Iris

Iris, goddess of the rainbow.

Here are some insights on asteroid 7 Iris:

In the story of the voyage of the "Argo", she told Castor and Polydeuces not to kill the Harpies, who were tormenting a prophet named Phineus by swooping down to snatch his food and stink up his house every time he tried to eat, for being too free with revealing the will of the gods. Iris said that the gods would lift the curse from him.

There is a type of flower called the iris(the state flower of Tennessee) and the colored part of the eye is called the iris; examination of the iris to diagnose disease and reveal personality is called iridology. Iris is also a somewhat popular girls' name(famous examples include the late British writer Iris Murdoch and the rock singer Iris DeMent).

There is an organization for adolescent girls called the Order of the Rainbow which is associated with the Freemasons. My sister used to belong to it; its rituals, its symbols, its customs, are all quite genteel, very Hera(or Juno)-like.[NOTE: Charles Manson tried to start a religion with an identical name with some of his remaining followers after he went to prison for the Tate-LaBianca murders.] There is also a migrant neo-hippie group called the Rainbow Family and a British heavy-metal rock group called Rainbow, now defunct, which had a sort of medieval-troubadour aura as part of its act. The rainbow is a symbol of hope in the Bible(in Genesis, Jehovah sent a rainbow after the Flood as a token of his resolve never again to destroy humanity), and of mutability in classic poetry of the diversity of the human species, and a modern symbol of gay pride as well as a hippie symbol.

And there is an asteroid 7 Iris, which, in my chart, is at 28 Virgo, conjoining the Sun out of sign. I've never read Iris Murdoch's books or listened to Iris DeMent's music and am not into flower-growing of any kind, yet am somewhat attracted to iridology and to hippie culture, sympathetic to the cause of anti-bigotry and gay/bisexual/transgendered civil rights, and I like the rock group Rainbow.

Actually, to me, 7 Iris seems to be mostly about being a messenger or telling stories(I'm a poet and novelist), but there seems to be a certain Sixties-ish overtone to the asteroid.

It may be said to signify bearing messages or acting as a bridge or go-between, connections, communications, storytelling, archives, revelation, key factors, passages, fragile hope or idealism, mutability, liberalism, pluralism, tolerance, the ability to live with ambivalence or diversity, sympathy toward gayness or bisexuality, a hippie ethos, photography, naivete, openness, chasing dreams, the media, photography, feelings of being stalked, under surveillance, or "under the microscope", and restlessness.

To: Centaurs@onelist.com

From: Melanie Reinhart <106326.3203@compuserve.com>

Subject: [Centaurs] Re:asteroids, Iris, rainbows

Sabian Symbol for Chiron's discovery degree ...... POT OF GOLD AT THE END OF THE RAINBOW. In Rudhyar's interpretation, he speaks of the covenant between man and god, and of trans-substantiation, the linking of one disparate thing to another in harmony. 'Rainbow bridge' is also the phrase used by some to describe the connection between the Divine, the personal 'higher self' and the 'personality'.

The goddess Iris is sometimes considered to be a sort of female Hermes figure, in her function as messenger. (see 'The Mythic Tarot' by Liz Greene and Juliet Sharman Burke)

To: Centaurs@onelist.com

From: jar@expreso.co.cr (Juan Revilla)

Subject: [Centaurs] Re: asteroids, Iris

There are 2 "Iris" associations that are not very evident from the "rainbow" image. The first came when I found Iris in exact conjunction with the Sun in the chart of Christopher Reeve (even more exact than Mercury, which is already less than 1 degree). 2 things came from it: his "gentle" personality, not unlike the Clark Kent of the movie, and the tiny thread that joins his "earth" (his body) with his "heaven" (his head), the connection that was severed by his tragic accident.

The second association was by looking at the chart of Hugh Hefner, where I felt Astraea could be a symbol of the playmates and "Iris" was related to the "Iris" of the camera. This association with the iris inside the lens of camera --and inside the human eye-- is not evident in the myth but I feel that it is significant with respect to Iris.

Christopher Reeve = Sept 25, 1952, 7:30 a.m. GMT

Sun = 2,11 libra

Iris 2,07 Libra

Mercury = 2,46 Libra

and from from a post here long ago:

Hugh Hefner = Apirl 9, 26 16h20m CST Chicago

Moon = 13,37 Pisces. (Sabian symbol "a lady in fox fur"; keyword: tastefulness.)

Astraea = 13,01 Capricorn,

Ceres = 13,32 Leo. (forming a Yod)

This Ceres "Finger of God" could be related to the mother-earth voluptuous goddesses that became his trademark, Astraea being the "playmate" starring signature.

433 Eros = 18,22 Capricorn (56' from the exact square to the Sun)

Venus = 3,21 Pisces

Iris = 4,55 Cancer

is suggestive of the "glaring" photographic lens, the "iris" of the camera.

Of course these are mother-earth asteroid nuances, far from the Centaurs realm. Pamela Anderson, for example, has the Moon in 27,15 Aries conjunct Eros in 29,11 Aries...