A Trio of Tough Taureans

Ahhhh, how the soothing temperature shifts and how the bird songs of May have been washing over all of us in beautiful springtime Vermont! As I sat on our deck the other evening, I watched the neighbors actively feeding a fire that they had built in their fire pit. The smell of smoke was heavenly as various tendrils of hickory lifted off into the cooling night breezes. Our neighbors were gathered around a newborn and a multitude of generations intermingled as the fire was fed. In the distance you could hear the sounds of nocturnal birds crying in the distance. All in all I would call this a perfect Taurean moment. A simple enjoyment of the season and the outside world is important to the Taurus native. The typical Taurean scene of a bull lazily chewing in a verdantly green meadow communicates this same feeling of earthy contentment. What else could the month of May possibly be about?

For this month’s column, I would like to explore three Taurean figures all of who exemplify the solidity of this sun sign. These three figures are male, so sorry ladies not to include you in on this one, but the point that I am driving home in this instance involves three long-lived males of societal prominence in American life. And these 3 gentlemen have certainly lived life to the fullest!

The first figure who I would like to mention is Pete Seeger who recently turned an amazing ninety! This man of song and social activism exemplifies the very best of Taurean qualities. Pete’s solid approach to living rests in his values of social justice and achieving peace and equality for all peoples. At his ninetieth birthday party celebration in New York fellow Venutian Bruce Springsteen said of Pete Seeger that: “At ninety, he remains a stealth dagger through the heart of our country’s illusions about itself.” This phrase truly exemplifies what a morally strong Taurean can accomplish! The Taurean super citizen is grounded enough to teach others by example no matter how dysfunctional or compromised others around them appear to be. The fixed sign of Taurus can teach others how to “live right” in this complicated world. I have always loved the phrase that appears on Pete Seeger’s banjo: “This instrument surrounds hatred and causes it to surrender.” No more beautiful life credo has ever been written on any instrument.

Recently deceased Studs Terkel also is a prime example of the “super world citizen”. His life work of bringing the history of the common person out into the front of American privileged life is extraordinary. Terkel possessed an unparalleled enjoyment of hearing people’s personal stories and recording them for history, but I also believe for his own individual enjoyment. Indeed, there is no stronger device for the study of history, than simple oral tradition. Terkel was as tireless and as solid as they come and within his examination of people’s lives within the pages of his books, it is easy to see how American social policy was eventually steered towards the light through his efforts.

Finally, I would like to raise another figure up to the light as a Taurean dynamo and that would be good old Willie Nelson. In the tradition of Seeger and Terkel, Willie has stubbornly stayed on the road playing that extremely beat up nylon string and connecting with causes such as Farm Aid. Willie has not changed his image or his music to match the times, yet old and new fans coming under his spell are instantly transported to a place of the best that the heartland offers to Americans of all faiths and cultures. His music and persona exemplify a belief in the land itself. Also a noteworthy Taurean quality of Willie’s is his love of marijuana; Taureans love their earthly pleasures, right?! British studies have recently linked a decrease in Alzheimer numbers among men forty and older who moderately smoke marijuana (conversely men under forty who smoke are putting themselves at risk for prostrate and respiratory diseases!). Older gentlemen, then, especially Taureans should be able to enjoy their earthly pleasures without the guilt!

Learn to be grounded by spending time listening to Pete, Studs, and Willie telling their stories.

I think that most people simply love the spring! There can be little doubt that this time of year creates at least in New England a sense of explosive energy that is perhaps like no other season that exists in the calendar year. It is a time of incredible growth and new things coming at everyone at top speed: the garden begins to grow, the projects pile up at work (depending on the industry) and the light begins to glare from the sky; we suddenly remember sweating as we begin to worship the sun anew.

People simply go crazy during the spring in Vermont; when that sun finally comes out from behind the clouds life begins again in Burlington as if the government were spraying the masses with Oxycontin and cocaine from the sky. Large waves of color sweep through the previously brown fields and forests as birds begin to sing – loudly – when just a few weeks ago there was simply a cold silence ever present in the outside world. Even if it snows or hails – the sun will eventually clean up the mess.

As far as my reasoning goes, after the spring equinox occurs on March 20th, we, in the western hemisphere, have entered into the time of Aries. And if nothing else, the Ram is all about super powerful beginnings and forward movement. Up and up is the direction. Burn baby burn!

