Eris Retrograde

An artist's rendition of Eris and its moon with the sun far, far away in the distance

(image credit: A Schaller, STSci, April 2006)

Sometimes discord is something which goes wrong. Sometimes discord is an interruption which gets us to think things through. Or to see things as part of a bigger picture and because of that, to make a more powerful choice.

Eris is a dwarf planet. That puts it on par with Pluto – another dwarf planet and an astrological symbol which is thought of as the energy of transformations which come upon us, which change lives, which in being harnessed can change or destroy our world.

Both Eris and Pluto orbit out beyond Neptune. And as such, they both represent energies we can’t quite predict, which are definitely ‘bigger than we are.’ That said, Pluto differs markedly from Eris in two vital ways. The first is the difference between Pluto being an object ‘controlled’ by the spellbinding (and evidently planetoid binding) energy of Neptune where Eris goes its own way.

The other is in size. Eris is roughly three times the size of Pluto…which says a lot for that Neptunian juju which gets Pluto all that hot human PR.

But Eris Effects are nothing to fool with. We of the astrological ilk are nowhere as near familiar with Eris (which was only discovered in 2003) as we are with Pluto, but for those of us who are avid (or habitual) chart watchers, wherever we see Eris natally…or by transit…those points represent areas or dynamics which we either use purposefully for positive benefit, or which tend to rattle our chains or otherwise bite us in the metaphorical nether parts.

So the name Eris – which in Greek mythic reality would be Eris Discordia is really about the discord which comes upon us, or our willingness or efforts or determination to go out there and shake things up. And it would seem that when our efforts are altruistic (as opposed to purely selfish) Eris seems to enhance not just the effort, but our lives as a whole.

I’ve written long-form about Eris, and here’s the link to to that page…

- link to -

ERIS DISCORDANT:

MASTERING OUR OWN WEAKEST MOMENTS

I’ve also written some about the pattern of Eris’ movements. In short and glib terms we can sum it all up by saying that Eris’ zodiacal progress is pretty much ‘slow and unsteady.’

Yes, that’s a joke. Eris moves slowly and it’s our lives – when Eris is affecting us in some focused way – which seem unsteady. Or maybe destabilized is a better word. But then, sometimes life has to destabilize the norm in order to get us into gear. My best astrological guess is that Eris energetics are part of that metaphysical machinery.

For now what we want to know is what degree is Eris going retrograde at, and what is it affecting?

Considering our these past few days with Mars entering Cancer, the deepening of the major water trine and Uranus going retrograde, Eris going retrograde represents a fairly serious challenge, one which comes from beyond our personal norm. The issues being presented are very real, and considering what with Uranus turning to retrograde on July 17th, for some it will be difficult to separate Uranus effects from those of Eris.

Uranus…change, breakthroughs, sudden shifts of circumstance, shocks, flights, insights, eruptions, explosions, discoveries…against Eris, the unsettling of the norm, the disrupting of our status quo, those forces which cause us to consider something totally unexpected not when we want to, but right now.

These two concepts sound rather like different levels of the same thing. And if we believe that unbeknownst to us, the universe is unfolding as it should, this mélange, this fusion, this confluence of effects – which is occurring during a highly emotional grand-trine-in-water period – has its purpose.

Obviously those whose charts answer to both 12 Aries (Uranus’ station degree) and 22 Aries (Eris’ station point) are going to feel the greatest shifts as we go into and emerge from the period defined by Uranus’ station on July 17 and Eris’ station on the 19th. For those whose charts are only aspected directly by one or the other, the energies of the object which aspects your chart will feel more ‘directed’ at you (or personal) while the symbolism of the other will be felt or recognized in the world around you.

With that said, Eris and Uranus are both going retrograde in Aries, the sign of consciousness, conscious awareness, physical existence, physicality, personal assertion and assertiveness… the whole panoply of variations on “I Am,” however you conjugate it.

