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Author
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Topic: Goddesses - cont... Mnemosyne, Ariadne, Hygieia
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vesta-sister
unregistered
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posted February 01, 2009 12:28 PM
Mnemosyne - The Soul Of Memory
'Thou fill'st from the wingèd chalice of the soul
Thy lamp, O Memory, fire-wingèd to its goal.
Dante Gabriel Rossetti
The faculty of memory was so important to the ancients that it was personified as a goddess. In Greek
cosmogony Mnemosyne was the daughter of Uranus and Gaia, a pre-Olympian goddess who
characterized Memory. Being one of the original deities Mnemosyne is the custodian of memory
before the advent of writing, literacy, books, recordings and computers. She embodies the voice of an
oral culture that communicates from the soul through stories, pictures, metaphors and body language.
Mnemosyne finds her voice through the poetry of images revealing her memoirs through a dream, a
feeling, a response, a longing or a sudden thought that darts into consciousness. Embedded in the
fragments of a song, a myth, or a fairy tale linger ancient truths that awaken the goddess. Dwelling in
the soul Mnemosyne unexpectedly arouses memory through our senses and bodily reactions.
To the ancient Greeks memory was a goddess residing in the heart. Memory was soulful, an aspect of
psyche that was creative and evocative and the ancients also saw the goddess as mother of the Muses.
Goddess culture honored her form through three phases and originally Mnemosyne was celebrated
through the Muses of meditation, memory and song. In early myth the Muses were the triune aspect of
memory who inspired poetry and song. As rational science and beliefs began to emerge the seat of
memory began to shift to the brain, aligning memory with a more logical and calculating experience
rendering Mnemosyne a passive goddess who collected and stored life's impressions. Later myth
suggested there were nine muses. Zeus visited Mnemosyne for nine nights and was the father of her
nine daughters, the Muses, the inspiration and manifestation of the soul of memory. As mistresses of
healing and prophecy the Muses inspired and taught others to contact a deeper knowing through their
imagination and creativity which guarded the wellspring of memory. As custodians of the arts each
had a sphere of influence which they inspired and animated with ancient images and recollections.
History, Music, Comedy, Tragedy, Choral Dance and Song, Lyric Poetry, Religious Dance,
Astronomy and Epic Poetry were the personifications of the ancient goddess of memory. Apollo, lord
of the rational sphere, became their guardian and leader.
Memory's daughters are the muses, the ones who inspire and enchant the soul. Through her and her
daughters we are able to engage in weaving the fragments of memory together to evoke meaning.
Mnemosyne reminds us to remember the ancient ways. The goddess of Memory is not just a passive
recorder of experience and events but a poetic and heart-rending process that inspires the
imagination. Mnemosyne re-collects the emotional experiences, feelings and impressions of our life.
She is the archive of all that we have tasted, touched, wanted, smelt and felt. Her memories are stored
in the psyche as images, symbols, feelings, impressions and instincts or become imprinted in thebody, in the adrenal or olfactory glands, the tension in the muscles, allergies and illnesses.
Mnemosyne is rhythmic and reflective, not linear, evoking dreams, images, songs that give continuity
to our life's narrative. Memory and imagination are woven together when Mnemosyne and her
daughters are aroused.
To the ancients the sacred sanctuary of Mnemosyne and the Muses was the museum. These ancient
shrines dedicated to the goddess ceded to the structures we know today as museums where we house
the great works of the imagination. On an inner level the museum is the sphere of Mnemosyne where
impressions and feelings from the past are evoked in the present situation.
In astrology Mnemosyne, the goddess, helps us remember images and impressions from previous
phases of our life in order to give meaning, context and insight into these experiences. She acts as a
loosening agent, allowing buried complexes, taboo feelings, repressed memories to breathe again to
find some place in the sunlight of consciousness. She connects passages of time together. Links can be
made back to times in the previous cycle allowing space for the process of reflection and musing.