The Aries sun sign manifests the energy of spring, which is virtually unstoppable once it gets going. Newness and power are the birthright of this forward moving sign. I contend that Aries is also the most athletic sign with natives born in this time period of the year having tremendous nervous energy to use for projects; most Aries will have a nervous foot tapping or roving eyes that keep scanning the room for the next interesting thing to pursue. Both the male and female Aries exemplify a natural physicality that is second to no other astrological sun sign. They are competitive and eager to be number one in virtually any area of life and they will delight also in the pursuit of this action. Aries loves action and even loves the love of action!

Now the funny thing with Aries is that other sun sign natives actually can very much enjoy the company of Aries when the Aries is in competitive mode because Aries shines during this moment. The sun that burns on the spring beach bringing in the happy cries of seagulls and returning geese is pure Arien energy released into nature. And when an Aries is performing at the peak of its capability all are suddenly blinded. A blazing start to a season of growth begins here!

As a double Libran, I am always fascinated by the Arien energy for its incredible explosiveness and consistent power.

Lest you believe I know something about astrology, I present to you my own Aries children, Joshua and Abigail – both of whom will surely kick my Libran ass into a real understanding of sun sign number one!

Understanding Pisces or Pisceans is never easy. Although I have had numerous friends and two mothers-in law with this sun sign, it is still challenging to define them exactly. Since we in the northeast are now entering once again into the time of Pisces, I thought to share an experiential viewpoint of the twin fishes.

Before meeting my most excellent wife, I was a very lonely man. I believe that this specific time period was towards the end of winter in 2003. The skies were gloomy as I sat sulking. As I looked back at my life, it all seemed quite painful and meaningless. I stood alone upon the cliffs overlooking Lake Champlain at Oakledge Park in Burlington. I was cold and twilight was beginning to settle. I felt exhausted and did not feel life; I felt death. As I sat quietly in the stillness involved in this negative vibe, I suddenly started to hear cracking and dripping. Wow! Winter was around BUT the lake was starting to defreeze and the dripping became louder and louder until I realized that all around me was water flowing and moving. Soon I had escaped my prior feelings of no movement and no life. This I believe is at least one of the powers of Pisces. It is all about water flowing and morphing and flooding and dripping and if we realize that the planet is mostly water, well then, water is no small deal. It would appear that water ultimately controls all.

As I write this month’s astro piece, I am also pondering the huge belly of my pregnant wife. The twins in there are floating in water and though they are not supposed to be Pisceans according to the delivery predictions, I can’t help but feel that they are Piscean symbols nonetheless attached to cords and swimming inside a living fish tank.

Anyone reading about astrology will inevitably get to the entries about Pisces saying that they are old souls and the Buddhist in me acknowledges that perhaps if they are really old souls, they just might not be coming back after this lifetime at all. Perhaps they are off to Nirvana upon the end of this life. This being said, then, let it be known that to nail down a Piscean is just silly and a waste of time. It is a nebulous and undulating creature that has many artistic, psychic, and healing abilities. These natives tend to have liquid eyes that stand out even from their rising sign characteristics. Keep gazing into those eyes and you will see a whole aquarium in there! Perhaps the first celled creatures that came out of the primordial ooze were Piscean – liquid made flesh! Other physical characteristics that stand out in Pisces individuals seem to be a kind of porpoise quality in the body or a flipper-like quality in the arms. I am not saying that they all can or like to swim, but can you imagine them suddenly morphing back into a mermaid or into Poseidon? I realize that this is a stretch, but give it a try next time you are having an intense conversation with a twin fish.

Pisces tends to absorb all like an emotional sponge and needs real solitude to recover. Though the same can be said about Cancerians to a degree, I feel that the Cancerian recovery from stress is markedly different. The Cancerian will simply need to eat some home cooking-style comfort food (OK – a lot of it) and more or less upon the conclusion of the meal be recovered. Not so for the Piscean. They are going to need much more time and much more solitude to extract themselves from everything and everyone that has globed onto them. This is what happens when a liquid creature comes onto land – all kinds of things stick to it suddenly and it is painful to them. They need to stay well lubed like a tadpole.

