In
mythology Mercury was the Roman name given to Greek Hermes, son of Zeus
and brother to the Sun-god Apollo. Hermes has his counterpart in Egypt
as Thoth, son of Ra the Sun-god. Thoth was scribe to the Sun-god, but
also advocate for the dead; this dual role was handed through to Hermes
as messenger of the gods and psychopomp to the souls of the dead. In
the Homeric Hymn to Hermes, we learn for the first time of Hermes the
Trickster.
Hermes Trismegistus
The Transformations of Mercury
Hermes Trismegistus("thrice-great Hermes") is the syncretism of the Greek god Hermes and the Egyptian god Thoth. In Hellenistic Egypt, the god Hermes was given as epithet the Greek name of Thoth. Both Thoth and Hermes were gods of writing and of magic in their respective cultures. Thus the Greek god of interpretive communication was combined with the Egyptian god of wisdom as a patron of astrology and alchemy. In addition, both gods were psychopomps; guiding souls to the afterlife. Hermes Trismegistus might also be the man who was the son of the god, and in the Kabbalistic tradition that was inherited by the Renaissance, it could be imagined that such a personage had been contemporary with Moses, communicating to a line of adepts a parallel wisdom, from Zoroaster to Plato. Hermes Trismegistus also appears in the history of Alchemy and the nineteenth-century history of occultism.
The occult fame [flame] of Hermes Trismegistus was so wide-spread that even the poets celebrated him.
Oh let my Lamp at midnight hour Be seen in some high Lonely Towr, Where I may oft out-watch the Bear, With thrice great Hermes.
Milton, 'Il Penseroso' (1633)
Hermes Trismegistus
Hermes Trismegistus
"The name Hermes Trismegistus ("Thrice-Great Hermes") is a syncretism of the Greek god Hermes and the Egyptian god Thoth." Hermes Trismegistus is the founder of the collection of religio-philosophical (occult) texts originating between 100 and 500 A.D. in Egypt that became known as the Hermetica. The Hermetica is a category of popular late (Roman) antiquity literature purporting to contain secret wisdom. Compiled from a more extensive literature by Italian scholars (i.e., Ficino) during the Renaissance, it became the Corpus Hermeticum.
And the other tutelary deity of Re-Vision Radio, Orpheus, was, in the era of Hellenistic syncretism, reputed to be the Greek incarnation of Hermes Trismegistus.
The Celtic Mercury
The Celtic god Lugh, one of the principal gods of the Tuatha De Danann and whose important the mid-summer festival of Lughnasadh is celebrated August 1st, remained a living presence in the lives of the pagan Celts long after the advent of Christianity. His origins go too far back to be accurately delineated, but Julius Caesar gave a clue to his identity and function when he wrote that the god worshipped by the Gauls was in fact Mercury, and this is confirmed by numerous images and inscriptions. Mercury's name is often coupled with Celtic epithets, particularly in eastern and central Gaul. The Gauls declared Lugh to be 'the inventor of all arts' and the guardian of roads and travelers. The Gauls called this god Lugus, and his name was given to many European cities, such as Leiden, Liegnitz, and Lyon (Lugdunum), where a great festival was held on August 1st in Roman times. In Ireland Lugus became Lugh, a renowned hero of the Tautha De Danann. Some scholars believe his name derives from the Old Irish word lug, 'light,' 'brightness;' thus his title of 'the shinning one.' Other scholars have contested this and consider it more likely that the name derives from a Celtic word, lugio, meaning oath, because Lugh was the patron of social contracts. Among the Tuatha De Danann, Lugh was known as 'Many Skilled,' meaning he was the master of many arts, including warfare, magic, and music. He was known as a poet, druid, harper, healer, smith, and cupbearer. Lugh was a master harper whose playing won him great renown. According to one story, the gods asked Lugh to play the harp, which he did with great ability, performing the three magic strains of sleep, sadness, and merriment. What the gods and goddesses realized, and in time grew to know all the much more, was that Lugh really was 'the Master of all Arts and Crafts,' and this nickname too became his over the centuries. Gaulish depictions of Mercury sometimes show him bearded and/or with wings or horns emerging directly from his head, rather than from a winged hat. Both these characteristics are unusual for the classical god. More conventionally, the Gaulish Mercury is usually shown accompanied by a ram and/or a rooster, and carrying a caduceus; his depiction at times is very classical. In Gaulish monuments and inscriptions, Mercury is very often accompanied by Rosmerta, a goddess of fertility and prosperity. Then there is the warrior aspect, as attested by Mercury–Lugos' spear and the surviving insular descriptions of this deity. Indeed, in both Cymric and Irish legends Lugos is associated with a magical or a sacred spear. The folk traditions of Ireland also portray Lúgh as both hero and trickster. The Welsh counterpart to Lugh is Lleu of the Dexterous Hand. He was the son of the goddess Arianrod, and reared by the god Gwydion. For a number of reasons, Arianrod denied Lleu a wife, so through magic Gwydion made him a woman made of blossoms. Her name became Blodeuwedd (Flower Face), and "she was the fairest and most graceful that man ever saw."
