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In Defense of Scorpio's Dark Side

by Bill Herbst
Bill Herbst - first published by The Mountain Astrologer, 2006 / 06.09.2016

He who fights with monsters might take care lest he thereby become a
monster. And if you gaze for long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into
you.
Friedrich Nietzsche: Beyond Good and Evil

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The dark side. The lurid pit of

human depravity. Cruelty and bloodlust.
Torture, violence, and murder. Sexual
perversion. Dominance and submission.
Sadism and masochism. Regions
beyond the safe boundaries of the
civilized. The territory of the forbidden
and taboo. These are some of the
realms of the zodiacal sign of Scorpio
and its planetary ruler, Pluto.
Scorpionic passions which bubble
away like hot, flowing magma underground but are often expressed as intense, icy
detachment reflect an almost morbid fascination with power and its Plutonian uses.
Magnetically drawn into arenas where angels fear to tread, the Scorpionic archetype does
not merely observe this feral underbelly nor simply acknowledge that human beings are
capable of nightmarish brutality and mayhem. No, Scorpio does more than that. It
immerses itself in the horrors and then, paradoxically, reveals sacred truths that have been
corrupted, lost, and buried within the profane.
Nature has her own dark side. Everything eats everything else. Watch children playing near
a tide pool. They are fascinated with dead and dying things. Scorpio is present in this,
aware of rot and decay as integral parts of life's renewal. Children can also be cruel, which
is equally Scorpionic. Some transcend that cruelty as they grow up. Others simply bury it
under a socialized faade, either forgotten or hidden. Scorpio trains its x-ray vision on those
masks to reveal whatever lurks within.
Men shed blood in war. Women shed blood in menstruation. Scorpio understands both.
Blood is Life and Death in the great cosmic transfusion. Blood is passion, as in the phrase,

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"his blood was up." Shockingly red, hot and pulsing, blood is a canal connecting the light to
the dark. Scorpio swims in that crimson river.

Morality: Good versus Evil

In this first decade of the 21st century, good and evil have been resurrected into the popular
lexicon of public discourse concerning morality and immorality. Pluto's passage through
Sagittarius from 1995 to 2008 is ripping apart the body politic, so whatever vague
togetherness and safety we once felt has been nearly wiped out. We are polarized, divided
amongst ourselves. In part, this is due to the rise of religious extremism, also indicated by
Pluto in Sagittarius, so that the sacred and the secular are now profoundly disturbed and in
conflict.
In keeping with this theme, U.S. President George W. Bush announced immediately after
9/11 that the attacks were committed by evil-doers who hated our freedoms. He then further
polarized the event by stating that other nations must be either with us or against us in
regard to terrorism. This way of seeing
the world as a clear division into
absolute and simplistic black-and-white
versions of good versus evil is often
prevalent during periods when Saturn
aligns with Pluto, especially in
opposition, as occurred from 2000 to
2003. Scorpio embraces the extremes
but not their separation.
In the modern epoch, nations that
would make war have always used
propaganda to stir up hatred of the enemy and desire for vengeance among the populace.
Whatever the real reasons for going to war extending the rulers' power, acquiring
territory, or controlling resources a public appeal is made to the morality of good versus
evil. Wars cannot be started or sustained without this invocation. Whether real or imagined,
evil must have a spotlight cast on it for the champions of goodness to become aggressively
self-righteous. To make soldiers fight, kill, and die and to keep their families and the rest of
the public in support, the cause had better be a crusade.
The problem, of course, is that, once defined and polarized, good and evil inevitably morph
back into each other. The United States invaded Afghanistan in search of al Qaeda and
deposed the Taliban; almost immediately, that country descended into chaos, and the world
opium trade (limited under Taliban rule) ratcheted back up dramatically. The U.S. then
invaded Iraq, supposedly to erase the "threat" of Saddam Hussein and in part because he
"massacred his own people." But then, as surely as night follows day, the liberators
morphed into the new perpetrators of injustice, torture, and murder in Abu Ghraib, Fallujah,
and Haditha.
# The mythology of war is Arian. Mars exults in glory, courage, and the nobility of the
warrior code. The reality of war is Scorpionic. Pluto goes down and dirty into the barbarity
of death and destruction on a mass scale.
Consider the troubles that beset us in Iraq. In a postmodern techno-war against guerilla
insurgencies, innocents will be killed not just rarely or as an aberration, but often and in
large numbers. Scorpio knows what happens when we put soldiers into dangerous and
stressful situations where comrades are killed by an invisible enemy who blends into the
landscape, indistinguishable from ordinary civilians. Rage overcomes discipline right up the
ranks. Wholesale slaughter begins. Shoot first and ask questions later. Get some payback.
Atrocities involving the murder of innocents are not merely the result of "a few bad apples,"
whatever the Pentagon asserts. We may cover up, whitewash, or even justify these crimes
as unavoidable, but the dark-side reality remains. Scorpio has no illusions about it.