But there are differences. Uranus (as we talked about in the last post) is going retrograde at 12 Aries. And 12 Aries is by definition emotional degree, which is to say where Uranian energies (the discovery, the interruption, the startling fact) is being manifested emotionally. That suggests anything from excitement to terror, from awe to fervency. Being that Uranus is the secondary of societal/’mass concept’ Aquarius, with Eris serving in a sense to ‘set off’ Uranian energetics it wouldn’t be unlikely to have people step outside of or depart from their societal roles…or societies rules during this time.   

As it goes retrograde on July 19th at 11:08 a.m. the shift of relative motion (perceived or otherwise) between Eris and Earth will no doubt manifest in many ways typified by 22 Aries, a degree which involves luck which can either be very rewarding or  undercut by frittering away time or opportunities through fudging, vacillation, indecision or that sort of simple confusion which invites us to ‘forget it’ and hope that things will sort themselves out.

It sounds like fertile Eris ground.

Being in that Eris is going retrograde in a third decanate degree (between 20 and 29 of some sign), it may do us well to think of this as a time when what we do to change, improve or benefit the ‘greater situation’ or status quo and thus utilize these energies for betterment (rather than sitting around waiting for them to thwack us in the face) may well be the most positive way to go.

But no, not necessarily all that popular. The mere idea that so much disrupting Uranus/Eris energy is being brought to bear on and in our world and our lives during an ongoing emotional period delineated by major planets Saturn, Jupiter and Neptune all in grand trine formation will without question have many people’s mindsets set to ‘stubborn’ simply because they aren’t prepared to experience something different.

Or what it feels like to have to cope with change.

Or what it feels like to go through changing.

Or what it feels like to simply have control wrested from their hands by forces – or even plain good sense – which apparently is beyond their control. 

By definition, Eris station/retrograde moments wouldn’t be thought of as effortless. The Eris energy is now turning inward and for the next few months will ‘reside’ inside, promoting and provoking any and all processes which get us to see life from a different point of view.

And that…or the process of getting there…may not be all that pretty.

After all, thinking back to the Eris myth, Paris (You remember him…the guy who started the whole Trojan War by stealing Helen from her duly wedded husband?)…Paris is given an ‘apple of Discord’ by Eris and asked to give it to the goddess of his choice: Venus (appeal), Hera (protective nurturance) or Athena (wisdom). And much like humans have done throughout the ages, Paris chose Venus…which leads to trouble for Paris, Troy, Helen, and a lot of other folks, with the implication being that to choose beauty – the ‘pretty thing’ – to favor that over other (Hera or Athena) qualities not only isn’t such a great idea, it actually opens the way for Discordia (Eris).

There’s another thing to consider here as well – that being how Eris is going retrograde (in the company of Pelion and trine Venus-in-Leo) just as Jupiter enters the orb to oppose Pluto.

This opposition doesn’t become exact until August 8th. So we evidently have a while to wrestle with the difference between our wants and desires (Pluto), that which will build a better future (Jupiter in Cancer), our willingness or ability to change things as they currently are structured (Pluto in Capricorn) and our ability to keep everything in perspective (Jupiter)…especially emotional (Cancerian) perspective.

Moreover, when Jupiter does reach the moment of exactitude with regards to its opposition to Pluto, Jupiter will be conjunct Alhena - the fixed star which speaks of Purpose – and (surprise!) Pallas.

Those who recognize Pallas as the first name of Athena will probably be going ‘ohhhhhh….’ about now. (Or maybe that was just me.) In any case, it would be reasonable to suspect that the Uranian cracks and Eris upheavals we get into now will lead to a gaining of dispassionate (Pallas Athena) sorts of lessons.

Call it wisdom, call it perspective – to have Athena (Pallas) brought into this Jupiter-Pluto face off with our Self, our life or maybe our concept of how life really works says there are lessons to be learned over the next few weeks.

And how those who learn them will become more wise. Whether this is our moment to swallow our nerves (our ‘emotional discord’) in the process of be or becoming the person we can be, in coming to the recognition of our Purpose and that said Purpose may not be ‘shaped’ the way we thought it was…that may not be easy. Or convenient.

