The Olympian goddess Juno has the highest rank and station of all the goddesses. She is the Queen of the Gods. Born the youngest daughter of Saturn she, like all of her siblings except Jupiter, had been swallowed alive by her father. Against her better judgment and rejections of his previous proposals of marriage, Jupiter appeared to her as a cold, shivering bird and, using her compassion, seduced her. They were married with much pomp and merriment in the Garden of Hesperides. The western garden of the nymphes of sunset. The golden dappled garden of the long shadows of Vespers, the most romantic moment of the day when the Sun is stunning in its fading, golden glory. The Descendant, the cusp of the 7th house, in the horoscope forever marks this occasion.
In astrology, Juno is the official consort role. If you play a second in command role, your Juno will govern that. For men, the asteroid Juno represents the official, ideal Queen Consort. She is not necessarily lover, helpmate, mother to your children or friend but she is the Queen Consort with rank and station. Juno was the special counsellor of the state. Jupiter, Juno’s husband, was a philander but he never set Juno aside. She was never threatened or supplanted as his Queen. He hid his affairs and routinely abandoned his lovers as soon as his marriage was in danger. For a woman, Juno has an equal rank to the husband. When called for, Juno steps into the regent role acting as the King. Only one has greater authority than her and that is her husband but she has the most important relationship with the King. Her mystique reminds him continually that he is alive, passionate and young.
Queen of the Gods
The horoscope of the discovery of asteroid Juno gives insight into her role as Queen of the Gods. The horoscope describes the marital relationship as the retrograde 2° Aries Juno quincunx 2° Scorpio Jupiter. The quincunx aspect describes friction and is a check on excess. Jupiter, the planet of excess, recognizes the warrior Queen who can check him as his true Consort. She challenges him and, with her wits, bests all those who might attempt to replace her. Her servant Argus with his hundred eyes and, after his death, those same eyes placed on her sacred bird, the peacock, are a reminder that she is watching.
Jupiter’s response to Juno is recognition as his undoubted Queen. He wants to rule a new race of demigods, fathered by him, but in his way he is totally loyal to Juno, no mortal, goddess or nymph ever endangers her position. She channels her Arian survival toward his conquests. Although as Hera, she is intensely jealous of Jupiter as Zeus, she remains loyal to her husband and never cheats on him instead continuing to maintain the marital bond and fulfilling her role as Queen Consort. This is why Jupiter is present in the Scorpio zodiac sign. Jupiter, by Juno’s loyalty to her mate, controls (Scorpio) her godly powers.
Juno Herself
Aside from her famous relationship, Juno herself is the royal princess goddess. She is rejuvenation, related to eternal youth and fertility, vigor, vitality, the goddess of marriage and protectress during delivery and birth. She gives birth to Mars, god of war, Vulcan, god of fire, Bellona, goddess of war, and Juventus, goddess of youth. Her fiery children spring from the power of her rejuvenation. Vulcan, the child she bore without any father, has control over destructive fire and fertilizing fire representing male fertility.
The 9th house is the house of god, Sagittarius and Jupiter and its counterpart is the 3rd house as the house of the goddess, Gemini and Mercury. As a Gemini Ascendant in her discovery chart, her chart ruler is the Libra Mercury in the 5th house and she is beside her father Saturn and grandfather, Uranus, Mercury highlights her youth, and her paternal ancestry, her royal lineage. To further emphasize these connections, her Leo Venus is conjunct the south node. Leo is the zodiac sign of royalty. Her Leo Moon is conjunct her Imum Coeli showing her roots to her royal mother, Ops/Rhea, whose role she continues as Queen.
The retrograde Aries Juno resides in the 11th house of hopes and wishes. She has a strong placement of force and independence (Aries) springing from within herself (retrograde) and she is located in her grandfather’s natural home, the 11th house. Grandfather Uranus is the god of the sky and creative force and his home’s connection to Juno shows that she is a fiery, initiatory, fountain of creative, independent vigor. Aries ruler, the Cancer Mars, connects her to childbirth and fertility.
Juno in Synastry and in the Natal Chart
Jupiter had children with other goddesses including with Ceres, the full sister of Juno. Myths say the Titaness Metis, his double first cousin and goddess of wisdom, was his first wife. He feared her having a son who could overthrow him so he swallowed her while she was already pregnant leading to the birth of the goddess Athena from his own head. Then he courted the Titaness Thetis but he also feared a prophesy that said her son would be greater than his father. Juno was not his first choice of a wife. Truly, it seems her power was too dangerous in an intimate partnership with another god. Jupiter, fearful of being overthrown like his ancestors, made this marriage as a means to contain Juno. He tricks her by appearing as a helpless cuckoo and once he is alone with her he transforms back to his godly form and seduces or rapes her according to various myths. To be King of the Gods, he must marry the Queen Consort. Theirs was not an individually fulfilling marriage but was a marriage of state made for a strategic alliance between them. The 300 year honeymoon after the first romantic fantasy wedding ceremony was about the royal trappings needed for such an alliance.
Juno represents this type of marriage in a natal chart. Juno synastry with aspects to other planets describes a potentially fertile alliance between the natives. As the goddess of marriage, this can be a marital alliance. The zodiac sign of Juno will show how this fertility will manifest itself. The asteroid Juno in your natal chart is your rejuvenation and youthful vigor. This is the place you will have your own fiery fountain of youth but she needs another to show herself. A marriage to another, represented by a synastric connection to another’s planet, will channel this power through them. It is this hidden feminine vulnerability that gives Juno the reputation of the good wife. Unlike her sisters, Ceres resists her power being channeled by another and keeps it for her own possession, Vesta rejects channeling by others keeping her power sacred and pure but Juno’s power is channeled and directed by another. Whether it is your own planet, a transit or another’s planet that aspects Juno, she only really appears in concert.
Don’t underestimate Jupiter, he understands her potential and those with strong 9th house placements, Sagittarius placements or strong Jupiter aspects seem to have a special affinity for another’s Juno in their relationships.
In these waning days of Virgoan feminism, Juno’s feminine vulnerability could still be read as a weakness instead of a great strength. The war axis of Aries – Libra should disabuse any of that notion. No nation can stand alone (Aries) their real strength lies in their loyal alliances (Libra). The ability to join completely with another in bonds of loyalty make one even more powerful. Discovering your vulnerability, discovering Juno, can unleash your vigor and the rejuvenation of all your hopes and wishes.