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.