Meanwhile its now 9.34am..

& here I am still upstairs laying here in my room

thinking about the idea of Sin & once again falling into fulfilling my fantasy sexual
desires.. And also remembering that the original Babylonian name for the Moon, was
the god Sin.. as I also then return to open the book *Mythic Figures once again,
searching for the chapter on *Aphrodite, Pornography & Pink Madness.. where I find
myself opening at a bookmarked page, marked by a piece of paper with some notes
on my listening to Michael Meades talk on Finding Genius in Your Life.. marking
pages 60-61 of a section titled *The Fantasy of Normalcy from the chapter titled
*Athena, Ananke & the Necessity of Abnormal Psychology..

And so here I am reminded of the god Sin, also being the ancient Babylonian name
for the Moon god who endlessly moved across the sky growing & dying in the endless
waxing & waning cycle, but also bringing light to the dark night.. the deep mystery of
the Whole Night Sky & the Star filled Heavens also being the container of our hidden
Soul's Fate & Destiny.. that is, all this referring back to the study of astrology & also to
James Hillman's book 'The Soul's Code'.. While also as I also now include some notes
on the archetype of the astrological Moon from Liz Greene's 'Mythic Astrology' book..
to shed some further light on the Christian idea of "Sin" also equating with the
changeable Moon, ie. read Sin or Moon as the concept of being unreliable, or
inconstant, unlike the eternal seemingly unchanging Sun.. While Richard Tarnas
talks about all this in a talk on 'The Role of Astrology in a Modern Civilisation in
Crisis' at http://www.astro.com/astrology/aa_article140203_e.htm .. & all summed
up in the quote, "this enormous development of our bright modern Solar
Consciousness left out the depths, the Lunar mystery, the Soul of the Cosmos"..
The Moon
The magic of the ever-changing Moon fascinates us now as much as it did those past
Civilizations who saw a great and mysterious deity in its fluctuating faces & its link
with the cycles of organic life. In myth the Moon is usually portrayed as female,
although certain ancient peoples such as the Babylonians saw in its luminous face a
young & beautiful male Spirit who symbolized the ebb and flow of nature. The Lunar
deities presided over the cycles of the animal & vegetable kingdoms, governed
menstruation & childbirth, and embodied the instinctual forces at the heart of Life. In Egypt
the Moon was represented as Isis, goddess of mercy & wisdom, and the archetypal image of
woman in both maternal and erotic guise. The compassion of Isis was understood to be a
power as great as the might of the War-gods or the procreative force of the Sun, & those in
need of help appealed to her as the Mother of all life. In Greece, the Moon was worshiped as
the Wild Huntress Artemis, Mistress of Beasts, untameable & the Eternal Virgin, whose
great temple at Ephesus was one of the wonders of the ancient world. In Rome, she was
known as Diana, twin sister of the Sun god Apollo & protectress of children & animals. Her
more sinister face, was called Hecate & symbolized by the dark of the Moon, reflected her
powers of sorcery & her rulership over the Underworld of Souls waiting to be reborn. These
goddesses were worshiped primarily by women. They personified the female mysteries of
conception & birth, & the deeper workings of Fate through the weaving of the tissues of the
body in the Underworld of the womb.

On the psychological level, the symbol of the Moon describes our most fundamental
need for warmth, safety and nourishment, both physical and emotional. In infancy,
these needs are paramount and direct. In adulthood they are also paramount, but are
expressed both on subtle and on obvious levels, through our longing to share our feelings
and our urge to feel protected and nurtured by family and community. We express the
Moon through whatever makes us feel secure and sheltered from the storms of life. We can
also offer comfort and nourishment to others just as we ourselves seek it, for the Lunar
deities reflect an instinctive compassion and responsiveness to helplessness and pain. The
image of maternity portrayed in the mythic figures of the Lunar goddesses is devoid of
sentiment, and sometimes expresses the ferocity of an animal protecting its young. Lunar
compassion is not flowery, but is a ruthless force of nature through which emerging life is
protected and preserved. The cyclical nature of the Moon's phases, and its nearness to the
Earth, are in myth all images of the fluctuating life-force within the Earth and within the
human body. Our sense of unity with the human species and with all living things is
reflected by the astrological symbol of the Moon. In order to feel contented and at peace, we
need to experience our participation in a larger life, just as the very young child needs to
feel connected to the life-giving Mother.

Because of its monthly cycle, the Moon is also a symbol of time; it reflects our ability to feel
connected with the past, responsive to the present, related to ordinary life and capable of
interacting with others on an Earthy and human level. The need to give and receive physical
affection, the capacity to enjoy the scents and textures of beautiful things, and the pleasure
we take in our gardens and our pets, are all expressions of the apparently ordinary - but
immensely important - domain over which the Moon presides. The Lunar need for safety
and comfort is expressed by individuals in many different ways. For some, the longing to
belong is amply satisfied by the feeling of empathy and containment provided by a loving
family or close community. For others, work, particularly that which offers direct
involvement with others, may offer an equally valid source of emotional and physical
security. For many people, contact with the countryside or a relationship with animals and
plants give a profound sense of connectedness. And for others, religious or Spiritual
fellowship, or a group with a shared ideology or philosophy, can provide the greater family
which the Moon within all of us needs. While the Sun in the birth horoscope reflects our
quest for meaning and Self-actualization, a life without the diffuse Lunar light of
relationship with the ordinary is barren and devoid of joy.

