Scorpio: The Primal Triad: The Primal Triad

By Sara Shipman

"Motivation, power and soul: unlock the secrets of your Sun, Moon and Rising Sign"

 

What kind of Scorpio are you? Are you as driven, determined or destructive as your Sun sign suggests, or do you feel as if, somehow, you don't match up to what a Scorpio is supposed to be?

 

The good news is, you are more than just your Sun sign. All human beings are complex and, in astrology, that complexity is largely created by the combination of your Sun sign with your Moon and Rising sign.

 

Think of those words. Motivation. Power. Soul. What inspires you? How do you express your inner self? Why do behave in particular ways? What animates you? How do you express your emotional energy? 

 

In this book I look at how astrology weaves its magic for Scorpio by looking at how your Sun sign works with all of the Moon signs and Rising signs - and I'll also take a look at how your Sun shines brightest according to its house location in your birth chart.

 

So, if you are a Sun Scorpio, this book will help you to understand your basic Scorpio character. You will learn how your Scorpio solar traits can be positively developed. You'll discover how your Sun sign's traits combine with the characteristics of your Moon sign, and you will learn how you can best  express your Scorpio character through the medium of your Rising sign.

 

Understanding how your Sun, Moon and Rising sign work together is a great way of getting to know yourself. When you become familiar with the balance of signs that make up the Primal Triad - and how they interact with each other - you will discover why you approach life in the way that you do; you will understand where your innermost feelings are coming from and, most important of all, you will discover exactly what the universe is trying to teach you.

 

If you're a Scorpio  - or you want to know more about someone who is - this book is a must read for you.

 

Sara Shipman is an astrologer, writer and  blogger.

 

• Language: English
• Publisher: Sara Shipman
• Release date: Mar 9, 2021
• ISBN: 9781393242048

Book preview

Chapter One

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Scorpio Sun: The Basics

One of the things we need to appreciate, from our twenty first century perspective, is how much closer our ancestors were to the harsh realities of life and death. It’s very easy for us, in our tech dominated society, to forget how people relied on the natural world. The passing of the seasons and the lifecycle of birth, life and death were reflected in our ancestors’ everyday existence. They were much closer to those natural processes than we are today. Before the days of electricity and light pollution, the night skies were as well known to them as the ground beneath their feet. So, when the astrologers of old needed a framework for their knowledge, they chose the cycle of life as the basis for bringing heaven down to earth. They recognised the eternal nature of our life cycle and designed the Zodiac wheel (the basis of your astrology chart) to symbolise the circle of life. This provided astrologers with a framework in which they could organise the Zodiac signs.

As a circle lends itself to such precise division into twelve equal segments (one for each Zodiac sign) it’s easy to group those segments into two groups of six, three groups of four and four groups of three. Those groupings enable the Zodiac signs to be assigned to the polarities (Masculine and Feminine), elements (Fire, Earth, Air and Water) and modalities (Cardinal, Fixed and Mutable). In this way, an astrology chart became a schematic diagram whose symbolic meanings contained all the information you needed to know about a person or event.

So, Scorpio, what does your astrology chart say about you?  I am going to make two points here. First, no two charts are the same as no two individuals are the same. Even the charts of twins will differ because of the time of their individual births will not be the same. Second, as a Scorpio, you will share the basic qualities of your sign with every other Scorpio and the basic qualities of Scorpio are as follows. Feminine, Water and Fixed. In the following sections of this chapter, I’m going to explain what they are and what they tell us about you.

Polarity: Feminine

I’m going to begin with what astrologers call ‘the polarities’. Polarities in astrology are opposites and the principle behind opposition is balance. For every ‘ying’ there is a ‘yang’. In nature, masculine is complemented by feminine. We can see this in our own lives where we balance positive and negative attributes or likes and dislikes. However, this isn’t a value judgement dividing Zodiac signs, people or situations into good and bad or weak and powerful. It’s simply a recognition that being in a state of equilibrium is the ideal place to be. Polarities need each other just as positive and negative electrical charges need each other. Without this essential difference between them, there would be no spark.

