Power and Discernment: The Centaur Asteroid Thereus

Since the start of the coronavirus, I’ve been thinking about the use and abuse of power. Governments across the globe are using the virus as an excuse to exert greater authoritarian control while inequality increases rapidly. 

I’m scared for our society and I keep asking myself who this fear serves.

Fear has an inverse relationship to control. As our fear grows, our sense of control lessens. Feeling out of control pushes us to take advantage of the people we are in relationship with and defend against what makes us feel vulnerable. 

In my last two blog posts, I discussed how making space for ancestral and personal pain reduces fear and I acknowledged the generational pain of those born with Pluto in Libra who were left alone a lot as children. 

In this blog post, I offer you a reflection on how to return your authority to yourself by using your will to choose safety over scarcity and fear. 

This reflection is the product of many months of my Compassionate Inquiry training, my own deep work on myself, and through the intercession of the centaurs during our monthly attunements, and specifically Thereus. 

Traces of Thereus

There isn’t much online about the centaur asteroid Thereus. Zane Stein’s website describes how the asteroid was named by Phil Sedgwick as part of a group of centaur asteroids that cross Saturn’s orbit. 

Thereus is given one line in Ovid’s Metamorphoses in the description of the battle of the Lapiths and Centaurs as the centaur who hunted bears and dragged them around alive and wounded (for all his fierceness, however, he was still killed by Theseus). 

In Greek, θηρείος βία means beastly force (or violence in Modern Greek).

Though it seems this particular asteroid was noticed twice, it was finally discovered on August 9, 2001 at the Palomar Mountain Observatory in California. 

The key themes associated with Thereus can be explored through an analysis of the chart when Thereus was discovered. (For more on this method, see David Leskowitz’s blog on how to work with centaur asteroid discovery charts.)

Note: if you want to skip the astrological analysis, you can scroll down to the bottom line.

Thereus Discovery Chart

Here are my key takeaways from the Thereus discovery chart:

Mars

For a centaur that has a reputation for being wild and beastly, the first planet you’d look to in its discovery chart is Mars. Mars is out of bounds, suggesting an excess of unchecked force. (For more information on out of bounds planets, see Tony Howard’s work.)

Mars is in Sagittarius, flanked by Pluto and Chiron. Pluto increases the potential for tremendous violence, while Chiron conjunct Mars suggests, at a minimum, this Mars is going to cause a lot of trauma. 

Mars is also trine the Sun in Leo and the Moon in Aries indicating that mastering this Mars energy both internally and externally is what Thereus teaches.

Saturn

Another key to Thereus is its relationship with Saturn. Thereus keeps pace with Saturn but rarely meets Saturn, so their synodic cycle is highly erratic.

In the discovery chart, Saturn is opposing Pluto and is located at 13 Gemini. 

Pluto in Sagittarius represents the power of conviction or belief, while Saturn in Gemini represents containing this power through discrimination or discernment. 

Jupiter and the Nodes

Discerning the right course of action in the face of a wildly powerful Mars is no easy task. Thankfully, the wisdom teacher of our solar system, Jupiter, is traditionally exalted in this chart at 6 Cancer. 

What’s more, there is a specific theme that Jupiter’s wisdom is being applied to in this chart, represented by the configuration of Venus-Juno-Jupiter-North Node opposed by Nessus-Ceres and the South Node in Capricorn. 

This configuration emphasizes the importance of both discernment and protection of what is vulnerable in the face of trauma brought about by scarcity. Venus- Juno in Cancer with the Sun in Leo elevates the value of what needs to be protected, giving it a regal air.

And what needs to be protected? 

I’ll take a stab and say love, compassion, and vulnerability. Or perhaps the sovereignty of our hearts?

I have much more to say about this discovery chart but this will have to suffice for an initial overview.

Thereus: The Bottom Line

Centaur asteroids bridge the known and unknown realms. According to Melanie Reinhart, centaurs “engage our creativity and also shed light on our pain, confusion, and inner poisons…Some of which will be personal…and some of which will be larger…possibly to do with ancestors or the collective. Centauric consciousness may be what helps us discern those boundaries and act appropriately.”

The belief that the world’s resources are finite creates fear and an insatiable need for power, backed by deadly force.  Fear tells us that we must defend against any expression of vulnerability and that to be vulnerable is to be unsafe.

Thereus helps us discern the right use of our personal power and will; how to take action regarding our own personal and collective trauma; and how to protect what is vulnerable.

Thereus calls us to discern the right use of our own sovereign will and to do so in protection of those vulnerable parts of yourself and other people and things that may be vulnerable, knowing that love is an infinite resource.

Thereus & Arjuna

Thereus’ discovery chart reminds me of a story of Arjuna the archer in the Mahabharata. I leave you with the version told by Coomaraswamy in his article, “The Symbolism of Archery.”

A famous passage in the Mahābhārata (I.123.46 f. in the new Poona edition) describes the testing of Drona's pupils in archery. An artificial eagle (bhāsa) has been prepared by the craftsmen, and set up at the top of a tree to be a mark. 

Three pupils are asked: "What do you see?" and each answers: "I see yourself, the tree and the eagle". Drona exclaims: "Away with you; these three will not be able to hit the mark"; and turning to Arjuna, "the mark is for you to hit". 

Arjuna stands stretching his bow (vitatya kārmukam), and Drona continues: "Do you also see the tree, myself and the bird?" Arjuna replies: "I see only the bird". "And how do you see the bird?" "I see its head, but not its body." Drona, delighted, says: "Let fly" (muñcasva). 

Arjuna shoots, cuts off the head and brings it down. Drona then gives him the irresistible weapon, "Brahma's head," which may not be used against any human foe; and there can be little doubt that this implies the communication of an initiatory mantram, and the "secret" of archery.

The evident "moral" is one of single-minded concentration.

References

Coomarasway, Ananda K. “The Symbolism of Archery.” in Studies in Comparative Religion, Vol. 5, No. 2 (Spring 1971)

Reinhart, Melanie. Saturn, Chiron, and the Centaurs: To the Edge and Beyond. 

Note: If you’re interested in Centaurs and working with them on your healing journey, I offer monthly programming through my Centaur Healing project.