Madonna and the Pope Throw the Apple of Discord

Michael WolfStar takes an interesting look at the natal placement of Eris in the charts of these troublemakers.

Persephone was not abducted into the Underworld. She entered of her own free will.

Could it be that Perspephone chose to enter the Underworld? There are many re-imaginings of this myth reprinted below. The overall thread is that Persephone wanted to understand the deeper mysteries, and the only way of doing that was by going down below. In the pre-patriarchal understandings of this myth, Pluto was female, and part of the tripartite structure of the Great Goddess: Maiden (Persephone), Mother (Demeter/Ceres), Crone (Hecate). Although the process of death, transformation and rebirth is the realm of Pluto in the modern world, it is much older than the Greco-Roman myths.
I have included excerpts from many authors, and have highlighted those sentences that illuminate this re-imagining of the Persphone myth:

Excerpted from 'Persephone and Virgo' by Mirjam

Here are several motifs. First there is the young Persephone, the girl who doesn't want to leave her mother, which can lead to a person not developing in his/her life. She might think it is enough to "keep clean" on a surface level, a trivial, everyday level, dealing with what food to eat or what method to do housecleaning with etc. The classical Virgo type is often described this way. She might be very clever doing the mundane functions, but does not dare to meet any great challenges. In that sense life is coming to a halt, she has not really stopped living with the mother.

Then there is in Virgo a very sensual side, that she often doesn't realize. Maybe they are only afraid of their own strong, inner sensual forces and hide themselves behind a facade of "purity". In Persephone we see this in the fact that she actually stays with her dark husband and, in some varieties of the story, give [sic] birth to a child, Dionysos (which is a divine child). We are told of no struggle from her part to get away.

A third factor is that she has herself brought about her fate, even if its done unconsciously. She goes away and plucks that narcissus and everything is thereby put into motion. It could be said that it is her ignorance that opens the door to the hidden forces from the underground. And through this she gets a chance to experiences which she never would have gotten had she stayed with the mother all the time. And it is exactly these experiences that allow her to grow as a human being.

What I think stands out is the pomegranate, the symbol of fertility, and the divine child Dionysos. Virgos often have a sort of spiritual quality which in certain circumstances can prepare for something special to grow within. To be self-sufficient is also to be clean and untouched in spirit, which can sometimes be seen in Virgos. But even the most pure and untouched human being can benefit from having an encounter with the dark forces of the underground. The myth tells us that this is one place where something divine can be born, if we are called upon to pick the narcissus.

Excerpted from 'Persephone - An Intuitive View' by Aimee Bova

In my view, Persephone was a wise woman, a knower of hidden knowledge. I believe she gleaned her knowledge from the spirits in nature. Plant spirits, animal spirits, water spirits, all spirits. I believe that Persephone was not abducted by Hades at all. I think she was well aware of him and had already encountered him as an energy all ready present in the cycles of change all creatures experience. Even if the world was ever verdant and green prior to “Demeter’s Curse” (the catalyst for seasonal changes), still, no flower bloomed perpetually. Always, there would be a process of change; creatures would be born, would grow, and renew themselves. I believe also that Hades, like Persephone exists today as much as then. In my view, Hades is the regenerative force that governs the renewal part of the process. The period of rest and sleep all life must go through at some point. I also liken this period of renewal to what we call death. Yet, it is not death at all, merely a process of change.

Persephone to me represents life and creation, therefore, she could not exist without Hades nor Hades without her. Each was an equal part of a greater whole. The dichotomy is that they were each still “whole” yet seemed to express themselves in contrast to the others focus of activity. To me it seems that in her embracing of life, she would had to have embraced death, Hades; and vice versa. So both are part of existence itself; an existence which is ceaselessly changing, ever in motion. In this light, I feel that contrary to the “victimized” female she has been portrayed as, she rather went willingly and knowingly with Hades to the underworld. Establishing herself as the knower of the whole. In turn, Hades received the promise of life immanent. Their relationship in my view served to unify both worlds. There was no one greater than the other here, no one more dominant. There was only one life, one world, one existence.

