio
Okay then, what about that remarkabove about Mercury not working so well
in Scorpio? Let’s give a little ground on that,
admitting that sometimes the criticism proves
true: as a sign connected to powerful and
fixed emotionalism, Scorpio can sometimes
drench Mercury in some rather bitter waters.
However, Mercury’s natural curiosity finds a
natural home in Scorpio, for the vastness of
the unconscious and its pervasive connection
to conscious experience and our conventional
understanding of the world gives Mercury an
infinite area in which to play. Of course, as a
planet connected with intellect, Mercury may
feel frustrated by Scorpio, for the energies
of that sign resist easy verbal expression or
intellectual categorizing.
Nonetheless, if we consider Pluto,
Scorpio’s ruler, as a higher vibration of
Mercury, a symbol reminding us of connec-
tions between our use of symbols and our
experience in the purportedly non-symbolic
world, we will glimpse the importance of
any Mercury-Scorpio-Pluto connection, for
the intellect may do us great service as we try
to understand and work effectively with the
demands of the unconscious. Humans cannot
alter the declarations of the underworld lord,
but they can, through deeper understanding,
learn to work with them – and Mercury hav-
ing a great love of the play of thought, can
enjoy the mystery, human curiosity having
great capacity to lead us forward.
The fact that Mercury turns retrograde in
Scorpio and that Mercury spends so much
time in that sign over two months certainly
suggests that we need a second and third
look at the underworld. Remember that we
can all take further responsibility for the great
collective confusion in which Pluto appears in
the plutonic manifestations in the world (e.g.
famine, slaughter, what sometimes seems
pervasive hatred, etc.), and that such respon-
sibility must arise with deeper understanding- a deeper understanding connected in myriad
ways with our natural curiosity.
Venus rules Libra, and Libra precedes
Scorpio; astrologers of long-bygone eras con-
sidered Libra as the “claws” of the Scorpion.
It seems that we get drawn into the under-
world at least partly through relationship,
love, and our desire for social justice or
valued interaction. The first – relationship
seen as claws – merely tells us what we have
all experienced: that intimate connections
with others bring us smack dab up against
the door to the underworld. In other words,
we find ourselves dealing with unconscious
matters, both in ourselves and in our partners.
That seems unavoidable – and we probably
shouldn’t consider it unfortunate.
We should probably consider it “par for
the course,” and some Jungian theory might
help us shoot better than par. Jung developed
his theory of the anima and animus, the inner
partner in men and women respectively, that
serve not only as gateways to unconscious
content, but also as guides in our relation-
ships. In general, we feel drawn to people
of the opposite sex who have powerful con-
nections to our anima or animus. This relates
to Venus in Scorpio because during Venus’
passage through the eighth sign, unconscious