The Mystery of Transformation
"Hercules remembered that his Teacher had said,
Casting aside his club, Hercules knelt,
grasped the hydra with his bare hands, and raised it aloft.
Suspended in mid-air, its strength diminished.
On his knees, then, he held the hydra high above him,
that purifying air and light might have their due effect.
The monster, strong in darkness and in sloughy mud,
soon lost its power when the rays of the sun
and the touch of the wind fell on it"
-The Tibetan, The Labours of Hercules: An Astrological Perspective
The sign of Scorpio is perhaps associated with transformation more than any other sign, but what IS transformation and why is it particularly associated with Scorpio? Let's explore!
The American Heritage Dictionary describes transformation as, "A marked change, as in appearance or character, usually for the better."
From Despair to Joy - The Byron Katie Story
One of the most notable examples of transformation in the modern era, is that of Byron Katie. After many years of spiralling through a nightmare of despair and depression, Byron Katie experienced what has been described as a spontaneous 'sudden awakening'. She 'woke' up from her nightmare into a joy that has never left her.
In Katie's case, her temperament and even physical appearance were different. Her children remarked on the change in her eyes: they were clearer and the color was deeper. They couldn't trust what they were seeing at first but over time, they came to see that the change in their Mom was lasting and permanent. This is transformation at the deepest level.
Such spontaneous awakenings are very rare, but they do happen. For most of us, spiritual awakening happens gradually, as we align more deeply with the process of awakening, slowly releasing our personal 'nightmares' one by one. (The process that the Tibetan refers to as Personality-Soul fusion).
In Esoteric Astrology the Tibetan says our Soul 'does battle' in two signs: Leo and Scorpio. In Leo we are fighting for our individuality, in Scorpio we are fighting for our Soul.
In "The Labours of Hercules: An Astrological Interpretation" the journey of the Soul in Scorpio is symbolised by Hercules 8th Labour - Destroying The Lernaean Hydra. The hydra was said to have nine heads, one of which was immortal. Each time one head was cut off, two would grow in it's place.
The nine heads of the hydra represent our ego-personality, that drives us in our everyday lives. We can relate to the business of the thinking mind as though it were a 'hydra'. It can seem that no sooner do we solve a problem, than two (or more) grow in it's place! And so our ego-personality drives us onward, solving problem after problem, satisfying one desire after another, in an endless cycle.
The way to experience transformation, such as that of Byron Katie, is to break the pattern: to stop the unconscious habit of blindly pursuing our thoughts, ideas and desires.
In the metaphor, Hercules defeats the Hydra by raising it to the light. This is the only way that anyone ever awakens, whether it is suddenly, as in the case of Byron Katie, or gradually. Eventually, when we 'see the light' we awaken.
We can actively engage with, and accelerate, our process of awakening through meditation. In his book "Never Turn Away" Rigdzin Shikpo describes an effective meditation whereby we strive to remain in "clarity, openness and sensitivity" and have the courage to face everything that arises in our experience: all of our emotions, feelings, fears, and joys, are allowed to simply 'be' in the light of our awareness. It is the light of our own awareness that eventually dissolves all our fears and allows us to awaken.
This is the courageous path of the spiritual warrior in Scorpio. Having the courage to face all our darkest fears, is what will eventually bring them to the light, and allow the most powerful of transformations: spiritual awakening.
Once we make meditation part of our daily lives, so that our process of awakening can continue uninterrupted, then we may know for ourselves the deeper meaning of the Tibetans keynote for Scorpio:
"Warrior I am and from the battle
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