Our ability to express the Moon determines our capacity to feel contented. No amount of
individual achievement can satisfy the Moon's longings if our strivings separate us too
much from others. Many people find it hard to express such fundamental human needs
openly, and seek surrogates without recognizing the depth of their emotional isolation. At
the most basic level, the Moon reflects our ability to value and look after our ordinary
physical and emotional well-being. Sometimes this innate gift for internal mothering is
blocked by early experiences which foster the belief that one should not ask for anything
from others. Because Lunar needs make us vulnerable and dependent we may deny them to
avoid the risk of hurt and humiliation. We may also try to avoid pain by expressing our
Lunar needs indirectly and manipulatively, attempting to control others so that we will not
feel at their mercy. The Moon is a great leveller, for it reminds us of our identity with all
human beings in our capacity to experience loneliness, hunger, pain and fear. Under the soft
and unifying light of the Moon, arrogance, and seperativeness have no place. The Moon,
portrayed in myth as the guardian of nature and young life, is not limited to the horoscopes
of women. It appears in everyone's birth horoscope and symbolizes a universal human
need. Although the physical level of the Moon's expression is enacted most vividly each time
a woman bears a child, there are many kinds of children, not all of them corporeal, and
many kinds of mothering, not all of them concrete. Called the "Lesser Light" in early
astrology, the Moon was seen as lesser in size, not in importance. As the complement of the
Sun, the Moon's light illuminates the feelings and needs of everyday life - but not with any
ultimate goal since life itself is its own goal.

Artemis, the Virgin goddess of the Moon, guards the mystery at the heart of nature, holding
her knife up in warning to those who would intrude upon her Sacred ground. Yet she is the
protectress of all young helpless creatures. Her beasts gather around her - the panther who
embodies her ferocity, the deer who symbolizes her gentleness, and the wolf who describes her
solitude and fierce Self-sufficiency. When the hunter Actaeon stumbled upon her bathing, she
turned him into a stag so that he was torn to pieces by his own dogs. When Orion boasted in
her Sacred grove, she sent a giant scorpion to sting him to death. Nature thus possesses an
unsuspected power to revenge herself upon those who do her dishonour.

And meanwhile all this with my also once again returning to listen to the sounds of
the ocean waves pounding onto the shore over & over again from the mp3 recording
titled *Rolling Surf.. along with also recalling the words from Robert Blys poem
The Eel in the Cave.. ie. Why is it our fault if we fall into desire?.. And all this as I
put the first Twilight novel, on top of these pages to hold them open.. with its image
of a young woman's open hand's offering a delicious red apple, recalling the quote at
the start of the Twilight series.. from The Garden of Eden story on "the Snake,"
tempting Adam & Eve to eat of the fruit of the forbidden Tree of Knowledge.. also
taking me back to Steven Forrest's take on the meaning of the sign of Aquarius, the
sign of the "New Age".. That is, Eve's tempting of Adam to eat from the tree of
knowledge "gave birth to human freedom"..

And all this also referring back to the Sabian symbol I referred to in my previous blog
on Notes on the Final Uranus-Pluto square, at *14degAri.. A SERPENT COILING NEAR
A MAN & A WOMAN.. Identification in bipolar relationship to the impersonal rhythm of
natural energy..

While also coming out of the previous degree, at *13degAri.. AN UNEXPLODED BOMB
REVEALS AN UNSUCCESSFUL SOCIAL PROTEST.. An immature evaluation of the
possibility of transforming suddenly the status quo..

While also followed by the following symbol, at *15degAri.. AN INDIAN WEAVING A

CEREMONIAL BLANKET.. Projecting into everyday living the realisation of Wholeness &
fulfillment.....

While here's a link to this book 'Mythic Figures'..

at http://books.google.com.au/books/about/Mythical_Figures.html?
id=g414AAAAMAAJ&redir_esc=y

Mythic Figures
Volume 6.1 of the Uniform Edition of the Writings of James Hillman features lectures,
occasional writings, scholarly essays, and clinical papers on the subject of mythical
figures, including "Athene, Ananke and Abnormal Psychology" (1977), "Dionysus in
Jung's Writings" (1972), "Pink Madness, or Why Does Aphrodite Drive Men Crazy
With Pornography?" (1995), "Mars, Wars, Arms, Rams" (1987), and "Moses, Alchemy,
Authority" (2001).

Athena, Ananke, &

Abnormal Psychology
Not even a God can cope with Necessity.

Plato, Laws, 818b

The Infirmitas
of the Archetype
Fundamental to depth psychology & to the Soul is hurt, affliction, disorder,
peculiarity - abnormal psychology or psychopathology. Depth psychology was
called into existence as a treatment for abnormal psychology. Depth psychology, was
& remains, a logos, or Divine wisdom for the pathos or sadness of the psyche. By
psychopathology I mean a category of psychic events publicly & or privately declared
abnormal & which cannot altogether be repressed, transformed, or accepted. These
intolerable aspects show themselves paradigmatically in the symptom which Freud said is
the starting point of depth psychology. But I would like to extend our concept of
psychopathology by introducing the term pathologising by which I mean the psyches
autonomous ability to create illness, morbidity, disorder, abnormality, & suffering in any
aspect of its behaviour, & to experience & imagine life through this deformed or afflicted
perspective. In two long essays on psychopathology I have attempted to refute the
contemporary denials of it in various branches of therapy.

