Midas was thought to be the son, or adopted son, of Cybele and Gordias. Midas was also the king of Phrygia. Being the ruler of the realm, he wished for dignity - when he heard that many peasants were getting drunk near his gardens, he sent guards to capture them. One of these violators was the satyr Silenus who was a rather close and respected friend of Dionysus. Immediately, Midas released Silenus from any punishments/capture and instead invited the satyr to stay with him in his castle. Midas had the upmost respect for Dionysus so for ten nights, Midas did nothing but ensure that Silenus was well fed and entertained. On the eleventh night, Midas brought Silenus back to Dionysus. Dionysus was ever so grateful for the king's hospitality to his friend and thus offered Midas a wish. The king asked that everything he touch be turned to gold (prior to this, he was gold obsessed as well allegedly he'd bathed in gold pieces, adorned his outfits in gold, etc.) - Dionysus granted this wish and Midas quickly set about testing this power. This power was infinite to him so he was quite content with never running out of wealth... What he didn't realize was that, when he came home from this great day of turning things into golden, he couldn't touch anything he wanted to remain as it was. He'd lift his bread and it would turn to gold, wine would become a solid gold piece in his mouth, etc. He wept at his table hungry and unable to eat. At this point, his daughter came in to the dining area and touched him as if to see what was wrong or to comfort him when she too became gold (this part was speculated and added in by a Dark American Romantic named Nathaniel Hawthorne in the 1850s so you can either keep that piece of myth in or ignore it because it is not "ancient myth"). Miserably, he went back to Dionysus asking that the god removed this gift - Dionysus advised him to bathe in the river and indeed that did the trick (this is thought to be why we have golden sand and goldfish (not the snack)). When he came home, he found everything he had touched had turned back to normal - including his daughter. It was that day, that he left his daughter in charge of his kingdom so he could go live in the woods with Pan and company to remove himself from all these riches and temptations of royal living. As is known from past posts, Midas judged the competition between Apollo and Pan. The results of this musical battle was that Apollo was the clear winner, but Midas decides that Pan was actually quite good and said such out loud. Apollo in turn gave Midas a pair of donkey ears. This is why in many paintings he is wearing a turban to hide his ears. Of course, Midas couldn’t hide these ears from his barber. He made the man swear to tell no one - of course, the barber couldn’t contain himself and instead chose a loophole (haha hole). The barber dug a hole in the ground and whispered this gossip into the earth and then buried it. Eventually, reeds grew in this spot - every time the wind would blow they would whisper this secret. IN MY OPINION Midas in your natal chart represents a) where you may change your life to the extreme, b) where you struggle to resist temptation, c) where you may not think out your wishes and come to regret them when they come true, d) where you are hospitable, e) where you are punished for your unpopular opinions, and/or f) where your greatest shame becomes the biggest piece of gossip.
i encourage you to look into the aspects of midas along with the sign, degree, and house placement. for the more advanced astrologers, take a look at the persona chart of midas AND/OR add the other characters involved to see how they support or impede midas!
OTHER RELATED ASTEROIDS: cybele (65), dionysus (3671), pan (4450), and apollo (1862)!
