Ceres and Pluto and this Fall's Venus Retrograde in Scorpio

The Moon is now just past full in Scorpio and acts as an emotional indicator of what shape we're in heading into next October/November's Venus retrograde in Scorpio.

This Full Moon as precursor brings to light any issues related to our pasts that need addressing: relationship dynamics, etheric attachments that need to be discontinued, crystallized emotional reactions, triggers and habits, and stultifying conditioning that need to be dealt with.

At this Full Moon, these things are ripe for release, and we shed what we can now. Anything we deal with at this point lightens the load on the upcoming Venus retrograde (October 8 - November 18, 2010) and puts us in much better position to use those energies consciously and proactively, instead of receiving the unpleasant Scorpionic burns that force us into conscious action.

A really interesting thing about this Scorpio Full Moon chart, and the subject of this post, is the just-about-exact conjunction of Ceres and Pluto, two bodies that really mean business - especially in the sign of business, Capricorn! Oh, I'm so funny.

Ceres has been making the steely-eyed run up to this guy for a while and is currently at 4 degrees Capricorn, less than one degree from Pluto Rx at 5 degrees. Now, less than a single degree from full contact, she turns retrograde - just hours after the Full Moon in Scorpio. Mmm-hmm.

It's not time. Not just yet, Ceres says. We've got a whole lot of working things out to do before we can actually meet face-to-face and not tear this little planet to shreds in the process.

Mythologically, these two have a long and brutal history between them. Serious Scorp stuff. Going to the mat, hitting where it hurts most, dragging you to hell and back, destroying every single thing you love, rageful, wrathful stuff.

Ceres is pissed. The feminine force (represented by the asteroids) is pissed. And Pluto, well that dude was born pissed. There is brutal hurt here. And the only sign that could possibly contain this complexity of history and emotion and transmute that sort of anger and anguish into something beneficial for all involved is Scorpio.

And guess what? The final show-down, when Ceres and Pluto do finally meet face-to-face in conjunction, happens during the Venus retrograde in Scorpio this fall. You have to love astrology. You just have to.


I'm not a big mythology buff by any stretch. I just work with the very basics in order to understand the astrological energies, so here are the basics of the Ceres-Pluto history so as to understand the dynamics at play:

Pluto, Lord of the Underworld, kidnapped Ceres' (also known as Demeter) daughter Persephone and hauled her off to his dark and twisted underworld to be his Queen.

Ceres is the quintessential Earth Mother, Goddess of plants, especially grains/cereals, the seasons, the harvest and the fertility of the Earth, in general.

When Ceres realized her daughter had been abducted and dragged off to the underworld, she became so depressed, so full of rage and anguish, that she made the cold and the dark descend on the planet, and nothing would grow. Literally, she had the power to destroy life on Earth, and this Mama in anguish for her kidnapped child did just that.

There are a few different versions about how this stalemate between Pluto and Ceres was finally brought to a head and solved.

In one, things got so dire on the planet with the cold and dark and nothing growing that Zeus, King of the Gods, forced Pluto to return Persephone, sending Hermes to retrieve her. Unfortunately, Persephone had eaten some pomegranate seeds while chilling in the underground, and eating any food while you were down there meant you were forced to stay, at least for a portion of the year. Based on the number of seeds she ate, Persephone had to return to the underworld for four months of every year - corresponding with the winter season.

In another version, Hecate, Goddess of magic, witchcraft, childbirth, lunar lore, ghosts, crossroads, gates and walls - a dark feminine figure herself and one brave and wise enough to deal with the underworld - rescued Persephone and brought her back to the land of the living.

And in still another (a version I've personally favoured), Persephone got herself out of there after coming to fully understand the power dynamics going on and realizing if she took action and wiggled and exerted herself in the right ways (properly used her masculine force), she could break her own chains to the underworld and get free. Possibly wishful thinking from a Ceres-Pluto square person with a Scorpio stellium, but I like it.

Regardless of how Persephone was returned, there is definitely some unfinished business between Pluto and Ceres. Ahem. Don't we know it?

This is the subtext of our relations and of the events going on between now and the end of the year. There is a lot of dark emotion being stirred, very ancient. A lot of old wounds being triggered and old distrust. All the aspects of human emotional and relational existence that most people prefer to deny exist, especially relating to the feminine and its historical abuses.

It's interesting that Ceres, when it was discovered in 1801, was classified as the 8th planet. After about 50 years, it was reclassified as an asteroid.

