Welcome to another post from the monthly neurodivergent tips series! In this series, I offer quick tips for each astrological season, geared at neurodivergent folks and written from my own perspective as an AuDHD astrologer and neuroemergence guide. These are some recommended focuses to work with the energy of the season, not a to-do list or something to feel guilty about if you don’t get to it. All our neurotypes are different, so take what feels right for you and release what doesn’t!
When I say “season” here, I’m talking primarily about the time the sun spends in a sign, shining a spotlight on the sign’s energy. At the same time or close to it, Mercury and Venus will pass through the sign, and a New Moon also occurs in that sign, so its energy is amplified. But you can expect these seasons to also be flavored by the positions of other planets in the sky and in your chart, so they don’t feel the same to everyone or happen in the same way every year.
Scorpio is our fixed water sign, and it’s ruled by Mars. Modern astrologers also assign rulership of Scorpio to Pluto. The best explanation I’ve ever heard of how Scorpio goes with fixed water comes from Diana Rose Harper. In a workshop, she used the example of a well—well water is deep and still, without water flowing in and out. That means that it’s super vulnerable to any kind of toxicity introduced.
Scorpio energy is known for being intense, but that makes sense when you think of it as an emotional well—the way Scorpio ensures emotional stability and security is by going super deep, into territory that others might find uncomfortable. This investigation ensures that the Scorpio-dominant person or group really trusts the new element to come in and not poison the well. And once they’re in there? There’s potential for deep, lasting bonding, because the well wants to hold onto its clean water. On the other hand, if toxicity does sneak in there, Scorpio will hold a grudge, because the whole well has been poisoned!
So Scorpio energy tends to plumb the emotional depths and be somewhat intense, an intensity also supported by associations with Mars and Pluto. Mars in its nighttime home of Scorpio is all about severing and cutting out what doesn’t support the whole. We tend to be more positive about Venusian themes of unification and bonding, and less so about Mars themes of separation and cutting, but think about a surgeon’s scalpel, or cutting away the rot on an otherwise-delicious piece of food. Mars supports discernment here, being willing to cut out what isn’t right for you. Pluto similarly is all about big, intense processes of death and transformation, dark nights of the soul, confronting what needs to be purged in the subconscious.
When I think about Scorpio in the context of neurodivergence, I first go to how weird some of us can seem to our neurotypical peers. Some of us definitely have Scorpio hobbies! We might be autistic and just don’t understand the random social taboos around things like death and sex, or we may have personal experience of trauma or intense emotions that give us an affinity for the dark and probing nature of Scorpio.
I also think about how deep we can go when we’re investigating a particular interest, or meeting a new friend. I’ve found that neurodivergent folks can sometimes be especially prone to NRE (new relationship energy), particularly with other neurodivergent folks, because it’s just so exciting to finally bond with someone in a meaningful way for our neurotype, and we suddenly want to spend all our time together.
The Scorpio theme of discernment, or more dramatically, death, can be really supportive if you’re in the process of unmasking and embracing your neurotype. If you’ve been conditioned into people-pleasing, you may need to deploy Scorpio energy to recognize the poison to your emotional well-being coming from certain people, and cut them out.
You also may experience a kind of ego death, or death of the story of self, which can be liberating but also super painful. When I started investigating my neurodivergence, one of the hardest things was letting go of a story of myself as a super-competent, ambitious, career-driven person. In confronting burnout, I went from feeling like I could do anything to feeling totally incapable in a capitalist environment. I had to dredge up a lot of shadow material around feeling immature, as well as the stuff I just didn’t manage to do at work, that I’d shoved under the rug.
Ultimately, this process was a healthy thing, as it allowed me to acknowledge my reality, feel less guilt and shame, and have gifts I can celebrate without secret caveats, but it still fucking hurt.
This Scorpio season, you might want to consider the following practices:
- Embrace your weird interests! Whatever it is that makes you feel strange, obsessed, morbid, etc., this is a great season to “let your freak flag fly.” Conveniently, it aligns with spooky season in mass culture, so if you need an excuse, you’ve got one.
- This is a fantastic time of year for shadow work. If you’ve been feeling a need to dig into the subconscious or things you tend to ignore, you might consider doing ritual work, journaling, or working with a spiritual advisor who specializes in this area. If you there are parts of yourself you’ve rejected because neurotypicals have shamed you for being immature, “too much,” volatile, etc. then this can be an excellent time to reclaim those parts. Just remember that this work is best done in a supportive container, with a plan for how you’ll care for yourself if triggering content comes up.
- Another way to “go deep” in this way is through ancestral or other spiritual work. Consider designing a ritual to explore your roots, lineage, or spirit guides, perhaps with a particular focus on neurodivergent lineages. Remember that lineage isn’t just about bloodlines—neurodivergent folks within your family lines might have a message for you, but the same is true for folks with a similar neurotype who came before, whether or not you’re related. You can also do a ritual that’s all about embracing your weirdness, honoring your neurotype, and being yourself, and ask for support while the veil is thin from those who would like to be present to help. Or perhaps you need a release ritual for masking practices you no longer find helpful in your life. Use your intuition and work with these energies in whatever way feels best!
- Explore the concept of unmasking. Unmasking Autism is one popular resource, particularly for autistic folks, though I think the contents can also resonate with other neurotypes. You can also just explore online communities of neurodivergent folks to witness different ways of being and perhaps put some thought into what kind of masks you might be wearing and desire to transform. If you’re an artistic type, you could even create physical masks and incorporate them into a ritual! Remember that unmasking doesn’t have to be a huge, dramatic, all-the-time thing. You can find small ways to unmask where it’s safe, and that is often hugely transformative.
- Start working with a therapist, coach, astrologer, or other supportive professional to dig deeper into your psyche. If you’ve been considering doing this kind of work, this is a great time to start! Look for folks who are not only familiar with, but experienced in working with neurodivergent folks—ideally, professionals who are able to look beyond the medical model and embrace the neurodiversity paradigm. You also might want to look for folks who are competent in addressing trauma, which can definitely come up doing this kind of work in this season.
Looking for an astrology reading this Scorpio season? I’d love to read for you, and I have several astrology reading options that are specifically designed for neurodivergent folks! I’m very comfortable digging into taboo Scorpionic topics including death, sex, kink, and trauma, and am happy to hold space for these explorations.