A Hubble Telescope's view of Jupiter

(photo credit: NASA, ESA H. Hammel/Boulder Colorado's Space Science

Institute, Jupiter Comet Impact Team, July 2009)

But it is what it is. And whether we greet that fact with sulky dismay or with an eye to this being an opportunity – that’s up to us.

In going retrograde on July 19th, Eris ‘official’ station window opens on the 17th (Uranus’ station date) and ends on July 21st – a day after Mercury goes direct in Cancer (more Cancer energy, anyone?) and a day before the Sun enters Leo, Venus moves into Virgo and the occurrence of a Full Moon in Aquarius.

The fact that the Sun and Venus will both be moving through ‘critical’ degrees of respective signs just before the Full Moon suggests that a lot of us are going to be pressing and pushing to get something done. Things are becoming ‘cumulative’ in our world or in our psyches. There will undoubtedly be those who don’t handle the intensity of these feelings all that well, and ‘feelings’ or emotionality would seem to be a vital part of this discussion as any time we see a planet pass through 29 degrees of any sign we see it ‘setting off’ the energies of any other object or astrological symbol in that sign – which in this case would be Mercury, Pallas Jupiter, Mars and Black Moon Lilith (which adds a bit of ‘counter-cultural’ or ‘against the grain of tradition’ to this mix).

This last day of Eris’ ‘official’ station window will also see Mars entering the orb of opposition to Pluto. Considering that the theory on stations tells us that events which happen in the wake of the actual moment of stationing have something to do with the playing out of ‘things already done’ (or committed to, etc.) this well may be a moment when those who have been working or struggling to break through some set of restrictions or to get something ‘going’ will find ways to overcome inertia.

For those who have been ‘hiding’ from change however, this period may be particularly chaotic – particularly emotionally, however your emotionality is triggered.

Eris Discordant is not our solar system’s most genteel symbol. But Eris does serve to get us thinking in ways we hadn’t considered before. Whether that’s recognizing that you can make a difference…or that you aren’t bound by some arcane rule or tradition…or that you need to be more realistic about something or someone or life itself…that’s about you. That’s about your chart.

The Butterfly Nebula (NGC 6302) is really beautiful, but considering temperatures at its heart are

somewhere in the area of 250,000 C, it would seem to fall in the realm of 'look, but don't touch'!

(photo credit: Hubble Space Telescope, NASA, JPL)

As tough and trying and for many tumultuous as this month has been, it has purpose. Sometimes life tells us that it’s time to stop being caterpillars and time to transform ourselves into butterflies. Only by doing that can we not just fulfill the beauty of our potential, but do that which is necessary to leave something of ourselves…be that in our work, in how we effect others or maybe through having a family…for generations and eons to come.
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Venus in Aries

Afrodite (Aphrodite) 

by Nils Bergslien (1853-1928, Norway)

When I first learned about Venus being astrologically ‘weak’ and often unproductive in Aries, my first reaction was disappointment. It sounded sort of sad to me.

Then I came to better understand the idea of the astrological Venus, which in many ways very, very different from what we think of Venus – or Aphrodite – as the goddess of beauty and allure, she who is adored, ogled and admired by all.

Actually, if you read a lot of mythology, in time you learn that the standing there (or lying there) being gloriously beautiful is just one part of the Venus myth. Venus is not only pretty feisty, but she sets up a lot of challenges for those of us who are mere mortals...which leads to realizing that all of Greek (and Roman) myth is an exercise is describing how and why humans operate as they do.

And once you get there, it all begins to make better astrological sense.

Venus represents our ability to attract, and thus to bring about a new circumstance. Venus is not about luxury per se, Venus is about whatever we do so that we have that moment of luxuriating.

