Mars square Eris; Venus conjunct Eris

Good morning,

The diversity of aspects every day is so incredibly interesting. Every day there are at least five I could riff on. Asteroid Apollo is always worth a good ponder, commenting on the way we learn or don’t learn lessons from repeated experiences. Today Apollo is conjunct Mars and square Venus. The Ceres-Pholus opposition brings in a newer influence (Pholus, the second Centaur, after Chiron) and one we need to be paying a lot more attention to — the first-ever minor planet, Ceres (which started as a planet, then became an asteroid and is now considered a dwarf planet, along with Pluto and Eris). Many of these planets are covered in Small World Stories, by the way.

And then there is Eris. This is the discovery that shook up the solar system: it forced astronomers to define this elusive and wandering word, planet, and in the process conclude that there is this new thing called a dwarf planet. In my view it’s a meaningless phrase, but today’s not the day for a rant on this. [Here is an article from right when the “dwarf planet” class was created, in the summer of 2006.]

There are two aspects to Eris today — Venus conjunct Eris and Mars square Eris. That’s another way of saying that Venus and Mars are in a square aspect and that Eris is caught in the middle — a reasonable enough illustration of the relationships between men and women. Yes, things used to be easier: when sex roles were clearly defined and everyone supposedly knew who was boss. I am referring to days when the family structure was more predictable and when there were higher expectations on proper behavior.

Some would say that men were boss and some would say that women knew how to top from the bottom. Some would say that there was a complex power sharing arrangement in a world where men were supposedly in charge. Whatever you may believe about the days of yore, we live in an era when sex roles, sexual orientation and gender itself are in flux and in question.

Eris illustrates this point beautifully. The ‘discord’ to which she refers is precisely the kind of situation where there is a measure of anarchy, and this we have in our gender relations. It is true that many people cling to the old rules: men ask women out, gay and lesbian people don’t get married and if you have any alt tendencies, you stay in the closet.

I know I live in the supposedly blue state of New York, but I also live in a small rural city and on a street corner that I pass every day on the way into my studio, there is a huge sign for the LGBTQ Center (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer). Note, I will soon embark on a campaign to get an M stuck on that sign because I believe that masturbation is a kind of sexual orientation.

In any event, Eris to me represents some of the gender chaos we live with here in the early 21st century, which represents a change in the structure of society far greater than we can actually see with our own eyes so close to the events and developments. It looks perhaps like fashion; it is actually the world changing.

Another way the world is changing is the dioxin level. By dioxin, I mean all chemicals which disrupt the hormones — we are swimming in an ocean of them. Heavy metals (like mercury in your tuna salad) do the same thing. And this, I believe, is partly to account for all the Viagra ads that you get in your inbox, and for many things besides, for example, the apparent loss of sexual instinct that many people in our society are suffering from. I don’t believe that this is caused only by conservatism and abstinence only sex indoctrination in schools: it has a chemical aspect as well.

Eris is about a lot more than this. Psychically, she is about reclaiming the lost woman within; the castaway powerhouse; the archetype of the the female shaman, the healer, the witch, the whore, the independent woman of any stripe who is depicted in myth as one who allegedly causes chaos in society. Everything that represents independence is attributed to catastrophe. And every group in our society that claims any sexual independence, for the history of the puritanical Western world, has been blamed with the imminent collapse of civilization.

Venus conjunct this factor is about a return to this core of the disowned female archetype. Mars square Eris is about men clashing with that new-found power, if they act unconsciously. Mars happens to be conjunct Apollo, which can have a feeling of bucking the odds or doing something the same way over and over, hoping for a different result.

In a world of changing roles, men and women need to do things differently. I believe that heterosexuals also need to follow the example of that assorted thing called LGBTQ and come out of the closet. Modern views of heterosexuality have cast it as a form of perversion or deviance, which in the view of many we cannot talk about, describe or be open about in other ways. It’s extremely common to keep secrets from or partners (a form of being a closet case) and it’s considered dangerous to step outside the box (to live openly as polyamorous or one who has more than one lover or partner, even though nearly everyone wishes they could at least one day a week).

And then there is masturbation, the biggest closet of them all.

Eris challenges us to live openly, to let those secrets out of the dark basement, and to experience the freedom of living in the open air and the light of day. If not, she will surely give us a taste of what she’s so famous for.

Wednesday 23 April 2008

Venus (20+ Aries) square Apollo (20+ Cancer)
Mars (21+ Cancer) square Eris (21+ Aries)
Mercury (11+ Taurus) semisquare Hades (26+ Gemini)
Sisyphus (17+ Libra Rx) quintile Juno (29+ Sagittarius Rx)
Vesta (1+ Aries) quincunx Saturn (1+ Virgo Rx)
Saturn (1+ Virgo Rx) trine Asbolus (1+ Taurus)
Venus (21+ Aries) quintile Kronos (3+ Cancer)
Sisyphus (17+ Libra Rx) square Varuna (17+ Cancer)
Mercury (11+ Taurus) septile Kronos (3+ Cancer)
Venus (21+ Aries) conjunct Eris (21+ Aries)
Eros (17+ Taurus) quincunx Sisyphus (17+ Libra Rx)
Ceres (9+ Gemini) opposite Pholus (9+ Sagittarius Rx)
Mercury (11+ Taurus) sesquiquadrate Galactic Center (26+ Sagittarius)
Sun (3+ Taurus) sesquiquadrate Quaoar (18+ Sagittarius Rx)
Eros (17+ Taurus) sextile Varuna (17+ Cancer)
Venus (21+ Aries) square Mars (21+ Cancer)
Mercury (12+ Taurus) septile Uranus (21+ Pisces)
Venus (21+ Aries) quincunx Psyche (21+ Scorpio Rx)

Today’s Oracle takes us back to…Jan. 27, 2006, Virgo – Weekly

Whatever pressures you’ve been under lately, you seem to be getting accustomed to them. You thrive on demands because you thrive on being in service, and we are certainly living through high times in that regard. People such as yourself are the ones who will in fact help the world through its current mess, because you have the vision, you have the energy and you have the completely overdeveloped sense of responsibility that doing anything with integrity demands in these strange years. Just make sure you take care of yourself; get away from the structure from time to time, and give yourself space.