Pallas-Athena
Strategy, Wisdom, Protection
Pallas- Athena, Namesake of the city of Athens
Now, that you’ve had time to consider my previous Medusa’ articles and how her archetype influences your own life. I want to take a look at a key player in Medusa’s story- Athena, aka Pallas-Athena, one of the main asteroids in astrology.
Represented by the glyph seen above Pallas-Athena in our birth chart represents our strategic wisdom and creative intelligence. She is wise and understands how to play the game
Where we have Pallas- Athena in our chart tells us a lot about how our strategic intelligence operates- how we spot patterns, and create functional solutions
Yet, strategy is rarely simple and what feels like protection or acting for the greater good to one person can feel like betrayal to another
From Medusa’s perspective Pallas-Athena (Athena) is thought of as someone who can be trusted, a wise, protector; ultimately, she betrays her becoming a villain in Medusa’s story. But every story has at least two sides….
To understand how this archetype operates within us, we have to look at how her mythology was rewritten.
The myth that we associate with Pallas-Athena today was not her original story. Like many of the goddesses, or religious figures, her story was rewritten to fit a narrative. While her original pre- Hellenic myth speaks to a tribe of women, anchoring, supporting, and building each other up. The myth shifts to her being hyper independent, disconnected from her raw feminine and a strategic warrior. She is very much a guy’s girl.
Pallas-Athena (Athena’s) myth as we know it today from the Greek perspective.
Like Medusa, Athena’s mother, Metis, was a primordial sea goddess. While their lineage is not directly connected their stories parallel each other.
In the Hellenistic telling of the myth; Zeus swallows Metis as an act of self-preservation in an attempt to protect himself from a prophecy that he will be overthrown by one of his offspring. Yet, Metis gives birth to Athena who is born, fully adult, dressed ready for battle, from the head of Zeus (Jupiter).
Being born straight from the head-intellect and reason, she becomes known for being practical in her responses. Peacefully settling disputes, and wise in her battle strategies. While Jupiter( Zeus) represents the big picture and over arching vision in our charts. Pallas- Athena is the part of us that strategizes, figuring out how to execute and protect that vision.
Pallas- Athena, originally born Athena, takes on the name Pallas- Athena after she accidentally kills her foster-sister/ childhood companion, Pallas, during a playful, mock battle. We see a similar theme of her wearing Medusa’s head on her breastplate after Medusa is decapitated by Perseus using Athena’s reflective shield to protect himself from Medusa’ gaze. Integrating and utilizing the strengths- and tragedies of others. Honoring who they were and understanding how to play the long game.
But before she was known as the strategic, “daddy’s girl”, Athena’s myth way quite different. Aligning her brilliance, strategy with female intelligence and the need to protect the community.
In the original myth, Athena is not born from a man’s mind or defined as his protector. She is born into a tribe of autonomous warrior women, deeply connected to the sea and the earth. When Pallas is tragically killed, Athena does not take on her name as trophy or conquest, but a mark of their sacred sisterhood.
In this myth the gift that she bestows of a strategic mind, and protective power were not ones of survival in a man’s world, but innate gifts she had all along. A part of the sovereign feminine.
My purpose is not to get into a discussion about philosophical and spiritual teachings. It is to have a better understanding of these archetypes so that we can reflect on how we are embodying and displaying these themes in our own lives.
I do think it is important to understand both myths to fully understand and interpret her meaning in our own lives. Using her archetype to understand where we are playing by the rules to survive and where we are leaning on our tribe.
Because Pallas-Athena represents our strategic wisdom, I do want to take a look at the strategy in her involvement in the Medusa story.
After Medusa was violated by Poseidon, Athena would not have been able to attack Poseidon without bringing about Civil War on Mount Olympus. From a hyper-rational perspective, Medusa was meant to protect the temples’ purity which she failed to do under her watch. By giving Medusa snake hair and a gaze that turns others to stone, Athena is providing her with an impenetrable shield-ensuring she cannot be harmed by a man again.
Why would she help Perseus?
Greek society relied on and valued order, law, and reason. Medusa had become uncontrollable, instinctually no longer functioning within the rules of society. Who society needed protection from.
