Salacia was a sea nymph, who became overwhelmed when distinguished suitor Neptune purseud her for marriage. She managed to glide out of his sight, and hid deep in the ocean. Neptune sent a dolphin to persuade her to return and share the thone, and was so overjoyed when she agreed, that the dolphin was awareded a place in the heavens, now visible as constellation Delphinus. According to Wikipedia, Salacia is represented as a beautiful nymph, crowned with seaweed, either enthroned beside Neptune or driving with him in a pearl shell chariot drawn by dolphins, sea-horses (hippocamps) or other fabulous creatures of the deep, and attended by Tritons and Nereids. She is dressed in queenly robes and has nets in her hair. Salacia was the personification of the calm and sunlit aspect of the sea. Derived from Latin sāl, meaning "salt", the name denotes the wide, open sea, and is sometimes literally translated as "the salty one". As his wife, Salacia bore Neptune three children, the most celebrated being Triton, whose body was half man and half fish.
Salacia was discovered on 22 September 2004, and takes 273.98 years to orbit the sun. Object Salacia is said to be as big as Ceres, Quaoar and Orcus in size, but smaller than objects like Eris, Pluto, Haumea, MakeMake and Sedna. Salacia’s dark surface is unusual among trans-Neptunian objects and has the lowest albedo of any known large trans-Neptunian objects. Compare this to Eris, which is an extremely shiny object. Salacia has one known natural satellite, Actaea, see the details in the articles listed below.
A relevant facet of the Roman myth of Salacia, is that she had been quite successful in hiding from Neptune at the bottom of the oceans where the Sun’s rays of awareness were not unable to illuminate her presence. This, despite the fact that the entire ocean was Neptune’s domain. Why could he not find her in his own domain? Was she the feminine aspect that had been just outside of his awareness, lurking. Neptune is one of the 9 planets in astrology, but Salacia is a trans-Neptunian object, which carries the image of the darkness and awareness of the subconscious WATER ELEMENT is the territory of the goddess aspect of Neptune, as if she was the hidden in the depths of Neptune’s own psyche, from a psychological point of view. In understanding Salacia, it might be useful to see the Neptune Blog, in order to understand her better. After their wedding, Neptune retained power over the surging ocean, while Salacia received rulership of the sunny, calm surfaces; she was also linked to hot springs with high mineral content by the Romans. This switchup and coming into the light, is curious, and aligns with the transformation that a maiden undergoes, after she becomes married, and how she blossoms into MATURITY; coming into her own beauty and ‘power’. Consider that the object was initially observed 71 times before its official discovery, with pre-covery dates
going back all the way to 1982. Object Salacia was an illusive little thing, and is a true nymph in astromythology. In myth, it was only a dolphin who was able to find Salacia HIDING in the depths and hidden recesses of the bottom of the ocean (soul domain?), coming to know her secrets. All the other trans-Neptunian objects carry underworld themes, as it relates to bringing the unawareness, unknown and ‘darkness’ to light, to be seen in the light of day. Only after her marriage, was Salacia able to become the queen CLEARLY VISIBLE for all to see, often pictured an artwork as sitting on a rock in the ocean in the light of the sun. The image in this article also shows the remarkable orbital relationship that object Salacia has with Lord of the Underworld Pluto. Salacia orbits the Sun at an average distance slightly greater than that of Pluto.
In the discovery chart, Salacia at 13 degrees Pisces is in square to Pluto at 19 degrees Sagittarius and Quaoar at 11 degrees Sagittarius. Salacia is conjuct asteroid Vesta in Pisces, which alludes to her comfort zone watery home. Psychopomp Mercury in Virgo is in opposition at 17 degrees, with Venus in Leo inconjunct. Neptune is at 12 degrees Aquarius in an aspect called a semi-sextile to Salacia.
Image: Poseidon and Amphitrite. Ancient Roman fresco (50-79 d.C.), Pompeii, Italy. via Wikimedia Commons.
There seems to be an element of FEMININE MYSTIQUE to sea-nymph Salacia’s mythological story with its contradictions, as well as what is reflected in the discovery chart, with Salacia being conjunct Vesta, the goddess of hearth and home. The mythological archetype of Vesta entails beautiful women who were unmarried and had sacred sexual pleasures, and also that of the astrological energy of ‘the homemaker’. See the discovery chart article for more information.
The Sabian symbol for Salacia in her discovery chart is A lady wrapped in a large stole of fox fur. This is the image of a woman of refined taste. Although a fox fur is a symbol of a pricey, proudly worn possession and status symbol, despite its fleeting appeal in fashion, it is none the less an image of a woman who have grown into a certain position that she wears publicly on display, which is what Salacia attained as Neptune’s wife and consort, and all that that entails being the official lady by his side.
In mythology Salacia had initially wished to remain unmarried, and preserve her virginity, however in accepting Neptune as her husband after a determined pursuit, she gave up her chastity and innocence. So ‘salacious’ Salacia’s sex appeal seemed to have been, that it aroused the lust of Neptune, that his excessive advances led to her giving up one life, for another. The image of the large fur typically covering the shoulder and bossom of women, is also to protect oneself from unwanted eyes, or intrusive energies while appearing glamorous, or sparkly as the shimmering waters around Salacia had been, when she was seen in daylight. Salacia attained a dynamic freedom of expression upon marriage, which was a dramatic change from her previous life, yet as deeply sensing, feeling and knowing the awareness of the Underworld, this outer ‘persona’ appearance wasn’t able to hide her ‘otherworldly’ wisdom attained, while diving and spending time in the depths of consciousness. Salacia seemed quite the accomplished woman with beautiful
assets and social position, having caught the eye of one of the three brothers (Jupiter, Neptune and Pluto), yet not revealing too much of her sacred wisdom and high degree of awareness. Salacia is wrapped in a protective layer that is impenetrable to the passing glance, prying eye or investigating enquiry, yet she is also often pictured naked, which is a symbol for - at the core - not carrying falseness nor pretence.
This is the aspect of the feminine that swims to the depths to find wisdom there, to bring to the surface and radiate that individualistic and brave AWARENESS and TRUTH. Salacia is inner strength, playful, in the flow, and is at ease in water (which represents emotions, sensing and feeling in astrology).
You may think of Salacia or Amphitrite when you feel unseen things are out of your control, when a good cry is needed due to seeing deep truths as it pertains to the waters, or when standing at the water's edge (emotions and feeling) and needing a little extra strength to allow oneself to feel, and action a step in.
Salacia in the first decan of Aries is part of a long term leg in a T-Square to Quaoar in Capricorn, with MakeMake in Libra that streches beyond 2030, as the slow-moving trans-Neptunian objects move together in an aspect pattern that lasts many years. Faster moving Neptune will move to conjunct Salacia at 24 degrees Aries, starting in August 2035, with an exact hit on 12 April 2036, and another close conjunction in December 2036.
One of the best ways to experience the energy of Salacia (or any of the other KBOs) is in the week leading up to a Salacia station to go retrograde, or station to go direct. Check your ephemeris or the Calendar of Events.
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The discovery chart and Sabian symbol of Trans-Neptunian object Salacia in astrology is described in this article. In mythology, she was a sea nymph, who became overwhelmed when distinguished suitor Neptune pursued her for marriage. She managed to glide out of his sight, and hid deep in the ocean. Neptune sent a dolphin to persuade her to return and share the thone, and was overjoyed when she agreed to be his wife.
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