Ceres

One of the most important uses of Ceres is to time the birth of a child. Traditional astrology cites the Moon and the fifth house as significators for fertility and pregnancy, but Ceres works so much better. Try it and see. To whet your appetite, here are a few examples to show how Ceres works in action.

David Letterman made headline celebrity news on November 3, 2003 when he had his first child at age 56. Why did he wait until 56 to have a kid? Letterman was born (April 12, 1947; 6:00 am CST; Indianapolis, IN) with his Sun in Aries and Moon in Capricorn, a combination that is driven toward success. This relentless, steamroller personality is further funneled into his Late Night host role with his Sun and several other planets in the twelfth house. The Aries Sun here is an iconoclast, one that attacks or undermines polite society. Letterman has used this outlaw side to give his sense of humor an edge, one that has found favor with late night audiences. Venus, the ruler of his Taurus Ascendant, squares Uranus. This quirky pairing, aside from enhancing his eccentric side, makes committed relationships difficult. He's never been married.

The house where Ceres is located describes the area where the native finds nurturing, and takes care of others. Ceres is found in Letterman's twelfth house, where it finds sustenance, nurturing through secret and behind the scenes activities. Letterman takes care of himself through his sense of privacy, and he discreetly takes care of those who work for him. The twelfth house is also about secret relationships, and as it turns out, the mother of his child is a staff member never seen on television. Ceres is conjunct Mars and in Aries, so his care-taking style often takes the form of aggressive or provocative banter. Ceres and Mars-Aries energy actually aren't the most harmonious combination. When Letterman fights with people at work, it means that he cares for them. Call it tough love.

As an Aries, Letterman naturally identifies with his Mars, which makes it easier to project Ceres onto the workers around him, especially the caring, motherly female staffers. Mars as the archetypal warrior knows that to get ahead one must be strong, forceful, and daring. Mars in Aries is highly competitive and gives Letterman the relentless desire to be Number One. A strong Mars such as this represents the vanguard, the best and brightest of the patriarchal society that has ruled our collective civilization for the last several thousand years. Mars here offers Letterman the fortitude to become a dominant player in society, the alpha male.

Ceres, in contrast, does not seek power over others. Ceres seeks to empower others, and this is what makes her feel fulfilled. Ceres provides others with whatever they need to become healthier and more secure individuals. In the modern business world, empowering others is a short cut to personal failure, until those who have been nurtured and sustained recognize that they became that way through the kindness and steady assistance of the Ceres personality. Ceres grows people like a gardener grows crops, and eventually the harvest comes. She is patient, understands the natural cycles of birth, growth, and decay, and honors the critical passages for each of these stages. Ceres is most closely associated with the signs Cancer (the home) and Virgo (the harvest).

Using the traditional planets doesn't provide many clues that Letterman was about to become a father. Transiting Saturn in Cancer is one that might be summoned, perhaps giving increased importance to the clan. Saturn was also in an opposition to his Moon, but this Saturn-to-Moon cycle is in effect every seven years, and doesn't point to 2003 as being different. His fifth house of children is ruled by Leo, and transiting Jupiter had been passing through when he conceived his son. But one could just as easily say that he was entering into a new romantic relationship. Perhaps he found a lover but they weren't married. This is in fact what happened. The question remains, why have a child?

The clearest indicator is Ceres. Ceres by secondary progression was right on his Sun, a once-in-a-lifetime state of affairs. If we consider the transits to be the planetary situations that everyone feels, the progressed chart represents the unique, internalized developments. Secondary progressions are based on the esoteric formula that one day after birth is the symbolic equivalent of one year after birth. Letterman was 56 when he had his child, so looking 56 days after he was born puts Ceres in a conjunction with his Sun. For this phase Letterman would personally identify (the Sun) with the parent-child relationship (Ceres).

As an aside, Letterman was deeply engrossed by his actual age at the time since his father died of a heart attack at 57. Letterman named his boy after his father, Harry Joseph Letterman. So the deeper significance of progressed Ceres conjunct his Sun was a reminder of life's major passages, and included the death of his father, his relationship with him, and his own mortality. Progressed Ceres moves about 1/4 degree per year, so becomes a noticeable influence within three or four years before becoming exact. The trigger for this underlying progression was transiting Ceres, which had just entered his fourth house of the home and family at the time young Harry Joseph was born.

Before Angelina Jolie married Billy Bob Thornton she was widely known for her weird escapades and emotional instability. Sure she oozed sex appeal and won an Oscar, but she had a bizarre side that wasn't really tamed until she adopted a child, a Cambodian boy named Maddox that she first met in November 2001.

