Welcome to the season of the Scorpio! The eighth house in the zodiac, Scorpio (October 23–November 22) is a water sign represented by a celestial scorpion. The zodiac’s most provocative and mysterious sign, Scorpios are constantly on a mission for deep transformation and understanding.

Tenacious and brave on the one hand, jealous and controlling the on the other, Scorpios are often misunderstood. (Is it any surprise that Picasso was one?) At their core, Scorpios are in search of intimacy and intense emotional connection. Like their namesake, they can cut deep with penetrating insights. But they are also among those most capable of change and adaptation. 

Astrologist Lisa Stardust is a NYC-based astrologist who has written for Cosmopolitan, Oprah magazine, and Teen Vogue.

With all this intensity stirring inside them, we wondered: Are Scorpios natural-born artists? Or do their power-driven sensibilities make them the ultimate dealers?

To find out, we connected with Lisa Stardust, a New York City-based astrologist and the author of the best-selling book Saturn Return Survival Guide: Navigating This Cosmic Rite of Passage. Stardust, who just released a new astrology deck, gave us the lowdown about how to understand all the creative Scorpios in our lives. 

Who would you say is the quintessential Scorpio artist and why? 

The one thing about Scorpios is that they are focused on transformation and evolution. Scorpios can also tend toward black or white thinking—they only will go toward the gray area if they feel that people are really trying to change the world or themselves. 

Georgia O’Keeffe was a Scorpio and she was the first female artist to have a retrospective at the Museum of Modern Art. She started a conversation in which woman artists could be really seen as equals, and it took some tenacity for her to get there. 

Bob Ross was another great Scorpio. He changed the way people interact with art and he basically allowed people to see that anyone can be an artist. Scorpios are uniquely intuitive, too. His whole motivation was to try to get people to trust their intuition, to do what feels right.

Picasso was of course a kind of infamous Scorpio—he really sucked the life out of all the people around him which is the dark side of Scorpio energy. 

What are their strongest qualities for artists born under Scorpio?

As a water sign, Scorpios are able to connect to their emotions more easily than other zodiac signs. And because they have such a connection to their hearts, they’re able to translate emotions onto paper or canvas. It’s really easy for Scorpios to visualize things in their heads, too. 

Scorpios are also the great innovators of the Zodiac so they have the ability to see things differently than others. So as passionate, emotional, and sensitively attuned as they are, they can really transcend normal boundaries and create artworks that a lot of types of people can relate to.

Giovanni Maria Falconetto, Sign of Scorpio (1515-20)

What would Scorpio artists’ pitfalls or shortcomings be?

If Scorpios think something is not working, they tend to give up very fast. If a Scorpio is working on a painting and they aren’t sure where to go with it, they’re just going to abandon the project altogether, which can be a good thing or a bad thing. So yeah, if they lose that emotional connection, they’re probably going to drop it.

What artistic medium would a Scorpio be best suited to?

I would say a painter. I think of people throwing paint on a canvas, getting their passions out when they create. 

Scorpios also have potential as sculptors because they can be low-key control freaks on a bad day and will want to make sure everything is precise. 

What is the best way for a Scorpio to get out of a creative rut? 

It’s really important for Scorpios to be connected to their bodies. Meditating or just listening to their own heartbeat and seeing where the mind goes can really help them. Scorpios and Tauruses are opposite sides of each other—they’re all about the sensual and need to be in a judgment-free place in connection with their bodies. To get out of a rut, I would even suggest walking the street at night by themselves and listening to music. 

If a Scorpio’s art career isn’t taking off, what do you think is a good day job for them?

A detective or private investigator. Scorpio is ruled by Mars and Mars’s mission is to solve problems. Scorpios are about mystery and understanding on a deeper level. They see people for who they are. A Scorpio can cut through someone in two seconds and get straight to the heart of the matter. 

As a water sign, they also have a tremendous ability to heal—so they’d also make great doctors or therapists, since they tend to go to the dark side and come back to the light.

Okay—so you kind of touched on this, but I feel like I need to acknowledge that Scorpios often get a bad rap. 

