I recently lost a friend to depression.
My friend was born with Ceres at 17 Capricorn. When she passed, Pluto was moving over her chart at 17 Capricorn. This pattern can only happen around every quarter century.
In Roman myth, Pluto and Ceres were involved in an epic power struggle. In your own horoscope, Ceres reveals where you face the most intense issues about your own control (or lack of it) over your own life. It also shows where there are lessons to be learned about handling extreme highs and lows.
If you don’t have your personal horoscope showing Ceres, you can become a Premium Member here and pick it up instantly. You can also look up your Ceres sign in any modern Astrology Ephemeris, online or in a library. Here she is, below. This is a painting which shows clearly the tremendous tension that comes with Ceres cycles.
Sometimes, the issue with depression is not Ceres in your horoscope, it is Saturn. If you are curious about the impact Saturn cycles have, then please look here.
How can you tell the difference? Saturn feels heavy, hard, cold, stiff and stuck. Everything feels overloaded, including you. Nothing moves or changes. You can feel lumbered. Saturn is associated with the dead weight of lead. If you feel ‘leaden’ or the situation does then perhaps this is your issue. Check here.
Ceres, by contrast, generates tremendous emotion. Ceres is about indignation. Entitlement. Possession. Power. Control. She is also about the tremendous pain of loss, or losing.
There are other indicators for depression in your horoscope. Transits to Mercury in your chart (Mercury rules the mind) can sometimes be a trigger.
There is quite a difference with the role that Ceres plays in depression, though. Ceres is about turning off, and turning away from life, after a substantial power struggle. Sometimes the struggle is with life itself. Sometimes it is with other people. Ceres raises questions about how much control you have. It is quite different to Saturn.
The biggest giveaway, though, is the cyclical nature of what you are feeling. Ceres is strongly associated with highs and lows.
Ceres and Your Four Seasons
Where do you experience Spring and Summer, but also Autumn and Winter? Which issues give you the biggest highs and lows? Astrology is no substitute for medical advice, but it is a useful tool, in the toolkit of your life. Your doctor should always be your first resource. However – perhaps knowing more about Ceres in your chart can help you.
Where might you experience highs and lows? Where is Ceres in your chart?
Ceres in Aries – Your personal appearance. Your reputation. Your persona. Your profile.
Ceres in Taurus – Your money. Your house or apartment. Your possessions or charity.
Ceres in Gemini – Your words and ideas. Your life on the internet. Your speech, writing.
Ceres in Cancer – Your family. Your town or country. Your house or apartment.
Ceres in Leo – Your children, godchildren or young relatives. Your lovers.
Ceres in Virgo – Your body. Your working life. Your housework. Your duty and service.
Ceres in Libra – Your former, current or potential partners. Your enemies or rivals.
Ceres in Scorpio – Your financial or property agreements – deadly serious, or sexual.
Ceres in Sagittarius – Your travel, foreign, educational or publishing agenda.
Ceres in Capricorn – Your career. Your unpaid work. Your full-time job as parent.
Ceres in Aquarius – Your friends. Your groups, clubs, teams, societies or committees.
Ceres in Pisces – Your secrets. Your unconscious mind. Psychology or the psychic world.
Ceres and Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter
Your Ceres sign shows you where you have distinct ‘seasons’ in your life. The brilliant highs and the dizzy joy of each Spring and Summer moment, when you have what you want, your place in the scheme of things is restored, and God is in his heaven and all seems right with the world. These old Ladybird books illustrate it very well.
Ceres also shows where must deal with Autumn and Winter in your world. Look back at your life and you will see how your Ceres sign, and that particular department of life, has always given you darker days and harder times. Ceres shows the extremes.
Ceres – Rage, Depression and Power
This sculpture, below, by Bernini shows you Pluto’s grip. He is holding Proserpina, who was the daughter of Ceres. This is the core of the power struggle. In your chart, Ceres will also show where you must deal with people, groups, situations or organisations which take – and take over. Ceres describes how you deal with loss.
It can be a trigger for rage and depression. It is also important to remember that Ceres is a symbol for the most intense happiness as well – she goes through highs and lows, in a way that no other god or goddess in mythology does. The phrase ‘swings and roundabouts’ is a little too tame. Ceres is about soaring temperatures, blazing sunlight and bumper crops (she was the goddess who ruled corn and wheat) – but also freezing cold, dark clouds and bare fields.
