I'm back with another asteroid post. With school starting back up again, I've been busy focusing on the children – especially my Nursery ones – but now everyone has managed to adjust themselves to the new routine after a very difficult summer, I am able to finally write more frequently. I'm going to be talking about the asteroids named after the Nine Muses, going in numerical order, starting with Melpomene and ending with Klio, so I hope you enjoy my attempt at being more active now that things have finally settled down a bit.
Melpomene is a goddess in Greek (and later Roman) mythology, described as one of the nine muses. She is commonly referred to as the daughter of Zeus and Mnemosyne and as the mother of the Sirens by Akheloios (a river god). Melpomene is usually regarded as the Muse of Tragedy, but was originally the Muse of Chorus, which is probably why her name means "to celebrate with dance and song". Melpomene was typically portrayed with a sword or a tragic mask (or both), sometimes wearing an ivy wreath and cothurnus boots. She didn't really appear in any of the myths - or at least, in the surviving myths - but it has been considered good fortune for playwrights and poets to invoke her and her sisters and it is from these playwrights and poets that most of our current knowledge of the myths come from. Melpomene shares her name with a genus of ferns that are native to the Neotropical realm in the Americas and Africa.
The asteroid Melpomene was discovered by John Russell Hind on the 24th of June, 1852 in London, England. The asteroid’s symbol is a cross above an eight pointed star – at least that’s what it looks like, I couldn’t find any actual description of what it is supposed to be. The asteroid takes roughly 1,271 days to travel around the zodiac, spending roughly 106 days in each sign.
Within my own research into the asteroid, Melpomene can be used to represent the native’s propensity for tragedy, tragic writing ability, their unhappy stories, and the unfortunate elements of their life. Remember to check the sign, house, degree, and any aspects Melpomene makes when interpreting this placement. You can also have a look at Melpomene’s persona chart if you feel confident enough.