Olga Rozzell
Astrology,
Health and Wellness Coaching
Astrology and myths.
Times change. Empires and civilizations rise and fall. Every nation has its own customs. However, the lives of people throughout the history and all over the world are very similar in their essence: all of us value relationships and families, seek recognition and personal growth, and enjoy the beauty of the nature, although in different circumstances and settings.
I have realized that all people have similar values and aspirations after I flew over the Atlantic Ocean to settle in a new country that would become my new homeland. Although the circumstances of life and everyday habits seemed to be very different from the life in the country where I grew up, I quickly recognized that the core values and expectations are the same. Similar to me, people in my new homeland were seeking meaningful personal relationships, liked to get together with friends and relatives, cared for their children and tried to give them a proper education, studied hard to attain professional excellence, read the same books and listened to the same music, and beautified their homes with flowers. The settings may be different, but the recurring motifs of our lives and characters remain the same throughout the history and lands.
These recurring motifs are called archetypes, and they have been very vividly pictured in the characters of ancient Gods, either Greek, Roman, Egyptian, or of any other origin – similar stories about the heroes and Gods have been told by different cultures from different times and lands.
Look around, and you will quickly recognize a fearless warrior, who is always ready to protect and to jump into the fire to save others: this is Roman Mars, or Greek Ares. You will see a serious productive businessman in a suit always looking at his watch, who does not like to waste his time on “silly stuff”, or a strict authoritative father figure – this is Roman Saturn, or Greek Chronus. What about that dignified larger-than-life professor, who reigns at scientific conferences and in a class room and is always surrounded by the flock of young female students? This is Jupiter, or Greek Zeus. And the worried jealous woman next to him, who is holding the hands of their children, crying over his infidelity and working hard to save the marriage? This is his wife Juno (Hera). The beautiful well-dressed young woman in high heels surrounded by hungry men is Venus (Aphrodite), and that young chatty guy, who keeps moving around the room eagerly delivering the latest rumor, is Mercury (Hermes).
Myths are the alphabet of astrology. Astrologer looks at a horoscope and interprets the positions and the interaction of planets using the language and the archetypes of mythology. Each planet represents an archetype energy that manifests in our lives by evoking the events and people who look and act like the archetypal Gods. Venus represents beauty, sexuality, pleasures, attractions, and its position in our horoscope will describe how we attract others, what we find attractive and beautiful, how we express our sexuality, and what we find pleasurable. Mercury represents our thoughts, language and communications. Its position in a birth horoscope would tell the astrologer how our thought process works, what our communication style is, and how we handle speaking and writing. The position and the condition of Mars suggest how and why we express our anger and frustration.
The relationships between the planetary positions at birth and the current positions of the planets in the sky are also interpreted using the language of mythology. For example, the position of Saturn (the God of time and authority) may indicate the areas of life where we currently feel restricted in terms of the time and our resources and where we should expect to gain more responsibilities and authority.
The system of the mythological archetypes used by astrology may seem artificial at first glance, especially to someone, who is not inclined to spiritual pursuits and cannot see himself as a small part of the larger Universe where everything and everyone are connected in obvious and less visible ways. However, the synchronicity of the events in the Universe becomes more obvious and less unexpected as we develop on our path of spirituality and knowledge. If one is able to see similarities between the contemporary life and ancient myths, the connections between Gods and planets, planets and our characters, and celestial events and our lives are not hard to trace.