Astrology and the art that surrounds it can be very therapeutic if you need to find a way to handle Ceres in your chart. Getting to the bottom of the myth is the first step.
Ceres, Depression and the Horoscope
Why do we associate Ceres in the horoscope with depression? It is more accurate to say that this planet is linked to extreme highs and lows. She is a dwarf planet, just like Pluto, and both were reclassified in 2006.
That also gives you a clue about Ceres. She describes the balance of power. She is about demotion and promotion. Being downsized and downgraded. Being ‘dwarfed’. At the same time, she is about coming first (her asteroid number is one). She raises issues about who and what is number one.
This detail of a painting of Ceres by Watteau (below) shows how it feels when Spring and Summer are here. Into every life, a little rain must fall – but when life becomes warm and sunny, and everybody is on vacation – we can feel almost drunk with happiness.
Ceres is associated with poppies, which you can see in her hair here, and she looks as if she is experiencing an unnatural high here, as well as the natural high of summer. The highs of Ceres, are higher than everybody else’s highs. The lows are lower. The challenge for you, with Ceres in your chart, is to try and balance that out.
When she lost her daughter, Proserpina, Ceres was given access to her for half the year, as a compromise. Whenever Proserpina was hers, Ceres turned on Spring and Summer. Whenever Ceres was down in Hades with Pluto, Ceres withdrew and Autumn and Winter arrived. When she got what she wanted, the world saw abundance. When she lost, the world grew cold and dark.
The trick to Ceres is balancing the highs and lows, so that the seasonal rhythms or cycling moods are neither too ‘high’ nor too ‘low’ in your life. Everyone has Ceres in her chart somewhere. We all have to win and lose at the game of life.
I know another author – a man – who has Ceres in Gemini. When his articles are accepted or his books are published, he is on an extreme high. He has Bipolar Depression. When his writing is rejected, he crashes. How does Ceres work in your horoscope? Do you go to extremes? Do you need to identify (perhaps) with another aspect of yourself, apart from this goddess of extremes?
Ceres (below) looks as high as a kite. That’s perfectly fine, but do the dizzying highs which arrive periodically for you, make the lows seem even worse? It’s a fair question.
Feeling Shut Out of Life
This painting by Peter Paul Rubens (below) shows Ceres at the extreme left, with a characteristic look on her face. It is the expression of someone who feels shut out of life. She is flanked by Bacchus (centre) and Venus, with her son Cupid, to the right.
It is the expression of a woman who is suffering from depression. In mythology, Bacchus rules pleasure. Venus rules seduction. Cupido rules desire. In this painting, Ceres is trying to share the fruits of summer with them – but she cannot.
Rubens was showing us a deep truth about Ceres. If you spend your Spring and Summer worrying about the return of Winter and Autumn, you will diminish the experience. It’s the same in your chart. If all you can find in the Ceres-ruled zone of your horoscope is something to fear (‘This won’t last”) then you are never going to enjoy your natural right to all of life’s sunny days.
The other truth about Ceres, as I’m sure you can see – is that the trick is to find what works about Autumn and Winter. If you buy into Spring and Summer too heavily as the ‘only’ seasons of your life that matter, you are going to find the other half of your life very hard indeed. In your chart, Ceres will show a distinct rhythm.
Where Are You Powerful? Where Do You Compromise?
If you look back over your life, your Ceres sign will reveal which areas of your world have given you the most tremendous power, passion and productivity – but also where life has taught you, that for around half the time, you have to give things up.
This painting of Ceres, below, shows the down time. Your chart will show these rhythms, which respond to transiting or travelling patterns in your chart, triggering Ceres.
If you look at Ceres in your chart and also see patterns you were born with (other planets, asteroids, angles or points are at the same number or degree) – then something as regular as the Sun moving over that same degree, every month, can draw your attention to your Ceres issues.
If you were born with Ceres at 1 Sagittarius and Venus at 1 Gemini, you will have a Ceres-Venus opposition. Every time even the Moon passes over 1 Sagittarius or 1 Gemini every month the pattern is triggered.
Ceres and Pluto in Mythology
The story of Ceres and Pluto is best told in Ovid’s Metamorphoses. The translation here is by Anthony S. Kline.
Ceres had a young daughter – a girl named Proserpina. While she was playing in a glade where Spring was everlasting, gathering violets, Pluto ‘saw her, prized her, took her.’
