Ceres Station/Retrograde

 Asteroid...perhaps soon to be dwarf planet Ceres

(contrast adjusted - original photo credit NASA, ESA, J. Parker (Southwest Research Inst.), P. Thomas (Cornell Univ.) L McFadden (Univ of MD, College Park), January 23, 2004)

When Ceres stations and goes retrograde on October 1st at 3:47 in the afternoon (UT/+0 time) it’s a sign that a very subtle level, we need to let go of planning what to do in life (and how to get there) in favor of taking stock of what we need to do about ourselves, or who we need to be in this life to get where we need to go.

In stationing at 3 Cancer (a first decan degree between 0 and 9 of some sign), not only is the Ceres part of Ceres going station/retrograde signaling that this is about doing what we need to do about ourselves, but that the ‘doing’ part of that is entirely ours to do. Or at least initiate.

So far the cosmic vote is 2-to-0 in favor of our taking stock and doing something about where we are in some way lacking or maybe just not caught up with our life, lifestyle, plans, hopes, dreams…our whatever.
Being that the sign involved here in Cancer, we have a pretty good indication that either the issue has to do with ‘home,’ ‘family’ and who we are in our home or with our family (or whether we have a home or whether we need to do something about that home)…but also – at some level – that whatever needs to be at least acknowledged (if not worked on) is something which was instilled in us early on in life.

Because Ceres opposes Pluto (which is in Capricorn) at this station, life…the world…people in that world…there are external factors in play here. But they’re mostly the signposts which will have by now shown us that we need to reconsider. Take stock and inventory of who we are and how we go about being that person we are.

But this isn’t a simple opposition. We’ve seen a few kite formations of late. And in this one, Ceres is the tail of the kite.

The grand trine part of this kite connects Ceres (in Cancer), Neptune, Chiron and Fomalhaut (in Pisces) and Saturn/Hebe in Scorpio.

Taking our cue from Pluto’s opposition of Ceres, the clue here is likely to be pinpointed as Saturn (responsibility, work, effort, dedication) conjunct Hebe (serving up that which is necessary to sustain life) in Scorpio, a sign which is interactive and emotional by nature. Where we (Saturn) succeed now, we can take it that we are successfully navigating the (Saturn) job of (Scorpio) finding ways and avenues by which we can not just meet other people’s standards in a way which is ‘all them’ or ‘all me,’ but in a manner which works for everybody.

The trick of course is that this is Scorpio we’re talking about. And in all situations and things Scorpio, we want what we want pretty much because to be disappointing is going to hurt.

And what is hurting, exactly?

Answer: our self respect and feelings of value. In other words, our self worth and sense of competency.
And we know that. At some level, the Neptune-Chiron-Fomalhaut angle in the grand trine tells us that part of the reason we’re trying so hard is BECAUSE we’re feeling vulnerable. Whether or not we’re showing it, it’s there.

(Who, US? SHOW our vulnerabilities? Heavens!)

For those willing to be brave about negotiating new ground, that could also now work…

  
…its just that this can’t be a tap dance. Evaders, deflectors, all that ‘let me skirt/ignore the REAL issue here and just get what I want and be off and about my way’ stuff? That isn’t going to work. Try that about now and Uranus/Venus is likely to represent some effort, some situation, some relationship, some hope you’ve had blowing up in your face.

Or turning around and biting you – whichever applies!

But let’s say that you’ve had a plan to…oh, let’s say clean out the garage. And let’s say said plan depending on someone else coming over to help? Or maybe just to get stuff they left at your house a year ago which you’ve been trying to get them to come and claim?

That’s the kind of thing this grand square combined with the Ceres kite would support, particularly if you have plans – or are going to now make plans on how to use that space which you’re now setting about working to clear out, clean up and put to rights.

Which is another thing we should say about Scorpio. Scorpio is a sign of decay and rehabilitation. Scorpio is about the process of crumbling into toxicity and the detoxing and getting things back on track. Yes, I know – you’ve heard of Pisces being the sign of the addict. And it is. Pisces is the sign all about a different part of this emotional polarity slate – the having given up (usually on yourself, life, or your ability to cope) versus having faith, having hope, being willing to persevere and try, try again to do better. Pisces is all the emotionalism which goes into the state of denial…where Scorpio is that testing emotional time which may make you want to go into denial!

 The water sign cycle starts with Cancer, sign of childhood, family, home, homeland and in time, the habits and sense of culture and heritage we pick up through exposure to such things when young. Scorpio is the testing ground where many of us fall through the 'thin ice' of our emotional psyches, making it not remarkable that Scorpio is (among other things) the sign of psychology. Pisces is that level of emotionality we hold 'in our heart.' Whether that's spirituality, love for someone, the fantasy we have in our head which is never 'as real' in reality...Pisces asks us to hope and is also the emotional isolation, the fantasy or 'escape mechanism' we utilize when things get emotionally tougher than we can bear. Though Pisces is the sign of addicts and prisons, not all forms of 'escape' are harmful - Pisces is also the sign of charity, the inner spirit and sense of spiritualism, service to others and art.   

I’ll put it another way…Scorpio is the bad day which makes you want to go home, put your feet up and have a drink. Pisces is the abject abandonment of standards which goes with being a public, chronic drunk.
These signs are in trine…(and both in trine with Cancer)…which is why we say that what happens in childhood affects your adult life. The ‘basis’ of the emotional experience is Cancerian – the childhood. What your chart pictures as your 4th house (Cancer’s natural house) and wherever Cancer is in your chart is what we know ‘conditions’ you or sets you up for the emotional life lessons of adulthood – the balancing between Scorpio and Pisces where we want to allow ourselves to feel the bad days, but we still want to maintain a sense of hope.

Into which comes Saturn as the emblem of working towards that goal, that hope – or needing to. And that Ceres is now going retrograde in square to Uranus says we need to make some changes or plan on how to deal with changes which have already made or happened in life. Ceres now going retrograde in square to Venus speaks to needing to think through our relationships and relationship dynamics, thinking about what we need to learn, what questions we need to answer for ourselves and in general, where we want to go from ‘here’ in life.

Ceres is going to be in retrograde until February 4th of next year. During this retrograde, it will back up all the way to 19 Gemini. So the “theoretical dotted line” (or dotted line of theory, if you prefer) is about how things ‘said and done’ have led us to make certain choices which though made (Gemini) intellectually or mentally, really have to do with our (Cancer) emotional foundations.

And how well organized, stable, healthy and supportive of our aims they really are.

That Ceres will go direct in conjunction to the Black Moon (Lilith) and the Sun (which at that point will be in Aquarius) says that at some level what we do, don’t do or choose now will have results ‘coming out in the wash’ (as the saying goes) in early February 2013.

Is this kind of transit the living, breathing end? By and large no, unless Ceres is…uh…seriously (or maybe that should be Ceriesly?) focal in your natal chart. Otherwise this is a series of four or five days (remember, all stations get a two day ‘station allowance’ before and after!) when life is calling your attention to what works…and what maybe isn’t really working so well.

Which of course fits with the fact that we are now just days away from a Scorpio Solar Eclipse. 
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