...upon her descent she become familiar with the aspect of existence called “the underworld”, “hell”, “dissolution”; symbolizing the awakening of the subconscious, that is, knowing the record of her existence, the Akasa. Her establishment as the new reigning Queen of the Underworld, and her ability to move between both worlds fluidly suggests to me a unique step in development. She was thoroughly aware of the depths, the soul of her being and had mastered death. She was master of both worlds, working with the greater order of existence and regulating the seasons as part of the cosmic plan. She was no longer unconscious, but consciously, subconsciously and now super-consciously aware from the process of evolution she experienced as symbolized by her life upon earth, her descent into the netherworld, and her return as Queen. A being transcendent.

Excerpted from Goddess Myths

...long before the mythical Hades was ever conceived, in more ancient, pre-patriarchal times, Persephone was Queen of the Underworld and was another form of Hecate. Originally, the Triple Goddess was represented by Kore, the virgin; Demeter, the mother preserver; and Hecate or Persephone, the destroyer. In later years, Kore and Persephone became the same Goddess. The pomegranate was an ancient symbol of female fertility; the souls of the underworld ate pomegranates so that they could be reborn.

Excerpted from CERES: SINGING UP THE CITY by Freya Mathews

The story of Demeter and her daughter, Persephone (also known as Kore), was in fact the oldest story in Greek mythology, deriving from the myths of Isis (Egypt) and Inanna (Sumer), where the latter is the earliest myth still extant in the Western tradition. Isis and Inanna were survivals from pre-patriarchal Old Europe, and they both preserved many features of the neolithic and paleolithic Great Goddess - the fertility Goddess who was for many thousands of years the primary deity of the agricultural peoples of prehistoric Europe and the Middle and Near East. The myth of the Great Goddess was one of renewal - of birth, death and regeneration. In its original form, it revolved around the annual sacrifice of the young Horned God, a grain god who was the son and consort of the Great Mother: the god was sacrificed/harvested annually in order that new life could arise out of his death/blood. In Sumer and Egypt, this primordial agricultural myth acquired new spiritual depth and maturity via a detailed telling of the goddess' own mortifying descent into the underworld: through her encounter with the shadow side of existence in the realm of death, the sources of life within her were restored and replenished, and she brought renewal back to the world above.

Excerpted from Estelle Daniels (Astrologickal Magick, Samuel Weiser, 1995, pp. 269-270) -- Purchase at amazon.com

Pluto was originally a female deity, but when the matriarchalists were subjugated, was changed to a male, although the powers and attributes remained pretty well intact. Pluto as a female deity was a Crone aspect of a chthonian, deep-earth Mother Goddess. She ruled underground wealth, mines, magick, deep mysteries, death and spirits of the dead, initiation and transformation. Persephone was a Maiden Goddess, daughter of Demeter the Earth-Mother, who ruled fertility, the fields, crops, and agriculture. Now consider that when Persephone left her mother to go down to Hades/Tartarus, the underworld, it was of her own free will. She voluntarily left her Mother to study with the Crone the things which were in her sphere of influence. She went to study, in brief, magick. And she was initiated into the Mysteries and underwent a transformation. This was symbolized by the eating of the pomegranate and her need to spend a portion of each year in Hades/Tartarus. Once she was an initiate, she was bound to pay homage for all she had learned, and to presumably spend a certain amount of time studying and broadening her knowledge, and hopefully attaining higher levels on initiation, eventually becoming One with the Crone in knowledge and understanding. Yes, Demeter suffered from loneliness because of the loss of her daughter, but both benefitted from the transformation and knowledge gained. And this may be a myth explaining the true reason for winter -- a time to study, to go within and explore the mysteries of life, death, the cycle of the seasons, and renewal. The Maiden returns each spring and life renews itself, but the Maiden is more wise and tempered by her sojourn into the underworld, and the secret knowledge she has gained. Eventually there is little difference between Maiden, Mother, and Crone -- all are aspects of the same Great Goddess. And that is the deepest Mystery of all.

Tags: astrology ceres pluto persephone demeter hecate goddess

Eris' First Person Narrative

Pat Paquette has written a very amusing and insightful piece called "I, Discordia."

