The Woman's Encyclopedia of Myths & Secrets compiled by Barbara G. Walker contains a vital piece of information about Juno which for the most part, seems to have been overlooked in the common interpretations offered of Juno within astrology. Barbara writes:
The 'cookbook' interpretations of Juno, that offer her up as a Goddess of marriage and social customs is rather a patriarchal device from which the Queen of God'desses needs to be emancipated.
Another emanation of Juno, which I feel is of particular significance for the personal and the collective, is that of Juno Moneta - the Advisor and Admonisher.
Moneta from which we get the word 'money' and it is this emanation of Juno that is currently transiting through the Via Combusta and adding fuel to the fire of the Global Financial crisis; revealing the divisions between the 'haves' and the 'have nots'.
Money is energy, energy is money. We express our energy through the current of currency. We are defined by the tax-bracket we fall into, or by the welfare allowance we receive. Money makes the world go around: and Juno Moneta gives the admonishment: the love of money is the root of all evil.
In this 21st Century, we live within a man-made world with ever escalating materialistic values and a wise man once warned of the dangers of spiritual materialism, and spirituality has become infested with entrepreneurs making a quick buck out of 2012, and teaching the Law of Attraction with a materialistic spin.
Juno is associated with the signs Libra and Scorpio. As the 'virgin' mother of Mars, she has a vested interest in all matters pertaining to the Eighth House, of which Mars is the esoteric ruler. One could also theorize that she is also interested in Aries, of which Mars is the orthodox ruler. In the First century AD, the Roman astrologer, Manilius wrote a poem in five books called the Astronomica, in which he allocated Juno as the tutelary deity of Aquarius.
So let's take this idea and look at Juno as a Protectress of Aries, Libra, Scorpio and Aquarius: the natural first, seventh, eigth and eleventh houses of the zodiacal wheel. Caroline Myss, in her book "Sacred Contracts: Awakening your Divine Potential", correlates healing challenges to each of the natural twelve houses.
1st -Aries - Birthing the Self
7th - Libra - Maintaining personal boundaries
8th - Scorpio - Confronting greed and developing personal integrity
11th - Aquarius - Surrending to the Divine.
These are the spheres of personal transformation and soul evolution in which Juno, as Mother of the People, as Advisor, as Admonisher is present as an invisible partner.
The patriarchal distortions of the Asteroid God'dess Juno include (and are not limited to):
Juno as Consort
Taking this concept on board, Juno is present in every relationship irregardless of whether it is platonic, casual, short-term, commited, long-term, estranged or irretrievably broken-down. Juno is also present in workplace relationships, especially in the designation of Personal Assistant-to-Executive roles - here we find the archetype of the Consort.
One only has to review history and the roles women have filled as King Consort, consorts to Governors, Ambassadors, Heads-of-State, social hostesses and, in her latest emanation, within the Tea Party (not that Sarah Palin is a particularly Juno-like in her modus operandi - she's more a Juno-wannabe).
Eleanor Roosevelt was a brilliant embodiment of Juno and of a women in touch with her juno. Eleanor who gave us such pithy quotes as:
After FDR's death, Eleanor helped create the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and this gives us another key to the essence of Juno in Aquarius: that of the World Server.
We all serve the world by simply being present and awake to our inner and outer landscape and memory. This, too, is Juno Moneta - the title of Moneta given also to Mnemosyne, Goddess of Memory and mother of the Muses.
Hard aspects to asteroid god'dess Juno need to be considered through the lens of the questions:
How does this aspect block or support the native's access to, and awareness of their Soul? Where and how is an invisible barrier of patriarchal conditioning influencing their self-perception, and what customs and traditions are they subscribing to that reinforces the block?
Modern culture gives us movies such as "Mona Lisa Smile" that presents several junior Junos. An earlier movie, based on Jacqueline Susann's novel "Valley of the Dolls', and bearing the same title, illuminates the struggle of Juno as she contorts herself to fit patriarchal expectations. A yet earlier movie that presents various emanations of Juno is "The Women" - the original 1939 movie having been remade in 2008 (and not nearly as good). On the darker side of Juno, we have "The First Wives Club", which is more representative of the scorned Greek Hera - which Juno becomes when she is really pissed off.
There is a subtle difference in the energies of the Roman Juno and her Greek counterpart, Hera: they should not be blended nor confused by canny astrologists, because the point I am making with Juno, is that her placement in the natal chart, indicates the juno-soul of the native. The feminine genius: the daimon - the individual instance of a general divine nature that is present in every individual person, place or thing.
