Venus in Scorpio: A Machiavellian kinda love.
Look what you made me do... (On Taylor Swift, Gone Girl, and Gender Roles).
I’m thinking of the song “Mastermind” by Taylor Swift and when she goes “I’m only cryptic and machiavellian because I care.” I had an inkling of the definition of the word machiavellian, but I wanted to know clearly because this song, and the overall themes, were lingering in my mind as I pondered how I would write about this transit.
Machiavellian is an adjective and the definition is “cunning, scheming, and unscrupulous, especially in politics.”
Let’s take a few steps back before we dive into the rest of the lyrics and this placement.
I came to astrology very young and read a good deal about the signs in order to learn more about my family and myself. Because of this, when I began seriously studying astrology, I had to retrain my mind. The true players in a chart are the planets not the signs, and I think that is especially the case when we consider what we think we know about Venus in Scorpio.
So when we’re thinking of Venus in Scorpio, what I want us to focus on is not our understanding of Scorpio as it relates to sun signs or as an archetype, but rather, as a space of the planet Mars. Venus in Scorpio is entering into Mars’ domain. Venus, is a benefic, a feminine planet, and features temperaments that are opposing to those of Mars. This is in part, why we say Venus is in detriment in these Mars ruled signs.
Let’s get back to “Mastermind” much of what I find this transit can signify is the marginalized, or the othered, entering into a space where they are unwelcome and finding a way to embody the surrounding energy as a point of gaining power after feeling overall broken.
While this song doesn’t speak to the marginalized directly, I think there’s an exploration of gender and a bit of curiosity of doing what seems antithetical to love. The lyrics speak of being calculated and conniving, in a way that is logical and precise and rarely associated with concepts of femininity and love.
No one wanted to play with me as a little kid
So I've been scheming like a criminal ever since
To make them love me and make it seem effortless
This is the first time I've felt the need to confess
Venus in Scorpio, in many ways, is about this innate Venusian energy being forced to be contained or unrepressed, and the ways this can push that energy into the opposite of what it started off as.
Venus in Scorpio, as a transit, often calls for one to explore identities or spaces we’ve been forced to occupy while simultaneously asking “If you made me into this, what can I steal from it? How can I use this in the ways I wish to use them?”
From “Mastermind”…
“You see, all the wisеst women
Had to do it this way
'Cause we were born to be the pawn
In every lover's game,”
As someone who is gender nonconforming, Venus in Scorpio has always been a transit of gender rebellion for me. What does it mean to explore gender as a form of rebellion? How can we take elements that were claimed by the patriarchy and redirect these traits and characters to those the patriarchy actively seeks to oppress?
How can we take characteristics of the oppressed and utilize them as a way to break the patriarchy from the inside?
Venus in Scorpio is about saying, in many ways, “You have put me in this space that I never wanted to exist in, now watch me revel in it, watch me destroy it bit by bit from the inside, while no one sees it coming.”
As Venus entered Scorpio, I was wrapping up the book Gone Girl by Gillian Fynn. If you haven’t read it and you enjoy a good mind-fuck thriller, definitely pick it up. It’s definitely a part of the “I support women’s rights and wrongs” kind of niche genre that I love.
I’m not saying that this book, or that Amy herself, is necessarily giving Venus in Scorpio transit vibes, but I’m also not not saying it. Without giving too much away, I would say if you want to have an idea of how this transit can play out in a theatrical dramatized way, read this book.
If you chose to read this book and are considering the way it may mirror Venus in Scorpio, I want you to ask yourself “How much of Amy is innately this way, and how much is a response to the spaces she’s been in?”
Check trigger warnings if you decide to pick this up, obvi.
If you’d like to explore this transit a bit more through introspective journaling, you may dig the below prompts:
What spaces do I exist in that are generally not as open to people like me? What have these spaces taught me (for better or worse)?
What is my relationship to gender expression? How does my gender expression serve me?
When have I been “cold and calculating” in my life, and what was the underlying aim/goal? What was I truly seeking in doing this?
Mini 2024 Year Ahead Readings Are Still Available
We’re down to about half of the available readings, so if you’d like to snag one, keep the page bookmarked while you think about it.
These mini-readings will be 10-15 minutes long and will include a theme for the year, 3 things to focus on, and some general spiritual guidance. You can choose to receive guidance based on your natal chart with tarot, tarot only, or Astro guidance only.
January Calendar is open for booking as well. If you’d like to get in for a solar return and/or natal chart reading next month, click on through.
I allow payment plans in the form of a deposit with the remainder due before the appointment.
I’ll be changing up my readings a tad bit next year so now’s a good time to get in if you’ve been eyeing a session as is.