Goddess gone wrong – how to spot a “mean girl” in Astrology

When Rosalind Wiseman wrote the book Queen Bees and Wannabes: Helping Your Daughter Survive Cliques, Gossip, Boyfriends, and the New Realities of Girl World , she missed a whole world of ‘mean girl population. Mean girls exist in schools, workplaces, and in the PTA. Mean girls are everywhere and all ages.

 

What is a mean girl? The Urban dictionary describes them as “Girls who are bullies and use ‘girl aggression’ (nasty comments, trickery, deceit, excluding people from events, spreading rumors, stealing boyfriends,etc.) to manipulate other girls”

 

A mean girl is Pallas Athena gone wrong.

Pallas in astrology is the asteroid representing feminine wisdom and justice. She represents creative intelligence and is good at seeing patterns. As the goddess of war and the protectress of the state, Pallas types will fight for and defend political causes. There is no doubt about it, a Pallas woman is powerful.

In Greek mythology there are many stories that tell of her nature, but here are just a few that highlight her potential for being a ‘mean girl’.

Pallas Athene
First of all, Athene is also called Pallas Athene. The two are recognized as the same. This is because in a “friendly” (or was it?) fight between the two goddesses Pallas was killed by Athena, and out of sadness and in rememberance of Pallas, Athene took Pallas’ name.

Competition for men’s attention. 

The Goddess Medusa was very beautiful goddess and pursued by many men. One day she was in Pallas Athena’s temple and overtaken by one man in particular, Medusa was violated becoming pregnant and gaving birth to twins. The mean girl came out in Athene! Jealous and blaming, Athene turned Medusa’s hair into snakes causing her looks to turn men into stone if they glanced at her.

 

Trickery

Athena was known for her skills with weaving and the loom. A woman from a village named Arachne was also good at the loom. She became very well known for her skill and claimed that it was a gift she was born with and not learned.  When Athena heard this fist she disguised herself as an old woman to get the ‘real dirt’ out of Arachne regarding where she learned the loom. When she got nothing, Athena then challenged her to a public contest to let all see who was best. When Arachne showed Athena up in the competition Athena turned Arachne into a spider.

Undermining

Finally there was a trial of Orestes. Orestes was accused of matricide. Athena, who was presiding over the matter, declared that he was not guilty because there was no sanctity of a blood relationship with a mother and child (it was a crime only to kill blood relations in those days). Athena reasoned that because she was not born of a mother (she sprang from the head of Zeus), that men not women were the rightful owner’s of the child. In so doing she undermined all women and declared male supremacy.

Pallas types can be very successful or they can fear success. They can be fear competition, being competitive to the point of being ruthless or embrace their feminine strength as being their rightful gift.  They can downplay the need for men’s attention, or they can own their power not fearing what others might think or do. In the school ground a Pallas type may be the girl who trips you in front of a boy, or positively the one who will stand up to the group of girls bullying you. In the workplace a Pallas type may be the women who undermines your work to make herself look good, or positively she could be the one fighting for changes to the Human Rights policy and for more women in leadership positions.We all have the potential to be mean girls, but if Pallas is dominant in your chart the potential will be strong. Knowing what aspects Pallas forms can help with understanding your areas for growth, and because Pallas is such a powerful woman, knowing how to use your powers for good.Tools to help you connect with your Pallas: Raising your self esteem. Some books to help include, Self Esteem, and The Self Esteem Companion by Matthew McKay. Since Pallas is a wise and intellectual type, unlearning the patriarchy in Woman who run with the Wolves.Order the goddess report at www.threemoongoddess.com If you are interested in finding out where Pallas is in your chart or what aspects she makes.

March Horoscope 2013

Follow the leader into Aries this month; first Mars, then the Sun, then Venus.  Mercury went retrograde on February 23rd and will be doing its apparent backward dance in the sky until March 17th.  It will follow the rest into Aries in April, but for now, Mercury is hanging back in Pisces to go over some things.  The conversation with Mercury will go something like this:  First Mercury will conjunct Venus asking the question ‘do I really have what I value in my life?’  The next day it will trine Saturn and sextile Pluto getting us to think about the structures in our lives a little deeper and by the 9th Mercury will square Jupiter making us likely to come up with a grand plan.  Just wait until Mercury is direct again on March 17th before making a move.  Retrogrades are best used for revisiting and reviewing.  Making a move before then may not work out so well. 