Therefore, Lugh has many of the same essential attributes as Hermes-Mercury, such the inventer of the arts, including music (he gave Apollo his newly invented lyre), patron of roads, and crafty trickster.
After the Romanization of Gaul, Lugus seems to have become subsumed into the Roman cult of Mercury. Indeed, on Julius Caesar's narrative 'Mercury' was the god most reverenced in Gaul, and this Gaulish 'Mercury' is described as as patron of trade and commerce, protector of travellers, and the inventor of all the arts. Indeed, one of the epithets of the Irish god Lug was samildánach (skilled in arts) and we see a cognate in the Cymric [non-Gaelic Celtic people] god Lleu's epithet 'Llaw Gyffes' (skillful hand), which has led to the identification of Caesar's
Gaulish 'Mercury' as the god Lugus. It seems that the pigeon-holing of
Gaulish deities in terms of the official Roman religion struck a chord
with the Gauls when it came to Mercury as dedications and
representations of 'Mercury' began to proliferate in the Romanized
Celtic world and retained their preeminence right to the period of
Christianization. Well over 400 dedications to 'Mercury' or one of his
common native titles have been found: his importance in Gaul and
Britain far exceeded anything that the role of Mercury in Roman
religion could have warranted. Clearly 'Mercury' was the new, 'modern'
disguise of Lugus, and because the two names were seen to be precisely
equivalent the native one was virtually never used in the Latin of
official inscriptions. Many representations of Celtic 'Mercury' seem
intended to suggest that he is several-in-one: usually this takes the
form of tricephaly, although not all three-headed figures in Celtic
iconography are necessarily this god. It is also interesting to note
how often the native Gaulish form of Mercury is linked with the high
places of each of the tribal territories in which he was worshipped,
such as Montmartre in Paris, the Puy-de-Dôme in the Auvergne, the Mont
de Sè which were all originally Mercury mounts. Shrines crowned these
heights, and one conventional depiction of 'Mercury' was to have him
sitting on a mountain. Which would seem to link Gaulish 'Mercury' and
thus Lugus with high places and in later, Christian, times he seems to
have been assimilated to the archangel Michael, and many of the former
Mercurii Montes became 'St Michael's Mounts' (moon) making him a deity
of light. (Cymric [kym-rik] language: of, relating to, or
characteristic of the non-Gaelic Celtic people of Britain or their
language; specifically Welsh.) This, however, is probably an example of
false etymology. The same is true of the unsubstantiated claims that
the Irish word means 'banisher of darkness.' Also Lugus may be related
to the proto-Celtic root lug- (oath) which is linked both to pledging
and deception, or the proto-Celtic root.