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Current Planets
13-Sep-2016, 21:29

UT/GMT

A
B
C
D
E
F
G
O
I
J
L
N

30'24"

3n2

22' 3"

14s1

f
Moon
13 k
Mercury 19 f
Venus
18 g
Mars
21 i
Jupiter
0 g
Saturn
10 i
Uranus
23 a
Neptune 10 l
Pluto
14 j
TrueNode 12 f
Chiron
22 l
Sun

21

42'26"r 1n1
7'40"

6s3

29'38" 25s4
56'46"

0n3

34' 9"

20s3

42'14"r 8n3

19'17"r 8s3

58' 2"r 21s2

44'24"

6n4

59'33"r 1n1

Explanations of the symbols

Chart of the moment

This is exactly where Scorpio becomes

relevant, where that archetype's sensitivity to
the dark side offers a way out of the moral
quagmire of empty posturing and sanctimony,
not to mention outright lies and deceit.
Distinctions between "good" and "evil" are
certainly not erased and may occasionally be
highlighted in Scorpionic consciousness, but
here the gates between those contrasting fields
of moral judgment are flung wide open. The
levees that normally separate good from evil
are breached. Like the symbol for the Tao,
where small yin is contained within large yang,
and vice versa, Scorpio ferrets out the hidden
truth that apparent good often contains seeds of evil, and gross evil may at times spark
profound goodness.
As a code of conduct, any moral or ethical framework is an ideal. Scorpio, however, is not
idealistic, but pragmatic. Morality is also vulnerable to hypocrisy, and Scorpio hates
hypocrisy. Knowing that good and evil too often morph into each other, Scorpio is more
comfortable as an amoral archetype. Rather than basing action on concepts of right or
wrong, effectiveness is the Scorpionic ethic. Scorpio wants to gather power, conserve and
concentrate it, then use that intensified power to maximum effect. Morality has nothing to
do with it.
The Scorpionic response to 9/11 would have been quite different. Rather than making war
openly, Scorpio would have made secret war. Not through invasion, but through infiltration.
Not with soldiers and tanks, but with spies and assassins. Covert, quiet, and stealthy. Such
a strategy would have pleased neither hawks nor doves, of course, and did not suit the
geopolitics of the neoconservatives (who are, after all, idealists in the extreme). In all
likelihood, however, Scorpio's way would have been much more effective in neutralizing the
terrorist threat, besides being infinitely cheaper.

Corruption
A subtler expression of the dark side occurs through corruption, usually through venality
theft or ill-gotten gains. As such, corruption is a moral issue. People in positions of cultural
power or social authority are particularly vulnerable.
Consider some common examples of moral authority betrayed: the fire-and-brimstone
preacher who rails to his congregation against wanton sexuality but meanwhile pursues
illicit liaisons with hookers in motel rooms, the politician whose public platitudes of integrity
belie the stuffing of his pockets with lobbyists' gifts and money, the corporate CEO who
allows cooking the books or deep-sixing the workers' pension fund while protecting his own
golden parachute, the cop who takes kickbacks from drug dealers.
These and similar examples involve falls from grace. Most people who suffer public
disgrace did not start out as cynical or enslaved to the dark side. No, they probably began
with aspirations of goodness leavened with ambition. Along the way, they were gradually
corrupted, eventually collapsing into major moral breakdowns.

