The Mythological Goddess No One Seems to Talk About – & What She Taught Me.

I’ve always been attracted to mythology. Norse, Greek, and sometimes even Egyptian. While I’m by no means a philosopher or historian, I find the stories fascinating. I’ve always used Greek Goddesses as a muse, as a way to channel my energy or create a female role model for myself.

I recently stumbled across a personification I had never heard of before, and I just wanted to write about her.

Astraea

Astraea – divine maiden (sometimes seen as goddess/minor goddess, although she’s in a bit of a gray area on that) of justice, innocence, and purity. Daughter of Zeus and Themis, some treat her as a star-maiden who became the embodiment of the constellation Virgo.

In the eyes of the philosopher, she is seen as a personification of justice. She is known as the last immortal to live among humans and is seen as the final trace of goodness.

Astraea lived among humans in the Golden Age, when people were deemed virtuous and lived without greed and violence (a pipe dream, if I’ve ever heard of one). As humanity began to decline throughout the Silver and Bronze Ages, she remained among humans for as long as she could with the hope that people would return to a sense of goodness.

She finally leaves the mortal realm when society falls into corruption that she can no longer stand.

With this, it’s thought that justice didn’t die altogether, but rather withdrew from humanity due to its immorality.

So, why am I writing about her?

I guess I feel like I can relate to her more than any other divine being.

I’m not saying I personify justice or morality by any means, but there is just something about the state of the world and the retreatment that feels fitting to me, and I’m sure I’m not alone.

I won’t go into details, but if you’ve been paying attention, you’ll know that it seems pretty bleak out there.

But Astraea, when faced with this bleakness, turns herself into a constellation. And while, no matter how hard I’ve tried, I can’t seem to do this, it has taught me that I can slow down and look at the stars. I can pretend to walk among the stars and feel the grace of night with gratitude and without anger. While that might sound a little silly, it’s true. Lately, when I meditate, I visualize myself in the night sky surrounded by stars and it reminds me that the universe is so vast, that the plight of humanity is nothing when compared to its grand design.

Astraea in herself can be taken one of two ways – as abandoning humans, or as distancing herself from them. If you’re an optimist, then you’ll see the latter. She isn’t dead, or disappeared, and when you look into the night sky, I hope it can remind you that justice still exists even when it’s hard to find.

Because justice, Astraea, whatever, is bigger than us all. It’s a realization that not all is lost. It’s a realization that we, too, can walk among the stars.

-Suz