The astrological keys to the Narcissus myth

The astrological keys:

A way to proceed is to take the zodiac sign that corresponds to the myth and see how it relates to the other astrological signs of the zodiac. The myth of Narcissus is associated with the sign of Cancer and Leo. We have mainly talked about the lunar aspect of the myth of Narcissus. But there are two different types, the lunar type and the solar type, and by analogy the Cancer type and the Leo type. The lunar type languishes, hoping for the gaze of others, and the solar type seeks it by imposing itself. For example, in the theater, he will exclaim: "Look how well I play, love me!" The lunar narcissist will increase his fragility and dependence to be protected and loved!

Signs adjacent to cancer

The sign preceding Cancer will be the sign that he must leave, and the sign following Cancer will be the culmination of the quest. The author speaks of the sign of Gemini, which represents echo, and the lion represents the sublimating flower, the Narcissus. The lion represents the affirmation of identity, so Narcissus's zodiacal journey will be to leave the state of being in echo. That is to say, with some examples, having incessant speech, seeing only sound reflections, for indeed Narcissus is hypersensitive to hearing and sight which represents the sensation of the two senses linked to this myth. To hearing because of Echo and sight because of the eye which appears in multiple ways in the story, the lake, it is the eye which looks at the stars and when Narcissus looks at himself in the lake's mirror. A Narcissist is recognized by his eyes, he has bright eyes which attract the gaze of others. And so until the sign of the lion which represents the exposure of his true nature and the one who exposes risks the risk of exposing himself.

The squares to Cancer:

They represent the breaking of patterns, the triggers which allow the myth to be realized.

One comes from the past, the other from the future.

The trigger for Aries will be vitality, the hair of Bacchus. The shadow aspect, which is one of the traps of the myth, represents the deer, that is to say, leaving the immature spiritual ideal to enter into silence, echo and discover the true meaning of alterity, which is the sign of Libra, the second square of Cancer. It is thus the encounter with the Other which will lead Narcissus to transform. Throughout the story, we have seen the three loves, the fusion love, the victim love and the protective love of his mother. The encounter with the other will thus allow Narcissus to move, his love life will oblige him to move provided he abandons the deer, his great ideals, which are a thousand miles away from his true nature.

Signs in sextile to Cancer:

Taurus and Virgo are the helpers for the heroic journey of Narcissus. With Taurus, Narcissus' physical beauty will naturally help him. What will strengthen his self-confidence are massages, food, and security food, as well as a relationship with his sensuality. What will enable him to progress on his journey is Virgo. People who have a Cancer sign, Virgo ascendant or Virgo dominance and who have a Narcissus myth express their journey in writing. Virgo's writing can be a diary and/or a third-person writing site, etc., which allows them to clarify their inner confusion. Writing is a valuable tool for Narcissus because it helps them to empty their imagination in order to exhaust their narcissism and produce a work that is universal.

Virgo is purity, and purity is the courage to be who we are. Thus, it is this courage that a narcissus must have when they look at themselves. On the zodiac, Virgo follows the experience of Leo; from a personality point of view, Leo tends to do too much and Virgo not enough. The lion tends to overestimate their abilities and the Virgo to underestimate themselves, and balance will be found in Libra. From a point of view of being, the lion is the expansion of consciousness, the expansion of the Self within the I. The lion is how the Self can become more and more important in the I, and it is precisely because the Self becomes more important in the I that the I sometimes thinks it is a Self and that it gets complicated. This reality of the Self which is descended in the subject, in the I, at this stage; the lion is going to be digested and metabolized in Virgo. Thus, the work of Virgo will be to perfect the relationship to the sun, the Christ child maturing in the womb of the Virgin Mary. This is why the sign of the Virgo is purity, because to be pure, we have to be right with what we are and we cannot cheat the light of the Self. The Self can only be incarnated in a place that is in rightness.

Signs trine to Cancer:

Pisces and Scorpio will help Narcissus to open up. In Pisces, there is a sense of the divine, the memory of his mother Liriope, and the azure sky. In Scorpio, there is a wound. In some initiation rites, there is an action of scarification. It is through the wound that one is transformed and opens up.

Thus, what allows one to transform and open up here is the encounter with death and suffering in Scorpio and the remembrance of the blue sky, of the divine with the Pisces. These two signs will represent an expansion of consciousness for Narcissus.

The opposite sign to Cancer:

It represents the quality that must be acquired to succeed in the mythical journey, and Capricorn represents time. The marble of Paros is featured in the myth. If we want to place an object on the sign of Capricorn, we will place the marble. To enter the consciousness of time, to enter the stone, to welcome the hardness of reality, is to separate the great dream from the reverie, the imaginal world of the imaginary world. Here we find a close analogy with Proust's 'In Search of Lost Time' - previously also translated as Remembrance of Things Past - or Dali's soft watches.