Scorpio has no morality to break down.

Its amorality is a strength rather than a
weakness. Shunning both morality and
immorality, Scorpio is less corruptible
than other zodiacal archetypes, but it is
neither surprised nor shocked at the
revelations of others' all-too-human
failings. Navet is not among the sign's
qualities.
Despite headline-grabbing scandals, the dark side of human nature is mostly neither crude
nor spectacular and remains private rather than public. Much corruption involves a subtle,
passive, or even invisible loss of integrity. Consider the corporate middle manager who
oversees a project he knows to be flawed but remains silent so as not to displease his boss
or endanger his place in the pecking order. He may be completely unaware of this slight
failure of courage and rationalize to himself that he's merely doing the job he was hired to
do.
The need for security and social approval or the wish to curry favor influences millions of
lives every single day. Most of the world's greatest tragedies occur not because some
particular individual is demonic and wreaks havoc, but rather because of the snowball effect
of millions who remain personally passive over time in the face of daunting collective
pressures. Notwithstanding our fascination with ruthless historical figures such as Adolf
Hitler, he did not start World War II all by himself. Hitler rode on the shoulders of countless
others who contributed, in one way or another, to the onset of that global conflagration.
Most often, we do not leap into hell; we go there by inches. Collective responsibility for the
dark side is not correctly within the province of Scorpio, however, and though worth
mentioning, it is not a proper subject for this essay.
Still, whether we discuss an individual psyche or group dynamics, the dark side tends to
operate in an insidious fashion, akin to the invisible radioactivity that can slowly poison an
animal body. Unseen and unfelt, the full effects of radioactive exposure may take decades
to show up as leukemia or other cancers. In the metaphorical force field of our collective
Chernobyl, fear and hatred are the emotional equivalents of radioactive toxins. Like a
psychic Geiger counter, Scorpio is especially sensitized to these poisons.

Denial and Projection

Within the language developed by modern psychology to describe certain mental disorders
are the terms denial and projection. These terms address in part the paradoxes of I-andThou, the Self and the Other: "Who am I?" and "Who are you?"
Using the diagnostic tools of psychotherapy, both terms fall under the heading of defense
mechanisms to protect the conscious awareness from inner threats, with denial classed
under primary defenses and projection a secondary form. As general concepts, however,
their application goes far beyond the strict confines of a clinical diagnosis of mental illness.
They spill over into the ordinary realms of day-to-day life: intimacy, socialization, commerce,
politics, and spirituality. In this, the terms represent new definitions for age-old problems of
human existence.
Denial is the more obvious of the two processes, defined as the refusal either conscious
or unconscious to acknowledge some quality of the self that is or may be true. A classic
example is the alcoholic who denies having a problem ("I'm just a social drinker, not an
addict; I'm still in control.") and refuses to admit to himself that his health or social
relationships are negatively affected by his drinking. In the 12-step method of recovery, the
first step is admission of powerlessness over compulsive behavior, which amounts to
stepping out of denial. (It's important to note that refutation is not necessarily denial. If I
have brown eyes, and someone claims they're blue, but I say, "No, they aren't," then I am
not in denial.)

