DESPERATELY SEEKING JUNO

For many years I’ve been searching for a more satisfactory meaning for the asteroid Juno, the goddess called Hera by the Greeks. Astrological interpretations of this asteroid have always felt contrived and superficial to me. After many years of “desperately seeking Juno,” I’ve pieced together some of Juno’s missing parts. These discoveries have gelled to a point where I can start sharing this information with others. Hopefully dialogs about Juno’s potential will result, and deeper, healthier picture of this wonderful asteroid will unfold.

Juno from the 1800’s to the 1980’s

As one of the “Lady Asteroids” discovered in the early 1800’s, recognition of Juno (Hera) and her companions – Pallas Athena, Vesta, and Ceres – have increased in their importance to the astrological vocabulary since the 1980’s. Demetra George’s book Asteroid Goddesses was one of the main literary contributions spurring recognition of the usefulness of additional feminine energies in contemporary chart delineations.

A brief recap of Demetra George’s attributions to Juno is in order. George gives Juno rulership of marital relationships and other long-term partnerships. This asteroid also indicates divorce battles, particularly where children are pawns being tugged between angry parents. A strongly-placed and well aspected Juno gives great strength in protecting the young and the weak, and she is a patroness of childbirth (although Ceres may be more indicative of when birth will occur). Since Juno was married to an unfaithful husband, the asteroid also carries overtones of sorrow from infidelity, jealousy and revenge, and resentment of children from a partner’s other (previous or extra-marital) relationships.

This description gives astrologers a basic grasp of the qualities attributed to Juno-Hera in Roman and Greek mythology. In spite of being the queen of the gods due to her marriage to the king of the gods (Zeus/Jupiter), Hera was an unhappy goddess in most Greco-Roman myths. Her persecution of Herakles (Hercules) is one of the most important legends centering on Hera’s vengeful tendencies toward Zeus’ illegitimate yet semi-divine offspring.

The earliest fully written stories of Hera can be found in Hesiod’s Theogeny. According to this ancient Greek poet, Zeus was something of a serial husband. He married Metis, with whom he conceived Athena. Before Athena could be delivered, Zeus swallowed Metis; later Athena sprang fully formed from Zeus’ head. Next Zeus married Themis (children: the Horae, Eunomia, Dike, Eirene, and the Moerae). After this fun and busy marital episode, Zeus married Eurynome, who bore him the Graces, Aglaea, Euphrosyne, and Thaleia. Next came Demeter, who gave birth to Persephone; then Leto, who produced Apollo and Artemis.

Hesiod continues: “Lastly, he made Hera his blooming wife: and she was joined in love with the king of gods and men, and brought forth Hebe and Ares and Eileithyia.

“But Zeus himself gave birth from his own head to bright-eyed Tritogeneia (Athena), the awful, the strife-stirring, the host-leader, the unwearying, the queen, who delights in tumults and wars and battles. But Hera quarreled with her mate – bare famous Hephaestus, who is skilled in crafts more than all the sons of Heaven.” (p. 147)

Greco-Roman myths hint at the power of Hera. The milk of her breasts created the Milky Way, and she was known as the “cow-eyed” goddess. This connects her with the important constellation of Taurus, as well as the related lunar crescent symbol. However, in the Greco-Roman pantheon, other goddesses were associated with lunar rulership. Demetra George failed to glean any interpretive juice from Juno’s connection with the sky and stars and the lunar crescent, and what that might mean for this goddess-asteroid. She focuses exclusively on her wifely role and unfortunate marital dynamics, with a smattering of her association with childbirth. By overlooking the Milky Way clue from the Greco-Roman myths, the asteroid’s interpretive meaning is incomplete.

The more one looks over the various Greco-Roman myths connected with Hera, the more unbecoming and superficial these myths seem. Why would a goddess who created the Milky Way be unable to exit a bad marriage? Why would the queen of the gods be reduced to petty vengeance against her husband’s bastards? If she was so powerless and negligible, how did she ever get to be queen in the first place?

Neolithic Hera

Archeological evidence has established an independent, ancient culture that developed from 7000 to 3500 BCE in what are now the Balkans, Greece, western Italy, and southern Ukraine, a geographic area referred to as "Old Europe." New research on artifacts from this region supercedes faulty older assumptions that this area was merely an adjunct to the early cultures of the Middle East and Asia.

