Dear Friend and Reader,
Today Mercury stands opposite a Trans-Neptunian Point called Hades. This is an image of the mind struggling to find out as much about the past as possible, in all its messy details.
As we discussed before, trans-Neptunian points (TNPs) were first created/discovered/intuited by the Uranian astrologers of the 1900s in Hamburg, Germany. They are not actually composed of matter, but seem rather to be energetic clusters that insinuate more detail into a situation than more traditional astrology allows. They are known as hypothetical planets.
According to Martha Lang-Wescott, Hades is symbolic of “disgust/distaste; debilitation or deterioration; interest in the past…thus history and primitive origins.” For a more complete breakdown of her translation, do click here. Basically, what Hades is about is the process of aging. Mercury standing opposite this point is the recognition of the processes of time on the body, where the flesh ends and the spirit/soul of a person begins.
In Greek mythology, Hades was used to describe the Underworld itself, and the ruler of this Underworld. Other names for the God Hades included Dis Pater, Orcus and Pluto. “Dis Pater” or “Father of Riches” was held in high esteem by the ancestors. Fertile fields and all manner of useful resources from the ground came under his domain. Still today, it can be thought that we revere this Master of the Subterranean realms: most of our resources come to us by way of oil and oil products which are pulled from the ground.
The same goes for almost every single metal we use, the cobalt we use to power our cell phones, the garnets, diamonds, peridots and opals we give and receive as symbols of affection: all of these have been pulled out from under the ground. As far as Hades being the realm of the dead, it is a place that is rich in history as well: the stories of every single living being who has sighed its last breath is absorbed into the humus of the earth. In ancient tradition people who could talk to the dead, or necromancers, often did so with the purpose of finding out secrets of the future: as the mythological traditions go, time does not follow the same rules as it does for the living, to be dead is to have access to a wealth of information.
There are two things that I find very interesting regarding both the realm called Hades, and Hades/Pluto himself. The first thing is the myriad of rivers in Hades and what they stand for. The rivers are: Acheron (sorrow), Cocytus (lamentation), Phlegethon (fire), Lethe (forgetfullness) and Styx (hatred). Given the choice between which one of these I’d rather think about, I would stall as long as possible or withdraw from the crowd at the very least. Our society is not equipped with adequate ways to communicate these emotions and states of being, which everyone at some point, encounters. Sorrow, hatred, the withering flame and forgetfullness are all included in the process of life and aging, which, when go unaccepted for the purposes of preserving our own youth or ego, become terrible bogies indeed.
To further emphasize this point, the ancestors felt that the god Hades had a Helm of Darkness, which rendered him invisible when he wore it on earth. In my mind, I envision this to be a statement about how hard it is to think about the messy details of aging, almost like a foil helmet protects its wearer from aliens though waves. I don’t really think the foil works. But nothing is quite so powerful as denial as far as rendering facts and processes meaningless.
Also of note is one of the main legends Hades stars in. The myth of Persephone and Hades ends with Hades kidnapping the vestal Persephone and returning her to her mother as not only a full-blown woman, but also as Queen of the Underworld. It was Hades who deflowered her, thus giving her the gift of sexual realization in trade for her childhood. Hades, basically, made a woman out of her; this again is a comment upon the power of time’s passage as well as its transformative properties.
Demeter had a very hard time accepting Persephone’s destiny. I wonder if there is something this legend has in common with our feigned inability to accept the sexual coming of age that adolescents arrive at. Remember Miley Cyrus? Remember your own rite of passage? Were they similar? Was it disastrous, a real celebration of the arrival of your powers, or an embarrassing discussion about how to dispose of the used maxi?
This transit may also serve as an illustration of embracing the gamier side of life. Our bodies’ fluids are all a part of life. How often do they enter into discussion or become a focus of thought unless something has gone wrong?
In closing, Mercury opposite Hades may be a suggestion to pause and consider the transience of time and the moment. By doing so, it is possible to access the idea that life itself is the most powerful asset you’ve got.
Merry Met,
Genevieve
Interesting , I always think of the sea , rivers the flowing bodies of water being a symbol for the unconcious containing the energies emotions that we deny subjecting them to go underground …
The names of these rivers seem to match to the states of being that result from fragmenting yourself . Energies being eternal which can’t be destroyed when harnessed it endows us with vital life force using conciousness to refine and focus it for creative purpose expansion.
The seas and rivers maintain a constant flow of movement never becoming still for stagnancy ensures death and putrification.
When we deny and stilfle parts of ourselves that energy having no master becomes erratic , chaotic and destructive resulting in sorrowfully looking outward for things we can only find within but having rejected and denied these parts a heavy Veil of Forgetfullness hide this truth causing us to look in places where it is not. Lamentations, sorrow and hate are born from the frustration of not only never finding fufilment but instead becoming drained experiencing increasing vacuousness.
Believing the cause of our current state is the fault of other people, circumstances beyond our control we remain oblivious to the responsibility and accountabilty for misuse of our energy and power. Helpless and enslaved it never occurs to us that the key to freedom is within and this is the last place we will look .
thank you, G. You’ve given me much to think with. I had forgotten (Lethe!) about the five rivers of Hell, and their flows through the body.
As an incarnate of Demeter (my daughter died at 20), I have other things to say about Persephone and the Great Mother’s grief. I’d suggest comparing it to Mary’s grief, to Isis’s grief, and oddly, to the grief of both Medea (who killed her own sons, according to the male Greek side of the story) and that of Orpheus, who couldn’t bring his lover back from Hell.
There is a cycle to be set into motion through the confrontation with that Loss. One becomes what one most fears. And that is a *good* thing.
All of the Great Mysteries begin with that Loss. But they don’t end there. And, by that, I mean they don’t end in passive acceptance of Time (Kali’s) depredations.
Those five flows (rivers) in the body. . . they have other names as well.
All Love,
M