Twelve Olympians and the Zodiac

[Jim Eshelman]

(5/3/17)

The twelve Olympians associated with each zodiac sign in traditional astrology. I will mention traditional rulerships, since this is associated with traditional astrology.

Aries - Athena; the wisdom and the more intellectual parts of war and combat.

Taurus - Aphrodite; the raw sexual, bodily aspects of love: lust, libertinage.

Gemini - Apollo; light, healing, gaiety, music, knowledge.

Cancer - Hermes; represents Cancer's emphasis with overseas travel and trade.

Zeus - Leo; king of the gods, king of the beasts, fertility, progeny.

Virgo - Demeter; goddess of grain, toil, farming etc. Virgo's Mercury has less to do with arts and writing and more to do with civic service.

Libra - Hephaestus; god of smelting, toil, seclusion, hard work. Libra's Venus is less about lust, dancing, and sex, but with marriage and civil institutions.

Scorpio - Ares; primeval, destructive, life and death aspects of war. Scorpio's Mars is less intellectual, more volcanic, or like the blacksmith's crucible.

Sagittarius - Artemis; goddess of the hunt, association with the taming of animals, noted by Manneleus regarding Sag.

Capricorn - Hestia; ancient goddess of the hearth, associates well with Capricorn's old associations with Pan, the earth, farming, and hard labour.

Aquarius - Hera; opposite of Zeus. Aquarius' Saturn has less association with the earth or farming, more to do with themes opposite of Leo/Zeus: not being the center, being remote, concerning humanity at large and not an individual person.

Pisces - Poseidon; naturally dealing with vast oceans, the turbulent seven seas, and Pisces' ancient association with naval warfare. Pisces' Jupiter is less about class and education, more about Jupiter's more spiritual, mystic, mediumistic aspects.

Some additional ideas are in this website.
https://gwawinapterus.wordpress.com/201 ... he-zodiac/

[Jim Eshelman]

Yes, these are well known - the Greek and Latin deific rulers in lieu of planetary rulers. You can find them in Manilius most easily (where there is at least some limited discussion of the why).

[Jim Eshelman]

Initially I was surprised how accurate these seem to me on the surface at least relative to my understanding and comparing to sidereal. Then Aries stood out to me as being most inaccurate. Then Leo and Sagittarius stood out as unorthodox. I never thought Leo being fertility. I never though of Sagittarius as hunter. Maybe hunt=pursuit. Even then. Mars seems hunter, stalker, killer to me. Sag maybe better at hunting as a sport though. I can see Leo as being a good sport hunter too. I find Taurus, Gemini and Scorpio as most accurate, maybe Aquarius too.
Upon reading it again, I see this is a very traditional, handed down version in general. Mythology. I'm just saying. I mean the title gives it away but I just had to say.

[Jim Eshelman]

For the most part I don't agree with his characterization of them, just the attributions of the gods to the signs - this is the Roman and Greek classical model.

Then Aries stood out to me as being most inaccurate.

Yes, one of the most inaccurate in the list above. While Athena/Minerva was goddess of wisdom, she was also outright the goddess of war, in the same sense that Ares/Mars is god of war. (There are also important myths involving her and the head, and the Manilius poem almost entirely deals with her relationship with Arachne - a mythic theme that isn't at all foreign to the archetype of the sheep!)

I never thought Leo being fertility.

Well, only secondarily. (Sleep with a dozen Leos - which they usually will insist you do one at a time <vbg> - and you'll get part of the idea.) The idea here is simpler, though. Zeus/Jupiter is king of the gods. The idea of royalty, kingship, rulership. (Hera/Juno is the opposite, Aquarius.) There's always a bit of "seeding the fields" inherent in royalty archetypes, and a "seeding," fertilizing" character to Leo's patronage of those of promise, but fertility is definitely a lesser attribute here at best.

I never though of Sagittarius as hunter... Sag maybe better at hunting as a sport though.