Remnants of Old Europe survived into the Minoan culture, circa 2500 BCE. This geographically separate island culture was relatively unaffected by the three successive waves of invaders from the Russian steppes (the Indo-Europeans or Indo-Aryans) that took place from approximately 4000 - 2500 BCE. The Minoan culture was virtually wiped out by a massive volcanic explosion on Crete. This tragic disaster, however, preserved intact much material later discovered by archeologists. Entire palaces and homes were found beneath layers of soil. Since the Minoans had a written language, text-aided depictions assist in identifying the goddesses and gods they worshipped, as well as their identical equivalents in Old European artifacts.

The artifacts from Old Europe make it clear that Hera was an Old European goddess with a distinct identity and symbolism portrayed by the Paleolithic hunter-gatherers before 7000 BC (this means Hera is at least 9000 years old! What a goddess!). The subsequent agricultural Neolithic (7000-5500 BC) cultures retained her image, and appearances of this goddess - affiliated with snakes and cosmic waters - reached their height in sophisticated elegance in the Chalcolithic Old European cultures circa 5500-3500 BC. The Old Europeans were matriarchal, agrarian, communal, and peaceful, and by the height of their culture had established many large, stable permanent communities.

As known and worshipped by the Old Europeans, Hera was one of the most revered goddesses. Her sanctuaries were located in valleys, at the estuaries of rivers and in open pastureland, implying that she was a guardian of the waterways, herds (cattle, goats, sheep), and pastures. She was called "The Noble One" and "The Giver of All," and artistically depicted as tall, strong, and beautiful. In her highest aspect, she was the ruler of the heavenly waters, so representative of the feminine creative principle, the creatrix of the world who charges it with energy and continues to nourish it with water from the heavens.

Hera is not a name of Greek origin. It was found in inscriptions in Linear B as "E-ra," signifying a goddess of the air or heavens, a female fertility goddess. The offerings found in sanctuaries dedicated to her include: snake sculptures, horned animal figurines, calves, anthropomorphic idols with large eyes decorated with spirals and meanders, as well as shrine models.

The large eyes are significant. Homer described Hera as "cow-eyed," and bull horns were an extremely ancient and consistent altar item throughout the five millennia of the Old Europe culture. Bull horns were a symbol of the source of life, and related to moon crescents. The spiral and meander images were related to snakes, again, a symbol of regeneration and water.

In text-aided images of this goddess found in Minoan artifacts, she is depicted as tall and stately. Her hair is often snake-like, or a snake or zig-zags are depicted on her skirt. Further evidence of her origins is given by Herodotus, an ancient historian, who claimed that Hera was taken over by the Greeks (Hellenes from Asia Minor and the islands) from the Pelasgians (the indigenous peoples of mainland Greece and Macedonia, i.e. the remnants of the Old European culture).

Interestingly, some Minoan depictions show Hera seated, while Zeus stands by her side as a consort. This suggests these images were painted during the very early stages of her integration with the Indo-European thunder god. Zeus eventually became the pre-eminent Olympic deity and literally screwed Hera out of her power and potent fertility on his way up to the top.

So our lady Hera was a wild, swinging bachelorette snake goddess for about 6,000 years before she got stuck in a lousy marriage with Zeus. While this marriage (i.e., cultural absorption) prevented her from being forgotten, it significantly lowered her status by the time that written records were being made by Homer and Hesiod (arguably 900-700 BCE).

What strikes me as even more fascinating is that her astrological glyph, which resembles an antenna, can also - from a Neolithic perspective - resemble a snake-headed goddess.

The Juno Glyph: ´

Hera Empowered

Hera as a supreme creatrix capable of charging her creation with energy and sustaining it with cosmic waters is a much more attractive image than that of pissed-off wife. In some images/idols, she is shown with an extended neck and snake head, suggesting a hermaphroditic creature (i.e., a woman's body and phallic neck/head). This depiction of enormous self-contained potency results in the endowment of supernatural creative powers.

