Dear Friend and Reader,
Jupiter features in another aspect for this week, this time with the astral body Varuna. Ceres is locked in a square with Hylonome today as well. The aspects for today seem to be about Truth (the big truth, not just that you really like mushrooms in your sauce), nourishment and grief. Perhaps that little image I spun about the mushroom sauce is more apropos than I first realized three seconds ago when I wrote that… we’ll see.
Astronomically speaking, Varuna is possibly a dwarf planet located in the Kuiper Belt. It is considered a Trans-Neptunian Object, meaning, unlike this week’s previous discussion about TNOs, you could fly a rocket ship to it, and put your foot on it. It’s real, but based on some weird properties heat and light take as they travel through space, scientists are not sure what size Varuna is, or how fast it rotates. For more scientifically eloquent information about Varuna, click here to be taken to Wikipedia.
In myth, Varuna finds his origin in the Vedic tradition where he was given domain over the celestial oceans, the seas of Earth, the underworld and law. One particular myth, which does not fit the delineation of the cosmic Varuna, yet which highlights his role as Lord of the Ocean, is features in a tale from the Ramayana.
Rama, an avatar of Vishnu, comes to the edge of the ocean in search of his kidnapped wife. Knowing she is on the other side and that he cannot cross it without aid, Rama begins a long meditation and prayer for Varuna. This lasts a few days, and when Varuna does not respond to Rama’s petition, Rama rises up in a rage and begins to attack the ocean with divine weaponry.
Finally, as he is about to fire the most powerful weapon ever into the ocean, thereby destroying it utterly, Varuna appears and explains to him that he was unable to think of a solution to Rama’s problem. However, if Rama would fire that missile into the heart of the ocean where a nest of demons reside, then Varuna would be able to help rescue his wife. This is done.
The moral of the story is that if you go through the proper petitions and rituals to get somewhere, you can go there without blame, even if a barrier must be destroyed in the process. While this doesn’t fit the delineation of Varuna, it is worth knowing.
Juan Revilla of Costa Rica has done impressive work on the delineation of Varuna. He understands the cosmic entity to be associated with hierarchy, social class, law, justice, the court system and the conservation of wildlife. Eric writes in this article that Varuna is “the great equalizer.” I would say that the myth and the meanings have a certain process of “what is proper” inherent in them.
Conservation of nature, the mythical unanswered prayer and the law all have a property of detachment to them that goes beyond the order of society itself. It is, as Eric and Juan both state, the order that goes on behind everything. It’s the order that makes wolves important, even if they eat all of your cattle.
Ceres is square Hylonome today as well. Ceres is the nourisher, the mother-child dynamic, and anything associated with growth (from salad sprouts to cysts) falls under her rulership. Planet Wiki states that Hylonome “addresses the theme of grief and the healing of grief”.
So, to sum up, the themes being addressed today seem to point to the truth, the process of what is right, mother and child dynamics and the process of healing associated with grief. Sounds like all signs point to an interesting Thanksgiving conversation doesn’t it?
No thanks on the turkey, I’ll take the tofu.
Moon enters Libra at 3:20 am EDT.
Merry Met,
Genevieve