“Is the system going to flatten you out and deny you your humanity, or are you going to be able to make use of the system to the attainment of human purposes?”
–Joseph Campbell
Pallas Athena, the mythological goddess, originated from the head of Zeus (Jupiter) a fully formed, female warrior. She is associated with creative intelligence, particularly as it relates to war, healing and arts and crafts. The energy this asteroid expresses resonates with a blending of Aquarius, Leo and Libra. As simply as possible she represents the creative intelligence, perception of wholly realized concepts and balance.
The most important thing to see here is relative to perception. This is the ability to see patterns. It could be said that the level of intelligence relates directly to the ability to perceive patterns, the interrelatedness of concepts. The more objects a juggler can keep in the air, the more skilled he is. The more concepts a person can correlate simultaneously the smarter they are. If you can visualize the whole, you can take it apart and reassemble it in your mind without the aid of physical parts, you can recreate it in reality.
If you can see the whole you can see the parts that don’t fit (healing). If you can see the whole you can tweak it and enhance it (art). If you see the whole you can manipulate it (strategy). The sign and aspects of Pallas Athena reflect your ability to perceive patterns which constitute the whole. The house position signifies the area in your life where this is likely to take precedence.
Now here’s an interesting bit and where we can see a unique influence on the Libra side: balance in the polarity of the masculine/feminine. Pallas Athena is feminine but the placement is also where we are likely to see where the feminine is sublimated in favor of the masculine. I see this as a reflection of pattern recognition as well. In a patriarchal model it’s only realistic to favor that which is valued by society, recognizing the emerging mode of the day For The Win.
Overemphasized in the chart or stressfully aspected this can be reflective of the woman who talks about her “balls” or the man who makes a big fluff about how super-macho he is. It is over-identification with what is perceived as the successful whole, at the expense of nuance and balance. An underemphasized Pallas Athene can expressed in the opposite, an individual who acts overly submissive to the dominant paradigm.
Okay, smarty-pants, where is your Pallas Athena? Do you perceive the patterns of creative intelligence in this area?
Interested in the meaning of the asteroids in your chart? Get a personalized reading here – Deluxe Asteroid Report.
trine sun
sextile chiron
trine mars
trine saturn
sextile pluto
trine northnode
square mercury
opposite midheaven!
I have ALOT of Pallas aspects…. I only act like I have balls when I’m really angry, but generally speaking I tend to try very hard to be diplomatic in an artistic way. I have a major tendency of picking up on patterns fast… I can sum people up really fast, and I have an extraordinary talent of just KNOWING how a relationship will live or die within five minutes of knowing the person. I can see people’s vices at a glance, plus their positive qualities, too.
My pallas is in Virgo, 3rd house
my sun and Saturn are in Capricorn, the 7th house
my mars is in Taurus, the 11th house
Pluto in Scorpio, the fifth house
MH in Pisces
NN in Capricorn, 7th house
I’ve always thought of myself as someone able to perceive greater patterns beyond details, to “spot” the occult “structures” behind something, to see a much wider picture. This post explained things a bit to me, I have Pallas Athena in Aquarius, in my 7th House!
I have Pallas on my 6th house cusp, in Capricorn, sextile mercury in the 8th and square mars in Aries in 9. Mercury and Pallas make a yod to my Asc. I feel like my purpose in life must be to get smarter. (I also have merc sq. Uranus/Jupiter conjunction. And Saturn conjunct Pluto in the 3rd.) While I’m definitely intelligent, I’ve had problems communicating things in a coherent way throughout my life. People can easily perceive me as dumb because my natural way of being is spacey and I easily lose track of my thoughts and where I want to go with them. I get mentally jumbled up and I have ADD. (Quite sure I have dyslexia as well.) I’m obsessed with figuring out puzzles and am always strategizing. Right now, T. Pluto is conjunct my n. Pallas. I feel mentally over-stimulated, it’s helping me to concentrate and break down my thoughts better.
Wow. My Pallas is 18° Capricorn in my 5th. It’s a perfect fit in my grand trine to Uranus/Pluto/moon, Jupiter, a wide conjunct to Mercury/Venus/Juno/Lilith, and it sextiles Neptune. It’s like music. I have to study this more.