The other typical connection with Pisces is of course the planet Neptune, which in astro terms always bespeaks illusion and nebulousness. This could take the form of pursuing many relationships and marriages such as in the case of Elizabeth Taylor, Piscean par excellence or the multitude of conflicting images and stories we have of America’s first president, George Washington. It is noteworthy that one of the most enduring images of him is his crossing of the Potomac River on the bow of that little skiff. Old George even connects to a Piscean image with the myth of him pleading guilty upon the chopping down of the cherry tree. This image has been portrayed many times and often there is an illusionary quality to it.

Please see the image for this month, which is so Piscean! It is the book cover to author evolutionary biologist Neil Shubin’s “Your Inner Fish”. I got the chance to read it before it hit the shelves of the major book stores through a friend of mine. Though I am no scientist, I understand that a major premise of the book is that we are all carrying vestigial fish elements in our skeletal structures. Perhaps in a fashion, we are all Piscean. You go Tiktaalik roseae!

Finally, so very finally, it is time to leave most of January behind and thus begin to see more light, more movement and the first dawning of the new reality that the starkness of November, December, and January just can’t go on forever and forever. To quote the defunct Kerry & Edwards (preadultery – not judging!) campaign: “Help is on the way.”

Temperatures will rise with the growing light and a sense of help indeed suddenly comes into being even in freezing Vermont. Though February will have cold and snow, the qualities of this cold and snow will be less severe than of the white stuff of January. February sends the message that the darkest and deepest part of winter is already over… and some kind of thaw is just around the corner. This is where I like to think the sign of Aquarius begins.

The Aquarian sensibility is all about applying a briskly fresh approach and about looking away to a vista that is far off on the horizon. The Aquarian character does things in a determined fashion and at its best involves both innovation coupled with considerable perspiration.

Aquarians seem to know how to make systems, devices, machines, and new inventions work. If they are having a problem with a gadget or some such thing, they will simply retreat into some form of solitary space and try to figure it all out and usually they will succeed. The Aquarian is nothing if not persistent and innovative. Often, they are the mad genius.

Since I know a little about music, I would put forth two innovative and mad genius types: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Eddie Van Halen. Both of these musicians changed things up quite a bit and were able to not only perform original music, but they also came up with new forms of musical expression coupled with glamorous if tumultuous public personas. As a boy of five Mozart was able to read and write music; as a teen he wrote original compositions that transcended genres and later reinvented several of the operatic forms not only musically, but thematically as well. The idea of fiancé swapping that occurs in Cosi Fan Tutte was certainly risqué and novel for the time and Mozart’s opera audiences loved it.

As a result Mozart needed to work quite a bit in order to keep up with the demand for new works. He worked hard as a composer and as a pianist and as a violinist and creativity undoubtedly was an obsession for him.

Eddie Van Halen, too, has made a contribution to Pop Metal and rock music in general. His incendiary guitar playing created new lick patterns culminating with the most original two-handed tapping styles highlighted in the instrumental “Eruption”. His guitar playing technique is novel with the role of his middle finger of his right hand and his use of keyboards. Additionally, he designed many of his own guitars and amps having not been satisfied with playing the gear available at the music store like an Eric Clapton did. Van Halen created artistic designs on his equipment and strangely made the wearing of overalls work as a rock ‘n’ roll outfit.

Mozart and Van Halen together show a bit of the picture that an original and gifted Aquarian is capable of painting. There is the classical skill and poise, yet there is also the innovation and the calculation necessary to achieve greatness.

On a bit of a side idea, in observing a Capricorn-Aquarius cusp friend the other day, I was struck by how these two signs are, in fact, quite similar to one another. As a Capricorn is much grounded in the understanding of hard work and the pursuance of societal betterments (think Cappie Martin Luther King Jr.), so is the Aquarian (think Abraham Lincoln). Maybe it is the winter aspect of both of these signs that so clearly bespeak of the need to accomplish hard work for the good of the larger community. Whereas Cappie will get the work done through traditional and conservative means, the Aquarian will be innovative and perhaps shockingly radical in the pursuit of a fix.

Aquarius tends to govern things like nuclear power and electricity. It is interesting to note that currently we are in a mercury retrograde period in Aquarius, so I suppose that socially radical and innovative communication will be delayed until mercury turns direct on February 1st.

Finally, still up for grabs is whether planet earth has entered the Age of Aquarius with many famous astrologers still undecided about this fact. Let me also put out there that President Obama is Aquarius rising and in this way he resembles my most excellent brother-in-law who is long and lean and smart and kind. Three cheers to our new and fresh President! The young Farrah is included in an image form because she makes me remember my boyhood – and my early love for all Aquarians!