But this view seriously contradicts the Greco-Roman view of Hera as patroness of marriage and childbirth. In the Neolithic/Chalcolithic pantheon, the goddess associated with childbirth was an entirely different entity. Depictions of the child-birth goddess include anthropomorphic images of the goddess as toad, with legs spread in a child-bearing position. The childbirth goddess is related historically to Artemis and Hecate. Because of their undiminished lunar association, both Artemis and Hecate remained without consorts in Greek myth (and they weren’t Hellenic or Indo-European goddesses, either). Hecate was able to transfer her pre-eminent status into the Greek pantheon. It has been suggested that her witchy followers spooked the invaders enough to leave Hecate and her powers intact. Hesiod’s description of Hecate, and Zeus’s delicate, fairy-fingered treatment of her (in Theogeny), is almost groveling.

Another point revealed by research is that the Snake Goddess was closely associated with the Bird Goddess, who eventually became Athena. In early myths Hera and Athena are always closely associated, either as friends or as rivals, and are usually depicted together on Greek frescos and pottery.

Old European artifacts show distinctly separate Bird and Snake goddesses, but many of the abstract symbols incised or painted on the figurines of these two goddesses were shared: the spiral, meanders, three parallel lines, three dots, lozenge and dot combinations, egg or lens designs, zigzagging or swirling lines (including parallel zigzags resembling the glyph for Aquarius), crosses, encircled crosses, and a wide variety of decorated crosses. Meanders are spirals with corners - early depictions of labyrinths. The Snake Goddess was the "queen of the labyrinths," suggesting that she was complex and only accessible through extended searching and seeking, and by plunging into the depths of the unknown.

Demetra George shows similarities between Juno and Ceres (wife/mother and grandmother); and Pallas Athena and Vesta (daughter and older sister). The Old European evidence offers an alternative viewpoint supporting a close relationship and an affinity of powers between Juno and Pallas Athena. Athena also has close ties to Artemis because her equipment includes weaving artifacts - spindle-whorls and distaffs.

Ceres/Demeter is associated with a much-less-ancient vegetation goddess that evolved after agriculture became a part of the lifestyle and economy. Vesta seems to be anomalous to the ancient images; however, the miniature shrine models often found in sanctuaries always included an oven or kiln for baking bread, or perhaps for firing clay, so perhaps she was extrapolated from that function. But that would make her closer in relationship to Ceres!

The Old European relationships upset Demetra George's apple cart of asteroid goddess associations. Hopefully these disclosures will encourage astrologers to reconsider the value of superficial, secondary mythologies for serving as an interpretive basis for the asteroid goddesses, and for other deities who predate Greco-Roman myths.

These archeological revelations have led me to wonder if the constellational figure of Ophiochus was, during the Paleo- and Neolithic Old European culture, imagined as the Snake Goddess. Nearly all myths have a constellational equivalent, no matter how ancient. So this is speculation in the extreme, I'll admit, but it does have a nice appeal since the Scorpio-Ophiochus-Sagittarius constellations would have been visible in the spring during the Neolithic era - a time of awakening life appropriate for rites and festivals honoring the Snake Goddess.

A Make-Over for Asteroid Juno

In light of Hera’s Old European legacy, some adjustment in the interpretation of the asteroid Juno is in order. In my opinion, she should be considered in three distinctly different identity phases: her wild and free and enormously potent phase as the Snake Goddess, E’ra; her transitional period, when her image was accompanied by a consort, Zeus; and her final phase as a subordinate wife, who, although a queen, was not free and had vastly curtailed powers.

Research on more charts needs to be done; however, there is one excellent celebrity case that demonstrates the transitional phase of Juno, and involves both marriage and childbirth. I wrote this in October of 2005, during an extended opposition between Juno in Gemini and Pluto in Sagittarius:

Juno's contact with Pluto may bring out the underhanded manipulation pattern that surrounds the historic Juno. Examples of this may be evident in cases where individuals (or groups) merge with other individuals (or groups) to protect their weak/eroding power base. As a woman of the ancient times might have been "sold into marriage" to protect family property rights or keep a local family in power by allying themselves through marriage with the invaders, there might be contemporary incidents of "sell-out" unions; a merger where the weaker partner casts away scruples, philosophies, beliefs, pet issues, or constituencies. Those prior beliefs, et. al., are subordinated to the new partner's greater power and influence. Tendencies for beliefs to be subverted are even stronger because of the Sag-Gemini axis involved, since these are signs concerned with ideas and ideologies.

