Category: Goddess Asteroids

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Ceres – How does your garden grow?

The asteroid Ceres is the Mother Goddess Asteroid. She rules mothering, agriculture (gardening, food, nurturing) and is the goddess of unconditional love.

 

How does your garden grow? Every good gardener knows that to grow a healthy plant it must be pruned. The idea of pruning means loss and this can be a difficult concept for Ceres.

 

Here is the story of Ceres.

Ceres had a daughter Persephone and they wandered the world together, the world was in constant harvest and they were happy. As Persephone grew up she became very beautiful and had lots of male interest, but their bond (mother daughter) was so strong that all suitor were rejected and sent away. One day Persephone was out picking some flowers and the earth opened up and swallowed her into the underworld where Pluto, the god of the underworld took her, ravished her (of course) and made her his wife. Ceres was so grief stricken she refused to eat. She then refused the earth harvest in her grief.  Yes others must suffer too. The people and gods prayed for her daughter to be released so that they would not starve, and their prayers were answered, but Persephone had consummated the marriage by eating from a pomegranate and so was still bound to him (Pluto). Ceres and Pluto then agreed to share Persephone… which is why, explained by Greek mythology, we have a summer and a winter.

Ceres is related to how we are able to nurture ourselves and others emotionally and throughfood. If there are hard aspects it can even show eating disorders, difficulty letting go or living through your child. It can show up as being a “bad” mother or not being available to nurture to others.  Some with this strong intheir charts will reject motherhood (or have difficulties with motherhood) because it is so deeply associated with pain.

 

She represents unconditional love in that she must learn to share and not have any exceptions. For those with Ceres strong in their charts, their true lesson is the lesson of non-attachment…  And their gift is being able to nurture and mother. This can be a child or children, or it can be the nurturing and mothering of the world. One person I know with Ceres strong in her chart on the mid heaven (the point for career and fame), teaches career women how to nurture themselves and their families through cooking classes.

 

Tools to help you connect with your Ceres: Gourmet food,  Mediation practices in non-attachment, connecting with your inner little girl (or boy) and soothing him or her, giving him or her what they need, taking the gymnastics classes yourself at 42yrs or doing dancing with the stars, rather than pushing your daughter who doesn’t want to.If you have an eating disorder, one of my favorite sites on body image and eating disorders is Adios Barbie.

 

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Chiron’s Gift

ChironThe asteroid Chiron was “discovered” in 1977. Of course Chiron had always been there, but like a Terma in Tibetan Buddist tradition, it appeared in our consciousness at just the right moment. The time was ripe for healing and that is the meaning of Chiron.  In Mythology Chiron was a teacher and skilled with medicine. He was a healer, astrologer and respected oracle. Chiron was a centaur, half human and half horse and was rejected by his parents. Though Chiron was a healer, ironically he could not heal himself. He died from a poisoned arrow lodged in his foot.

In Astrology, Chiron is the wounded healer and it’s placement in our birth charts represents the areas where we have experienced wounding, usually in childhood. Finding it’s placement in our chart helps to understand the wound. As the wound sometimes acts like a Terma in our unconsciousness, lying waiting for discovery at the right time, the pain is often repeated over and over in our lives calling for us to pay attention. It’s that pattern that in the midst you realize, I can’t believe this is happening again. Chiron is the essence of “what we resist persists”. Yet every time it happens you are given the opportunity to go deeper into the wound and are presented with profound opportunities for spiritual growth.

Chiron also presents itself like a riddle. In Mythology, he was a healer, but could not heal himself.  Chiron’s wound is essentially where we feel rejected and disconnected from others. Even when we become aware of the wound, it can seem impossible to heal. In Mythology Chiron’s original wound was rejection and one can only wonder if connection, vulnerability and the ability to look imperfect could have saved him. It’s the classic case of the Doctor having a heart attack, or therapist having a breakdown. Watch  Brene Brown’s talk on vulnerability for a great example of this.

Chiron is not a Goddess Asteroid, but I believe it is the masculine persistent teacher, teaching us how to be receptive to the feminine antidote, vulnerability and receptivity in order for healing to occur.