The nominalism of psychiatry considers its terms contingent without necessary relation to
causes or to the Souls of those exhibiting that to which the terms point. Political reformers
& existentialists find the field itself fundamentally unnecessary, an accident of historical,
Social or political institutions. Humanistic, transcendental,& Oriental therapies assume the
primacy of Spirit, Self, health, so that psychopathology has only secondary illusory reality.
Psychopathology is thus contingent, accidental, accessory: all deny the necessity of
abnormality. Medical & religious approaches interpret psychopathology as something
wrong - sick or sinful. They either physicalise or metaphysicalise - moralise. They look for
the necessity of abnormal psychology outside the psyche, either to a theory of physical
disorder in general - disease, or to a religious doctrine concerning suffering. Neither start
with psyche. Pathologising is still not a necessity of the Soul. In contrast, we have tried to
base pathologising Wholly within the psyche & to show its necessity for the psyche. We
made this move by grounding psychology in the archetype. Then we showed that when we
do start with psyche, as in alchemy, the art of memory, & mythology, we find pathologised
events inherent to these psychological systems.

Both Freud & Jung adhere to this third, psychosocial line in their thoughts about
psychopathology. From the beginning they connected it with fantasy images & viewed
it mythologically. Here we take our cue from Jungs. The Gods have become diseases.
Jung is indicating that the formal cause of our complaints & abnormalities are mythical
persons; our psychic illnesses are not imaginary, but imaginal. They are indeed fantasy
illnesses, the suffering of fantasies, of mythical realities, the incarnation of archetypal
events. Following Jung along this path is the main work of archetypal therapy. We have
looked at the myths & implications for abnormal psychology - of Eros & Psyche, of
Dionysus, of such figures as Saturn & senex, the puer aeternus,& the child, Hades & the
Underworld. In these different examples we saw that the pathological is inherent to the
mythical.

Our deepest intention has been to move psychopathology, the basis of our field, from a
posivistic 19th Century system of mind & its disorders to a non-agnostic, mythopoeic
psychopathology of the archetype. Essential to this move is the recognition that the Gods as
themselves pathologised, the infirmities of the archetype. Without elaborating what is
familiar to you, I think the main point is made if we recognize that Greek myths, & those of
the Celts or the Hindus, the Egyptians or the American Indians, require the odd, peculiar,
extreme - the abnormal psychology of the Gods.

The Fantasy
of Normalcy
The movement of our line of thinking leads now to this formulation if pathologising
is necessary & is the expression & experience of Necessity itself, then this errant,
disordering activity must be the norm of the Soul, much as Plato imagined it. If the
archetypes themselves are internally limited to & by their images, so that they, too, show
pathologies - the Infirmitas of the archetype, then pathologising is woven throughout all
psychological existence, & whatever we call normal must include it. All structures of
Consciousness, all conditions of existence as archetypal perspectives, including those called
healthy, Whole, realised, or normal, are also pathologised. Let me press this further: rather
than trying to understand the necessity of psychopathology & what place pathologising has
in the Soul, now we would turn to understanding normalcy & what place normalising has in
the Soul.

We would turn to normalcy not as it literally presents itself in its own terms as normal,
but as a specific archetypal perspective with its own style of pathologising. But by this I do
not mean that everyone is sick - the therapeutic fallacy, or that normalcy is sickness - the
Laingian variation of that fallacy. Rather I am trying to circumvent the dualistic model of
normal-abnormal by suggesting that each archetypal structure imagines a Cosmos which
influences its pattern of pathologised events. Furthermore, in what follows I shall be trying
to expose the normalcy fantasy itself as an inherent necessity within one archetypal
perspective. Norm & normal derive from the Latin word norma, meaning a carpenters
square. Norma is a technical, instrumental term for a right angle, it belongs to applied
geometry. Normalis means made according to the square; normaliter means in a straight
line, directly.

The 16th & 17th Century meaning of the word normal was, rectangular,
perpendicular, standing at a right angle. But the word in our present sense betrays
distinctly 19th Century usages: normal as regular - 1828; normal school for teacher
training - 1834; normal as average in physics - 1859; normalise - 1865; & normal as usual -
1890. The last definition contains two distinct meanings which fuse with each other:
1/Normal in the statistical sense, ie. what is usual, common, frequent, regular, hence
predictable or expected. This sense can be demonstrated graphically as that which falls in
the middle region of a Gaussian curve, hence mean, middle, average, centred. Abnormal in
this same quantitative approach, refers to that which is unusual, extreme, exceptional,
deviate, out of line, outstanding, rare, odd, anomalous. The statistical sense is not meant to
imply any values other than quantitative. Unusual means simply infrequent. 2/Normal in
the ideal sense, ie. what most or best approximates an ideal standard, a pre-established
image or Vorbild. The standard can be given by theology - imitatio Christi; by philosophy -
Stoic man, Nietzschean man; by law - the citizen; by medicine - resilient adaptation; by
Culture & Society - conformity with cannons or customs.

For the sake of exposition we shall call this second type of normalcy qualitative. It does not
imply value judgements, since nearness to the ideal is normal in a laudatory or praising
sense, & remoteness from it is abnormal in a pejorative disapproving sense. The two uses of
normal - statistical & ideal - may be quite distinct. For instance we may suffer from a
psychosomatic duodenal ulcer. This is frequent in men of certain sorts doing certain things.
As frequent, it is statistically normal, even if ideally it is abnormal. Or we may have the
highest intelligence quotient in a community of likes - age, sex, economic level, ethnic group
etc, & thus approximate most closely the ideal norm, even if this high intelligence be
statistically abnormal.

While I also turn to note the symbols for the Ascendant once again at this time,
beginning at *12degPis.. IN THE SANCTUARY OF AN OCCULT BROTHERHOOD, NEWLY
INITIATED MEMBERS ARE BEING EXAMINED & THEIR CHARACTERS TESTED.. The
ever-repeated challenge presented to the individual by the group to which one has claimed
acceptance - the challenge to prove Oneself & ones ability to assume responsibility
effectively..

