Diana Resting after the Hunt Buy this poster at Art.com

The order of examples may change; I have dozens of pages of notes to be put into readable form. It is not an article about Lady Diana Spencer, although she is one of several examples referred to for illustration of the Diana principle.)

We all have a natal chart placement for the asteroid we call Diana; signifying possible circumstances or conditions or environments where this energy and behavior will manifest. It may be an active energy in our lives for a short or long period of time; as an occasional response or habitually in ongoing situations.

My first awareness of the asteroid Diana and her placement in the zodiac came from Demetra George's book "Asteroid Goddesses." The book features an ephemeris for 16 asteroids for the years 1934 through 2002, and about 5 years ago I began to watch the natal charts and transits and interpret her influence for my clients and family.

My notes include information covering the following topics; I will add to this article as time permits over the spring:

• Background information coming from myth about Diana and Artemis
• Characteristics (in detail) of Diana in many situations that are applicable to modern life; philosophy and psychology of the Diana response
• Natal delineation, transits to Diana, and Diana transiting planets, Arabic parts, and other asteroids.
• In all cases there will be examples from life
• Where Diana is now; where she will be this year
• Information about her orbit, length of time in signs
• The asteroid Diana may go through as few as two signs per year with periods of retrograde motion that can last about 3 months, or as many as five signs with no retrograde motion! Quite erratic, but so like the Martian energy it can represent. The ephemeris for the asteroids is in Demetra George's book "Asteroid Goddesses".
• How to get started with interpretation

Diana Buy this poster at Art.com

When the Moon came out and the forests were alive with howls or silent with mists, people heard the sound of Diana and her animal friends deep in the dark of the trees, or high on the tops of lookout mountains. Strong, sturdy, agile, with an eye for the natural beauty of the rocks, flowers, trees, and mountains, she loved the animals and the innocent forest creatures who lived by their deeper instincts toward alertness and survival. She was ever ready to defend and assist those good souls, be they animal or human who would wander into her domain, as it could be a dangerous place for the unskilled and inexperienced.

If you read books about Diana, you may be quite confused as she is sometimes called the goddess of childbirth, and also the lady of wild animals. I am reminded of Wonder Woman in the old comic book; Sheena, Queen of the Jungle, and the female version of Superman; all heroines with strength, agility, supreme alertness, innate intelligence, and a bonding with nature.

Many authors use the names Diana/Artemis interchangeably. This has made no sense to me as the cold-blooded murders ascribed to Artemis are foreign to the character of Diana.

Both goddesses lived in the wild places, forests and mountaintops, and both goddesses used bow and arrow. There are some impressions that I have about Artemis that are somewhat different and more frightening than Diana. My impression is that Diana was motivated primarily by wanting to give power to the powerless; to equalize the playing field so to speak. She is alert for who to help; who needs assistance, who could be growing toward a better and bigger expression of self if treated in a fair way. She enjoyed her powerful role as a strong woman who used her wits and physical gifts to assist others.

Artemis committed many murders for revenge, spite, jealousy over beauty, and in a very impulsive or vindictive way, for transgressions of rules; laws or even preferences of her friends. Myths about Diana and Artemis are ancient and could have been mistranslated at any point, especially during changes of cultural patterns and governments. It seems that Diana's natural reactions coincide with many of our positive western values of protecting younger more innocent beings, and striking out as a way to insure the safety of those she is trying to protect. She may also use specific tricks to fool those who would harm weaker or less experienced beings.

Diana Buy this poster at Art.com

During my life I have known only one woman named Artemis. She was a sullen, rude, and angry woman, but quite intelligent; rather jealous, and it seemed not very thoughtful of others at all. She enjoyed finding fault with people; embarrassed and belittled co-workers. This pretty much fits the description of the goddess Artemis as I understand her. No wonder women prayed to be spared her wrath and not to be taken in death at the time of childbirth.

I am wondering if someday I will meet face to face an Artemis bearing that name, who in many situations is not over-protective of self to the point of impulsive violence, or based on dislike of the injured party. I actually think this is likely because it is my view that the Artemis personality is the extreme of Diana's instincts that have been thwarted. Rudeness is sometimes from distrust; violence against others can be a reaction to the inability to identify or sympathize with the object.

In recent years the story of Ellie Nessler, the woman who shot her son's accused molester, while in court, bring out the cultures' mixed responses to Diana/Artemis. Most people felt she was a Diana, instinctively protecting not only her son, but other unknown potential child victims. A few, mostly governmental types saw in her an Artemis, vengeful and impulsive.

(To be continued.)