Ovid continues, ‘The frightened goddess cries out to her mother, to her friends, most of all to her mother, with piteous mouth. Since she had torn her dress at the opening, the flowers she had collected fell from her loosened tunic, and even their scattering caused her virgin tears. The ravisher whipped up his chariot, and urged on the horses…’
A nymph saw Pluto with Proserpina and cried ‘No’, and ‘Go no further!’ ‘You cannot be Ceres’s son against her will: the girl should have been asked, and not abused.’ The nymph stretched her arms out at her sides, obstructing him. The son of Saturn could scarcely contain his wrath, and urging on the dread horses, he turned his royal sceptre with powerful arm, and plunged it through the bottom of the pool. The earth, pierced, made a road to Tartarus, and swallowed the headlong chariot, into the midst of the abyss.”
Understanding the Abyss
When you experience a Ceres downturn in your chart, it can feel as if something or someone has gone into the abyss. We can also experience the ‘dread horses’ which take everything we own and love, away from us. It is very common to feel as if someone, or something, has come in and taken over. If you watch the transits (the travelling planets and asteroids) and see anything approaching your own Ceres sign – that is the time to get to know Ceres better. And to find a way to manage her.
I know a Jewish man born with Ceres in Cancer whose grandparents were affected by the Holocaust. He lost one of them. His family tree is crucial to his sense of identity. It also has a lot to say about his cyclical depression. His relationship with his mother is also central to him.
Whenever he travels far away from home, missing his family and his home town, he is vulnerable to depression. He has changed his job (which involves much business travel) as a result.
Ceres in your chart by sign and house tells you all you need to know. This man’s Ceres is in Cancer, in the Fourth House of his chart in the Natural House System.
How does his Ceres in Cancer work for him? He is a tremendous patriot. His class, his culture, his family, his background characterise him and it helps his career, working in an ambassador role. How does it work against him? When he wants a reason to feel depressed – and to find the absence of anything resembling a higher power, or God, or goodness in the world – he immerses himself in Holocaust literature. He deliberately puts himself in the abyss.
Ceres, depending on your personal horoscope, can be extremely painful. I am not going to gloss over the issues it can sometimes raise. At the same time, astrology is a useful tool, in the tool kit of your life, because it can show you the what of the issue – and perhaps encourage you not to spend too long down in the abyss. Look at your whole chart. Use your whole chart.
Understand, too, that Pluto is sometimes a force of history, or a force of nature, in the worst possible way. Sometimes life is beyond our control (beyond anybody’s control) and we are swept away by events. This happens to all of us. At some point in our family tree, it has happened to each and every one of us. You are not being singled out. But you do have a choice – to modify and balance Ceres in your chart.
The Drama of Ceres
In the Hesiod story, it is the nymph (Cyane) who first feels the loss of Proserpina, snatched away by Pluto. We are told that she “nursed an inconsolable grief in her silent heart, and pined away wholly with sorrow.”
When we go through a Ceres experience, it is often other people who act out the drama for us. Only you can decide if that is cathartic or not. Is it therapeutic to have others grieve and pine on our behalf, or does it just intensify the loss?
Ovid goes on to describe what Ceres feels at her loss. She ‘searches in vain’ over the earth and sea. She does not rest.
“Lighting pine torches with both hands at Etna’s fires, she wanders, unquiet, through the bitter darkness, and when the kindly light has dimmed the stars, she still seeks her child, from the rising of the sun till the setting of the sun.”
Then, Ceres finds her daughter Proserpina’s hair ribbon. “As soon as she recognised it, the goddess tore her dishevelled hair, and beat her breast again and again with her hands.”
Her rage knew no bounds. “With cruel hands, she broke the ploughs that turned up the soil, and, in her anger, dealt destruction to farmers, and the cattle in their fields, alike, and ordered the ever-faithful land to fail, and spoiled the sowing. The fertility of that country, acclaimed throughout the world, was spoken of as a fiction: the crops died as young shoots, destroyed by too much sun, and then by too much rain. Wind and weather harmed them, and hungry birds gathered the scattered seed. Thistles and darnel and stubborn grasses ruined the wheat harvest.”
Putting Ceres in Her Place
This statue of Ceres (above) in a painting by Rubens, shows how she was worshipped in the ancient world. If you enshrine Ceres in your horoscope and pay homage to her too often, you may find that she looms too large. This is more common if you have other factors in the same sign as Ceres.
