Underworld Astrology

For thousands of years, there has been a side of the Feminine that has been repressed, denied, rejected and denigrated and it most typically shows up in the qualities and attributes of The Dark Goddess. The Dark Goddess exists in goddess pantheons throughout the world, but some of the most commonly heard of Dark Goddesses include Hecate, Persephone, Kali, The Morrigan, Baba Yaga, Eris, Maman Brigitte, Erishkigal, Lilith, The Morrigan,Marzanna and Sedna; amongst others. The common factors of these goddesses is that they tend to represent the types of things that society would like to remain hidden or locked behind doors. The Dark Goddess shows that women are not and cannot merely be relegated to the roles of daughter, wife, and mother, but that they are also allowed to openly display anger, rage, grief, rebellion, self sufficiency, power and ambition. These goddesses are comfortable with sex, the natural bodily processes, decay, death, the Underworld, female magic and the nature of the worlds beyond our own. And these goddesses are terrifying to the patriarchal establishment, which exists because of the centuries long denigration of the Dark Goddess.

Photo by Neven Krcmarek on Unsplash

But, she’s making a comeback in all kinds of circles, including the spiritual and New Age ones. In the personal style and dating spheres, she has shown up in guides, gurus and videos on how to ’embrace your dark feminine energy.’ In pop culture, she reared her head as the wildly popular ‘Me Too’ movement, which demanded that women who had suffered sexual abuse and harassment should be listened to, respected and helped. In general, through the collective awakening of The Dark Goddess, women have become much more outspoken about their needs, desires and have stopped asking permission to take up space.

If you’re just starting out on your own Dark Goddess journey, you might be wondering where even to begin. The Dark Goddess invites you to descend within yourself, and she can be used as an extraordinary internal guide to your own shadow work journey. In particular for women (or anyone who identifies with the feminine), the Dark Goddess can help give shape to your unconventional traits that you may have repressed or hidden away either due to overt or subtle cues from your family, community and society at large.

Astrologically, one of the most popular points to do Dark Goddess work is with Lilith. Archetypal Lilith is representative of the witch and the wild woman. She has come to be known as Adam’s first wife who refused to lie beneath him, demanding equal treatment. When she didn’t receive it, she left and refused to come back, even after watching her children be killed by G-d’s angels. The Lilith story begins with a desire to be seen for one’s authentic self, a wounding around that place within yourself and then a rejection of the core wound by others. Being rejected for your Lilith traits can bring about great feelings of grief, sadness, anger, rage, as well as feelings of otherness. You might feel ‘out in the wild alone’ at this point in your chart. But, like all journeys of descent, there is a way out when you can name and face the wound, and then choose to engage with it in new ways, using it as a source of power and healing, as opposed to just seeing it as a spot in which you are laid bare.

Another astrological archetype for Dark Goddess work is Eris. Located in 2005, Eris’ discovery caused quite a stir in the astronomical community, demoting Pluto to a mere dwarf planet (I’m sure Hades has much to say about that). The name Persephone was considered, as well, but rejected due to the fact that there is already an asteroid named after the Goddess of Spring. In my opinion, I think that Eris has a feeling of both mythological Eris, the goddess of discord, as well as the Shadow Queen feeling of Persephone. In myth, Eris is linked to Ares (Mars), as a battle field companion and the instigator of the Trojan War. She has a strong sense of justice, fairness and a willingness to fight for what she believes in, even in spite of a strong feeling of being left out or rejected. Her link to Persephone is that her nature as a Dark Goddess brings her directly in line with all the Underworld themes of death, decay, destruction, and also rebirth and renewal. Indeed, Persephone mythologically co-ruled the Underworld with Hades with a just and fair hand, she was always seeking retribution and the right path. Similarly, Eris knows that sometimes survival means pitting yourself against the darkness of humanity, but she also knows that some fights are worth it, because they bring you the things you truly desire.

Finally, I like working with Sedna. A dwarf planet that was discovered in 2003, she was named for the Inuit woman Sedna who was betrayed by her own father. Upon finding out that her husband had deceived her, her father tried to rescue her, but betrayed her when the sea became so choppy that he feared for his own life. He threw her from the boat, chopping her fingers off as he went and she fell into the sea, to be reborn as an ocean goddess. The story went that as she sank, she grew a tale, her fingers turned into sea animals and other marine life. Her story shows a woman who didn’t want to follow the traditional path of marriage that was set out for her, and that when she finally succumbed, the path brought her abandonment and betrayal by men she thought she could trust. But, this path also led her to being reborn to the magic and divinity within her. Sedna is also a slow moving planet and so, like Eris, is only really relevant if she is touching one of your inner planets or an angle. To me, she feels like a combination of a female Neptune and Pluto or Persephone- like figure, deeply connected to the shifting currents of the ocean and animal life, as well as destined to rule the abyss of a watery Underworld, someone who is intimately acquainted with betrayal and abandonment.

I will be exploring the manifestation of these and other Dark Goddess archetypes in later series. Until then, some journaling prompts for you:

Which pieces of the Dark Goddess most resonate with you? Why?

Do you feel an affinity to a particular Dark Goddess and why?