Satori asked, “Do you perceive the patterns of creative intelligence in this area?”
Noooo, not usually, because my Pallas is in 12th. Perceive, I mean. But, sometimes yes, because aspects offer sideways access. Triple 12th house conjunction: True Node, Juno & Pallas – sextile Vesta, & Uranus.
A person I know has Pluto on my Pallas Athena,Mercury,Venus. Her Mars also opposes it. Any wisdom in such a relation?
Damn. My Pallas Athena at 14 Scorpio (third house) is quincunx my Chiron at 14 Aries. Last night I drank prosecco and grappa and smoked a Cohiba then puked. Told my boyfriend this has always been my pattern. I feel that I need to outdrink outsmoke out…balls to the wall (ha) my men. I told him I have a lot of my dad in me. My dad has spent his life alternating between chasing women and chasing God. A few weeks ago I told my boyfriend I wanted to leave the country on a mission trip. We’ve been discussing deep stuff lately. Feeling Pluto like a ton of bricks. My Pallas Athena trines my Mercury in Pisces to the degree. Is also quincunx my Saturn in Gemini and square my Venus in Aquarius. I feel the compulsion to prove how tough I am. It’s ego. It’s stupid. I get drunk with my boyfriend and we swap war stories. His are literal. I really did bleed in a foxhole once but it was basic training and I had a really bad period.
Pallas Athena at 29 degrees Aquarius, Second House (personal values). I get the big picture(s) to make everyday life, art, because damn, it mainly doesn’t make much sense to me without it. Thanks for this about the fully formed female warrior born from the head of Jupiter, I love the image. Big Picture!
Just did some chart surfing with Pallas Athena, a new chapter of awareness, Satori. What a nice view for the day Pluto goes direct, and the first day of Lono Season in the Hawaiian culture (no war). Pallas Athena tries my MC and Uranus in my 6th. That Uranus aspect fills out a Grand Trine in air to give me something huge to lift me when the Scorpio-Saturn-Capricorn stalemates wear me down. Like helium, wow!!
Pallas is my empty second house. I feel super special about her though, being mainly composed of those three signs she is a blend of. She makes no major aspects for me though, and she is in Virgo. Hmm.. I can see the small parts that make up the pattern that make up the whole? What? And this affects my values and income… Yeah, modest income is correct. I should make money doing modest jobs that other people don’t want to do… With athenaij the mix…. Tiny pattern recognition. Practical pattern recognition. Creatively expresses themselves through the practical arts, cerebral, analytical. I should be a seamstress, computer programmer, or some such… That is how I should built my fortune. Lol. This is hard e.e
Yeah though, I’m basically pallas incarnate. ?
As for being overly or underly submissive… I think with palladium barely suspected, I first come through with submissive behavior. With my ex-boyfriend for example, almost completely so. He expected me to be by his horrible side for a long time.he told me so. Anyway cut to a few months time. I was nowhere near him. I feel like I dated him during a blackout. I had no intention of being near him…. Nor did I fancy him as much as he told himself(and me). His Aries enabled this… Anyway, it must have hurt him a ton, I’m sorry, I can’t help but hope that it did, for he was abusive sexually. Back to pallas, maybe my mixture of aqua, Leo, and Libra enabled a stronger expression of palladium than my asteroid would 🙂
I do wonder if he was surprised
“This is the ability to see patterns.” Excellent insights! My Pallas is within minutes of my Aries, 8th house sun — It’s super intense, and I can see quite a lot.
I can size people up in about 3 seconds, see when they’re happy, sad, hiding something, etc., and I also see emotional patterns (8th house ruler, Pluto is in the 12th.) I take a lot of solace from this Pallas placement… Have been told I should have been a shrink.
My Pallas is just out of conjunction by 10* with my AC in Aquarius at 29*. I am pretty quick to catch onto patterns, in fact, I am always watching for patterns/signs. They say that when anything is in the first or last degrees of a sign it is stronger.
Sun/Mercury/Pallas conjunction in Aries, Third House. Seems to manifest as my ability to see patterns in communications, an innate sense of the true meaning behind the words.
I have palace Athena at 24° of Virgo and my playhouse controlling what does that mean? It is also my Neptune Venus midpoint. I am an artist.
