Each month one of over 12,000  named asteroids will be featured
with an account of it’s mythology and astrological meaning.

Astrologers use asteroids, as well as planets in interpreting a horoscope. The planets of our solar system are the main ingredients in delineating a chart; and asteroids are added when they are in significant places in a chart, or have special meaning to the native. Asteroids are to a chart like spices are to food. They give extra depth and flavor to the interpretation, and can clarify the meaning of the expression of the native’s life experiences.


You can order a list of your natal positions for more than 12,000 asteroids, and a list of asteroids conjunct your natal planets.
For more information, e-mail roxanamuise@roxanamuise.com

PAN


Pan #4450, discovered May 9, 1988 by Eugene Shoemaker at Palomar Observatory. Originally a shepherd god of Archady, Pan developed into a hunter, fisherman and warrior. He was worshipped at Athens after the Battle of Marathon (490 BC), where he aided the Athenians by spreading panic through the Persian armies. He has been represented in art as a horned half-man, half goat. (Dictionary of Minor Planet Names by L.D. Schmadel Pg. 564)


Greek god associated with nature, the countryside and the woods. Son of Hermes and the nymph, Penelope, his origin was Arcadia, Greece, where he was worshipped primarily between 800 BC and 400 AD. He was a mischievous and joyful rascal, associated with promiscuous procreation, revelry, music and Bacchic rites. His tarot card is the Devil, which deals with temptation and transformation. He is pictured with the horns, ears, cloven hooves and beard of a goat, looking very much like a satyr (satyrs, however were nature spirits). He is usually shown with a pine bough wreath and pipes made from hollow reeds (which he invented). He sometimes is pictured with a shepherd’s crook. He often startled forrest travelers, which may account for the word panic. Panic, meaning "of Pan", as a transitive verb can also mean to delight, and draw laughter and applause (slang).


Another definition of the word pan is to give criticism. In the story of his birth, his mother was so turned off by his appearance, that she abandoned him. However, he was a joy to his father.


The word pan comes from the Greek pantos, meaning all. The Pantheon was a temple erected for the honor and worship of all the Greek gods and goddesses. The word pan implies unity, joining, inclusion, combining or embracing, as in Pan-American or pantheism. Pan was the fruit of a joyful union between two unlike parents.


A translator or interpreter is an intermediary between two unlike languages. This description fits Pan. Pan has been found to be significant in the charts of translators and interpreters.


There is a delightful poem about his birth from the Homeric Hymns, translated by Charles Boer, called The Hymn to Pan. His mother was so turned off by his appearance that she abandoned him. But, his father was overjoyed with him and remained a loving and doting parent. He was a joy to the rest of the gods and goddesses.


His Roman counterparts were the ancient pastoral god, Faunus, and Silvanus, of Celtic origin. As Faunus, his father was Picus; his grandfather was Saturn. In another story, he is said to be son of Jupiter and Circe. His consort is Fauna, goddess of the Earth and fields. He protected woods, plants and shepherds. He also had horns and legs of a goat. He was venerated in sacred groves, and had a temple on Tiber Island in Rome. He gave oracles, sometimes while sleeping. He was invoked to reveal the future through dreams. Some of his statues did not have goat’s horns and feet. He is said to have invented the pipes.


As Silvanus, he was primarily worshipped in the Roman province of Pannonia, in conjunction with the nymphs. Here he was associated with uncultivated land, woods, agriculture and hunting. Also various art forms: carving of statues and gemstones.

During the reign of Augustus he was also associated with Lupercus, originally a pastoral god, but later associated with the god of the wolves (his wife Luperca was supposed to have suckled Romulus and Remus). The festival date, Lupercalia, February 13 or 15 was originally a shepherd fertility festival, (a very popular festival, full of revelry) at which goats were sacrificed. But Roman religions subsumed and absorbed gods of all of the countries that they conquered, renaming them or associating them with the thousands of Roman gods already in use.