Juno moves into Aquarius on March 13th.  Juno in Aquarius loves to experience freedom in partnerships. Nice and easy sextiles first from Juno to the Sun on March 23rd and then from Juno to Venus on the 24th will help us truly understand how freedom in relationships works.  Gone are the days of co-dependency!  The theme will be co-collaborative, co-creative, co-active – anything that is co-freedom!  If the message is a little too subtle during this time, the full moon on March 27th will make it loud and clear.  The moon will be in Libra, the sign of partnerships and opposing a Sun-Venus-Uranus conjunction in fiery and independent Aries.  Again, the theme is freedom, embracing who you really are as an individual and making it work, I mean really work, in partnerships.

Pallas and Ceres are in a dance, sextiling exactly a number of times between the 19th and 27th.  Pallas is still in Aries providing the right recipe for brainstorming or fired up initiative for worthy causes.  Combined with Ceres, great energy exists if you are teaching or taking a course tinged with the feminine or nurturing.  Amazing insights and opportunities happen at this time when combining learning, wisdom and nurturing.  Don’t think they exist?  Check out programs like Marie Forleo’s B-School for women entrepreneurs or the New Feminine Power course by Katherine Woodward Thomas and Claire Zammit, which focus on accessing your feminine gifts to transfer onto the world.  Make a commitment to this new direction on the new moon on March 11th and more blessings will rain down.  The new moon is in Pisces, blessing any consciousness-raising projects.  Common sense initiatives that focus on incorporating sustainability, reducing carbon footprint or other ways in which to love the earth will get wings when Pallas moves into Taurus on March 30th.

Aries

After making some completions during the first half of the month, you’re ready to step out and let yourself shine.  “I am beautiful, I am confident, the world is mine, I am free” will be your mantra.  Someone close might challenge all of this by the full moon on the 27th.  Don’t be afraid to make some adjustments if you need to.

 Taurus

Mercury is retrograde in your 11th house.  Things may be a little off with friends; things may clear up by the 17th; and they may give you some food for further thought when your Sun, Mars, Venus, Uranus and Pallas swim around in your house of secrets and the unconscious.  Whew!  If this feels uncomfortable, comfort yourself with those tangible things you love most.  Just don’t go overboard or stop yourself from getting to the real nuggets of your unconscious.

 Gemini

Now that your career has taken off, spending some time with your friends or donating your time to a charitable cause may be where you’re headed.  Things are good and you’re feeling philanthropic.  This month you’re also learning how a lover can also be a friend.

Cancer

Your visionary ideas may need some retracing at the beginning of the month.  This is a needed process too, as the second half of the month will see you making your mark on the world stage and in your career.  You’re more comfortable in the home sphere, so if you’re going to take off your shell and share openly your loving and creative vision, taking the time at the beginning of the month will help you not retract out of a need for safety.  Show them your stuff, Cancer!

 Leo

All that hard work you’re doing around transforming who you are, how you come across, and your style of give and take needs some rewarding.  A vacation and even better, a vacation with friends, may just be what is called for.  If you can’t get away, taking an online course with your favourite visionary may be just the ticket.

Virgo

There is some hard work ahead in the “you and me” category.  Mercury retrograde will help you look at your partnerships with fresh eyes.  Maybe you have taken things for granted or misunderstood things.  Whatever the case, the second half of March will challenge your shared resources and call for deep transformation.  There might be a little escape in your career where you are feeling a whole lot better.  Just remember to keep the balance.

Libra

The Sun, Venus, Mars and Pallas will all be in your 7th house by the end of the month.  You may be sharing your wisdom about balance in relationships with the world.  You have a lot to share and your message does not mean forgetting yourself or being “all about me”.  How do you do this, Libra?  Sage advice will be illuminated at the full moon in Libra on March 27th.

Scorpio

On one hand you’re having a blast for the first part of the month; on the other hand your game may be a little off.  You may be double checking the need for a breath mint or whether you forgot to apply deodorant, but in the end, it may be that you have a little bit of “foot in mouth” syndrome.  Work will take a bigger focus in the second part of the month.

Sagittarius

After you have made your house and home warm and fuzzy you’re ready for romance and fun.  The Venus, Uranus, Sun conjunction in your fifth house of romance mixed with your freedom-loving Sagittarius ways will make you hard to pin down.  Your partnerships are where you find nurturing and expansion these days.  Friends may help with some words of wisdom if you are holding yourself back from what you truly desire.

