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New Moons in Virgo, Eclipse and Astronomical Chaos
Our New Planetary Goddesses! What Signs Should They Rule?
The August New Moon was in the very first degree of Virgo, and September’s was a Solar Eclipse, in the 29th degree of Virgo. A good question for assessing the potentials of this New Moon and Eclipse cycle could be, “How have we, as a collective, since last New Moon, assimilated the themes of Virgo?” Well, considering all that’s happening in the world, not very well. But for this little article, I'd like to leave aside, for now, the current political and ideological extremes aside for the moment, and focus on the lighter side of the astronomical chaos that has manifested recently.
It was shortly after the August New Moon that the International Astronomers Union voted (with a majority of its members not present, and amid considerable bickering among those who were present) to boot Pluto out of the solar system. The mighty God of the Underworld was demoted to the lesser status of “dwarf planet?” Of course, the astronomers (most of them) don’t acknowledge any correspondence or possible Plutonian consequence for their actions. One of them was even said to have gleefully waved around a Disney stuffed dog during the time of the vote. The indignity of it!
The instigator of the controversy that led to the IAU vote is a new world of icy rock out beyond Pluto that has been found (horrors!) to be larger than he. Dilemma! Imagine the thought processes:
If the newcomer (at first nicknamed “Xena” for the TV warrior princess) is NOT called a planet, then what’s to be done about smaller Pluto? Even more big icy rocks are surely out there…how many more will be found? How many planets can we have before totally crowding the solar system and creating impossibly long sentences for school kids to memorize? OK, then. The line has to be drawn somewhere. If “Xena” can’t be a planet, then Pluto has to go, too.
Is this not a bit of Virgoan categorizing or nitpicking (take your choice)? And we astrologers, who are not consulted in lofty astronomical decisions to define planets, can only sigh and react.
So, the IAU voters decreed that planets would therefore be defined by those bodies that orbit the Sun in nice, regular orbits that never horn in on the orbits of the other planets, as Pluto periodically intrudes on Neptune. Never mind that other bodies like Chiron, comets and a zillion asteroids do plenty of intruding. Never mind that an expensive space probe is already zooming toward Pluto to study him. Out he goes!
Thus was havoc caused for school kids who have to change their little verse ending in pizza to remind them of planetary order, and for textbook publishers who had to hold up their print deadlines just prior to the school year. And (forgive a little publisher grumbling) for Rique Pottenger and I, who had to make three different changes to the ephemeris, as we tried to keep up with the IAU announcements, while holding up sendng our book to print for a month longer than planned.
Numerous joke editorials were published in the newspapers, and protests, some vehement, came from not only members of the public, but also from many members of IAU who were not present for the vote. So, the placating word then came down from IAU that Pluto is really to have the special designation as prototype of a whole new classification of “dwarf planets.” Some consolation. Hmmpf! Little but mighty, Pluto will never be abandoned by this Scorpio astrologer…and my bet is that astrologers, as a collective will continue to give him the same deference as always.
The news has quieted, but presumably the debate among astronomers will continue, for Goddess only knows how long. Meanwhile those of us who had school textbooks, dictionaries and ephemerides with publication deadlines had to decide what to do about the widely publicized IAU decision that may yet, in some form, be undone.
I haven’t yet heard what the textbook editors decided to do about their schoolbooks, but as for the soon-to-be-published The New American Ephemeris for the 21st Century, the decision is this:
Pluto stays in planetary order exactly where he’s always been.
Ceres joins the Sun through Pluto lineup in her own column between Mars and Jupiter. Since her orbit is close enough to Earth that daily positions matter, our bet is that even astrologers who have not yet studied her will now want to do so.
As for the new “dwarf planet” now officially on September 13, 2006, named Eris, for the Greek Goddess of Discord (how fitting!), once per month positions are included. Eris only moves, at most, a very few minutes of arc from one month to the next—she’s been trying to get from 19 to 21 Aries since the year 2000, and as of the first of September ’06, she’s retrograded again!
Other dwarfs that IAU may decide upon in the outer reaches beyond Pluto will most likely move even more slowly through the zodiac of signs. So, may Eris forgive and understand our wish to avoid creating such a hefty, big ephemeris that no one will want to carry it around. We are drawing the line on daily positions with Pluto. For those super-technical perfectionists who want a closer interpolation of minutes for Eris (and dozens of other extra bodies), you can find thrice monthly positions online in Swiss ephemeris listings on Astrodienst: http://www.astro.com/
Now, let's consider the interesting topic of our two new planetary Goddesses..
Goddess Rules! What Should She Rule? Debate!
As the dust settles, at least momentarily, on the shakeup of the solar system, I'm musing on one outcome of it all that causes me to speculate with smiles. Both new additions to our astrological planetary consciousness are goddesses! Before, the god/goddess ratio among our "planets" (using the usual astrological reference to what we customarily use in all charts, including the "lights," Sun and Moon) has been 2 goddesses (Moon and Venus) to 8 gods. Now, the score is 4 to 8. That's still two to one, but hey! I like it better! It’s high time that Moon and Venus had some female reinforcements.
