✨ Scorpio SZN ✨

Libra season is out and it’s time for the Scorpios to do what they do best: sting.* I mean, shine — I swear! Let’s commemorate this Water sign by shouting out some authors and covetable gifts.

ENIGMATIC SCRIBES: SCORPIO AUTHORS

Scorpio is ruled by the on-again, off-again planet Pluto. Destruction, transformation, and emotional intensity are big themes for this astrological sign and we can often use those words when describing the works of the following Scorpion authors: Roland Barthes, Albert Camus, Fyodor Dostoevsky, Mary Gaitskill, Yiyun, Li, Sylvia Plath, Edward Said, Voltaire, and Evelyn Waugh.

Below are three authors I wanted to call out for being exceptional:

Martha Gellhorn - November 8, 1908:

I’m going to get this out of the way and only say it once: The woman pictured above, Martha Gellhorn, a talented author and war correspondent, was the third wife of Ernest Hemingway.** In her own words: “I was a writer before I met him and I was a writer after I left him. Why should I be merely a footnote in his life?” As such, we’re going to ignore that man and focus on Gellhorn.

In a 60 year career, Gellhorn became one of the great war correspondents of the 20th century. Below are a few highlights:

• There were 160,000 men in Normandy on D-Day. Gellhorn was the only woman present and she was not even supposed to be there. After flashing false credentials, she snuck on board a hospital barge. Once she landed, she helped as a stretcher bearer. None of the other journalists made it on land, they were all stuck in their boats at sea!

• Gellhorn was one of the few journalist present at the liberation of the Dachau concentration camp.

• After inciting a riot among Idaho’s unemployed workers, she was fired from her job and invited to live at the White House where she helped First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt write her “My Day” column in the now defunct Woman's Home Companion.

• She worked with the photojournalist Dorothea Lange to document the suffering of the 1930s.

• She covered her first war at the age of 28 and her last in her early 80s.

She once wrote, “Be advised, love passes. Work alone remains.” To read the best of Gellhorn’s work: her war pieces, check our this collection.*** In addition to her journalism, she was a renowned fiction writer. She became a literary darling in 1936 after she published The Trouble I’ve Seen, four interconnected novellas about The Great Depression. Yet, her most powerful piece of fiction is A Stricken Field. The novel covers one week of brutal oppression under the Gestapo in Prague.

Brave and prolific, Gellhorn committed suicide at the age of 89. I will be listening to the audiobook of her 1979 memoirs in the coming weeks.

Sir Muhammad Iqbal - November 9, 1877:

Born in Punjab to a Kashmiri Muslim family, Iqbal is considered Pakistan’s intellectual founder though he died ten years before Partition.

Iqbal is one of those figures from history whose mind makes you marvel. He taught Arabic in Lahore’s college while also writing the poetry that would make him famous. After he spent some time teaching, he decided to go to Europe to further his education, studying in Germany and the UK. Upon his return, he set up a law practice.

He would then shift gears and enter politics. He would hold a number of positions in the All India Muslim League. In the 1920s, ideologically separated from Congress Muslim leaders, Iqbal came to believe that Muhammad Ali Jinnah was the only hope for the party. Through the force of his conviction, and a lot of letters, Iqbal convinced Jinnah to return to the subcontinent after years of self-imposed exile in London. Considering the pivotal role Jinnah would play in the subcontinent, it is curious to consider what would have happened if Iqbal had not pressed Jinnah.

Strongly inspired by Rumi, this poet-philosopher’s finest work was his first collection of poetry: Secrets of the Self. Written in Persian, the poems explore the relationship between the self and the divine.

Lady Caroline Lamb - November 13, 1785:

This Anglo-Irish aristocrat was the niece of Georgiana Cavendish, Duchess of Devonshire and is somehow (don’t ask me how!) related to Princess Di. As a teenager, her family considered her a handful as she experimented with laudanum and was a very un-ladylike tomboy.

At the age of 19, she wed William Lamb. It was a love match though Lamb’s mother had orchestrated their meet-cute. Though they did initially enjoy domestic bliss, the couple drifted under the pressure of their son’s illness as well as Lamb’s career ambitions and ill-will from the Lamb family.

Right around her Saturn Return, she embarked in an affair with Lord Bryon. She is rumored with having described Bryon as “mad, bad, and dangerous to know.”

The duo embarked in a saucy, intense affair which would fuel both of their art. One notable scene from their relationship occurred at a ball where Lord Bryon insulted her. In response, she broke a wine glass and attempted to slit her wrists with the shards of the glass.

Her most famous work is her debut Glenarvon. The novel eviscerates Lord Bryon and mocks many of her contemporaries. The book was a financial success and Goethe liked it, though many critics did not.

THE ULTIMATE SCORPIO WISHLIST

Similar to Libra season, the below wishlist has been compiled with Scorpios in mind. However, I would gladly accept any of the below item(s) as a thoughtful, kind, and considerate gift.

• Osea Vagus Nerve Misting Spray

  • I am obsessed with the Vagus Nerve! It does so much for the body and plays a big role in the parasympathetic nervous system, helping your body to exit flight-or-fight. If you’re concerned about the nerve, there are a few things you can do to help it relax such as: singing, humming, deep breaths, etc. But, sometimes you just want to buy something frivolous, like a vagus nerve spray, to fix all of your problems.

• The Grandest Tour by Aman

  • Seven countries. Twenty-one days. One private jet. And $135k later. This experience with Aman Resorts sounds exactly like the kind of thing that would make for a great novel.

    • The Swiss hospitality company refers to this excursion as a “Grand Tour for the 21st century.”

• Rick Owens!

  • Born on November 18, this Scorpion’s design ethos is tapped into something that is transcendent and apocalyptic. With pieces that place an emphasis on cocooning and protecting the body, garments are armor. It also does not hurt that everyone always looks cool in Rick. I’m partial to the following pieces:

    • The black prong dress which is also available as an iridescent purple mini 

    • A single-shoulder tank with raw edges

    • Platform boots, with a 6.5 inch heel, to stomp all over your haters

• In addition to cloth as armor, I have cashmere on my mind as cool weather demands lush fabrications.

  • I have not tried Uniqlo’s cashmere knits but Jenny Walton gave her stamp of approval and I am tempted.

  • In the past, I have bought and loved J.Crew’s classic-fit crewneck. I am in desperate need of a new one.

  • This shrunken cable-knit is also cute.

• I don’t often wear jewelry but I might change that if I had the Jemma Wynne diamond fringe necklace. I also wouldn’t say no to the lab-grown, vintage inspired tennis necklace by Luvaj.

• Scorpios, with their pathos, are kind of a serious sign and sometimes they need to lighten up. As such, this slightly kitsch, over-the-top flower vase might be just what they need in their life.

*A quick Google research reveals Scorpion stings are painful but rarely life-threatening. Isn’t that something?
**Unfortunately, we are all gossips. This Literary Hub article has a lot of interesting details about their marriage. This article also talks about the house they shared in Cuba where she wrote two novels and a collection of short stories.
***We are not monetized!