study group ~ *s c o r p i o*

Way back when I posted a piece on "identifying aspects". You can read it here:

http://www.tarotforum.net/showthread.php?threadid=64

However, I would suggest FIRST learing about the 12 signs, the 10 planets and the 12 house meanings BEFORE getting caught up in aspects.

Those lines on the chart are ONLY there to confuse you even further! I would white them out...I never did like those lines and would get dizzy just looking at them...it's a stupid thing and they don't help anyone learn anything.

A suggestion for those of you who really are beginners (from a former astrology teacher): You may want to use index cards, one for each of the 12 signs, 10 planets, 12 houses...yes, that's 34 cards in total (you can then add the ASC and MC too). Write the basic information on each card, i.e., sign, it's element and modality (they're VERY IMPORTANT) the number of the sign (Scorpio is the 8th sign because the zodiac begins with Aries), the sign's planetary ruler, some keywords related to the sign, which "natural" house it rules, etc. Try not to incorporate TOO MUCH information in the beginning. In other words....keep it simple.

You'll be surprised how well this method works....then when looking at a chart and want to know what Mercury in Leo means, pull out your "Mercury" and "Leo" cards and make a sentence from the keywords. You can then add the "House" card to further explain the placement. I've had my students try this method and it works better than any book and the best part is the student seems to remember it better. Remeber, interpretation MUST come from your own brain....so IMHO, it's a good idea to start early in the process to form your own interpretation. No book will teach you how to interpret.

The elements and modalities are cruical to memorize. It will make learning aspects much easier.

Good luck in your studies!!

AG

wow.
i haven't read this whole thread yet (grrrr...migraine today)
and even when i do, i know it won't make sense to me!
i am sooooo over my head stepping into this room,
but i love that you guys have put this thread together.

i am a taurus, with scoripo rising, and many of my friends have been scorps. and of course, there is my scorpio love interest...

so i look forward to reading all of this good stuff...thanks again for sharing your knowledge, you all! hope you don't mind my future questions!

I've posted a beginner's thread so if there are any basic questions that you want answering, then post away in that thread and we'll do our best to answer them at the right level. AG's ideas for new beginners is really good. I word document with them all in and then used 'find' whenever I had to look one up.

And if you've any Scorpio specific questions then post away in this thread.

Blessings

Minderwiz

i have the sun, mercury and saturn in the 8th house.

what kind of monster am i? LOL

actually i am learning a lot. kind of feel like i've stepped back into my high school algebra class tho.

thanks for being the teachers Isthmus and Minderwiz. is there gonna be a quiz on this? becuz as a scorp. i like the power of control i gain in knowing ahead of time!

love and blessings,
New River

AG, having keyword cards is such a great idea! You know, maybe it wouldn't be a bad idea for some to have an astrology notebook, just like having a tarot workbook for study.

New River> Let's try out AG's idea and see what we come up w/

Sun=ego, self expression
Merc=communication, rational thought
Saturn=limitations, control, effort
8th=resources, sex, death, occult

w/o knowing the sign these planets are in, we can say that you have a great concern to understand 8th house issues and find them to be integral aspects of your personality. Saturn may manifest in fear if you don't feel comfortable in 8th house areas, but you have a need to express yourself clearly through these areas so there is some tension there.

For another example, check out a similar question I posted awhile ago: http://www.tarotforum.net/showthread.php?threadid=5645

oops Isthmus, forgot to say all were in the sign of scorpio.

this really seems like a good way of going about it. gotta run out and get some cards! brb

now i really feel like i'm back in school. but then, are we ever really out of school while we are here on earth?

time to study......

love and blessings,
New River

mythology~Pluto

I'm back!

Just for a brief breakdown, all the planets we're going to study are named after figures in Roman mythology (which pretty much drew from Greek mythology). Take note that the deities the planets are named after have interactions w/each other in myth, just as the planets create aspects. The other thing to remember is that these myths did not develop in isolation, but rather, there was a lot of diffusion from say, the myths of Egypt, Sumer etc etc whether temporally or geographically. Some scholars believe certain themes from these ancient religions/mythologies run right into present day Christianity.

Pluto/Hades~
Pluto is the ruler of the Underworld and the judge of the dead. I've also read that his name sounds like Pluton meaning "giver of wealth" although the source is questionable. Still, the idea meshes well w/the 8th house. So this may explain why 8th house concerns the underground, digging, psychoanalysis.

Pluto & the cycles of nature~
Perhaps the most famous myth involving Pluto is that of the rape of Persephone/Kore. In this tale, Pluto abducts the maiden Persephone into the Underworld. In her mourning, Persephone's mother Demeter (Empress figure!), refuses to nourish the plants and animals, letting everything die (ie winter). Zeus goes to have a talk w/his brother to convince him to free Persephone so that life can grow again. Pluto concedes, but Persephone has already eaten the fruit of the underworld - the pomegranate (hints of Eve and Snow White here, strong ties to female sexuality), and therefore is bound to the Underworld and cannot fully leave. So every year, Pers must return to the Underworld where she is queen.
To oversimplify, this is basically a tale about the changing seasons of nature although it is my belief that this myth is far too complex to reduce it to such an essentialist reading. It is very interesting however to note that Pluto should rule Scorpio whose reign includes Halloween - the mid point b/w the fall equinox and winter solstice. There are 2 connections, the first of the seasonal harvest (wealth/death) and also, the popular notion that on this day, the barriers b/w the living world and the world of the dead are very permeable...