The man I mentioned – the author with Ceres in Gemini – also has the Sun and Mercury in Gemini. Of course, he is a writer, with all those factors in that sign. He identifies so strongly with being a wordsmith, though, that he also buys into the Ceres highs and lows quite intensely. Life is never any good when he has writers’ block. There is nothing for him in life, when his articles are turned down.
If you have other horoscope factors in the same sign as Ceres, the chances increase that this area of your life – this house of your chart – is where a lot of drama is played out. It may be useful, if you experience depression, to look at the amount of ‘worship’ you pay to Ceres and particularly to the investment you have in this part of your life story. Buying into the extremes means the high points are always higher, but what do the lows do to you?
Ceres derived her identity and sense of importance from being the mother of Proserpina. When Proserpina was taken from her (and in fact, left her – she chose to marry Pluto in the end) that changed.
One way around this placement in your chart is to find other roles, other identities, other sources of personal power – apart from your Ceres sign. If you have Ceres in Cancer in the Fourth House, perhaps you need to look at a role which exists outside your family, or outside your family’s culture or religion. Maybe that is not the only thing that defines you.
Ceres, Ownership, Possession and Entitlement
We all want to ‘own’ or control something or somebody. We all want to run the Ceres-ruled area of our life. Ceres was not only the mother of Proserpina, she was also the controller of Italian agriculture. She provided the wheat and corn. Not surprisingly, when others want to flex their muscles, or use their power, Ceres can trigger tremendous entitlement, and even, as Hesiod tells, us, hate…
Hesiod writes that Proserpina was “sad indeed, but, though her face was fearful still, she was nevertheless a queen, the greatest one among the world of shadows, the powerful consort, nevertheless, of the king of hell!’ The mother (Ceres) was stunned to hear these words, as if petrified, and was, for a long time, like someone thunderstruck, until the blow of deep amazement became deep indignation. She rose, in her chariot, to the realms of heaven. There, her whole face clouded with hate, she appeared before Jove (Jupiter) with dishevelled hair.”
This painting, below, by William Etty shows the loss of Proserpina. It is common to feel that something or someone (Pluto people, or Plutonian situations) are ‘taking’ or dominating. It feels intense, dramatic. The Ceres house of your chart shows the ‘what’ of the story, each time it happens.
When other people try to fight over our Ceres ‘stuff’ we can respond with all the deep indignation and rage of the goddess.
Princess Diana, born on 1st July 1961, had Ceres in Taurus. She inherited her wealth and was, naturally, a very rich woman. She was even richer after her divorce.
The Prince of Wales was “taken to the cleaners” and handed over his entire personal fortune to Diana, Princess of Wales, as part of their divorce settlement, his former personal financial adviser has revealed.
Prince Charles has Ceres in Leo. The sign of monarchy.
Princess Diana and Prince Charles are just two examples of the life-changing ways in which people can act out their Ceres signs.
Ceres, Compromise and Sharing – The Key
The myth tells us that Jupiter’s solution to the loss of Proserpina, and the terrible rage and grief of Ceres, was to intervene. He asked if Proserpina had eaten anything in Hell, during her time there, with Pluto. She confessed she had eaten half the seeds in a pomegranate.
Thus, Jupiter decided, Ceres should have her daughter Proserpina back for half the year, while she was allowed to spend the other half of the year with Pluto, her new husband, as Queen of Hell. When Ceres owns Proserpina again, it is Spring and Summer and we have a rich harvest of corn and wheat. Life is ripe and juicy. It is abundant. When her daughter is gone, it is Autumn and Winter and everything vanishes. The life force goes away.
We speak of depression as feeling ‘down’ if it is mild. Pluto ruled Hades, the Underworld, and in the myth, he takes Proserpina back down with him, every Autumn and Winter. We talk about ‘lows’ with mild depression and for the six months a year that Proserpina is with him, Pluto is lying low. We speak of depression (as Churchill did) as ‘the black dog’ and in the Roman myth, Pluto’s domain, Hades (Hell) is guarded by the dog Cerberus.
This pomegranate reminds us of the deal that Proserpina made. Because she ate half the seeds, she must be with Pluto, down in the depths, for half the year. During that time, Ceres must go without. Depression is sometimes described as darkness, or as gloom. That is the light of Autumn and Winter when Proserpina is down below and Ceres must go without her.
