The sun only spends 2-3 days in Orion between it’s transit out of Taurus and into Gemini, but people with specific Orion placements have mentioned they don’t fully feel like they are true Geminis or Taureans, and Orion offers very different energy from The Twins of Gemini & The Bull/Cow of Taurus. This article is for those who want to better understand Orion’s energy and what it means within the zodiac. We’ll be looking into the “mythology” aka hidden/manipulated history of Orion and how we can interpret the energy within modern/current times.
PS - It could be easily be argued that Orion should not be included in the zodiac and that’s fine. This is for the people who feel “some other energy” than Taurus and Gemini. If it’s not for you, that’s fine. Just because you don’t experience something doesn’t mean other’s don’t/can’t ;).
12/22/23 Update:
Personally I’ve stopped including Orion within my astrological interpretations BUT it’s important to understand this energy as some people within the collective carry it.
Orion: The Man, The Myths, The Legends
As I was researching Orion’s archetypal energy, I couldn’t help but notice the similarities to the ancient Sumerian texts of “The Epic of Gilgamesh” in that they both fought “the Bull of Heaven” aka Taurus, both went on a journey to obtain eternal life and both had reputations for being super attractive, boastful, reckless and hyper-masculine.
Then I started to wonder if Orion is another version (same soul, different lifetime) of Gilgamesh and it turns out, yes. This post does a decent job at comparing the stories across cultures. Let’s start with just focusing on Orion’s stories and then I’ll pepper in some overlap/things to consider about Gilgamesh as well to better understand the archetypal energy of the Orion constellation and how it fits in with the zodiac.
Orion: Origins
Orion was half God/half man, or often referred to as 2/3 God, 1/3 Man. His father was for sure Poseidon, but his actual birth is debated: “A sea-walking giant of Hyria in Boiotia (central Greece), born of Poseidon and Euryale, or of the earth, fertilized by an ox-hide soaked with the urine of the three gods Poseidon, Zeus and Hermes.” - Source
And yes, you read that right, “sea-walking giant” meaning the man was huge and could walk on water. Legend has it that he was extremely handsome, knew that about himself, and didn’t really know how to take “no” for an answer which got extremely problematic for him very quickly.
Orion Symbolism:
Orion became known as “The Great Hunter” and with that he is depicted as either holding a shield or a lion’s mane in one arm and a bronze club or a sword in the other, rising above him. He’s seen as “fighting the bull of heaven” aka the constellation of Taurus. Other representations have Orion with a sword on his belt and raising a bronze club. I see this as a “brawn over brain” situation as swords = air = mental energy. The club symbolizing “the killer of animals”.
One story about why he is fighting the bull is that he is chasing down one of the Pleiadean 7 sisters (the Pleiades star cluster is in the constellation of Taurus) and the bull is protecting her from Orion’s unwanted sexual advances.
In the picture below, you can see how the Sun travels on it’s ecliptic path (the red line) and there is a gap between Taurus and Gemini along the sun’s ecliptic path which is the few days the sun spends some time with Orion’s energy, specifically, the battle club of Orion. To be very honest, it’s likely a cusp energy and ultimately, Orion is a fallen Gemini twin, but we’ll get to that part later.
Orion’s Story & Lessons:
There are many variations of Orion’s life, journey and death but from everything I read, this is the version that makes the most sense to me:
Orion was this super attractive demi-god who went around seducing every woman he possibly could. TW: SA - he also forced himself on anyone who refused him and didn’t understand the concept of consent/acted selfishly with little to no regard for the well-being and safety of others. Orion went on like this for a while with nothing to keep him in check, until one day when he fucked around and found out:
“Orion could walk on the waves because of his father (Poseidon); he walked to the island of Chios where he got drunk and raped Merope, daughter of Oenopion, the ruler there. In vengeance, Oenopion blinded Orion and drove him away.”
So now Orion finds himself hung over and blind. Which, good. Fuck that guy. But oh no, Orion doesn’t have any quit in him and now fueled by rage of being blinded, he thinks to himself, “How do I get out of this? How do I restore my sight?” Orion sets out on a long journey and ultimately ends up getting his eyesight back with the help of Helios. What’s the first thing Orion tries to do when he gets his sight back? Go back to Oenopion (the ruler who blinded Orion for raping his daughter) to GET REVENGE like are you kidding me Orion wtf.
