scorpio season: what lies beneath 🥀

Welcome to Scorpio season! A water sign with a deep, dark, and mysterious side, Scorpio isn’t afraid to dig beneath the surface to uncover what’s hidden in the shadows. This season is ripe for deep conversation and reflection, bringing the subconscious to light, and connecting with the parts of ourselves that we may have previously exiled. It’s all about the theme of death and rebirth, reminding us that letting go is the first step in clearing space for what’s next and that endings are a natural and necessary part of life.

Keep reading for an overview of Scorpio energy & themes, the Major Arcana card associated with this sign, suggested rituals, and more! ♏︎

A sign that’s not afraid to dig deep (and get its metaphorical hands dirty in the process), Scorpio is all about those complex, taboo subjects that often lie buried beneath lighter, sunnier facades: sex, death, and darkness. Less interested in pleasantries and surface-level conversation than it is in getting to the real heart of the matter, Scorpio isn’t afraid of little a trip to underworld to explore the things that many of us have been taught to hide or avoid. It’s a sign that embraces mystery, greets the unknown head on, and understands that our shadowier parts don’t need to be feared or hidden away.

It feels appropriate, then, that Scorpio season falls during the time of year when the natural world is going through a phase of decomposition and decay: as a sign of death and rebirth, Scorpio reminds us that endings and loss, while often accompanied by grief or discomfort, provide the compost needed to sustain future growth. Just as the vegetation around us dies back and returns to the earth — creating both necessary space and fertile soil for next year’s crops — our own personal endings create the conditions needed for new beginnings to flourish.

Scorpio is a water sign (along with Cancer & Pisces), which means that it’s associated with things like our emotions and inner landscape, our intuition, matters of the heart, softness and compassion, fluidity and flexibility, spirituality, dreams and the unconscious, and our connection with the universe, spirit guides, and ancestors. It’s also a fixed sign (along with Taurus, Leo, and Aquarius), which gives it a rooted and unshakable quality. Ruled by Pluto, Scorpio is also closely tied to themes of transformation, reinvention, evolution, and surrender.

If each of the water signs were represented by a different type or quality of water, Scorpio would be the darkest depths of the ocean: unseeable and largely unknowable without a commitment to deliberate and methodical exploration. Drawn to the allure of the unknown and equipped with a fierce inner strength, Scorpio is a sign that’s committed to getting to the core of things, even when that requires some fumbling around in the dark. To a Scorpio, the desire to go deep and explore the shadow realm is like a siren song that can’t be ignored, and for good reason: it’s a sign that understands that there’s a treasure trove of potential in the dark places that we often overlook or avoid.

Scorpio season, then, is a time that’s ripe for venturing into uncharted territory — which requires tapping into our stores of bravery, strength, and resilience. In order to face the unknown, we’re asked to push past our fears and hold space for infinite possibilities. While our brains crave familiarity and predictability, it’s only once we step outside of our comfort zone that we’re able to truly evolve, transform, and get to know ourselves on a deeper level. Scorpio understands that while it’s rarely comfortable, taking the risk to uncover those shadowy areas usually leads to a new level of self-awareness and holds the potential for immense growth.

This season, you might want to take stock of the things that you’ve been afraid to face or invite to the surface: parts of yourself that feel like “too much” or that make you “different,” dreams or goals that feel risky or intimidating, or ideas and interests that don’t neatly fit into society’s designation of what’s appropriate and expected. When did you internalize the idea that these things were “bad” or needed to be hidden away? In what ways have you been suppressing your desires or curiosities in order to avoid standing out from the crowd? Have you buried significant parts of yourself or kept your relationships surface level for fear of letting people get to know you on a more intimate level? How can you befriend these deeper parts of yourself and your psyche, letting them know that it’s safe for them to come out when they’re ready?

Scorpio is a sign that loves to be a bit secretive and mysterious, but also one that longs to be known. There’s a depth to this sign that often lies beneath the surface, with some layers remaining under lock and key (or only accessible to those in a person’s inner circle.) Scorpio energy reminds us that not all parts of ourselves need to be shared with others — or at least not with everyone — and that the privilege of getting to know those more intimate, vulnerable parts is only granted after trust has been earned. The desire to maintain an air of mystery goes hand-in-hand with a Scorpio’s pull to explore the unknown: both stem from the understanding that what’s buried in the shadows, just out of reach, holds a captivating and seductive quality. There’s a high level of discernment around who gets to see what, and when.

