So I guess it’s no suprise that ever since it became recognised as a genre, Gothic has been associated with the sign of Scorpio. And on the surface, it makes sense. The Gothic genre is all about sex-or the promise of sex. It deals with strange and supernatural goings-on as if they are every day occurences. And there is usually some dark and tragic secret that the protagonist must uncover in order to escape this threatening underworld and return things to some semblance of normality.
And like Scorpio, the Gothic genre knows how to constantly reinvent itself in order to stay relevant. The very first “gothic” novel was written by Horace Walpole back in the 1760’s and there has been almost a constant stream of gothic novels since then. And although gothic has spawned other genres such as horror, fantasy and the supernatural, the basic premise and conventions of the gothic genre has essentially remained the same.
The amount of writers with Scorpio or the 8th house prominent in their charts is a testament to how much the themes associated with gothic resonates with these people. Bram Stoker, Emily and Charlotte Bronte, Oscar Wilde, Anne Rice- to name but five.
But as I was studying the charts of these writers, I came across a pattern that at first seemed rather odd, but on second thought started to make sense.
I found that most of these writers and others who wrote horror or supernatural had Sagittarius strong in their chart. Now, in terms of personality, Sagittarians are about as different to Scorpios as you can get. They are always described as being outgoing, bubbly, straightforward- not the kind of people you think would be attracted to reading or watching anything too dark or grisly. And yet, there is a shadow side to those with prominent placements in Sagittarius that is rarely mentioned. We know that the Archers are the truth-seekers of the zodiac, and that need to find out the truth at all costs, can lead them into some pretty scary places at times. Despite their happy-go-lucky appearance, they can be quite mystical and drawn to more off-beat subjects which is why they are so fascinated by the unknown. UFOs, ghosts, zombies and vampires hold a macabre fascination for them precisely because they represent something unknown about our world, and they want to find out.
Another interesting point to make is that at the time that the Gothic/supernatural genres were gaining a wide-spread audience, Pluto was in Sagittarius. This occured between 1996-2008, and when you look back, most of the popular tv shows and movies of that time had some supernatural element to them. At the time Pluto entered Sagittarius, you had shows like ‘The X Files’ and ‘Buffy The Vampire Slayer’ making a huge impact on the cultural landscape. And the vampire phenomenon continued with the spin-off to Buffy-‘Angel.’
In 2005, the first novel from ‘The Twilight Saga’ was released, with the very successful movies following soon after. It not only gave people the message that vampires were sexy, but that darkness itself was sexy. The way these books and films have influenced an entire generation of young people shows just how much we as human beings are drawn to the power and mystery of life and death which extends beyond the everyday. (Incidentally, I couldn’t find any Scorpio in Stephenie Meyer’s chart, but she does have Mercury in Sagittarius, as well as North Node conjunct Neptune here. Could this be seen as finding one’s destiny through channeling one’s writing into exploring the mysteries of life?)
Shows like ‘Supernatural,’ ‘Most Haunted,’ and ‘Ghost Hunters’ also began when Pluto was in Sagittarius. And let’s not forget the Harry Potter movies which have become darker and darker with each new film. The last two Batman movies in the franchise are virtually unrecognisable from the Batman movies of the early-mid 90’s.
Whether this fascination for all things gothic continues now that Pluto is in Capricorn remains to be seen, but it’s certainly been an interesting ride. Any thoughts?