Athena is not making her decisions from an emotional, reactionary perspective, but from a strategic understanding of how to navigate the rules of the world.
My guess- She is an Aquarius Moon.
Understanding her role in the Astrological Chart
From the Greek perspective she is the part of us that has learned to adapt to the world around us. How we absorb past grief and trauma and learn to play the game. Where we have learned to put up a shield of armor to play it safe. She allows us to look at look at our deepest wounds, spot patterns and create real-world strength from them.
In the original Libyan Myth Pallas- Athena’s ability to strategize and wield weapons is a defense strategy she learns from her lineage as a sovereign woman. Learning how to protect her tribe and land through a communal intelligence.
At her core in both the original – North African roots and later the Greek interpretation of her myth she is rooted in the idea of protection. She acts in ways that protect the world around her. For the greatest good instead of self-preservation.
How Pallas-Athena shows up in your life based on the astrological house that she is in.
When you look at your birth chart, Pallas-Athena’s House placement reveals the exact arena of life where you are called to turn your deepest trials into functional power. This is where you build protective armor, spot patterns, and where you hold the power to to process the Medusa level wounds- turning your hardest experiences into real- world strength.
Pallas-Athena Through the Houses: Where You Build Your Strategy & Safety
The Houses of Personal Foundations (1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th Houses)
1st House: Strategy is embedded in your very identity and physical presence. You protect yourself by projecting composure, independence, and sharp self-awareness. Your armor is your personal autonomy.
2nd House: Strategy is applied to your tangible security, financial stability, and self-worth. You protect yourself by building practical, real-world systems, securing resources, and establishing firm boundaries around your value.
3rd House: Strategy lives in your mind, speech, and immediate environment. You protect yourself through learning, pattern recognition in communication, and using logic to navigate local dynamics and daily choices.
4th House: Strategy is centered on your home, roots, and psychological foundation. You protect yourself by creating a safe, inner sanctuary and building clear boundaries around family lineage and emotional history.
The Houses of Creation & Relational Healing (5th, 6th, 7th, and 8th Houses)
5th House: Strategy meets creative expression and joy. You protect yourself by channeling raw feelings into art, craft, or play, using creative intelligence as a shield to maintain sovereign self-expression.
6th House: Strategy is woven into your daily routines, work habits, and somatic health. You protect yourself by organizing the details of daily life, mastering practical skills, and creating efficient, sustainable systems for well-being.
7th House: Strategy is applied to one-on-one relationships and contracts. You protect yourself by carefully negotiating boundaries in partnerships, balancing independence with connection, and spotting relational patterns.
8th House: Strategy enters the underworld of shared assets, intimacy, and deep shadow work. You protect yourself by building strong containers for transformation, using sharp psychological insight to navigate crisis, trauma, and shared power.
The Houses of Collective Vision & Sovereignty (9th, 10th, 11th, and 12th Houses)
9th House: Strategy is focused on belief systems, higher wisdom, and big-picture truth. You protect yourself by seeking grand patterns, mastering philosophy or law, and building an overarching framework to understand the world.
10th House: Strategy is brought to your public life, career, and legacy. You protect yourself by mastering your reputation, building professional authority, and navigating institutional structures with skill.
11th House: Strategy is applied to community, tribes, and collective goals. You protect yourself—and others—through communal intelligence, organizing groups, and defending the safety and vision of your social network.
12th House: Strategy operates in the unseen, spiritual, and subconscious realm. You protect yourself through hidden wisdom, psychic boundaries, and using pattern recognition to translate deep, unconscious material into conscious clarity.
While your House placement gives you a glimpse into where you build protection looking at Pallas-Athena’s complex placements- her sign, aspects and house- reveal the master blueprint of your creative intelligence. In a 1- on-1 reading, we will dive deep into your chart to identify the strategies that you are meant to build to navigate life and incorporate your deeper, more complex lessons.
Jess
https://jessicamorleyastrology.as.me
Thank you to Demetra George and her foundational work on the asteroid Goddesses; particularly her Book Asteroid Goddesses- The Mythology, psychology and the Astrology of the Re-Emerging Feminine in helping me to better understand these complex myths. Special thanks also Chani Nicholas whose YouTube provided me with greater clarity and insight into these myths.