Unlike most animal species, who accept

reality at face value, we humans are
capable of denying literally anything
thoughts, feelings, attitudes, beliefs,
actions, facts, etc., within or outside the
self. Examples of denial outside the self
might include the claim that human
industrial activity does not contribute to
global climate change, or that the
Holocaust never occurred. For purposes
of this article, I'm concerned mainly with
denial within the self regarding qualities of the personal psyche specifically, the refusal to
acknowledge that we are capable of nearly anything in the right circumstances. What I
mean by that will become clear in a moment.
Projection is a more complex process, a spin-off defense, where what threatens the self
from within is denied, then externalized. Something too painful to recognize in oneself is
seen as a threat coming from the outer world. Usually, we project onto other people, either
individuals or groups, who are perceived as possessing or manifesting the very quality
denied within the self. Examples might include someone who cannot admit to her own
stinginess but believes with certainty that others are short-changing her, or the unconscious
liar unaware of his own compulsion who worries that even his closest friends are
intentionally deceiving him.
Projection is complicated because it can be either positive or negative. The altered state of
romantic love, for instance, includes a marked tendency to project onto the beloved
extremely positive qualities, to the point where we become enraptured. While such positive
projections have terrors all their own fear of abandonment being an obvious possibility
("How could someone so wonderful love me, with all my flaws?") I'm concerned here
mainly with negative projections, where the other is seen as threatening or evil.
Besides being positive or negative, projection may also be true or false. Others may or may
not embody the qualities we project onto them. Sometimes we perceive others as being a
certain way when they are not, mistaking our own illusion for reality. At other times, our
denial causes us to attract others into our lives who actually do possess the qualities we
cannot or will not recognize in ourselves. This is one of the basic laws of manifestation: We
draw to us what we most fear.
That confusion brings to mind the phrase: "Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean that
they're not really out to get you." In projection, we tend to believe whatever we see, whether
real or not. Objectively determining the truth or falsehood of our projections (what we see in
others) is nearly impossible as long as we remain in denial.

Transforming the Dark Side through Acceptance

Herein lies the great value of Scorpio's sensitivity to the dark side. Those who embrace the
Scorpionic archetype are deeply aware of their own hideous capabilities. Not that they
necessarily succumb to or act out distorted primal urges through sadism or savagery, but
they are conscious of those deranged forces inside themselves.
To be sure, some small percentage of those who resonate to Scorpio do indeed succumb,
reveling in the excesses of their dark sides like pigs in slop. They become the illness itself.
This is a particular vulnerability of elites in power, for whom might often makes right. And
even the best of Scorpionic types have bad moments when they lapse into unconscious
arrogance, lies, spite, cold aggression, etc.

Still, Scorpio digs relentlessly to unearth

whatever is buried, including
conscience, reminding us finally of our
commonality with others through the
revelation that we are indeed capable of
anything, that we contain within our
psyches the entire pantheon of human
potential, from profound love and
respect for dignity to utter depravity and
raw belligerence. Scorpio is like a prism
through which the whole spectrum of
good and evil becomes visible, from the
infrared of subtle self-deception to the ultraviolet of outright violence. In this, Scorpio
universalizes its empathy, knowing full well the core truth that underlies compassion and
forgiveness: "There, but for the grace of God, go I."
Scorpio is less likely than any other zodiacal archetype to live in denial and is thus less
vulnerable to the pitfalls of false projection. The penetrating and laser-like perceptions so
often attributed to the sign are possible precisely because of this lack of denial. The often
uncanny ability to ferret out and judge the motivations of others is possible for Scorpio
because of its connection to the full range of good and evil in human beings. Having looked
within so thoroughly and seen what lives inside the self, at least as possibility, Scorpio is
able to peer more accurately inside others, to reveal and understand the contents of their
hearts' desires, for better or for worse.
In fairness, I admit that the case I'm making here is neither foolproof nor entirely justified.
Human beings are not signs of the zodiac, and astrology neither reveals nor determines the
quality of our consciousness. The expression of our charts is largely a function of our
maturity, rather than the other way around. I have no doubt that many people, even those
with ample measures of Scorpio in their charts, do not reap the benefits I attribute to the
sign. Our species is chock full of human beings who are mired in seemingly permanent
adolescence, no matter what their age or elevation in culture. In terms of spiritual
development, you can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him drink. Nonetheless,
the water exists. Scorpio offers each of us the choice to become any of the three animal
essences mythically associated with the sign: scorpion, eagle, or dove. We choose. And
our choice reflects the extent to which we have recognized and accepted the dark side in
ourselves.
We are all monsters. That is to say, we all contain within us the innate potential to become
monstrous in thought, feeling, and action. That assumption is part of the core experience of
Scorpio. How, then, do we prevent ourselves and others from actually becoming monsters?
How do we keep the dark side safely in the realm of fantasy rather than reality? How do we
find our way home to benevolence, kindness, and compassion?

