Ophiuchus (pronounced Ofiucus) is a constellation situated along the celestial equator (the projection of the Earth's equator), represented as a man holding the head and tail of a snake (the constellation Serpens, divided into Serpens Caput and Serpens Cauda). Thus, it is called Serpentarius in Latin, meaning Serpent-Bearer or Snake-Holder. It is located between the constellations Scorpio and Sagittarius on the ecliptic, astrologically taking qualities from both signs (Ophiuchus is considered the evolved form of Scorpio, which is its "mother," and Sagittarius its "father").
The history of Ophiuchus is ancient and full of controversy. Before the Romans modified the calendar by adding the months Julius and Augustus (which is why September, from seven, is the ninth month), society was matriarchal, the calendar was lunar, having13 months of28 days each and one day of celebration, and most constellations were symbolized by feminine energies, including Ophiuchus, which represented the shamanic woman, the healer. Later, Ophiuchus was associated with historical male figures related to medicine.
Among the Greeks, we find Asclepius (said to be the reincarnation of Imhotep, architect, engineer, astrologer, and pioneer of medicine among other things in Ancient Egypt), the god of health and medicine, son of Apollo and the nymph Coronis, who was taught by the centaur Chiron to use the art of healing people, using plants from the forest. He became skilled even in surgery. Legend says he healed the sick through the art of music. He was killed by Zeus with a thunderbolt because Zeus did not allow a mortal such talent. After him, Hygieia, goddess of health, and the Asclepiads, ancestors of today's doctors, remained. He had many temples, the most famous at Epidaurus, where ruins of a magnificent theater, a stadium, and an impressive school building can still be found today. There, the god Asclepius was venerated in the form of a snake, and the temple was a place of pilgrimage and healing of diseases.
Among the Romans, we have Aesculapius, with a similar story. It is said he even managed to resurrect the dead, which is why Zeus, indignant, struck him with lightning. In Italy, his cult was introduced during the plague epidemic of293 BC, when he was invoked as a salvation. His symbols were a staff and a snake.
The story becomes interesting when astrology attributes as ruler of Ophiuchus the asteroid Chiron, representative of healing. Chiron was a centaur, son of Cronos (Saturn) and the nymph Philyra. He was a great sage and expert in medicine, a talent he received from Apollo. In turn, he taught this art to Asclepius and astronomy to Heracles (Hercules), who accidentally killed him with a poisoned arrow dipped in the blood of the Lernaean Hydra (a seven-headed dragon). The centaur suffered greatly until Zeus, moved by pity, transformed him into a constellation, Sagittarius.
The Sun in Ophiuchus celebrates Isis, the Egyptian goddess and sister/wife of Osiris, "King of Kings." When their jealous brother Set killed and mutilated Osiris, Isis put him back together, with the help and protection of their sister Nephthys, also Set's wife. Osiris then became Lord of the Underworld, and his son Horus took over the world. These indicators from the ancient myth determine some of the characteristics of Ophiuchus. The fundamental nature of Isis, as healer and protector, constitutes the basic values of Ophiuchus. Isis was for the Egyptians the deity of fertility, together with her husband Osiris and their son Horus forming the supreme sacred trinity. She was mother of all, and of nature, in all its forms. The Greeks identified her with Hera (wife of Zeus), with Demeter (goddess of agriculture, harvests, social life, and fertility for the Greeks), with Aphrodite (goddess of beauty, love, sensuality, fertility, and the sea for the Greeks), with Selene (Greek goddess, personification of the Moon), and with Io (a young woman from Argos, priestess in the temple of the goddess Hera). In Rome, her cult was especially spread during the Empire, in the form of mysteries (Isiac mysteries).
Thus, we have an image of the supreme mother, of the suppressed feminine energy today, of the healing power that lies within all people and which, through true knowledge of the self and history, can be accessed and integrated. That is why the energy of Ophiuchus is surrounded by controversies, mystery, and secrets, associated with witches and those persecuted who oppose the status quo.
"Ophiuchus is the resurrected Scorpio, reborn, transforming into the symbol of the flying eagle, giving life for death; just as the snake eats its own tail, nature in its mystery is revealed, a moment when unprecedented phenomena occur to everyone's disbelief. Ophiuchus belongs to an ethereal society, where feminine visions become miracles of the masculine, where the impossible can happen, where we can benefit from the power of the gods. The message of Ophiuchus must be heard and immediately applied. Ophiuchus is the birth of the new from the old, the emergence of the bird from the nest or the snake from its burrow; the model of perfection of untamed, but unlimited, power to rise from darkness to light, as from the ruins of war. This is the ego at its most vulnerable moment, a painful, anxious period, when you land on your feet, naked, a stranger in a strange land."
