The Planets as Feminine Archetypes The Rediscovery of the Goddess in
Astrology.
By Sophia
Did you ever stop to think that of the 9 planets
(and the Sun) that we use in astrology, only TWO of them are considered
feminine?! Why is that?
Astrology is thousands of years old, at least six by
archeological evidence. It is definitely true it was founded by Pagan,
goddess worshiping cultures and it virtually has no connection to
Judeo-Christianity, except in the last thousand years or so. Those
faiths, Judiasm and Christianity which were essentially
patriarchal, transformed the concepts of the divine planets from
worship of the old gods and goddess in their form of star gods
and goddess.into a male-oriented science. Of course the planets became
men!
The fact that I am being given the opportunity
to teach astrology classes again, this gives me a chance to reexamine
ideas about astrology that every one holds without thinking twice about
them. Doing research about them and thinking careful about the subject
I find that many of the elements of astrology, specifically about the
plants which were in fact feminine in the ancient world, have been
either neuter or changed to masculine. This should come as no
surprise to most women who have studied history. Let‘s look at some of
the planets and ideas and explore what they mean in terms of feminine
issues. Let‘s start with the furthest planet, Pluto.
Pluto of course is the god of the underworld and as
the furthest out planet it is deemed, cold and in hospitable. It is the
hard to reach planet the one that is so slow moving that it effects a
generation when it changes signs. In fact Pluto is the planet of
transformation and its, effects are long lasting and very intense.
Pluto the God became enamored with Persephone the young daughter
goddess of the mother goddess Demeter, and pulled her into the
underworld and according to myths reigns six months of the year, and
the earth becomes cold and barren until she comes back out again in the
spring and the earth then blooms and becomes fertile again. In fact the
power of Pluto, the planet that is the transformation from darkness of
the underworld to the light of the earth in spring, could not exit
without the feminine element Persephone and this is something that
should be thought about, when talking about the element of Pluto.
Persophone as Queen of the Dead empowered Pluto gave him the power of
life that is so important to be the lord of death. Without life, death
and survival no meaning.
Now Neptune (Poisidon) was god of the ocean
and seas. Neptune is also seen as muted change, also illusional like
water, you can never tell how deep it (or he/she) is. Neptune gives you
that insight. It is the planet of dreams and illusions, Neptune is very
visionary, but also being water emotions it can run high tide or simple
ebb away. Most of these ideas were long connected to the Goddess of the
ocean before Nepture appeared. She who was known as Tiamat the old
middle east or the great abyss. Isis was also invoked as the goddess of
the sea and in fact her traditional robes were blue. Neptune seems
lacking when we look at it we “see” and think about those qualities
that are deeply feminine in origin. The psychic ability, the abilities
of inspiration of deep, deep dream work. These are feminine qualities
they are not masculine qualities at all.
Now lets take a look at Uranus, another interesting
ancient Greek Gods. Yet right off, the game is over. Uranust the God
actually translates as Ur-Ana, Queen of winds, Queen of the Mountains!
Uranus is the symbol of the sky, the first sky God and we can see
Uranus as the bolt out of the blue. Uranus take you by surprise
with quick insight, and the in depth highly unusually way that
this energy is. Uranus sees a different side to everything and the
solutions are usually very unorthodox. The sky God in fact in
most ancient cultures was the Goddess. In Egypt, Nuit or the Goddess
who was filled with stars would have been an example. Isis is another
star Mother in ancient Egypt and we can also talk about Ishtar, the
great middle eastern Goddess, who was also called Inanna.
She was the Goddess of the heavens, the goddess of the sky who
bent down to bestow her power on the earth. This sudden bolt,
sudden power, is also known as Shakti or great explosion of Energy that
suddenly zaps or suddenly transforms everything is the product of women
as well.
Saturn is the most deceptive in terms
of being identified as a “male” form. Saturn has been venerated
as a earthy restrictive, male, daddy figure. It is usually seen
as negative. It can hold you back or make you do things over again. In
fact Saturn hides behind an interesting veil, the veil of the dark
goddess. We can call her Kali or we can call her black Isis , or
the virgin of Guadalupe. She is in fact the black mother Saturn, more
of veil of the vast feminine energy. It is in fact the Goddess of
Death, her symbol a scyth, the Goddess of solidity of the black earth.
We can see that in human relations we can see this when we do charts
the relationship of the father. Women who have passed their
menopause can often be seen as having a strong saturnian influence,
which is not at all negative. The feminine energy Saturn is seen as
understanding piercing the mysterious creating deep wisdom.
Jupiter is seen as a planet that is firmly
visualized as male energy, but why? Jupiter‘s themes of wealth, luck,
optimism, abundance, plenty and of prosperity seem more female!.
Interesting enough a lot of these traits taken over by Zesus, were
originally attributed to his wife Hera. They became “married“ in fact
when the cult of Zesus stormed through the area of where the cult of
Hera was strong. We can see that over three thousand years ago, or more
that the concept of the Goddess was replaced by male icons. Like the
great sky mothers Nuit and Inanna, and Neith were replaced by sky
fathers. These goddesses and others have all been “Jupiter” in their
cultures. We can search thoughtout many mythologies and find the powers
of Jupiter are not simple male in essencethey are often attributed to
women. For women who make and hold down the home or go out and bring
home the money.
