Ceres News

 

An artist's conception of spacecraft Dawn approaching Ceres

(courtesy of NASA/JPL)

By seemingly every electronic medium possible, word went out yesterday that the presence of water on asteroid Ceres has been confirmed.

That’s extra-special news.

But it’s not just the science which counts here, though that’s rather fascinating as well. However, on an astrological level, since metaphysical water represents emotion and Ceres-the-symbol tends to ‘act’ somewhere between earthy, pragmatic, practical and perhaps a bit airy-(Libra)- theoretical in the sense that Ceres is often seen connected to whatever plan we have (or need to put together) in order to reach that tangible and practical goal.

And we already know that Libra is not just a sign all about connecting and interacting, but one which we are getting a major ‘overhaul’ in courtesy of Mars’ eight-month transit of this airy sign. 

As for Ceres, located in the heart of the asteroid belt, Ceres is the first asteroid-type object considered for reclassification as a dwarf planet…which is where the water gets a bit muddy. The NASA version of this announcement (Link Here) says Ceres was reclassified as a dwarf planet back in 2006 (which I seem to remember being when Pluto got “demoted”). And yet…

Wasn't this 'it's a dwarf planet' thing not chiseled in stone? I so distinctly remember that being the case that when I read today’s announcement, I went over to JPL (the Jet Propulsion Laboratory does function as the data bank side of NASA, after all)…and looked Ceres up.

And here’s the header I found on the JPL page:

 A screen shot from JPL's website

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Look right down near the bottom of that page header and you'll see "1 Ceres" (one being Ceres' numerical designation) ...and right below that it says main belt asteroid. Not dwarf planet, not SDO, not TNO, not centaur...just asteroid.

(If you’d like to see this full page for yourself in all it’s numerical glory, go to the JPL Database Browser which is HERE and type 'Ceres' in the search box highlighted in pale yellow to the right).

NASA’s spacecraft Dawn is on the way towards Ceres and will arrive in February 2015. I seem to recall that as when the ‘final call’ was going to be made on whether or not Ceres really is a dwarf planet.

If Ceres is classified as a dwarf planet, that will make it the only (known) dwarf planet in the asteroid belt or anywhere inside the orbit of Neptune. It will also means that the astrological idea of Ceres as an emblem of planning, protection and ‘the need to bring things to harvest’ (or to reap what we earn) will become far more important. We may have greater needs and things may make a greater impact on us so that we will recognize those needs. What we’re doing, how we’re doing it or how we’re going about (or not going enough to) either earn…or to receive what we have earned stand to become more vital to  our general (continuing) status quo, or to our personal progress.

That’s if Ceres is deemed a dwarf planet. (I think this probably merits an email, which only proves an old slogan I learned when working movie production: 'you don't have to know everything - you just need to know who to call.' Seriously! That's how movies get made!)

Regardless of label, the intent of today’s announcement - the facts about Ceres having water and some sort of atmosphere – those remain. At some level water denotes not only emotionality but also life…life as we know it on our very watery planet.
  
To be precise here, it was the ESA (the European Space Agency) which sent out the word as it was the ESA’s Herschel Space Telescope which issued this news was made with Ceres at 27 Libra – a degree which gives us the Sabian Symbol ‘A man becoming aware of spiritual forces surrounding and assisting him’  - and the Sun conjunct Hebe at 3 Aquarius, a pairing which echoes the idea of eternal or ‘pure nourishment’ of a mental or theoretical (air sign) type which focused through the degree 3 Aquarius speaks to a number of issues.

The first is the idea of a long term struggle which seeks to establish some truth. Or something you truly want to accomplish or bring into being. Loss – particularly as that concerns those we care about – seem to be part of the 3 Aquarius lore and whether connected or not connected to the idea of ‘a loved one lost,’ are ideas or questions which are either painful or uncomfortable to you… and which you have to deal with anyway.

Today we have been told that it will take both mental and spiritual strength to reach our goals.

Tomorrow – as this post goes out - we will find out more about our humanity through the experience of someone else’s life or necessary choice. They may be our friend or someone we hear about on the news or online – it doesn’t matter.

This is obviously an ongoing story we will learn a lot more about next February. But that we are hearing about Ceres now, at a moment when so many of us are wondering what to do and how to get through the process of doing it, and that Ceres is in a sign (Libra) which is Venus ruled….?

That should tell us that we are moving towards a point when Dawn will arrive and we’ll get a clearer and more definitive perspective on the emotionality of our values and whatever ‘system’ we have when it comes to evaluating the value of people, information, ideas or anything else as we pursue our aims, dreams and goals.

One last thought here…spacecraft Dawn will be arriving at Ceres just as Ceres (which by then will be in Capricorn) takes up a position alongside Pluto basically as Venus is doing now.

NASA's diagram of the Dawn mission to Ceres

That’s an astrological “dotted line” which says that some of what we’re planning, planning on or aiming to achieve starts now and comes to fruition (or to the end of a ‘next step’) next February. Or perhaps you’re going about your business now…planning, doing (once Venus goes direct, we would suppose?) with all of what you’re doing now being part of something which happens next February which is your ‘harvest’ for efforts made now.

As for water – and evidence of an atmosphere now being verified on Ceres, that suggests that with careful effort and a bit of sensitivity (maybe even vulnerability) a whole new world will soon unfold.

We just have to endure all the getting there.
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