Lynn Hayes on the new dwarf planets

It's becoming more and more clear to me that the newly tripartite nature of Pluto embodies the symbolism of this [death-rebirth] process: Eris creates the discord and strife that begins the death of the ego under Pluto, and Ceres presides over our emergence from the underworld and the regeneration of our lives.

When I read this, I felt a sudden quietness and awe take over me, like reading a mathematical formula that puts it all together. Perhaps there is a deeper reason for the IAU's decision to classify Eris, Pluto and Ceres as dwarf planets.

She writes in an earlier post:

... perhaps as we become more attuned to the transformational process[,] the process itself is becoming more specific as it divides between Eris (the strife and discord that creates the endings), Pluto (going into the underworld of endings and grief), and Ceres (the process of regeneration).

At the beginning of a Pluto transit, there is a sense of "discord and strife" as our ego fights against its own destruction. It is then dragged down into the underworld, where we encounter the Shadow elements of our psyche. Ceres mourns the loss of our virgin self (Persephone, untarnished until she is abducted by Hades). We then re-emerge, newly aware of that which we had hidden from ourselves, having undergone a shamanic initiation into our own deepest parts. The final product is then a sense of empowerment and authenticity, as we have integrated previously dis-owned parts of ourselves, aspects of our being that we had to hide (because society or our parents did not approve of them) or aspects that were just so biological or instinctual that we just did not feel safe acknowledging them in the light of day.

Tags: astrology ceres pluto persephone

My eclipse experiences

Both of these eclipses have "hit" planets in my chart, so I wanted to share my experiences. On Sept. 7, the lunar eclipse conjoined my 7th house Sun at 15 Pisces. On that day, I got exponentially more traffic to my site than ever in my life: 2899 Unique Visitors. On the day of the solar eclipse, I had 772 Unique Visitors.

I don't have any stats on whether more people googled "lunar eclipse" than "solar eclipse" over the last month, but since the solar eclipse is actually more of a big deal on a mundane (as well as an astrological) level, I doubt it. Which leads me to the conclusion that I got so much traffic on the lunar eclipse because my Sun was being highlighted. It was my time to shine at that time. The energy of the eclipse resonated with my purpose.

My experience with the solar eclipse was very different. My 1st house Pluto is at 26 Virgo, so the eclipse conjoined this planet. On that night, I was dancing the Five Rhythms, which is a movement practice in a safe space (it's hard to articulate, but you can visit Gabrielle Roth's site for more information). Near the end of the evening, I felt alot of emotional pain in the area below my right collarbone. I danced it, breathing deeply and trying to just move through it. I felt very raw at the end, and somewhat disoriented, because I went deep into my process. This experience was Plutonic, because Pluto brings submerged feelings (our "shit") to the surface for healing.

Now, both of these experiences I view as positive. I don't like pain, but obviously something needed to come out Friday night, and the eclipse on my Pluto (1) indicated the timing of the experience, and (2) symbolized the nature of the experience, since Pluto in the 1st house relates to intense transformation happening through the vehicle of the physical body.

Gratitude

In all the years I have poked around the internet, I never felt "part of something" online until I started seriously blogging. I have met brilliant writers and engaged commenters and it feels very 4th house to me. My URL is my domain name, but it truly feels like a domain, like a home. When people visit me, they visit my abode. I've decorated it with purples that express some important part of me, and I've added lots of geeky widgets to help people access information easily and to enable them to communicate with me. Granted, most of those visitors who find me from Google stay for 20 seconds and then leave and never come back, but I've also got regular visitors -- some who poke around for a few minutes with one foot in the door, others who stop by to say hi by leaving a comment or meebo'ing me. And others go back home and tell their visitors about me, which feels so affirming, I have to tell you -- to have bloggers I respect send people my way. It really touches me at times, validates all the hard work I have been logging at the computer, all the effort I have put into my studies.

So I just want to say thank you to everyone, and as they say in the "rooms," Keep coming back.