If we repress the monstrous within ourselves,

staunchly maintaining that we have caged the
beast or denying even the possibility of its
existence in us, then we risk projecting it onto
others in effect, subtly manipulating them to
become monstrous as a literal wish-fulfillment
of our own denial. All too often, that game
results in our punishing those others violently,
getting even by releasing the monster within
ourselves to crush their supposed evil.
Sometimes we do this through revenge for real
transgressions, but other times we act out
through "preemptive strikes" based only on an
imaginary threat. This is the ultimate perversity,
one that has damaged or cut short literally
millions of lives over the past century through
the tragedies of warfare, purges, pogroms, and
what is oh-so-politely called ethnic cleansing.
Too often, these outbursts of mayhem emerge from fear and hatred of the other because of
what we deny in ourselves. In the famous line from the cartoon strip Pogo: "We have met
the enemy, and he is us." Scorpio nods in agreement.
As always, serious questions remain: How do we free ourselves from the torturous prisons
of denial and projection? How do we foster the most humane aspects of ourselves and
others? How do we promote a world without senseless violence not merely in war, but in
our normal everyday interactions with others?
I don't know any perfect people, and I understand all too well, through my own failings, the
many obstacles to becoming the best we can be. That said, we are rapidly reaching a
tipping point in the vainglorious history of humanity, where it may no longer be sufficient for
a precious few individuals to reach an inner state that at least approaches authentic
maturity, while the great bulk of us remain in suspended childhood or arrested adolescence,
merely posing as adults. Although I am extremely dubious about the possibility of any mass
awakening into some imagined utopia of peaceful commerce or social harmony, the onset
in this century of the Aquarian Age does imply that we must somehow find a way to elevate
our collective consciousness at least a little.
The next major astrological alignment that provokes such a possibility will be the First
Quarter square of Uranus to Pluto, which is already within wide orb and achieves critical
mass in 20122015. This momentous event, with seven partile passes, will be the longest
alignment of Uranus and Pluto since the discovery of the New World, more than 500 years
ago. Civilization itself will undergo a massive and revolutionary upheaval. Leading up to the
alignment, various astrological confrontations will set the stage from 2008 through 2011.
The dark side may be very much in evidence during those intermediate years.
We now possess more than enough power to destroy ourselves and our world. In the
unfolding crisis that grips the planet, one of our many challenges is to awaken sufficiently to
see the unconscious expression of our own dark side, to reconcile and reintegrate its
existence into our individual and collective consciousness. This ever more pressing need is
innately relevant to the realm of Scorpio death and rebirth, and grappling with good and
evil in ourselves. If we have the will, however, we can learn to use both our vitality and our
destructiveness to tear down the walls that separate us, whether nation-to-nation or personto-person. Good may yet come out of evil.

The word transformation is frequently

bandied about by some astrologers as
a pleasant euphemism, as if profound
change were easy or neutral. On rare
occasions, transformation may be easy,
but it is never neutral. Decay is its
precursor, death its process, and
eventual rebirth its hopeful outcome.
Invoking the dark side is required, not
through hateful destruction of others,
but by harnessing those dangerous
energies to alter ourselves.
Human beings have to murder something. We might as well kill off our own disturbed
unconsciousness. In the spiritual traditions of Scorpio's dove path, such a death takes the
form of surrendering ego, vanity, and hubris, shucking the denial and projection that we are
good while others are evil. All the levels of Scorpio know that good and evil dance together
in each of us, intertwining not just as light and dark, but as infinite shades of gray.
The sexual magnetism that is so much a part of the lore of Scorpio is ultimately a desire for
tantric union, or (more properly) reunion a way to transcend the fear of ourselves and
others that is so deeply embedded in the human condition.
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