We can also integrate the legend of Hades' (Pluto's) girlie grab: he burst through the crust of the earth's surface (i.e. Demeter) and snatched Persephone/Proserpine while she was picking flowers, and took her to his underground realm to be his bride. Analysis of this myth suggests that Demeter was in collusion with Hades since he was “allowed” to break through the earth’s surface. Persephone's father, Zeus, negotiated with the underworld god so that Persephone would reside half the year in the underworld and the other half on the surface of the earth with her mother, the earth goddess Demeter.

This adds the Plutonian behavioral model where parents cooperate or collude with a forceful man who swipes their daughter (or a relative who rapes or abuses a young person) to the transitional mode of Juno, in which a woman who is sold off in marriage so her family can secure a place in a new power base. These are pretty ugly patterns, and I'm not just whistling Dixie.

There's at least one current-events example that fits the bill for these patterns being "brought to light" by the Juno-Pluto opposition: the merger of Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes. A recent news report in the Toledo Free Press says that she's pregnant; has agreed to convert from Catholicism to Scientology; and have a "silent birth." This kind of delivery is enthusiastically supported by Scientologists: the woman agrees not to cry or scream or make any sounds during the delivery, so the baby can enter the world in quiet peace.

This union has all the makings of a big time sell out. Katie’s previous beliefs are being cast aside to align with her powerful husband's religious affiliation. Katie Holmes was raised in the city where I live, Toledo, and her father is an attorney here. Katie attended Catholic schools from K-12. Whenever her dad is interviewed, he keeps saying he thinks it’s great. Somehow, I'm not convinced. He seems to have "sold" his daughter to align his family with the Hollywood power base and get himself on the local A-list.

Important planetary transits, like conjunctions or oppositions, to Juno will tend to bring these kinds of issues to public visibility. Because of Juno’s association with royalty, celebrities or other individuals in the media spotlight will enact one of Juno’s three phases, particularly if her retrogrades make multiple major aspects to outer planets. As the Holmes-Cruise marriage progresses, we may see Katie turning into the unhappy shrew portrayed in the later Greco-Roman version of Juno’s myth. The early portion of their relationship certainly sets up that possibility.

In both natal and mundane astrology, delineation of Juno should include awareness of the possibility of Juno operating in one of the three phases mentioned above. My current theory is that good aspects and a strong placement enable Juno to operate as the Snake Goddess. Weaker placements and mixed aspects may indicate the transition phase; while overtly difficult aspects will evoke the unhappy wife phase. Further research may require modifications and fine-tuning of this theory.

In the case of the Holmes-Cruise union, Juno was transiting Gemini. Hera’s early association with the sky gives asteroid Juno an affinity for air signs. Hence, Katie’s marriage to Tom Cruise wasn’t overtly evil or a form of marital slavery by any means, but appeared to the public to be a young woman’s disappointing abandonment of personal beliefs in order to become a desirable marital candidate for a much older, eccentric, powerful man.

The Snake Goddess has an affinity for both air and water, but her association with domesticated animals suggests that earth signs are also a place of comfort for this asteroid. Her only awkward element seems to be fire, but helpful aspects may overcome that elemental weakness.

This asteroid may indicate the ability to not only be creative, but to be procreative, manifesting creations without need of a partner. In some instances, the Snake Goddess aspect of Juno may be so compelling to the native that marriage is rejected altogether in order to preserve the independent powers of creativity. Contrary to George’s assertion that difficult aspects to Juno will indicate difficult marriages or an inability to commit to marriage, an alternate interpretation is that the individual may be at their most fertile and creative in periods of stress; or even further, that the individual’s fertility is not dependent upon traditional marital unions for expression. The client may adopt a child or choose to foster children rather than physically producing a child.

All in all, a highly charged natal Juno may show that the client has no need for marriage, and prefers to continue to retain the Snake Goddess’s freedom. In this case, the deliberate choice to remain unmarried is a positive affirmation of independence rather than a pathetic inability to attract a spouse. Cultural prejudices against remaining single, especially for women, are eroding; so the Snake Goddess is more apt to be expressed without shame.

