Article © 2013 by Joyce Mason
All Rights Reserved
All Rights Reserved
Spring and the sign of Aries blast into our lives in a way
that does justice to the expression “living out loud.” Buds burst, light sings,
the sap rises in trees and we ditch our winter slump for a love affair with
high energy.
If this sounds somewhat like overdoing the happy dance
because you just got a Get Out of Jail Free card, there’s some mythical truth
to the matter. From a symbolic standpoint, spring is more like a season’s pass
from Hell. Here’s how the story goes.
Spring Mythology
Long ago in a place far away that may have never existed,
but is none the less true for its core wisdom: Demeter, the goddess of crops
and harvest (the asteroid Ceres in astrology), bore a daughter with Zeus, king
of the gods. The daughter’s name was Persephone. One day Persephone was out
gathering wild flowers when she was abducted by Hades—better known to us in his
astrological persona as Pluto. Hades took Persephone to be his lover and queen
in the Land of the Dead. (Not hard to see the parallels to an unevolved Scorpio
and why Hades gets my nomination for patron sinner of stalkers.)
Demeter roams the land, trying to find her lost daughter. Ultimately, she encounters Hecate, one of the
original witchy women, who advises her to go to Helios, the Sun, to find out if
he saw who snatched Persephone. All is revealed in the light of day, and Helios
names Hades as the perpetrator.
Naturally, Demeter pleads with Zeus to do something. He is the chief god, and as incest-laden mythology would have it, Zeus is also Demeter and Hades’ brother. (Throw sibling rivalry into this soap opera.) Zeus refuses to intervene, and Demeter, righteously angry, refuses in turn to perform her duties as crop goddess. Famine threatens extinction of the human race.
The next bit of the story, typical of legends, has a couple
of different versions. One is that Zeus finally intervenes and forces Hades to
give up Persephone. In another, Demeter bargains for her daughter’s release.
[1] (I like the latter because it empowers Demeter as the only person I know of
in the myths who deals with that devil and at least cuts a compromise.)
Once reunited, Demeter asks if Persephone ate anything in
the underworld. She admits to having consumed a pomegranate seed. This act links
her permanently to the Land of the Dead, where she is destined to spend part of
each year as Hades’ wife. During the time she’s gone, Demeter mourns and the crops
go barren. Thus we have the cycle of growth, harvest, winter—and the joy of all
nature welcoming Persephone back each spring.
Spring Fire
After revisiting this tale, it’s easy to understand why, in
the perfection of nature, the cycle of the Sun through the zodiac begins with
the first fire sign, Aries. It’s as though Persephone brings with her a little
bit of hellfire without the damnation. (That comes later when she has to go back
to the underworld.)
Carl Jung associated the astrological element fire with
intuition. Fire is the life force rising up in us. It gives us warmth, comfort
and literal fire cooks our food. [2] Man’s discovery of fire was one of the
most important moments in human evolution. It changed the human course forever.
Fire’s awesome power is recognized in another myth, that of Prometheus. He is
punished horribly for stealing fire from the gods and is associated with the
planet Uranus. As we evolve, we better harness our own inner warmth and fire to
strengthen our own self-confidence and to share our ideas and creativity. It
takes an initial act of rebellion to snatch some fire for ourselves and not let
the jealous gods horde it --and lord it over us. After all, it’s the life force
itself. It belongs to everyone, like the sun, stars and sky.
Celebrate!
It’s the Natural New Year, the first—and in some ways the
most important—of the Cardinal Turning Points. Here are some past posts with
poems, ceremonies and things to ponder to kick off your New Year with some
firecrackers of inspiration and meaning:
In his book, The Inner Sky, astrologer Stephen Forrest talks
about the Sign of the Spring Equinox and Aries’ psychological association with
the development of courage. [3] Behind every Aries Warrior is someone working
on getting up the guts to do something. If the Aries you know seem more
courageous than most, it’s only because they’ve been working on it since Day 1.
This is the time of year for all of us to screw up our
courage and become more Aries- like—to be Life Warriors, rushing headlong into
new adventures, taking risks and starting the New Year off boldly. Burst out of
your winter eggshell and fly into spring like a firecracker, tail afire!
Happy Rebirthday, All!
~~~
Photo Credit: © Jürgen Fälchle - Fotolia.com
NOTES
- Myths and Legends: The Yearly Agricultural Cycle http://ancienthistory.about.com/cs/grecoromanmyth1/a/mythslegends_2.htm
- The Four Elements in Astrology by Bonnie Moss http://www.astrostar.com/Four-Elements.htm
- Forrest, Steven, The Inner Sky, Seven Paws Press: 2007, p. 42.
No comments:
Post a Comment