Angelina was born a multi-tasking Gemini (June 4, 1975; 9:09 am; Los Angeles) with Venus, the love goddess, right on her sensitive Cancer Ascendant. Venus here is what gives her the enormous personal magnetism, and the square to Uranus accounts for much of her quirky behavior. Yet when she married the grizzled, four-times married Billy Bob Thornton on May 5, 2000, her life suddenly switched to semi-normalcy. Somehow she became more stable.

What happened from an astrological perspective is that her progressed Midheaven was forming a conjunction with Ceres in rock solid Taurus. Her reputation and professional life (progressed Midheaven) was now anchored to the Ceres archetype, giving her a respect for a more traditional lifestyle. And she became interested in having children. By March 2002 the couple had successfully navigated through the red tape to complete the adoption process. Although she and Billy Bob (b. August 5, 1955) separated shortly after that, he stimulated her maternal instincts since several of his planets aligned with her Ceres. His Mercury-Jupiter-Sun-Mars quadruple conjunction in Leo squares her Ceres, and in fact it was he who introduced her to their child Maddox while they were visiting an orphanage in Cambodia.

Angelina continues with the process of adopting other children, and plans on having seven altogether, one from each continent. She says her worldview changed when she read the script for Beyond Borders, a film that highlights the plight of the millions of refugees around the world. This happened in 2000 at the same time that her progressed Midheaven was conjunct her Ceres. Her interest is humanitarian; she has become the U.N. Goodwill Ambassador for which she has received several awards, and says she wants to feed all the hungry children in the world.

Here we can see how Ceres is closely associated with food, and in Taurus as a provider of the basic necessities for life. Angelina donates one third her paycheck (she earns $16 million per film) to charity, funds that go directly into feeding the hungry and sheltering refugees. This case study shows how Ceres can be classified along with Venus and Jupiter as a benefic. When her dormant Ceres suddenly came to life, Angelina found purpose and direction. Ceres is in her tenth house where it fulfills her sense of social responsibility.

This next case study comes from my client files, and highlights the significance of Ceres in questions about pregnancy. The client, whom we'll call Sharon, was born with a Gemini Sun conjunct Ceres on May 28, 1971 (at 4:10 pm; Chicago). The Sun-Ceres conjunction naturally seeks to be a parent, but Sharon was having difficulty conceiving, and asked the astrologer what was going on.

Sharon had a good grasp of traditional astrology. She had fully expected to be pregnant over the last year since her Leo Moon was experiencing a conjunction from transiting Jupiter. Her Moon is well aspected with trines to her Jupiter-Neptune conjunction, and sextiles to her Sun and Saturn. Jupiter, the planet of abundance, should have given her a child when it arrived on her Moon, but nothing happened. She had checked with her gynecologist and everything was in fine working order, and her husband had a good sperm count. Sharon's astrological studies did not include the use of asteroids, and once Ceres was included in the chart analysis, the picture became clear.

At the time of our first consultation in early 2003 Sharon's progressed Ceres was applying to a challenging square to her twelfth house Pluto. Pluto here represents the hidden obstacle to her getting pregnant. Transiting Saturn in late Gemini was also squaring her natal Pluto, and her progressed Moon was conjunct Pluto, putting a bright red flag on this behind-the-scenes obstructionist. Pluto represents the deeply subconscious fears associated with getting pregnant, as well as a secret romantic affair. Pluto forms dynamic connections to the love planets Venus and Mars (tri-octiles or sesquisquares, 135º aspects), a combination often implicated in romantic triangles.

Sharon admitted to the secret liaison, and set out to get right with her husband. By the time transiting Saturn, the progressed Moon and progressed Ceres had completed their difficult connections to her Pluto, she had dismissed the secret affair as a hopeless fantasy, and confessed to her husband. She really did want to get pregnant. After her progressed Ceres completed the square to Pluto, it went on to form a link (an inconjunction, or 150º aspect) to her progressed and natal Jupiter. Ceres to Jupiter blessed her with her first pregnancy in November 2003. Also at the time transiting Jupiter was squaring her Ceres, and transiting Ceres was conjunct her Midheaven. Astrologers, please note the difference. Jupiter to her Moon did not work; Ceres to Jupiter, and Jupiter to Ceres did.