____________________________________________
Ariadne - The Labyrinth Of The Soul
'To be always fortunate, and to pass through life with a soul that has never known sorrow, is to be
ignorant of one half of nature.'
Seneca
Daughter of the great dynasty of Knossos, Ariadne's fate was overshadowed by the curse that plagued
her family. In the guise of a great white bull, Zeus had abducted her grandmother Europa from
Phoenicia and brought her to Crete. Her mother Pasiphaë had also become enamored by a great bull.
Ariadne participated in the family fate: as Pasiphaë's daughter her lifeblood was impassioned and as
Europa's granddaughter her destiny was to abandon her ancestral home.
Poseidon cursed Ariadne's family when her father Minos refused to sacrifice his most magnificent
bull to the god. Spurned, the god aroused Pasiphaë's shameful lust for the impressive bull that became
embodied in her bull-son, the Minotaur, human from the shoulders down. Banished into the
labyrinthine blackness below the palace Ariadne's half-brother, the Minotaur, fed on sacrificial
children sent from Athens every nine years. Heroic Theseus was one of fourteen youths sent to Crete
to face death at the hands of the Minotaur.
When Theseus arrived to participate in the bull games Ariadne's passions were ignited when she saw
him for the first time. Beguiled by the handsome hero, Ariadne devised a plan for Theseus to slay the
Minotaur and return safely through the dark tunnels of the labyrinth. For her complicity Theseus
promised he would marry her and take her away to Athens. Unconscious that her fate was enmeshed
with the god Dionysus and not Theseus Ariadne set upon her course to help her lover and in turn
betray her family.
Through the dark labyrinthine tunnels Theseus crawled, quietly, mindful not to make sounds that
would waken the sleeping Minotaur. Wrapped around his wrist was a ball of yarn, tied to the pillar at
the entrance of the maze, which unravelled as he made his way through the dangerous tunnels.
Ariadne's thread was the umbilical cord that connected him to the outer world and guaranteed his
return after he killed the Minotaur. That evening Ariadne escaped with Theseus. In the dark
Mediterranean night they set sail for a victorious return to Athens. Leaving behind her father and
sacrificing her brother she surrendered to the passion that burned inside, the rapture only Aphrodite
could inspire, a similar fervor that had inflamed her mother and grandmother. The next night Ariadne
and her lover reached the island Naxos. Exhausted by traveling and fatigued from the emotional
turmoil that had preceded their escape they collapsed into a deep sleep. But as the rays of the morning
sun lit her face Ariadne awoke to discover her lover had vanished. At the edge of the shore she saw
the sails of his ship in the distance. Athena had carefully woken Theseus before dawn, setting him on
his course home without Ariadne. Abandoned, betrayed and used, Ariadne descended into her own
complex world on the shores of Naxos.
Blinded by her passions Ariadne had been complicit in her abandonment. In betraying her family to
follow her hero she had set the cycle of betrayal in motion. Projecting her heroic self onto Theseus
had left her separated from her own center. Alone Ariadne was forced to connect with her internal
world. At this threshold Ariadne experienced an epiphany of Aphrodite the goddess who ignited the
passionate fires that led to her suffering. Appearing to Ariadne the goddess revealed her true fate: she
would wed her real soul mate, the divine Dionysus. Dionysus celebrated their sacred marriage by
offering Ariadne the crown as the symbol of their intimacy and eternal union.
Ariadne's myth portrays the heart's painful journey when connection to the inner self is severed and
sacrificed to the lover. Ariadne followed her lover's course rather than her own internal labyrinthine
journey, losing her genuine direction. Using the thread, the symbolic connection to her inner core, to
serve the hero Ariadne lost contact with her own inner wisdom. Abandoned she was no longer able to
define herself exclusively through a partner; therefore a more authentic sense of self could emerge.
The painful process of confronting her naïve trust and blind faith in Theseus enabled her renewal and
redemption. In psychological terms a more divine sense of union is possible when projections onto
the other are consciously relinquished. Dionysus embodies a woman's masculine spirit enabling her
to define herself in terms of her own needs and not through someone else.
