Ceres, Women, Food and Action
Good Morning, I have wonderful East >> West jet lag so I’m wide awake in the early morning silence.
Last night I could not get past the way I feel vs the big looming dreadful Saturn Pluto conjunction that takes place today. The mood does not match the astrology. 2020 feels expansive.
Feminism
Astrology is macho, I wrote that in my last blog post. The main planets we work with are:
Sun - M
Moon - F
Mercury - Mx
Venus - F
Mars - M
Jupiter - M
Saturn - M
Uranus - M
Neptune - M
Pluto - M
It’s not entirely balanced!
What’s happening in life, in society, is an awakening of female power and that coincides with everyone’s sudden and extreme obsession with the moon. The moon, amongst many things, represents women. It has been said that when women are appreciated in society, so too is the moon.
Roman
The astrology we use is Roman, presenting us with different names for the 12 Gods and Goddesses of Mount Olympus:
Greek Name - Roman Name
Zeus - Jupiter - M
Hera - Juno - F
Poseidon - Neptune - M
Demeter - Ceres - F
Athena - Minerva - F
Apollo - Sun - M
Artemis - Diana - F
Ares - Mars - M
Hephaestus - Vulcan - M
Aphrodite - Venus - F
Hermes - Mercury -Mx
Hestia - Vesta - F // Dionisus - Bacchus - M
Musing
Last night I was pondering the Saturn Pluto conjunction at 22 Capricorn and thinking about Ceres’ involvement. Astrologers, myself included, keep talking about “the last time” we had this conjunction of Saturn and Pluto. However, I’m starting to think that is a misnomer because we also have Ceres there too. So, whilst the themes are similar, there is also something fundamentally different about this new cycle.
Ceres
Who is Ceres? She is Demeter. Persephone’s mother. The goddess who 'lost the plot' when Pluto abducted her daughter and caused a long cold winter to ensue. Only when Persephone was returned to her from the underworld did Demeter allow life to bloom again. She is the goddess who rules over fertility, cereals and crops. She is “the giver of food and grain and the mark of civilised existence and agricultural society.” The goddess of harvest and fertility of the earth.
The UK
Astrologers are talking lots about how this Saturn Pluto conjunction is “opposing the Moon of the UK chart.” The UK was “born” on the 1st of January 1801, “Under the ensuing legislation, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland came into force on 1 January 1801, with the Irish MPs and peers joining the 1796 Parliament, in what now became the first UK Parliament.”
You only have to look at the physical state of Big Ben, Brexit, Politics and the state of the UK to see that we are experiencing the sort of changes you might expect of a Saturn Pluto transit to the Moon; re-formation. The sort of transformation that is of the “what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger variety.” Saturn and Pluto as described in my previous blog post, are the sort of energies that demand endings and entire restructure and shift of power.
Ceres
Ceres the asteroid who was once a planet and then demoted again was DISCOVERED on the 1st of January 1801! The goddess of civilised existence and agricultural society has the same birthday as the UK.
Planetary discoveries
There is a zeitgeist and theme to planetary discoveries and headlines. For instance, Uranus was discovered at the time of the French and American revolution. Uranus being a revolutionary planet, so his energies came to the fore at the time of his discovery. We discovered a revolutionary planet amidst a revolution.
Whenever a planet is discovered, its theme is visible in the headlines and life experiences on earth.
When we formed the UK the energy of Ceres and “civilised existence” must have been part of the plan! It's a sharp synchronicity to ponder.
Had a look at Wikipedia (feels like my dissertation all over again!)
Article VI created a customs union, with the exception that customs duties on certain British and Irish goods passing between the two countries would remain for 10 years (a consequence of having trade depressed by the ongoing war with revolutionary France).
From the perspective of Great Britain, the union was desirable because of the uncertainty that followed the Irish Rebellion of 1798 and the French Revolution of 1789; if Ireland adopted Catholic Emancipation, willingly or not, a Roman Catholic parliament could break away from Britain and ally with the French, while the same measure within a united kingdom would exclude that possibility. Also the Irish and British parliaments, when creating a regency during King George III's "madness", gave the Prince Regent different powers. These considerations led Great Britain to decide to attempt merger of the two kingdoms and their parliaments.
The final passage of the Act in the Irish Parliament was achieved with substantial majorities, in part according to contemporary documents through bribery, namely the awarding of peerages and honours to critics to get their votes.[fusion_builder_container hundred_percent="yes" overflow="visible"][fusion_builder_row][fusion_builder_column type="1_1" background_position="left top" background_color="" border_size="" border_color="" border_style="solid" spacing="yes" background_image="" background_repeat="no-repeat" padding="" margin_top="0px" margin_bottom="0px" class="" id="" animation_type="" animation_speed="0.3" animation_direction="left" hide_on_mobile="no" center_content="no" min_height="none"][5] Whereas the first attempt had been defeated in the Irish House of Commons by 109 votes against to 104 for, the second vote in 1800 produced a result of 158 to 115.
Land
For what reason did the UK want a close relationship with Ireland? For the land? What goods did Ireland have that the UK wanted? This is interesting because some years after Ireland signed this deal with the UK the potato famine scourged the land of Ireland. Have a read of this article that I’ve found , it’s simple and there’s no point in my plagiarising it when it’s already perfect .
https://www.history.com/topics/immigration/irish-potato-famine
Ceres today
So Ceres was discovered on the day that Ireland was bribed to join the UK so that we could trade freely and benefit from their goods. (Im reading between the lines / paraphrasing here.) Major Sagittarius statement!
