In the mythology Nessus fought with the Lapiths at the wedding of Pirithous to Hippodamia. After the fracas, Nessus fled to the river Evenus where he became the self-appointed ferryman. Hercules, who by now was married to Deianeira, wanted to cross the river but as it was in flood he asked Nessus to help his wife across. Hercules began to cross the river thinking Nessus and Deianeira were following him. However, Nessus had other ideas and violated her. Hercules turned around, saw what was happening and shot Nessus through the heart. The dying Centaur gave Deianeira some of his blood saying it was a love potion that would keep Hercules faithful. But as Hercules’ arrows were poisoned, so was the blood of Nessus. Some time later Hercules had to go away to a tournament. Deianeira thought this a good time to spread the potion onto his tunic. It was not until after he had left and she spilt some of the potion onto the ground, where it began to froth and bubble, that she realised what she had done. She sent word to Hercules immediately, but by then it was too late. The poison had already started to eat into him. He died a long and agonising death caused by the same agent with which he had been wreaking havoc amongst the centaurs. And so it was that Nessus was responsible for the death of Hercules after he himself had died.

Astronomically, Nessus has a very elliptic orbit of about 124 years. It crosses the orbits of Uranus and Neptune but does not touch the sphere of Saturn’s orbit and only just enters the inner sphere of Pluto’s orbit; not crossing either in the process. It is important to note this as a planet’s orbit signifies its characteristics. For instance Nessus’s orbit suggests a Uranus/Neptune/Pluto influence.

Astrologically, wherever Nessus is placed in the chart is where we need to deal with issues of power and lust. It is where we feel deeply hurt and in need of revenge or where we may become obsessed about a person or about getting even. An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth. Remember, Nessus was the cause of Hercules’ death after he himself had died. And so it is here that we may have to deal with issues relating to the past or that we may have inherited from previous generations. It is where we need to work hard to understand our motives and to consider our actions in order to be able to make the transition and to move on to a new stage in life. How easy or difficult this is will depend on the aspects from Nessus to planets in the natal chart, in particular to the personal planets and angles.

An example of Nessus in action was the event of 11 September 2001 when American passenger planes were hijacked and deliberately flown into the twin towers of theWorld Trade Center in New York killing 5000 innocent people as well as themselves. The immediate and understandable reaction from most Americans was for revenge. To treat like with like. In the Sibly chart of the USA ( as per Nicholas Campion’s book of World Horoscopes) Nessus, at nine degrees of Pisces in the 3rd house, is forming a trine aspect to the Sun and Jupiter in Cancer in the 7th house. This indicates that issues connected to abuse of power and revenge are likely to be communicated but are able to find positive expression involving their open enemies.On 11 September transiting Nessus was at 9 degrees 25’ of Capricorn opposing the natal Jupiter/Sun midpoint. This transit brought issues of violence and revenge to the fore. Suddenly the American people were faced with an act of violence that left them reeling. It shook the country (and the world) to the core and the people found it hard to be positive for a while. For the first time in its history their country was under mainland attack. It left them feeling very insecure, the more because they were dealing with an unknown quantity. Yet this Nessus transit, when worked with positively, could present as an opportunity to evolve to a higher level of government policy. In order for this to be achieved they will have to be very open-minded and understanding of how over the years, they may have contributed to the situation. A lot of soul-searching is needed, perhaps issues from the past need to be addressed. Only then will they be able to make the transition and move on. Freed of the need for revenge and power but with a constructive compassion and new insight as to the way forward.

Liz Seddon.