When Ariadne is prominent in the birth chart she reveals the course of the heart encouraging the
individual to acknowledge that the threads to their inner self are tenuous and must be honored in
relationship. Ariadne celebrates a more intimate connection with the heart, whether that is through a
personal relationship, a new creative endeavor or a new course of life.
In astrology Ariadne represents abandonment as an archetypal process that strips away the mind's
illusions in order to hear the calling of the true self. Confronted by the painful reality of being left the
individual is forced to relinquish their hopes and fantasies in order to awaken to the authentic path of
the heart. Ariadne embodies the soul in relationship that must first experience the painful course of the
labyrinth before a divine connection can be realized.
____________________________________________
Hygieia - The Soul Of Health
'Health, greatest of all the blessed gods, may I live with you for the rest of my life'
Hymn to Hygieia, Ariphron
In the ancient Greek sanctuaries of healing statues of Hygieia, the goddess of health, reminded the
pilgrim of the archetypal quest for wholeness and well being. Adorned with a simple garment Hygieia
was often represented as youthful, radiant and smiling, attributes that are companions of health. Either
she is holding or feeding a snake. Carrying a bowl of food or water Hygieia is generally represented
tending the sacred snakes that were housed in the temples on the sanctuaries of healing. Sometimes
she is presented holding a wreath of laurel, combining victory with health, or other plants known for
their medicinal properties, a motif that links her to an ancient tradition of woman healers, herbalists
and midwives.
Hygieia's intimate relationship with the serpent recalls her link to the ancient goddesses of healing
and nature. Earth and Mother goddesses were accompanied by serpents and the ancient belief was
that they transmitted the power of healing and prophecy. As a symbol of both regeneration and
divination serpents were sacred to the goddess who gave them sanctuary in the bosom of the earth.
Later the cult of sacred snake was adapted and serpents were included in the rituals at the sanctuaries
that offered healing and spiritual guidance. The ancients also saw the sacred serpent dwelling in the
body and when awakened it could offer illumination, vitality and the radiance of well being. As
nature became less mysterious snakes became demonized, no longer transmitting the ancient wisdom
of healing but transporting demonic and darker forces.
Hygieia nurtures and tends the snake revering its sacred power to rejuvenate and shed its old ways.
She celebrates its dark, earthy force and recognizes the divine mystery of illness and health. Like her
ancient ancestors, Hygieia honored the union between the natural and supernatural worlds knowing
that health and well being depended on bringing them both into a cohesive whole. Goddess wisdom
also knew that all of nature was animated by spirits that could be petitioned through magical and
religious ritual in an attempt to restore equilibrium and well being. Hygieia is the modern surrogate of
the ancient goddesses who honor the great mystery of healing.
To the Greeks Hygieia personified health, that mysterious amalgam of well being, wholeness and
happiness. She emerged in the classical period when the cult of Asclepius became widespread and
flourished throughout the Graeco-Roman world. Hygieia was mainly represented as the daughter of
Asclepius, the Greek god of healing, although sometimes known as his wife. Her numerous statues
equal those of Asclepius and in the cult of healing she was revered and equal to the god himself.
Interestingly the popularity of temple medicine practiced at the sanctuaries of Asclepius paralleled
the growth of rational medicine that had emerged through the teachings of Hippocrates. Hygieia stands at the crossroads of magico-religious healing rituals and contemporary medical practice, holding the
tension between the two but allowing each to co-exist. She embraces wholistic healing in every
manifestation as she is dedicated to the pursuit of health.
In the ancient community disease was portrayed as a possession by a demon, the intrusion of a spirit
or the curse of a god. In the cult of Asclepius illness was seen to be more the call of the divine, the
voice that echoed the split between body and spirit. It was the illness that called the pilgrim to the
temple to restore equilibrium and well being. At the temple the patient would prepare for an
encounter with the god often by fasting, bathing or meditating. Then the patient was escorted into the
temple where they would lie down and fall into a deep sleep wherein the god would appear to them
in a dream. Once contact with the god had been made through the inner process of the dream the
patient would be restored to health. In the healing sanctuaries of Hygieia health was evoked through
contact with the divine in the inner sanctuary of the soul. Yet synchronous with these practices were
medical doctors who suggested that disease was a natural occurrence and not of the god's making.
