Ancient Greeks had several words they used for, what we today call, the experience of love. Four of the primary words utilized by the Greeks were: Epithemia | Phileo | Eros | and Agape. Three of these words have been thoroughly used (and/or abused) in a variety of different ways throughout the centuries.
However, in the 1980s, astrologer/teacher Richard Idemon came up with what I consider to be a unique application of these four words when associated with astrology and the Zodiac. Idemon associated these four Greek words with four stages (or four patterns) of love which all of us (hopefully) experience at one time or another in our life.
In a nutshell these four stages of love are:
- Epithemia associated with the fixed Earth Zodiac sign Taurus says: "I love you because you're mine (and because your skin feels awful nice next to mine)..."
- Phileo associated with the fixed Fire Zodiac sign Leo says: "I love you because I love the wonderful, joyous, childlike way I feel when I'm with you..."
- Eros associated with the fixed Water Zodiac sign Scorpio says: "I love you because I love the passionate, intense desire we invoke in each other..."
- Agape associated with the fixed Air Zodiac sign Aquarius says: "I love you because you're completely, totally, uniquely you..."
Patterns of Living Energy
This is going to be a tough pill to swallow... but during this short Love Journey through the Zodiac, I'm going to ask you to temporarily suspend the all too common temptation of identifying yourself as being a particular sign of the Zodiac... You possibly came to this site with the belief that you're an Aries, a Cancer, a Libra, a Capricorn, etc... and that may be where your birth Sun is located... However, the signs of the Zodiac are archetypal patterns of energy - and (don't go into shock) everyone's birth chart contains all twelve of the Zodiacal signs/patterns of energy. So... when discussing how Taurus is related to the experience of Epithemia or how Scorpio is related to the experience of Eros - this does not necessarily mean I'm referring to folks with their birth Sun in Taurus or folks with their birth Sun in Scorpio.
Yes... Some of us may have greater strengths and/or challenges in one or more of the Zodiacal signs - but none of us are Taurus and none of us are Scorpio. And hopefully all of us (at least once in this lifetime) will have the opportunity to experience and explore all four of the wonderful love energies discussed here.
Love Journey Begins
To learn more about the four stages of love, our Love Journey through the Zodiac begins with the Zodiac sign of Taurus and in the lush, fertile gardens of Paradise....
Taurus:
Epithemia (with affinities to Taurus).To the Greeks, epithemia represented part of what we humans have in common with the other animals. Epithemia was the instinctive urge for touching and caressing. Epithemia is that physical, sensual, sexual urge expressing itself as an inner-tension in the body which needs to be relieved. And the closest match we've got for epithemia in the English language is probably the word, "horny." To the Greeks.... there was little, if any, shame attached to these basic needs and instinctual drives of the body. The Greeks recognized epithemia as natural needs the body had.
Epithemia was not:
-
romanticized
-
eroticized
-
or moralized.
According to British astrologer Walter Sampson (early 20th century) in his book Zodiac - the Epitome.... the first four signs of the Zodiac (Aries, Taurus, Gemini and Cancer) are primitive, elemental, childlike survival signs. (i.e. There is only "me" and my survival at stake.) Among these survival signs, Taurus is specifically associated with survival "through awareness of the senses."
Taurus
Taurus is associated with the garden of paradise.... Taurus reflects a childlike innocence and naiveté concerning the senses and the fulfillment of their instinctual needs. It's become a well known fact that children can have everything else they need to survive.... But if not touched, held or caressed - children may quite literally physically wither away and die. As adults, we don't somehow magically outgrow our basic need for physical contact. As adults, we're still hungry to be touched, hungry to be held, and hungry to be caressed.
And if Venus (Aphrodite) the goddess of love, who rules the sign of Taurus, is not honored in us - she, then, becomes an angry, ugly, uninvited guest who stirs up a whole world of trouble. Venus will stir up trouble until she finally receives her rightful invitation into our individual lives or into the life of our society. Testimony of her uglier, angrier nature is much in evidence - right here - on the darker side of the Internet.
Next on our journey of love through the Zodiac is the romantic, playful love of the adolescent Leo, as seen in phileo….
Leo:
Leo is the first of the "social" zodiac signs. According to Richard Idemon - Phileo represents that "excited awakening to the existence of other people in the world." Phileo, Leoian love, is the fiery, joyous feeling that says: "I love who I am when I'm with you...., and I love who I think I may be when you're part of my life!" Youthful, daring Phileo says: "To find the hero or heroine within you - you may just have to fall in love with the hero or heroine outside you." Phileo brings forth that playful, youthful quality in lovers; and the child in me asks the child in you, "Can Johnny (Sarah or Sue) come out and play?"
From the Heart
In phileo, expressions of love and affection come naturally and unabated from a deep source within the heart. These expressions of love carry with them a sense of childlike trust in one another. With phileo there's a sense of our separateness to the other person.... So romantic wooing and courtship are the fundamentals of phileo in order to bring out an end to this pained (yet delightfully, delicious) separateness. Phileo can't wait until the next precious, golden opportunity to once more be in the presence of the beloved.... Passionate, warm-hearted love poems are the order of the day!
In days of old
when knights were bold....
and maidens
were so fair and lovely....
Sense of Mortality
The ability to love in this manner is also directly related to our sense of human mortality and the fragility of life. Idemon conjectured that because the Greek gods were immortal, their immortality was the very reason why they were unable to experience the wondrous human capacity for phileo.