In the case of a less-happily aspected Juno, contemporary interpretations may hold more of a “sell-out” connotation than the “sold-off” connotation. Since adults are relatively free to choose their own partners, and since parents don’t make arranged marriages for their children anymore in Westernized countries, a person who marries for status or wealth rather than for reasons of compatibility may well exhibit an uncomfortable natal Juno placement. A similar configuration may appear in the chart of a creative person who can’t find a profitable outlet for their work, and resorts to “selling out” to a more lucrative, yet less true-to-self form of creativity. For instance, a gifted composer that can’t find people willing to perform his symphonies, and winds up writing jingles for commercials to pay the rent.

Creative talent often takes a back seat to pragmatism, and it’s judgmental and unfairly critical to accuse someone of selling out so they can pay bills. Commercial work has room for excellence, but in strictly artistic terms, it’s viewed as a sell-out on the part of the artist or musician who engages in it for pay at the expense of their greater, more profound creative potentials. But in modern society, a person’s needs often dictate the career choices made. Not everyone has the temperament for living as a starving artist. So perhaps the most diplomatic interpretation of a mildly afflicted Juno might be that the person must make practical choices and compromises in order to apply talents.

If the issue isn’t about marriage or artistic talents, it may center on awkward family dynamics caused by parental remarriage during the native’s formative years. Some portion of the child’s welfare may be “sold out” so the child will be accepted into the new marital arrangement. Conditions surrounding the house that Juno occupies may be awkward and subject to barely tolerable compromises. Much of this may be determined by the condition of the sign ruler and the aspect (or lack) this planet makes to Juno.

Progressed Juno

It is worthwhile to observe Juno’s movements through progression as observation shows that there is the potential for special effects to take place when progressed Juno crosses house and/or sign cusps. If Juno’s natal placement is in a succedent house, and she moves by progression into an angular house, the subsequent pattern may uniquely representative of the primal Snake Goddess and her procreative independence.

During her passage through the succedent house, Juno may act like her antennae-shaped glyph, absorbing information and knowledge and wisdom like clouds gathering rain as they travel over the land. At the time of Juno’s progression into the angular house, the accumulated knowledge is subsequently broadcast to others through teaching, writing, or other forms of outward demonstration. Multiple forms of knowledge, skills, and techniques may be integrated in fascinating and original ways.

In this sense, the Snake Goddess, source of the cosmic, life-giving and nourishing rains is following through on her potential for distribution – and the rain bursts forth from the swollen clouds. Other dynamics will apply as indicated by Juno’s natal condition and contacts and house position, and the progressed outflow will be modified by aspects to her progressed angular location. Outer planet contacts may coincide with knowledge distribution occurring on a broader, possibly national or global, level, as shown in the case study below.

The progressed period of absorption through the succedent house will be characterized by the sign of Juno’s natal position. The type of wisdom gained, and the manner of gaining it will be indicated by the house and sign, the sign’s element and quality. For instance, Juno in a cardinal sign will be self-motivated and independent in efforts to acquire knowledge. A fixed sign would indicate a more traditional process, perhaps through earning collegiate degrees. A mutable sign would indicate a more hodge-podge process, as the mutable sign occupies a succedent (mutable) house; and all mutable signs are ruled by Mercury or Jupiter. Multiple sources of information in diverse fields of study would be typical. In the case of a 6^th house Juno progressing into the 7^th house, the 6^th house progressed absorption period might represent an intense series of contacts with a variety of people in relationships or through multiple work settings. The hallmark of this type of progressed Juno is diversity.

The opposite situation can be more frustrating. If natal Juno is retrograde and sitting near an axis point, she moves away from the axis rather than crossing it. In this case, the accumulation proceeds without the appropriate (or desired) opportunity for outflow. The native may be compelled to endure situations fraught with difficult compromises. A client with this placement (Juno on the Ascendant, progressing away from that point) struggles with self value in the context of relationships, even though her Sun and Venus are conjunct and well-placed.