Headlines
Today Ceres is smack bang in the middle of this Saturn Pluto conjunction and Australia is burning.
There is talk of planting trees over land the size of Manchester in the UK to help combat climate change.
Almond milk is coming under fire because the bees are suffering as a result of too many of the same sort of Almond crop variety being planted over expanses of land in California. Bees will fly up to 3 miles to pollinate plants, but they need more variety. Personally I don’t think this is the fault of the Almond, this is poor farming practices. Mix it up a little guys!
The olive groves in southern Italy are also blighted by xylella fastidiosa a pathogen that is killing trees that are 100s of years old and seriously threatening the olive oil industry. "Non ce vita, non ce lavoro, non ce neinte."
If we go beyond crops and to husbandry of animals, well the “corn fed” chickens that are gassed to death after 41 days as per a C4 documentary on TV at the moment is highlighting the BLIND EYE of meat eaters who are not discerning in their consumption of meat.
Rise to power
Ceres is coming to power. Her voice in the midst of this Saturn Pluto conjunction does not absolutely alter the energy of this astrology, but it certainly shifts the focus from men, power and “landed gentry” (what a term!) https://www.history.com/topics/immigration/irish-potato-famine read this if you didn’t already read it! "
Ironically, less than 100 years before to the Famine’s onset, the potato was introduced to Ireland by the landed gentry. However, despite the fact only one variety of the potato was grown in the country (the so-called “Irish Lumper”), it soon became a staple food of the poor, particularly during the cold winter months.”
When the crops began to fail in 1845, as a result of P. infestans infection, Irish leaders in Dublin petitioned Queen Victoria and Parliament to act—and, initially, they did, repealing the so-called “Corn Laws” and their tariffs on grain, which made food such as corn and bread prohibitively expensive.
Still, these changes failed to offset the growing problem of the potato blight. With many tenant farmers unable to produce sufficient food for their own consumption, and the costs of other supplies rising, thousands died from starvation, and hundreds of thousands more from disease caused by malnutrition.
Ceres is now relevant because women are now relevant. When new planets are discovered, they penetrate our consciousness and so if we start seeing things that we had not seen before, then we can alter our behaviour, choices and consumption of the natural world.
Ceres' Vibe
I've heard Ceres referred to as the part of the triple moon goddess: Moon, Venus and Ceres. The moon being the child, Venus the sexy young women who is here to breed, then Ceres the post-menopausal woman who gives zero fucks and will take you down if you mess with her.
Nature
When we anthropomorphise nature, we say she is cruel. Perhaps she is, but nature is the great balancer and does what she needs to do. More than a third of America's olive oil comes from Italy, and Puglia produces about 40 percent of all of Italy's oil. How to stop globalisation and the shipping of locally grown produce to those who live abroad? Destroy the produce. Our greed and our diets are killing us. Our obsession with food and body image is absurd. Nature is speaking to us, will we work with these warnings or ignore them?
Consumerism kills.
Power is attributed
When no one knew about Ceres and the planet / dwarf planet and her themes were overlooked then the need we have to care for the land was overlooked. These days the voice of nature is everywhere.
This weekend there are more natural disasters as the voice of , people are listening, sharing articles on facebook and so her power is seeding.
It’s for this reason that the great conjunction today contains a different flavour; because people are listening. The themes are being invoked.
Mindfulness
We give power to the things we think about.
Uranus in Taurus
Uranus stationed yesterday (the 11th Jan 2020), he has been retrograde and he’s about to head forwards. Uranus, the great awakener, in Taurus, the fertile land, is super potent when he is stationary. All planets are super potent when stationary. This just adds to the agricultural, food, money, land, nature themes of the Saturn Pluto conjunction in Capricorn.
You can’t eat money.
Taurus is ruled by Venus, and is connected to our value system. Venus herself is in Aquarius and might indicate a need to modernise our approach and INNOVATE. Also, to keep sharing articles on facebook. Aquarius rules the internet and social media. Power to the people, the share of information. So this is the part I'm playing here. A Sunday spent reading and writing online so that we can all start to do something.
I’m not going to go into that layer of interpretation however, we need to respond quickly and innovate. VALUE, money, land, nature, reorganisation and locally sourced produce. Good husbandry. Respect for the land, respect for nature.
In other news
The royal split (a separate post) Brexit, trade talks etc... if we leave the EU and Boris negotiates some moronic deal with the USA so that we get to eat their hormone filled, GMO, bastardised food then we need to do everything we can to avoid it. Shopping local, lovely farm shops, veggie patch in your garden. I think that's something to do anyway. I've been saying it for a while.
Also herbal medicine over the madness of drugs for everything culture could be a theme of this big conjunction and shift in society.
This is not a test run
It's hard not to be a dooms-dayer. The Saturn Pluto conjunction requires we transform. If plants die and we can't grow food we will be in trouble so it's power to the people, take steps in ADVANCE.
That is why people go and see astrologers for readings. It's why we do what we do. We can tell you what is coming, so that you can prepare.
Thanks for reading!
It's been an interesting few hours of musing and riffing ideas.
Francesca x
Please do not take this research without crediting me.
Copyright Francesca Oddie Astrology 2020.
https://www.gov.uk/apply-allotment
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