The Discovery of Ceres
Ceres was discovered by a Catholic astronomer called Piazzi who named it Ceres Ferdinandea. The planet drew the second part of her name from King Ferdinand IV of Naples and Sicily. He was deposed. Twice.
I am sure this was the last thing on astronomers’ minds back in 2006 when they demoted Pluto and promoted Ceres, but it is in the way of astrology that such things happen. Just as Jupiter decided Proserpina should take turns at spending half of each year with Pluto and Ceres (based on the fact she had eaten half the seeds) – we often find that demotions, promotions and other shifts mean sharing power.
If you are dumped you can feel demoted. If you are sacked or made redundant, you are literally moved down the ladder. Ceres in your chart by sign and house shows where there will be tremendous power shifts over your lifetime and the sense of being slighted, downsized, minimised – or ‘dwarfed’ – is very common.
Sometimes – as people with depression discover – the power struggle is with the illness itself. This is especially true if the illness is seasonal or cyclical. Pluto can loom large, like a ‘thing’ in your life which seems to take, and take over.
Make no mistake. The myth tells us that Ceres ruled the world for half the year. She was the goddess who produced the wheat and corn that fed the planet. She was a creator and controller. Your Ceres sign and house can show you where you are Queen of everything, for a time. On top of the world. On high. And probably on a high.
Digging deeply into the meaning of your Ceres sign and house may be useful. You are powerful here. You derive incredible influence and clout from the areas of life Ceres rules. At the same time, this is where you will go through the most dramatic shifts.
Proserpina – The Real Power Player?
As you go more deeply into Ceres in your chart, ask yourself who and what plays Proserpina. She is the real power player in the story, although her role as ‘girl’ and ‘maiden’ fool us into thinking she is the innocent piggy-in-the-middle, caught between her husband Pluto and her mother Ceres.
In fact, Proserpina has supreme control over both people, as it is her presence in their lives that dominates their happiness. When Proserpina is with Pluto, hell is a little warmer. When she is with Ceres, Spring and Summer arrive.
The most famous painting of Proserpina (below) is based on the artists’ model Jane Morris, muse and wife of William Morris – and adored by Dante Gabriel Rossetti, who painted her here. In real life, Jane was the daughter of a stableman and laundress. Her role as muse made her very powerful. (She is said to have been the inspiration for Eliza Doolittle in Pygmalion, and later, My Fair Lady).
In this painting, Jane looks as if she has just realised the full enormity of her role as the woman caught between Morris and Rossetti. Sometimes art imitates life. Or was life imitating art? Like Proserpina, she was the go-between who derived her power from inspiring passion in two extremely powerful people.
Often, with the Ceres story in your horoscope, you need to ask yourself who or what the power struggle or battle for control is about. Who are the players in the drama? Or – maybe there are two or three different sides of yourself, all trying to run things, yet all in conflict with each other.
Who Plays Proserpina in Your Ceres Situations?
Space does not allow to go into the full story of Proserpina, but she is also worth looking up in your horoscope. Just as Pluto changed her from virgin to Queen of Hell, in My Fair Lady, cockney Eliza is transformed from guttersnipe to lady – and empowered. How does Proserpina function by sign and house in your chart?
Look at the Ceres house of your horoscope, too, to see where people or organisations also ‘play’ at Proserpina in your world.
What is really astonishing about Ceres is that she was found on the same day and year (January 1st 1801) that the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland was created. That is an historic tale of promotion and demotion – power and control – compromise and loss. Who was playing Pluto, Proserpina and Ceres that day? The issues rolled on into the Irish troubles of the 1970s and 1980s.
The Four Seasons
Ceres was also found in the same year that Haydn launched his great work, The Four Seasons. This is another astonishing example of the way astrology works. I am sure you have heard of Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) also known as winter depression, winter blues – but also as summer depression and summertime blues.
Bipolar disorder – the notorious peaks and troughs – is reminiscent of turning seasons. Highs and lows. Light and dark. Summer and winter. Sunshine and rain.
How To Work With Ceres in Your Horoscope
If you suffer from depression, in either a mild or serious form, you should already turned to your doctor for help.
If you are curious about astrology, look at the position of Ceres by sign and house in your chart, and any aspects she makes. I use the Natural House system, if you are drawing up your chart for the first time. Premium members can check their chart below – just login.