And in 2006, both Pluto and Ceres were reclassified as dwarf planets.

So the playing field has been levelled by this dual reclassification, and now the masculine (Pluto) and the feminine (Ceres) can finally get down to brass tacks. Under these conditons and with a lot of strategic effort, they can come up with a balanced, working partnership with which they can both be satisfied. Or die trying. heh

Really, we're at the brink of destruction on this planet with a hog-tied feminine and a masculine running amok. We're hanging on by a thread, and so we're reminded: the entry points for integration of the feminine are at those points where change can no longer be resisted. That's most points, these days, but successful integration still requires great skill.

Venus in Scorpio relates to, among other things, unequal power dynamics in relationship, domination/subjugation, emotional poisoning, abuse and the hell that unequal relationships put people through.

But it also relates to the deepest, closest, most soul-satisfying and fulfilling of relationships. A true mutually beneficial merger of energy and resources and the creation of a force that can do exponentially more together than it could apart.

There is the potential with this fall's Venus in Scorpio retrograde to clear the way for relationship mergers of that beneficial, soul-deep variety, but only if we clear the distorting detritus and histories that would keep us from that first.

The Ceres-Pluto conjunction this October happens in tight conjunction to the North Node in Capricorn, as well, so the path we're carving out post-Pluto-ingressing-Capricorn-destruction-and-collapse is infused with the energy of this conjunction of feminine and masculine. Committing to concretely addressing the imbalances within all structural set-ups as we go forward. The North Node conjuncts Ceres first, followed by Pluto. The feminine comes out in front...

I love that the asteroids are playing such a strong role in the skies these days. They probably always were, but they're making themselves known with greater force. To me, this represents the feminine stepping up, coming to the decision-making table, making herself heard. She's not screaming or wailing (though she sure feels like it at times, and who could blame her?). She's composed, strong, speaking her wisdom firmly and in measured tones, in such practical, common sensical ways that no one can dispute it. This increases the odds greatly of real influence and integration.

The asteroid Goddesses are also sick and tired of Venus getting all the play - especially when Venus is prone to jealousy, vengefulness, vanity and female back-stabbing and game-playing, all while getting credit for nothing but love and beauty and fanciful delights.

So Ceres (on behalf of the other feminine asteroids) and Venus have a little unfinished business of their own to deal with this fall, but I'm sure with a little effort, they can come away with their own mutually beneficial agreement.

Pallas, transitting Scorpio until early October 2010, also has some things to say on the "bullshitty feminine/masculine dynamics" front. Pallas is the asteroid related to female warrior and truth-teller energy, and in Scorpio, it's not afraid to strike right at the root of the matter.

Meeting Pallas in strip-the-facade-and-get-real Scorpio would more than likely be too much for lovely Venus to bear on top of all that Ceres-Pluto tension, and luckily, Pallas enters Sagittarius before Venus' retrograde in Scorpio. The sign of Scorpio will be ringing with Pallas' blazing trail of truth, though, so there will certainly be no denying the things that need work during Venus' retrograde.

As has been said a million times before, women/the feminine is far more multi-dimensional and diverse than just the loving and pleasing mate (Venus), the mothering nurturer (Moon), or the vindictive, vixen/seductress version of the dark feminine.

The strengthening of position of the feminine asteroids, to me, indicates the unfolding of the true feminine force, in all its glory and all its ugliness - or at least, the potential for that. It's all in how we apply it, of course. Do we have the courage to be honest here and really unfold with integrity and authenticity or do we stay safe (and stuck) in the old, one-dimensional societal feminine constructs, playing the same games and roles and falling into the same traps? Echoes of the 1960s again.

Ceres is the largest asteroid by far, and her power is a suitable match for Pluto. Equal power dynamics is what we're after, and this grand Earth Mama leads the way for the rest of the feminine forces.

She's got back-up, though, as she takes a retrograde breather until August 8 and then goes direct, heading to that October 19 meeting with dear, old Pluto. The feminine forces are with her on this one every step of the way.

At the same time, the feminine is working at a bit of a disadvantage because so much of its previous work and influence have been unrecognized and therefore, unassisted, left to wither on the vine or use huge energy reserves fighting for bare survival.

Again, just as with Black Moon Lilith energy, with due care and attention, we can help the feminine do what needs to be done in our own lives, and doing that is the gift we have to offer these Goddesses. They'll gladly accept.