Scorpio is a Feminine sign - and that comes as a surprise to many. Feminine signs are usually considered to be more subtle in their approach to life. However, Scorpio subtlety is often used to disguise the realm in which they feel most at home - the realm of power and control in all its forms. Everything from naked manipulation to self-mastery lies within the Scorpio domain. If you have problems processing that asfemale  or ‘feminine’, think about characters such as Lady Macbeth or Hillary Clinton.

Scorpio’s ‘femininity’, however, is not to be confused with 'hearts and flowers’, or what some would consider to be weakness in any way. Far from it. Feminine in an astrological sense simply means that Scorpio subjects have a more introverted character. I’m sure many of you will know a few Sun Scorpios and will be happy to tell me that they’re the life and soul of the party. If they have a Rising sign that’s extraverted in nature, then I’m sure their outgoing or super-confident mask provides a great cover for the true person underneath. It will not alter the reality that the astrological ‘feminine’ (as it applies to all feminine astrological signs) gives Scorpio a self-contained character. Scorpio subjects are not only self-contained, but often secretive too. Scorpio subjects can give the impression that they don’t need other people. They seem aloof because they are often defensive and don’t trust others easily - if at all. Feminine in astrology also implies that you have a reflective character - and that’s certainly true of Scorpio. However, where Scorpio differs from other introverted and reflective Zodiac signs is that the light of their Sun may enter a black hole never to be seen again. This sounds severe, but it is, in many ways, due to Scorpio’s temperament - and that is governed by the element that is associated with this sign - the element of Water

Element: Water

The triplicities in astrology refer to the elements: Fire, Earth, Air and Water. The twelve Zodiac signs are divided into four groups of three. Each group is assigned to an element and each sign within the group shares the qualities of that element. The importance of the elements in astrology is this. The element associated with your Sun Sign governs your temperament and your temperament underpins your personality and emotional responses. So, Scorpio, it will come as no surprise to you that, as a Water sign, you have a complex and highly controlled emotional nature. With Scorpio, still waters run deep. You may be governed by your instincts and secretive, often suspicious, nature, but, unless a storm erupts, no-one would ever know. And that’s how you like it. You tend to keep your intense emotions to yourself (most of the time) and one of the reasons for this is that such a complex and powerful nature can be difficult to handle - not only for you but also for those who share your life.

Water signs are intuitive, sensitive and emotional and Scorpio is one of the most intuitive of signs. A Scorpio can tell you what you're thinking about before you've even thought it. Uncanny and unnerving that may be, but it’s the way Scorpio is made. Scorpio is sensitive to undercurrents, motives and possibilities and you have a sixth sense that is finely tuned. Passions are deep, yet the extent of those emotional attachments is rarely visible on the surface. I have a confession to make. As a Scorpio this should have been a breeze to write about, but I’m finding it strangely difficult. I think the reason for that feeling is this. Writing about this sign - and all that it entails - suddenly feels too personal. It makes me feel strangely vulnerable - and vulnerability is not a place any Scorpio wants to go to.

Water signs, in general, are tuned into the world of feelings, senses and the imagination and, because of this, it’s easy for Water sign subjects to be overwhelmed by their emotional responses. Water signs feel their way through their life, and this makes them highly effective at sensing how other people are likely to react and respond to words and situations. It also makes them instinctively aware of how fragile their own sense of self may be.

Scorpio subjects are alert to the unspoken undercurrents that pass between people, particularly in the realm of personal relationships. This psychic awareness enables them to act with subtlety and foresight yet maintain their characteristic defensive poise. Scorpio subjects are rarely stuck for an answer to life’s problems - and your senses may enable you to avoid many of them in the first place. Being forewarned is forearmed for many Scorpio subjects, but a potential downside to this is that you may have a propensity to manipulate people and situations to suit your own desires. You may need to find a balance between your imaginative, empathetic, intuitive, nurturing and psychic gifts and any tendencies you may have towards escapism, emotional manipulation and moodiness. Don’t feel too bad, however, as all Water signs share this trait. If that’s so, what is it that makes your temperament different to that of your watery Pisces and Cancer cousins?

