Scorpio People: a Phoenix Rising from the Ashes
3: Art for Pain’s Sake
Photographer Robert Mapplethorpe (4/11/1946) took his sexual appetites to the ultimate level by cataloguing the fetish interests of the New York gay scene with his camera lens. He placed his black and white male lovers into his photographs which exposed their naked bodies in a stark, cold manner. He had Pluto conjunct Saturn in Leo which might explain the powerful effect of his images, how they tell a story not told before about a subculture that is usually hidden. This is especially true as that Saturn/Pluto is sextile to Neptune which rules photography in the sign of Art, in Libra. He brought a classical pure style to the subject matter such as the stamens of calia lilies and male members but he also catalogued some of the seamier BDSM fetish practices, leather, chains, knives, bondage and even torture practices. Some viewers and sponsors found this distasteful, fuelling more controversy over his exhibitions.
The debate as to whether his work is porn or art or somewhere in between still goes on, but certainly since Mapplethorpe, we are more accustomed to seeing naked male flesh and his influence on UK photographers such as Rotimi Fani Kayode (Taurus) was evident. His ex-room mate and good friend Patti Smith wrote that he “worked without apology… Robert sought to elevate aspects of male experience, to imbue homosexuality with mysticism. As Cocteau said of a Genet poem, “His obscenity is never obscene.”
With fashion designer Rick Owens (18/11/1961) there is sometimes a focus on genitalia. His 2015 Autumn-Winter catwalk shows had the male models fully clad in black with just their naked members visible through a peep hole. Needless to say this no underwear let-it-all-hang- out- trend did not really catch on. But is that a Scorpio obsession? Probably not, since everyone who looks is also part of the obsession. A voyeur is like vital food to an exhibitionist- the one can't exist without the other. Yet it is interesting that the idea to focus on the penis came from a Scorpio designer whose middle name is Saturnino and who has been called 'Lord of Darkness'.
Owens, incidentally is the favourite designer of that other Scorpio, the originator of Twitter and billionaire Jack Dorsey (19/11/1976). Dorsey has Mars conjunct the Sun at 28° and does things his own way. He is aloof and difficult to pin down, hiding behind a beard which makes him a dead ringer for Aleister Crowley in his mountaineering phase. He loves fasting, ice baths and saunas and making billions. He has now set up a rival to Twitter/X called Bluesky. Whatever he is up to is anyone’s guess as he seemingly evades detection of his motives- the more you look at him, the less you know.
Mapplethorpe was among the few who are also ‘double’ Scorpio lending that extra umpf of Scorpionic charm. These are the ones born early morning when the sun is rising on the Ascendant. Some others include Sai Baba (23/11/ 1923), Hilary Clinton (26/10/1947), Neil Young (12/11/1945), Chloe Sevigny (18/11/1974) and pop star Adam Ant (3/11/1954) who even wrote a song about it called ‘Scorpio Rising’. Both Sun and Ascendant in the sign of Scorpio would mean some of the Scorpionic traits would be visible in the way they look, most likely in the face or in their general physical presence having a visceral effect on others.
Pablo Picsasso (25/10/1881) famously had very intense eyes and his gaze could be unsettling. Although he was not a double Scorpio, his Sun at 2° of Scorpio is on the IC (4th House cusp) and opposite Saturn. Anyone with Jupiter conjunct Pluto would also tend to have an expanded intensity and since the eyes are ‘windows to the soul’ that would be revealed in the gaze.
Scorpio is the sign associated with transformation and that includes all elements of that physical, emotional and psychological- this is inner work and mostly hidden, but occasionally it happens in the full glare of world publicity. Again no one sign has the monopoly on self transformation, it can be a reality for anyone with a prominent Pluto in their charts, but there are a couple of well-known figureheads who happen to be Scorpio sun signs.
One is the ultimate drag queen and glamazon Ru Paul (17/11/1960). The Drag Race TV show became much more successful than anyone could have predicted making Ru Paul a household name and almost an industry. That could not have been achieved without huge levels of hard work and focussed drive. He has Saturn opposite Mars and a triple conjunction of the Moon, Neptune and Mercury in Scorpio which points to a shifting sense of inner identity and glamorous presentation.
And then it is hard to ignore one of the most well-known male-to-female transexuals Caitlyn Jenner (28/10/1949). Starting life as William Bruce Jenner, nicknamed ‘Bruiser’ marrying three times and fathering several children (Kris Jenner, his last wife, is also a Scorpio) and then becoming a successful gold-medal winning athlete, then becoming Caitlin Jenner. She has lead the way for trans rights due to her level of fame, (Mars and Pluto in the 10th House) but she is often controversial and outspoken. It is hard for Scorpios to reveal their secrets so this has been a major and very public transformation of great interest to the collective (Pluto trine to Venus but sextile to Neptune and square to Saturn) at great cost to her personal life. She claims in spite of it all she is still a very private person.
How did such a transformation become so fully realised? They say the Moon represents many shifting moods- first you see it then you don’t- so it is fascinating to me that Eros and Psyche are conjunct the Moon in the very first degrees of Aquarius in Jenner’s chart so they are ruled by Uranus. But also there’s Neptune conjunct Mercury and the South Node in Libra making the story of shifting inner identity confusing. She says it is ‘about your soul’.