The Scorpion represents unexpressed and repressed Love. Rather than revel in their passions and yearnings, the chaste are imprisoned by them, like a circle of fire. The Scorpion in this sense reflects the Victorian/Christian sexual repression and denial that Crowley rebelled against his entire life. The nature of the Scorpion is further explained in Chapter 163 of Liber Aleph: “Verily, O my Son, herein lieth the Danger and the Treason of thy Scorpion. For his Nature is against himself, being the deepest Ego, that is, a Being separate from the Universe; and this is the Root of the Whole Mystery of Evil. For he hath in him the Magick Power, which if he use not, he is self-poisoned, even as any Organ of the Body that refuseth its Function.”4 The chaste are beings separate from the sexual universe; they are “the Black Brothers, that cry: I am I; they that deny Love, restricting it to their own nature.” The Book of the Law has strong opinions on this matter of Love and restriction: “The word of Sin is Restriction: O man! refuse not thy wife, if she will! O Lover, if thou wilt, depart! There is no bond that can unite the divided but love: all else is a curse. Accursed! Accursed be it to the aeons! Hell.” (AL 1:41) The Scorpion stands between a lily and a lotus, plants associated with Binah and therefore Saturn. The lily takes the shape of the Greek Alpha, and Omega is drawn in light blue on the lotus. These symbols evoke the Saturnine traits of time and limitation, that which has a beginning and an end. Thus the Scorpion becomes an “emblem of ruthless destruction,” as the Love it represents is not shared or perpetuated through procreation.
