MythAstrology: Exploring Planets & Pantheons [Paperback]

Raven Kaldera (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 8, 2004

Mythastrology is a guide to understanding the expression of planetary energies through the signs of the zodiac. Explore the many myths that you may be living, their lessons, and their rewards and difficulties by discovering your own astrological mythology. All you need is a copy of your astrological birth chart and this book to form a complete astromythological profile of yourself and your friends and family.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Raven Kaldera is a pagan priest, intersex transgender activist, parent,  astrologer, musician, homesteader, and the author of "Hermaphrodeities: The Transgender Spirituality Workbook" (XLibris Press). He is the founder and leader of the Pagan Kingdom of Asphodel, and the Asphodel  Pagan Choir. He has been a neo-pagan since the age of 14, when he was converted by a "fam-trad" teen on a date. Since then, he's been through half a dozen traditions, including Gardnerian, Dianic, and granola paganism, Umbanda, Heithnir, and the Peasant Tradition. He is currently happily married to artist and eco-experimentalist Bella Kaldera, and they have founded the Institute for Heritage Skills.

...'Tis an ill wind that blows no minds.'

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

The Sun

Amon-ra

Sun in Aries In the ancient land of Khent-the Black Land as its occupants called it-the greatest of all gods was Ra, the burning sun. He ruled over all the land like a great father, dispensing wisdom and putting down rebellions. Ra was the creator, the first god of the people of Khent, which today we call Egypt. Before there were any others there was Ra, the all-seeing eye in the unremitting hot sky over a parched desert land. He was the First, just as the Aries Sun is the first, and always will be. In his legend we see the sun with early eyes, those of people who first looked up and saw divinity, the source of life. Aries is primal instinct, survival, and he is very good at it.

Ra, as the sun, spent half the day soaring in the air, inspecting his kingdom below. In the morning he and his boat rose out of a lotus flower, and at night he sank into the depths of the underworld, bringing light for its dead inhabitants. This daily voyage was not without peril, however; there was a great serpent, Apep, living in the Nile, who sought to swallow Ra's boat and had to be constantly fought off.

In the underworld there were other terrors, each attempting to devour his light. In some allegories, he is born as a little child each morning and ages to an old man each night.

We tend to think of Aries as a simple, straightforward sign, rather one-dimensional, without much depth. Nothing, however, could be further from the truth. For one thing, Aries combines apparently contradictory archetypes within him: the Innocent Child of springtime and the Warrior of Mars. We will come to the Warrior in a moment, but first we should look at Ra the sun god who lives each day as if it were his whole life, present in the moment. This is one of the gifts of Aries consciousness, especially in the solar placement. Ra also needs to fight daily battles in order to survive and bring light to both worlds, and here we can view the quintessentially Arian trait of courage. This is the energy of the daily battle that one emerges from victorious every time, and awakes fresh to every morning, all demons defeated for the time being. It is part of the Aries fire, and it is sustained by innocence. He does not believe that he can lose or that each day may not be an event to be lived with wonder.

Ra had a secret box locked away, which was the source of his power. In it, as his unfortunate grandson once found, were two items: a poisonous snake and a magical lock of blue hair. The snake had a tendency to leap out and kill anything that opened the box, and the lock of hair could heal any wound, even that of the deadly snake. The two together can be read as both the Achilles heel of Aries-the anger that leaps out impulsively, not caring who its random targets might be-and its salvation, the lock of hair as blue as the wide sky. The sky, in Egyptian mythology, is the place of the crying hawk, Ra's symbol, and Horus's as well. The flying bird looks down on things from a distance, a quality the tempestuous Aries Sun needs to learn-using his head (from whence comes the lock of hair) rather than his leap-and-strike survival instinct.

