Ceres, feminine asteroid and dwarf planet

Her mythology plays out in modern ways

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Astronomy of Ceres:

Ceres is the closest dwarf planet to Earth and the largest object in the Kaipur (asteroid) belt between Mars and Jupiter. Ceres looks like the mother of the other objects in the Kaipur belt because she is so much larger, and this mother archetype will come into play in the mythology. Discovered in 1801, it was first thought to be a planet, then reclassified as an asteroid, then in 2006 was reclassified to a dwarf planet (this was in response to the discovery of Eris and Sedna and similar objects around 2003), which is when Pluto was demoted to a dwarf planet. Its orbit around the Sun is 248 Earth years (the same as Pluto’s). It is known to have a layer of saltwater underneath the surface of rock and ice. 

Mythology of Ceres:

Ceres, also known as Demeter in Greek mythology (from the ancient form da mater for Earth mother), was the goddess of the Earth, the great mother, and was married to Zeus (her brother). In the myth, she was so happy wandering the Earth with her daughter Persephone, that as Goddess of the Harvest, she blessed the Earth with an eternal season of harvest or the Golden Age. However, she was extremely possessive of her daughter Persephone, thinking no man was ever good enough to marry her. Pluto became obsessed with Persephone and one day when she was out picking flowers (particularly enamored with the narcissus blooms), he abducted her to the Underworld. When Ceres finally found her, all parties were assembled in front of Zeus (Pluto’s brother, who had secretly approved the marriage) to sort things out, as Persephone said she wanted to remain with her husband. Persephone was to split the year on Earth and in the underworld.  

Ceres remained angry at her husband Zeus and basically everyone, and did not allow crops to grow during the 6 months her daughter was in the Underworld. Ceres also could never accept that her daughter was not entirely hers. This myth was central to the Eleusinian Mysteries and Rites and was told for thousands of years. The Eleusinian Rites initiated people into the divine worship of Ceres, and addressed human concern with death by taking them through a mysterious passage of death and rebirth while they were alive. I can make a connection between our societies aversion to death and therefore aversion to aging and anything that reminds us that we are aging.

This myth will also be reflected in the significations that have accumulated as we have had more experience with Ceres through the signs and in individuals charts.

The timing of our awareness of Ceres’ and accumulated astrological correlations which have developed since are aligned to the suffrage movement in the 1800s, women entering the workforce, latch key children, divorce, single motherhood, custody arrangements, food related complexes, and diet culture.

In your birth chart, Ceres, represented by a scythe (a ‘C’ with a cross on the bottom). Ceres represents our capacity to unconditionally love and nurture ourselves and others. Where it is placed in our birth chart indicates where we search for such love and nurturing most. It also represents nourishment through food, issues with food, attachment and detachment, love and loss, rejection, parent and child roles, self-worth, care for the Earth, appreciation of the seasons. 

Here are the sign and house significations from Demetra George and Douglas Bloch’s excellent book Asteroid Goddesses. They provide much more detail, including the potential imbalances the chart placement can bring, as well as examples of famous people with the specific placement. Note that to accept oneself in a relationship as well as be seen in a relationship, we need to experience these expressions of nurturing. Often, in order to express our Ceres to others, we need to have received it from our caretakers when young.

Ceres significations by sign:

Aries: Identification of nurturance through being allowed an appropriate level of indepence. They nurture others through promoting self-sufficiency.

Taurus: They receive nurturance through physical substance, touch, being given stability. They nurture others similarly.

Gemini: They receive nurturance through being instructed, talked to, and listened to. They nature others through communicating knowledge to them. 

Cancer: They receive nurturance through bonding with the mother, feeling loved, being fed. Express nurturance through emotional bonding, holding space for feelings.

Leo: They feel nurtured when allowed to express themselves, and in turn they nurture others by facilitating self-expression.

Virgo: identify nurturance with working towards perfection or through acts of service. They nurture through mentoring others to achieve excellence or teach abilities to serve effectively.

Libra: They identify nurturing with cooperation. They express nurturing through imparting instructions to others on how to maintain harmony and egalitarian relationships.

Scorpio: They feel nurtured when they receive intense and deep emotional bonding. They express nurturing through emotional commitment and acting as a catalytic agent to transform and heal.

Sagittarius: They receive nurturance through being granted the freedom to explore and expand their horizons. They express nurturing by teaching others to expand their mental and experiential horizons.

Capricorn: They identify nurturance through recognition of effort and achievement. They provide nurturing by teaching responsibility and practical skills.

Aquarius: They identify nurturing with individuality. They express nurturing by helping others to be free to be their unique selves.

Pisces: They identify nurturing with compassion. Receive nurturance through feeling connected to a reality beyond themself.

Ceres through the houses:

1st: Projection of one’s personality as nurturing, sympathetic, and concerned for others. May identify as being a parent or provider. May be necessary for you to nurture yourself.

2nd: Urge to nurture by providing tangibles. May become overly attached to sources of nurturance.

3rd: Nurturing through feeding ideas, teaching, and exposure to a variety of stimuli. Nurture others through creating access networks to people and info.

4th: This is the most pronounced placement, especially if near the IC. All Ceres themes may be pronounced and there may be an idealized image of mother and home. One’s role as a parent or home foundation may be prominent.

5th: Experiences nurturance through children and/or creativity and is nourished by play.

6th: Nurturing through the daily tasks, especially where family is involved, and through health and nutrition.

7th: Points to a need to nurture or be nurtured or protected by their mate. One parent is often a role model (subconsciously) for their relationship needs. Unconditional love is an essential foundation for an egalitarian relationship.

8th: Indicates receiving nurturing through intense experiences and deep emotional intimacy. Sex is often a necessary component of nurturing.

9th: Suggests nurturing oneself and others through mental and experiential expansion of horizons. This could also suggest prominence of mother figures in their religion, e.g. Mother Mary.

10th: Involves caring or providing through one’s profession or status. Careers may tend toward Ceres themes (children’s services, providing stable homes, food industry). It is possible that love gets linked to achievement.

11th: Symbolizes extending nurturing into the collective, such as chosen family, co-ops or communes, or support of humanitarian work. One may receive nurturing through friend groups.

12th: Denotes karmic themes of how the responsibilities of parenthood and nurturing of others through birth and death and loss are instrumental to nurturing the universe.

Ceres has been in Capricorn since February and has been squaring Chiron since early April and will move out of the square in about a week. Given what Ceres represents and what Chiron in Aries represents, it seems to emphasize boundaries and co-dependency. Maybe also forgiveness not as condoning behavior (as with Pluto), but as a means of accepting what has occurred in order to let go and regain one’s identity and well-being as an individual. This brought to mind our binary culture, which includes cancel culture, where people must take sides, and people become stories or tokens of something larger. Maybe we are meant to look at people and situations more holistically and understand what they are reflecting back about our society.