Wednesday: Pandora squares Uranus: “Open, Sesame!”

Dear Friend and Reader,

I HAVE AN older sister who was in high school while I was a child. She was involved in the drama club, so I had the pleasure of attending every show she was in. I remember once the play was about the Greek gods, and though I have no idea what the exact plot was, I remember two things: I remember Prometheus always had a Bic lighter and I remember Pandora opening the box. All of these little third graders came jumping out, dressed like goblins and screaming and running in all directions much to Pandora’s horror. After they had left the stage a final apparition rose out of the box: a young girl dressed in a white sheet/toga, her hair pinned with golden leaves. She was Hope. Pandora closed her back in the box.

Pandora is given to us by the Greek tradition. She follows the same basic theme as Eve’s story: a woman does the one thing she’s not supposed to and changes the entire world. Like Eve, she is also the first woman ever. Her name means “Many Gifts.” Could it be that the ancient Greek mind understood irony? Or was her name given purposefully because even back then the ancestors realized life without some negativity did not progress?

The myth goes as follows: Prometheus was ordered to create mankind. This he did and when he felt sorry for their baseness, he stole fire from the gods. Zeus, angered by the titan’s thievery, commanded Hephaistos to form a woman out of the clay. Thus Pandora was born. She was sent to the younger, not as intelligent brother of Prometheus as a bride. When he received her, she opened a vase given to her by Zeus as a wedding present, thus unleashing all manner of evil spirits into the house. They were sickness, old age and hard labor.

There is one feminist interpretation of Pandora’s box I have found so far, provided by Wikipedia and proposed by Jane Ellen Harrison, which suggests this myth is one in a series of misogynist propaganda stories being circulated at that time. Pandora’s jar, or box, is the symbol of her womb. The many evils that flow out of it could be a sign that ancient Greece was uncomfortable with feminine sexuality.

I, however, would like to propose that while Pandora’s jar is indeed a symbol of her womb, it is important to remember that within it hope resides. Because of the nature of the myth being that Pandora was basically created as a trick, I would agree that it is not a woman-positive tale. However, looking at as an example of releasing negative energy, and withholding positive energy in order to grow, I find this myth overall to be a positive one.

Astronomically, Pandora is interpreted by Martha Lang-Wescott to mean: “encountering unexpected consequences; getting ‘more than you bargained for’; being enticed by a curiosity…” For the complete interpretation, click here!

So here we have the asteroid that has to do with consequences and beginning to feel the tip of the iceberg pushed into a square with the planet of liberation. Remember that square aspects have to do with tension, with work, and with the switch in the fuse box. It sounds to me like this aspect brings up fear of exploration or a deep craving to let it all flap in the wind. Who is going to catch you? What will happen next?

In the Havamal, a Norse code of ethics in the Prose Edda, Odin instructs his followers to make sure they examine every door carefully before they cross the threshold. You never know, he warns, who is or isn’t waiting for you on the other side. Curiosity, awareness and above all, the courage you were born with are featured in this aspect today.

Sounds to me like a good time to leave the window open to catch the breeze.

Merry Met,

Genevieve