A beautiful woman recently reached out to me for a reading, asking for deeper spiritual insight on her midheaven. She hadn’t been able to resonate with a lot of the traditional descriptions and interpretations of her Capricorn midheaven.
So I opened up her chart, and what I immediately saw was,
an eagle rising on her midheaven.
She has a Taurus ascendant, and her midheaven in Placidus is at the 21st degree of Capricorn; so it is conjunct the fixed star Deneb Okab from the Aquila constellation, known as the eagle. Deneb Okab is of Venus nature, so it gives the Venusian energy to her beautiful midheaven, and of course, also being at the 21st degree gives the Jupiter influence, all of which align beautifully to the story of her life’s path and overall natal chart – as she is Venus ruled, because her ascendant is ruled by Venus, and her natal Jupiter is in her 9th house, high and visible in her natal skies.
Aquila is an eagle, and Deneb Okab guides the path of his western wing beside Hercules. Just like the eagle, the woman too is meant to rise high, soar, keep her sight clear and high, and guide others towards deeper clarity through her intuitive and spiritual insight – and through that, they too may awaken within and rise higher, soar as their true inner selves.
Whatever she does in her life, it will be essentially about bringing forth wisdom and higher vision, meant to help people rise and reconnect them to their own inner wisdom – as well as nourish their connection to spirit and their inner temple of God. Eagles have always been divine messengers, and Aquila is Jupiter’s eagle, and with Deneb Okab as the eagle’s wings on her midheaven, guiding by the intuitive and gentle feminine wisdom of Venus, she has the flexibility and tenderness to know how to navigate the skies and terrains of life; with love and compassion, with trust and surrender, reaching the higher realms.
After our reading, my client asked me to share with others on my website more about the Aquila constellation and the star on its eagle wing, because she wanted through her own example others to learn also. Please know that even with her kind generous request, I will not be sharing any details of her life nor natal chart, because the privacy of my clients always comes first.
The Aquila constellation is a beautiful constellation, deep in spiritual and esoteric symbolism, so today I’ll guide you through its wisdom, as well as what the star Deneb Okab holds as wisdom for someone’s midheaven or life’s path; and for all of you who too have eagles guiding you, may this be of benefit and offer insights on your paths.
The Aquila constellation is actually part of the Summer Triangle, of which I’ve shared in depth before. In brief summary, the Summer Triangle connects three bright stars of three constellations which all rise high in our summer night skies in the Northern hemisphere: fixed star Deneb Adige from the Cygnus constellation (the swan), Vega from Lyre (the harp or lyre of Orpheus) and Altair from Aquila (the eagle).
Aquila is found to the east of the Hercules constellation, and to the north of Ophiuchus; Ophiuchus is north of the Scorpion constellation.
The word aquila means “eagle” in Latin, and was the standard of a Roman legion, symbolizing power, authority and Jupiter. The eagle served as the personal messenger and sacred animal of the Roman god Jupiter, who was the god of all gods; and in Greek mythology, this would be the equivalent of Zeus. So the Aquila constellation was essentially known by many as “the eagle of Jupiter” or the “eagle of Zeus”.
Image of the Aquila constellation; fixed star Deneb Okab on the right wing
Aquila has actually always been associated by the Kabalists with the Hebrew letter Vau and the 6th Tarot Trump “The Lovers.” As you know, eagles are monogamous and mate for life, and along with the symbolism of eagles as divine messengers, here we also find the deeper meaning of sacred lovers, spiritual and soul relationships, or divinely guided relationships.
Mars and Jupiter are both warm planets. Mars can be seen as red hot, while Jupiter is wisely warm, warm enough to bathe in and transform and rise in higher wisdom through deeper inner insight. Both together influencing Aquila usually give a beautiful energy of honour and leadership.
Across all traditional texts, the combination of these two in its higher manifestation is highly prosperous. The Yavanajataka tells us that Mars with Jupiter creates “a prosperous hero or the lord of a city (nagaresvara); a glorious person with a wealth of auspiciousness”. According to Valens, these natives are “those considered worthy of honour and status”, and that there often seems to be a theme of powerful and affluent friends or connections who will help to elevate the native.
Eagles symbolize strength, wisdom, authority, courage, and peace. For many Indigenous tribes, eagle feathers are considered sacred, gifted as a sign of honour and great respect, and used in important ceremonies for blessings and purification.
The eagle is often an animal spirit guide and totem to spiritual leaders and teachers, as well as astrologer and mystics often walk with eagles as they share the sharp insight, with the ability to see beyond the veil and untangle threads to offer people important insight on their paths forward. Eagles also show important virtues and spiritual integrity and ethics, so all spiritual practitioners, such as astrologers, may hold the eagle sacred on their paths.
