Goddess in the Underworld: Libra New Moon – October 8, 2018

Venus, Ceres & Persephone: Re-Balancing Relationships

As I was meditating on the chart for the Libra New Moon last night, I kept being drawn to the fact that – right after the Kavanaugh fiasco – we have a New Moon in the sign of relationship and justice that is conjunct Ceres. And that Ceres is square Pluto.

Suddenly I experienced a little mental nudge: “I wonder where Persephone is?” (More on that in a sec…)

Venus, Persephone, Ceres: the goddess and her underworld journeyCeres’ tight conjunction to the New Moon indicates that Ceres themes (the pain of women and children in societies based on patriarchal privilege; abortion, abduction, sexual assault, pedophilia) are going to predominate. As I noted in my piece last week on the mythology of Ceres and how she shows up in astrological charts, Ceres has a strong warrior nature. But there seems to be a need for ritual grieving of the wounded feminine (in women and men) before that warrior side can be truly empowered.

Check. There’s definitely plenty of grief and shock to go around since the Senate voted Saturday to confirm Brett Kavanaugh as our newest Supreme Court justice. Kavanaugh’s judicial record and public comments certainly seem to legitimize the widespread fear that a high court now tilted heavily in favor of right wing ideologues will act as soon as possible to reverse Roe v Wade, the landmark ruling that made abortion legal 45 years ago.

New Moons always herald the end of an old cycle and the beginning of a new one. We are definitely still deep in the mourning / letting go of the past energy of the  ‘old cycle ending’ phase.

In my post on the astrology of the September 27 Senate Judiciary Committee hearing, I hypothesized that the reaction of Republican Senators, the President, and the right wing media was actually more important than whether or not Kavanaugh was confirmed.

I know it doesn’t feel that way for many of us. And it’s important that we feel our feelings now.

But Ceres has been super active in this year’s key astrology charts. And when we place this New Moon chart in the context of some bigger astrological cycles, we start to see the power of divine evolutionary intent at work.

I believe Ceres’ presence at this lunation indicates an evolutionary imperative to fundamentally rebalance our society’s attitudes toward not only women but toward the divine feminine and the divine masculine within each of us.

Even more than oppositions, squares in astrology indicate two archetypes butting heads with one another. Squares are challenging aspects, true; but they always produce change or movement in the material world. The potential of this square between the Sun/Moon/Ceres in Libra and Pluto in Capricorn is for an evolution in consciousness that challenges the status quo and contributes to the destruction or transformation of the patriarchal power structure.

Strange Echoes & A Light in the Darkness

So, I mentioned that I started wondering where Persephone was. I knew there was an asteroid named Persephone. But there are hundreds of named asteroids, most of which I’ve never used when casting charts.

Still, given the circumstances, it seemed wrong not to at least look up where she happens to be at the moment. And would you believe it?

Ceres, Venus & Persephone: Libra New Moon, October 8, 2018, 11:45 pm EDT, Washington, D.C.

Ceres, Venus & Persephone: Libra New Moon, October 8, 2018, 11:45 pm EDT, Washington, D.C.

At tonight’s New Moon, Persephone is conjunct Venus in Scorpio (< 0° 10′). Not only that, she’s in the exact degree where Venus stationed retrograde last Friday (10 Scorpio 50′). Continue reading

Equinox & Aries Full Moon: Authentic Self in Relationship

Aries Full Moon + Chiron Aries Point – September 24, 2018

#Me Too Chapter 2

On the eve of the Aries Full Moon, with Chiron exactly conjunct the Aries Point, another woman has come forward and accused Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh of sexual assault. This news came 24 hours after the fall equinox (spring equinox in the southern hemisphere).

The chart for the equinox gives us a picture of major energetic themes we will be working with in the coming three months. Two big themes that jump out at me from Saturday’s equinox chart are:

  • Major issues of assertiveness vs. compliance in relationships.
  • A society-wide reassessment of values (especially around money, sex and power).
Equinox: Sun enters Libra, Saturday, Sept. 22, 9:54 pm EDT, Washington, DC.

Equinox: Sun enters Libra, Saturday, Sept. 22, 9:54 pm EDT, Washington, DC.

Healing Relationship WoundS – Emergence of the Authentic Self

At the equinox and at Monday’s Full Moon, Chiron is just a sliver of a degree away from 0 Aries 00 — aka the Aries Point.

Astrologer Eric Francis often says that the Aries Point is where we experience the personal as political and the political as personal. Aries Point astrology focuses the collective consciousness on the archetypal themes shown by the planets involved.

The fall equinox is, by definition, the moment when the Sun enters Libra. The 2018 equinox chart features the Sun, Mercury and Ceres opposite Chiron and the Aries Point, all squaring Saturn in Capricorn. So, what is that picture showing us?

Sun, Mercury, Ceres in Libra Opposition the Aries Point

The Sun brings attention and energy to the Libran themes of relationship, harmony, balance and justice. Mercury in Libra activates communication in and about relationships, while Ceres emphasizes the need for a global rebalancing of relationships so that the scales are no longer tilted toward men (“she must have been asking for it”).

Chiron on the Aries Point

Chiron in Aries specifically activates the wound of “Who I am – my real self – is unacceptable.” People born with Chiron in Aries (roughly 1968-1977) share a common sense of feeling unwanted, of not being good enough, or of needing to fundamentally change who they are in order to be loved or accepted.

Chiron on the Aries Point at the moment of the equinox indicates we have reached a time when we as a society can no longer afford the suffering caused by patriarchal relationship paradigms based on power, fear, shame and control.

Chiron, the wounded healer, always heals through a process of expanding awareness. Chiron activations magnify the pain of a situation until we can no longer deny or ignore it. Chiron teaches us that we cannot heal what we cannot feel. Continue reading