While also having just moved from the previous degree, at *11degPis.. MEN WALKING
A NARROW PATH SEEKING ILLUMINATION.. The capacity inherent in every individual to
seek at whatever cost, entrance to a transcendent realm of reality.. While also moving
towards the next degree, at *13degPis.. AN ANCIENT SWORD, USED IN MANY
BATTLES, IS DISPLAYED IN A MUSEUM.. Through the effectual use of ones will a
consecrated individual can become a symbol of courage for all those who follow in his or
her footsteps..

**All this with *the Pisces Ascendant along with the midpoint of *Neptune in Pisces &
*Chiron in Pisces along with my *Sol-Arc Pisces Moon-Lilith & my *prog Saturn in Pisces..
in my 11th house.. both closely aligned at the focal point of a Yod with the midpoint of my
*prog Venus-Mercury in Leo along with *Juno in Leo & *Lilith in Leo.. in my 4th house..
along with *the Libra Nth Node.. in my 6th house.. while all also closely square.. trine &
sextile my *prog Sagittarian Sth Node.. in my 8th house.. while all also closely semi-sextile..
forming a grand fire trine with & opposing *the Aries Sth Node along with *Uranus in
Aries.. in my 12th house.. while all also closely square.. sextile.. trine & opposing my *prog
Gemini Nth Node.. in my 2nd house.. while all also closely semi-sextile.. opposing.. forming a
grand air trine with & sextile my *prog Juno in Aquarius.. in my 10th house.. while all
also closely trine.. semi-sextile.. square & forming a Yod with the midpoint of my *Sol-Arc
Vesta in Cancer along with my *prog Cancer Sun.. in my 3rd house.. while.

Meanwhile here I also return to some further notes on the planetary archetypes of
Uranus & Pluto that are dominating the current Collective crisis of Consciousness in
the world.. under the last few years of the long Uranus-Pluto "square" in the Heavens
in the sign of Aries, the Ram & Capricorn, the Seagoat.. along with the other great
Collective planet, Neptune.. also transiting the sign of Pisces, the Fishes, joined by the
asteroid Chiron, the Wounded Healer.. Pisces also described by astrologer Steven
Forrest as the sign of the Mystic, the Dreamer or the Poet.. with the following notes &
images from Liz Greene's 'Mythic Astrology'
Uranus
On the psychological level, the creator god Uranus embodies our need to see beyond
disparate events & objects, & glimpse the workings of the greater Whole of which we
are a part. Uranus also reflects our urge to transcend personal feelings in order to
understand the overall pattern of our lives. The need for an objective perspective of life
exists in all of us, although some people find it painful to achieve. Without it, we cannot
discover how we fit into the bigger units of Society & the world., but remain isolated & Self
obsessed. With it, we can disengage from the emotional compulsions which occupy so much
of our time & energy, & see with cool clarity our place in the overall scheme of things.
Discovering such a perspective, especially at critical junctures in life, can be as nourishing
to us as food. Without it we stumble through life blind & fearful, unable to understand the
deeper thread of meaning that links our life experiences. Uranus may also be seen at work
on a Collective level, reflecting our universal human longing to know where we are going &
why. The great turning points of human history occur, not because of the actions of any one
individual, but through the power of ideas which break forth from the Collective psyche &
find an appropriate human mouthpiece. The Reformation, which swept northern Europe in
the16th Century began with an idea - that human beings were responsible directly to God &
needed no papal intermediary - & found a mouthpiece in Martin Luther. The American &
French Revolutions of the 18th Century likewise drew their power from an idea whose time
had come - the right of everyone to contribute a voice to the future shape of the nation in
which they live. Ideas can go badly wrong, as did the Bolshevik Revolution. Yet even when
Human nature distorts the purity of the vision, as it inevitably will, the idea itself reflects
the Uranian need for progress & evolution.

Many people find it difficult to express Uranus, for they are required to detach
themselves from their immediate emotional needs & look toward a bigger future
design. Such detachment can feel cold & frightening, because it seems to belittle the
value of the individual. We may know that a divorce, a change of career or a separation
from family may ultimately be best for everyone, but that does not take away our very
human pain & anger at such crisis points in life. We must pay a price for Uranian vision, for
its clear light exposes all out petty propensities for manipulation, narcissism, spite & greed.
Uranus also reflects our need for a code of ethics that lies beyond any individual sense of
personal importance - a code which has no pity for our difficulties if they interfere with the
efficient functioning of the Whole. Many people are frightened of the disruption this
strangely impersonal urge within them might unleash; they hope that by suppressing it
they will not be called upon to stand on the mountaintop & look down, with honesty &
clarity, at the road of their lives. Yet if we avoid expressing Uranus, its creative power will
erupt into our personal world in spite of us - through change which we unconsciously need,
& in some cases even provoke, but which we may experience as personally devastating
when it arrives. The Heavenly vision of Uranus may sometimes seen impersonal & cold, yet
it offers us greater freedom through a new & broader perspective on our lives.

