I get Scorpio.

In fact, I’ll take that one step further…I love Scorpio. I identify with it, I crave it, I actively seek the intensity of experience and emotion that goes with it.

It makes sense. My Mars is there. Also, pretty well every other planet in my chart (with the exception of Saturn) touches Pluto in some way, so adds a Scorpio flavor to the whole thing. My Pluto score is seriously high- 74 points. (Try the test for yourself).

I’m also surrounded by Scorpio- with my hubby and a couple of besties having either the Sun or the Moon in this sign. Sometimes it feels as though I’m naturally drawn towards them- and them to me.

Yet that doesn’t make this post easy to write.

Scorpio, like Pluto, scares many people. It can be dark, forbidden, with shadowy corners that run into places that you don’t want to see, think about or admit.

It’s tough to write about Scorpio planets without talking about sex, jealousy, revenge, control, power and absolute truth. It’s particularly tough to write about Mars in Scorpio without mentioning these things. So I won’t try.

Nor will I attempt to water down the unwavering desire, determined willpower, controlled self-sufficiency and intense hunger that accompanies this placement.

Going for Goal

Mars, for all of us, is about how we assert ourselves, how we go about getting what we want. It is also about our energy levels.  When you have Mars in Scorpio, you’re particularly driven- not by a concept, but by a desire. The power of emotions is attached to your goals and channeled into asserting yourself and achieving or attaining what it is that you want.

Scorpio is a fixed sign, so her energy is one of endurance. He has incredible internal reserves of energy and his desires are unwavering. He doesn’t care how long it takes. Whilst Mars in Aries will exhaust himself quickly and move on, Mars in Scorpio is in it for the long run and will budget his energy in a more controlled fashion to make it last- no matter how long it takes.

Mars says a lot about what gets us out of bed in the morning (as well as what gets us in there the night before). Like the other Mars ruled sign, Aries, Mars in Scorpio likes a challenge.

Where Mars in Aries will hunt down his prey (so to speak), Mars in Scorpio will drawn his in too him- it can be like a powerful magnetized forcefield.

Unlike Mars in Aries, however, Mars in Scorpio won’t tear off to the next conquest as soon as he has landed his prey- he wants to hang around and make sure that what he has won is totally his.

It’s this energy of completion that makes Mars in Scorpio formidable from a professional sense and also incredibly suited to any sporting activity needing focus and endurance.

Mars’ strengths in Scorpio are also some of his key weaknesses. His need for privacy, secrecy, self-protection and control can stop him from expressing himself freely. He is change resistant and slow to trust, with a tendency to paranoia.

Mars in Scorpio may choose not to move forward with something he believes in simply because he feels that to do so may grant someone else control. He will instead wait until the situation can be manipulated in his favour, or miss out entirely. As my mother would say, cutting his nose off to spite his face.

It’s all about the passion

Scorpio is associated with sex. Mars with sex drive, passions and desire. Put the two together and you get?

The thing is, although physical passion is paramount for Mars in Scorpio, it’s more than that. It’s about hunger, those needs that lie at the core of you…and it’s about pure soul.

This is not sex in a 5th house fun way, but sex in the traditional 8th house power to transform your life way and experience something truly profound. It’s about emotional intensity and the literal merging of bodies. It can be a little (or a lot) dark, a little (or a lot) compulsive, a little (or a lot) obsessive. La petite mort indeed.

In a man’s chart, Mars is how he shows his strength, his masculinity, how he might go about impressing a potential partner.

Mars in Scorpio doesn’t flirt. When he wants something (or someone), he wants all of her, completely, for ever and ever. If you’re that way inclined, it can be very sexy indeed. If you’re not that way inclined, it can be uncomfortable- to say the least. When Scorpio Mars stares you down, you know it.

In a woman’s chart, whilst Venus shows you your relationship style and what you find attractive and makes you feel good, the sign that Mars is in is often projected into the type of partner she falls for completely- again and again and flipping again.

With Mars in Scorpio, it may be that she has a weakness for partners with Sun, Moon, Venus or Mars in Scorpio, or men who have one or more of these planets in the 8th house or in close aspect to Pluto. If you are susceptible, there is nothing on earth that can substitute for the magnetism of the Scorpio influenced male. (Women with Scorpio personal planets have a similar effect on men with either Venus or the Moon in Scorpio).

The Scorpio Paradox

Protection is absolutely paramount when considering emotions as deep as those of Scorpio. With Mars in Scorpio, you never ever let them know how you really feel- this makes you vulnerable and under the control of someone else…even though part of you may want to submit to a little of this. If they really loved or desired you they would want to dig deeper to know all of you and only you. You want someone who is prepared to do that. As self contained as you are, you want someone who will expose their vulnerabilities to you. That’s the Scorpio paradox.

To allow anyone to see how much you want them is to open yourself up for rejection. By not letting them know, if you are rejected, you are the only one who knows about it. Naturally, of course, the likelihood of rejection is that much greater because the encouragement level is that much less. Doesn’t make sense? It does to Scorpio Mars.

You might think that you’d sell your soul for total control, but the simple truth is if you had it, you’d be bored…and looking for another challenge.

The Endpoint

Because Mars in Scorpio desires so completely, he requires truth, honesty and loyalty. No grey areas. This is uncompromising, deal-breaking, black and white.

He doesn’t like to be played, although he himself is a master game player and manipulator. If he suspects you are playing around, he will wait until you trip yourself up. Once you have lost his trust, it’s gone forever.

If he suspects you’re hiding something, he’ll dig deep until he finds it- until he gets to the bottom… and until he has the evidence to support what he already knows to be true. In the data he can find control and power over the outcome.

His nightmare scenario is finding out about your betrayal from another source- as it threatens not only his trust, but also his sense of power. This can take him deep into shadow territory. That’s a place where revenge fantasies roam free.

Mars in Scorpio is not a placement where you can easily be friends afterward. It is all or nothing. Sure he will hang on for a while, but once he knows it is over, he will cut cleanly and completely. Like it never happened. Like you never existed. Complete elimination.

For the rest of us

If, like me, you have Mars in Scorpio, you’ll be heading for your Mars return, a re-boot of all things Mars.

For the rest of us, check out what part of life Scorpio rules in your chart. This is where you’ll be getting a little extra oomph, focus, energy and drive.

This sound like you? If you’re a Scorpio male, or a man with Scorpio Moon, you could reluctantly be nodding. If you have Mars conjunct, square or opposite Pluto, you could also be annoyed at me for exposing your secrets.

If you do have Mars in Scorpio, and this doesn’t sound like you? Don’t forget that when I write these, I write about the archetype- the energy in its purest form- unaffected by other influences. Check out what other planets aspect your Mars- these will soften or intensify it. 

Todays song title is brought to you by The Motels…it’s my Scorpio husband’s favourite song Total Control…he has Mars in Scorpio too….