Returning to the issue of his name, Lugh, there has been consierable controversy over the nature of his name. Previously, many scholars have interpreted the name Lugus as a derivation of the Indo-European root leuk- 'light,' which also gave rise to Latin lux. Thus Lugus has been viewed as a solar deity. However, many contemporary scholars think that this erroneous etymology was helped-along by the Victorian scholars' obsession with 'solar myths.' This seemed to be re-enforced by the Cymric light associated words goleu (light) and lleuadlugh means 'shining light' and may have arisen from confusion with the related Irish word lugha, meaning ‘less’. According to the dissenting scholars, the problem with all these etymologies are that they rely on the evolution of lug- from the proto Indo-European leuk-, but the hard 'c' sound is highly conserved in Celtic languages and in no instance would it soften to a 'g'. We therefore have to look elsewhere for an origin for the name. The Cymric word for moon (lleuad) gives us one clue, as this is probably derived from the reconstructed proto-Celtic word lug-rā. This word is, itself, related to the proto Indo-European root leug- (blackness, dimness, darkness) thus the moon is 'dim light' and Cymric 'goleu'lug- (to decieve). The Irish Lúgh and the Cymric Lleu also bear connotations of smallness and he is in some senses a 'figure of small stature' who is in reality a king. Taken together we are left with a picture of Lugh as a Janus figure, a traveller between realms, living in neither the dark nor the ligh half of existence. He is a deity of communication and oaths and a dweller in the shadows. He is therefore not a god of light but a god of the in-betweeen realms which would also fit-in with a role as a psychopomp and with his multi-headed nature as one who sees everything in all directions. The name might be interpreted as 'he of the shadows', or possibly 'The Shadowy One' or maybe even 'the deceiver' (as in 'trickster'). However, the Middle Cymric word llug actually does mean 'bright' so there might have been been a proto-Celtic root with the component lug- which actually did mean 'light', after all proto-Celtic is not a complete lexicon. It might be that Lugus' name does mean something like 'The shining one'. This apparent dichotomy in the meaning of Lugus' name need not be a problem as it may well fit in with his nature as a trickster and a deity of the 'in-betweens'. Just as a shadow is the in-between separating light and dark.
In the scholastic Middle Ages, Mercurius is the presiding deity of rhetoric.
"The shrewd god Mercury gave me this flower ...." "You, Mercury's disciple, eloquent in writing and in speech, stay with me ...."
(The Love-Verses from Regensburg. Medieval Latin Poem)
The Gypsy Scholar's "flowers of discourse" turn out to be the achemical "flowers of mercury."
(The
"flowers of mercury" epithet refers to the purification, or
"sublimation," of the alchemical sulfur as it is super-heated and radiates into blossoming crystals.)
And,
therefore, Mercury (Lugh) of the "magic spear " and his counterpart
"Flower-Face" turn out to symbolize the real name of the Gypsy Scholar,
with "a sword/spear in one hand (or name) and a flower in the other."
The Alchemical Mercury
As Mercurius, he became the prominent deity of Alchemy.
Mercurius
Mercurius
Mercurius
was the prima materia of the alchemical process, representing and
stemming from the collective unconscious. Mercurius was understood as
quicksilver and as such was called vulgaris and crudus. Mercurius philisophicus was specifically distinguished from this but was conceived to sometimes be present in Mercurius crudus.
It was the true object of the alchemical procedure. Quicksilver was
also defined as “the water that doesn't make the hands wet.” Many
treatises associate Mercurius with the secret Fire: the universal and
scintillating fire of nature which carries the heavenly spirit within
it. This related Mercurius to the Lumen Naturae (or lux natura,
the light of nature) the source of mystical knowledge second only to
the holy revelation of the scriptures. Once more we catch a glimpse of
Hermes as the god of revelation. The mercurial fire is also found in
the belly of the earth. Mercurius, the revelatory light of nature is
also hellfire, which in some miraculous way is none other than a
re-arrangement of the heavenly, spiritual powers in the lower, chthonic
world of matter. Hermes' role as messenger of the Gods allowed him to
visit Hades, the king of the underworld. Hermes is the only appointed
messenger to Hades and as such provides guidance into the psychology of
the underworld with its difficult, frightening and pathological
components of our psyche.
From Jung's Collected Works 13 Alchemical Studies:
“The confrontation with the unconscious usually begins in the realm of the personal unconscious, that is, of personally acquired contents which constitute the shadow, and from there leads to archetypal symbols which represent the collective unconscious. The aim of the confrontation is to abolish the dissociation. In order to reach this goal, either nature herself or medical intervention precipitates the conflict of opposites without which no union is possible. This means not only bringing the conflict to consciousness; it also involves an experience of a special kind, namely, the recognition of an alien ‘other’ in oneself, or the objective presence of another will. The alchemists, with astonishing accuracy, called this barely understandable thing Mercurius, in which concept they included all the statements which mythology and natural philosophy had ever made about him: he is God, daemon, person, thing, and the innermost secret in man; psychic as well as somatic. He is himself the source of all opposites, since he is duplex and utriusque capax (‘capable of both’). This elusive entity symbolizes the unconscious in every particular, and a correct assessment of symbols leads to direct confrontation with it.”
Mercurius was also the true object of the alchemical procedure. Quicksilver, because of its fluidity and volatility, was also defined as dry water or Aqua sicca. It is the very Spirit of Alchemy, the alchemical fire, the universal and scintillating fire in the light of nature which carries the heavenly spirit within it.