The juno was worshipped under many titles:
Juno Moneta, as mentioned earlier, carries an admonishment, a Biblical one:
Juno and the Eighth House
One only has to recall the very public squabbles that break out over Wills and Inheritances, as the vultures fight over the carcass - the classic Eighth House challenge of confronting greed and developing personal integrity is very prominent in these sort of wranglings.
I found myself enmeshed in such a squabble when my mother died in 1994, As her only child, I did not anticipate nor even consider that her siblings would use the occasion of her funeral to carry out an act of breathtaking treachery and betrayal, through stealing from my mother's house, a family heirloom she intended for me to inherit, with the intention of donating it to her hometown's Historical Society - where it truly belonged for safekeeping.
Where was Juno Moneta? Transiting the Via Combusta of course, exact conjunct my natal Neptune. Along with my mother, all illusions I held about my maternal aunts and uncles being people of good character also died. A much well-deserved death. To describe my mother's family as dysfunctional is an understatement.
I have noticed that Juno transits across the Via Combusta have coincided with those times I have resigned (or walked out) from abusive workplaces with cultures that turn a blind-eye to Occupational Health & Safety issues, and when I have left unequal relationships in which I have stayed in too long. Ominously, Juno was in a Via Combusta transit on the day I got married - which explains a lot!
In my life, at least, Juno isn't content to play second-fiddle or to be under the authority of lesser mortals. Yet such experiences were necessary and have served the purpose of my becoming consciously engaged with my juno-genius and co-operating with the unfolding of my Soul's evolution in this lifetime. The Soul makes an enduring commitment and I am acutely aware of the marriage I have with the Divine - which no man can put asunder.
In his thought-provoking and lyrical book, "The Three Marriages", poet and author David Whyte reimagines work, self and relationship from a quintessential juno-genius.
One could extrapolate that Juno may also be involved in matters of Child Support and Paternity, and in a man's natal chart, Juno may carry a warning for him to be careful when sowing his wild oats. Lest he become ensnared within a relationship or an 18-year financial commitment that clips his wings.
Another movie, more poignant, is "The House of Mirth", based on the novel by Edith Wharton - an astute observer of manners and social mores of her times - in which the heroine Lily Bart, fails to connect with her Juno-smarts. In many ways, the novels of Edith Wharton remain pertinent to the modernity of our 21st Century life, in that they identify several themes under which we still live. The more things change, the more they stay the same.
It is worthwhile to remember, when disseminating the Asteroid God'dess Juno to a client, within the parameters of an astrological consultation, that Juno's traditional role was as the Roman God'dess of Good Counsel, and as the person the client has come to, for counsel, for information - you are JUNO and you are addressing their juno-soul.
Juno Moneta:
She had a large and famous temple on the Arx, a height on the Capitoline Hill in Rome, which was a site that had been sacred to Her from early times. One story goes that geese were sacred to Juno, and as such were kept at Her temple or cult center on the Capitoline. In the year 390 BCE, the Gauls surprised Rome with an attack on the Capitol, but the geese of Juno started a honking ruckus (as geese are wont to do) and the citizens were alerted and thus able to drive off the Gauls. In gratitude for the noble efforts of Her geese, Juno was honored with the name Moneta.
The temple was dedicated on the 10th of October,
Juno, the Roman Great Mother had dozens of attributes or emanations:and so on. You get the idea. Then there is this tasty morsel:
Juno Fortuna - Goddess of Fate
Juno Sospita - The Preserver
Juno Regina - Queen of Heaven
Juno Martialis - the 'virgin' mother of Mars
Juno Populonia - Mother of the People
Every Roman woman embodied a bit of God'desses spirit, her own soul, a juno, corresponding to the genius of a man. Later patriarchal vocabularies dropped the word juno but retained genius, thus depriving women of their soulsThis is important for re-interpreting the Asteroid Goddess Juno in we are to reclaim the Sacred Feminine from the distortions of patriarchy. Restoring the juno in Juno is a task that is incumbent on astrologers to undertake within the sphere of their respective practices: mundane, horary, esoteric and evolutionary alike.
The 'cookbook' interpretations of Juno, that offer her up as a Goddess of marriage and social customs is rather a patriarchal device from which the Queen of God'desses needs to be emancipated.
Another emanation of Juno, which I feel is of particular significance for the personal and the collective, is that of Juno Moneta - the Advisor and Admonisher.
Moneta from which we get the word 'money' and it is this emanation of Juno that is currently transiting through the Via Combusta and adding fuel to the fire of the Global Financial crisis; revealing the divisions between the 'haves' and the 'have nots'.
