Little Rock    Ok, you’re going to ask what planet I’ve been living on right? You’re going to claim that I’ve been permanently damaged by too many time zones, too much jet lag, and too many alternate realities in airports and the weirdly artificial environments of airplanes. You’re probably right, but somehow over all of these years as I had scratched my head, just as so many have done trying to “get” Hillary Rodham Clinton, I had never stumbled on the huge clue in front of me: her birthday. More specifically the fact that her birthday is October 26th!

You don’t get it probably. You pooh-pooh astrology don’t you? Of course you do, so do I! Why would anyone pay attention to such mess? I still believe that adamantly, but….there’s one glaring exception that has been beaten into me over many decades.

I live in a Scorpio nest. My mother is a Scorpio. My companera is a Scorpio. For goodness sakes, my daughter is a Scorpio, as well. The organizer who runs the New Orleans office of our union is a Scorpio. It goes on and on, so I have been schooled and lectured on the amazing virtues of Scorpio-ness the better part of my grown life. And, these lectures always come with a warning label bigger than any you might ever imagine would be on a cigarette pack. If you miss the warning, sometimes there are other signs of trouble. Over the years that I worked with my daughter she would give me a sign when she thought I was crossing some kind of line or another by raising two fingers on each hand and wiggling them to mimic a scorpion’s stingers in what should be the universal warning to all of the world’s clueless citizens, like myself.

Here’s the short course on Scorpios as it has come to me. They are fiercely loyal, which is a great thing, but when crossed, or when they think they might have been crossed, they will strike you down in a heartbeat.

Now that I suddenly realize that Hillary is a Scorpio, it is like a new dawn for me. No one is going to tell me that doesn’t describe her to a tee. Loyal. Secretive. When crossed, a vengeful and unrelenting warrior. These are great character traits. As I have been told repeatedly as a student in the Scorpio nest, these are in fact the best traits, and Scorpio is the best sign above all others.

I’ve learned that it is possible to live and thrive in a Scorpio world. It just takes a lot of practice, trial and error to get to this heavenly space, but it’s absolutely worth it.

And, no, you shouldn’t start believing in astrology for goodness sake, but as I have learned, you absolutely need to learn to love Scorpios. Once you embrace the Scorpio reality, Hillary is another one of their gifts. It’s their world. We all just need to learn to live in it with them.