It is important for every Narcissus to reconcile with time, otherwise there is no time, we are in the imaginary world, whereas time pushes towards the principle of reality which allows us to materialize the hidden pearl which lies at the bottom of the soul by taking it out of the oyster. Time is also about organizing objectives, setting deadlines, being on time for appointments, in short, it is all these practical situations that revolve around time. These situations will bring a Narcissus back into the real world by showing that the real world is not so dangerous.

The signs in quincunx to Cancer:

The signs of Sagittarius and Aquarius do not appear in the myth, at least the author did not find a correspondence. Why? Because the quincunxes are strange signs, even foreign in relation to Cancer. The quincunx sign adds a dimension of mystery; it is always a mystery for us. On a purely astrological level, Cancer dreams of living in its own home and organizing its interior, while Sagittarius only dreams of long journeys and of being inhabited by a very human conviviality. As for Aquarius, he will swear by freedom, socialism, and invention, all of which will disturb the gentleness and quietude that Cancer aspires to. The signs in quincunx are difficult to manage; Sagittarius as well as Aquarius are on the great journey, a physical journey for Sagittarius and an intellectual journey for Aquarius, whereas Cancer needs, on the contrary, to come back to himself and to refocus, that is to say, to do everything except the great journeys, at least, unless they are metaphorically internal and in the imagination. Cancer is self-centered, whereas Sagittarius and Aquarius are rather allocentric.

The work of the Narcissus myth:

Narcissus' apprenticeship will be to learn how to create a relationship. We are obviously in a paradox, because Narcissus is the one who doesn't know how to do it, and the story of the myth asks him to learn how to create a relationship. But he can only really create a relationship when he has exhausted his narcissism, when he has fully lived his narcissism. Most often this will be through the creation of a work, and often the work will be himself. But it can be the writing of a book, a painting, calligraphy, a story, although most often it is associated with images, etc.

It is through the production of a work that he will reveal himself to himself.

One of the characteristics of narcissists is that if they do not die in their representations, they periodically destroy their works, because it is parts of themselves that they let die in order to go further in the experience.

At this point he will be able to enter into a relationship, usually through his work. So the work will be writing for a Cancer ascendant Virgo or a Cancer and Virgo dominant, pictorial art for a Cancer ascendant Libra. Of course, it depends on the configuration of the rest of the theme, but basically they are images, and even when he writes, he writes through images.

The pathologies of Narcissus myth:

Every time consciousness stops, a Narcissus enters the pathology of the myth, it is a stop in the movement of his life journey.

The pathology tells us that if we stop in one place, it would be good to move on.

Where can Narcissus stop?

From a psychological point of view:

He can stop at the restless love of his mother and remain in her womb all his life. He can stop at the fusional love of Echo and stay all his life with someone who will take care of him, who will bring him breakfast on his bed every morning, until the day when life pushes him out of his habits. He can lock himself into a victim love "Ameinias", a complicated couple relationship of the victimiser type. He can also lock himself up in an ideal that is not his own, in "hunting deer", he can also lock himself up in nostalgia for the past, in regret for the past.

From a mythological point of view:

Nostalgia comes from the Latin nixe, which means night, and algos, which means suffering, so it's the suffering of the night, which is a bit of a strange name, isn't it? It's the suffering of having lost past experiences, even if they were painful...

Physically:

We can associate it with problems of sight, because the eye is always present in the story of the myth, drowning or the fear of drowning, coldness in the limbs, because coldness in the limbs represents the vital energy of Dyonisos that is no longer circulating, so it is the fear of carrying oneself forward.

Clues to the Narcissus myth in an astrological chart:

It is not enough to be a Cancer sign or Leo to maintain a myth of Narcissus in your chart.

Ideally, the Moon must be part of the identity that is, the Moon conjunct the ruler of the ascendant, the Moon conjunct the ascendant, the Moon conjunct the Sun. In lesser way,  If the moon is conjunct other angles than the ascendant with a Cancer or Lion valued. Similarly, if the black Moon is in Cancer with a Moon in a planetary cluster.

If the Moon is conjunct either the ruler of the ascendant or the ascendant and receives an aspect from Pluto (power of metamorphosis) with a Gemin (echo) valuation the configuration of the chart will support a complete Narcissus myth.

It is perfectly possible to imagine that this last case will be amplified if the person has simultaneously either a black moon in cancer or in lion, and/or a sun or moon in cancer and/or in lion.

The most important thing remains that the Moon is part of the identity, if the Moon is conjunct the ruler of the ascendant or conjunct the ascendant the Moon becomes identity, Narcissus becomes identity.

Translated and adapted from Luc Bigé's https://reenchanterlemonde.com/mythologie/#narcisse by @SatyamAstro/Nicolas Roessli and supported by DeepL.com

To go further, a ebook in French has been written by Luc Bigé and translated into English by Google, https://reenchanterlemonde-com.translate.goog/produit/leveil-de-narcisse-ebook/?_x_tr_sl=fr&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=fr