Eris by any other name would still be a dwarf planet

Lynn Hayes has provided a sound exposition on the mythology of Eris. But ever since I read Richard Tarnas' Prometheus The Awakener - in which he convincingly argues that the mythology of Prometheus fits better with the movements of the planet Uranus than the mythology of Uranus himself -- I am hesitant to jump to conclusions regarding the astrological meaning of Eris (formerly Xena [2003 UB313]).

Of course, it is quite amazing that every other planet in the solar system was appropriately named -- in that the mythology of the god/goddess corresponds with the astrological meaning of the planet in individuals' charts and in mundane events -- but the astronomers don't necessarily get it right every time. Nonetheless, it is a worthwhile endeavor to study how the Goddess of Strife resonates with the placement of this dwarf planet in peoples' charts.

I just feel sorry for all those obsessive astrologers who have looked for Xena the Warrior Princess in their clients' charts.

Tags: astrology eris

I just tricked out my MySpace profile

I'm all pimped out!

Were you alive in '65?

Someone googled "8 december 1965 lunar eclipse" to get to my blog, so I looked it up in the ephemeris. That eclipse was at 15 Sagittarius, the same degree area -- also in a mutable sign (like Pisces) -- as the recent one on September 7, 2006. This was before my time ... but I'd love to hear from the boomers out there who remember how this eclipse impacted them, or if there were any notable world events happening at that time.

The eclipse in '65 also involved Uranus, which at 19 Virgo was square the Full Moon. Additionally, Pluto was at 18 Virgo, and Saturn was at 11 Pisces. Of course, Saturn opposing Uranus-Pluto related to the explosive, anti-authoritarian energy of the Sixties, and the eclipse probably triggered this configuration. But I'm no history buff.

Tags: lunar eclipse - 1965 - sagittarius - astrology

Xena (2003 UB313) is now officially Eris, Goddess of Strife

The IAU officially changed her name yesterday. According to the Bad Astronomy blog, Eris' moon has been named Dysnomia, the goddess of lawlessness, which is a scream, since Xena was played by Lucy Lawless.

Tags: eris - dysnomia - astrology - astronomy - 2003 UB313 - xena - lawless

New Moon Solar Eclipse in Virgo - September 22, 2006

This Solar Eclipse is the second New Moon in Virgo this year. The first one was at 0 Virgo and the eclipse is at 29 Virgo. The last degree of any sign is called the anaretic degree. One of my teachers taught me that when a planet transits through any sign, themes related to that sign occur when the planet enters (0) and leaves (29) that sign. Other astrologers have also noted that people born with a planet in the last degree of a sign feel an urgency to move on to the next sign. The astrologer formerly known as Kelli Fox writes, "it means that you are very close to mastering an important lesson of the universe, but you have not quite achieved success." Cafe Astrology and Eric J. Uberseder also have wise things to say about the final degree. However you put it, this eclipse will be ultra-Virgo in nature. We have to incorporate the lessons of the Virgin in order to progress spiritually.

So, what does this entail? A Solar Eclipse is a New Moon conjunct a Lunar Node. We have the chance to start anew. However, the Sun and Moon conjoin the South Node, which relates to our past karma -- where we are coming from. Old patterns (South Node) are obscured (Solar Eclipse). We feel an urgency to master the realm of Virgo, yet our lack of consciousness about entrenched habits makes it difficult to move forward.

The last degree of Virgo is akin to the day before Fall (Libra). The harvest is over, and the seasons of Death are imminent. The weather is getting cold. The days will become shorter. Those of us living in the Northern Hemisphere will be spending more time indoors.

Virgo prepares us for partnership (Libra). Remember the advice that you can't be ready for a relationship until you've got your own house in order? Well, that's Virgo's job. When we attend to ourselves through proper self-care (diet, exercise) and skill-building (apprenticeship, practice), we feel competent. Once we have stream-lined our own life, we are ready to survive the cold and bundle up with someone else. We are (metaphorically) storing up enough grain for the colder months.

This Solar Eclipse is squared by Pluto. I've mentioned before how Virgo relates to the myth of Ceres/Demeter, in which Hades' abduction of Persephone into the Underworld resulted in her mother Demeter's neglect of the earth's vegetation due to depression (hence, winter).

