Where Three Roads Meet

There has been a lot of discussion in astrological circles about the Saturn-Pluto conjunction which apparently occurs every thirty-five years. However, they have not met in the house of Capricorn since the 16th century. It is hard to exaggerate the excitement levels with which astrologers have been going on about this transit. But listening to various astrologers speak (or write) about this cosmic phenomenon has become a tiny bit boring. The language they use is getting old because, generally speaking, the language of self-help and personal growth is morphing into a click-bait sound-bite style which is the same language used by astrologers. But thankfully, there are a few psychological and archetypal astrologers around who are bringing some fresh imaginal and metaphorical insights that have the added value of enlivening the language itself. I’m speaking to myself here, too, to be honest. I’m not immune to using the boring language of self-help and personal growth blogs. I think we can all do with fresh approaches to how we language the processes of transformation and spiritual development.

In her article about the Saturn-Pluto conjunction, Safron Rossi gives us this much needed fresh perspective by connecting the process to archetypal energies and in particular with the divinities embodied in images of myth. If Saturn and Pluto are combining to create a psychospiritual situation in us which facilitates transformation by shedding what is no longer serving us (Pluto) while enforcing a renewed, revisioned, and very serious creative development phase (Saturn) in our lives, then the goddess of the crossroads, Hekate, is the one who will give new life to these endeavors.

For me, personally, these transits are occurring at a time when I have already released resistances, when I have faced deep fears and overcome them, when I have transformed much darkness into creative fecundity. I can therefore use the energy of rebuilding to secure a strong foundation of my creative life going forward. The planets are located in my fifth house so creative self-expression is the magic carpet I will use to fly myself to the moon and back. But I know that for others, these transits are only now bringing them into direct contact with their resistances, outworn habits, thought patterns, personal and familial history that is stuck in a dysfunctional and repetitious past, and the self-inflicted wounds and little sorrows we keep nurturing and cultivating despite all best intentions.

Rossi explains that this is where Hekate comes in, for she is the one who “listens to our struggles with calm and full attention.” Hekate is the goddess who sits at the intersection where three roads meet, a symbol for transition and change. She understands (and calmly listens to) the fearful cries of anguish that arise out of the soul, a soul that is vulnerable and perhaps unprepared for what is coming. After all, transitions mean saying farewell to things we have grown accustomed to, saying farewell to people and situations we have grown to love. If we take one road, we are forsaking the other two, usually forever. Each life we choose to live means killing off many others and it can be very difficult to know for sure which road to take. Our habits, the people in our lives, our homes, our jobs, our pets even — all of these can achieve such holds on us, holds that can become barriers to further growth.

There’s a well known saying that goes, “No pain, no gain.” It’s a very simple and truthful statement that is relevant here. It is painful to forsake a person we love, but what about the life we are meant to live? Can we forsake that life and not feel any pain? No, whether we keep the one we love and forsake the new life that wants to be lived, or whether we forsake the one we live and choose the road that takes us to new life, there will be pain. This pain is what Hekate listens to, calmly and with deep attention. Rossi explains that “Hekate’s witnessing at the thresholds of these dark passages reminds us that this too is a sacred place and therefore there is something of value here.” In other words, the very pain of letting go of one thing in favor of another is itself a sacred moment that gives birth to new life.

There is a way to bring sacred reverence and a sense of spiritual devotion to our lives by slowing down enough to revere our pain and our sorrows. These painful transitions and interludes are like bridges that connect one part of our life to the next part. This is a universal human experience everyone can relate with. No matter how hard we may try, nothing stays the same forever. Fearing change only makes things worse. But when changes, transitions, and meetings under moonlight at sacred crossroads are constellated in our lives, we can bring this sense of sacred spiritual devotion to the procedure and then we are activating the deep energies of the soul as it moves across the thresholds of its own imaginal landscape into more developed states of consciousness. This is how magic happens: the magic of inward transformations.

In the past, rituals were commonly used to help the soul integrate itself into the practices of daily life. Rossi explains how Hekate is the goddess of magic and garbage: “In her religious cult practices household garbage and food scraps were sacrificed to her. These ‘suppers of Hekate’ were laid at crossroads for the goddess at the new moon.” So at the new moon, we can all feed Hekate with the garbage that must be removed and transformed so that new life can unfold. Imagine what would happen if we never took the garbage out, or if the garbage collectors never took the garbage away, or of we never recycled or re-used anything. Our lives, our homes, our cities would be filled with rotting garbage that would interfere with every aspect of life. It is the same with our ideas, our thoughts, our memories, our belief systems. What is old and worn out must be taken out and discarded or it will interfere with new ideas, new memories, new belief systems — they will never come into being since there is no room for them anywhere.

There is nothing to fear in this! In fact, it is very liberating. Rossi calls this “deep magic — to take our waste, the stuff we don’t see any use for or do not want to eat, our dirty, hopeless messes and turn them over as offerings to the goddess.” This is indeed a very deep practice. Because contrary to what the heroic ego wants to believe, not everything that comes up from the depths of the soul actually belongs to us! The darkest and hardest emanations of grief and sorrow are simply too much for a human mortal to handle. These must be returned to the unconscious, they must be returned to the realm of the gods from whence they came. So we give our waste, our garbage, our never-ending complexes that we cannot defeat or control over to the goddess for she does have the power to transform them.

In this way, we become supplicants, humble and reverent, we ask for help and then we wait.

You can read Dr. Rossi’s full article here: https://www.thearchetypaleye.com/blog/2020/1/16/hekate-at-the-crossroads-of-saturn-amp-pluto