In contemporary "Western" astrology, Medusa appears most prominently in the feared star Algol (al-ghūl, "the demon," the Gorgon's severed head, associated with brutality and violence) and in the modern asteroid Medusa (#149, discovered in 1875, symbolizing rage and resistance). Drawing on ethnographic and netnographic research, this paper examines how astrologers negotiate the symbolic complexity of mythic figures by queering and re-membering them in interpretation and practice.
While Algol's symbolism developed through centuries of tradition, asteroid Medusa's meanings emerged from the "goddess asteroid" movement developed by astrologers such as Eleanor Bach and Demetra George since the 1970s. This movement heavily overlaps with the feminist spiritual milieus in which figures such as Medusa are ritually reclaimed, and its interpretive frameworks evolved alongside the developments to these milieus. Thus, over the past decade, these interpretations have increasingly taken intersectional forms. At the same time, digital technologies have broadened access to astrological knowledge and practice, enabling more diverse participants to engage in the re-membering of astrological symbolism - not only planets, stars, and signs, but also asteroids and other celestial bodies.
Many astrologers now reinterpret astrological symbolism through queer, postcolonial, and intersectional lenses: replacing Feminine-Masculine polarity with Receptive-Active or Yin-Yang, reading Mercury as an archetype of nonbinary fluidity, or invoking figures such as Black Moon Lilith as symbols of resistance to colonial patriarchy. This paper shows how planetary, stellar, and asteroid figures become sites where myth, politics, and lived experience intersect. These practices demonstrate how astrological symbolism is continually reassembled, illustrating a longstanding feature of astrology itself: the reinterpretation of mythic figures in response to shifting cultural, political, and spiritual contexts.