However, Ra made a few errors. Among them was his rather strange attitude toward children and grandchildren. He drew from himself the first two children, Shu the god of the air and Tefnut the goddess of the dew, as if they were a mere experiment. When they proceeded to have opinions and desires that did not mirror his, he was rather surprised and annoyed. Shu and Tefnut mated and produced two more children, Geb and Nut, and this upset Ra so much that he ordered them permanently separated from each other, a task Shu performed. When they managed to thwart him and produce five children, however, he gave in and grudgingly accepted his new brood. Aries likes new things, but only new things that go along with his idea of how things should be, which seems like an impossible contradiction and in fact is one. In spite of this, he recovers quicker than many signs and does not hold grudges.

When Ra grew old and weak, his subjects began to mutter against him. This is the worst fear of Aries the Child, who hates the idea of old age and lack of control. Ra decided to teach his rebellious subjects a lesson and sent Sekhmet after them, but she ate so many of them that he had to resort to getting her drunk in order to stop the extinction of his entire kingdom. This shows that even when Aries' anger seems like a good idea at the time, it often gets out of hand and has repercussions that the enthusiastic Aries never seems to guess at beforehand. Isis also took advantage of his old age, playing the feminine Venus-ruled Libra Moon to his masculine Mars-ruled Aries Sun and charming the words of power out of him. Once she had them in hand, she nullified his power and took it for herself,...(Continues)

Product Details

• Paperback: 456 pages
• Publisher: Llewellyn Publications (August 8, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0738705160
• ISBN-13: 978-0738705163
• Product Dimensions: 8.7 x 6 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,039,595 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Raven Kaldera is a Northern-Tradition Pagan shaman, herbalist, astrologer, transgendered intersexual activist, homesteader, and founding member of the First Kingdom Church of Asphodel. He is also a teacher of BDSM spirituality, and an educator and presenter on many topics. He has written (or co-authored) all the books here and continues to add to the pile.

Raven's "hub" website, with links to all his other specific websites, is here:

http://www.ravenkaldera.org

and his shamanism website is here:

http://www.northernshamanism.org

'Tis an ill wind that blows no minds!

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fascinating Myths For Astrologers and Non-Astrologers, November 26, 2004

By 

Phyllis Vega (Miami,, FL USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: MythAstrology: Exploring Planets & Pantheons (Paperback)

I absolutely adore this book. It has become one of my all time favorites for research and pure pleasure. As an astrologer with a consuming interest in mythology, I am in awe of the author's depth of knowledge of both subjects. However, it's not just Kaldera's impeccable scholarship and amazing astrological insight that draws me back to his wonderful book again and again. More than anything, it's the fascinating and eminently readable tales of gods and goddesses from various cultures and diverse pantheons. I must confess that each time I reread a portion of MythAstrology (which is really quite often) I can't help but wish that I had written it. Highly Recommended.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wow! Phenomenal pagan astrology...in a class by itself., May 13, 2006

By 

M. Miller "evescaduceus" - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: MythAstrology: Exploring Planets & Pantheons (Paperback)

The accuracy and creativity of this book blows me away. When you consider that the planets themselves are gods, you realize what an awesome task it is to comb a pantheon of hundreds of gods from vastly different cultures, and pick the deity which channels its energy through each of the planetary gods in the twelve zodiac signs. To make the right discrimination 120 times (twelve signs x 10 planetary gods) is a phenomenal undertaking - the author's statement in the introduction that the gods helped him to do it seems wholly credible.

Hands down, this is my favorite book by Kaldera. It avoids some of the flawed perspective I've encountered in some of his other work. Its an asset to any astrologer, regardless of religious affiliation. It is also the first time I have seen a serious contribution to astrology by a neo-pagan thinker. Other neopagan authors have touched on various topics in astrology, but I can't think of anything this comprehensive until now.

I am pagan and self-taught in astrology, with an avid interest in both western and Vedic astrology, and my experience has been that the pagan and astrology subcultures do not mix and mesh well, largely because serious astrologers have a tendency to look down on the lower level of scholarship from many pagan authors. On its own, this book may start to alter this perception, bringing neopaganism more firmly into mainstream astrological thought.