The wisest of the alchemists knew that what they were experiencing in their retorts was nothing other than a projection, or reflection of their own psyche. They experienced their own image of God via the trickster figure Mercurius, who, unlike the pure figure of Christ, was ambiguous, paradoxical and dark, not to mention utterly pagan. To quote Jung, Mercurius “represents a part of the psyche which was certainly not molded by Christianity and can on no account be expressed by the symbol ‘Christ’. It represents all those things which have been eliminated from the Christian model.” Mercurius was related to Hermes, the Germanic Wotan, the Egyptian Thoth, and the maleficent Saturn. Saturn is the dwelling place of the devil himself, and to quote Jung, “If Mercurius is not exactly the Evil One himself, he at least contains him.... On the one hand he is undoubtedly akin to the godhead, on the other he is found in sewers.... It seems, however, that the alchemists did not understand hell, or its fire, as absolutely outside of God or opposed to him, but rather as an internal component of the deity, which must indeed be so if God is held to be a coincidentia oppositorum.” As an image of the Self, Mercurius was a revelation of the Self as a co-incidence of opposites, consisting of and uniting the most extreme opposites. In other words, here, in the figure of Mercurius, is a spontaneous God image arising in the human psyche which itself was a manifestation of, as well as gateway into an inner experience that united the opposites. This paradoxical symbol of the Godhead was not only an expression of a process going on deep inside the human psyche, but deep within the Godhead itself. This is a big discovery, genuinely worthy of our attention. A true conjunction of opposites, the Self is making itself known, and seems to be inviting us to both recognize and partake in its nature. As Jung says, “what if I should discover that the least amongst them all, the poorest of all beggars, the most impudent of all offenders, yea the very fiend himself –that these are within me, and that I myself am the enemy who must be loved—what then?”
Mercurius says of himself: “By the philosophers I am named Mercurius; my spouse is the philosophic gold: I am the old dragon, found everywhere on the globe of the earth, father and mother, young and old, very strong and very weak, death and resurrection, visible and invisible, hard and soft; I descend into the earth and ascend to the heavens, I am the highest and the lowest, often the order of nature is reversed in me. I contain the light of nature, I am dark and light; I come forth from the heaven, I am known and yet do not exist at all.” (Aurelia Occulta)
Mercurius is a complex figure, essential to alchemical transformation. “The child of chaos.” Mercurius is the androgynous agent of change that “consists of all conceivable opposites...both material and spiritual...and is the process by which the lower material is transformed into the higher and spiritual, and vice versa.” (Jung, Alchemical Studies) He is known as both anima and animus. As animus, Jung suggests that, “the masculine principle of Mercurius [is] diabolus. If Mercurius is not exactly the Evil One himself, he at least contains him....” He is called the “soul of the metals, the metallic man, the dragon, the roaring fiery lion, the night raven, the black eagle—last four being synonyms for the devil.” Also tantamount to the diabolical nature of Mercurius is his trickster quality, the quality that “drove the alchemists to despair.” Like his signatory metal, quicksilver, he is a shape-shifter, “many sided, changeable, and deceitful.” (AS) Tantamount to his dual nature, he is also a healing agent, “life-giving,” and “the egg of nature, known only to the wise, who in piety and modesty bring forth from [him] the microcosm, which was prepared for mankind by Almighty God, but given only to the few....” (AS)
In fact, Jung also describes Mercurius as a deity, “like a brother to Christ and a second son of God, though in point of time he must be accounted the elder and first-born.” (AS) If, indeed, Mercurius can be seen as a “brother to Christ,” then he is His ancient brother, born out of chaos, mentioned in the first versus of Genesis, as the Spirit of God which in the beginning whispered across the primordial waters. (AS) Significantly, this primal spirit is the essential agent of change that the Creator saw fit to send to the world prior to Light. We might infer from this that the breath of such a Spirit must have been essential for the birth of enlightenment. This arcane spirit is born from the prima materia, and likewise contains all forms of creation. As Jung notes, “Mercurius, it is generally affirmed, is the arcanum, the prima materia, ...the primeval chaos, the earth of paradise … the lowly beginning as well as the lapis as the highest goal, [he] is the process which lies between, and the means by which it is effected. He is the ‘beginning, middle and end of the work.’” (AS) Mercurius also carries the torch of the lumen naturae, as Jung comments, “Mercurius, the two-faced god, comes as the lumen naturae, the Servator and the Salvator, only to those whose reason arrives towards the highest light ever received by man.... For those unmindful of this light, the lumen naturae turns into a perilous ignis fatuus, and the psychopomp into a diabolical seducer.” (AS)
The many facets of Mercurius have doubtless perplexed and baited alchemists for a lifetime worth of study, and the description of such a spirit in present context is necessarily superficial. However, it is essential to note that the Mercurial spirit is the essential agent for change, he takes all forms, and dispenses his power—to heal, to destroy, to make whole, to disintegrate, to make wise or to render insane—indiscriminately.