But wait, there’s more.
tHE LESSONS CONTINUE:
Not only was Orion someone who couldn’t control his sexual or vengeful urges, he also was extremely boastful to the point of stupidity. The ego on this guy is truly out of control. Orion eventually made his way to Crete where he linked up with Artemis, a hunting Goddess. There’s many stories involving the two’s relationship but Orion was ultimately focused on becoming the best hunter in the world.
He boasted and bragged that he would, “kill/hunt every animal on earth” to prove he was the best hunter. Everyone was like, “no bro don’t do that… no one needs you to do that.” But Orion was all, “No bro I totally have to do that” and went ahead and tried to do just that. Which raised alerts to the other Gods to the point where they were like “absolutely not - fuck you Orion” and sent a giant Scorpion to kill him. The Scorpion actually did kill him but Asclepius, the healer in the constellation of Ophiuchus, knew how to revive him.
Orion ultimately died because of Apollo, Artemis’ twin brother. Orion and Artemis became very close and were likely lovers, this angered Apollo because that took away his sister’s energy and attention from him and onto Orion, who Apollo didn’t approve of for his sister (due to his nature and not treating her well). One day, Orion was in the water but you couldn’t make out his figure. Apollo challenged Artemis to shoot at the target to see if she could hit it, not knowing that it was actually Orion in the water, killing her own friend/lover. Once Artemis accidentally killed Orion, she begged Zeus to at least put him in the sky as a constellation to be remembered.
Orion Archetypal Energy & Zodiac Traits:
Orion’s struggles and challenges were ultimately because of his inability to control himself/sexual urges. Instead of working on himself and making things right, he went on journey’s to restore what he lost (his eyes/sight), even seeking revenge after he was able to get his sight back.
Although a great hunter, his boastfulness ended up getting him killed, his lack of balance in ego vs the collective consciousness of all things. Ultimately Orion did find a partner in Artemis but also mishandled and mistreated her which lead to his death and being placed in the sky.
We can see the Orion archetype still playing out today with sexual abuse, frat bro energy and hyper-masculinity disrespecting the feminine/nature parts of life.
Orion can also use his power for good if he chooses to live more unselfishly, not fighting against his feminine/feeling side (symbolized by him fighting Taurus - which as the female “cow” representation of fertility/love/family goddess Hathor) and elevating himself to a higher, more balanced and considerate version of himself.
Orion Energy Key Words & phrases:
Bold
Audacious
Determined
Naturally Talented
Impulsive
Needs to take accountability for actions
Selfish motivations for acts
Overly sexual
Hyper-Masculine
Charming
Vengeful
Attractive
Boastful
Using physical force over mental force
Reckless
Adventurous
Fearless
Egoic
Forceful
Element: Fire
Planetary Association: The Sun & Mars
It feels like a combo between Aries & Leo energy. Somewhere between the warrior and the hero.
Additional Discussion:
Like I had mentioned early on, in my studying of Orion, I saw a lot of overlap with the story of Gilgamesh. When I looked into this further, I found that Gilgamesh and Enkidu are sometimes the twins that are depicted in the constellation of Gemini:
Moving onward now to a consideration of the Babylonian epic and its description of Gilgamesh's journey through the zodiac, the first point to note is that Gilgamesh and Enkidu are meant to be an incarnation of the constellation which we now refer to as Gemini. Gilgamesh was explicitly identified in a late text with the god Meslamta-ea (note the "mes" prefix) which name is the oldest known of that of the god Nergal, whose temple at Kutha was called "Emeslam." Meslamta-ea, furthermore, was one of a pair of deities whose counterpart was known as Lugal-irra, both of whom were linked astronomically with Gemini. These two gods were twins, and they were specifically associated with guarding doorways, particularly the gateway to the underworld, where they stood with bronze axes waiting to dismember the dead. When we recall the strange scene at the beginning of the epic when Gilgamesh and Enkidu first meet each other in a doorway, and then proceed to fight while somehow remaining in or near that doorway, the scene no longer appears so strange when we realize that they are meant to be the Mesopotamian Gemini who guard doorways. - Source
I’ll be going deeper into Gilgamesh & Enkidu and how their stories correlate with Aries, Taurus, Orion and Gemini on my Patreon - basically, Gilgamesh & Enkidu are the Twins/Lovers in Gemini but once Enkidu dies, Gilgamesh reverts back to his “Orion” ways/a lower/out of love version of himself.