Michael WolfStar O'Reilly is a professional astrologer and freelance writer living in Bend, Oregon. He writes the weekly NewsScope column which can be found on the internet. For more information, please contact him at wolfstar3@aol.com, or for personal consultations, visit Reading



	Ceres, The Great Mother Principle excerpt from Political Astrology, by Michael O'Reilly Ceres and Parenting One of the most important uses of Ceres is to time the birth of a child. Traditional astrology cites the Moon and the fifth house as significators for fertility and pregnancy, but Ceres works so much better. Try it and see. To whet your appetite, here are a few examples to show how Ceres works in action. David Letterman Becomes a Father David Letterman made headline celebrity news on November 3, 2003 when he had his first child at age 56. Why did he wait until 56 to have a kid? Letterman was born (April 12, 1947; 6:00 am CST; Indianapolis, IN) with his Sun in Aries and Moon in Capricorn, a combination that is driven toward success. This relentless, steamroller personality is further funneled into his Late Night host role with his Sun and several other planets in the twelfth house. The Aries Sun here is an iconoclast, one that attacks or undermines polite society. Letterman has used this outlaw side to give his sense of humor an edge, one that has found favor with late night audiences. Venus, the ruler of his Taurus Ascendant, squares Uranus. This quirky pairing, aside from enhancing his eccentric side, makes committed relationships difficult. He's never been married. The house where Ceres is located describes the area where the native finds nurturing, and takes care of others. Ceres is found in Letterman's twelfth house, where it finds sustenance, nurturing through secret and behind the scenes activities. Letterman takes care of himself through his sense of privacy, and he discreetly takes care of those who work for him. The twelfth house is also about secret relationships, and as it turns out, the mother of his child is a staff member never seen on television. Ceres is conjunct Mars and in Aries, so his care-taking style often takes the form of aggressive or provocative banter. Ceres and Mars-Aries energy actually aren't the most harmonious combination. When Letterman fights with people at work, it means that he cares for them. Call it tough love. As an Aries, Letterman naturally identifies with his Mars, which makes it easier to project Ceres onto the workers around him, especially the caring, motherly female staffers. Mars as the archetypal warrior knows that to get ahead one must be strong, forceful, and daring. Mars in Aries is highly competitive and gives Letterman the relentless desire to be Number One. A strong Mars such as this represents the vanguard, the best and brightest of the patriarchal society that has ruled our collective civilization for the last several thousand years. Mars here offers Letterman the fortitude to become a dominant player in society, the alpha male. Ceres, in contrast, does not seek power over others. Ceres seeks to empower others, and this is what makes her feel fulfilled. Ceres provides others with whatever they need to become healthier and more secure individuals. In the modern business world, empowering others is a short cut to personal failure, until those who have been nurtured and sustained recognize that they became that way through the kindness and steady assistance of the Ceres personality. Ceres grows people like a gardener grows crops, and eventually the harvest comes. She is patient, understands the natural cycles of birth, growth, and decay, and honors the critical passages for each of these stages. Ceres is most closely associated with the signs Cancer (the home) and Virgo (the harvest). Using the traditional planets doesn't provide many clues that Letterman was about to become a father. Transiting Saturn in Cancer is one that might be summoned, perhaps giving increased importance to the clan. Saturn was also in an opposition to his Moon, but this Saturn-to-Moon cycle is in effect every seven years, and doesn't point to 2003 as being different. His fifth house of children is ruled by Leo, and transiting Jupiter had been passing through when he conceived his son. But one could just as easily say that he was entering into a new romantic relationship. Perhaps he found a lover but they weren't married. This is in fact what happened. The question remains, why have a child? The clearest indicator is Ceres. Ceres by secondary progression was right on his Sun, a once-in-a-lifetime state of affairs. If we consider the transits to be the planetary situations that everyone feels, the progressed chart represents the unique, internalized developments. Secondary progressions are based on the esoteric formula that one day after birth is the symbolic equivalent of one year after birth. Letterman was 56 when he had his child, so looking 56 days after he was born puts Ceres in a conjunction with his Sun. For this phase Letterman would personally identify (the Sun) with the parent-child relationship (Ceres). As an aside, Letterman was deeply engrossed by his actual age at the time since his father died of a heart attack at 57. Letterman named his boy after his father, Harry Joseph Letterman. So the deeper significance of progressed Ceres conjunct his Sun was a reminder of life's major passages, and included the death of his father, his relationship with him, and his own mortality. Progressed Ceres moves about 1/4 degree per year, so becomes a noticeable influence within three or four years before becoming exact. The trigger for this