Goddesses in the Forecast
Moments in the Flow—Winter Solstice Messages and the Astrological Divine Feminine
Hello Again,
It was decades after I began my professional practice of Astrology when some astronomical objects other than the ‘ten planets’ began their ascent in our consciousness. The first to be accepted and employed by astrologers was Centaur Chiron. A ‘wounded healer’ in his mythology, he was said to show the issues an individual struggled with. The current transit of Chiron in a sign designated the issues for all humans as a collective lesson.
The characters in our astrological system increased to nine males, with Venus and the Moon still holding the only two feminine places. But the binary system of Astrology would see other feminine influences begin to infiltrate this almost all-male boardroom. I think some have now taken their seats.
The Feminine Enters
In my experience, the first Goddesses to attain a wider audience were the four Asteroids, orbiting between Jupiter and Saturn. Ceres, Pallas/Athena, Juno, and Vesta and their mythologies are described in a classic book by Demetra George, Asteroid Goddesses. Once Pluto was demoted, Ceres stepped up to a new category: the ‘just not big enough’ dwarf planet. At this point I began adding all four asteroids to my chart calculations. Over the years, I have seen them become an influence in individual readings and in charts of mundane events.
Black Moon Lilith (Adam’s first wife) holds some fascination and is a location is space, rather than an object. While I don’t deny the influence, and we do honor important locations with the lunar nodes, too, I was not moved to include Lilith in my charts.
Then, we experienced a time of accelerated ‘discovery’ of ‘trans-Neptunian’ planets. More names needed and far more cultures were tapped for these bodies.
Wikipedia Lists these and says: “The largest known trans-Neptunian objects are Pluto and Eris, followed by Haumea, Makemake, Gonggong, Quaoar, Sedna, and Orcus, all of them being officially recognized as dwarf planets by the IAU except for Gonggong, Sedna, and Orcus. There are also many possible dwarf planets, such as Salacia, (307261) 2002 MS4, Varda, Ixion, and Varuna.”
Again, most are named after gods, but we picked up 4 more female goddess influences with Eris, Sedna, Salacia (goddess wife of Neptune) and Varuna. I haven’t read much about the last two, while Eris and Sedna have become well-known. When I read their designated astrological characteristics, I chose to add Sedna, an Inuit sea goddess, and Eris, sister to Mars, to my chart wheel.
At this point, many astrologers were also interested in Centaurs other than Chiron, but I was not lured into this until 2017, when I attended a workshop in Lisbon with Melanie Reinhart. A masterful and insightful teacher, she had written two notable books: one on Chiron and the next including Pholus and Nessus.
I was hooked when the myth of Pholus, suggesting we listen to our gut wisdom, explained a reason for my fall, tripping on the famous ‘old city’ area’s cobblestones, two days before the seminar began. Lucky not to have been injured more than I was, I had the strange experience of knowing something had changed within me on another level. I didn’t know it would be due to the information I would receive in the first day of class.
Chariklo
With most Centaurs showing up as ‘rowdy biker boys’ my biggest surprise was that Chiron had a wife: a water nymph called Chariklo. When Melanie listed her attributes, it seemed to me Chariklo was actually the astronomical representative for the Divine Mother. A friend of Athena, she was the Goddess’ Goddess. Her name means ‘Spinning Grace’ and a partial list of her spinning includes holding the space for magic, transformation, and being the ‘midwife’ for birth and death.
As a water nymph I felt she had the fluidity to ‘shapeshift’ and must have used it when she married a Centaur. But the myths continue to see her as a water-nymph, despite her fully-centaur children with Chiron. My idea is supported only by the fact that she became a Centaur with her astronomical classification.
Rather than address the scientific information about her, I want to get to her role as she transits now in Aquarius and has a major place in the Winter Solstice chart. However, some background about her effects is needed.
Chariklo in Aquarius
I have written a chapter on her influences in the charts of some celebrities to describe how she was active when they transformed for greater achievement. The group publication is still in the editing stages, but my chapter also contains information about what we saw changing in society as a whole during her transits of a specific sign. It also sees her role in the flow of events during the women’s suffragette movement of the late 19th, early 20th century, and the US women’s rights movement that began in the 1960s.
Passing through Aquarius is one of the stages in the flow of both. And with Chariklo in the current Aquarius transit, those rights are being challenged. The result is many women are again rising up to demonstrate with ‘resistance’ as a new battle cry.
We also saw the transformation of identity in the sign of unique, independent, eccentric Aquarius to contain many experiences of gender and more treatments and operations to change the physical sexual identity at birth.
With Astrology being ruled by Aquarius and the planet Uranus, as part of the rise (or return) of the Divine Feminine, Chariklo in this sign is adding more Goddess energies to Astrologer’s charts. And we even see a movement to grant at least a co-‘ruler’ goddess energy to the water and earth element zodiac signs.
