OVERVIEW "On Halloween, when a Scorpio unmasks at midnight, you'll find even more mystery underneath their holiday guise: their everyday mystique! Born in the heart of autumn into the eighth house of the Zodiac, sexy Scorpio is intense, intuitive and the embodiment of complete ego. They are one hundred percent sure of who they are and ninety nine percent sure of who they're not. Their symbolic Scorpion sting is often the sting of absolute truth - and it can be turned on themselves just as quickly as it can on others. Once self-stung, Scorpio is the only sign of the Zodiac with the innate metaphysical and physical powers to rise above the sting. And a Scorpio rising is following the soaring path of their alter-image, the eagle. With piercing and hypnotic eyes, Scorpio pushes past their earthly limits to reach powerful and empowering heights beyond what is known or accepted. The profoundly passionate Scorpio will always leave their mark.

RELATIONSHIPS There's no such thing as a casual fling for steamy, sex-appealing Scorpio, the most sensual, erotic and passionate sign of the Zodiac. Their intensity is a magnet that attracts easily, and Scorpio can usually find sex a convenient and creative outlet for their boundless sexual energies. Notoriously, the Scorpion is an ardent, fervent love-mate and a perceptive loyal friend. With one stinging stare, they can see right through to the depths of another's soul, and bring stinging wisdom and intuition to any relationship. Pluto, the powerhouse planet of love, teaches Scorpio to elevate love from out of the underworld. Commitment to their soulmate, usually another water sign - Pisces, Cancer or another Scorpio, becomes a near holy proposition, not to be taken lightly. But then, Scorpio takes nothing lightly. probing their intimate relationships with a piercing accuracy that trancends self and enters the mystical.

CAREER While Pluto is busy presiding over life in the underworld, Scorpio is busy on earth: unearthing, looking underneath and beyond, never content with superficial answers to super important questions. The Scorpio's determined quest for answers, keys, and truths can lead them to become lawyers, investigative reporters, honest politicians, public speakers or spys. They make wonderful analysts, teachers, and art historians. Their much vaunted inner intensity often leads them down a spiritual path to mystic, healer or priest.

WELL BEING Scorpios are amongst the oldest, most enduring species on the planet. They are endowed with a natural instinct for self preservation and a determined preparedness to survive. Secretive, sensitive and sexual, it is no surprise to learn that Scorpio rules the reproductive and excretory systems, the most sensitive, secretive, and sexual parts of the human body, vital to good health and the continuation of humanity. Intense and trospective, the Scorpio is the perfect guardian angel for the survival of the species for at least another billion years.

WHAT HOLDS YOU BACK Still waters run deep, and sometimes the mysterious rivers in Pluto's underworld can make the Scorpio feel ltra-sensitive and out of sorts with the ordinary people above the earth's surface. With a looser, more lenient harness on all that seething, sexual energy and a path that includes forgiveness, forgetting, and room for imperfection, the Scorpio rises magnificently from the underworld of gloom and doom that is their birthright. The goal is a more frivolous, less purposeful, but happier lifestyle with the rest of us here on earth. This compromise benefits all mankind."

The above is from a birthday card I got a few years back (text by Bonnie Altenhein, illustration by Sandra Dionist, design by Lisa Wagner). I discovered this card in the process of cleaning up my junks, and when I reread it, it struck me that a lot of what this card has to say really describes me (NOT THE SEXY, PASSIONATE PART OF COURSE!). Is this why the horoscope is so popular -- everyone unconsciously looks to find a little bit of themselves in their horoscope? The more the description fits their personality, the more they feel that great "fit in" feeling -- that unending human desire to belong somewhere?!?!?!.... Or did I read this card years ago and unconsciously begin to fulfill my destiny prescribed in the card -- a self-fulfilling prophecy of sort?!?!?!.... Or is there really a lot of truth to the horoscope after all? Do I really wanna know, or am I just acting out that "Scorpio's determined quest for answers, keys, truths" role again -- as prescribed by my horoscope?!?!?!

Anyway, for those of you who are debunkers at heart, here's a great book debunking all of Western astrology, written by an emergency physician (J.V.Stewart, M.D.) who are out to save folks who are "victims of mythology"! It's called, "Astrology, What's Really in the Star" (ISBN1-57392-077-0). Excellent book full of history of Western Astrology.