Time of the Sea Goat

Dick Nixon -- A Fallen Cap

It is only weeks away from 2009 and suddenly, we, in the western hemisphere, are in the midst of the winter solstice and I, for one, am really feeling it. Outside it is dark and cold and Christmas music is blaring in every retail outlet that I wander into. Every year this sudden “winterization” and Yuletide megabomb happens up here in Vermont and it all seemingly takes place right out of nowhere. The snows fall and holiday traffic locks everything up and it all becomes tedious bedlam. Indeed, Hanukah and Christmas Eve (Eid has already ended) are approaching and with these cultural milestones our direct movement towards shorter and darker days will finally end, but the movement toward the gradual increase in daylight hours and sunshine seems deathly slow going at this point.

These sensations and perceptions are all part and parcel of “the slowest time of year.” As the lights dim, we are all forced to take stock of our prior year if not “our entire lives” and to feel that it was all worth it (or not!). As the freneticism of the holiday season blazes on, it is often impossible to slow everything down and to simply accept where we all are positioned. The snow keeps falling and the holidays can make us feel that we are not “where we wanted to be.” I am here, but I really wanted to be there! And of course there is no escape to “there” – whatever “there” may represent to you personally. This is the difficult feeling of the holidays.

This very deep feeling of taking stock of your life and your place within it is beautifully aligned within the sign of Capricorn that begins during the winter solstice. Even though I am only a Capricorn rising, I believe that I understand a bit about this sun sign, especially because many of my friends are double Caps. These folks are a force to contend with to be sure. They are powerful and ever moving toward big goals, yet they are careful in existing in the definite present as they slowly aim quite high in their life pursuits.

The saturnine quality of the Capricorn is undeniable. There is a stark realism to the Capricorn native and even though this realism may result in the ultimate kill joy effect, it is very much a permanent state of affairs with Capricorn. The sober light of day is where the Capricorn native exists best.

As a large peasant family sits around the table during the middle ages in present day Eastern Europe, let’s say on January 1st, the decision must be made as to what animal needs to be killed, so as to have enough food to get through to spring. A wrong choice could very well result in starvation of the family or the destruction of further animal husbandry. This kind of high stakes decision making is what the sea goat excels at. He or she or it knows how to survive and how to plan accordingly.

Here, then, is where the Capricorn resides. The Capricorn native is more able to make this decision than any other sign. They know the right way to turn from within their very bones! And of course Saturn tends to govern bones and the skeleton. The relationship between time and the human skeleton is one of the most undeniable connections that exist on planet earth. Cappie feels the aging process taking place. Gravity slowly pulls everything down. The seriousness of time passing is a wave length that anyone touched by Saturn understands.

The connection, then, between Christ’s birth (though probably not the right birthday – most sources point to him as being Aquarian) and Capricorn is apparent in a little baby sleeping in the hay. Mary and Joseph have no money nor do they have a hotel/motel room and they don’t even have Skype. Yet, they have hope and some wonderful stars glimmering in the sky and they can simply wait it all out. Peace be onto all beings.

An astrologer’s worst feelings of self-doubt and self-loathing tend to accompany a horribly botched natal chart, an incorrectly guessed sun sign (this often happens in a crowded environment i.e. loud bar!) or a transit read incorrectly… and realistically this can happen any old time for astrology is no easy art form to master or even to influence -- it would seem to be pure geometry, astronomy, art and feeling. Proponents of the scientific method need not apply. It is all in the interpretation.

I profess to not being able to even perform transit readings and I am still awaiting the time when I can begin to study angles correctly for I was absolutely terrible at high school geometry and to this day angles seem difficult for me to read or interpret. Several real astrologers have told me that at some point they will help me to begin understanding the angles when I finally commit to it, but at this writing my wife and I are busy moving into our new condominium, so once again, it would appear that learning about angles and transit charts will have to be put off for a while longer. All in good time I say!

For now I am still content reading more about the planets, the houses and about understanding their relationships within particular charts while furthering my sense of even the simple sun signs. As a fledgling astrologer and as an English instructor, I hope to feel content as a grounded observer of planets and elements as they flow through the lives of us complicated humans and to write about these movements, if at all possible. We humans are also always changing. The human life is infinitely complex and to study it takes incredible fortitude. Our natal charts and inner natures are difficult to understand and they are all worthy of several lifetimes of study – too bad we probably only have just one!