It seems a redundant conclusion to point out that while the Mercurial spirit is the key element of transformation and gateway to the exalted philosopher’s stone, he is at the same time a recklessly potent and pernicious force, worthy of vigilant respect and prudent caution. The Mercurial spirit will come and go as it pleases, and the only weapon the adept has in the face of such an essential force is an awareness of his immense power and the diabolical nature of his charm, as well as a stringent mindfulness of the “higher aspirations” that must remain the goal in dealing with such an entity.
The Astrological Mercury
Mercurius, Ruler of Virgo & Gemini
Macro-Microcosm
Mercury, in astrological terms, is about connection: making links; communication; wit, cunning and intellect (quicksilver = quick mind) connecting things and ideas, revelation, the imagination, language and understanding. Mercurius plays with ideas and finds links between them. Above all, Mercury is about process, and that implies movement, conscious and unconscious, physical and non-physical. Mercury rules connections, from roads and transport to telephone and radio, from information systems to the world-wide web and satellite. Hermes rules roads and travel, protecting the crossroads, highways and byways. Making connection is also about appropriate response, and needs efficiency and quickness of comprehension and mental agility. Someone who is well-connected to their Mercury has all these qualities, like mental clarity. Mercury is the messenger of the Gods: the link between mankind and the gods, a bringer of light, Luciferian. Hermes' playful ambivalence is indicative of his astrological rulership of Gemini; Thoth's discriminating and honorable nature is more Virgoan, in keeping with Mercury’s other zodiac sign.
Mercury rules Virgo, and this sign is concerned with detail, craftsmanship and care. Again we see the ability to make physical connections, to invent: manual dexterity and the co-ordination of mind and hand. The sandals of Mercury represent the natural activities of man; what man does by nature—his inventiveness and dexterity.
Astrological Man
Astrological Man
Hermes-Mercury in the Astro-radiological Chart of the Gypsy Scholar
Mercury. Mercury represents the principle of mind, thinking, and the movement or exchange of ideas through speaking, writing, and other forms of communication. It governs the capacity to conceptualize and communicate, to articulate, to use words and language, to analyze and comprehend, to learn, to perceive, to mediate, transport, and connect. The Mercury archetype is associated with the Greek mythic figure of Hermes, the Roman Mercury, the messenger of the gods. A major aspect between Mercury and another planet tends to correlate with how one’s mental and neural processes tend to work, how one gives and receives information, and the nature of one’s education and intellectual vision.
Astrological Mercury is a good symbol for the conceptual mind, the intellect, and its numerous functions and abilities. Of the intellect's many attributes is a unique capacity for forming mental images—our own image-making processes. Sometimes these pictures relate to real life events; other times they emerge as phantasms with no real life beyond the mind itself.
For the Gypsy Scholar, the major aspects with Mercury are Venus, Neptune, Uranus.
Venus.
Venus represents the principle of love and beauty. Venus is Eros, as
Mercury is Logos. Venus rules the desire to be involved in romantic and
social relations, to attract and be attracted to others, to engage in
artistic activities, to seek harmony and aesthetic or sensuous
pleasure. The Venus archetype is associated with the Greek mythic
figure of Aphrodite, the Roman Venus, the goddess of love and beauty.
Major aspects involving Venus tend to correlate with how one gives and
receives love and affection, the nature of one’s social and romantic
relationships, and the character of one’s artistic impulse and
aesthetic sensibility.
For the Gypsy Scholar, Mercury-Venus is his sword-flower (or logos-eros).
Mercury & Venus
"Before thou bring thy Works to Light / Consider on them, in the Night."
In the scholastic Middle Ages, Mercurius is the presiding deity of rhetoric.
"The shrewd god Mercury gave me this flower ...." "You, Mercury's disciple, eloquent in writing and in speech, stay with me ...."