What is your wound? What false belief about yourself does it create? In my own chart Chiron is in Aries in the first house of “who am I” and opposed to Venus in Libra in the seventh house of “who are we”.  The wound is around being myself and experiencing a wound in love and relationships every time I express the Aries “who I am”. Chiron created an essential false belief that I can’t be myself and be loved. Oh what relief to discover this and to heal it! Okay Okay… it’s in the process of being healed!

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Goddess gone wrong – how to spot a “mean girl” in Astrology

When Rosalind Wiseman wrote the book Queen Bees and Wannabes: Helping Your Daughter Survive Cliques, Gossip, Boyfriends, and the New Realities of Girl World , she missed a whole world of ‘mean girl population. Mean girls exist in schools, workplaces, and in the PTA. Mean girls are everywhere and all ages.

 

What is a mean girl? The Urban dictionary describes them as “Girls who are bullies and use ‘girl aggression’ (nasty comments, trickery, deceit, excluding people from events, spreading rumors, stealing boyfriends,etc.) to manipulate other girls”

 

A mean girl is Pallas Athena gone wrong.

Pallas in astrology is the asteroid representing feminine wisdom and justice. She represents creative intelligence and is good at seeing patterns. As the goddess of war and the protectress of the state, Pallas types will fight for and defend political causes. There is no doubt about it, a Pallas woman is powerful.

In Greek mythology there are many stories that tell of her nature, but here are just a few that highlight her potential for being a ‘mean girl’.

Pallas Athene
First of all, Athene is also called Pallas Athene. The two are recognized as the same. This is because in a “friendly” (or was it?) fight between the two goddesses Pallas was killed by Athena, and out of sadness and in rememberance of Pallas, Athene took Pallas’ name.

Competition for men’s attention. 

The Goddess Medusa was very beautiful goddess and pursued by many men. One day she was in Pallas Athena’s temple and overtaken by one man in particular, Medusa was violated becoming pregnant and gaving birth to twins. The mean girl came out in Athene! Jealous and blaming, Athene turned Medusa’s hair into snakes causing her looks to turn men into stone if they glanced at her.

 

Trickery

Athena was known for her skills with weaving and the loom. A woman from a village named Arachne was also good at the loom. She became very well known for her skill and claimed that it was a gift she was born with and not learned.  When Athena heard this fist she disguised herself as an old woman to get the ‘real dirt’ out of Arachne regarding where she learned the loom. When she got nothing, Athena then challenged her to a public contest to let all see who was best. When Arachne showed Athena up in the competition Athena turned Arachne into a spider.

Undermining

Finally there was a trial of Orestes. Orestes was accused of matricide. Athena, who was presiding over the matter, declared that he was not guilty because there was no sanctity of a blood relationship with a mother and child (it was a crime only to kill blood relations in those days). Athena reasoned that because she was not born of a mother (she sprang from the head of Zeus), that men not women were the rightful owner’s of the child. In so doing she undermined all women and declared male supremacy.

Pallas types can be very successful or they can fear success. They can be fear competition, being competitive to the point of being ruthless or embrace their feminine strength as being their rightful gift.  They can downplay the need for men’s attention, or they can own their power not fearing what others might think or do. In the school ground a Pallas type may be the girl who trips you in front of a boy, or positively the one who will stand up to the group of girls bullying you. In the workplace a Pallas type may be the women who undermines your work to make herself look good, or positively she could be the one fighting for changes to the Human Rights policy and for more women in leadership positions.We all have the potential to be mean girls, but if Pallas is dominant in your chart the potential will be strong. Knowing what aspects Pallas forms can help with understanding your areas for growth, and because Pallas is such a powerful woman, knowing how to use your powers for good.Tools to help you connect with your Pallas: Raising your self esteem. Some books to help include, Self Esteem, and The Self Esteem Companion by Matthew McKay. Since Pallas is a wise and intellectual type, unlearning the patriarchy in Woman who run with the Wolves.Order the goddess report at www.threemoongoddess.com If you are interested in finding out where Pallas is in your chart or what aspects she makes.