The Kore myth is also very very similar to other religions, namely the descent of Inanna/Ishtar, the myth of Osiris (which interestingly, has motifs including Dionysus/Orpheus (all of whom were hacked to pieces only to regenerate... and whose cults were also very strongly related to the cycles of nature. I highly recommend reading up on the Orphic mysteries, what little we know about them), and very loosely in Christianity w/the mourning of Mary and resurrection of Christ (falling at the spring equinox - note Christ's birth also coincides w/the winter solstice). The ties are far too complex for me to get into here as these myths are very very rich (I could also pull in a whole Cain and Abel thing here since Cain is associated w/agriculture, but then cripes this thread would never end!). If you are interested in these connections, I'd highly suggest reading:
The Myth of the Goddess: the Evolution of an Image by Anne Barring and Jules Cashford. Something to keep in mind: even w/my scant knowledge of prehistory, I find there are artifacts the authors twist to fit their theories, they tend to analyze *everything* from their own perspective. Also, they tend to idealize and oversimplify matriarchal rule (ie. patriarch=bad. matriarch=good), but overall they present a compelling thesis.

So although Pluto himself doesn't regenerate, Gods very similar to him are murdered/sacrificed and reborn. Connect all of these associations w/the Judgment card and you'll realize what a complex and powerful card this really is.

Pluto & the other gods~

Pluto is the brother to Zeus (Jove/Jupiter). You see this sibling kinship tie w/most religions. In Sumer, Innana is the queen of heaven, and her sister Erishikagal (sp!) is the queen of the underworld. Babylonian myth is almost the same deal w/different names. In Christianity, you don't have the immediate kinship relation b/w Jesus and Satan, but tie them to Abel and Cain (brothers), and again you'll find siblings ruling the above and the below. You could say then, there is a strong similarity b/w heaven and hell represented by a fraternal or sororal (sp?) connection. So the luck of Jove and the wealth of Pluto might have ties here. (see, Pluto isn't so bad!)

The interesting thing is that *Saturn* used to be the malific one, and before Pluto came onto the scene, the underworld was attributed to him; Saturn got to rule things like evil and I believe he is an older ruler of the Devil. (very rich card. Links to Pan, Satan, Dionysus... oh so many wonderful things!) Plus, Pluto has a very strong kinship tie to Saturn. Pluto, like Zeus, was the son of Chronos (Saturn) who BTW, ate his kids in order to stop them from overthrowing them, like he did Uranus. (ho ho ho, very Oedipal!) So look out for Saturn-Pluto oppositions; heavyweight son against heavyweight father!! Limitations and time (Chronos) can pull you down (Pluto), or can be condusive to rebirth (Pluto).

Pluto's other brother is Neptune (Poseidon), ruler of the sea. I don't think they talk to each other much, but they seem to have complimentary realms - the depths of water and the depths of earth. It creates a relation b/w the 8th and 12th house which both deal w/psychology.

Finally, Pluto and Mercury/Hermes have a thing going for them too. While Pluto is all about rebirth, Mercury is all about transcendence. Mercury is also the quicksilver, the messenger and the psychopompus. He is the go-between for all the gods, and connects everyone together, especially Pluto and brother Zeus. He is the spark that ignites change. I'd suggest reading up on Herm b/c he is a very complex figure that plays a very major role in alchemy.

p.s. Forgot to mention the Elusian (sp??) mysteries are also worth looking into - they focus on Demeter/Persephone myth. Sorry, let me check up on the spelling, it looks very wrong to me....

p.p.s. Also forgot to mention that Persephone/Pluto have strong ties to the myth of Orpheus. In this tale, Orpheus manages to get into the underworld by charming the triple headed guard dog Cerberus w/his lyre. He manages to persuade the P&P to allow him to bring his dead wife back to the world of the living. They agree but only if he promises not to look back as they are leaving. But of course old Orpheus looks back to make sure his wife is really there (which she was), and she is returned to the underworld.

tarot & scorpio

A great brief article over at StarIQ re: Scorpio/Death, Mars/Tower and Pluto/Judgment:
http://www.stariq.com/Main/Articles/P0001657.HTM

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Also, I would greatly appreciate it if someone would offer to look into the mythology behind the god of war, Mars, just so there's a balanced perspective on this thread.

Great material, isthmus! Thanks for looking all that up for us.

I think it's Eleusinian mysteries, sacred to Demeter. Interestingly enough, these mysteries were presided over by the hierophant. Sound familiar? Just be careful what you find about them because no one really knows (besides the most basic of ideas) what went on there. Historians can only guess because no one told.

Kes