One of the few apparent exceptions to this may have been the god Eros (Cupid) - who accidentally pierced himself with one of his own arrows and was later wounded by his mortal female lover Psyche. However, Phileo is not a love experienced by equals....
Phileo Demands
Phileo demands: "You must be my hero or heroine! "You must be my knight in shining armour.... You must be the magical princess I have quested for...." "You must be the one true vision of my deepest longings! You must be a beautiful idol sitting high upon its pedestal!" "And - beloved - you must never, never fall from this pedestal I've created for you. To do so would shatter my image of who you are (and would shatter my image of who I am)!" So our love must continue to grow and evolve....
The next stop on our Journey of Love through the Zodiac is in the sign associated with eros, Scorpio. Scorpio is the serpent in the Garden....
Scorpio:
Enter the sign of Scorpio and Eros. According to Richard Idemon, the seduction of Eros occurs: "when two or more separate entities combine in such a way that they are totally transformed by the experience." Scorpio and Eros are often typically associated with sex and sexuality. However, Idemon reminds us that (unfortunately) not all sexuality is truly "erotic...." Not all experiences of our sexuality are truly transformative. And eroticism (contrary to popular belief) does not necessarily involve sexual union with another person....
Death of Ego
Eros always involves death of the ego, emotional merging and shared transformation with another entity. For example - the passion of Eros can take place between the artist and the erotic object of her/his art." Likewise, the emotional catharsis we experience in a crowded movie theater full of strangers will most likely be more truly erotic than a meaningless "jump in the hay" with a stranger.
Souls and Psyches
In The Love Journey, Scorpionic eros desires much more than the mere physical merging of bodies (that's Taurus). Eros desires to merge souls and psyches. For erotic Scorpio, sex is not only for purposes of self-pleasuring. The erotic connection for Scorpio involves finding ways to give the other entity pleasure. The energy of Scorpio is inspired and stimulated by arousing, awakening, and transforming someone (or something) other than the self....
Taurus/Scorpio
Archetypically, Taurean epithemia love is interested specifically in the lusty merging of bodies. Epithemia is sex for self-pleasure's sake. Taurus might sometimes forget the other person's there - but Scorpio never does... Eros is associated with Scorpio and Pluto, and with the passionate watery quality of love. This is a passionate love which involves pain and suffering.
Pain, Risk and Suffering
Eros implies that all love involves pain and risk. There's a suffering quality to Eros, simply because we know that wonderful moment of ecstasy - that moment of psychically joining and merging - cannot possibly last forever.
Eros Refused?
If, on the other hand, Eros is refused - not honored or given life - Eros and the god Pluto (Hades) who rules Scorpio then becomes the uninvited god. And Pluto has a nasty way of dragging you down to the underworld, where there is no life - into the land of the living dead. Then - that same passionate intensity which accompanied us into the heights of erotic love - accompanies us into the depths of the underworld....
"Eros is the world's greatest teacher...." Plato
But Eros is not the final destination on our journey of love.... The final stop on our journey through the Zodiac
is with the sign of Aquarius and agape.
Aquarius:
Our final stop on the love journey is agape with affinities to Aquarius. Agape - with affinities to Aquarius - says that I love you enough to let you be more fully and completely who you are. Agape is not a sexless, nonphysical love - nor is Aquarius a sexless sign. True Agape brings with it everything previously learned in Epithemia (Taurus), Phileo (Leo) and Eros (Scorpio).
Step Forward
But Agape goes a step forward from eros, because it involves my loving you enough to let you go - if being fully, completely yourself means not being with me. Aquarian agape energy is therefore able to detach. Aquarian energy says: "I love you for being yourself... I love you so very much - that even if it means, you must go away from me to be fully yourself... Then you must assuredly go - and I send all my love with you..."
Wow!
This can be really tough for some folks... And, okay - I openly admit it... Letting go and detaching is my single toughest challenge on the Journey of Love through the Zodiac. I don't do this letting go stuff very well at all. I can literally hang on and allow myself to emotionally suffer (eros) for months and months and months. (does this ring a bell with anybody?) This Aquarian love is most certainly no sloppy agape...
Darker Side
But lest I become guilty of overly romanticizing the Aquarian love of agape... Like all the other Zodiac Signs, the Aquarian love of agape has its darker side. Aquarius can often become too detached from the earthy sensuality of Taurus, the fiery heart of Leo, and the passionate desire experienced in Scorpio...
The temptation of Aquarius is then to become the archetypical "Iceman" of the Zodiac. Aquarian love then becomes icy, cold detachment and total isolation... with the "Iceman" forever escaping into the safety of his/her own high ivory tower of intellect and lofty ideals. The detachment of Aquarius becomes a safe tower where no one can ever again touch (and hurt) the "Iceman..."
So in summing up...
- Epithemia says I love you because you're mine (and because your skin feels awful nice next to mine)...
- Phileo says I love you because I love the wonderful, joyous way I feel when I'm with you...
- Eros says I love you because I love the passionate, intense desire we invoke in each other...
- Agape says I love you because you're completely, totally, uniquely you...
And thus ends our Zodiacal journey through the vast mysteries of love... We're now beginning our descent into the Dr Z Special Features Index area. So, we ask that you please return your seat backs and tray tables to their fully upright and locked position. On behalf of Dr Z Airlines, we hope you've enjoyed your flight and will fly with us again soon. Have a pleasant afternoon.
Through the Looking Glass written by Richard Idemon- Get it on Amazon.com (click here to go directly to Amazon.com's page for the book)
(only recommended for those with a previous knowledge of astrology)