If we start to drill down into the ‘watery’ metaphors we use to compare the Water signs, those temperamental differences become more obvious. Pisces darts about in glittering waters and is difficult to catch. Cancer hides away under the rocks of the shoreline waiting for the moment to move sideways - and forward. And Scorpio? Water can seem an alien element for a creature of the desert. However, like a person deprived of water, Scorpio has an unquenchable thirst. Those essential differences in the nature of the Water signs arise because they each have a different mode of expression. Let’s take a look at the modalities and discover how your characteristic mode of expression affects your behaviour.

Mode: Fixed

The modalities in astrology divide the twelve Zodiac signs into three groups containing four signs each. The signs in each group share a characteristic mode of expression that indicates how you express your sign’s characteristic traits. The groups are Cardinal, Fixed and Mutable. Cardinal signs have a characteristically active and forward moving energy, Fixed signs look for stability and continuity and Mutable signs are flexible and adaptable in their approach to life. Scorpio shares its Fixed mode of expression with revolutionary Aquarius and down-to-earth Taurus. So, how does Scorpio’s Fixed quality affect expression of your solar traits?

Fixed signs are exactly that. Stable, loyal and consistent. You may be a ‘Fixed’ sign, but your brand of fixity is subtle and complex. Your emotional self-containment and need to be in control are legendary and this usually manifests in one of two ways. Put simply, you either develop great powers of self-control or you seek to control the world around you. Many of you will do (or will have done) both and the reason for this comes down to one thing. Trust. Trust is the key to your security and stability - and it’s a big issue for every Scorpio subject. Failure to trust yourself, of course, means you rarely trust other people.

That leads us to a less than positive aspect of your ‘Fixed’ nature - the need to control and manipulate others to validate your own lack of trust and your deeply suspicious nature. More positively, your ‘Fixed’ nature means you are rarely indecisive and once you’ve decided on a course of action you pursue it with passionate intensity. You’re rarely, if ever, deflected from the things you desire and you are one of the most loyal of all Zodiac signs. Passion can, however, become obsession, such is the all-consuming nature of your character. You are generally disciplined (if somewhat inflexible) and this can give you incredible focus, but it also makes it hard for you to let go. This can cause problems with issues requiring compromise and sharing. Those matters don’t come easily to you. You deal with perceived threats to your autonomy by ‘closing down’. Like the other Water signs, being direct with people can be an issue and you prefer to wait, acting on your instincts when you feel the time is right.

So, Scorpio, when you’re trying to analyse your inner qualities - and that’s something you probably do most waking hours of the day and night - it’s going to be useful for you to have a quick and easy checklist to help you make an honest appraisal of your strengths and weaknesses. To help you with this process, here are some keywords that describe your innate Scorpio traits.

Scorpio: Keywords

All Zodiac signs have key characteristics and it’s important you remind yourself of what they are - whatever your Sun sign. To make this point I’m going to use an analogy. It’s like speaking your native language - you don’t have to think about it too much because it’s simply something you do. However, even native speakers sometimes need to improve their language skills, so here is a list of Scorpio traits you need to familiarise yourself with. Scorpio keywords provide you with the vocabulary to take ownership of your inner qualities and thus enable you to express your solar nature in the best possible way. Sometimes that’s not as easy as you would imagine it to be.

All Zodiac signs possess, what have been traditionally considered to be, ‘positive’ and ‘negative’ characteristics. In days gone by astrologers often seemed to put a binary meaning on this. You were able to express your sign’s energy well (acceptable) or not (unacceptable). There was no middle way. However, life is more complex than that. You are capable of expressing your Scorpio energy productively (or unproductively) and, no doubt, you do so every day. If you find you’re expressing the negative (or less acceptable) face of Scorpio far too often, the potential for transforming this to a more positive expression is also available to you. Don’t forget that ‘transformation’ is a characteristic of your sign.

