Hygeia: You’ve been served

Posted on by June Bug

Hygeia the hygienic goddess

 In Greek Mythology, Hygeia is the great-granddaughter of Zeus- Jupiter via the Apollo(nian) line.  Her father Aesculapius is another asteroid, and was mythologically the Greek god of healing.  He had five daughters but the two most famous are Hygeia, the root of the English word Hygiene or public health and Panacea, the cure-all. Hygienists at one time in American history called Hygeists, and Dr. Herbert Shelton of Texas popularized in the turn of century a health routine called “Natural Hygiene.” 

In the 1980’s Harvey and Marilyn Diamond’s best seller “Fit for Life” rejuvenated the method which calls for the restoration and preservation of health by natural by unadulterated means including pure water, sunshine, exercise, clean air, raw foods and no meat products of any kind.  Only fruits can be eaten before twelve noon.  Cleanliness of course was important and so Shelton recommend showering with a loofah brush to get rid of the dead skins and wake up your body. None of this matter though, if you did not  good mental and spiritual attitude.  The link above gives you the basics of the Natural Hygiene method.
 

Aesculapius the healer

Aesculapius himself is an asteroid and so is his daughter Panacea.  The other daughters in his family did not make the cut though his sons did.  IN paintings he was  often shown in Ancient Greece with a physician’s staff that has a   snake wrapped around it,  hearkening back to the Egyptian symbolism of snakes as a sign of  kingship, that carried the Pharaoh off to the sky.   The snake’s greatest importance was the  myth of the Ouroboros, where we see a snake biting itself, and is the the alchemical symbol for the unity of all things, material and spiritual, that never disappears but changes its form in an eternal cycle of destruction and re-creation.  This myth was so popular that it went from Ancient Egypt to Greece and in to Europe and became important for the alchemists.
  
The cock bird was also sacred to Aesculapius and sacrificed on his altar.  Unlike other Centaurs, who were violent and savage, Chiron was famous for his wisdom and knowledge of medicine and it is said he taught Aesculapius his art. As  the cock bird was a propitious sacrifice for those asking to  be imparted with his wisdom. 

Hippocrates and his oath           

Hippocrates, the great doctor of antiquity and father of the Hippocratic oath doctors take, was said to be a mortal descendant of Aesculapius.  His oath calls upon the Greek gods as his witness, and doctors still take some form of this pledge today, sometimes without evoking the ancient gods.  It begins solemnly:
 

I swear by Apollo Physician and Aesculapius and Hygeia and Panaceia and all the gods and goddesses, making them my witnesses, that I will fulfil according to my ability and judgment this oath and this covenant. …

Hygeia was discovered in Naples
The chart has the empty houses in pink for the being in the “pink of health”.  The twelfth house is the asteroid Hybris.
 

                   Hygeia the Asteroid

The first recorded observation of the asteroid was April 12, 1849 by Annibale de Gasparis in Naples, Italy, we are speculating that it was 5:30 AM, sunrise,  giving a 10 Aries 07 ascendant in the sixth house of service and health. Her rising symbol is ” a  savant is revealed, a woman who has created new forms for old symbols.”  On the chart are two asteroids.  Hygeia is plainly marked but the other, opposite it is Hybris (in the US this is Hubris) the asteroid of presumptive arrogance, overpreening pride. 

Download Hygeia discovery1849

It is rather surprising to see Hygeia opposite Hybris and one wonder is Hybris there for Hygeia or is is for Il Signore Dottore de Gaspari  who also discovered Parthenope, Egeria, Eunomia, Psyche, Massalia, Themia, Ausonia and Beatrix? 

Download the chart here

 Using Hygeia

In the few cases we used Hygeia, we discovered that it works well as a public hygiene point.  Here are a few examples from our notes:

  • One very good friend of mine, June, has Hygeia in the Third House admitted she came from a very neat family where ironing, clean windows, and presentable appearance counted.  Her Hygeia is sextile her Sixth House of work and labor, and her work appearance is always  impeccable. Once out of the limelight though, she dressed quite differently, and when her co-workers met her at a company, they were stunned by her disheveled hippie-like appearance.
  • Queen Mary of Guise, Mary Queen of Scots mother, has Hygeia in the first house right next to Saturn; her daughter’s Hygeia is  in the seventh. Perhaps that explains Mary’s  neat embroidery and exemplary attire while held captive by Queen Elizabeth.
  • The French writer Baudelaire, a great fan of Edgar Allen Poe,  has Hygeia in the first, conjunct his ascendant.
  • The National Geographic founder, Gilbert Grosvenor, has Hygeia in the fifth.  I guess why he wanted photographs and not actual items of the places his exploring journalists went.
  • Another friend  has Hygeia in his Twelfth House.  This dude admits to being a “closet slob, ” cleaning up when he knew he was going to have company and then shoving  everything into the “closets” in a made cleaning dash.
  • Coach Carm Cozza has the clean asteroid in the fourth house.  Those locker rooms  must have been clean enough to eat off.
  • President Trump has Hygeia in the Eighth House and  is an admitted “germaphobe,” but so does, Joe Biden, who always seems to be immaculately dressed and coifed; JFK whose hair was like armor, never moving an iota even with pictures taken at sea, has in it in the 4th.
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