Though I believe it is hanging in the Pergamon Museum in Berlin, I was unable to discover anything more about this painting, the photo of which is this week’s Picture of the Week.
There are two different schools of thought about womanhood in astrology. (Well, truth be told, there are probably many, many more. But I’m only going to discuss two of them here.) While all astrologers, to my knowledge, recognize Venus as the holder of feminine energy, most western astrologers also ascribe the mother role, and general feminine traits, to the Moon. The Huber school, on the other hand, says the Moon is gender-neutral — pertaining to emotional and contact needs — whereas Saturn represents the mother principle: It is keyed toward physical security, survival, protection, boundaries and attachment. It is most comfortable near the bottom of the chart, where it can grow roots and provide stability and assurance to the chart native. In the midst of crisis, it is this sturdy sort of mother that we all seek, not the mother figure suggested by the Moon.
But these motherly traits of sturdiness and security are not always the ones associated with femininity in popular culture. Femininity is seen as much less solid than Saturn: more emotional, changeable, flirtatious and irrational as well as tender, loving, caring and abundant. (It is this changeability, as well as this tenderness, that are sometimes missing in strong Saturn types.)
In my eyes, the picture above models the Saturn style of the feminine. Here is a woman alone with two animals: one domestic, one wild. She appears to be leading the horse, as if she has already gained mastery and command over it; she has tamed it, provided rules and boundaries, and made it dependent on her in some way. But then she comes upon a wild tiger — a beast from whom most people I know would run. Yet she holds out her hands as if to tame it, too, as if to say, “Here, kitty, kitty, kitty.” What’s more, the tiger is bowing its head at her feet, as if it already knows the woman’s power — already knows she will be the authority in the relationship.
Saturn may put reins on wild horses, but when confronted with wildness, chaos or danger a healthy Saturn will not freeze or run or kick but, instead, draw on its own resources to survive. In action films, that often means shooting guns and outrunning bad guys (more masculine, Mars-oriented stuff). But in real life, it may take fortitude, determination and creativity more than speed and strength.
A 2000 study published in Psychological Review claimed the traditional explanation of human stress response (“fight or flight”) was insufficient — particularly in females, for whom stress responses lean more toward, as the study put it, “tend and befriend” (notice it’s not an either-or but a both-and):
Behaviorally, females’ [stress] responses are more marked by a pattern of “tend-and-befriend.” Tending involves nurturant activities designed to protect the self and offspring that promote safety and reduce distress; befriending is the creation and maintenance of social networks that may aid in this process.
So when the going gets rough, women tend: They hunker down, grow roots and ensure they and their loved ones are protected and provided for. In other words, they go all Saturn on you. They also befriend, more a function of the social Venus archetype (with a good dose of Mercury, perhaps) than of the Moon (though a healthy Moon may certainly have a role to play in befriending as well). Yet even befriending, at least for the long-term, requires some Saturn energy of sacrifice, memory and protection as well as nurturing and maintaining deep connections.
In the picture above, the woman is tending and befriending. She is holding close to her faithful friend, the horse; developing an attachment with the tiger rather than separating from it; making the tiger dependent on her rather than chasing it off; taming it, restraining its wildness the way Saturn imposes order on chaos, organizes what feels unruly, protects us from the dangers of the world. What’s more, the woman appears calm and unruffled, sure of herself, not at all hysterical or flirtatious or indecisive.
After all, she is just going about her business, tending and befriending, in order to survive the wilderness of her life.
I know this was published a little while ago, but your description of feminine Saturn archetype immediately brought to mind the Strength
card from tarot. “Strength” is more generally associated with Leo, but the connection you draw here brings a neat insight into it. Thank you for such a thoughtful article.