Intense, Beautiful, Profound: The Transmutational Wisdom of Plants During Scorpio Season
The Season
Scorpio season is a time of immense beauty and intensity. Days grow shorter and darker. Temperatures drop and the winds change course, carrying new scents of oak moss, faded grass, leaf litter, and chilly, damp soil that mingle with the last vestiges of autumn flowers—rose, goldenrod, chrysanthemum . . . These scents can trigger powerful feelings of melancholy and nostalgia in our chests, as well as a keener sense of our vulnerabilities and resiliencies. October into November, we may notice ourselves or others moving through increasingly dramatic emotional crests and troughs as our bodies respond to the myriad environmental changes happening around us.
Astrologically-speaking, Scorpio season is ruled by two supremely intense planets, Pluto and Mars. Mars is the Zodiac’s “Cosmic Warrior,” whose relentless energy is hyper-focused on survival and goal achievement. Mars brings a conquering ferocity and a desire for action, mixed with burning passion and unrestrained ambition. Pluto is the “God of the Underworld,” bringing a profound, unsparing energy that is equally intense; yet, where the energies of Mars are externally-focused, those of Pluto are focused on the internal world of psyche and spirit. Pluto’s influence demands that we plumb the depths of our interior worlds, uncover our hidden truths and bring them to light so we can integrate them. This integration is integral to Pluto and Scorpio’s transformative power, as it allows us to see ourselves, each other, and the world with a new, more wizened perspective.
The dynamic synergy of Pluto and Mars during Scorpio season draws us into the depths of being as we excavate the interior caverns of our subconscious where our shadows hide. Mars’s influence emboldens us to seek out the mirrored pools of our subconscious where the hidden hurts, grievances, and self-doubts we keep submerged there flash darkly beneath the surface. Fearlessly confronting our shadow-selves and working to integrate them for the purpose of gaining greater self-mastery is the great but challenging gift of Scorpio season.
The Plants
These early, autumnal psychophysiological patterns and processes that astrology narrates so beautifully are mirrored in the fall landscape, so even if the language of astrology feels unfamiliar, the story and its wisdom is before us, written in a sensorial, vegetal language we all have the ability to translate for ourselves. The story of early autumn—of Scorpio season—is revealed in the way the soft vegetal bodies of herbaceous plants submit to the powerful north wind, the fading sun, and the chilly, expanding darkness. Summer’s dominating green falls away like a mask—its skin drying up, eventually fading to shades of brown and grey before finally being sloughed-away by the gusty wind to become compost that will eventually fuel the plants’ rebirth.
The most captivatingly beautiful aspect of autumn—that happens during Scorpio season in particular—is the revelation of inner (vegetal) being as greenness fades. The plants’ hidden colors—like hidden parts of themselves—are briefly exposed, and we can sense their vulnerability. To us, the seasonal expression of their fragility is breath-taking, moving us to tears, sometimes to poetry, and certainly to reflect upon our own mortal vulnerabilities.
Plants, in their infinite wisdom, do not struggle against the inevitable process of their transmutation and transformation. Instead, they courageously give over to the cycle of decay, defoliage, and compost with a dignity that is both stark and beautiful, relinquishing their self-defining greenness; giving up the suppleness of their bodies, letting go of the decaying parts of themselves they no longer need, then releasing it all as an offering of rich compost to the autumn ground. They embody a knowingness that this is all part of a cycle of self-realization, or maturity, or rebirth.
We think we know them, these plants, this world . . . ourselves; that we’ve got everything pinned down. But of course it’s the moment when everything seems most identifiable and known that the winds change, and a veil lifts—because life is an endless process of transformation.
Scorpio season is the exploration and embodiment of these truths.
The Tea — Artemis Scorpio Blend
Our Scorpio Astroherbological blend explores this seasonal moment in all of its moody, profound, introspective beauty, focusing on the sign's emphases upon sense, knowing, and transmutation.
SENSE
Scorpios luxuriate in exploring complex emotional subtleties via the six senses and intuition. They are knowledge seekers, and this knowledge comes to them through their highly attuned sensitivities. Plants in Scorpio that enhance our senses are:
Orange Flower — this beautiful flower harmonizes our mind with both our heart and our gut. It enhances our senses, particularly our sixth sense, and increases our awareness of our body. Orange flower helps alleviate anxiety and depression.
Coriander — a ritually powerful herb used as a sensual catalyst to enhance desire, fertility, and sensual awareness. Coriander strengthens mental clarity and the function of our third eye, helping us create connections, deepen or sense of intimacy and self-understanding. An herb used to awaken inner magic.
Black Tea — crafted with exquisite precision, black teas coax complex layers of taste and aroma from the tea plant. Black tea helps boost mental clarity and self-awareness, as well as enhance creativity, attention, and memory. The rare black teas in Scorpio are masterfully finished and deliciously layered, embodying the complex beauty and vulnerable strength of the Scorpio heart and spirit.
KNOW
Scorpios are the shamans and priest(esse)s of the zodiac; the keepers of mysteries, the students of the arcane, the alchemists, healers, and magicians. They seek knowledge, particularly of the arcane, and are drawn to plants that strengthen their innate intuition, knowing, and psychic abilities.
Bilberry — a specific remedy for strengthening eyesight and night vision, as well for enhancing insight, intuition, and clarity.
Blue Lotus — a powerful, ancient plant ally that enhances inner-knowing, intuition, clairvoyance, and psychic abilities. Blue lotus helps deepen meditative and spiritual practice by opening the crown chakra. It is used to enhance lucid dreaming, and helps open us to receive divine guidance.
TRANSMUTE
Scorpio season ushers in the process of decomposition and transmutation. As we identify and release what we are ready to shed, it becomes the compost that allows us to grow new buds of self-transformation.
Chrysanthemum — a powerful late-blooming autumn flower that symbolizes rebirth and transformation. Chrysanthemum promotes eye health and protects the liver, kidneys, and heart. It is a longevity herb associated with transmutation, death, and rebirth.
Blue Lotus — growing from the depths of fetid pond mud, this elegant, profoundly beautiful, transformative flower has been regarded since ancient times as the premier symbol and medicine of spiritual enlightenment and transmutation. "No mud, no lotus."
Golden Peony Tea — like “magic,” tea leaves are transformed through the process of oxidation into myriad varieties or expressions. Golden Peony black tea is beloved for its honed, complex aromas of gardenia, nectar, sweet stone fruit, and dark chocolate.
We hope Artemis' Scorpio blend is a welcome companion to you during this season, and anytime you may be seeking extra support for introspection, self-acceptance, and the challenging work of self-realization.