Astroworld

Ceres, in astrological thought, which is taken from the Ceres of mythology, is the asteroid that rules nurturing, caring, and motherhood. It is similar in concept to the Moon and Venus, which of course rule the feminine principle, i.e. women, emotions, and motherhood. They govern women in our charts, in all their aspects as wives, mothers, sisters, daughters, lovers, friends.

Saturn, Mars and the Sun rule the masculine principle in our charts, with Mars primarily concerned with the mythology of the god of war, Saturn with fatherhood, discipline and structure, along with the Sun of our ego and identity. The Sun also represents father and husband in our charts.

With this brief overview of some of the basic tenets of the planet’s meanings, the occurrence I find most interesting in the 2005 Inaugural chart is that Saturn is conjunct the 4th house by 3 degrees and Ceres is conjunct (exactly) the 7th house at 14 degrees of Scorpio.

Now the fourth house represents home and family of origin and the mother, since it relates to Cancer, the fourth sign of the zodiac. The seventh house is the house of partnerships and open enemies, the ones we are aware of, as opposed to the 12th house, which is the house of secret enemies, among other things.

I bring up the 12th house since it is ruled by Neptune in this chart and Ceres is exactly squaring Neptune by zero degrees. Neptune is located in the 10th house, and is the most elevated planet in the chart; consequently, it has great importance.

Chiron the wounded healer is conjunct the 10th house cusp by one degree and is opposite Saturn and the 4th house cusp. Ceres is in a quintile aspect by one degree to Chiron. Chiron is where we need healing the most, but may not be aware of it. It is our deepest wound, sometimes one we cannot even name. It is something that must ultimately be healed by of all people ourselves and ourselves alone. It is that personal, and private, and important.

Neptune in its negative appearance is experienced as lying and cheating and deception. Square to Ceres perhaps those across the country in any sort of nurturing capacity at all are going to be experiencing this administration in a very disillusioning, deceptive mode. They may be the ones to start to call into question the true intent of this administration.

Saturn opposite the wounded healer Chiron, the closest thing to a point of grief in anyone’s chart, and located in Cancer and on the 4th house cusp of the mother could show the grief and sorrow many parents will be experiencing through the policies of the administration taking office.

Mothers and fathers figure strongly in this chart, very strongly. I can’t stress that enough. It’s the most important signature I find in the chart. Now not all parents are good parents, as we know. Not all mothers and fathers love their children, that’s a fact, a sad fact but there it is. The majority of us though, no matter our own experiences as children, do manage, when we have children of our own, to love them truly and utterly.

It seems as if almost everyday now I read in the local papers or see on TV a story of a young man or a young woman (sometimes barely 21) being killed or horribly wounded in this terrible ignominious war going on in Iraq. Closer to home are all the flags I see presently at half-mast. The amount of people intimately affected by the carnage taking place in Iraq also includes the millions of lives of the innocent Iraqis whose only crime is living in a country which has had one sadistic ruthless dictator after another, one way and another. The great majority of the Iraqis are not terrorists, though certainly some are.

If we add to all the above the fact that some soldiers are committing suicide* once they come home from the war, and that many many more are suffering mentally and emotionally (shell-shocked is the best term to describe this condition even though it does date from the Great War; i.e. World War I) from the severe traumas they have experienced, witnessed and/or participated in themselves, then I think this country is going to come to the same conclusion the character played by Edward G. Robinson in the Arthur Miller play/movie “All My Sons” did.

‘All My Sons’ was about a man, Edward G. Robinson’s character, who knowingly sold defective airplane parts during World War II which later caused the planes to crash and killed 21 men. He says at the end of the movie in great remorse, “they were all my sons, I just didn’t know”.

I think that during the course of the four year period covered by the Inauguration chart many people in the United States will come to recognize that fact. That is why Ceres and Saturn are the astrological signatures that speak to me most strongly in this chart.

* There isn’t anyone that I have ever met or read about who tried to commit suicide who wasn’t grateful the attempt failed. For positive reinforcement on one’s own self-worth try to get a copy of Natalie Merchant’s “Wonder”. It is a beautiful song that promotes self esteem and belief in one’s own inner wonder, enchantment and beauty.