Scorpion Medicine

Lady Stearn Robinson & Tom Gorbett/The Dreamer’s Dictionary:
This poisonous spider in your dream is a warning of danger from treacherous friends or associates, especially if you killed it, however, you will overcome the hostile influences if it bit you.

*The Wordsworth Dictionary of Phrase and Fable:
Scorpio/Scorpion–Scorpio is the 8th sign of the zodiac, which the sun enters about 24 October. Orion had boasted that he could kill any animal the earth produced. A scorpion was sent to punish his vanity and it stung Orion to death. Jupiter later raised the scorpion to heaven.

Fable has it that scorpions carry with them an oil which is a remedy against their stings: “‘Tis true, a scorpions oil is said to cure the wounds the venom made, and weapons dressed with salves restore and heal the hurts they gave before.” Butler: Hudibras, III, ii, 1029.

The oil was extracted from the flesh and given to the sufferer as a medicine; it was also supposed to be very useful to bring away the descending stone of the kidneys. another belief was that if a scorpion was surrounded by a circle of fire it would sting itself to death with its own tail. Byron, in the Giaour (I.422), extracts a simile from the legend:

The mind that broods o’er guilty woes
Is like the scorpion girt by fire….
One sad and sole relief she knows,
The sting she nourished for her foes,
Whose venom never yet was vain,
Gives but one pang, and cures all pain.

A lash, or scourge of scorpions: An especially severe punishment, in allusion to the Biblical passage: My father has chastised you with whips, but I will chastise you with scorpions. [I Kings xii, II]

In the Middle Ages, a scourge of four or five thongs set with steel spikes and leaden weights was called a scorpion.

*Barbara G. Walker/The Woman’s Encyclopedia of Myths and Secrets:
The constellation of the Scorpion is one of the links between the cultures of central America and those of the ancient east, possibly Mesopotamia, whose ziggurats were so similar to the Mexican pyramids. Scorpio was the same in Babylonia, India, and jGreece; and the Maya of Yucatan also called the same constellation “scorpion stars”.

Astrological myths everywhere placed Aquarius the Water-drawer at the winter solstice, Taurus the Bull at the spring equinox, Leo the Lion at the summer solstice, and Scorpio at the autumnal equinox. Therefore it was said in Egypt that the Scorpion killed Horus, the sun, sending him to his midwinter death and resurrection as his Mother Isis gave him rebirth; and Pharaoh’s daughter apparently played the part of the Water-drawer or divine midwife on the banks of the Nile, as shown by the myth of Moses.

Spirits of the four points of the year were sometimes called Sons of Horus and placed as small images in the four corners of a pharaoh’s tomb. As man, bull, lion, and scorpion (or serpent) they were adopted by Christianity and converted into the four totems of the evangelists and the four angels of the Apocalypse.

*Mary Summer Rain/On Dreams:
Scorpion will stand for retaliation.

*D.J. Conway/Animal Magick:
Technically, the scorpion is not a reptile, although it is an invertebrate; it is an arthropod (order Scorpionida of the class Arachnida) and more closely related to spiders. A scorpion has four pairs of legs, a pair of pincher-like front feet, and bears live young. From before the days of the ancient Greeks and Egyptians, the scorpion has been much feared. They are more numerous in the tropics but do extend into Canada in western North America.

From the shining black, eight-inch species that infest tropical jungles, to the thin, pale, 1-inch ones that live in sandy wastes, all scorpions have an abdomen ending in a tail-like section that is armed with a curved stinger at the tip. This tip is like a poison-filled syringe, with some scorpions more deadly than others; a few species have poison glands also in their jaws. Arching over the back, this tail waves in all directions. the scorpion usually hunts by night, hiding by day under stones or loose bark.