I have palIs Athena at 24° of Virgo in my 4tyhouse con psyche what does that mean? It is also my Neptune Venus midpoint. I am an artist. Is so hard to figure out what this placement means. Any help would be appreciated.
I have Pallas @ 8 Aquarius in the 8th house, connected to nothing 🙂 = well, widely trine my NN. PA & NN are my only objects in air as well. I have no idea what any of this means.
Mine is in aries in the 9th house opposite sun and mars in libra. I read in a book of slovenian astrologer that pallas is the co-ruler of libra, even though it’s an asteroid. Juno is also supposed to rule libra. Mine is in libra in conjunction with sun & mars. Could it be that libra has three rulers? Insight would be greatly appreciated 🙂
Which are the signs that pallas is exalted/in detriment/fall etc. in?
Pallas is conjunct my midheaven, 23 degrees Virgo. Square to Neptune in Sagittarius 23 degrees in the first house. Not forming any aspects to Mercury. I do have natal Mars in Virgo 6 degrees.
Do I perceive patterns of creative intelligence in myself? Not really. As it’s conjunct my MC, it’s probably relevant to point out that over the years people who know me – and then those who don’t really know me well alike – often describe me as smart or intelligent. I’ve never been called creative though.
With the square to Neptune… one interpretation might be doubt and lack of self-confidence about that pattern-finding intellect shown on the public stage. Virgo is humble and self-critical without other energy to counter. I don’t have much other energy to counter it.
My best friend and I occasionally argue about my intelligence, with her attributing more of it to me than I attribute to myself.
In capricorn , 12th house making an exact trine to Jupiter in 8th house. Maybe it’s about the dream patterns? Sometimes I can decipher the symbols of my own dreams.
Pallas in Pisces in the fourth house sextile Sun in Capricorn. I’ve read where this might confer healing abilities. I’ve had dreams where I’m doing this but really have seen no openings or indications that I would do this in waking life.
In the 3rd house in very early Aries. I can see connection to creative intelligence. I do see patterns sometimes before others perceive them. Not sure of aspects but thinking my Pallas might be trining natal Jupiter in Leo.
~Pallas in late Capricorn, first house~ square MC and trines Saturn.
I ( first house) can bring forth an idea and grant it structure and reality ( Capricorn/Saturn ) through visualization.
I can taste a wonderful, created dish of food by just reading the recipe.
I can hear the pitch, tone and vibration of notes through music or the wind rushing through a suguaro cactus or recognizing a bird through melody without sighting it through flight.
I like to chase the light to capture the perfect image through photography.
I can bring a vision together through paint, especially flowers.
I love designing the perfect room through color and foremost incorporating an elaborate metaphysical library. I adore smelling well worn leather bindery.
This is too long, my wish is not to bore you!
Too funny, I just noticed my typo above, please accept this correction 🌵saguaro
I have Pallas Athena in my 10th House of Pisces, in sextile to both my Sun and Moon and conjunct my North Node but also squared against Mars and my Ascendent/Descendent.
Pallas with a 5 degree conjunction (wide?) to north node in the sixth. They square my 9th house sun. I did have an opportunity to work with a clothing designer. We used shrunk woolen sweaters, we chopped them up and reconfigered into bohemian funky designs. She trained me on the industrial machines and told me I was good at the pattern color layouts. I would attribute the skills to a sixth house domain. Pallas sextles my moon,Saturn, mercury in the eighth in taurus. Pallas trines my venus in the tenth. I still recycle sweaters and sell hats for holdiay gifts.:)
Terrific post, Satori!
My Pallas-Athena is in Libra in 10.
Trine Mars in Gemini in 7.
Square Node and Vertex in Cancer in 8.
Sextile Pluto in Leo in 9.
Not so much but perhaps quite potent?
Seeing connections between apparently unconnected things is what I do best. I suppose you could call that pattern recognition. I successfully used this in my work (10th house!).
Lack of symmetry makes me feel uncomfortable (Libra).
I started making clothes because I couldn’t find any that appealed to me in any shop. I do many kinds of needlework and feel a bit lost when I don’t have anything “on the go”. I use this to relax and soothe me.