On the other hand, a Scorpio would rather go deep than remain on the surface: small talk and platitudes have no place in a Scorpionic conversation. If you’ve ever found yourself opening up about personal fears, past wounds, and other secretive or taboo topics with someone you just met, that’s Scorpio energy in action! It’s a sign that recognizes our commonalities as humans, understanding that so many of us share the same anxieties, desires, and vulnerabilities (and that there’s no reason to hold shame around them.) There’s a desire to connect on a deep, meaningful level and to foster relationships built on truly seeing and acknowledging one another’s complexities.

There’s a lot of power in being intentional about who has access to you, and in what ways. This season, you might want to reflect on your relationships and your public persona: are you sharing parts of yourself that you’d rather keep close to your chest — or alternatively, are you closing yourself off from others by hiding parts of yourself that are ready to be known?

When it comes to cards in the tarot that stir up feelings of fear or discomfort, Death is usually at the top of the list. Regardless of context, death always represents some sort of ending — and endings are rarely comfortable or welcomed. Each individual tarot card is part of a bigger story, though, and Death is far from the last card on our journey. Just like any of the other Major Arcana cards, it’s a meaningful step on the Fool’s path, and it’s one that’s necessary for future growth and evolution.

When we think about growth, we tend to think only of the stages where we can see tangible results: the seedlings pushing through the soil, the goals written down and checked off once completed, the external and public-facing achievements that we’ve racked up. But before any of those things can happen, we have to plant (and tend to) seeds — and in order to create the proper conditions for those seeds to thrive, we must first prepare the soil. There’s a whole process that needs to happen before we can properly nurture new growth, and that’s the death part of the death / rebirth cycle.

Again, we can look to the natural world around us to see how death is a crucial part of the life cycle: after a phase of wild growth under the summer sun (and perhaps a fruitful harvest in the early days of fall), it’s time to say goodbye to the plants that have kept us company throughout the warmer months. As they begin to decay and return back to the earth — becoming food for the soil that once sustained them — it may look like the end of the road, but it’s also the beginning of a new one. This time of decomposition sets the stage for everything to begin again: it ensures that the earth is ready to receive new plantings when the time is right, cleared of past growth and fortified by its compost.

Part of the discomfort of endings comes from the empty space that follows: there’s usually a pause between one thing’s ending and another’s beginning. While that blank space can feel daunting, I always try to remember that the universe loves a void: it’s only once we’ve made space in our lives, by shedding whatever’s ready to be left behind, that new opportunities can come in and truly flourish. Our time and attention are finite resources — we can’t hold space for everything at once — so carving out room for new endeavors is necessary. Letting go of what’s ready to fall away is one way to signal to the universe that you’re ready and open to whatever exciting possibilities lie ahead. Allowing those natural and inevitable deaths to happen means that there’s a rebirth waiting just around the corner.

For the next month, we’re working with an energy that’s concerned with depth, meaningful connection, mystery, the unknown, letting go, necessary endings, and exploring our shadow sides. How can we best embrace this season?

We can surrender to an unknowable future, instead of clinging to the familiar or fearing the path that we can’t yet see. We can practice seeing mystery and the unknown as a source of infinite potential, instead of something to fear and resist. We can welcome the necessary endings that clear the way for beautiful new beginnings. We can view this season of decay and decomposition not just as an ending, but as the first step on the path to something brand new.

We can dig deep and get to know ourselves more intimately. We can explore our fears, our deepest desires, and the parts of ourselves that we tend to hide, meeting ourselves with bravery, acceptance, and compassion. We can be thoughtful about the parts of ourselves that we’d like to share vs. those that we’d prefer to keep to ourselves, knowing that we get to decide who has access to us. We can practice being a little more mysterious to see how it feels, or try being more open and vulnerable to foster a deeper sense of closeness with others.

We can look for beauty in the shadows, knowing that the darkest places are often where the most potential lives.

Here are some tools that you may want to work with during Scorpio season — incorporate them into your life over the next month in whatever ways feel appropriate to you:

• Crystals like black tourmaline and black obsidian (for protection & shadow work) and serpentine (for transformation & rebirth)

• Colors like black (for embracing the unknown) and brown (for fertile soil to foster new beginnings)

• Roses, for their duality of softness and sensuality (petals) and strong boundaries (thorns)

• Plants like mugwort (for protection, dreamwork, and intuition) and rosemary (for new beginnings and ancestral connection)

☀️ October 22nd: first day of Scorpio season

🌕 November 5th: full moon in Taurus

🌑 November 19th / 20th (depending on time zone): new moon in Scorpio

📅 November 20th: last full day of Scorpio season

📅 Dates: October 22nd - November 21st

🦂 Symbol: the scorpion

💧 Element: water

⛓️ Modality: fixed

🃏 Major Arcana card: Death

🦇 Qualities: mysterious, alluring, deep, fierce, intense, intuitive, sensual, passionate, drawn to the unknown, unafraid to explore uncharted territory