Mars, the god of war. Many of us look at war as a
male problem. Aggressiveness, power, energy , are often lumped into
with Mars. They are seen as simply male. This is not always so. Yes, of
course Mars in its understandable form is very masculine and very yang.
Even its symbol is very phallic, yet in ancient times the symbol of
Mars did not simple refer to the red of war, the red of anger, the red
of masculine energy. One of the earliest concepts of Mars was of
menstrual blood, and the power of menstruation in women. We need to
think about that in our terms of our energy and power as women. In fact
we should consider that this is the primal or original martial energy.
Not war or anger, but menstruation, casting off the old or renewing the
energy and strength we feel at that time and it should be
channeled to constructive ways. The pain of growth. We should look at
our charts with that in mind that this maybe an aspect of ourselves to
channel our energy. If we look at Mars as the imagine of shatki or
energy we see that women can transform their entire chart.
Venus is the planet of Love sensualism, and
sexuality. Venus is also connected with the power of fire as well.
Strange looking through these old books of astrology that Venus would
be fire. Now that does not seem to make a whole lot of sense. In fact
going back through history and looking at the power of Venus it is easy
to see why Venus would be connected with some of these things.
Isis, as passion was called the “Red Queen.” Venus also, called
Aphrodite, is connected to water, roses , love , sexuality
, sensualism, and exorcism. This is very powerful seduction very
outward, not at all passive and coquettish like the Judaic-Christian
view of Venus. Look at some of our images of Venus from the middle ages
and the renaissance. The classical passive voluptuous feminine. As the
goddess Ishtar, she was called the morning sun. It was Ishtar who in
many ways controled the fate of the kings. Before that she was
called Inanna the keeper of the heavens and underworld.
In ancient times Venus is the goddess as the one in control, who
enters the underworld seeking the answers to life and death. For the
sake of her male lover it is she that makes the decisions and uses the
energy and the power of love. The active use of exoticism or libido is
extremely important. In todays world we know very well that sexuality
is also a power that women have as well as men. This is a power that
can be used like in the ancient Greek play Lyssestrata where the women
use their sexual powers from having their men go off to battle to fight
in a war. The possibilities of taking control of that image and using
for our own ends are endless. Mercury
was always seen as a male image, the god of commerce. Teaching, Writing
, Intellect, communications., and sales. We have been brained washed
for years into believing that this is a male aspect. Mercury the god
with the winged feet and all that. In fact in ancient cultures this was
attributed to more of a female energy. Athena covers most of the same
bases as Mercury as far as astrological meaning goes and there are many
examples like the Hindu goddess Saresvati who is the goddess of
writing, poetry, intellectual pursuit, of trade. In Japan we have the
goddess Benten who also is the goddess of writing, poetry and art. In
fact why the planet Mercury would be consider only male is short
sighted. In many cultures around the world it is either the women who
handle the trade who barter and make the necessary connections to keep
things moving. It is women who traditionally have been the
counters, the storers, who keep the myths, legends alive.
The Moon has always been seen as feminine, the
mother, the dreamer, the nurturer, and emotions. Like our emotion the
ebbs and flows has so much to do with how we feel. How others
feel about us. There is nothing wrong with connecting this with
our feminine energy. It should be noted also that it is not strictly
feminine to give equally due to the other side there are also many moon
gods Konshu the Egyptian god and Shin the Summeran god. These aspects
of the connection with women coming between the moon cycles the
unconscious that men should embraced as their own dreams, and
they are starting to more and more, but Women need to help them
with this Especially if we are giving Astrology readings!
The last astrological “planet“ is the Sun, the Sun
is the center of the chart in many ways. When someone asks you what
sign you are this is what they mean. Your sun sign donates your
personality and how you act, the Sun is the self that helps you with
who you are. In ancient cultures the sun again was often female and not
male as we have been programmed. Why is it that we see the image of the
Sun with a male face? Sun gods, Apollo and all of that bunch, are
always celebrated Yet The Sun Goddess is not uncommon in the world.
Hathor was the Egyptian sun goddess and Amaterasu still is worshipped
in Japan where today the royal family still says they are a direct
descendents from her.
In conclusion we can see that the planets and the
attributions that are included are originally Goddesses. It is
important to challenge the way we have been taught about the myths and
legend of astrology, to look at it in a different light. It is a same
that we have let patriarchal cultures slowly but surely take over and
change the archetype of the planets. It is time that we look at this
and thinking about am I unconscious thinking about or carrying around
with me a lot of male baggage that does not need to go along with it.
Remember that words have power and labels have even more. They carry
with them thousands of years and history not to mention the power and
energy they carry subconsciously. This is important when having your
charts done or using astrology in any way. Think about the feminine
aspects of the so called “male“ planets. You then will have a
much more balanced and deeper understandingof planets and of yourself.