Every sign has its good and its shadow qualities. Scorpios, they’re not afraid to go there. A lot of people are afraid of understanding the darker parts of themselves. Scorpios can sometimes bring those qualities to the surface and acknowledge that shadow part in someone else. 

If Scorpios were going to date someone in the art world, who would they be most compatible with?

With Scorpio, it’s more of a game of “f*ck, marry, kill.” A casual hook-up would be with an art handler. Kill, probably a dealer? Their long-term relationship might be tempestuous but it would be with another painter.  

Scorpio rules the eighth house, which is commonly referred to as the house of other people’s money. If artists have a lot of Scorpio placements, does that mean they have a greater chance of success? 

Scorpio is the sign of sex, death, and taxes. The eighth house is what classically is represented by Scorpio, but it changes based on an individual’s personal astrology chart. Scorpios are all about other people’s money because they’re the ballers, you know—the investors, the detectives, the IRS! They’d also be the boss advocating for you to get a raise at work. Scorpios evolve with time, however, so I’d say Scorpios learn to be good with money because of past mistakes.

Can you tell the Scorpios out there what to expect for this upcoming zodiac season?

Scorpios, while you’re being positioned in the limelight of attention during your solar return which begins on October 23, followed by Mars and Mercury’s shift into Scorpio on October 30 and November 5, you’re finding that the headcount at your celebration is low. The lack of birthday wishes is shifting your attention to fixate on repairing relationships and friendships that have dissipated or lost their luster over the past few months. The reason you’re wanting to reconnect with others is that you feel at fault for the demise of these alignments. Venus’s entrance into Capricorn on November 5 is a great time to open up the lines of communication and apologize to ensure you’re in good standing during November 19’s eclipse.

What should the rest of us be looking out for?

Scorpio Season is the spookiest, most chilling and thrilling time of the year due to all the intense Scorpio energy that’s coming our way.

Here are some key dates to look out for:

• The Sun enters Scorpio on October 23, igniting our intuition, emotions, and drive to achieve the impossible. Transformation and change is in the air, so move toward personal growth if you can. 
• Action planet Mars moves into Scorpio on October 30, pushing us to assert our energy toward our desires. 
• The New Moon in Scorpio occurs on November 4 and ignites passions.
• Mercury dives into Scorpio on November 5, allowing us to lean into our intuition and to embrace our gut feelings. 
• Venus dances into Capricorn on November 5, urging us to focus on taking our finances and relationships seriously. 
• The lunar eclipse in Taurus occurs on November 19. This will give us the strength to move towards what we love! 

Wondering which artists are Scorpios? Here are 10 of art history’s best.

Pablo Picasso: October 25, 1881

Pablo Picasso in his Paris studio. Photo: Bettmann / Contributor, courtesy of Getty Images

Roy Lichtenstein: October 27, 1923

Roy Lichtenstein in his New York studio in 1968. Courtesy of Jack Mitchell/Getty Images.

Francis Bacon: October 28, 1909

Artist Francis Bacon at the Tate Gallery in London. 21/05/1985. Photograph. (Photo by Votava/Imagno/Getty Images)

Bob Ross: October 29, 1942

Bob Ross as seen in Bob Ross: Happy Accidents, Betrayal & Greed. Courtesy of Netflix © 2021.

Katsushika Hokusai: October 31, 1760

Hokusai, Self-portrait at the age of eighty-three (circa 1840s).

Lois Mailou Jones: November 3, 1905

Lois Mailou Jones with the painting Mob Victim. Photograph by Carol Guzy TWP. Courtesy of Getty Images.

Angelica Kauffman: November 5, 1807 

Angelica Kauffman, Self-portrait, ca. 1770-1775; © National Portrait Gallery, London

Auguste Rodin: November 12, 1840

Auguste Rodin (1840-1917), posing in front of his sculpture Monument a Sarmiento. Photo by adoc-photos/Corbis via Getty Images.

Claude Monet: November 14, 1840

Claude Monet, 1899. Photograph by Nadar, courtesy of Bettmann / Contributor / Getty Images

Georgia O’Keeffe: November 15, 1887

Artist Georgia O’Keeffe stands next to her painting Horse Skull With White Rose. Credit: Bettmann/ Contributor, Getty Images