Friday, December 18, 2020

Mars Conjunct Eris in Aries Square Pluto in Capricorn: Getting Our Golden Apple-Tossing Arms Primed and Ready

Action and goals planet Mars has been moving direct in Aries since November 13 but is still moving through degrees that were covered during its retrograde. This means, we aren't in new territory just yet. Mars has been transiting its own sign of Aries for almost six months now and will fully clear the retrograde shadow on January 2, 2021 before moving into Taurus on January 7.

As of the middle of December 2020, Mars has just regained full speed direct, and as it propels us onto a newly-honed two-year trajectory, it forms a final square aspect to Pluto at 23 degrees Capricorn on December 23, 2020. This is a clashing, frictional, and potentially contentious aspect but one that is very dynamic and could clear our path in beneficial ways. We've been working up to this final showdown between Mars and Pluto for months now.

Pluto is currently locked into a square aspect to Goddess of Discord dwarf planet Eris at 23 degrees Aries, and Mars in Aries will form an exact conjunction to Eris while it simultaneously forms the final square to Pluto in Capricorn.

Eris' socially-discordant energy has had a strong influence on the entire Mars retrograde process, and this influence carries forward for the next two years until Mars goes retrograde again in late 2022. Mars made two previous exact conjunctions to Eris on August 15 and October 4, 2020, stationing retrograde at 28 degrees Aries on September 9 while still within orb of the conjunction. 

We can certainly see the discordant social themes alive and well in our societies since Mars entered Aries on June 28 with many contentious issues dividing people and raising ire, even stirring full-on violence or attacks (Mars/Aries). Mask or no mask. Lockdown or no lockdown. Vaccine or no vaccine. 5G or no 5G. Conspiracy or no conspiracy. We've often had to battle our way through these challenging times, actively protecting our individual rights (Aries) on a daily basis.

The influence of often-inflammatory Mars stirring up an already-frictional Eris-Pluto square in the late degrees of cardinal signs indicates that the opening to our new two-year goal path could involve some turbulence as we run up against the established order of things. There are some power issues involved here (Pluto), including the power of the individual and of individual action (Mars/Aries) to create change within the establishment. 

The Mars in Aries retrograde has brought us the gift of self-possession, and it appears we will be putting this gift to good use. We are living within very stressed conditions, and maintaining self-possession and self-containment helps us to live under our own sovereignty while not triggering any hostility or hatefulness for doing so.

The energy of Eris in Aries brings a bit of a feisty, renegade element into the proceedings, and this often pertains to those who have been kept out of the established order of things. It also includes those who are being harmed by the established order or those being denied the right to exist within the established order.

From a June 18, 2012 article: Golden Apples and Discordant Social Shuffling with Saturn in Libra

"The most well-known story about Eris involves a big social snub. Eris was not invited to a prominent wedding that was going on, despite the fact that all of Olympus had been invited. The social roster was not complete. Eris had been shut out of the proceedings. As a result, the big smiles and boisterous glad-handing were too phony for her to bear, and she stirred up some drama at their little party to make things seem more fair.

Queen Shit Disturber, that one is.

 

Eris tossed a golden apple, referred to as the Apple of Discord, into the party. The apple was inscribed with "To the Fairest One," (ingenious!) and three goddesses there, Hera, Athena, and Aphrodite, immediately started quarreling and vying for the prize. They stripped naked for the judge, Paris, and offered him bribes.  

Eris played on the vanity of the women involved to great effect, making them look like fools, and, unfortunately, a war was even started over it.

The discovery of dwarf planet Eris in 2005 created discord in our solar system classifications, as well, resulting in the 2006 re-classifications of Pluto, Ceres, Haumea, and Makemake as dwarf planets by the International Astronomical Union. Here again, we have things being stirred up by Eris, but finding a new and more fair structure. That reclassification put feminine Ceres and masculine Pluto on an even playing field, rather than classifying Pluto as a planet and Ceres as an asteroid."

 

Eris-related terrain includes:

- big social snubs and the aftermath of those snubs

- snobbery

- standard female competitiveness and jockeying for position, especially around looks, appeal, and social and career positioning

- the benefits of belonging socially versus the difficulties of being left out

- the difficulties of belonging versus the benefits of staying independent

- justice and fairness in social settings

- the results of shutting certain people or perspectives out of society - anger, upset, disruption, violence, imbalance, injustice, ineffectiveness, skewed ideas of reality

- the reasons people are left out and whether they are warranted

- doing your own thing and shouldering any social disruption this causes

- being contentious or disturbing just for the sake of being contentious or disturbing

- disruptive elements (golden apples) brought into carefully constructed social structures that change the game

- acts of raw individuality and personal will altering how people are viewed or thought of socially

- the restrictiveness of social mores, rules, and customs stirring rebellion

- social shuffling and reclassification

- social breakdowns

- feisty or even violent changes in social status and position, including on the world stage

 

The strong influence of Eris in Aries during the Mars-Pluto square indicates some power- and control-related issues that must be dealt with before we are free to proceed along our newly-honed two-year trajectory. Some path-clearing is required. It indicates that there could be some "golden apples" tossed into previously structured and secure social/professional scenes, and this could shake things up considerably. 