Lord of the Starry Heavens, Uranus, the architect of creation, designs the orderly patterns of
the Universe & envisages his creation imbued with symmetry & beauty. At this Celestial
drawing board no flaws appear, nor any disharmony arising from the imperfections of
mortality. All is order & system, everything perfectly Self regulated & moving in its appointed
path with elegant geometry - a vision of a Cosmos, & of human potential, which forever
inspires our hopes yet forever shames us as we struggle with our mortal limits.
Pluto
Long before the concept of a Christian afterlife there existed the myth of an
Underworld, governed by a stern ruler of the dead, to which Souls of both good & evil
journeyed. In the myth of Sumeria & Babylon, this impenetrable domain was the
territory of a female deity called Ereshkigal, for our final abode was perceived as the
same dark womb from which we emerged to take our place in Earthly incarnation. In
early Greek myth, the Underworld was haunted by terrifying goddesses such as the Moirae
or Fates, Hekate, the mistress of Sorcery, & the Erinyes, goddesses of vengeance. But just as
the Sea eventually became the domain of the male deity, Poseidon, the Underworld passed
into the hands of the enigmatic god, Hades. The Romans knew him as Pluto, from the Greek
meaning giver of wealth. Invisible to the eyes of mortals, Pluto could be obsessive &
violent. Yet he was inexorably just in his fashion. Guarded by a ferocious three-headed dog,
Cerberus, his realm encompassed the calm restfulness of the Elysian Fields, abode of dead
heroes, & the torture chambers of Tartaros, reserved for those who had in their lifetimes
offended the gods. So immovable was the will of Pluto that, once a Soul had passed into the
Underworld, no dictate from any other god could bring it back again, for the irrevocability
of death, ie. literally & or metaphorically, has precedence over every other Divine command.
Yet Pluto could also be immensely seductive, & his charms are portrayed in myth in the
tempting of Persephone with the sweetness of the Pomegranate. Because death was
understood to be an impenetrable mystery, few images of Pluto have survived from
antiquity. Nor are there any temples to the Lord of the Dead, for his presence is everywhere;
his altars exist in the mortal bodies of all living things.

On a psychological level, Pluto may be threatening to those who prefer to live solely
on the surface of life. Our need to penetrate to the roots of things & seek insight into
the Underworld of the psyche is reflected by the astrological symbol of Pluto, but
many people find such a need frightening & cling to a nave & childlike picture of
life. Pluto also describes the urge to destroy what we have outgrown, for the Lord of the
Dead is a profound symbol of the necessity of endings. No human life can progress without
change, despite our efforts to halt the cycles of time. We express Pluto not only through
death itself, but also each time we arrive at the end of a chapter of life, & are inexorably
impelled to tear down what is old & stagnant so that we may be free to build anew. Our
Plutonian urges, arising from some deep & mysterious place within, may conflict with well-
established security needs which make us cling to the past, even when it has become
lifeless & Soul destroying. The call of Pluto may therefore be suppressed, & only reveal itself
in unconscious & compulsive ways. Then we may inadvertently set up situations where
we ensure that the ending comes, despite our best efforts & apparently against our own
will. Many relationship break-ups reveal this secret Plutonian element. We may refuse to
acknowledge that a partnership is destructive because we fear separation, loneliness or
financial instability. Then we unconsciously provoke our partners into initiating an ending
which we experience as forcibly imposed upon us. We can also exhibit Plutonian Self
sabotage in work situations which are stifling & unhappy, but which provide material
security. We may then subtly initiate conflict with employers or colleagues, yet express
great anger & outrage when we are forced to seek a new direction in life.

Many people experience the workings of Pluto as a kind of fate, because they cannot
acknowledge the Underworld voice that heralds the time for change. Such individuals
feel victimised when a crisis occurs which forces them into change against their
will. Yet Pluto symbolises a deeper will at work within us, which may not always accord
with what we think we are. Plutos needs are not wantonly destructive or malevolent. They
reveal that the flow of life is being blocked, & must be freed by the relinquishing of an old
attitude. Such endings always reflect the deeper requirements of the individuals life
pattern, no matter how we might feel personally at the time. Plutos mythic invisibility
ensures that we only discover the true purpose of such changes afterward, & then only if we
possess a willingness to explore our depths. Many people choose to struggle against their
own necessity, & then feel helpless, embittered & unforgiving when the battle is lost. Pluto
is an aloof & inaccessible deity in myth, & his wisdom may seem to us to be cruel &
implacable. Inner necessity is impervious to Self pity, just as Pluto in myth was impervious
to human pleading. What has died is dead & cannot be resurrected in its old form. But life
can flow freely again in new & more creative ways, provided we do not dam it up with
bitterness & resentment.

From Pluto comes the priceless gift of recognising when it is time to let go & move on. This
is the real nature of the gods just law, for those who honour it possess an indestructible
conviction of lifes intelligent purposefulness. Failure to acknowledge Pluto can erode our
trust & faith in life, because the feeling that it has treated us unfairly. When we cling too
possessively to people, situations or objects for the sake of power, security or emotional
nourishment, we may experience Plutos irrevocable law as a kind of violation. In myth, he
is indeed a rapist, seizing the young Persephone & dragging her down into the dark
kingdom. Yet, ultimately, having tasted the pomegranate, she chooses to stay. The feeling of
being overwhelmed by life is experienced as savage & unfair only by the psychologically
virgin who wish to remain childlike forever. The nature of Plutos invasion of our daylight
world is neither vicious nor evil, but reflects the inner necessity. In myth, Persephone
passes from girl to woman & bears a child to her dark lord; she is free to move between the
upper & lower realms. This honest encounter with ones own depths, tells us why the
Greeks & Romans called the Underworld god by a name which means giver of riches. It is
through Pluto that we learn how to survive in the face of crisis, & discover the real
resources within ourselves.

