Astrology's Twelve Great Myths: The Twisted Archetypes of a Dominator Culture

By Julie Simmons

Astrology’s Twelve Great Myths explores the meaning of the twelve great signs of the zodiac through related myths and fairytales of western culture. The original idea is that in some way the evolution of culture had perverted the true meanings of the original archetypes into, in many cases, the opposite of what they truly are. In the fact the stories we tell and the way we tell those stories is always a true reflection of the cultural moment. That is why they are so powerful. Nevertheless, I sincerely hope that dominator mentality has had it’s day and that contemplating the signs through the myths and fairy tales I have chosen here will offer insights which might help us imagine how the chaos of our times might bring us new perspectives on our journey as humans through time.
Archetypes are given meaning by the cultural lens through which they are seen. They naturally transform through time and with experience for individuals as well as cultural groups although their essential nature never changes. Times of great crises such as these are also opportunities for great change.
As you read this ask yourself how it fits, what it means for you. Truly if change is what is required, it must begin within each of us as individuals.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Julie Simmons
• Release date: Oct 16, 2012
• ISBN: 9781301411900

Julie Simmons

It all started on a day in the mid 70’s when I realized that I would never be successful in this world doing what I was supposed to do so I might as well do what I want to do. The first thing to come to mind was astrology. For the next few years I studied and practiced and turned myself into an astrologer. Although I didn’t realize it at the time it is clear to me from the perspective of being an astrologer for the last 3+ decades that my formal education (a BA in English from William Smith College) was the perfect training for an astrologer. Not that my professors would have agreed! In 1978 I left New York and moved to Portland, Oregon where I continued my astrological studies and became a registered massage therapist. For the next 7 years I practiced both astrology and massage but eventually my love for astrology won out over my life as a masseuse. In 1981, I came to visit in Toronto and have lived here ever since. In the early ‘80’s I was Jade Athena With Today’s Astrological Insights! on Q107 on the noon hour show. In 1987 I wrote a book called Passion Signs (soon to be re-released in ebook format). In 1987 I also became a mother — an experience that has truly been one of my best teachings — astrology in action! From the early ‘90’s for about 15 years I was the astrologer for Flare Magazine. I currently write a monthly astrology column for Vitality Magazine (a Toronto based alternative publication). I used to call myself Jollean Shaffer but am now using my real name. I teach classes and workshops as well as public speaking and at times you can find me as the local oracle at fund-raisers. I see astrology as a great navigational tool in a world that seems rich in information but poor in meaning. I can’t say I know the meaning of life but it seems to me that we come to this planet to awaken consciousness rather than to be comfortable. (Although I like comfort!) Astrology is not a religion. It doesn’t tell me what to think. Its rich imagery and ancient tradition keep me mindful of the need to wake up and give me suggestions as to how I might do that. I am truly blessed to be able to share this with my clients and students.

Book preview

Astrology’s Twelve Great Myths:

The Twisted Archetypes of a Dominator Culture

By Julie Simmons

www.juliesimmons.ca

Copyright 2012 Julie Simmons

Smashwords edition

Table of Contents:

1. Introduction

2. Chapter One: Aries

3. Chapter Two: Taurus

4. Chapter Three: Gemini

5. Chapter Four: Cancer

6. Chapter Five: Leo

7. Chapter Six: Virgo

8. Chapter Seven: Libra

9. Chapter Eight: Scorpio

10. Chapter Nine: Sagittarius

11. Chapter Ten: Capricorn

12. Chapter Eleven: Aquarius

13. Chapter Twelve: Pisces

14. Chapter Thirteen: The Human Journey Through the Signs

Introduction:

Astrology’s Twelve Great Myths was originally a newsletter called The Divine Design published in 1998. It explores the meaning of the twelve great signs of the zodiac through related myths and fairytales of western culture. Thanks to the wonders of modern technology it is now an EBook. The original idea was that in some way the evolution of culture had perverted the true meanings of the original archetypes into, in many cases, the opposite of what they truly are. Now, all these years later I see a bit of irony in the fact that the stories we tell and the way we tell those stories is always a true reflection of the cultural moment. That is why they are so powerful. Nevertheless, I sincerely hope that dominator mentality has had it’s day and that contemplating the signs through the myths and fairy tales I have chosen here will offer insights and to possibly help us imagine how the chaos of our times might bring us to a new perspective for our journey as humans through time.

Archetypes are given meaning by the cultural lens through which they are seen. They naturally transform through time and with experience for individuals as well as cultural groups although their essential nature never changes. This ebook is a bit of a hobbyhorse for me in understandable reaction to the mess that dominator culture seems to have made of the world. Things have not really improved since 1998 and the connection between astrology’s 12 great signs and myth and fairy tale is still fascinating. Times of great crises such as these are also opportunities for great change.

As you read this ask yourself how it fits, what it means for you. Truly if change is what is required, it must begin within each of us as individuals. As a counselling astrologer with many years of experience let me also mention that I have often used the stories in this book to clarify the meaning of a sign in sessions with my clients. It has always been insightful. When a Virgo sees herself as an anxious bitch she locks herself into a cultural stereotype. When she understands the plight of the high priestess in a dominator culture and the violation that comes with it, it’s another story.

