Ceres as Balancing Energy for Pluto
From Planet Waves blog for Weds., Aug. 30, 2006
Dear Friend and Reader:
ONE comment on yesterday’s entry suggested that I tend to link the themes of houses, signs and planets — in particular, the 8th, Scorpio and Pluto. This is a mistaken impression that I owe to a few shortcuts I’ve had to take in summarizing recent events involving Pluto. Houses, signs and planets are related, but they come from different levels of the game of astrology, if you can call it that, and it’s a helpful meditation studying the differences. If you look, you’ll see that any house and its corresponding sign are like two siblings: exactly the same, and totally different.
Houses are more worldly, grounded in the environment. Signs, while also representing things and environments, tend to be more cosmic and biological. An example of a Scorpio theme is DNA. An example of an 8th house theme is decoding the DNA, cutting it up and selling it for billions of dollars.
In any case, when we look at the current revision of the world, “all the things that seem to matter most” tend to be 8th house themes, derived from Scorpio in a more organic form, and associated with Pluto processes as Pluto makes its way around the solar system. In the current astrological climate, we tend to forget that Mars is also a driving force in the whole experience: desire, pushed to the limits — or in many cases, made subservient to a “higher power” — the company one works for.
The 8th house begins with the themes “death, dowry and the substance of the bride” (this is from the first astrology book in English). Karl Marx summed it up as commodification — in a capitalist society, everything you need becomes a commodity. However, the idea of bride-price (buying a bride) or dowry (buying or financing a groom) were around long before Marx was ever a gleam in his daddy’s eye. Yet his prediction has come true; we must buy very nearly everything we need; we share and trade very little; most of life comes back to an agreement or a contract of some kind, with a capitalist entity. As well, the kind of relationship we tend to want the most is marriage. The expressions, “banks run everything,” “everything is about money,” “nothing is certain in life except death and taxes,” and “all is fair in love and war” are the reasoning processes of the 8th house as we know it. And they are pretty difficult to escape.
How do you get sex? Lots of guys will tell you take a woman out and spend money. How do you get a wife? Of course, dress well, drive a nice car, and make a lot of money. How do you get a guy? Be very sexy, which usually involves spending a lot of money. Whether this is true, or a belief, it’s a thought-form that tends to dominate our ideas about life, and we live in a world where sex (8th house theme, as it relates to bonding, orgasm and reproduction) is nearly entirely a commodity. Prostitutes know this better than anyone, not because they charge for sex, but they are not blind to the ways everyone else does the same thing. And I observe that prostitutes are controversial because they are not hypocrites. They state their price openly, and you know what you’re getting in the arrangement; nothing is implied.
What pushes this whole complex system of economics along is the idea of death, which is one thing that the 8th house and Pluto definitely have in common. Survival (desperately needing money or sex) is a sub-topic of death, and is well taken advantage of by those who see the opportunity and set up a system to either meet a need, or exploit one.
Then there is the growth aspect of the 8th house and Pluto — what comes from these confrontations with “the bottom line.” Everyone knows that in the metaphorical world of humans, death and change are nearly interchangeable; and that people tend to fear change the more. And the resistance of so many people to change tends to push things in to an 8th house context (crisis), and make them vulnerable to Pluto-type upheavals.
So given all this, it’s all very interesting what has happened with Pluto — for example, the best fact I can think of, is that he’s been put on an equal plane with Ceres, the goddess of fertility and food. There is something about a balancing out the energies here.
Fertility and food are the perfect answers to the distorted themes of the 8th house, as we live them in the world. Because when fertility and food are focused on, and received lovingly, we don’t have all those 8th house problems. We recognize our common needs (instead of just fearing our common fates). The suggestion (Ceres theme) is that we learn as much from abundance as we do from lack; we can just as easily create passion, fertility and wealth as we can create our gun-to-the-head kinds of situations we love to get out of; and we had best start considering how to do that better, because we are in a global resource crisis that is calling for a new approach. And we do have the ability to create a different reality, if we will work together. There is plenty to go around, if we cooperate.
Ah, well, that’s a big one. Here is how Swami Beyondananda sums it up:
“Of course, if you’re looking for signs [of an up-wising] in the news, you won’t find them. At least, not yet. The news might as well be called the ‘olds’, because the world still seems stuck in greedlock, ruled by fossilized fools fueled by fossil fuels. But I have been receiving encouraging intelligence reports that say indeed, humans are becoming more intelligent. Yes, people everywhere are wising up. And that’s great, because we could sure use an up-wising! The evolution has begun.”
Yours & truly,
Aries (March 20-April 19)
There is what you do, and what you dream of doing. Both are exceptionally compelling right now, but the forthcoming lunar eclipse in your neighboring sign Pisces opens a window to the unusual, the improbable and the unlikely. Something enters this world from the other, and soaks your life with meaning like spring rains soak a garden — and what grows, as a result, defies your expectations and beliefs. If you feel a certain overwhelming quality to whatever is associated with this astrology, stand back and let it all be. Something bigger than you is at work, and for that, you can be thankful. Family Focus: Encourage children to discuss last night’s dreams at the breakfast table.Taurus (April 19-May 20)
The tide is rising, and the great wave may arrive with some stunning news or a brilliant idea from a close friend — and the truth has a way of setting everyone free. Freedom is relative in this world, not absolute. So consider this movement as a step along the way of life, and an opportunity to see how important that thing known as “perspective” really is. Only the truth is true, but there are indeed many ways to see it, and many ways to embrace it. Giving yourself a little space to think and feel has only deepened your thirst for more. Family Focus: An oppressive situation in your home has finally lifted like a thick fog.