Reclining languorously on a couch sparkling with gold & jewels, the Lord of the Underworld
need not pursue us, but only sits & waits; for all things that live fulfill their appointed span &
ultimately descend to his domain. Around him twines the Serpent which embodies the secret
of the forces of nature & of the cycles of death & renewal. With his right hand he offers the
pomegranate, symbol of fertility. For all endings are pregnant with the future, & release the
life force, so that something new may be born from that which has passed away
eptune
Water is portrayed, in myth, as the womb of all living things & the Source to which life
returns to be reborn. In Sumer, the goddess of the Sea was Nammu, Mother of All. In
Babylon, she was known as Tiamat, & was depicted as a vast aquatic monster that
gave birth to all the gods, then was eventually dismembered to make the Heavens &
the Earth. In Hindu myth, the great goddess Maya personifies the boundless Cosmic ocean
out of which one Universe after another emerges, only to dissolve again into the primal
waters again when its cycle has been fulfilled. In the archaic times of Pelagsian Greece, the
goddess or Eurynome first created the ocean & danced upon its waves, coupling with a
Serpent to generate the Cosmos. In later Greek myth, her image fragmented into many
elusive Deities of lake, river & spring, & every stream had its presiding nymph. The great
god Okeanos also makes his appearance in Greek myth, encircling the globe, with his ever
flowing & ever fertile body. As the worship of the ancient mother goddesses was gradually
superseded by the dynamic Olympian gods, the amorphous Sea goddess Eurynome, was
pensioned off & blue haired Poseidon, Lord of Earthquakes, bulls & horses, inherited the
rulership of the Sea. This powerful deity, capricious, temperamental & unfathomable as the
waters over which he presided, was known to the Romans as Neptune, after whom the
planet was named.

The universality & mystery of the deities of the Sea hint at our earliest experience of life in
the waters of the womb, at one with the mother & possessing no independent identity or
Consciousness. Thus immersion in water is the mythic portrayal of union with the Source of
life, & this moving & potent motif has found its way into the Christian ritual of baptism as a
symbol of purification & rebirth. The longing to reunite with the Source of life, for cleansing
& Spiritual renewal, is also evident in the Hindu belief that bathing in the waters of Mother
Ganges will release the weary Soul from the endless Wheel of Karma. The Sea goddesses of
myth are vast & unknowable, amoral & unpredictable, gifted with prophecy & the power of
Self fertilization. The image of waters limitless fertility also links it with the power of the
imagination, which can give birth to an endless stream of images without need of an
external source of fertilization. Water is the great mythic symbol of redemption, yet it is
also the primary image of obliteration. In Babylonian, Greek, Hindu & Hebrew myth, the
human race was nearly destroyed by a great Heaven-sent flood, the waters of oblivion are
our end as well as our beginning. Yet despite our fear of extinction we long to feel
connected with our Source, nourished by its bounty & protected within its loving embrace.
Our need for fusion with mother in infancy bears many similarities to our Spiritual quest
for fusion with the Divine later in life. Neither negates the significance or truth of the other.
Our craving for redemption belongs to both the infant & the adult, to both the body & the
Soul.

On the psychological level, Neptune reflects our need to lay down the lonely burden
of material existence & experience the bliss of union with something greater. This is
both an emotional & a Spiritual imperative, although it expresses itself in different
ways according to the individuals nature & personal beliefs. Some people seek
Neptunian release through the comfort of an all embracing ideology. Our belief in the State
as a magical source of life & nourishment persists even in the face of the obvious human
fallibility of any government or political system. Many people experience the ecstasy of
transcendent union in the early stages of love, & feel bitterly disappointed when the
beloved partner, parent or child turns out to be merely another human being, with feet of
clay. Others seek the taste of oblivion through substances such as alcohol or heroin, for the
illusory state of Oneness which certain drugs may promise a sense of blessed renewal -
until the body suffers the consequences. Our need for redemption, symbolised by Neptune,
enacts itself through all our experiences of addiction, for it is through surrogates that we
unconsciously seek to reunite with the oceanic Source of life. It is through these same
surrogates that we suffer our most bitter disappointments. Religious & artistic involvement
- especially the heightened emotional participation of shared music, drama or worship - can
offer us a life-enhancing form of immersion in the mythic waters, for it is the inner world
rather than external surrogates, which provide the most authentic & transformative
experiences of reunion with the Source of life. The magic of the theatre, cinema, or concert
hall, & the mysterious peace of the synagogue, church, mosque, or temple provide a refuge
from lifes pain, where we can forget our loneliness & pool our deepest longings in a
powerful flood of shared human aspiration.

Neptune does not reflect individual tastes. The deity of the waters symbolises a universal
longing to transcend the pain of individual existence & return to the formless state of pre-
birth. For this reason, Neptune is expressed through group trends & fashions, & reveals
itself though Collectives which share a common dream of redemption through some
common ideal. When we long to look like everyone else, or submerge our individual
identities in a group identity, we are expressing Neptune. This abnegation of individually,
untempered by any critical faculty, can be destructive as it is healing. The group can become
a mob, unleashing a great flood of primal emotion which may destroy with appalling
savagery. The purges of the Inquisition are only one example of the ways in which humanity
has displayed terrifying cruelty over the centuries, in the name of Spiritual redemption. Yet
without Neptune we would feel isolated, bereft, & cut off from any Spiritual or creative
nourishment within. The need which Neptune symbolises is a complex one, releasing the
best & worst of human nature. Contained within a solid core of individual values & a
capacity for honest reflection, Neptune embodies our finest aspirations, & our capacity to
feel compassion for all other living things which spring from the same mysterious Source.

Lord of dreams, visions & inchoate depths, the enigmatic god of Sea & Earthquake moves
silently beneath the surface of life, concealing the gestating potentials of all that will one day
emerge into the light of day. Prolonged immersion in his Daimon destroys us through
addiction or madness, yet his waters also cleanse & renew us through the boundless riches of
the imagination & the solace of compassion, washing away - for a time, at least - the suffering
& loneliness of mortal existence.

