The Centaur’s Daughter.

Recently I’ve been writing about female Oracles who channel divine energy through their bodies at sacred sites, and who are connected to the serpent energies (earth energies). I touched on the Delphic Oracles and boldly entertained the possibility of a priestess lineage in Scotland.

In tomorrow’s full moon chart (21.37 BST), when the Sun is at 18 ° Cancer, and the Moon is at 18 ° Capricorn, centaur Okyhroe is conjunct Chiron (both at 26 °Aries).

While most people are familiar with Chiron, much less is known about his daughter, Okyrhoe.

Who is Okyhroe?

In Greek mythology, Okyhroe is born of Chiron, the centaur, and Chariklo, the water nymph. Okyhroe is gifted with powerful oracular abilities, she is a prophetess and a seer, but above all she is a truth teller.

In astronomy Okyhroe is centaur 52872, orbiting the outer solar system between Jupiter and Saturn. Discovered on 19^th September 1998, Okyrhoe has an orbit of 24.12 years.

In astrology, the placement of Okyhroe is where we may have extra sensory perception, pre-cognitive aptitude, or access to portentous insights. It may be an area of life where we just know things. We may not know how we know, we just know we know. And, while it may seem odd to others, we may also attempt to speak these things. That’s one possible manifestation of Okyhroe, another, depending on how it is aspected, could be the denial of our truth (possibly due to memories of being punished for speaking truth).

We have an Okyrhoe return at ages 24, 48, and 72.

It is Okyhroe’s truth telling that finally lands her in trouble with the gods; Apollo turns her into a mare for revealing the plans of the gods for humanity. Interesting to note that it is Apollo who slays the Python and Delphi and who appropriates the power of the Pythia, the oracular priestesses of the site.

Okyrhoe is bound with the serpent mysteries: Her mother, Chariklo is a water nymph who shape-shifts into a horse to become the wife of Chiron. Female spirits associated with bodies of fresh water such as springs, and rivers, are known as water nymphs or naiads. For me these watery spirits relate to the Melusine and the serpent mysteries. The Melusine in folklore has the upper body of a woman and the lower body of a snake. Naiad and water nymphs are often bestowed with healing powers; they are associated with the Maidens of the Well in folklore and mythology, and the Well Maidens in the story of the Grail. Often, they are seen as the protectors of Maidens (the priestesses).

Okyrhoe is also connected to the serpent mysteries through her father, Chiron, who is wounded in the leg with an arrowhead coated in the blood of the Hydra. Also, when Asclepius, god of medicine and healing, is entrusted by Apollo to Chiron as a baby, Okyhroe, upon seeing Asclepius for the first time utters a prophecy:

Grow strong, dear boy

Healer of all the world.

Often to you

Men shall owe health and life,

And yours shall be

The right to win again departed souls,

And, though you dare this once in heaven’s despite,

Jove’s bolt will thwart that gift a second time.

You, now divine, shall become a lifeless corpse,

And from a corpse become divine again,

And twice you shall renew your destiny.

(Ovid’s Metamorphoses)

Okyhroe foretold of her father’s fate: Despite being an immortal, the gods would one day grant Chiron death to release him from the torment of the serpent’s venom. When Okyhroe attempts to utter the prophecy, it is a step too far…

Okyhroe could not finish the prophecy before losing the power of speech. The last words she spoke were “The Fates have checked my speech. I am allowed to say no more; they will not let me use my voice”. This is reminiscent, and a chilling reminder, of the Scold’s Bridle, used to silence women in the late medieval and early modern period in Europe.

In the myth, Apollo turns Okyhroe into a mare as a punishment.

Prometheus who also plays a crucial role in the myth of Chiron as the one who steals fire from the gods, is likewise punished for the transgression. The gods do not look favourably upon hubris.

What might the placement of Okyhroe indicate in our own chart?

It speaks of a gift, the place where we can penetrate beneath the veil, behind the curtain to the inner and mysterious workings of spirit. It is a place where we know the truth, perhaps not consciously, but on some subtle level. The things we know may seem crazy or incomprehensible to others and so we learn to hide them, but this causes frustration and a sense of inauthenticity. It can also cause ill health. But still, the truth ‘flows’ inside us like liquid light or a fast-flowing river- Okyrhoe means ‘swift flowing’. These are the flashes of inspiration that seem to come out of nowhere, or the strongly activated psychic streams of consciousness that bursts forth in prophetic utterance.

Okyhroe is the shamanka, the oracular priestess, the seer, and the one who knows the mysteries of life, death, rebirth, and resurrection.

In trauma recovery, Okyhroe may be the part of ourselves that was unable to speak truth as a child and so went into hiding. As adults, we may find it difficult to access those parts. We may have become adept at shying away from the truth or even lying to ourselves and others because to know and speak truth feels too dangerous. We might turn a blind eye and try to go along with whatever dominant narrative is expected of us. Maybe in the past, bad things happened when we spoke truth. In hiding our truth though, we are cut off from an essential part of ourselves. In recovery work, this part is seeking to come home.

But what if our truth is a difficult truth and speaking it is dangerous? Then what is needed is a shamanic soul quest to integrate the parts that have become lost or fragmented in a way that does not destroy us. As in the myth of Okyrhoe, there may be those who try to silence us.

These are wounds to the soul, and it is only through the soul that healing can happen. Sometimes the lost parts are simply not accessible through talking therapies or trying to engage the reasoning mind. The part of the psyche that holds this information may be pre-verbal or even from another timeline.

Chiron is the wounded healer who gives birth to the young feminine, the maiden part of us who is to an extent pure, and who knows the truth. She is the Grail Maiden who has been violated but without whom the land will never be restored to health. When we have healed our own Chiron wound, we may find that it is impossible to suppress our truth any longer, and the journey to reclaiming ourselves truly begins.

Chiron as the shaman is connected to the three worlds- the lower world through the animal instincts of the horse; the middle world through his half human part; and the power of the gods through his semi- divine status. He is also a perfect blend of masculine and feminine energies due to his union with Chariklo, and because his foster parents are Artemis the moon goddess, and Apollo the sun god. Between him and Chariklo, Okyrhoe is born and inherits the gift of the seer. Powerful. Too powerful for comfort of the gods, who eventually demote Okyhroe to the instinctual realm only, with no voice to reveal what she knows. In this way, the fate of Okyhroe is similar to that of Cassandra, who, also being endowed with the gift of prophecy, is cursed by the gods so that no one believes her.

There are many myths from the Greco-Roman world where a goddess, priestess, semi-divine woman, seer, or sorceress is stripped of her power. This speaks to the patriarchal take-over of the Mother Goddess culture. In the ‘real’ world we have seen this take-over in the usurping of the goddess temples, and in the countless ways women are silenced. Women who were once priestesses became nuns in service to a Father god.

As I am discovering on my own journey- exploring the status of holy women in pre-Reformation Scotland- the priestesses of the goddess and their sites of worship were eradicated, and new temples were built upon the ancient sites, much like the temple of Apollo being erected over a much more ancient site that was originally dedicated to Gaia.

Perhaps the position of Okyhroe in our natal chart speaks to the place in us that remembers.

My own Okyhroe is at 0°Pisces, 18°’, conjunct Pholus at 0 Pisces, 20’, conjunct Vesta at 1 Pisces 44’, in the 8^th house. Chariklo is also in Pisces. I have no traditional planets or angles in water signs, but I have these three centaurs. This tells a story.

If you would like to explore the placement of Okyhroe in your natal chart, or any other aspect of your astrology chart, send me a message.