Once I got that far, it slowly dawned on me why Venus is the astrological ruler of Taurus, sign of our personal resources and the self worth and self respect which causes us to put those things to good use. I came to understanding why Venus as ruler of Libra represents not the appearance or the performance which garners all that love, but the (Taurean) resources devoted to that appearance and performance, and that the Libra Venus really only lasts when its not a veneer, but the expression of our truest Taurean being. When it’s not, the Libra-Venus concept becomes beauty is only skin deep.

Aha, I said.

The hardest thing for me to understand was probably why Venus is exalted in Pisces, which seems odd for someone who has Venus natally in Pisces, but that’s one of those karmic ironies: sometimes the ‘what we are’ is the thing we learn last.

Anyway…it finally occurred to me that Venus is exalted in Pisces because Pisces is that deep ocean of emotionality which all humanity originates in, and in the end, lives in. Human beings are always emotional critters…it’s really only to the extent that we understand and can work with and grow into accepting our emotions that we can harness our intellect or life with any sense of ‘sinking in.’ Without that, we skate by. We make do. We rush through the moment, staying busy so we don’t sink in and become immersed in how we really feel about life.

Being willing to feel…being willing to understand that every human being and every creature which has ever existed arises from this same deep well of sentience is the Pisces challenge – and why so many of us have such a hard time with that universal sense of Piscean compassion.

After all, we cannot teach that we do not know. And when that’s applied to Venus, in the universally  emotional sign of Pisces that means we will not receive the compassion we know not how to give.

Compassion, love, care…it’s all part of that equation.

And it was once that I reached that point that I understood why Venus is awkward in Aries. Venus is a connective precept, and in Aries there is only the I-me-my of life.

All planets are weak (or awkward) in the sign (or in this case, signs) which are opposite those which they rule or are exalted in. In this case, Aries is in opposition to Libra, where Venus is the idea which connects – as opposed to Venus in Pisces, which is the feeling which connects…and Venus in Taurus, which is the ability TO connect.

But since every placement – no matter how testing it is – has a positive sign, then the question became how is Venus in Aries a positive?

Aries being the ‘first person personal’ sign, my best answer comes from Aries as a fiery sign which can create the image which motivates us to do something. In Aries, Venus asks us to motivate ourselves. The tough part is there is no cheering section. And during the next three (plus) weeks of Venus in Aries, we can’t expect much in the way of applause.

For some this will feel isolating. Some will enjoy the feeling of independence or the opportunity to experience a little peace and quiet. But for most of us, Venus in Aries - whatever else it is, always includes some sense of feeling like you're on your own. That can be because there isn't anyone around, because no one is available (or able) to help you...or because you've decided to take an independent position or course of action.

And sometimes that's what you need to do. Sometimes it's pure folly - true! But sometimes we drown by surrendering ourselves to the expectations of others. Or some tradition or habit which has outlived its appropriateness, or which doesn't fit your current situation.

Solitude by Frederick Leighton

(c. 1890, oil on canvas, Maryhill Museum of Art, Washington)

 
Venus enters Aries on March 22nd at 3:16 in the morning UT/+0 time. It will be in Aries until April 15th (which those in the USA will recognize as Income Tax due-day.) For this to be happening while Pluto is hunkered down in 11 Capricorn (the degree it will go retrograde at during April) is a metaphysical image of a challenge we each will feel in our own Venus-in-Aries sort of way. Since Venus will square Pluto at the end of this month (the 30th or 31st, depending what time zone you’re in) and that by then Venus will be running in tandem with the Sun is an indication of focus.

Which for some will be an ‘over-focusing on self’ in all it’s myopic non-glory, yes.

But there are some up sides here. During these days (which, given orbs on transit we can broaden to March 28th through April 2nd, give or take)…during these days the Sun-Venus will be conjunct Uranus. That means things aren't entirely in our control. Leaving ourselves open to new ideas is far (far!) better than trying to hold on here, as Uranus respresents those life forces and moments which change our outlook.

Even our life.

Sun-Venus will also be sextile to Jupiter in Gemini. This represents a moment of recognition, though with Jupiter being in Gemini (not Jupiter’s best sign) and Venus’ position in Aries we may be finding out things we would rather not hear, but need to know and think through.

