Don’t Snub Eris ~ 28 February 2008


Since mid-December of last year, an unprecedented astrological event has been taking place. Every person alive on Earth experienced or will experience transiting Jupiter in Capricorn squaring natal Eris in Pisces (for those born before 1922) or Aries (the majority of folks) for the first time since the naming of the planet being transited! Given the conscious attention given to the discovery of Eris and her natural disruption of the definition of the solar system, this is a big deal.


Eris, goddess of discord, railing about with her lunar companion, Dysnomia, goddess of lawlessness, might seem a bit scary. No wonder astrologers shun her. How can something positive be made from her stories? She single-handedly started the Trojan War as the event line tracked by rolling an apple bearing the inscription “for the fairest” to the feet of the power goddesses, Athena, Aphrodite and Hera who attended the wedding of Peleus and Thetis - a wedding from which she had been snubbed. Uh-oh. Well, say the nay sayers, had she not been so disruptive and a pain in the patootie with all the trouble she and her entourage, often including the edgy Ares and the terrible Ceto, brought with them she might have been invited. Thinking like that’s not going to help. Somehow, we need to honor her and propitiate to her


Jupiter, lord of the gods, appreciated the tricky skill set of Eris. When Jupiter decided he did not favor the rulership outcome in the land of Mycenae, he dispatched Mercury to ask the ruler (the guy Jupiter did not like, or at least he favored the other contender more), Thyestes, that if the Sun rose in the west, would he relinquish his rulership to Atreus, who briefed ruled before Thyestes bull dogged his way in by accusing of Atreus of lying and boasting. While we might assume the odds of that celestial oddity to be astronomical, one might also wonder why the trickster Mercury bore the message. When Mercury delivers, accept the telegram with caution and pay attention. Regardless, Thyestes agreed. Jupiter dispatched Eris, asking that she bring her discordance attributes, and together, for one day, they reversed the order of the heavens. The Sun and Moon rose in the west, the stars reversed their directions and the Pleiades wept.


It’s interesting to note that this year, along with the Jupiter to natal Eris transits, Jupiter’s current track squares Eris’ present position three times this year. In the United States as we seek to nominate candidates for the Presidential campaign, already we’ve seen a demand for a recount in the New Hampshire primary. As well, a growing controversy on the Democratic side complains that the state primary votes in Michigan and Florida, presently snubbed in the delegate count process, should be included. On April 10th, May 30th (Jupiter retrograde) and November 23rd, less than three weeks after the U. S. Presidential election we’ll see Jupiter and Eris tag team for the beliefs and wishes of Jupiter’s well principled (or so he says) doctrines to come into accord, or to overturn those outcomes not to his liking.


Also during those eras, Eris should reset many things she believes need a good swift kick to get righted. Her node is Taurus and her closest contact to the Sun lies in Libra. It does seem her transformational message is that of healing the addiction to success, status, being all gorgeous and such, social acclaim and greed. Since she travels in space beyond the transformational inferences of Pluto, her message should be about restoration, recreation, resurrection and resurgence, right?


Following are some keywords (also found on the Eris, Sedna etc. page on my website) to apply for the balance of this potentially discordant year:


Positive - liberation from addictions to success or status, clear priorities regarding matters of love and money, finally getting you can't take it with you and applying full resourcefulness in life, recognition of the potency of one's energy and life force, clear sense of the sacred marriages: spirit to body, self to Creator, between soulful companions, personal sense of emergence.

Negative - greed, workaholism, believe that you must take over for God, general sense of being forsaken, condemned or abandoned, lack of spiritual regard for life, superficial, status-oriented.

Mundane - promises and vows (both kept and broken), elections, election fraud and election reform, intervention by higher powers (troubleshooters, authorities, deity or God), using chaos and disruption as a method of reorganization, i.e., dumping a closet onto the floor, then reorganizing, things that overturn, the scales of justice, battles, disputes, famine, fightings, lawlessness (attributed to her moon, Dysnomia), lies, manslayings, murders, oath, oblivion, quarrels - and the last word therein, sorrows and toil, contention, rivalry, loved the spilling of blood on the battlefield, the fifth day of the month, gluttony, gloating, the nurse of war, women wearing men’s uniforms (sports players, women in the Military, astronauts).

Ceremonial - capitulation ceremonies, vows to create order from chaos, intent to right wrongdoing, abundance ceremonies, ceremonies involving letting go.


We might also want to note that as the first of the three Jupiter-Eris square engagements forms, the Sun, the most massive and gravitationally significant body in the solar system aligns with Eris. Yep, the 10th of April should be quite a day; you have been forewarned. Given the Sun represents conscious attention, no doubt we’ll see it’s impact. Look to elections and politics, international diplomacy or lack there of, Internet hacking incidents, greed/corruptions scandals, and ultimately some measure of global economic reform trying to get in through the cracks. Oh, you want some personal ideas?


What to do? What to do? First, don’t snub Eris. If you could for one day reverse the order of the heavens long enough for insight and restorative vision to prevail, what would you look to see in the crack between the worlds? Would you envision upsetting your life as known with a fevered approach to pursuing your dreams and passions at all costs? Simply, Eris reminds us that life must transcend superficiality - whatever that means to you - and reconstitute a life worth living. It could represent a sweeping change. Is it worth it? Oh you bet it is.


Today a writer friend of mine e-mailed a quote from a writer, and member of the Erisian generation previous to it’s lingering stroll in Aries, Jack Kerouac. Born in the city in Massachusetts where Percival Lowell’s (the guy who built the observatory where Clyde Tombaugh discovered Pluto) roots existed, the scrappy, edgy Kerouac himself endured Eris conjunct Venus in Pisces, both square the Galactic Center, which per the quote below may or may not have supported the soulful healing agenda of his natal Chiron aligned with Sedna in Aries.

 

“The only people for me are the mad ones, the ones who are mad to live, mad to talk, mad to be saved, desirous of everything at the same time, the ones who never yawn or say a commonplace thing, but burn, burn, burn, like fabulous yellow roman candles exploding like spiders across the stars . . . ”


Like the novas (Latin for new, from novus) and supernovas of the heavens, may we embrace all the heavens, especially that which is new, strange and even disruptive. Snub Eris not!


Next week look for the new Eris link on my home page; it’ll probably be up before the next GT goes out. There you’ll see chart examples, notes about her position and how to get all the goods on the goddess you can.