underlying progression was transiting Ceres, which had just entered his fourth house of the home and family at the time young Harry Joseph was born. Angelina Jolie Finds Her Path Before Angelina Jolie married Billy Bob Thornton she was widely known for her weird escapades and emotional instability. Sure she oozed sex appeal and won an Oscar, but she had a bizarre side that wasn't really tamed until she adopted a child, a Cambodian boy named Maddox that she first met in November 2001. Angelina was born a multi-tasking Gemini (June 4, 1975; 9:09 am; Los Angeles) with Venus, the love goddess, right on her sensitive Cancer Ascendant. Venus here is what gives her the enormous personal magnetism, and the square to Uranus accounts for much of her quirky behavior. Yet when she married the grizzled, four-times married Billy Bob Thornton on May 5, 2000, her life suddenly switched to semi-normalcy. Somehow she became more stable. What happened from an astrological perspective is that her progressed Midheaven was forming a conjunction with Ceres in rock solid Taurus. Her reputation and professional life (progressed Midheaven) was now anchored to the Ceres archetype, giving her a respect for a more traditional lifestyle. And she became interested in having children. By March 2002 the couple had successfully navigated through the red tape to complete the adoption process. Although she and Billy Bob (b. August 5, 1955) separated shortly after that, he stimulated her maternal instincts since several of his planets aligned with her Ceres. His Mercury-Jupiter-Sun-Mars quadruple conjunction in Leo squares her Ceres, and in fact it was he who introduced her to their child Maddox while they were visiting an orphanage in Cambodia. Angelina continues with the process of adopting other children, and plans on having seven altogether, one from each continent. She says her worldview changed when she read the script for Beyond Borders, a film that highlights the plight of the millions of refugees around the world. This happened in 2000 at the same time that her progressed Midheaven was conjunct her Ceres. Her interest is humanitarian; she has become the U.N. Goodwill Ambassador for which she has received several awards, and says she wants to feed all the hungry children in the world. Here we can see how Ceres is closely associated with food, and in Taurus as a provider of the basic necessities for life. Angelina donates one third her paycheck (she earns $16 million per film) to charity, funds that go directly into feeding the hungry and sheltering refugees. This case study shows how Ceres can be classified along with Venus and Jupiter as a benefic. When her dormant Ceres suddenly came to life, Angelina found purpose and direction. Ceres is in her tenth house where it fulfills her sense of social responsibility. "When Will I Get Pregnant?" This next case study comes from my client files, and highlights the significance of Ceres in questions about pregnancy. The client, whom we'll call Sharon, was born with a Gemini Sun conjunct Ceres on May 28, 1971 (at 4:10 pm; Chicago). The Sun-Ceres conjunction naturally seeks to be a parent, but Sharon was having difficulty conceiving, and asked the astrologer what was going on. Sharon had a good grasp of traditional astrology. She had fully expected to be pregnant over the last year since her Leo Moon was experiencing a conjunction from transiting Jupiter. Her Moon is well aspected with trines to her Jupiter-Neptune conjunction, and sextiles to her Sun and Saturn. Jupiter, the planet of abundance, should have given her a child when it arrived on her Moon, but nothing happened. She had checked with her gynecologist and everything was in fine working order, and her husband had a good sperm count. Sharon's astrological studies did not include the use of asteroids, and once Ceres was included in the chart analysis, the picture became clear. At the time of our first consultation in early 2003 Sharon's progressed Ceres was applying to a challenging square to her twelfth house Pluto. Pluto here represents the hidden obstacle to her getting pregnant. Transiting Saturn in late Gemini was also squaring her natal Pluto, and her progressed Moon was conjunct Pluto, putting a bright red flag on this behind-the-scenes obstructionist. Pluto represents the deeply subconscious fears associated with getting pregnant, as well as a secret romantic affair. Pluto forms dynamic connections to the love planets Venus and Mars (tri-octiles or sesquisquares, 135º aspects), a combination often implicated in romantic triangles. Sharon admitted to the secret liaison, and set out to get right with her husband. By the time transiting Saturn, the progressed Moon and progressed Ceres had completed their difficult connections to her Pluto, she had dismissed the secret affair as a hopeless fantasy, and confessed to her husband. She really did want to get pregnant. After her progressed Ceres completed the square to Pluto, it went on to form a link (an inconjunction, or 150º aspect) to her progressed and natal Jupiter. Ceres to Jupiter blessed her with her first pregnancy in November 2003. Also at the time transiting Jupiter was squaring her Ceres, and transiting Ceres was conjunct her Midheaven. Astrologers, please note the difference. Jupiter to her Moon did not work; Ceres to Jupiter, and Jupiter to Ceres did. Michael WolfStar O'Reilly is a professional astrologer and freelance writer living in Bend, Oregon. He writes the weekly NewsScope column which can be found on the internet. For more information, please contact him at wolfstar3@aol.com, or for personal consultations, visit Reading