Synchronicity is a beautiful thing. Sunday night I drew three cards from James Wanless’ Sustain Yourself deck of oracle cards. The card I drew for my question about what I needed most right now to live sustainably was “Web — Interconnected,” which is illustrated by a collage of spider web photos.
Sure enough, I was asked to write today’s Daily Astrology post about the Sun’s current conjunction with the asteroid Arachne in the first degree of Scorpio. Five minutes later, Eric’s friend send him a picture of her spider tattoo. In mythology, Arachne was a boastful young woman who angered the goddess Athena with her claims of superior weaving ability — without even acknowledging the goddess’ influence on her skill.
When Athena challenged Arachne to a contest, and the young woman’s tapestry depicting the loves and transgressions of the gods won, Athena destroyed the loom, struck the girl and turned her into a spider.
Makes you wonder how much of Athena’s rage was actually embarrassment fueled by having amorous relations — and the sexual interconnectedness of the Olympians — out in plain sight. Just how old is our determination to ignore the fact that we are only two degrees away (in the Kevin Bacon sense, not the astrological sense) from anyone our lover has had sex with? How many degrees separate anyone from someone you have sex with?
Along with death and money, Scorpio is about sex, and it’s also about secrets: what happens in the dark, behind closed doors or when we think no one is looking. The Sun showing up in Scorpio, shining its light with Arachne, is asking, ‘why are we still pretending all of this stuff is so secret’?