(The Love-Verses from Regensburg. Medieval Latin Poem)
Mercury & Venus
Neptune.Neptune is the archetype of the transcendent, of ideal reality, of imagination and the spiritual. It represents the ocean of consciousness that dissolves all boundaries between self and other, between self and universe, between self and God, and between this concrete reality and other realities—a melting oceanic feeling. This is that state of mystical condition of oneness with Nature, union with God, or union with the All—a free-floating consciousness in which many realities seem to interpenetrate without sharp distinction. Neptune thus governs the ideal world, whether this be defined as the perfect all- encompassing maternal womb, the spiritual world of ideal reality, or one's highest dreams and aspirations. Neptune represents Nirvana, the supreme state of mystical bliss where all the divisions and structures of this world are transcended; yet it also represents Maya, the divine play which produces the many illusions of reality that enchant consciousness. Neptune relates to both madness and mysticism, and the line is often hard to draw. There is a selflessness and unworldliness to Neptune which is visible in the saint and martyr, the altruistic social worker, the yogi or monk. Neptune rules the basic human drive or thirst for transcendence: the yearning for an invisible ideal, the longing to dissolve one's boundaries into the cosmic unity, to melt into a dream, to transcend this world of separation and limit, to experience the flow of love and compassion and a transcendence of the boundaries of the personal ego. Because of Neptune's association with the ideal, with a kind of mystical paradise or oceanic womb of which the psyche may have, as it were, archetypal memories, there is often an accompanying sense of loss or longing connected with whatever it touches in the chart. Because it dissolves one's boundaries, Neptune tends to sensitize one to everything—to other people and their inner states, to external stimuli, to other realities, and so forth. Neptune greatly increases the intuition and is related to healing abilities, both physical and psychological. It has a refining, purifying, sublimating influence. Its constant dynamic is to dissolve structures, to bring all things back to an undifferentiated unity. Neptune also seems to be related to all things watery, whether the physical ocean or the amniotic fluid in which floats the embryo. Since it governs the realm of imagination, Neptune can be seen as the source of all imaginative creativity and artistic imagery. It governs myth, dreams, symbols, and the flow of images in consciousness. It is the spiritual matrix of the anima mundi, the world soul or cosmic psyche. Also, as the symbol of the ultimate spiritual unity of all things, Neptune can be seen as the wellspring of love and compassion. It rules faith and hope, a sense of the unseen, the quest for spiritual beauty. It is the mystical religious archetype par excellence.
For the Gypsy Scholar—given that Neptune is the planet that also governs midnight radio—who has Mercury-conjunct-Neptune in his astrological chart, radio is the perfect medium (since a major aspect between Mercury and another planet tends to correlate with how one’s mental and neural processes tend to work, how one gives and receives information, and the nature of one’s education and intellectual vision).
Uranus. Uranus represents the principle of change, of freedom, rebellion, and revolution. It is associated with unexpected phenomena of all kinds, with sudden surprises and awakenings, with breakthroughs—intellectual, psychological, spiritual. It governs the sudden breakup of established structures, and tends to have an exciting and electric quality. It also rules individualism and originality, invention and technology, creative genius and brilliant mental insight. The planet Uranus, the first planet to be discovered in modern times—in 1781, during an age of radical cultural change and revolution—can best be understood archetypally in terms of the Greek mythic figure of Prometheus, who stole fire from the heavens in rebellion against the gods to give humankind greater freedom. The Promethean impulse associated with the planet Uranus represents that part of us that seeks to go our own way, to choose our own individual path in life. Its influence inclines one to be changeable, restless, and unpredictable—sometimes irresponsibly so—in a constant quest for personal freedom and new experience. Uranus also mediates creativity and innovation: in its less exalted forms it can signify only eccentricity or lawlessness, but in its highest expression it can indicate real genius, and a capacity for making significant personal or cultural breakthroughs in the course of one's life—sudden freedom, awakening, new life, new identity, a radical expansion of horizons: Prometheus Unbound. Uranus thus confronts the Saturnian part of us that wishes to hold on, to maintain the status quo, to resist change in favor of security, tradition, and the established order. The rebel-trickster side of the Prometheus archetype can thus come from within or without. When any planet is in major aspect to Uranus, that second planetary archetype tends to be liberated into expression, often in sudden, unusual, or unexpected ways. The second archetype is given an exciting, creative or innovative stimulation, and can be a source of both freedom and unanticipated change.
