Published in The Twelfth House Magazine, October 2003

by Jessica Murray

Halloween arrives with the brisk autumn wind, when our sensibilities are undergoingthe same subtle but profound changes as Nature herself. The energy in theair is ambivalent, prickling with unease but alive with the promise ofconnecting us to life in a new way, a deeper way. Halloween reminds usof the existence of powers we cannot see, and yet still somehow understand.  

Thekeen sense of nostalgia many of us feel at this time of year may be dueto cellular memory, which keeps us in touch with Halloween's long, richhistory. Archaic collective imagery of a very special kind re-awakens everyyear when the sun is in Scorpio, sweeping us under its spell.  

Thelast secular festival remaining in the Western calendar, only Halloweenhas cleaved to its magical, primordial roots. It is a holiday that fascinateswithout requiring us to believe anything. Its allure is not intellectual,but visceral, dating back to a time when people explored the non-physicalrealms -- the Other Worlds -- as a natural and normal function of humanexperience.  

Foruntold millennia before the Julian Calendar, Halloween, or Samhain (pron.SOW-wen) to the ancient Celts, marked that poignant moment at thegolden end of the warm season when the veils between the worlds are thinnest.Back in the days when people timed their lives by the birthing of theirherds and the ripening of their harvests, Halloween served as a solemngateway to winter, the Dark Time (Dark meaning, not bad,but hidden). This was the point in the wheel of the year when ancientEuropeans slowed down their activity, gathered up what they had sown literallyand figuratively during the long days of summer, and turned their attentionswithin.  

Beforethe modern era, the unseen worlds were considered very real. Ancient practitionersof Halloween believed in the afterlife as a matter of course; they wouldhave found incomprehensible the idea that cultivating a relationship withthe dead was wrong or evil. Nor did they think they had to go through highpriests to do it. Ordinary people sought wisdom through exploring the dimensionsbeyond death, before death, and between lives; an exploration which hadnot yet been declared taboo. Moreover, the cult of rationalism had notyet come along to condemn intuition as being inferior to mental logic,a development which was henceforth to embarrass into silence those whobelieved in ghosts. For our ancestors, the souls of the departed were feltto be as worthy of respect as any other souls, and Halloween was when peoplecommunicated with them.  

OldSamhain has suffered centuries of ignoble trivialization. Too powerfulfor the Church of Rome to vanquish entirely, the profound rites of AllHallow's Eve have been reduced to a candy blow-out for children, and increasingly,an ever-more-commercialized costume party for adults. Popular culture hasheld onto the iconography of witches (originally, tribal wise women) andbats (thought to embody souls of the departed), but without any understandingof what they signify. As a culture, we have forgotten the deeper meaningof Halloween and have become estranged from the part of ourselves thatneeded it. This state of affairs is especially unfortunate for peoplein whose charts Scorpio or Pluto is highlighted.  

Inthe zodiac, the power of Halloween is represented by the sign Scorpio.People with strong showings of Scorpio in their charts1arethe descendents of the keepers of the Samhain rites held sacred by theancient world. Making this connection will expand our understanding ofwhy Scorpio has been called the sign of secrets.  

Mysticalscholarship has been conducted in secret for most of recorded history.First, because it was thought that these inquiries were too subtle forthe uninitiated mind to comprehend without distortion; and second, becauseas alchemy and other esoteric arts became outlawed by the Church, theywere pursued at great risk. Scorpionic people come from a noble lineageof clandestine activity.  

Themodern world, too, can be a difficult place for people with these sensibilities.Our literalistic culture is skeptical of Scorpio's subtle intuitions, withthe result that many Westerners -- astrologers among them -- regard thesign with suspicion. Most contemporary philosophies fear and spurn theDark Mysteries (among them, death, sexuality, and the psychic realms),having no framework for understanding them. This can lead Scorpionic typesto distrust their own essential nature. Individuals with this signaturein their charts would do well to question our society's continued demonizationof the occult (the word means covered or veiled), a formof spiritual inquiry which in its pure form has nothing to do with self-aggrandizement.The true occult power of Scorpio lies in its ability to connect with theinvisible dimensions of life, celebrated so long ago at Samhain.  

Allastrological symbols have layers of meaning, from the metaphorical to theprosaic. Scorpio and its planetary ruler, Pluto, govern all kinds of secrets:classified information, detective novels, lost objects. Those withMoonin Scorpio can pick up on hidden motives or unexpressed emotions. Peoplewith Venus in Scorpio excel (when they want to) at keeping confidences.Mercury-in-Scorpio individuals can communicate more by what they do notsay than by what they do say.  In a natal chart with no planets inScorpio, the house which has Scorpio on its cusp shows us where the personis most privy to the mysteries of life. 

Evenmore telling is the house occupied by the planet Pluto, which indicateswhat types of situations bring out a person's sixth sense. 

Pluto,ruler of the sign Scorpio, represents the power we all have to pierce beneaththe surface of something in order to know its truth. Because this kindof perception is rarely validated by the culture we live in, most of ushave grown up either minimizing our psychic proclivities or dismissingthem entirely. But Pluto has much to teach those who value the human abilityto fathom those areas where intellect alone cannot go.

Pluto'shouse placement shows where we feel a profound drive to understand NaturalLaw, which exists beyond personal likes and dislikes, and beyond societalvalue judgments. When approached with the proper understanding, Pluto opensup even the most everyday experiences to deeper reaches of meaning, satisfyinga hunger in the soul. People with Pluto in the sixth house, for example,are often extraordinarily insightful in diagnosing an illness, going beneaththe level of symptom into the psycho-spiritual root of the malaise.  

Theseason that is now upon us opens up cracks in the wall dividing the mortalsphere from the sphere of the Mysteries. There is no better time to celebrate,with humility and respect, the things in life that we know not from knowledgebut from knowing. This Halloween, take a moment to light a candleto souls that have departed the physical plane. Take note of the placementof Pluto in your chart, and use the information to begin reclaiming yourpsychic ability. Identify which house of your chart has Scorpio on itscusp, and work your X-ray vision accordingly. In personal relationships,resolve to listen between the lines.  

Thereare worlds out there -- and within us as well -- which are and always willbe outside of the realm of our conscious comprehension. This may strikethe proud Western mind as an affront, but our deep psyches accept it withequanimity and relief. Let us express gratitude this Halloween that theMysteries exist, and take advantage of the perfect moment to honor them.
 
1The relative strength of the Scorpio archetype is gauged by its appearanceamong the ten planets, by the aspects to and house placement of Pluto,by the activity in the eighth house, and by the activity in that housewhere Scorpio is on the cusp.Returnto article

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