In any event, it is worth a try and the story that I have now embarked upon describing in this month’s blog entry is one in which for over fifteen years I misidentified the sun sign of a friend and band mate of mine from the musical group “Blue Harvest”. This misidentification has to do with this month’s sun sign being, of course, Sagittarius. Yes, I realize that Scorpio falls into this month as well – but that was last month’s column…

Before getting into the specifics about the sign of the archer, let me share some of my personal history having to do with playing in a particular band. Blue Harvest was a blues and rock band that was around in the early nineties in Boston consisting of yours truly on guitar, AJ Jackson on bass, numerous drummers including Dean Sommese, Rebecca Harold on keyboards and lead vocal and Jean Hlady on piano and vocal. We tended to play a mixture of blues-based material and often we would churn out some current rock standards.

Not only was Blue Harvest an eclectic mix of folks, it was also a thirsty band and I can remember one gig at Sir Morgan’s Cove in Worcester, MA at which we were paid in drinks alone and if I remember correctly, we “earned” plenty of “money” that night. And though we were perhaps just pikers starting out, we did play with taste and conviction if not with perfect precision as a result of our “pay”. And always we did strive towards making a connection with the audience no matter who they were. Rainy Sunday night shows, however, were especially difficult for “connecting” – probably because there was no one in the tavern! In addition, we would get on stage with no sound check and the inevitable sounds of feedback would ring out from time to time and I remember that the monitors never quite had the right mix in them.

I will always remember when it was time for Jean to sing some songs in our set like “Heat Wave” by Martha Reeves and the Vandellas; Jean would really put out a wonderful spirit involving full voice and jumpy stage energy! In fact, Jean was able to interpret a song that had migrated from decades before into the early nineties because she was able to to summon up that same level of positive energy from within a much different time period with both precision and grace.

The audience would love it.

Jean would later be responsible for writing a character review & analysis of my personality that would allow me to eventually make my way into the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth. As a respected librarian in Watertown, Jean was able to mention some of the skill sets that I possessed and that would eventually aid me with negotiating difficult classroom work and student instruction. And until graduate school, I had no idea how much I would need those supposed skill sets!

While I feel that I was close to all the members of Blue Harvest, I always felt a distinct connection with Jean. She was a bit older than I was and though she could mix a mean gin & tonic, she always had her shit together as a mother and as a wife to the Boston-based guitarist and Berklee professor Craig Hlady of the group Holiday Bash. She was always successfully accomplishing any assorted number of tasks. Outside of her many “adult” (I was just a kid during those times, or so it seemed) responsibilities, Jean would still show up at band practice with optimism and energy and I always respected her for that. The five of us would gab incessantly; we’d drink mixed drinks from a thermos and then get down to trying to play the cover tune that we were rehearsing; on occasion we played some of my originals. Again, we did some older R&B, some current POP tunes and many a blues number.

I will always hear in my mind the rehearsing of the song “Sad, Sad, Sad” by the Stones and Jean complaining about the lack of chord changes (the verses were really only F major to C and C sus4). Yeah, it was boring for the pianist to be sure. Suddenly, though, a bridge section cropped up during the song and at least 5 different chord changes suddenly popped out. Jean then complained about the number of chord changes! No matter what was going on in the world – Jean told it like it was. She was a steady Capricorn to be sure! She had that Capricornian sensibility all around her.

After Blue Harvest imploded, I lost contact with Jean, but I remembered that a Capricorn had given me a new solidity and a new lease on life. Jean’s steadiness was moving me forward too.

Fast forward to Montpelier, Vermont, in late October of this year of 2008. I hadn’t seen Jean in over a decade.

Wow! As I walked into Rhapsody, a health-conscientious restaurant in down town Montpelier, I nervously awaited Jean’s arrival… I know that we had both aged and “moved on” … would we still have those great conversational flare ups like we had all those years ago?

Suddenly, Jean was there! Wow! I couldn’t believe it. Jean hadn’t changed much at all and we nervously tried to decide what to eat. My wife, Deborah, was with me and together the three of us stumbled around figuring out what was good on the menu. Abruptly, I started to talk to Jean about what we should drink and then the old dialogue started in again. We had a choice of only beer or sake and then we started to recount the benefits of each kind of liquor – this was classic Blue Harvest dialogue…whose liver would last the longest?