So, Scorpio, here are the keywords you can use to begin that process.

Assertive, Brave, Charismatic, Deep, Determined, Disciplined, Driven, Empathetic, Fair, Intuitive, Magnetic, Masterful, Observant, Passionate, Powerful, Proud, Psychologically aware, Reformer, Resilient, Sensitive, Sexually aware, Spiritual, Strong, Survivor, Truthful, Transformational, Trustworthy.

Compulsive, Cruel, Destructive, Extreme, Fixated, Furious, Jealous, Machiavellian, Manipulative, Obsessive, Possessive, Pride, Resentful, Secretive, Self-destructive, Stubborn, Suspicious minded, Vengeful, Vindictive.

This is an indicative (though by no means an exhaustive) list. You may recognise some of these traits in yourself. One thing I want to say is this. When you express ‘negative’ characteristics, it doesn’t make you a bad person. As a Scorpio, you possess all of the traits listed above - and more. However, you may find it easier to express some traits more than others. That’s fine - there are many ways of expressing your Scorpio nature. The important thing to note is this. Your Scorpio characteristics are ‘how’ you express your true self, as represented by the Sun in your natal chart - and it is essential to your wellbeing that you do so. You need to express your solar traits in accordance with your Scorpio nature to create your own deep inner sense of self.

On my website (www.starcrazypie.com) I listed the keywords associated with the Sun in your birth chart and I think it would be useful to repeat them here as they tell you a great deal about the natal Sun as not only the driver of your basic character, but also as its role as the most influential part of your Primal Triad. The keywords in the list below are your solar traits and they will be expressed according to your Sun Sign characteristics identified by the Scorpio keywords above. Your Sun and Sun sign function together so, for example, you will become confident by asserting yourself in a Scorpio manner. Try combining the Sun’s keywords below (what) with the Scorpio keywords (how) to see what I mean by that.

Scorpio: Essential Character

What do we mean by ‘your solar characteristics’ and being your ‘true self’? To begin to answer this question we need to remind ourselves (again) of one thing. The Sun is the most important influence in your birth chart. The Sun, in astrology, symbolises your power, vitality and sense of purpose. If you ever wondered where that fire in your belly came from, then look no further. Regardless of the Sun’s sign or house placement, the Sun represents your fundamental need for self-expression. The solar keywords below will give you a sense of what is meant by this.

Authority, Consciousness, Confidence, Creative, Dignified, Ego, Faithful, Father, Gold, The Heart, Individual, Life force, Male Role Model, Masculine Identity, Nobility, Personal Identity, Power, Potential, Self-assurance, Self-expression, Sense of Self, Vitality, Will.

So, Scorpio, what does a sense of self mean to you? If we look at the solar keywords, they give us a good idea of the concepts we associate with the Sun in your natal chart. The keywords tell you ‘what’ the Sun signifies in your life but, as a Scorpio, ‘how’ are your solar qualities expressed? Are you a charismatic, driven survivor or are you cruel, resentful, jealous and manipulative? To begin to answer those questions we need to make the basic connection between your solar traits and your Sun sign - exactly the point I made earlier. Your solar characteristics (the Sun’s keywords) are universal to all Sun signs. However, the way you express those solar qualities will be in accordance with the characteristics of your Sun sign. So, in your case Scorpio, if we think of your solar traits as ‘what’ you do to define yourself, then ‘how’ you express those traits will be in a Scorpio style.

For example, Scorpio subjects are meant to be dark and brooding characters who are obsessive about things - make that anything and (in some cases) everything. Rumour has it that they are also sexual deviants, temperamental and manipulative. It’s not good PR but it’s how Scorpio people are typically portrayed. So, is it a true reflection of Scorpio’s essential character? I’m certain that the somewhat suspect archetype does not necessarily describe you (or me) or the many Scorpio subjects out there who are, by all accounts, normal people who live normal lives. However, let’s take obsession.

All Scorpio subjects have an