by Jana Astanov
Virgin Potency & the Astrofeminist archetypes of womXnhood. Part 1
Metacosmic potentiality becomes cosmic actuality
In occult thinking, the state of metacosmic potentiality becomes cosmic actuality. In terms of feminine archetypal connection, this is an exploratory quest into unknown forms that our culture and society are yet to embrace. Perhaps there are already seeded archetypes like the one of Creatrix, Generatrix and Madiatrix, which in terms of astrofeminist theory reflect the modalities of cardinal, fixed and mutable signs. This division ought to be explored, analyzed and enhanced by the examples of how these new archetypes penetrate through the society’s accepted modes of behavior.
Infinite Ocean of Potentiality
As new modes of actualizing one self, and relating to another, are seeded in an Infinite Ocean of potentiality, we ought to explore the feminine archetypes of the collective unconscious as inherited from the Era of Taurus, and the subsequent fragmentation of the sexual energy of the cosmic soul in the Era of Aries, and Pisces. In the most simplistic terms this is represented by the division of the Woman into the Virgin and the Mother.
The Eternal Feminine
SPACE, abstractly considered as the infinite ocean of potentiality, takes the idealized and mythic character of the Eternal Virgin, for the virginal state symbolized the possibility of any future manifestation. The woman virgin, traditionally, can be whatever the beloved who will dynamize and fecundate her field of creative possibilities demands of her. The archetypal woman is the sacred vessel ready to receive. Before that, she is SPACE, the infinite possibility of any and all cosmic modes of existence.
Once the Virgin becomes the Mother, her rhythm of existence changes. She is no longer free, her life is oriented towards her progeny. Actuality in her, has absorbed the potentiality, at least for a considerable period of time.
The Virgin, and the Mother represent the two fundamental archetypes of womanhood as two aspects of the Eternal Feminine – symbols of potentiality and actuality.
We can analyze the society whether it emphasizes one archetype over the other, however, my goal is to find new hybrid forms, and to further the understanding of the Modern Feminine.
Virgin as the Goddess of Love, Inanna the Ancient Virgo Constellation Deity
With the Full Moon of February 27, and the Moon transiting through the sign of Virgo, we are called to embrace the Virgin archetype in all its complexity. Virgo, the Virgin brings us back to the origins of our civilization and the first accounts of astrology as the cosmic religion. In the ancient Sumer, when astrology followed the movement of celestial objects, like Joytish / Hindu astrology still does, the most important, live-giving deity was known as Inanna, with her symbolism as the Goddess of Love, the most powerful force in the Universe.
Astraea, Star-Maiden & The Golden Age
Greek mythology also explains the origins of the Virgo constellation, referring to the Golden Age of humanity after which all the Gods abandoned the Earth, with an exception of Astraea whose name translates as star-maiden. She was a daughter of Astraeus, the Titan-god of the dusk, and Eos, a Titaness and the goddess of the dawn. Astraea remained with humanity until the end of the Silver Age, then as the Bronze Age began she fled to the stars appalled by human rage and greed. She became the constellation Virgo, holding the scales of Justice, which represents the constellation of Libra. The legend says that Astraea will one day come back to Earth, bringing with her the return of the utopian Golden Age…
Earth’s Cycle – Era of Aries & The Era of Pisces
In the above collage, the image of the the constellation of Capricorn associated with the planet Saturn and the patriarchal structures, is making the symbolic “SPACE” for the new womanhood archetypes.
The sign of Capricorn, traditionally depicted as a sea goat, is derived from the Sumerian god of wisdom and waters, Enki who also had the head and upper body of a goat and the lower body and tail of a fish. Later known as Ea in Akkadian and Babylonian mythology, Enki was the god of intelligence (gestú, literally “ear”), creation, crafts; magic; water, seawater and lakewater. The Babylonian empire dates to the era described as The Era of Aries, which is the period of time when the traditionally powerful female deities were dethroned, and at large replaced by the male Gods.
This change of guard was furthered through The Era of Pisces, with its hierarchical religious order, where the knowledge / gnosis belongs to the elite, and the individual needs to follow the church with its commandments. In such a state of consciousness, the individual is unaware of the divine aspect of Self. Living in an illusion of being alone and separate, she experiences her struggle as the result of false beliefs seeded in the outdated operating system of the Piscean realm; Pisces is symbolically represented by two fishes swimming in opposite directions, unsure which one is right, and which one will ultimately decide on the course. The last couple of thousand years of the Piscean epoch weren’t exactly peaceful and loving, as if Pisces were still struggling to shake off the previous human era of ego driven, war loving Aries, – an era which marked the moment when we collectively dethroned the Queen of Heaven and turned her into the Father in Heaven.
To be continued…
Jana Astanov is an interdisciplinary artist, a poet and an independent curator living in the Shawangunk Mountains. She is the author of five collections of poetry: Antidivine, Grimoire, Sublunar, The Pillow Book of Burg, and Birds of Equinox. Follow her on IG @Jana_Astanov & Twitter @JanaAstanov
