Signs: Fixed Cross—Scorpio

Warrior I am, and from the battle I emerge triumphant

Value through sharing the self: freedom from insecurity and emotional traps

Scorpio: esoteric meaning

Scorpio is a key sign for those facing the death of the personality and dawn of soul consciousness during the second initiation, leading to the third.

The Dweller on the Threshold

From ancient recesses of the memory, from a deeply rooted past which is definitely recalled, and from the racial and the individual subconscious (or founded and established thought reservoirs and desires, inherited and inherent) there emerges from individual past lives and experience that which is the sum total of all instinctual tendencies, of all inherited glamours and of all phases of wrong mental attitudes; to these (as they constitute a blended whole) we give the name of the Dweller on the Threshold. This Dweller is the sum total of all the personality characteristics which have remained unconquered and unsubdued and which must be finally overcome before initiation can be taken. (EA 207)

The idea is that as we work through issues that hold us back: fears, obsessions, hatreds, self-pity, etc. we chip away at those personal traits where we are effectively “standing in our own light”, or where our inner clarity os obscured by the turbulent clouds of personality life. Although Each life sees some progress made; some personality defects straightened out and some real advance effected there remains an unconquered residue holding ancient liabilities. This potent backlog can only be faced once our core self or soul contact is stable and consistent enough to face our own selves—the personal self we have become that is now an obstruction to the expansion of our consciousness. At that point:

there eventuates a life wherein the highly developed and powerful personality becomes, in itself, the Dweller on the Threshold. Then the Angel of the Presence [the soul/core self] and the Dweller stand face to face and something must then be done. (EA 207)

This challenge cna only be faced once we identify with the “Angel of the Presence” and recognise our outgrown personality as the “Dweller on the Threshold” that stands in the way of our initiation into an expanded consciousness beyond the purely personal. This “battle between the pairs of opposites” is the essence of the “tests of Scorpio” in which we choose to put ourselves into the positive or conditioning environment wherein the trials and the discipline are unavoidable and inevitable—a process in which the personality eagerly enters into… relation with the Angel [and] recognises itself as the Dweller. (EA 207-8) The phrase “I’m my own worst enemy” is never more apt than when we are experiencing this crucial period during the growth process.

When the mind has reached a relatively high stage of development, the memory aspect is evoked in a new and conscious manner and then every latent pre-disposition, every racial and national instinct, every unconquered situation and every controlling fault rises to the surface of consciousness and then—the fight is on. The keynote of Scorpio is, however, Triumph. (EA 208)

This achievement means that the purely personal (or lesser self) loses appeal and focus in the light of the soul or greater and mor inclusive self. Memory plays a key part in this because:

every latent pre-disposition, every racial and national instinct, every unconquered situation and every controlling fault rises to the surface of consciousness. (EA 208)

The eventual result of this intense inner struggle is that the higher consciousness that may preciously have been experienced only periodically becomes anchored upon the physical plane with such accuracy and clarity that we—and those with who we interact—cannot ignore the fact that we have become an example to be observed in one way or another by family, friends and social group as we take the first conscious stages toward group awareness plus the responsibilities and work—inner and outer—that come with it. In other words, we no longer have any desire to live for ourselves only, but become engaged in work that contributes to the overall development of humanity, whether that is undertaken within our own extended social circle physically in the real world, or virtually/online. (EA 208)

Scorpio: rulers

• Orthodox: Pluto
• Esoteric: Mars
• Hierarchical: Mercury

Orthodox: Pluto ⇧

Pluto becomes active in the life of [those] becoming alive in the higher sense when our personal self passes into the smoke and darkness of Pluto [governing] the lesser burning ground so that we begin to live under the greater illumination of the life of the soul or inner self (EA 78).

The main concept behind Pluto’s rulership of Scorpio is one of “esoteric death”, i.e. the ending of all that hinders the expansion of our awareness:

In Scorpio there is the death of the personality, with its longings, desires, ambitions and pride.

…the death of forms must eventuate leaving the disciple free; the dissolution of old group structures of thought, embodying worn-out ideas and ideals must necessarily supervene; crystallised old forms must dissolve and disappear, but in their place the undying spirit—impressed by revelation and sensitive to the emerging new concepts of truth—will create the needed new forms of appropriate expression. (EA 214, 260)

Scorpio via Pluto is thus regarded as the “sign of discipleship” or of all those who are “ready for the fusion brought about through the influence of the sacred planets”. The idea is that the death of hindering personality traits “is definitely brought about by the soul…”—the inner self thus liberates us by revealing personal limitations so that we can move beyond them and leave their remains to sink into the depths. The feeling at these times is one that echoes the traditional role of Pluto as one of regeneration and rebirth after trial and experiencing the depths. The “dissolution and detachment” (EA 538) mentioned in connection with the Eighth House are part of this experience.

Esoteric: Mars ⇧

The “spiritual warrior” whose own self is the battleground. Developing focussed will through personal continuity, endurance despite obstacles and adherence to the chosen aims. Here, Mars acts as a first ray “training ground of the will” (see Taurus-Scorpio-Mars).

In Scorpio, the result of all the struggles carried forward during the seemingly endless pilgrimage around the zodiac or wheel of life is brought to a point of climax, again through the activity of Mars which has not appeared actively in the intervening signs between Aries and Scorpio as far as the reversed wheel is concerned. The disciple has now to demonstrate the strength, character and quality which he has unfolded and developed within himself during his long pilgrimage. […] In Scorpio… the war is on and… Mars rules not only the physical body but the entire form vehicle, which we call the personality in the three worlds. All aspects of the lower nature are involved in this crisis… and the tests applied involve the form nature—gross and subtle, integrated and potent. (EA 210)

Hierarchical: Mercury ⇧

The global resolution of conflict and the harmonising of seemingly impossible oppositions, is the territory where Mercury will lead. This might seem a real challenge in the present time, but the work of mediators is the first glimmer of how this planet focusses the strength of Ray 4 as harmony through conflict. The collective shift in humanity is far-off, but—according to the occult philosophy—inevitable and intimately bound up with the expansion of the collective human consciousness.

Mercury, as it relates Gemini to Scorpio and to our planet, has a mass or general effect, for it is the hierarchical ruler of Scorpio and its effect is of a planetary nature far more than is usually the case, and is, therefore, far more difficult to trace at our present point of planetary development and human consciousness. Its true significance will not be understood until the consciousness of [the individual] is also planetary in its scope and grasp, which is never the case until after the third initiation. (EA 359)