An example would be Ceres. As Goddess of Grains, she has already been the symbol for the harvest sign Virgo. And the myth of Ceres/Demeter also contains orderly cycles. For me and some others she seems a good choice for at least co-rulership of this sign. Chariklo in Aquarius is holding the space for identity change and being a ‘ruler’ of the 6th sign would be one such change for Ceres.
Chariklo and Eris in the Winter Solstice Chart
I’ve recorded a 30-minute podcast that will tell you more about the whole Midwinter chart and how issues will influence the time from Dec 21 to March 20. You can see my very full chart wheel for the event here. (Chariklo is the C with a line through it atop an elipse.)
It is drawn for Washington DC. The Ascendant and Midheaven and other houses would be different in other time zones. However, the planetary and other astronomical energies remain the same.
In the Solstice chart, Chariklo is at 14 degrees Aquarius, in close conjunction to Venus, goddess of love, finance, values. They are in trine (easy flow) with retrograde Jupiter in Gemini; a position I have read to mean expansion of consciousness as well as an overload/download of information and chatter. This duo also forms a helpful opportunity sextile to Chiron in Aries, learning to express individuality and leadership in a positive way, with courage born of understanding. Eris, sister of Mars, is brought into this sextile by its connection to Chiron.
Eris is called the ‘Goddess of Discord’ but this gets into a topic for a whole post of its own. Another way to see her is that in her provocative actions she ‘rattles the cage’ of things that need shaking up, and a waking up. (ex. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg had Eris conjunct Mercury in Aries, rising in her birth chart. She was a tremendous force for positive change, especially for women.)
Eris has been in Aries since 1926, and the behavior of leaders (dictators) and proliferation of war has given us ample opportunity to see the errors of those ways. Now with Chiron, we see it for the collective wound it is. We recognize the bully comes from compensating for a weak self-image and wars as coming from fear and, too often, greed.
This sextile group forms a YOD or ‘Finger of God’ with the Moon in Virgo, calling attention to instinctive feelings about work and health. This makes the Moon’s opposition to Saturn in Pisces a call for healing the fear, skepticism, and victim-identity of Saturn in Pisces about both areas of Virgo. Saturn in Pisces has seen the erosion of structures and fear of other relied upon structures dissolving. Many who consider themselves as underdogs need some protection from outside forces.
An example of Chariklo sextile Eris in the past is the previous transit of Chariklo in Aquarius that began in 1961. She was now in place to hold the space for transformations that began the desire fueling the protests of the late 1960’s to 1970’s. Eris was orbiting from 9 to 12 Aries. At the Winter Solstice in 1961, Chariklo was at 12 Aquarius between Jupiter at 8 and conjunct Pholus, all sextile Eris at 9 Aries, forming a yod with Pluto at 10 Virgo. The focus for this Yod was Pallas/Athena the wisdom warrior in Pisces, the sign of the underdog and spiritual understanding.
Vesta, Pallas, and Okyrhoe
There are challenges from Vesta in Libra, the sign of contractual relationships, peace, and law, as she opposes Eris in Aries. Keeper of the hearth and protector of things held dear, Vesta isn’t comfortable with how Eris energy can threaten the current balance. Pallas Athena is in Capricorn with Pholus, who holds the barrel containing the sacred wine of our ancestral heritage. They are opting for a conservative viewpoint and caution before action and in their square to Chariklo and Chiron’s daughter, Okyrhoe, are resisting the prophetess who tells hard truths. Will there be a movement (like there was for Okyrhoe herself) to silence some who also do this truth-telling?
Juno and Ceres
Juno is the wife of Jupiter and represents issues of marriage and equality for women. In Scorpio she is watching out for these matters in the sign of shared resources, and financial areas of insurance (including Social Security/Medicare), income tax, loans, and inheritance. Scorpio is also a sign of commitments in partnership. Juno is challenged by the surprises and more radical changes that Chariklo and Venus favor but is in harmony with helping the underdogs and assisting with finance for health and compensation for work.
And last, but certainly not least, Ceres is in early Aquarius and has been close to Pluto since the conjunction on December 7th. She’s moving away but is still in the picture while retrograding Mars in Leo (all hail the king) opposes these agents for equality and change. In her myth, Ceres has enough power over the smooth running of agriculture to force the Olympian gods to make a deal about her ability to be with her abducted daughter Persephone. Pluto was the abductor. So perhaps Ceres is again making an offer the gods can’t refuse.
Seeing all this, we know the ‘stage is set’ with Chariklo and Eris cooperating to create a shift in circumstance affecting freedom and power. We can call on Eris to shake the cages of concepts that need to be awakened and call on Chariklo’s energy to hold the space of grace for the most benevolent outcome.
If you want to know where the Goddesses are active in your birth chart, Contact Me.
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See you next time.