Your reputation precedes you, Scorpio, and your place in the world at large continues to evolve in 2017. There’s a shift in how you’re perceived by others. Eclipses in your Sector of Earned Status bring endings and new beginnings in and to your career. It’s not as scary as it sounds, Scorp! You can’t move up if you’re locked in where you are. Naturally, this is not the only area of your life that’s affected, but it may be the most obvious. The good news for you is that conditions improve radically for Scorpio between the year’s beginning and it’s end.

No doubt your New Year’s Resolutions include taking better care of yourself, primarily by getting more exercise. Forgive yourself if you take an immediate three week hiatus from your resolution. Your cosmic kick in the butt does not come until January 23, but when it does, you respond in spades. Motivation is off the charts. Good habits started now will last at least two years. Your intensity pays off, as long as you don’t overdo it, with increased health and vitality. You want to feel strong, and regular sweat-inducing workouts are the way to go. Just do it!

A situation develops at the workplace during the last week of February which threatens to destabilize your carefully laid plans. It’s a small but effective trigger which creates a huge response and a change of policy, or one of those cases where one person’s actions ruin it for everyone else. You’re beyond angry. In fact, the pool of rage this taps into surprises even you.

There’s only so much of you to go around, and you’re giving it pretty much your all at work. With so much of your attention focused on seemingly overwhelming issues there, other areas of your life are neglected. Underfunded, as it were. As the year progresses, this dissonance gets more and more noticeable. The push for outer resources and recognition is robbing you of your inner sanctity. Despite giving your best efforts everywhere, you’re not really being seen anywhere. Others may even take credit (or try to!) for your ideas or work, particularly the first week of April. Your response is understandable outrage and dogged attempts to set the record straight. These effects are most intense in March and April, accompanied by possible reversals, and again in August and September. Remember, it gets better soon!

Your summer travel plans, whether short- or long-distance, are disrupted due to circumstances beyond your control but aggravated at your level, although not necessarily by you. Strongly held beliefs conflict, and in-your-face, emotionally laden disputes or arguments are indicated. Threats are perceived where none exist, and responded to with knee-jerk defensiveness. With all your personal power, you have the ability to escalate the situation, or to separate and defuse. Others follow your lead, which is why Scorpio must consciously take the high road.

Scorpio has chronic security concerns, so you feel better off if you’ve got an emergency fund safely tucked away somewhere. As in, no one else knows about it. The likelihood is good that you’ll even be able to augment this fund in 2017. If you are partnered, the way you’ve informed your beloved of this treasure says a lot about you and the state of the relationship. If he or she is in the know and has a key to the safe deposit box, that’s a good sign. Scorpio takes great care of its most important possessions. If, however, your secret stash is hidden from them and kept solely for your own clandestine purposes, that’s another story altogether. This speaks to an imbalance of power, a manipulation through money, or questionable integrity. You’re just as likely to be on the receiving end of such behavior as to conduct yourself that way.

The tide begins to shift back in your direction by the end of September. On October 10, you enter a special one-year period when Jupiter, the “Santa Claus” of the solar system, enters your own zodiac sign of Scorpio. This only happens once every twelve years, so it is something to appreciate. Known to bring good fortune and opportunity, Jupiter also provides a protective cushion for you all the way until November 2018. It’s easy to get carried away and expect way too much from Jupiter, but in truth you can best use this energy to increase your own sense of worth, energy and value. Given Scorpio’s tendency to fixate and obsess, Jupiter provides an alternative, expansive way to see things. Poke your head out and take in the vast expanse of this brave new world!

As 2017 draws to a close, you’re given one more boost of energy on December 9 which catapults you through the rest of the year. Your timing improves, and you feel more independent and personally empowered than you have all year. Those long-term ambitions don’t seem quite so distant now, and you end the year with new resolve and inner strength.

By Linea Van Horn