To Love, Nurture & Honour – Part 1

On August 8th, Ceres moves direct in Sagittarius. Ceres is a ‘dwarf planet’ now in the same category as Pluto, Charon and Eris. Ceres is an important astrological influence, and as an energy I have been working with for many many years, she is very familiar to me.

Ceres is the Earth Mother and she represents unconditional love. In myth, Ceres, known to the Greeks as Demeter, was the daughter of Saturn and Rhea. Her sisters were Vesta and Juno, her brothers Jupiter, Neptune and Pluto. Ceres was swallowed by her father Saturn, but freed by Jupiter after his victory over Saturn and the Titans. These deities became the ruling family of ancient Greece.

Ceres lived not only in the heavens, but on the earth with humanity to whom she gave grain, agriculture, and shared with humanity the cornucopia. She was worshipped as the all nourishing mother. Ceres was very close to her daughter Persephone. Pluto kidnapped her daughter and took her to his domain – the underworld.

Ceres searched high and low for Persephone, and in her grief, the earth became barren, people starved. Pluto refused to return Persephone, and in the end Jupiter (Zeus) ordered it (somewhat ironic, as Jupiter had given his blessing to Pluto’s dark plan). Before allowing Persephone to return, Pluto tricked her into eating pomegranate seeds which made her marriage to him binding,

Ceres was furious, and the earth remained barren. In the end, Jupiter (Zeus) agreed that Persephone could spend 6 months with mother and 6 months with Pluto each year. She emerges from the underworld in the spring (new life) and descends in the autumn (land becomes dormant and barren again whilst Ceres grieves).

This is the original story of loss, return and loss. Whilst in her retrograde phase, we tend to go through an inner period of loss and return – letting go of all those things that no longer nurture and nourish us. This is to prepare us for Ceres moving direct, when we can once again step into the sunlight and breathe new life into ourselves, our paths, our bodies etc.

To Be Continued…