Deneb Okab
Fixed star Deneb Okab is currently found at around the 19th degree of Tropical Capricorn, and has a two degree orb. Deneb Okab, also known as Dheneb Okab or Deneb al Okab, refers to fixed star Zeta Aquilae (ζ Aql) within the Aquila constellation, which is found in the wing of the eagle; some people call it “the right wing” as seen from our perspective on earth, and more accurately, it is essentially the wing facing west, towards the constellation Hercules.
The literal meaning of Deneb Okab is “tail of the eagle”, though she isn’t found at the tail. Deneb means tail, and okab is a word of Arabic origin, which means eagle, and also hawk or falcon, symbolizing strength and agility.
Fixed star Deneb Okab has the spectral type A0, which indicates a pure Venus nature. Such Venusian nature gives this star gentleness of movement, grace and beauty, with intuitive wisdom and spiritual insight.
When we see her rising on the midheaven of someone’s chart, naturally it shows honour and success, especially in Venusian kinds of work, when the native helps and supports other women also. A big part of this native’s legacy may be connected to women, in some shape or form, and shaping their mark in the world through the Venusian qualities of compassion, beauty, wisdom, spirituality, intuition, presence, grace in guiding others towards their higher paths.
Remember that Venus is an intuitive sphere and energy, and is one of the most spiritual planets, especially if under the influence of Jupiter, as she is here and in my client’s unique chart. Her natal Venus was all harmoniously aspected, and very well positioned, so naturally, she was already a very deep and spiritual woman, who was emotionally intelligent; and she already had her spiritual practice working with clients for many years, infusing love, wisdom and compassion, helping them along the way.
Art by Giuseppe Craffonara, Hebe tränkt den Adler Jupiters, Hebe with Jupiter disguised as eagle.
Another interesting thing about Aquila is the association with Hebe. Hebe was a goddess of youth and vitality; she was the daughter of Juno and Jupiter, or in Greek mythology she was the daughter of Hera and Zeus. Hebe was known as the cupbearer to the gods of Mount Olympus, gracefully offering and bringing them the sweet nectars and ambrosia. On Sicyon, she was worshipped as a goddess of forgiveness or mercy.
Hebe was the divine wife of Hercules, and she also had the ability to restore youthfulness and vitality to mortals. Because of her special abilities to bring youthfulness with her cup bearings of sweet nectars and ambrosia to the gods also, she was deeply revered by them, because, well, gods wanted to stay eternally youthful!
Her name actually means heavenly, and her offerings of “ambrosia” essentially referred to bringing them immortality and undying life force energy. In art, she is often depicted with her father disguised as the eagle.
Whenever I see Deneb Okab in someone’s natal chart, I am actually drawn to not just the eagle, but also to Hebe, whose influence I mostly relate to the Venusian wing of the eagle. It is not only eagle wings, it is the eagle wings of love, as here she is beside her beloved and divine husband Hercules. This is because, as I already shared, fixed star Deneb Okab is found on the wing towards which Hercules, from the Hercules constellation, is facing.
In the way of love and the touch of love, my client too has a gentle touch with how she deals with others. She is able to bring them sweet nectars through her way of words, and shaping wisdom gently in a way they not just understand, but their hearts hear it, their spirits too move.
It is a vitality she restores into them, and all others she meets along her way. Compassion is a medicine, it restores people’s honour and confidence and self believe. The ability to stay true, to do her work with dedication and diligence, these are virtues not just of eagles, but also of love.
And there is healing here also – because when we nourish people’s inner flames, within their own unique inner temples of gods, we nourish their lights, we nourish their life force. Essentially this is also what the Lovers do in tarot – they guide us higher, they inspire us to reach higher, to be better human beings, to soar and help others soar as well.
Relationship wise, she is meant to be with an eagle. Not just any man, an eagle. Someone who can match her in her energy, in her courage, in her integrity, in her spirit, in her emotional depth. She is not meant to be walking this life alone; she has a higher spiritual mission yes, but she is meant to be supported by others on her path, and her destined partner too is meant to support her. And in her times of doubt, hesitancy, he is here to hold her, raise her, lift her up, and remind her of her wings, rather than make her feel like she should cut them away.
This eagle rising on her midheaven is also a reminder to keep walking, keep persevering, keep aligned to her moral compassion and values, and not settle for anything less than what she deserves and seek. She is meant to have high standards. Venus doesn’t crawl; eagles don’t crawl neither. Don’t go against your natural flow, and don’t make yourself small, so that someone else feels better because of their insecurities and fears. Stay on your path, stay true to yourself, the way of beauty is yours to have.
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The beautiful cover art is by Susan Seddon Boulet. I love her art and have a collection of some of her painting as card prints, and this is one of them. All rights reserved by the artist.