The ancient Sumerians believed that scorpions or Scorpion-Men were guardians of the Gateway of the sun, the Mountains of the East, and the Twin Gates. This creature was associated with various aspects of Ishtar (as Ishara Tamim, the scorpion-tailed Mother), Nanna, and the Phrygian Sabazius. The myth tells how the hero Gilgamesh had to make his way through the Scorpion-Men to the house of the Scorpion Goddess, Siduri Sabtu.

To both the Zoroastrians and the Egyptians, the Scorpion was an embodiment of evil. A desert animal, it accompanied the Egyptian goddess Selket who was pictured with a scorpion on her head or as a woman with a scorpion body; she was known as the protector of the dead. Myth tells of 7 scorpions that went with Isis on her search for Osiris. The scorpion goddess is mentioned in the Book of the Dead as being an extremely ancient deity.

Mithraism had a slightly different spiritual explanation of the scorpion. Their Dadophori, who were twins and upward and downward pointing torches, were called the Bull and the Scorpion. these twins symbolized life and death, the rising and setting Sun.

In Central and South America, several cultures spoke of Mother Scorpion, who lived at the end of the Milky Way; she received the souls of the deceased. The ancient civilizations of Babylon, India, Greece, Egypt, and the Mayas all knew of the same constellation of Scorpio and associated it with the scorpion.

Superstitions: If you hold a scorpion in your palm, it can’t sting you.
Magickal Attributes: Revenge, dark magick. Sending dark magick and negativities back to the makers.

*Ted Andrews/Animal-Wise:
Keynote: Dynamic transformation through secret passions and desires
The scorpion is sometimes referred to as the serpent from the Garden of Eden. In Egypt, it was the symbol of darkness, for it brought with it the waning strength of the sun. In Greek mythology, it was the monster that caused Apollo’s horses to run wild while in the hands of Phaethon. This is often a caution for those who the scorpion is a messenger. Unless we control our passions and desires and direct their energies appropriately, the transformations will occur in the midst of chaos.

In astrology, the sign of Scorpio is represented by several animals–the scorpion, the eagle, and the phoenix. The Scorpio zodiac sign has been associated with transformation and rising to new heights and is known for its secretiveness and passions. It is a sign of mystery, long associated with sex, death, and rebirth. Those of this sign have great strength and an ability to inspire. They can also misuse their psychic and sexual energies.

Sex and death are often associated with the sign of Scorpio. These mysteries stimulate great passions and feelings, and both are vehicles of change. Within the sex act, the two partners exchange energy and neither is ever truly the same again. Death itself is a transformation of energy so that rebirth can occur. This is scorpion energy.

The scorpion is an amazing creature. It is an arachnid, but it is very different from spiders. Underneath the last legs are comblike structures called pectines? These are sense organs of touch. Scorpions do have two eyes in the center of the head, and usually more along the sides of the head as well, but they do not see very well. They rely on their sense of touch. When the scorpion appears as a totem or messenger, the sense of psychic touch will become increasingly heightened. Responses to touch will grow stronger as will the ability to touch others more intensely.

Most scorpions are nocturnal, and one of the most common ways of collecting them is through the use of a black light which makes them fluorescent in the darkness. This reminds us that light can be found within darkness if we channel our passions correctly.

The mating ritual of scorpions involves the male holding the female by the pincers and leading her back and forth. Eventually, the male deposits a package of sperm, which the female picks up with an organ on her stomach. The young will ride around on the mother’s back until they shed their skin for the first time. They then become independent and live a solitary life. It is thus not unusual, when scorpions appear, to find that periods of solitariness are intermixed with intense and passionate relationships and encounters in life.

Remember the scorpion promises transformation. Whether that transformation is calm or chaotic depends on how we use our energies. Are we channeling our passions correctly? Are we allowing our passions to override our common sense? Do we need to balance our relationships with more solitariness? Are we becoming too solitary? Do we need to merge our physical passions with our spiritual passions? Are we ignoring our psychic perceptions only to be stung?