If you have Ceres patterns in your chart – aspects – then this dwarf planet will really be triggering quite a lot about yourself and your life, every time there is a cycle which ignites Ceres in your chart.
A simple way to check is to look at the degree or number of Ceres. Then eyeball your chart to see if you have anything else at that degree or number (allow one degree’s difference either side).
If you have Ceres at 7 Cancer and you have Saturn at 7 Sagittarius and the Sun at 8 Cancer then you have a pattern.
There is a story inside yourself, involving your Ceres sign, and those other factors too, which can help you if you unlock it.
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Coping With Ceres In Your Personal Horoscope
1. Understand that Ceres rules the highs and lows of life – the rhythms which bring extremes of emotional weather, like Winter and Summer.
2. Examine how much you buy into these extremes and how much you allow yourself or other people to dramatise and intensify these – does this serve you, or not?
3. If you have other horoscope factors in the same sign as your Ceres sign, the chances are higher than this area of your world defines you and identifies you. It may be useful to also look at the meaning of the other planets, asteroids, points or angles too. What is the story about yourself that you are writing in your life?
4. Try to see who/what plays Pluto and who/what plays Proserpina at any given time. Reading the original myth by Ovid can be useful as can examining art and sculpture.
5. It may also help to understand that everyone has Ceres in her birth chart. Not just you. We all suffer the lows and revel in the highs – everyone has Ceres somewhere. It’s what makes us human.
6. Play with the idea of moderating the lows and highs, so that you begin to see the value of the winters and autumns in your life. Does Summer have to be everything? We live in world where we are sold the message that being up, happy, energised, high, perky and bright should be ‘normal’ and anything else is not. If there is one thing that Ceres in astrology can show us, it is that Autumn and Winter is also part of life and maybe we should make our peace with the other seasons too.
7. Be a realist about the seasonal compromises you must make with life or other people. From time to time, according to the transits affecting Ceres, you will have to bow down. Life can also be unfair. It can be plain wrong. It may help to understand that everyone suffers from Ceres loss. To stay there, for too long, too often, will not help you. Don’t dwell on the abyss. Don’t spend your summers fearing winter.
8. Are you overplaying Ceres in your chart? What about the rest of your horoscope? If you invest too much of yourself and your world into Ceres it can unbalance you.
9. Whenever the compromise is made (involving a change in the balance of power, like a demotion or promotion, or switching from ‘Number One’ to ‘Number Three’ try to make sure it is practical enough to work effectively over many years. Don’t leave raw feelings.
10. The hardest thing of all to do with Ceres is to admit that other people also deserve to be powerful. Other organisations are also entitled to what they own, love, produce, create or run. If you slip into the role of aggrieved Ceres and deny others their power, you will not feel any happier.
If this story has personally affected you, these are recommended online resources for you.
Hope and Help For Your Nerves – Dr. Claire Weekes
Audible Free Download
http://www.audible.com.au/mt/free_trial_special_offer_at/?url=
Samaritans Telephone Helpline America
http://www.samaritansusa.org
Samaritans Telephone Helpline Great Britain
If you or anyone you know needs help, contact The Samaritans on 116123 or visit http://www.samaritans.org
Black Dog Australia – Depression
http://www.blackdoginstitute.org.au
Lifeline Telephone Helpline
https://www.lifeline.org.au
109 Responses
Hello,
Another fascinating article Jessica. Can you please analyse my birth chart in terms of the effects of Ceres, Pluto and Proserpina: 9 Oct 1986, 8:13am, Tamworth, Australia.
Are the current positions of Ceres, Pluto and Proserpina having any influence on me?
Also about how long do these 3 remain in each sign?
Thank you. Born with the Sun and Ceres in Libra, your relationship with former, current or potential partners defines who you are. However, a lifelong pattern of having to compromise over control and power will never quite go away – it can be considerably healed when Jupiter goes through Libra from September into 2017. Yes, the position of Ceres in particular (now) is key as she is going through Aries, until July. You are in a cycle which has been triggering all these love/sex/relationship issues. Sometimes the issue is an outright enemy or opponent, in which case, Jupiter will fix a few things from September.
Thank you for these brief overviews. The are tremendously insightful and appreciated.
March 13, 1962 7:07 pm Bedford, Indiana United States (standard daylight time (Indiana on the time zone 1962)
Have recently experienced enemy through romantic partner; am I finally entering into a peaceful transition of hope with effects of Ceres, Pluto and Prosperina?