Also, with the addition of Ceres and Eris, we now have just enough planets (including Sun and Moon), to finally have one ruler for each of the 12 signs of the zodiac. Currently Mercury rules Gemini and Virgo, and Venus rules Taurus and Libra. If Pluto is retained as ruler of Scorpio, as I think he should be, then why not assign Ceres and Eris to sign rulerships, as well? Rulership will be an astrological decision. The astronomers, most of them, don’t acknowledge astro-logos, the word of the stars, anyway, so why should they care who we think rules what? So, let's talk about it!
I've already expressed my opinion in September's Magical Moon, firmly supporting Ceres for ruler of Virgo, and admittedly with a bit of Libran "fence-sitting," proposing Eris as ruler (or maybe co-ruler) of Libra. Here I'll expand on that a bit, and just for fun, see if I can find some ammunition for my opinions within the Solar Eclipse chart. So as to not totally tie this down to any one location (we are everywhere!), I'll use the "natural zodiac" with 0° Aries as 1st House cusp.
Solar Eclipse in Virgo, September 22, 2006, 4:45 am EDT
Ceres, at 13 Aquarius, is trine Mercury at 15 Libra, but conjunct Neptune. I’m going to take that as suggesting that the confusion of dual rulership of Mercury over Gemini and Virgo could be harmoniously resolved by leaving Mercury as ruler of the masculine Air sign Gemini, where his little winged feet and hat can always be quite comfortable. Then Ceres, the earthy Goddess of abundant Harvest, can have dominion over the feminine, earthy sign of Virgo. She’d be a much better fit for the only Goddess of the 12 signs of the zodiac, who holds grains of the harvest in her arms. With Ceres as her ruler, Virgo may even be able to shake that silly barren stigma that stems from her flighty, androgynous (and hopefully, soon-to-be-ex-) ruler. I never have liked Mercury in that role—and I have successfully planted things that grew just fine when Moon was in Virgo. Virgin once meant "independent, owned by no man" rather than the chaste-to-priggish old maid interpertations sometimes given to Virgo. It's high time to change that! Virgos arise, and claim Ceres as your Goddess!
Eris, Ruler of Libra
(Well, maybe Co-Ruler?)
Eris (who as yet has no official glyph of her own, but fortunately has a very short name) is just a minute shy of 21 Aries (though retrograding). She looks quite sassy in that red fire sign, alone in Aries opposite Libra, sign of marriage and partnership, as if we need a reminder that Libra is also a sign of competitors and open enemies. Eris has been in Aries for a looog time and will be until May of 2046, according to The New American Ephemeris. Even then she only dips her toe into Taurus for a few months before backing back out again. At the time of the eclipse, she she's opposing Mercury in Libra and is inconjunct Venus in Virgo. Using basic themes of those aspects, we could say she's ready to take on Mercury (and also Mars, for that matter) in a face-to-face challenge, but just might be willing to make some adjustments with Venus.
If we put earthy Ceres with Virgo, then the logical rulership for Eris would be to take over one of the two signs currently ruled by Venus, Taurus or Libra. Eris, among her myths, is said to have had a loaded golden apple that she tossed into a roomful of gods and goddesses, ulimately causing such mischief among them to be deemed a cause of the Trojan War. So, I've amused myself by imagining how the symbols for Taurus and Libra gylphs might look under the influence of Eris, Goddess of Discord and Chaos.
Despite the decidely out-of-balance situation depicted above, Libra seems to me to be the more appropriate choice for Eris. Her persona just does not fit as well with mostly placid Taurus. It takes a lot of provocation for the Bull to be moved out of his stubborn comfort zone.
But,how can we cast discordant Eris as ruler of the airy and [formerly] Venusian peace-loving, diplomatic and compromising sign of the 7th House? I ask you: how easily can marriage and partnerships sometimes, despite best intentions, turn into competition, or even open conflict? While it’s true that Libra may prefer to be pleasantly and attractively balanced, the contrasts that Eris could symbolize as ruler are realities of both the sign and its natural 7th House. Balance is an ideal not always easy to achieve. Tip those scales a little too much, and watch out! Libran types have been known to include military generals.
Well, maybe we could consider a co-rulership of Eris and Venus over Libra… (a little bit of Libran fence sitting here, especially nudged from my own Venus in Libra who may be jeaously guarding her turf)... Still, I'll hold to my opinion of Eris' assignment with Libra, either with or without Venus as co-ruler. Eris' emergence into our planetary consciousness just seems to fit, arriving on the scene as she has, just prior to the 0°Libra Fall Equinox quarter of the year. We don't have to look very far to find correspondences to her competitive and mischievious mythology. Just think about all the extreme polarities, ideologies and lack of balanced diplomacy evident in the news.
Which signs do you think Ceres and Eris ought to rule? Let me know! I’ll post a tally of your votes, and may quote some of comments, if you include permission for me to do so.
Email Maria with your opinion and vote!
See more on Ceres and Eris, with cartoons of each in
Magical Moon
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