Slinky Scorpio as your star sign means that the Sun blazed in a passionate water sign in the zodiac on your birthday. The Sun in astrology stands for your inner nature. Scorpio, the eighth sign of the Zodiac, is a feminine sign ruled by fierce Mars, the warrior planet and mysterious Pluto, the planet of transformation. A fixed (strong and solid) sign, Scorpio governs will and authority. Scorpio people are passionate and emotional, with very deep feelings. Although you are a loyal and dedicated friend, you are fiercely competitive, subject to fits of vindictive jealousy and can be quite manipulative in pursuit of your goals.

Symbols for Scorpio are the scorpion, a ground-dwelling killer with a poisonous sting in its tail and the eagle, a far-seeing predator soaring above petty problems into the spiritual sky. Scorpio’s real involvement is not primarily based on love or even pleasure, but on the control and understanding of human emotions and the role they play in the mysterious processes of life and death. Though you may not spend your life pondering the mysteries of life and death, you are inquisitive and probing, fascinated with how things and people work. Your mental and physical powers of recuperation are remarkable – and truly evolved (eagle) Scorpios can learn to use their power to help and inspire others.

Determined Scorpio, a fixed sign, can be rather stubborn and resistant to imposed changes. In many ways, this is a plus, for it gives you the stamina to accomplish things in life, due to your tenacity. On the surface, you may seem easy-going, congenial, and gregarious, but you are also extremely tenacious with a need to manipulate and control your situations.

Keys to your success are a strong will and the ability to get to the bottom of things. You want answers and doggedly persist until you get them.

The fiery energy of Mars shines out when you are enthusiastic; it attracts and inspires others. Your intensity can be overwhelming, but also subtle, for your considerable energy is not aroused or employed just to have something to do – as is often the case with Aries, the other Mars-ruled personality. Unlike Aries, Scorpio is not openly combative, unless it becomes necessary. Your privacy is tightly protected, so others get to know you only up to a point. You may not show any sign of inner struggle, but when you are after something (or someone) your determination is fierce. Should you not be favored in the outcome, you are neither a willing nor a gracious loser. Nevertheless, you are not arrogant, being generally interested in others and what they have to say, although you often exhibit a self-sufficiency which implies there isn’t much you don’t already know.

The transformative energy of Pluto motivates you, as you delve into the deepest mysteries of life. Whether you are trying to get to the bottom of a murder or some heinous crime, or whether you are saving a life through your surgical skills, or pursuing a meditative magical mystery tour, you characteristically seek to uncover the truth or to transform raw materials into things of great power and beauty. Relationships are not exempt from this probing, so anyone involved with you must prepare for profound changes in themselves, their mysterious partner and the relationship itself.

Emotions govern your first reactions to every experience in life. Although instinctive emotions generate the strongest motivations for your behavior, you are not prone to wearing your heart on your sleeve (unlike those feeling-oriented Cancerians and Pisceans). You need to dominate relationships and rarely display your true feelings, holding back something of yourself, even at your most open and communicative moments. Although you may not intentionally want to be mysterious, you manage to appear enigmatic anyway. You hate being crossed or manipulated and can react to such treatment with sarcasm and vengefulness.

Scorpio rules the reproductive organs and excretory system, so those with Scorpio active in their charts suffer headaches, infections and fevers, along with various illnesses to do with what used to be called the secret parts. You have, however, a strong constitution and can usually overcome your problems, many of which are of your own making, due to your clandestine activities.

Scorpio colors are red, black, midnight blue, and emerald green. Scorpio rules metallic iron and your birthstone is the topaz. Topaz, one of the hardest minerals, cannot be cut with a knife. It is yet another representation of the impenetrable Scorpio nature. Scorpio flowers include the anemone, heather, and gardenia.

Scorpion’s Wisdom Includes:
Attacking from the rear

Death and rebirth

Transmutation of poison

Reflecting dark and negative energy back to its sender

Si Norhama

Bear