Capricorn

You’ve had lots of activity with neighbours and your community recently.  If you’ve been bothered by a neighbour who knocks on your door every two minutes to borrow sugar, by the second half of the month you’ll find the right words to set your boundaries. Mercury will go retrograde in this area helping you to reassess.   End of March will be focused on your home, beautifying it, making it your sanctuary and a place where your spirit can roam around free and be renewed.

Aquarius

Now that you have your finances all worked out, it’s time to make a contribution in your community.  You may feel inspired by letting yourself give in ways that allow you to express creativity and nurturing with children or youth.  Maybe you’re even doing this as a philanthropic arm of your business.  Or you’re realizing that you can make money, help the community and have fun all at once.

Pisces

You’ve hit your groove and have been showing everyone just who you are.  You’re getting ready to put that renewed self into money-making ventures.  How much time you have spent on yourself and how much effort you have invested in raising your self-esteem will now pay off.  With Mercury retrograde in the first couple of weeks in your first house, you can clean up and put the finishing touches on your self-presentation.

 

 

 

 

Juno – The good news about marriage

Remember Eat, Pray, Love? Remember how we all ran to the bookstore after seeing Elizabeth Gilbert on Oprah, bought and devoured her book? (okay some waited for the movie with Julia Roberts). The story was a woman’s search for herself after a horrible divorce. How she did it? She hopped on a plane, ate herself silly in Italy, went deep within in India and found love again in Bally! And then she wrote her next book Committed, A skeptic makes peace with marriage. Well we didn’t hear much about that one. Most, including myself, only made it half way through the book. Does she make peace by the end of the book? Honestly…. someone will have to let me know! The marriage picture historically and across cultures was so depressing that I had to put the book down!

Read the chapter on Juno in Demetra George’s, Asteroid Goddesses  and you have a similar experience. The asteroid Juno in one’s chart show’s how, where and with whom we are likely to show our commitment within relationship and our style of relatedness. However in Greek Mythology, Juno, who was the wife of Jupiter, though committed, never attained the relatedness she so desired. One account of their marriage tells of a rape and resultant guilt of Juno (or Hera) as the reason for the marriage, and another tells of a forced marriage. Curiously, in pre-Greek (Pre-Hellenic) times, the Goddess Juno (Hera) ruled alone and had no consort (or spouse). At that time she was called Three Moon Goddess. More on Three Moon Goddess in future posts… but for now we can note that somewhere between between Egyptian times and Greek times, a great female wound occurred in commitment and relatedness.

Though Astrology was developed in many cultures and across time, it was the Greeks who brought it to the form it is currently in. This is why all of the planets are named after Greek gods and goddesses. Before Greek times, the constellation of Libra, which describes relationships and marriage, didn’t exist. Libra was a part of Scorpio; the tail end of it. The Greeks created Libra, and the 7th house during the rise of patriarchy. This she is told in Libra, she cannot do unless she signs a contract. And in the marriage contract (the 7th house also rules business contracts and other partnerships) the contract is steeped in the patriarchal history of marriage.

I hope you are not depressed by all of this because thankfully, this is a wound that is healing.  It is my feeling that we are are in a time where relationships are finding a deeper connection and deeper purpose. There are whole sections of bookstores, programs, talk show and so on that are making sure of that. Astrologically, there are many who have Juno and the principles of relatedness well integrated in their birth charts and then there are those who struggle. And as women in this day and time we have been able to step into our power both economically and to a power within ourselves. As a result relationships have been forced to develop away from marriage as a contract in law, were women are regarded as property etc to marriage as soul contract, which has the potential to really transform the self and the world. I see this as Scorpio reclaiming and reattaching it’s Libra tail. As we are in the midst of this transition, finding out where Juno is in your chart and what aspects she makes will tell you lot’s about your own style of commitment and relating and quickly give you hints on how to heal.

Tools that will help Juno on her path: Check out the Goddess Report on my website www.threemoongoddess.com. There are many books and programs that are fantastic in helping to heal Juno, but some of my favorites are,  Marianne Williamson’s book Enchanted Love, Katherine Woodward Thomas’s book Calling in the One and 7 week program. Also helpful is the crystal, rose quartz.

When Juno is in her flow her gifts are: loyalty, steadfastness and the willingness to work it out (separate and return within relationship).

Note: Maybe you do not resonate with the Greek names of the Goddess Energy… One of my goals in explore the feminine in Astrology, is also to explore what names, goddesses, archetypes in other cultures and times describe the same energy… more on that in later posts!