20/3/15 Meanwhile its now 1.18pm.. & here I am having just finished reading on the
planetary archetype of Hermes-Mercury, the Messenger of the Gods.. the same
planetary god that was just about to rise above the Ascendant at the moment I was
born into this world.. with Mercury in Taurus, in the house of my Aries Ascendant..
closely trine my Ascendant ruler, Mars in Virgo, in my 5th house.. closely aligned with
the planets Uranus & Pluto in Virgo.. with my natal Mercury in Taurus also ruling my
natal Jupiter-Venus & Gemini Nth Node of the Moon, in my 2nd house..
Mercury
The mysterious gift of human thought prompted the Greek poet, Menander, to write
that the intellect in every human being was Divine. In ancient myth, the powers of
reflection, speech and communication are personified by a clever, quicksilver deity
who taught human beings to write, build, navigate and calculate the course of the
Heavenly bodies. This enigmatic god symbolizes not only our capacity to think, but also
the planning arid organizing faculty which allows us to name and categorize the myriad
components of the chaotic natural world. In Egypt, the god Thoth, portrayed sometimes as
an ibis and sometimes as a baboon, was the patron of science and literature, wisdom and
inventions, the spokesman of the gods and their keeper of records. Creator of the alphabet
and endowed with total knowledge. Thoth invented arithmetic, surveying, geometry,
astrology, medicine, music and writing. In Norse myth, this elusive and multifaceted god
was called Loki, lord of fire, and an incorrigible manipulator. In Teutonic myth, he was
known as Wotan, patron of magic and lord of the wild hunt, who sacrificed one of his eyes
for the gift of wisdom. In Greece, he was personified as the tricky and unfathomable
Hermes, lord of travellers and merchants, patron of thieves and liars, guide of the Souls of
the Dead and messenger of the Olympian gods. The Romans knew him as Mercury, from
which both the metal and the planet derive their name.
On the psychological level, the bewildering multiplicity of roles assigned to Mercury
reflects the multileveled functions and capacities of the human mind. As patron of
merchants and money, Mercury embodies the exchange of goods and services which
forms the practical dimension of human interchange. As guide of Souls, he symbolizes
the mind's capacity to move inward in order to explore the hidden depths of the
Unconscious psyche. In both these roles. Mercury embodies the principle of communication
- between human beings, and between the individual and the inner, invisible world. An
amoral and cunning deity, Mercury could also play terrible tricks on humans, suggesting
our remarkable ability to fool ourselves, and to follow what we believe to be "truth" into a
morass of confusion and Self-deception. The mythic images associated with the astrological
symbol of Mercury also describe our fundamental urge to learn. Because we are obliged to
go to school, and expected to acquire an education in order to progress in life, we are often
unable to experience the simple delight of learning for its own sake. In childhood, our
boundless curiosity about life is a reflection of Mercury. Why is the sky blue? How does a
caterpillar become a butterfly? Our need to understand the names of things and how they
are made is one of our most fundamental human impulses.

Just as Mercury has many mythological faces, human intelligence has many different forms,
not all of them sufficiently valued by our academic establishments. The shrewd, worldly
Mercury who invented coinage reflects a practical intelligence, which shows its best gifts
when dealing with facts and concrete objects, yet may not be convinced by abstractions.
Mercury as guide of Souls portrays an intuitive intelligence, more at home in the imaginal
world than in the domain of numbers and facts: it is often underrated, yet it reflects deep
insight into human nature, and a gift for expressing inner truths through symbolic images.
Mercury as Messenger of the Gods represents a fast-moving, comprehensive intelligence,
which perceives connections between different spheres of knowledge and different levels of
reality. This kind of intelligence may be indifferent to isolated facts, but builds mental
bridges by translating disparate realities into a common language. And Mercury as inventor
of science portrays the capacity for logic and the formulation of theoretical concepts.
Whenever we pursue knowledge we are expressing Mercury. Also Mercurial is our urge to
communicate, which is as fundamental a human requirement on the psychological level as
breathing is to the body. Verbal language is only one dimension of communication. We also
share our thoughts and feelings through body language, facial expression, inarticulate
sounds and emotional atmosphere. We use clothes, cars, makeup and regional accents to
tell others about ourselves. Our individual communicative gifts also vary. For some, the
articulate use of words conveys a complex array of ideas. For others, artistic forms are the
most natural medium of communication. Whenever art speaks to us Mercury is at work,
translating the insight of the artist across space and time to the heart and mind of the
reader, viewer or listener.

Many individuals find it difficult to express Mercury. The urge to learn may be dulled
in childhood by teachers who have themselves lost all curiosity, or are envious of
young minds more promising than their own. Families and Social groups may scorn the
pursuit of knowledge because they are mistakenly convinced that education is the hallmark
of a particular Social class, rather than the expression of a universal human need. Nothing is
so destructive to Mercury as the refusal of others to listen: and nothing is so conducive to
its flowering as a receptive and interested parent, teacher, partner, colleague or friend. But
even if Mercury has had a slow start in our life, no planetary god can be permanently stifled
or destroyed. No matter what our background, Mercury is alive and well within all of us; it
can be expressed if we have the courage to follow our longing to learn and communicate. In
myth, the god is portrayed as ever-youthful. The human mind is not bound by age or Social
position. One can go to university at sixty as well as at eighteen, and no lifetime is long
enough to exhaust the fields of knowledge open to us. In ancient Greek cities a statue of the
god was erected at every major crossroads, to help show the traveller on his or her way. At
each crossroads of life, we too can seek the inner god of journeys, for he can be found in
every spark of genuine curiosity about life. Through the eyes of Mercury, life itself is an
endless road strewn with an infinite variety of fascinating things to discover and learn.

