Reinhart, Melanie – Nessus & the Fallen Hero

On Valentine’s Day 2014, Oscar Pistorius shot and killed his girlfriend a few hours before a conjunction of the Sun with Nessus, a Minor Planet or ‘Centaur’. We explore this tragic story in the light of Nessus and its resonance with the archetype of ‘The Fallen Hero’. The ‘felt-sense’ of Nessus encapsulates its distinctive lamination of multi-dimensional themes which co-reflect ancestral, national and historical themes as they precipitate in an individual life.