Eventually, we all settled upon a table and pulled up our food trays and sakes. For the first time I really looked at Jean and she looked fine. Her hair was still luxurious and chestnut and she was smiling with a sense of joy. I suddenly felt secure about all of the long years that had gone by. I know that we weren’t the same people, but I knew that we would still be friends without a doubt.

As we sat talking about the obvious updates to our lives, it struck me that Jean was speaking quickly and that I was getting a sense of “burning through ideas and a relentless catch up.” Within my body there was a feeling of freneticism, which I didn’t normally put down as Capricorn energy. Usually as I hang out with a Capricorn person, I usually get a sense of solidness and ground and even a certain kind of slowness. It is a feeling of safety and of “Oh, here we are. All is OK.” Although Capricorn energy can get heavy at times, it is certainly grounding! As a triple air sign, I find it extremely beneficial to spend time with anyone who possesses the qualities of heavy earth for it certainly grounds me to the spot in a beneficial manner. Yet here we were sitting and I was tiring quickly as we shot through pictures and various stories.

I didn’t know anything about astrology in Blue Harvest days and almost as a sudden wish Jean blurted out a story about how she and her husband Craig first dated decades ago on his birthday of Christmas Eve: December 24! OK … so at least he is a Capricorn.

“Jean … when is your birthday?” I asked this last question sheepishly.

“Oh, it’s great because it is in the same month as Craig’s … December 20th.”

Suddenly the burning feeling and the freneticism and bubbling joy was making sense – Jean was a Sag. Duh, Erik. How had I made up a whole history of her being this solid and heavy Cappie?

As I was whisked away into my past years, I suddenly thought about Jean’s being late sometimes, her wild optimism about how something fun was always going to happen (it usually did) and how she was continually setting new directions for her young son and husband (translation: sending arrow after arrow into the sky). Then I noticed her chestnut hair and happy-go-lucky smile and there it suddenly all was!

Now certainly it can be argued that Jean is almost a cusp and an adult … why not make her into a Capricorn?

Well, I guess that depends on how strongly you believe in the power of 12 sun signs. You can’t really be 2 at one time – it just doesn’t work. Now if Sagittarius begins on the 22nd of November, then really, as far as I can tell, Jean is always going to lead with a little bit of fire and a strong ability and desire to escape the confines of home since she is a December 20. Of course I don’t know her rising sign, but for now, let’s not go there. A Sag is a Sag: Tina Turner, Jimi Hendrix, Noam Chomsky and Britney Spears … the arrow flies and flies fast and high! Sag is nothing if not ebullient energy.

Something stung me!

You are walking outside in the chilly air and suddenly, as if out of a bad dream, you notice that the trees have lost all of their leaves and that they stand naked and bare against the sky. Underfoot, as the leaves begin to turn into mulch and decay, you now absorb that the earth feels cold. You look up and again gaze at the sky. Though it may look quite striking when the sky is a clear and pure cobalt blue, you observe that with the setting sun comes an understanding that you are now starting to live in a vista of gray, black and white hues. Welcome to the twilight zone! (This is when the theme music used to kick in when Rod Serling was still around smoking cigarettes.)

Here in Vermont “the twilight zone” tends to happen around October 23rd, which definitively ushers in the time of the astrological sign of Scorpio. By the time Halloween arrives on the 31st it is difficult to understand if we are all living or dead or somewhere in between. Make no mistake about it; this time of year is very much about death and dying. Reevaluation of all kinds of relationships tends to also begin during this time of year. Narratives of all kinds begin to fade, decay, or unravel.

If I may be so bold as to generalize and consider Scorpio a “November sign”, I believe that it is self evident that there is a starkness to Scorpio individuals, events and places that are unmistakable and unavoidable. November has a peculiar energy to it and the energetic field of a Scorpio is like no other, it is akin to a radiator that is suddenly turned on in the room; if you listen closely you can almost hear the hiss. It invades your space as if through your very pores. The Scorpio individual to me is like a tautly pulled guitar string that is being played with a violin bow. There is indeed an intensity in the room when a Scorpio walks in and whether the individual be a loud person or a quiet person, I believe that the guitar string quivering underneath is felt by everyone on some level. This feeling I also compare to the sense of starkness and razor edge clarity that one might receive from a visit with a Zen master – the interaction penetrates down to the very core of your being. A Scorpio native is adept at “piercing through” just like your favorite psychologist.