Messenger of the Olympian deities and guide of Souls to the Underworld domain, the winged
god Mercury holds aloft the caduceus entwined by two snakes. The serpents, one dark and one
light, are the bearers of all instinctive wisdom and the secrets of life and death. Playful, coy
and deceptively innocent, the god's smile can portend the sudden flash of inspired insight or
the alluring vision of hopeless Self-delusion.

While I also note the symbols for the Ascendant at this time, beginning at
*13degGem.. A FAMOUS PIANIST GIVING A CONCERT PERFORMANCE.. Individual
fulfillment in the performing of a Social function to which some prestige is attached..

While also having just moved from the previous degree, at *12degGem.. A NEGRO
GIRL FIGHTS FOR HER INDEPENDENCE IN THE CITY.. Liberation from the ghosts of the
past.. While also moving towards the next degree, at *14degGem.. BRIDGING
PHYSICAL SPACE & SOCIAL DISTINCTIONS, TWO MEN COMMUNICATE
TELEPATHICALLY.. The capacity to transcend the limitations of bodily existence.

Meanwhile speaking of Hermes-Mercury, as both the Trickster, & the Messenger of

the Gods.. this leads me back to the book by Lewis Hyde titled 'Trickster Makes This
World'.. at http://www.amazon.com/Trickster-Makes-This-World-
Mischief/dp/0374532559

While here's a short talk by Lewis on all this, at https://www.youtube.com/watch?

v=qySmiZgLl2w

And also of course James Hillman was a great example of a kind of Trickster figure in
this world with his heretic wit bringing a much needed critique of the narrow
scientific or rationalistic view of psychology etc.. best expressed in his books "Re-
Visioning Psychology" & "The Soul's Code"..

Trickster Makes
This World
In Trickster Makes This World, Lewis Hyde brings to life the playful and disruptive
side of human imagination as it is embodied in trickster mythology. He first visits the
old storiesHermes in Greece, Eshu in West Africa, Krishna in India, Coyote in North
America, among othersand then holds them up against the lives and work of more recent
creators: Picasso, Duchamp, Ginsberg, John Cage, and Frederick Douglass. Twelve years
after its first publication, Trickster Makes This Worldauthoritative in its scholarship,
loose-limbed in its stylehas taken its place among the great works of modern Cultural
criticism.

**All this with *the Gemini Ascendant along with my natal Gemini Nth Node.. in my 2nd
house.. both closely opposing my natal Sagittarian Sth Node.. in my 8th house.. while all also
closely sextile & trine my *prog Mercury in Leo along with *Jupiter(r) in Leo.. in my 4th
house.. while all also closely sextile & forming a 'grand fire trine' with the midpoint of *the
Aries Sth Node my *Sol-Arc Pallas in Aries & *Uranus in Aries.. in my 12th house.. while all
also closely trine.. sextile & opposing the midpoint of *the Libra Nth Node along with my
*Sol-Arc Libra Part of Fortune.. in my 6th house.. while all also forming a 'grand air trine'
with.. sextile & opposing my *prog Juno(r) in Aquarius.. in my 10th house.. while.....

While also ending with some quotes on the god Hermes, symbolising the planet
Mercury, as the Messenger of the Gods.. from the book 'The Inner Planet's; Building
Blocks of Personal Reality' by Liz Greene & Howard Sasportas.. with Mercury also
rather interestingly being the only "fluid" metal.. also known as the god Mercurius is
alchemical symbolism, also known as "the boundary crosser"..

Mercury
We are not trouble by things,
but by the opinions we have
of things.. ..

Epictetus
The greatest discovery of any generation
is that human beings can alter their lives
by altering their attitudes of mind..

Albert Schweitzer
ermes-Mercury
Hermes visited him in the Underworld a few days before the Spring equinox festival,
cajoling Hades to come to it.

Hades wandered across the fields with him, Kerberos limping along at his side. No one
wants the god of death at their fertility festival.

Sure they do. Ive heard plenty of girls sighing over your tasty darkness.

Tasty darkness. Really.

Molly Ringle,
Persephone's Orchard

Kere nyi was as aware as anybody today of the territorial limits of Greek myths and of the
non-importability of Hermes. He writes: In his such-ness, he is an historical fact that
cannot, by strict and honest historical means, be reduced to something else: neither to a
concept, to a power, nor to a Spirit a gravestone or signpost Spirit not even to an idea
that would not contain in a nutshell everything that Hermes such-ness constitutes..

Working more in Hermes own sleight of hand way, Kere nyi is soon saying things like this:
If a god is idea and world, he remains nonetheless in connection with the world that
contains all such worlds; he can only be an aspect of the world, while the world of which
he is an aspect possesses such idea-aspects. Now, if you will let Kere nyi get away with a
statement like that and I hope you will you will end up owning the Brooklyn Bridge.
Kere nyis Hermes is the only one that is going to rob you or enrich you, enlighten you or
screw you.

Guide of Souls is the usual translation given to the Hermes-epithet Psychopompos and it
refers to his role as the god who leads Souls into the Underworld when they die. But
Hermes - still present in every French funeral stores Pompes fune bres description of
itself, is more than guide, and even more than guide to the Underworld. It means to lead,
but Hermes as leader is not quite right either. It means something more like to lead on.
Hermes is the god who leads you on. This means he is deceiving you, taking advantage
of your gullibility, taking you for a ride. That, however, is how Hermes works, and how he
gets your Soul to move anywhere, how he gets you to budge even a hair off whatever youre
in .

Go ahead and buy the Brooklyn Bridge from this man. Be had. Be incorrect. Be foolish.
You pay with your Soul for this kind of reading. And Hermes does not take plastic.

Karl Kere nyi,

Hermes: Guide of Souls