Case Study

Walt Disney (born December 5, 1901, 12:30 a.m. CST, Chicago, Illinois) was born with Juno at 25 Virgo conjunct his Ascendant at 24 Virgo. Through his early working years, Walt learned the mechanics of making and selling animated films. He learned how to add sound to that film, how to write material for cartoons, and how to manage a film studio. Apropos to the Virgo placement, he mastered the techniques and details of his art.

Disney’s progressed Juno learning curve lasted almost twenty years, until Juno progressed into Libra in his late thirties. When progressed Juno squared his natal Neptune in 1937, Walt Disney Studios released “Snow White” and brought Disney’s cartoons to a delighted world-wide audience. For the next ten years, Disney Studios continued to release animated films based on fairy tales, with a short break for World War II.

In 1949, Walt’s progressed Juno made a retrograde station at 1 Libra. While the success of Disney Studios and public image were undiminished, his personal life, health, and reputation deteriorated. He became paranoid about Communist infiltration in Hollywood, and was a notorious union buster. He fired employees at the least hint of misbehavior, and was particularly vicious about dismissing employees he suspected of homosexuality.

Walt developed very high ideals as Juno progressed into Libra. Yet as Juno retrograded, those standards were segregated into standards he applied to himself and his business dealings, and standards he applied to his employees. In other words – double standards. By the 1950’s, Walt was developing his biggest enterprise, Disney Land; but the studio had to work hard to hide the real Walt from the public. His chronic drinking, smoking, and overworking took a toll on his health, and he died of cancer in 1964.

While Juno’s progression into Libra (squaring Walt’s natal Neptune at 0 Cancer) opened the door for his myriad of skills to find a global audience, Juno’s retrograde brought about a noticeable deterioration in his personality, behavior, and health - all first house attributes. Although Walt was married, he was rarely at home. And although Walt relied heavily on his talented staff, particularly Ub Iwerks, they were rarely given a shred of credit or a crumb of money for their efforts. His name was on the sign over the door.

Juno can be expected to display her most characteristic traits when she sits alone on the Ascendant. And although Walt took partners, in marriage and business, he used or neglected them to suit his own purposes. His actions in partnerships and relationships, even with his brothers, were callous and ruthless. He maintained an exceptional amount of independence.

In a Demetra George-style delineation of natal Juno, one would expect Walt to place a high priority on forming and maintaining relationships, and taking care of underdogs. This was not the case. Disney displayed all the protean creativity and independence of the Snake Goddess. As his Juno progressed into cardinal Libra, the fruit of his skills burst forth across the globe, in full color and sound. While the gushing waters of productivity never slowed, his demonstrable deterioration did take place after Juno’s retrograde. He had an exceptional amount of power, but was inclined to abuse it. Juno remained progressed in Libra until the end of his life in 1964. Thanks to progressed Juno’s sustained square to Neptune, his greed, ruthlessness and alcoholism were well cloaked behind a cellophane “Uncle Walt” mask and an overworked PR department.

Not much was known about Walt Disney’s darker side until the 1990’s. One of the first of the Disney biographers to dig into Walt’s dirt was author Marc Eliot, who wrote Walt Disney: Hollywood’s Dark Prince in 1993 (Birch Lane Press). This shocking biography revealed Disney’s deep involvement with J. Edgar Hoover and the FBI’s collection of information about suspected Communists in Hollywood during the 1950’s. The author backed his statements with FBI documents made accessible by the Freedom of Information Act passed in the 1980’s. Eliot punctured the Disney Studio’s cone of silence to gather much that had been previously hidden and cloaked during Disney’s life. Juno had retrograded back to her natal position at 25 Virgo by this time this biography was released.

Conclusion

More research needs to be done on Juno and the other Lady Asteroids. So far, analyzing charts with the three potential phases of Juno in mind has been effective. A greater consideration of the Old European forms of these goddesses would enhance the interpretative range of the Lady Asteroids, as all of these goddesses predated Hellenic Greece. Further, there is a clear connection between the Neolithic and Hellenic forms of these goddesses. And oddly enough, the further we travel into the 21^st century, the more the Old European traits of these goddesses are relevant to chart interpretation.

Any feedback, or chart samples, from other astrologers would be welcome.