Since at this point Venus and the Sun will also be in an inconjunct to Saturn in Scorpio retrograde, there is a sense of ‘regrouping’ here. Saturn’s opposing Venus’ most primal sign of rulership (Taurus) while Venus is in a sign of detriment (that’s the astrological term for ‘in opposition to sign of rulership’) is a sign that what we’ve been doing with our life…which probably amounts to priorities and how we’ve been going about doing what we’ve been doing…is going through a general period of personal scrutiny.

And when we won’t do that scrutiny, life will (of course!) prompt us to scrutinize those things either through things which happen to us or relationships with, or reactions from others.

Need I add that May is going to bring a Taurus Solar Eclipse as well?

We’re hearing this whole ‘the cost of life’ and discussions of values and what’s valuable all around us. The Venus lesson tells us that ultimately, we do have to care about what we do to or about others, but that our ability to do so is vitally about us.

And therein lies the rub – particularly the Venus-in-Aries rub. Nobody likes being wrong. Nobody likes not being able to do what they want to do. Nobody likes having to deal with the idea that they can’t have what they want now (deferred gratification) or that they’ve made a bad bet, be that financial or (even ouchier) with your life.

Alas, the handwriting is on the solar systemic wall (wherever that is). Because we have talked about this Venus-Sun conjunction occurring in aspect to Jupiter and Saturn we know (astrologically, at least) that this is about what we are building (or have built) in our life. Jupiter and Saturn are the ‘generational’ planets. Personally and individuality they are about what we do in this world and the world as we experience it or are supported-or-hindered by that world.

That Venus catches up to Mars about the time the whole Sun-Venus-Jupiter-Saturn thing shapes up speaks to our desire to make things work. And for some, this is a sign of (Venus in Aries) disappointments which can (Mars in Aries) really strike to the core.

Then again, this may be just what you need to get off the stick (or sticking point) and do something about your life. In fact, since even once the Sun-Jupiter-Saturn thing lets go Venus and Mars will still be running in tandem, this is a great time to get things done.

It’s also a time which may spark some rather feisty (read: serious) personal conflicts. Though Venus-Mars is known as passion, there’s nothing which says this has to be the passion of love.

Diesen Kuss der Ganzen Welt (Gustav Klimt, 1902)

Trust me, nothing says that – especially here. So while this can be a time for passionate love, there's a decent chance that expressions of love will now be...well, let's say just a touch self-serving. Not that such things don't have their place. It may be a moment when it’s ‘their turn’ to get the family (or relationship) focus. Or when someone needs your help or you need to make some sort of sacrifice. Or even when in your own life you need to shift 'passionate priorities' or not give so much attention to something which is your passion because something else needs your attention.

Just understand: this is likely to be a testy time for bargains, whether with yourself or others. So don’t blame “them,” make peace with yourself. Don't go all bonkers because you need to stop doing what you want to be doing in order to take care of something which in its own right is a real and valid problem. Knowing why you do what you do (preferably before you do it) is essential during these days. This can also be as much a time time for flagrant displays of disrespect as adoration.

Mars and Venus will continue running in tandem for the duration of Venus’ passage through Aries – which by the by, includes the Pluto station, which should be a very intense period which for some will be very trying in an internal sort of way nobody likes to deal with.

Life is asking that we change modes. May ills personal and societal are coming out now and we’re bound to see the worst in some. Efforts to blame others will abound. But in the end, if we can’t play nice with others, if we can’t keep things balanced enough that we recognize that to have a good life we have to care about building and maintaining a healthy world and society…those flaws are ours and they will be driven home.

The universe is not cruel – it’s just not partial. We don’t like that, perhaps. But it is not just a truth, it’s the very sort of truth Venus in Aries is meant to bring into focus so that the whole of our life has more balance...which in whether we know it or not, makes everything we are, everything we do more worthwhile.

You know, more beautiful.

And that's the Venus positive.
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