posted November 29, 2012 04:16 AM            

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Originally posted by Debby4:
Just wondering what Ceres actually was. I know it's how we mother or nurture or something like that but what happens when things aspect it? I haven't found much information about even though I've been to page 7 of Google!
What is you Ceres (what sign & house) and it's aspects?

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Hi Debby4, =)

The way I understand Ceres, she has to do less with mothering/nurturing in a Cancerian/Lunar way and more with the aspect of mother as a source of physical and developmental food. Ceres was the goddess in charge of making things grow, but there is a very complex dynamic to the astrological manifestation of that concept. Growth and thriving are the products of nourishment. In order for a plant to thrive, it requires a certain amount of carbon, water, oxygen, sunlight, etc.. Another aspect of thriving relies on one's ability to form a symbiotic relationship with one's environment. Living healthily not only relies on the conditions which we consume, but the conditions we are capable of offering others for their own consumption.

I believe Ceres is a very complex planet (and I refer to her as a planet because scientifically she and Eris both hold the same classification as Pluto). In nature, Ceres is the force which sets objects up to serve each other (including the growth of crops for food and shelter). No single part of an ecosystem thrives without the presence of all surrounding parts. She is nourishment and symbiosis, nature's ability to utilize an individual particle as a vital cog in a greater thriving organism. Each cell in the leaf of a plant or the blood in your veins lives and thrives through its own life experiences. On a greater scale, that cell is one tiny piece to a vast organism and without the health and happiness of that single cell, the entire organism suffers.

On a psychological level, Ceres represents our ability to and requirements for, being nourished and the parts of our self we feel naturally nourish our environment. It also represents our ability to identify with the small, delicate things which shoulder the weight of the world. The concept that a humble individual is unarguably vital to the evolution of the entire universe. My Ceres is in Sagittarius for example, and I often gravitate toward the role of teacher. I however also feel when I offer information, I am engaging in a process which further deepens my own understanding of the topic. I feel like a perpetual student, even when I am offering information. Any opportunity I have to learn makes me feel as though I am going about my life in a healthy and thriving way. Because my Ceres is in the 8th House much of those learning experiences focus on spirituality, psychology, and the comprehension of hidden or existential knowledge. It also fills me with a desire to nourish (or be nourished by) others in a deep and lasting way. Ceres is conjunct my Venus and Sun which deepens my appreciation for feeling healthy, thriving, and nourished. I feel very together and loved when I know I am contributing to the world.

Depending on the Sign, House, and aspecting planets there are all sorts of possibilities for meanings. The Sun is transiting my Ceres right now and within the past 3 days I have made changes which made me feel like I was contributing to my group of friends, I have been asked to research and resolve a problem at my work (which I thrive off), and I have enjoyed some very philosophically poignant and fulfilling mundane experiences too. When Ceries is happy we feel like a healthy and thriving participant, we feel as if we belong where we are, doing what we are doing. When Ceres is sad we withdraw, we feel starved, we feel lack of contribution, and rarely utilized.

posted November 30, 2012 11:54 PM            

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Originally posted by Debby4:
Sorry I didn't reply sooner didn't know it was moved! And hmm I also have Ceres in Sagittarius but in the first house (sextile True Node, semi-square Neptune) I do feel that way about learning though I hate school xD

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Sag (though associated with higher learning) is more interested in learning through experience. This is part of the reason travel is associated with the sign. One can collect as much data as possible, but the act of applying that data, experiencing triumph and failure, and evolving one's soul from those experiences, is more Sagittarius's cup of tea. Sag is about life lessons, learning to be a better person by facing one's flaws honestly, and developing a personal life philosophy which applies to what they have learned.

In the first house, all that applies to your ability to establish and identify a nourished and integrated "self image". The aspects indicate that working to develop a healthy and participating self feels like destiny, perhaps the whole point of your existence in this life. Neptune poses a challenge by adding moments of feeling insubstantial (regarding the area of life represented by Neptune's House). It is difficult to establish a healthy and integrated self, when even the concept of "self" can be viewed as something fluid, unconditional, unstable, and subject to equanimity.