Hence Hygieia eventually became associated with mental health and well being as rational medical
doctors gained a stronghold on the health of the physical body.
When Hygieia is strong in a birth chart we are reminded that health is the alignment of body and soul,
heart and mind, outer success and inner peace. One at the expense of the other constellates dis-ease in
the temperament that may manifest as a physical symptom, mental anguish or emotional pain. Hygieia
is the personification of Health who calls us into the inner sanctuary of the soul to restore health and
regain equilibrium. On a divinatory level Hygieia will be chosen when the healing of a situation is
imperative. Rational healing is not the only answer. It must be accompanied by attending to the root
cause, which ultimately is the illness in the soul. In a psychological sense Hygieia is soul of health,
the urge to attend to psyche and its needs by nurturing our deeper urges and impulses. Feeding the
snakes is a metaphor for nurturing the dark and mysterious aspects of the soul and attending to the
unconscious.
In astrology Hygieia represents health that is forged through the alliance of the natural with the
supernatural, the right brain with the left, the inner world with the outer, the serpent with the soul.
Hygieia reminds us that health is an archetypal image embedded in the psyche. When the soul is not
nourished or attended it speaks through illness and disease. IP: Logged |
vesta-sister
unregistered
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posted February 01, 2009 02:41 PM
Ariadne I just looked she is conjunct my valentine and Moira
conjunct my prenatal eclipse ponit.
opp my karma. IP: Logged |
Glaucus
Knowflake Posts: 163
From: Sacramento,California
Registered: Apr 2009
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posted February 01, 2009 03:04 PM
Yep.....I read that Ariadne has to do with abandonment issuesin my chart: Ariadne in 5'03 Scorpio in 2nd
conjunct Sun in 5'20 Scorpio in 2nd
conjunct Scotti in 5'23 Scorpio in 2nd (Scott is my father's last name)
conjunct Ixion in 5'25 Scorpio in 2nd
quincunx Saturn in 5'08 Gemini R in 9th Lawrence in 20'39 Sagittarius in 4th (Lawrence is my father's first name)
semisquare Sun - '19
(that also means that Lawrence semisquares Ariadne,Scotti,and Ixion) Davida in 20'31 Sagittarius in 4th
semisquare Sun - '11
(that means that Davida is conjunct Lawrence in 4th with 8 minutes of arc, and that conjunction semisquares Ariadne,Scotti,and Ixion)
Ixion - big kuiper belt object plutino(2:3 orbital resonance with Neptune),potential dwarf planet
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ixion http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/28978_Ixion Positive - understands karmic wheel, gives and uses a second chance, discerning Negative - lustful, inconsiderate, inclined to repeat errors, learns nothing from experience Mundane - second efforts and chances, reset buttons, cloud seeding, study of weather, watching clouds, lust or coveting of another's mate Ceremonial - rain dances, purging fires, seeking master healers My father was Lawrence Scott. He left and was
never heard from again since I was 1 1/2 years old.
David is the first name of my stepfather,and he is the only father figure that I have ever known. He didn't meet my mother until I was 2 1/2 years old.
My chart seems to reflect my stepfather replacing my father as a father figure and end up being a dominant,shaping,controlling influence in my life.
when I see things like that with the asteroids, it makes me believe that there is such thing as fate and destiny. I mean...I didn't have any control over my father leaving and my stepfather meeting my
mom to ultimately to become the only father figure that I have ever known and profoundly shaped my life. I definitely believe in a karmic approach to Astrology and not just a psychological approach to it.
There is free will,but I believe that destiny and fate factor in our life experiences.
Raymond
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