In beginning a discussion about the sign of Scorpio, perhaps it is best to start with a question concerning its monthly emergence. Is the month of November ever easy to take on by anyone? I would say not. It heralds in energetically the most demanding time of year. Is the Scorpionic circumstance, individual or place ever a laidback walk in the park? I think not. Scorpio intensity demands attention just as does the successful negotiation of the period from late fall to early winter. Successful participants find themselves alive and well in the New Year of 2009!

For North Americans and Northern Europeans alike, November simply put becomes an existential time. What is left for any of us when the leaves have all fallen, clouds drift overhead and a cold drizzle becomes virtually ceaseless? Home owners and renters alike start pulling down the storm windows and the living space gets sealed in tightly. That awful dry heat gets turned on. Homeless people try to move indoors somehow. I believe that this all causes a disconnection with the outside world that results in an additional existential uneasiness as the approaching winter begins to make itself known outside and human communication starts a drastic cycle of winding down. Does this not suggest the very process of something or someone dying and rotting away? Extreme as it sounds, I believe that we lock our own coffins every year as we shut ourselves into our homes in order to endure the oncoming winter. It is a practice run.

Now maybe it is only the wife and I who get SAD (Seasonal Affective Disorder), but I tend to believe that there are many other individuals like us out there. Even the most cheerful people among us become broody and self-reflective as the concept of mortality shows itself to be real in nature when the bare trees bend in the mounting cold winds. The body begins to feel stiff and cold and it seems harder to get up in the morning and to face the labors at hand. The pace of life has to slow down and for the first time since early summer, people begin to really feel tired and to sleep more.

All of this, then, becomes the very life blood of the Scorpio native. These folks do not go for the light and easy feeling and conversation that for instance a Libran like me loves … Instead, the Scorpio native will cut to the chase with force and precision as if time were indeed growing short. A surgeon performing a life saving operation under pressure typifies the intense Scorpionic figure putting out a particular energy into the world. Life is meant to be lived with passion and it is to be pursued with fervor!

I might go on a limb here and state that most Scorpio individuals are gifted at cutting, slicing, stabbing, and poking. There is a sharpness and penetrating approach to them that is unavoidable. One Scorpio in particular that I know has a perfectly lethal backhand volley. Scorpios enjoy negotiating layers and burrowing to the core of a particular individual or situation.

On another level, we might begin to examine Scorpio as a destroyer or an exploder. These two acts can be examined as good or bad depending on the circumstances. A nurse shooting up a patient with toxic chemotherapy could very well be looked at as a Scorpionic figure. She is acting out of a feeling to save the patient with lethality and precision. There is nothing more Scorpionic than this act. A weapons expert may be trying to do the same thing as he plants a car bomb under the car of particular individual. Both of these are Scorpionic acts which involve intensity, lethality, and precision with very different motivations.

I am not implying that all Scorpios are assassins or spies, but they very well could be! A Scorpio knows how to “fulfill a mission” and it is a rare thing that a Scorpio native will abandon a mission in that this is simply not what a fixed sign does. A fixed water sign will slowly flow forward inch by inch if necessary and make sure that “the Sting” takes place. Again, it is necessary to say that “the Sting” can be the successful completion of a client’s difficult natal chart just as much as it can be the disconnecting of a security system. Generally speaking, Scorpio does not suffer fools gladly, and this sign wants to reach its goals quickly and efficiently and to receive or make plans for another mission!

Through my own experiences with Scorpios, I have to say that the sex thing is connected to them somehow as well. And this statement can have nothing to do with promiscuity, but more with sexual expression. In another life long ago I played in a band in which our drummer was a stripper. She was also an excellent song writer. We were also roommates and from what I could tell, she was not any more sexual than any other person, but the stripping thing is obviously connected to the language of sexuality and money! Another Scorpio I know is an excellent acupuncturist and she can speak easily about the body and sex and about the energy centers within the body. Again, here we can see that Scorpio can be very much interested in the body and probably sex is most certainly one of the languages that the human body speaks.

Scorpios are amazing people and offer us many gifts of health, rejuvenation and understanding. Just don’t double cross ‘em! This month features two Scorpio songwriters who continue to penetrate us with their voices and instruments.