Besides this, the stories are easy to read. Although one may find themselves re-reading, absorbing deeper levels of meaning over two or three perusals. This book belongs on the home bookshelf of books that are constantly refered to. It may also disappear off that shelf rather quickly if one is not careful. Encourage your friends to get their own copy.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An Excellent Reference on 'Planets and Pantheons', September 22, 2004

By 

Boudica (Ohio USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: MythAstrology: Exploring Planets & Pantheons (Paperback)

Each astrological transit or planet sign combination has a specific meaning. People who study astrology spend years and even lifetimes exploring these meanings. There are volumes of personal understandings of the Planets and Zodiac signs; however most of us learn the abbreviated versions. Yet, how accurate are these meanings? How deeply can we go into meanings to understand how these astrological signs really affect our lives?

Mr. Kaldera sums it very nicely in the opening preface of his new book: "If you're a professional astrologer, you've probably already discovered how difficult it is to interpret a chart for someone who knows nothing at all about astrology." "Your clients may not understand what an Aquarius Moon means, but the story of Mwuetsi will probably make them laugh knowingly, or nod sheepishly, or at least think hard about themselves and their motivations."

I am afraid I am just beginning to study and understand Astrology. It is a much neglected item in my path, but this book has opened a few doors to understanding that I had a hard time grasping.

Rather than going from the usual road of 'this path ascending into what house means your whole life is... something', instead the Zodiac signs and planets are discussed from the texts of the myths and legends of Deities that gave birth to these signs. This makes sense to me. Were not these signs given these names because of their associations to various aspects of the Gods and Goddesses?

Mr. Kaldera draws from a plethora of pantheons to give each planet and each sign a unique yet appropriate story from which to draw meaning, morals and inspiration as we study our own birth signs and associations to current astrological events.

The book is divided into 10 chapters, each one covering a planet, the sun and moon. These are then broken down into the astrological influences: Sun in Aries or Neptune in Pisces as examples.

For a book without an index, the table of contents gives us all we need to navigate through this book. Uranus in Pisces: Pandora -- gives us a very good idea of what the subsection is all about. There is no need here for a more detailed index, in my opinion.

But the jewels here are the actual mythology stories, expertly told by Raven Kaldera so that they apply to the current time and moment. Mercury in Gemini: Hermes -- is a good example. There is a brief introduction to Mercury, Gemini, and then we go into Hermes, who He is, what He looks like, and His personal story. Then we discover how Hermes relates to Gemini, focusing on the major aspect of this particular sign; duality in relationships. But that is a poor summary of the story. Because the story is actually much more complex, as are the aspects of Mercury in Gemini, and this is what Mr. Kaldera brings to light in his book.

The meanings of these astrological signs go much deeper than a quick synopsis. The meanings are complex, as people are, as the Gods and Goddesses are, and there are many shades of gray between the absolutes. In order to really understand these planetary energies, and how they affect our lives, we need to understand their complexities and their nuances.

Each person has a specific way they learn. I found this method of learning to be much clearer than some of the other explanations I've read, which can vary widely from expert to expert. This is a back to the basics and origins type of exploration of the Zodiac signs and planetary energies.

Mr. Kaldera leaves room for your own interpretation. Each story is told from the aspect of the Deity and the Zodiac sign or planet. We see the attributes that can come into play so we can draw our own conclusions based on our own perception of each situation. Venus in Libra: Aphrodite -- gives us the story of Aphrodite, who is no simple Goddess. There are many aspects to take into account here besides love; there are also the arts and business, for example and then there is Libra's fixation with beauty and cold distain of things that are not perfect. There is much to draw on here, and it does give one reason to pause and reflect.

I can see I will be keeping this book handy, going back over material for greater insights and reading the material for it's simplicity in approach but complexity in approaching a topic that is not as cut and dry as we may think.

While the book is an introduction to the ideas that Mr. Kaldera has put forth, it is by no means a 101 book. This is serious discussion on a complex topic, and is a useful tool for both the beginner as well as the seasoned pro. Yes, it is presented in an easy to follow manner and is well thought out. Mr. Kaldera knows his pantheons well and it shows in his research and choice of Deity for each sign.

Definitely add this one to your list of must read books on the topic. This is an excellent progression from the first books on astrology for any person interested in this topic. boudica