How do you like them apples? Ha.

We could be acting as the apple-thrower (Eris), as the golden apple itself, or as the keeper of the establishment social order - perhaps all three at different times.

There's a theme that involves a person initially being welcomed into the social fold, but that person's presence creating unexpected disruption and discord to the point that the individual is then expelled or shut out of future events. The inadvertent golden apple. 

In many cases, the discord or contentiousness experienced under these aspects will be necessary to force overdue changes in established social, professional, and power-based orders. A break from hierarchy, top-down control, or authoritarianism is particularly indicated. If the established orders have become rigid and crystallized, always with the same recycled cast of characters or viewpoints, it might be time for a little update, a little shuffling or reclassification. It might be time to bring some outliers to the table for the fresh perspectives, viewpoints, and information only true outsiders can bring.

There's a requirement to look over social rules and regulations to determine if they are just, if they are necessary, and if they produce a social or professional order that is truly representative of reality. If they do not, a shake-up might be in the stars. 

The best case scenario is that the golden apples being tossed will simply catalyze necessary organic changes that are then accepted, embraced, and moved through with the least amount of disruption possible.

This is not generally how things are done within the establishment of power on Earth, however!

The influence of Mars indicates we might have to stand up for ourselves or even battle for our right to a place at the table, for our right to be counted in the established order of things. On the other hand, we might decide we don't actually want a place at that particular table, a table where we would have to continually fight for status and our right to exist. This type of battling for establishment acceptance or status uses up a lot of time and energy. With Uranus transiting Taurus, we have to ask ourselves whether being put in the role of constant renegade, rebel, or agitator (Uranus) is really worth it (Taurus), whether it is the most effective use of our energy and skills. 

We are currently experiencing a series of six New Moons at 23 degrees. These New Moons all exactly aspect Eris at 23 degrees Aries in some way. This lunar series indicates the possibility for a gradual emotional integration of the Eris impetus and themes. It indicates that any necessary discord or shifts catalyzed now could be emotionally digested over the course of time. 

The series of 23-degree New Moons began in October 2020 and will be completed in March 2021.

October 16, 2020 - New Moon at 23 degrees Libra opposite Eris in Aries

November 14, 2020 - New Moon at 23 degrees Scorpio quincunx Eris in Aries

December 14, 2020 - New Moon total solar eclipse at 23 degrees Sagittarius trine Eris in Aries

January 12, 2021 - New Moon at 23 degrees Capricorn square Eris in Aries

February 11, 2021 - New Moon at 23 degrees Aquarius sextile Eris in Aries (6-planet stellium in Aquarius)

March 13, 2021 - New Moon at 23 degrees Pisces semi-sextile Eris in Aries

The New Moon on April 11, 2021 falls at 22 degrees Aries, tightly conjunct Eris, indicating an intensification of the "discordant" themes that have been building over the previous six months. 

Venus will form a conjunction to Eris in Aries on April 9, 2021 before moving into an exact square to Pluto in Capricorn during the New Moon on April 11. This is a joining of forces of two feminine bodies as they take on the established order of power. Let's help each other out with that, shall we? 

Personal rights, individual sovereignty, and body autonomy will continue to be key themes for the next two-year Mars cycle. Fighting for the right to exist under our own sovereignty will continue to cause "social discord" - but social discord that is critically necessary.

1 comment:

clarelhdm said...

Wow! It's like you've been reading my diary for the past two years (at least!) Especially this bit 'There's a theme that involves a person initially being welcomed into the social fold, but that person's presence creating unexpected disruption and discord to the point that the individual is then expelled or shut out of future events. ' And that person was me, and now I'm moving away from that situation, because, as you so accurately said: 'we might decide we don't actually want a place at that particular table, a table where we would have to continually fight for status and our right to exist... we have to ask ourselves whether being put in the role of constant renegade, rebel, or agitator (Uranus) is really worth it (Taurus), whether it is the most effective use of our energy and skills'. Yup. I am no stranger to these themes, I am a full moon Libran, with Eris conjunct my Aries moon, in the 11th house, and Mars rising square Pluto to boot. My poor Venus :-) It has certainly been challenging trying to achieve Libran harmony and acceptance when my very presence is seen as disrupting and even threatening (even when I keep my mouth shut, with great effort!) The 23 degrees is key too: my Virgo Venus, my Libra/Aries nodes. This last round clearly left me scapegoated with no way forward, and so I will beat a retreat and hope it is a bit less severe next time round. Chiron is running around opposing my Sun and then con my moon for the next few years, so it might be complicated still. It made a great deal of difference to me when the Eris story became more widely circulated, it really made sense of the energies I carry. I see it's resonance in the Briar Rose/Sleeping Beauty story, where the uninvited fairy casts the curse upon the Princess. Thanks for your writing, good to know someone else 'gets it'.