Vesta
While visiting SpaceWeather.com, I discovered that NASA scientists may have figured out why so many meteorites from the asteroid Vesta have been showering the Earth.
In Roman myth, Vesta was the virginal keeper of the family, the hearth and the home. She was the goddess of the sacred flame.
She was also the daughter of Saturn and sister to Ceres, Juno, Pluto, Neptune and Jupiter. And within her circle, she was an important player.
Her virgin status was self-imposed as apparently, when her brother Jupiter ascended to the throne she asked only two things of him.
Vesta
The first was that she be able to remain a virgin. And second, she asked to be the one to offer the first oblations in all sacrifices.
I know the Golden Dawn Tarot system assigns the Moon to the High Priestess, but if I were choosing, I might give her Vesta.
Both goddesses are virginal, nurturing, and keepers of the sacred truth.
They’re compassionate, wise, and modest, concerned more with the fire of the spirit than crazy drama, or sexual exploits.
NASA, of course, is not concerned with any of that. They’re just trying to determine why so many pieces of the 2nd biggest asteroid are flying to Earth.
According to the space agency, the Dawn spacecraft which entered Vesta’s orbit last July, has discovered a thirteen mile-high mountain on its surface, two and a half times the height of Mt. Everest.
Some researchers are speculating that the falling meteorites are pieces of Vesta’s landscape that splintered off during a giant collision that first created the mountain.
They’re doing tests right now to see if they can prove it.
But from my perspective, I’m more interested in the symbolic meaning of these meteorites.
Rather than simply space rocks, they might be celestial messages from the High Priestess reminding us to cultivate wisdom and compassion, and a respect for the sacred.
It’s not a very scientific view, but I enjoy thinking about it.
I might even get myself an actual piece of Vesta as a tangible relic of the goddess. At only $34.95, it’s almost a steal.