Ceres in Aries and the Fight for Women’s Reproductive Rights

Feminine dwarf planet Ceres, related to fertility and particularly women’s control over fertility, is currently transiting Aries, the sign of, among other things, the war, the battle, the fight.

With the current Mercury-Uranus conjunction in Aries square Pluto infusing the atmosphere, the Ceres in Aries themes are quite apparent within media (Mercury) channels. Case in point: the verbal attack (Mercury in Aries) from Rush Limbaugh of law student Sandra Fluke.

As many are probably aware by now, Fluke spoke at a congressional hearing in favour of the Obama health plan covering the cost of contraceptives. Her support for this was based primarily on health reasons – a friend of hers lost one of her ovaries due to a condition that could have been controlled had she been able to afford birth control pills. Limbaugh, one of those right-wing, privileged, white males who seem to be so oppressed by women having control of anything these days, called her a slut and a Feminazi on his radio show, prompting a storm of controversy and the pulling of multiple advertisers from his show.

Here's Rush at his finest:

“So Miss Fluke, and the rest of you Feminazis, here’s the deal. If we are going to pay for your contraceptives, and thus pay for you to have sex, we want something for it. We want you to post the videos online so we can all watch.”

Limbaugh's language has an undertone of sexual violence and is a broadcasted voicing of the hatred, rage, and fear within the societies at large related to women's control of their own sexuality and reproduction.

The thread of hatred toward women, particularly strong women and particularly feminists, is out with teeth bared these days, not least of which in the race to become the next leader of the United States Republican party.

“The radical feminists succeeded in undermining the traditional family and convincing women that professional accomplishments are the key to happiness.”

- Scary, scary Rick Santorum from Khamenei or Santorum? You Be the Judge by Reza Aslan

Incidentally, radical feminism does not mean “extreme, over-the-top feminism,” the way most anti-feminist people, like Rick here, use it. Radical feminism is a branch of feminism that pertains, coincidentally, to the idea that the primary force of male oppression and dominance over women is in the control of their reproduction process. This control could be literal physical control – as in continually impregnating them and limiting the access to abortions and birth control – or coercive control through social mores and constructs.

The thread of underlying hatred toward feminists is prevalent on certain astrology blogs, also, and the Team Rush commentary following this incident involved an almost inexplicable rush (no pun intended) to dissect Sandra Fluke’s natal chart.

I understand there are problems with feminism - it is an institution at this point with multiple flaws and areas of bloat, requiring the same Pluto in Capricorn integrity-checks and metamorphosis that other institutions require at this time.

But this isn't really about feminism as an institution - it's about women's rights and the virulent rage and attempt at domination that comes about when women exert those rights. It seems that nowhere does this exertion strike a stronger chord than in the area of women's reproductive rights. There is a continued attempt at the erosion of these rights, including systemic attacks both legislatively and in the arenas of public opinion by people who would like to use Pluto's transit of Capricorn to cement a nice, no-rocking-of-the-boat old school patriarchy.

As usual, "women's issues" are actually everyone's issues, and last time I checked, accessible birth control benefited men, too. Men want to have sex without unwanted pregnancy, too.

Astrologers talk a lot about the revolutionary, future-oriented energy of the Uranus in Aries transit, and that drive is certainly there. We just have to remember that not all visions of the future are versions we would like to see come to realization.

An extreme regressive tendency can also be expected throughout the square series between Uranus in Aries and Pluto in Capricorn with a move back to a "good, old days" 1950s male-female ideal that never really existed. I've written about this before - a type of nostalgia for the "angel-of-the-home woman/breadwinning-bringer-home-of-bacon man." Gender roles where the man controlled the money and made all the decisions and the woman was happy to birth and rear kids, cook, and clean.

Along with this regression will come the continued attempt to erode access to abortion, the morning after pill, and contraceptives. Nostalgia for back alley abortions, coat hangers, and women dying of infection and hemorrhaging, I guess. Might as well paint that shit into a Norman Rockwell painting.

Feminine Ceres has been reclassified as a dwarf planet and is now on equal astronomical footing with masculine Pluto. These two have always had equal power for growth and regeneration as well as death and destruction. The battles along the male-female, masculine-feminine lines will be intense, sometimes heated, and often in-your-face over the next years on this planet as the equalization and sharing of power is ground out one battle at a time.

These are our fights. Right now, right here. This is where we take a stand. The current feminine force including Vesta, Black Moon Lilith, and Ceres in warrior sign Aries is showing us the battleground, and every woman and man who does not want to see a regression in the areas of reproductive rights, women's rights, and the equalizing of power between men and women must take up the battle now.

Signed,

Willow, defender to her death of women’s reproductive rights

(If that makes me a Feminazi – seriously, that term needs to go – so be it. Anyone who doesn’t like it can mosey on over to the aforementioned Team Rush astrology blogs. Check out some inspirational reading in Michelle Duggar's 7 Rules For Being a Good Wife while you're at it.)