Money is energy, energy is money. We express our energy through the current of currency. We are defined by the tax-bracket we fall into, or by the welfare allowance we receive. Money makes the world go around: and Juno Moneta gives the admonishment: the love of money is the root of all evil.
In this 21st Century, we live within a man-made world with ever escalating materialistic values and a wise man once warned of the dangers of spiritual materialism, and spirituality has become infested with entrepreneurs making a quick buck out of 2012, and teaching the Law of Attraction with a materialistic spin.
Juno is associated with the signs Libra and Scorpio. As the 'virgin' mother of Mars, she has a vested interest in all matters pertaining to the Eighth House, of which Mars is the esoteric ruler. One could also theorize that she is also interested in Aries, of which Mars is the orthodox ruler. In the First century AD, the Roman astrologer, Manilius wrote a poem in five books called the Astronomica, in which he allocated Juno as the tutelary deity of Aquarius.
So let's take this idea and look at Juno as a Protectress of Aries, Libra, Scorpio and Aquarius: the natural first, seventh, eigth and eleventh houses of the zodiacal wheel. Caroline Myss, in her book "Sacred Contracts: Awakening your Divine Potential", correlates healing challenges to each of the natural twelve houses.
1st -Aries - Birthing the Self
7th - Libra - Maintaining personal boundaries
8th - Scorpio - Confronting greed and developing personal integrity
11th - Aquarius - Surrending to the Divine.
These are the spheres of personal transformation and soul evolution in which Juno, as Mother of the People, as Advisor, as Admonisher is present as an invisible partner.
The patriarchal distortions of the Asteroid God'dess Juno include (and are not limited to):
- the "little woman" behind the big man
- marital collapse: the unfaithful husband and the betrayed wife
- the sexless marriage
- the "powerless" woman in an unequal relationship
- the "neurotic" wife whose needs are thwarted
- the "battered wife" and the Battered Wife Syndrome
- equality and balance in relationships
- interdependent rather than co-dependent relationships
- mutual sharing, love, honesty, goodwill and respect
- women reclaiming their power
Juno as Consort
Taking this concept on board, Juno is present in every relationship irregardless of whether it is platonic, casual, short-term, commited, long-term, estranged or irretrievably broken-down. Juno is also present in workplace relationships, especially in the designation of Personal Assistant-to-Executive roles - here we find the archetype of the Consort.
One only has to review history and the roles women have filled as King Consort, consorts to Governors, Ambassadors, Heads-of-State, social hostesses and, in her latest emanation, within the Tea Party (not that Sarah Palin is a particularly Juno-like in her modus operandi - she's more a Juno-wannabe).
Eleanor Roosevelt was a brilliant embodiment of Juno and of a women in touch with her juno. Eleanor who gave us such pithy quotes as:
A woman is ike a tea bag - you can't tell how strong she is until you put her in hot water.To understand the essence of Juno, one only needs to reflect on the life and times of Eleanor Roosevelt and the grace with which she walked in this world. The power behind the throne and a keen observor of social rituals - as well as a betrayed wife with a husband who later became an invalid (sexless marriage?)
Campaign behaviour for wives: Always be on time. Do as little talking as humanly possible. Lean back in the parade car so everybody can see the President.
Do what you feel in your heart to be right - for you'll be criticized anyway. You'll be damned if you do, and damned if you don't.
What is to give light must endure the burning.
After FDR's death, Eleanor helped create the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and this gives us another key to the essence of Juno in Aquarius: that of the World Server.
We all serve the world by simply being present and awake to our inner and outer landscape and memory. This, too, is Juno Moneta - the title of Moneta given also to Mnemosyne, Goddess of Memory and mother of the Muses.
Hard aspects to asteroid god'dess Juno need to be considered through the lens of the questions:
How does this aspect block or support the native's access to, and awareness of their Soul? Where and how is an invisible barrier of patriarchal conditioning influencing their self-perception, and what customs and traditions are they subscribing to that reinforces the block?
Modern culture gives us movies such as "Mona Lisa Smile" that presents several junior Junos. An earlier movie, based on Jacqueline Susann's novel "Valley of the Dolls', and bearing the same title, illuminates the struggle of Juno as she contorts herself to fit patriarchal expectations. A yet earlier movie that presents various emanations of Juno is "The Women" - the original 1939 movie having been remade in 2008 (and not nearly as good). On the darker side of Juno, we have "The First Wives Club", which is more representative of the scorned Greek Hera - which Juno becomes when she is really pissed off.