Gemini (May 20-June 21)
Your life is hardly as placid as a mountain lake, but weeks of emotional conflict, pressure and anxiety can now finally give way to peace and contentment. Just prepare for at least one more big surprise before that happens. And remember, it is not just your life that is changing, indeed, becoming something entirely other than what it was. The world around us is changing, the shape of reality is yielding like so much plastic, and there are many who are waking up to the mysterious fact that things don’t stay the same for very long. But you’re taking this in stride, and the reason is simple: you’ve been willing to work through your difficulties with faith and awareness. There are rewards for being open to your own inner truth. Family Focus: Are you expecting company? Better wash all the extra linens.
Cancer (June 21-July 22)
Those who are most interested in your work and ideas are also most likely to influence your thinking and creative process. The fact that they feel and understand you is a good cue to extend the same sensitivity to them. Be open to their suggestions, and also the subtle ways in which their words and ideas set off your own creative process. Somebody you care about deeply holds the key to what you’ve been struggling with for months. This person may be nowhere physically near you, but they are close at heart, and watching you carefully, and guiding your relationship with the wider world. Family Focus: Children will be learning much more at home than they do at school this week.
Leo (July 22-Aug. 23)
You’ve probably come to the conclusion that some kind of long-term financial rearrangement, refinancing or sale of property is necessary. Just remember: you are finally approaching financial matters from a place of abundance, and you need to let this one fact guide you every step of the way. Abundance is always based on economy, that is, a community based on mutual needs and interests. What facilitates commerce and expansion of wealth is good for everyone; all that gets in the way should be gently side-stepped. Family Focus: Savor the miracle that despite so many changes, you are safe and secure in your home.
Virgo (Aug. 23-Sep. 22)
Whatever surprise pops out from behind the cosmic curtain over the next week or two, take it in stride — but enjoy the change of pace that comes with it. In truth you’re being offered a doorway to another life, and an invitation to the unknown. This, after a fairly long spell of ‘the known’ getting a little ready for something new. The charts for your entire birthday season have revolution spray painted all over them. Don’t worry if this happens to make you nervous today. Enjoy the developments while they are strange, new and exciting. Family Focus: You play many roles to many people. Be yourself no matter what they say.
Libra (Sep. 22-Oct. 23)
So much is about to change, and people are going through all kinds of not-so-subtle transformations — but in truth, you’re the one who is growing by the hour. Yesterday’s fears are about to become today’s strengths. Yesterday’s uncertainty is becoming today’s clear, vital message from the cosmos that you have the right to exist. A long identity crisis is becoming the fuel for a new way of looking at yourself: from the inside out, rather than the outside in. But don’t ‘do’ any of this — let it happen. Family Focus:You may need to reverse an important decision. Don’t worry what anyone thinks.
Scorpio (Oct. 23-Nov. 22)
Give a voice to your fears every chance you get. Mars working its way toward your 12th solar house is suggesting that you can no longer live in silence, within your own mind. But no more should you live in silence with those around you. You need the empathy of someone who can listen, help you process your feelings, and provide the ever-essential insight without judgment. You need someone’s perspective and assistance, so choose the most intelligent, sensitive friend you have. Something surprising and liberating to both of you comes from this once-in-a-lifetime discussion. Family Focus: Despite your hesitancy, you are doing very well at keeping a handle on sensitive family matters.
Sagittarius (Nov. 22-Dec. 22)
For the next month or so, you need to see every obstacle as being a little veil over an opportunity. It’s difficult to say whether this is a mental game, or the application of a cosmic law, but for your purposes it does not matter. Not only will it work, it’s likely to be the only thing that does — and quite well at that. In the most practical terms, it’s a matter of interpretation. When something gets in our way, it’s all the more effective for our deciding it is so. When we interpret the same event as a possibility, the creative power of the mind has a strange way of making it just precisely that. Family Focus: A young woman in the family will surprise you with her leadership and wits.
Capricorn (Dec. 22-Jan. 20)
You may change your mind about something, and do so with stunning speed and clarity. Others are sure to hesitate as they discover what you’re up to and the direction you are now pointing your life, but in truth it’s not so far from what they have in mind for themselves. You just get to be the emissary from the future; the one who rings the morning bell; the sensitive one of the lot who knows that the only way to have a future is to do something about it right now. Family Focus: Someone making you very nervous today turns out to be a true friend.
Aquarius (Jan. 20-Feb. 19)
You have just emerged from a particularly strange passage through life’s waters, but I trust you’ll notice how new and open your life feels. It’s as if the clouds have begun to part and all of a sudden you can see out to the horizon. You may be wondering whether something has changed in the world, or rather, in your mind. This is one of those moments when the dividing line between the two, which is thin most of the time, has become nonexistent. So apply your creativity — that is, what you do, and who you love — with full awareness. There was never a time more important to do what feels right, just because it feels right. Family Focus: You have no need to fear — you are providing a safe and stable home for your children.
Pisces (Feb. 19-March 20)
For many months now you’ve been living under increasing pressure to be someone or accomplish something. This subtle sense that you must live up to something, be it your own ambition, or an idea about you that you perceive someone may have, might even go back years. Was it right or wrong? Did you put yourself under too much pressure? You may finally look back and ask whether it was worth it, and while you’re at it, check you’re heading in the right direction. You have covered a great distance, but still have time to make adjustments to your course, or change your agenda. Family Focus: If a younger child is trying to prove herself to an older one, remember: this is natural — let it unfold on its own.