The symbolic language of astrology is probably as old as the first awareness that the cycle of the Moon matched the cycle of a woman. ‘As above, so below’ is the ancient adage. Despite the 20th century inclination to deny this, Astrology is a thread that runs through the tapestry of the ages.

Astrology is an amazing tool which enables us to tell the story of our lives in a meaningful context. This often leads to healing and self awareness. Although times of chaos, such as the present era, are frightening eventually they lead to new levels of order. We may fear change unlike in times of stability but times of great change offer an opportunity to alter our understanding and beliefs and thereby create new ways of living more in harmony with our true nature. Astrology’s Twelve Great Myths was originally offered in the spirit of standing some of our cultural assumptions on their heads in an attempt to awaken an awareness which could inspire us to re-member who we really are. As the dominator culture crumbles we face many difficult situations. Understanding who we are as individuals in relation to archetypal patterns is something that can help us act in ways that make a world that is liveable for all people, not just for some.

Chapter One: Aries

Conjuring the Aries story was a challenge because I was moving house at the same time as I was writing. Somewhere into the second day of unpacking I realized that I had just had the essential birth experience. Aires was everywhere in my life. Mars had pushed me out of the womb.

The Golden Fleece: A Story of Jason and Medea

Jason was one of many heroes raised by Chiron, the wise centaur. Jason’s father, Aeson, was the rightful heir to the throne of Iolcus. He feared that his half-brother, Pelias, who had usurped the throne from him, would kill Jason. So he brought Jason to Chiron’s cave for safety. When Jason was grown, he headed for Iolcus to reclaim his father’s throne.

Hera, the Queen of Heaven, saw Jason as he traveled and was taken by his fine looks. She decided to test his mettle. She turned herself into an old crone and stood, seemingly helpless, on one bank, of a muddy river to which Jason came. No one but Jason offered to help her cross the river. As he carried her across, she became heavier and heavier. His feet sank in the mud, and he lost one of his sandals — but he persisted in his task. When they reached the other side, the old crone revealed herself as the goddess Hera. Because of his good deed, she promised to stand by him and help him win back the throne. She had a grudge against Pelias because he had once forgotten to make an offering to her when he was honouring the gods.

When Jason arrived in Iolcus, Pelias was upset: there had been a prophecy that a young man with only one sandal would be his undoing. He hid his dismay, however, and pretended to welcome his nephew with feasting and flattery. When Jason asked for his father’s throne back, Pelias said that Jason must prove himself worthy to be a king. He must go the kingdom of Colchis, at the shores of the Black Sea, and get the Golden Fleece that shone as brightly as the sun. Pelias said that he would accept the fleece in trade for the throne.

There are different stories about the origin of the fleece. The most common one is that it was once the coat of a flying ram that was sent to rescue a young prince from his awful stepmother. She wanted to sacrifice the prince when the crops failed. Zeus, who apparently abhorred human sacrifice (although his own history shows that he had no similar problem when it came to rape which is another kind of human sacrifice) sent the ram. As the king was about to kill his son, the ram swooped down and flew off with the prince. They came to Colchis. The King of Colchis, impressed with this arrival, offered his daughter to the prince and sacrificed the ram to show gratitude to Zeus. The ram’s fleece became powerful protection for the kingdom.

King Pelias was certain that Jason would never get that fleece. It was guarded by a dragon that never slept — and certainly Aeëtes, the King of Colchis, wouldn’t let it go. But Pelias didn’t know that Jason would have Hera’s help.

Jason asked Pelias for timber to build a ship, the Argo. This ship was the strongest ship ever to sail the sea. Hera convinced Athena, goddess of justice and wisdom, to place a piece of sacred oak in its prow that would warn the heroes when danger was near.

Next, Jason gathered the greatest heroes and heroines, Greece had to offer. The impressive list included Hercules, the strongest man who ever lived; Orpheus, the Tracian poet who played his lyre to keep time for the rowing, and Atalanta of Calydon, the virgin huntress. Dubbing themselves the Argonauts, the group set sail.

After many adventures, the Argonauts arrived in Colchis. Aeëtes, the king, was very inhospitable – in fact, he usually killed foreigners who came to his country. But Jason arrived with three of Aeëtes’ grandsons, whom he had rescued. Aeëtes’ favourite grandson informed the king that Jason had come for the Golden Fleece in accordance with an oracle. The Argonauts were willing, of course, to offer their services to Aeëtes in exchange. Aeëtes wasn’t swayed: he threatened to cut out their tongues and cut off their hands if they didn’t leave. Jason responded so calmly and politely to these threats that Aeëtes felt somewhat shamed and proceeded to say that they could have the fleece if Jason could harness Aeëtes’ fire-breathing bulls, plough a field that belonged to Ares, and sow it with serpents’ teeth given to Aeëtes by Athena.