There is a subtle difference in the energies of the Roman Juno and her Greek counterpart, Hera: they should not be blended nor confused by canny astrologists, because the point I am making with Juno, is that her placement in the natal chart, indicates the juno-soul of the native. The feminine genius: the daimon - the individual instance of a general divine nature that is present in every individual person, place or thing.
The juno was worshipped under many titles:
- Iugalis, "of marriage"
- Matronalis, "of married women"
- Pronuba, "of brides"
- Virginalis, "of virginity"
Juno Moneta, as mentioned earlier, carries an admonishment, a Biblical one:
For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows. Timothy 6:10Timothy was one of the best known of Paul's companions and fellow-laborers. He was evidently one of Paul's own converts. Saint Paul is described as an unmitigated misogynist, yet he most likely only reflected the social and cultural mores of his times.
Juno and the Eighth House
One only has to recall the very public squabbles that break out over Wills and Inheritances, as the vultures fight over the carcass - the classic Eighth House challenge of confronting greed and developing personal integrity is very prominent in these sort of wranglings.
I found myself enmeshed in such a squabble when my mother died in 1994, As her only child, I did not anticipate nor even consider that her siblings would use the occasion of her funeral to carry out an act of breathtaking treachery and betrayal, through stealing from my mother's house, a family heirloom she intended for me to inherit, with the intention of donating it to her hometown's Historical Society - where it truly belonged for safekeeping.
Where was Juno Moneta? Transiting the Via Combusta of course, exact conjunct my natal Neptune. Along with my mother, all illusions I held about my maternal aunts and uncles being people of good character also died. A much well-deserved death. To describe my mother's family as dysfunctional is an understatement.
I have noticed that Juno transits across the Via Combusta have coincided with those times I have resigned (or walked out) from abusive workplaces with cultures that turn a blind-eye to Occupational Health & Safety issues, and when I have left unequal relationships in which I have stayed in too long. Ominously, Juno was in a Via Combusta transit on the day I got married - which explains a lot!
In my life, at least, Juno isn't content to play second-fiddle or to be under the authority of lesser mortals. Yet such experiences were necessary and have served the purpose of my becoming consciously engaged with my juno-genius and co-operating with the unfolding of my Soul's evolution in this lifetime. The Soul makes an enduring commitment and I am acutely aware of the marriage I have with the Divine - which no man can put asunder.
In his thought-provoking and lyrical book, "The Three Marriages", poet and author David Whyte reimagines work, self and relationship from a quintessential juno-genius.
Thinking of work, self and relationship as three marriages offers the possibility of living them out in a way in which they are not put into competition with one another, where each of the marriages can protect, embolden and enliven the others and help keep us mutually honest, relevant, authentic and alive. ~ David WhyteThe asteroid God'dess Juno and the juno(soul) is ill-served by the commonplace and mundane astrological interpretations that relegate her to the narrow confines of the institution of marriage. An institution, as Jared Diamond, writes was invented so that men could be more certain that the children the women birthed were fathered by them - and no other. A woman always knows who her children are, the men just have to trust that the woman hasn't hoodwinked them. This, too, cuts back to the Eighth House challenge of developing personal integrity. It is beneath a true Juno-woman to pass off another man's child as the child of her husband-provider.
One could extrapolate that Juno may also be involved in matters of Child Support and Paternity, and in a man's natal chart, Juno may carry a warning for him to be careful when sowing his wild oats. Lest he become ensnared within a relationship or an 18-year financial commitment that clips his wings.
Another movie, more poignant, is "The House of Mirth", based on the novel by Edith Wharton - an astute observer of manners and social mores of her times - in which the heroine Lily Bart, fails to connect with her Juno-smarts. In many ways, the novels of Edith Wharton remain pertinent to the modernity of our 21st Century life, in that they identify several themes under which we still live. The more things change, the more they stay the same.
It is worthwhile to remember, when disseminating the Asteroid God'dess Juno to a client, within the parameters of an astrological consultation, that Juno's traditional role was as the Roman God'dess of Good Counsel, and as the person the client has come to, for counsel, for information - you are JUNO and you are addressing their juno-soul.
Juno Moneta:
She had a large and famous temple on the Arx, a height on the Capitoline Hill in Rome, which was a site that had been sacred to Her from early times. One story goes that geese were sacred to Juno, and as such were kept at Her temple or cult center on the Capitoline. In the year 390 BCE, the Gauls surprised Rome with an attack on the Capitol, but the geese of Juno started a honking ruckus (as geese are wont to do) and the citizens were alerted and thus able to drive off the Gauls. In gratitude for the noble efforts of Her geese, Juno was honored with the name Moneta.
The temple was dedicated on the 10th of October,
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