…and after nearly four long months, we bid a fond adieu to Venus in Scorpio.
In the dying days of this long transit, I happened to catch a couple of extremely Venus in Scorpio-evocative things on cable. One was “Cousin Bette,” starring Jessica Lange, a film adaptation of the novel by Balzac, one of those literary titans whose name I recognize but whose work I’ve given a wide berth. (Don’t let my ability to write a coherent sentence fool you; I truly read nothing but crap. I majored in communication, after all, not literature.)
Anyway, the gist of the story (which seems to have taken massive liberties with the novel in ways that, coincidentally, flatter the Oscar-winning actress playing the title role) is that poor spinster Bette has been overlooked her entire life in favor of her sister. When the sister dies, Bette believes she’ll inherit the sister’s husband, home, and essentially her life. No dice. Even the literally starving artist with whom Bette falls in love when he creeps into her bedroom nights to steal cheese out of her mousetraps (sadly for Bette, that is not a euphemism) ends up falling in love with her lovely young niece. Having pretty much had her fill of being disrespected and ignored, Bette quietly orchestrates the destruction of all of these goofballs practically without breaking a sweat.
For me, this is where the story really hits its stride. Reading a synopsis of the novel, it was clear Bette was intended to be a cautionary figure of pure malice and evil. But between you and me? At least as depicted in the film, I thought she completely kicked ass. Look, Ive got Venus in cuddly Cancer, but it’s in the eighth house and sextile Pluto; and if I were in Bette’s place the only difference between us would be that I’d have a much harder time remaining so icy calm while engineering such devastation. I would be unable to restrain myself from cackling with glee.
I realize this makes me, in a very real sense, a rather bad person.
But not all bad – and neither was Bette. She was capable of deep, albeit obsessive love. And in keeping with Scorpio’s transformational side, she did bring her lover back from the brink of death. For which he thanked her by putting the moves on her niece. Well I mean, really.
The story ends with Bette triumphant, but not happy. That’s the sad part about vengeance. Yesterday, on the last day of Venus in Scorpio, I watched an HBO documentary presentation of Carrie Fisher’s darkly funny one-woman show, “Wishful Drinking.” Fisher closed with several observations including this gem: “Resentment is like drinking poison and waiting for the other person to die.” Isn’t it the truth, though? For those who are unsuccessful at transcending Scorpio’s vengeful dark side, it is not enough simply to win; others must fail, and suffer as we’ve suffered. But inflicting pain has a way of hurting us almost as much as the other person.
Do you have a Scorpionic side? What would you do if your mousetrap-robbing lover took up with your niece?