Like Pelias, Aeëtes didn’t know that Hera was on Jason’s side. Hera knew that Medea, Aeëtes’ daughter, could help Jason. Medea was a young sorceress, a priestess of Hecate, and her magic was very strong. Hera convinced Aphrodite, goddess of love and beauty, to get Eros, her son, to shoot an arrow into Medea’s heart so that Medea would fall in love with Jason. After that, there was nothing that Medea wouldn’t do to help Jason — even if doing so meant defying her father. When she told him that she was going to help him he swore by all the gods of Olympus to make her his queen and keep faith with her forever. With Hecate’s help, Medea made a magic potion that would protect Jason so that he could harness the bulls. Medea was happy.

The next day Jason ploughed the field and sowed the seeds. But up sprang a band of warriors. Jason cleverly threw a rock into their midst, and the warriors fought each other until they were all dead.

Thus, Jason had kept his end of the bargain. But King Aeëtes planned to renege on their deal: he intended to seize the Argo and kill everyone aboard at daybreak. Medea learned of this and warned Jason. Knowing that time was of the essence, Medea and Jason went to the dragon’s lair in the dark of night. Medea used her magic to soothe the beast, putting it to sleep so that Jason could get the Golden Fleece. They returned to the Argo and set sail before dawn.

Aeëtes sent his son, Apsyrtus off on a ship in pursuit of the Argo. Some say that Medea killed her half-brother by cutting him into pieces and scattering them in the water, so that her father’s ship would have to stop to pick up the pieces and the Argo could get away. Other accounts say that Medea tricked her brother into meeting her on an island by claiming that she had been abducted. When he came to rescue her, Jason killed him, drinking some of his blood to keep his ghost from following them. In any case, the gods were horrified that Medea and Jason had killed her own flesh and blood. To atone for this heinous act, the gods decreed that the pair would need to get the great sorceress Circe to purify them of their sin or they would not be allowed to complete their journey. Circe was Medea’s aunt, so although she too was horrified at Medea’s crime she consented to make an offering to Zeus on their behalf. The offering was accepted, and the Argonauts headed off back toward Greece.

After many more adventures en route, they returned to Iolcus, triumphant — only to discover that in their absence, King Pelias had killed Jason’s father, and the rest of his family. Distraught, Jason asked Medea to help him avenge his family’s death. Medea went ashore alone disguised as an old woman, calling out that Artemis had come to bring good fortune to Iolcus. The citizens were amazed and excited to be visited by such a revered figure. She convinced Pelias’ daughters that they could make their father young again if they put him in a pot of boiling water with her special herbs. With the help of some sleight of hand, she demonstrated her supposed power by making an old ram appear young again. Pelias’ daughters, taken in by the illusion, boiled their father to death.

Pelias’ son banished Jason and Medea from Iolcus, and they went to Corinth where they lived together prosperously for ten years. Some stories say that they had two children; others maintain that they had fourteen — seven girls and seven boys. Eventually, Jason fell out of love with Medea and wanted to improve his social standing. His eye fell on the princess of Corinth, Glauca, whom he asked to marry him. He paid no attention to the oath he had sworn when Medea first agreed to help him. Medea sent a robe to Jason’s bride as a gift: When Glauca put on the robe, she burned to death, along with all the guests at her wedding. Jason managed to escape the same fate by jumping out a window.

The most familiar version of the story holds that the enraged Medea, not yet satisfied that she had made Jason suffer enough, then killed their children and rode off in a carriage drawn by two winged dragons. Robert Graves offers an alternative interpretation. In his account, Zeus fell in love with Medea because he admired her indomitable spirit. Because she refused his advances, a grateful Hera offered to make Medea’s children immortal if Medea would just lay them on the altar in Hera’s temple. Medea did so but when she left, the Corinthians — still incensed over Medea’s slaying of Glauca and the wedding guests, stoned the children to death. Medea never died, but became an immortal and reigned in the Elysian fields, where some say that she, rather than Helen, married Achilles {Robert Graves, The Greek Myths: 2 [Penguin, 1955 & 1960] p.257}

Jason was quite miserable: because, he had broken his oath, he had lost Hera’s favour along with his friends, his luck, and his good looks. One day, in his desolation, he sat down by the Argo and the sacred piece of oak that Athena had placed in the prow broke off, fell on him, and killed him.

Interpreting the Myth

The story of the Golden Fleece is an appropriate choice for Aries for two reasons. First, the fleece belongs to a ram, and the ram is the symbol for Aries. Second, the tale is heroic and Aries is the sign of the hero. Hercules, the archetypal hero, was one of the Argonauts. Apparently many of the adventures and challenges commonly attributed to Hercules have also been credited as Jason’s. Clearly we are dealing with the hero archetype.

The heroic quality of Aries is often portrayed as masculine. Traditional stories have depicted only males as slayers of dragons, rescuers of maidens, and possessed of the ability to overthrow the established order. But a woman with Aries in her chart is no less feminine than one with no Aries, except from the perspective of the gender stereotypes which our culture perpetuates. Medea’s involvement adds a feminine side to the story. There are two heroes in this story: Jason and Medea. Herein we find a core issues of Aries. What