Scorpio is a fixed water sign, combining the emotionality and sensitiveness of water with the stability and stubbornness of fixed signs. What does it mean to be fixed water?
My first thought is water frozen into ice. When temperatures are cold enough, water molecules slow down and separate. Hydrogen bonds and creates a lattice-like pattern. This reaction causes the volume to expand and release heat. Maybe you've noticed the change if you’ve ever tried to freeze a water container. Fill it completely with liquid, and the container will burst when frozen.
There are other ways water can be fixed in place, at least temporarily. It can be contained in jugs, pots, tanks, or pools. Sometimes it drains and collects in lower spots, forming puddles, ponds, and lakes. It’s not entirely fixed, though, because evaporation still occurs.
Imagining Scorpio as ice, the coldest of the water signs, makes sense. The term cold is also used to describe people who appear to be emotionally detached, distant, or unavailable. Some of the classical keywords for the sign are reserved, cautious, and defensive.
The truth is that Scorpio is a highly sensitive, intuitive, and emotionally intense sign. It can also be fiercely loyal with a strong sense of integrity. The Scorpion protects its vulnerability with a hard shell and big claws.
When I contemplated the Bosschart artwork for Scorpio, I assumed it was set in the desert due to its barren, reddish-brown appearance, but that landscape could also result from a hard freeze. Either way, it’s a stark environment of struggle and scarcity. Scorpions, snakes, and skulls imply danger and death. The yellow water reeks of stagnation and toxins.
Based on this painting, one might assume that Bosschart was biased against Scorpio.
Johfra Bosschart was born Dec 15, 1919 at 11:00 am in Rotterdam, Netherlands (AA rated). With an Aquarius Ascendant, Scorpio is Bosschart’s 10th Whole Sign House, containing his natal Venus and North Node. That doesn’t seem particularly unpleasant, but Venus is precisely at 7 degrees Scorpio and in a partile trine with Pluto at 7 degrees of Cancer (6th Whole Sign House).
In traditional astrology, Venus is in detriment in Scorpio. It’s not a particularly hospitable place for a feminine goddess who craves connection, pleasure, and ease, but it can be creatively and artistically fertile. Venus trine Pluto in a birth chart might show a tendency for intense relationships and transformative emotional experiences. Pluto can also magnify interests in psychology, esoteric topics, and the darker sides of life, like fear, death, and corruption
At least one “death-like” event occurred in March 1945 when Bosschart’s home and all of his artwork were destroyed by bombing during World War II.
After the destruction, rebirth.
In July 1945, he found a new home and a new name, taking on JOHFRA instead of his birth name (Franciscus Johannes Gijsbertus van den Berg). Johfra described his works as "Surrealism based on studies of psychology, religion, the Bible, astrology, antiquity, magic, witchcraft, mythology and occultism."
Modern astrologers use Pluto as the ruler of Scorpio, while Mars is the traditional planetary ruler. Both planets resonate with the Scorpio sign, and Bosschart would have known that. He uses ancient glyphs for Mars on his border.
Card 13, Death, in the Thoth deck, is associated with Scorpio and features a crowned skeletal grim reaper. Something about the image is playful to me, a dancing skeleton, pulling the strings on ethereal images swirling within the bubbles.
It appears to be a nod to the Danse Macabre (dance of death) popularized in 15th-century artworks. The dances of death reminded people of their inevitable mortality and encouraged moral reflection.
The decans of Scorpio are represented by cards 5, 6, and 7 in the Cups suit. Five cards represent a struggle, and the 5 of Cups card aligns with Scorpio I. Mars is the decan ruler here, whose impulse is to cut and burn. When emotional attachments are damaged, Disappointment results. T. Susan Chang calls this card “Storm of Tears.” It represents grief and sadness after a loss.
The Sun brings light and air to Decan II, and the 6 of Cups is called Pleasure. In this decan, losses begin to heal. In the Jewish tradition, a common condolence phrase after the death of a loved one is, “May their memory be a blessing.” Memories can bring comfort and gratitude.
The 7 of Cups represents Venus-ruled Scorpio III, called Debauch. On one hand, it can symbolize a desperate search for pleasure and escape from present circumstances, like maladaptive responses to grief or a post-divorce dating frenzy. However, a person can also channel their pain and suffering into art. The archetype of “tortured artist” exists for a reason, and many musicians have made serious money mining their break-up stories into songs.
I’m here to remind you
of the mess you left when you went away.
It’s not fair, to deny me
Of the cross I bear that you gave to me.
You, you, you oughta know.
- Lyrics from You Oughta Know, sung by Alanis Morrisette
Thanks for reading my reflections on Scorpio. Tomorrow, I’ll finish the 2025 version of 12 Holy Nights with Sagittarius.
XOXO,
Denise
