Pholus in Astrology

I’ve been wanting to write about Pholus for a while now, and it seems that at this moment when this asteroid is in a square to the other Centaur, Chiron, who is more popular than Pholus, is the right moment. We have had a very upsetting week with young people causing the death of innocents in the name of a disturbing allegiance to Isis. Something is exploding or erupting from the collective unconscious through individuals who appear to “take the lid off the pressure cooker” of the unconscious, from which, resentment, revenge, hatred, frustration, etc. seem to emerge.  At the moment when all this is happening, there is a  Pholus-Chiron square, two Centaurs, of the trilogy of the known centaurs.

Chiron was discovered in 1977, which caused us to question what this new body really was, perhaps a comet?  an asteroid?it was big enough to give it a name. But in 1992 we discovered what is now called the Kuiper Belt, a number of apparent minor bodies in the confines of our solar system, beyond Neptune, that form another belt of asteroids similar to the one between Mars and Jupiter. Thousands of icy rocks, beyond Neptune, where Pluto’s system finds itself. This prompted astronomers to demote Pluto from its planet category to dwarf planet, and elevate Ceres, from the other asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter to “dwarf planet” from simple asteroid status.  Pholus and Nessus come from there and were discovered around 1992-1993 respectively and were given Centaurs names like Chiron, who seems to move between the orbits of Saturn and Uranus, Pholus, between Saturn and Neptune, and, finally, Nessus between Saturn and Pluto. These “Centaur”, (name given to these asteroids), believed to be comets at the time, are now seen in a different light. They seem to be rocks in the Kuiper Belt that are attracted to our solar system by the gravitational pull of Neptune and Uranus and Saturn. In Greek mythology, Centaurs were wild creatures, half man, half horse, which were bound to no law. There may be thousands of such bodies, but as in mythology, only three of them have a history and are closer to humans and gods, and only one of them was inmortal, being born of a God and a nymph. This is Chiron, son of Saturn, the most well known somehow, for having been raised by Apollo and Tethis. Pholus, is the other closest to Chiron, but not immortal, who was the guardian of the “ancestral wine” and Nessus, a mere mortal, but who is indirectly responsable for Hercules death. Apart from these three, there are many without a particular history or even a name, somehow resembling the astronomical reality.

We all know the story of Chiron, but it is Pholus, who I want to talk about now. This Centaur, like Chiron, was more civilized and friendly with gods and mortals. Both were friends and coaches of heroes like Hercules and Aquiles, and both died from the wounds inflicted by the poisonous arrows of the former. It is believed that he was the son of Ixion, quite a dishonorable character , who conceived the Centaurs with a cloud, created by Zeus, in the form of his wife Hera, who Ixion had his eyes on.  Pholus was responsible for guarding the “ancestral wine” of the Centaurs, a gift from Dionysus, that was supposed to be kept buried underground in a large earthenware jar . But in a meal in tribute to the hero when this was on his way to kill the big boar, Hercules asked Pholus to open the wine. Pholus being quite conscious that he should not do it because the mere aroma of it could intoxicate the wild Centaurs, causing real havoc, gently refused. At the insistence of Hercules, Pholus finally served some wine to the hero and as it was written, the Centaurs went mad and it provoked a war and Hercules was forced to start throwing poisoned arrows that were impregnated with the blood of the Hydra, which caused incurable wounds. One of them reached Chiron knee, and since he was immortal did not died, but caused him to limp the rest of his life. Pholus managed to escape them, but when he tried to help his friend and went to remove the arrow, it fell in the foot and died. The symbol of the “ancient wine” can easily be seem as the “family complex” that  should be protected and hidden from others. The Great Family Secrets. Unexpected events such as the death of a family member, or in  a simple family meal discussion, can trigger these forces to erupt  from  the collective unconscious and it is normally the person born with Pholus in conjunction to the Sun or Moon or Ascendent, who opens the jar and family havoc ensues. As it happens in most families, there is always someone who opens the jar of the cultural unconscious and the pressure of hatred, resentment, unrest and cultural enmities comes charging out, and someone explodes and takes revenge on society at large. Now Pholus is aligned with the Galactic Center, in Sagittarius, sign that is associated with our beliefs and fundamentalism, we must not forget in 2001 when Pluto was in Sagittarius, in opposition to Saturn in Gemini, we had September 11. Now Pholus is a square to Chiron in Pisces which speaks  of cultural, personal, and/or  family wound, our unconscious connection to our ancestral pain, and suddenly all these pressure cookers are being uncovered with the consequences that we all see on our TV news daily. In addition to this  we have the fact that Saturn is now in Sagittarius activating the degree where Pluto was in 2001, although this time in a square to Neptune in Pisces, which so eloquently describes the harrowing trip cross the Ocean (Neptune), by africans,  in search of refuge and peace, to meet with bar wire stops and long bureaucratic paper work  (Saturn) in European countries. Pholus will remain around the 24º and 28º of Sag until the end of 2017 and part of 2018. It will be aligned with Saturn at 0º of Capricorn at the beginning of 2018.

If you have any planets in mutable signs (Gemini-Virgo-Sag and Pisces) around those degrees, see how these events drive you to the understanding of your family or cultural wound, what group of people you resent or find hard to like and accept. Take responsibility por these feelings and try and see what should be done in order to overcome these feelings but above all, where do they stem from.

Hellinger, the creator of the Family Constellations has Sun-Pholus in his birth chart. Many healers, therapists and shamans I know,  have Pholus in these type of aspects to the Sun, the Moon or the Ascendent. I have Pholus on my ASC, and I am the one who dared to take the lid off my family’s well kept secrets. Wherever Pholus fall in your chart, is where the lid of the jar comes off and these feelings may be charging out of your unconscious.  It’s the Pholus person the one that opens the jar, for the family complex to be recognized and evolved.