Aurigemma, Luigi. Le signe zodiacal du scorpion dans les traditions occidentales de l'antiquité gréco-latine à la renaissance. Edition Mouton, Paris,  La Haye, 1976.

Astrology is a controversial subject which generally has been relegated to the realm of the occult: the cultural significance of psychological statements about human motivations and attitudes are largely overlooked, if not discredited. This cultural sphere, which has been rejected as unscientific, is just what attracts the attention of Dr Aurigemma. He refrains from verifying astrological statements, but does try to approach the underlying psychological reality. In his symbolic approach he is inspired mainly by the work of C. G. Jung, to whom he feels deeply indebted. As a practising analyst in Paris, member of the Société Française de Psychologic Analytique and as a graduate from the C. G. Jung Institute, Dr Aurigemma is very well qualified for this task.

The author limits his historical inquiry to the zodiacal sign of Scorpio as well as to the 2,000-year period extending from antiquity up to the Renaissance. His research work covers two aspects: the astrological images along with their significations and their connections with the actual spirit of the time.

The abundance of original source material is examined with admirable care and responsibility, resulting in a sagacious choice of the essential meaning. A further value of this book consists in the extensive bibliography and list of iconographic documents. On the one hand the author disentangles the nucleus of astrological significance outliving the centuries, while on the other hand, he extracts the interdependence between the astrological tradition and the collective views of the time. Thus Dr Aurigemma perceives a permanent nucleus of astrological symbols in the sign of Scorpio which points to an energetic psychical charge as well as to an increased tension of opposites. These symbolic expressions show not only a tendency to sudden and destructive, even fatal events, but they also can bear the germ of a creative renewal of the collective values, i.e. of collective consciousness. The uncovering of the fact that