In the period of the ancient Egypt this constellation was rising at the East sky in the nights of May. It was in the period of the year when local dry and warm winds – khamaseens were beginning to blow. Under the condition of such climatic changes and harsh environment scorpions were escaping from the desert and were threatening crops in the fertile valleys along the Nile. Here the Sun was showing its extreme face; it wasn’t giving the life, but burning the soil and bringing plague from the desert depth.
In Greek mythology of Scorpio is related to Orion, mythological hunter, who threatened in one of his adventures to kill all beasts in the world. Mother land – Gaia opposed this intention and sent a gigantic scorpion to prevent it. Scorpion stung him to the death in the heel, and at the request of the goddess of hunting Artemis, Zeus placed him at the sky as one of the constellations, whereas on its opposite side he placed the constellation of Scorpio. Nowadays in spring days and summer nights Scorpio rises in the sky and Orion is invisible and it’s awaiting its moment in autumn and winter months.
Heel as the weak spot is not present only in this myth. Achilles’ heel is famous, or for the African people Semanga, the heel was the place through which the human soul leaves the body. It’s the spot where scorpions and snakes most commonly bite the man, it’s the basis of the individual and by that logic the place through which the life ends.
The connection of Scorpio with death, i.e. “the other side” of life goes back to the mere beginnings of astrology. In Babylonian epic on Gilgamesh people-scorpions guard the passage over the forbidden mountain on the way to Dilmun – the underground. Every day they open the door to the Sun when it’s coming out and they close the door when it’s coming back. From Celtic period there’s an ancient custom of celebrating the ceremony of Samahain – nowadays transformed in Halloween, or Walpurgis Night (The Witches’ Night) when the Sun passes this constellation. Samahain denoted the end of harvest period, the symbolic „death“ of the nature and the preparation for the dark winter period. It was considered that the door between worlds were open and that it was possible to communicate with souls of the dead; customs are partially preserved nowadays through All Saints’ Day.
Before the ending of the constellation of Scorpio there is the constellation of Ophiuchus that is actually above the ecliptic, but not directly before the constellation of Saggitarius. Ophiuchus was bringing confusion in media due to uninformed astrologers (more in 12 signs of the Zodiac) and he is definitely not one of the twelve sun signs, but it can be observed as the symbolic transition from Scorpio’s darkness to Sagittarius light. The ancient Greek god of medicine Asclepius is that giant who wrestled with the snake and was famous for his medical skills, especially how to bring the death back to life.
Symbol of Scorpio is related to mystic life energy kundalini (Sanskrit. the power of Snake). It’s a life energy of man, basic sexual energy that „sleeps“ at the bottom of spine and awaits to be awaken by meditation in order to overpower the personality that is limited by ego and duality of male-female within us. Overpowering or commonly used “enlightening” is symbolic death related to this constellation. That kind of death is actually spiritual transformation that is not disappearing in the dark nothingness of poorly understood scorpion, but the soul that flies like an Eagle. In India the power of snake is related to the concept of shakti, cosmic energy and The Great Divine Mother in Hinduism.
Today the constellation of Scorpio is between 29°56′ of Scorpio and 29°46′ of Sagittarius, and some of the more important stars are:
Isidis – forehead of Scorpio on 2°34′ of Sagittarius
Antares – heart of Scorpio on 9°46′ of Sagittarius
Shaula – tail of Scorpio on 24°35′ of Sagittarius
Sargas – tail of Scorpio on 25°36′ of Sagittarius
Antares is one of the 4 sky guardians, one of the 4 brightest stars on ecliptic and one of the brightest stars in the sky. Its radius is approximately 883 times longer than our Sun and the luminosity is thousand times bigger.
The centre of our Galaxy is on 27° of Sagittarius, at the end of constellation of Scorpio, and still in the ancient period it was considered (together with the constellation of Orion on the opposite side) to be the passage towards the Milky Way.
THE AGE OF SCORPIO
It lasted approximately between 17 200 and 15 000 B.C and it’s at the beginning of one of the stone periods known as Magdalenian. In Europe it’s possible to trace the findings from that period from Portugal to Poland and they are characterized by hunting objects made of stone and animal bones.
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