The Lord of the Underworld can help bring to the surface those aspects of our past that have resulted in a compulsive living-out of the Virgo archetype: eating disorders, over-exercising, rigidity, hyper-criticism. Pluto transformed Persephone from a girl into a woman -- since some psychoanalysts see anorexia as a way for females to ward off adulthood, Pluto can heal these mother-daughter issues and allow females to accept their changing bodies. Of course, transitioning into adulthood is a kind of death, but so is moving into the second half of the zodiac.

Fortunately, after each death comes a new life. The end of adolescence signals the birth of adulthood. When we master Virgo's realm -- by letting go of anything that obstructs efficient performance of our bodies and routines -- we are ready to move on to the next level.

This eclipse will mostly impact those people with planets and angles in the last degrees of mutable signs (Gemini, Virgo, Sagittarius, Pisces) and the first degrees of cardinal signs (Aries, Cancer, Libra, Capricorn). If you have a birthday around March 20, June 21, September 22 or December 21, then this eclipse will be hitting your Sun -- your sense of identity.

Tags: astrology - virgo - south node - solar eclipse - new moon

Regarding the comments section: I encourage readers to share their experiences, provide feedback and ask general questions about the eclipse, but I do not analyze charts in the comments section, so please do not give me your birth information. [Added 9/23/06]

Astrology and Inner Experience

My dawning recognition in adolescence that there is an inner world drew me to psychology. In my early twenties -- when I became aware of altered states of consciousness and spiritual realities -- I was drawn to Jung, tarot and astrology. However, I was simultaneously coming out of a rigorous training in the scientific method in graduate school, in which I was instilled with the belief that only observable and measurable phenomena are real.

In astrology, planetary cycles correspond both with observable phenomena and inner subjective experience. When something happens in your environment, it is fairly easy to correlate that event with transits and progressions if you can see its symbolic, archetypal meaning. For example, your boyfriend breaks up with you when transiting Saturn opposes your natal Venus.

But what happens when you try to categorize your subjective experience, your emotions? Many people are simply not very attuned to their inner world -- not in touch with their feelings -- and those of us who are aware of our emotions and fantasies may have difficulty associating our feelings and mental images with a placeholder: that is, some external event or transitional state (moving, changing jobs, starting or ending a relationship) that logically explains or justifies our feelings.

Divination places a structure around our subjective experience. If you do a Tarot reading or study your astrological transits, you are essentially looking for an archetype -- be it a Major Arcana card or an outer planet transit or something else -- that "nails" that hard-to-articulate feeling you have inside. The "ah hah!" experience re-affirms our belief in divination -- it offers a sense of order to our lives. It does not matter if other people don't believe in archetypal realities -- the meaning we derive from these forms of divination is proof enough that these archetypes exist.

Tag: astrology

Venus opposite Uranus - September 16, 2006

On the 16th, Venus in Virgo opposes Uranus in Pisces. At this time, the goddess of love and beauty -- who already has a reputation for sleeping around -- yearns for freedom and unconventionality in the realm of relationship and art. The opposition is the part of the planetary cycle in which energy is culminating, bringing issues to a head. For those of us in partnership, this is a stressful time, in which we make a decision about whether we want to separate, or introduce elements of independence into the relationship. The opposition gives us the clarity to see our partnerships as they are. We want to shake things up: break out of our sexual routines, have affairs, seek lovers who live out the Uranian archetype -- the rebel, the outlaw, anyone who lives by their own code, deviating from the path of conformity.

This opposition may expose those parts of your relationship that are stagnant. If you want it to survive, introduce some excitement into your routine, or allow your partner more freedom. This does not necessarily mean carte blanche to sleep around -- maybe it means being less controlling about each other's individual lives.

If you're single, this is a good opportunity to bring excitement and unpredictability into your love life.

Now is also a good time to break boundaries artistically.

Look to the two houses containing 12 Virgo and Pisces to see what areas of your life will be affected. This opposition will mostly impact people with planets or angles around this degree area (including Gemini and Sagittarius).

Tags: astrology uranus venus