Yes, a wall of trophies to portray one's pedigree. And you are mostly correct in this. Classically, the only hunting element is tied into the larger idea of Sagittarius capturing, disciplining, and training animals. It's an ancient rendering of the persistent Sagittarian trait of disciplining. As Manilius wrote:

The double Centaur different Tempers breeds,
They break the Horse, and tame the fiery Steeds;
They love the sounding Whip, the Race, the Rein,
And whirl the Chariot o're the duty Plain;
Nor is their Humor to the Fields confin'd,
They range the Woods, and tame the Savage Kind;
Young Bears they break, and Tygers heats asswage,
And hear Young Lions roaring without Rage,
Discourse the Elephant, and Teach the Mass
A mimick Action, and a decent Grace;
To Act in Plays, or raise th'unwieldly load,
To Dance, and be the Darling of the Crowd.
For in the Frame, in double forms exprest,
The Man is uppermost, and rules the Beast;
His Bow full drawn implies, his Rays impart,
Strength to the Limbs, and Vigor to the Heart.
Quick active Motions, full of warmth and heat,
Still pressing on, unknowing to retreat.

Artemis/Diana was goddess of the hunt, but her biggest presence here is as polarity to her twin brother Apollo in Gemini, especially in terms of healing and bringing arts and culture. (And also her in the sense above.)

[By Jove]

Therese Hamilton does list another scheme, a Zoroastrian scheme were a demigod is paired with the god ruling each sign. Wonder how you two (James and Jim) find these ideas?

http://www.snowcrest.net/sunrise/APlanets.htm

Aries - Hades, which many sidereal astrologers think rules Aries.

Taurus - Imeros, a god of desire. Again, we see the raw sex appeal and primal lust aspects of Venus associated with Taurus, not Libra.

Gemini - Nephele, a cloud nymph created by Zeus to tempt Ixion. Oddly enough, her stories figure a flying golden ram that would later be skinned (Aries).

Cancer - No clear rulership is given but Robert Schmidt implies Moon and Sun rule together.

Leo - Apollo joins the Sun in ruling Leo, which adds to the overall Sun-like nature of Leo.

Virgo - Muse, which seems to imply Virgo's adeptness in arts, handiwork, sciences, and so forth.

Libra - Anteros, god of reciprocated love and avenger of those whose love is unrequited. Again, the romantic and conjugal aspects of Venus are associated with Libra while Venus in Taurus deals with sex and generation.

Scorpio - Ate, a malicious goddess expelled from Olympus by Zeus for her trickery. In Greek Tragedy, her name described the hero's act of hubris leading to their downfall.

Sagittarius - Hera, antagonistic wife of Zeus, adding more to the overall Jupiter-like nature of Sagittarius. (Similar to how Apollo added to Leo's overall Sun-like nature.)

Capricorn - Rhea, wife of Cronos (Saturn), alongside Saturn. Adds to the overall Saturn-like nature of Capricorn.

Aquarius - Artemis, the virgin hunting goddess who also protected mothers and young girls. Here I see another association of Aquarius with youths (first Ganymede, now Artemis' ward).

Pisces - Poseidon, god of the seven seas. Little explanation needed here.

[Arena]

Aries - Athena; the wisdom and the more intellectual parts of war and combat.

Strategy is part of war.

One very known chess player (strategic game), Garry Kasparov, has Sun and Mercury in Aries and his Moon in Scorpio while his Mars is in Cancer. His Moon and Mars form a trine aspect and mutually receive each other. He uses his energy for playing strategy.
Just saying.

[By Jove]

Naturally. The current reigning chess champion and highest rated player in history, Magnus Carlus, has Sun in Scorpio and Moon in Aries. His rival and last champion, Vishi Anand, had Sun in Scorpio and Moon in Aquarius. I don't buy that being tactical in war is only an Aries thing nor primal destruction only a Scorpio thing.

[Arena]

Thanks By Jove, interesting how these chess masters are ruled by Mars
Anyhow, the text above does not say only, but rather that Aries is more on the strategic side while Scorpio is more on the explosive violent side and less on the intellectual. Maybe it simply means that the Aries is more of a commander in chief while Scorpio is more of the soldier. I don't know if they are, I consider both parts of that coin to be aggressive as they are both about war.

[By Jove]

Fagan did use a similar army analogy in his description of the sign Aries. He described Scorpio as the general that charged into the thick of battle alongside his troops with as the general who watched and controlled the battle from afar in his base.

And speaking of chessmasters, Aquarians are significantly high among chess grandmasters in Jim's statistics. I wonder why would that be. Bobby Fischer, maybe my favorite grandmaster of all and the most iconic symbol of chess itself, was an Aquarius with a very strong Mars.