Thank you for your consideration in advance; blessings.
You have enough information there to look up Ceres at Astro.com and that will tell you exactly where the deals must be made in your life, and the emotional bargains struck.
I have my Ceres in EXACT conjunction with my north node in 17 degrees Libra. Both are in wide conjunction with my Pluto at 12 degrees libra all in 5th house. All are sextile my 3rd house Sun Saturn Conjunction in Leo and trine my 12th house Mars Dark Moon Lillith in Gemini. So when any of these planets are touched it sets off the Ceres themes which with Ceres being smack dab on my Rahu are VERY important. I have Proserpina at 29 degrees of Libra conjunct my Cupido at 0 Scorpio(Which is also where my current progressed moon is). Transiting pluto has just last year crossed into my 8th house. Right now I am trying to rebirth myself after the loss of my husband suddenly to cancer at the same time pluto crossed. I have to note that two years before that I lost my dad suddenly to cancer, 4 years before that my sister suddenly to PE, two years before that my brother sufdenly to a brain hemmorhage and two years before that my brother to Alchoholism. Saturn is my 8th house ruler and as I noted its in my 3rd house which rulessiblings. Sudden loss is huge for me. I suspect its not the end. Can you give any insight into ways Pluto North Node Ceres in Libra 5th can cope?
I am very sorry that you lost your husband to cancer and also had people in your family pass away, in such a short time. You use different astrological methods to me – Lilith is not part of the Roman/Latin astrological family tree so I don’t use her. Ceres conjunct the North Node at 17 Libra is actually in the Seventh House in the Natural House system too and I only use one degree orb for aspects! Having said that, the Seventh House rules your husband, of course. Proserpina at 29 Libra is also in your Seventh House conjunct Cupido at 0 Scorpio in your Eighth House, which of course rules life insurance, legacies and ‘Until death do us part’ commitment. You are going to find the next 13 months incredibly healing as Jupiter moves through your Seventh House and conjuncts Ceres, the North Node and Proserpina. Spin your chart. Pick up 2020 Astrology here, absolutely free.
Hi Jessica, l have Ceres in Aries at 01′ Prosperina in Virgo at 26′ and Pluto in Virgo at 14′. Can you help me to understand how that effects me. l know that Aries is associated with Personal appearance….Does it mean that my appearance can sometimes cause me to become depressed?? lm not really sure how to interpret it??? l was born the 8th July 1965 at 10pm in Melbourne….
Ceres at 1 Aries sextiles Ops in Aquarius (it’s almost exact) so the pattern that plays out, is always about how you look and appear, in relation to your friends – and your groups. Just being in a club, team, band, society, political party, committee or other circle of people (even being in a gym class) triggers issues about your appearance, image or profile. Social media is another good example. Just being in a Facebook group (if you use Facebook) makes you more aware of the highs and lows of how you are seen, and how you appear.
Hello Jessica,
Amazing article thank you… I am very interested with Proserpina&Cers&Pluto myth, maybe too much. I look also the placement of Persephone asteroid in my chart, as it has aspect with Ceres and Chiron. Is it important or just Proserpina is enough?
Can you please help me to have more insight about how is it working in my life. My birth detail is 14 March1973, 16:15, istanbul, turkey
Sending love.
I’m glad you liked the article. Don’t worry about Persephone – she is Greek – and astrology is Roman. I can’t calculate your chart, but you have enough information here to look up Ceres, Proserpina and Pluto at Astro.com
Hi Jessica,
Can you please look at my birth chart and tell me how I should interpret the influence of Ceres in my life? Thanks!
You have Ceres at 4 Libra in quite tight patterns with other horoscope factors, so whenever you go into a partnership, just about every other area of your life is affected. It’s the same when you break up with partners. Ceres brings the extreme highs and lows you might expect, but one way to balance this and its massive impact on your chart, is to try and moderate things so that you realise ‘this too shall pass’ no matter if it is a peak or a trough. Tremendous healing will give you closure and progress from September 10th 2016 as Jupiter slowly begins to move through Libra. He meets Ceres on the way. You don’t say if you have a partner now, but should this be the case, there is real evolution for you, emotionally, sexually or psychologically. If you are single by this point you will have the opportunity to form a partnership with someone who makes it necessary that you share and compromise – true Ceres rules.
Thank you so much Jessica for your reply! I’m single since early 2015 and hoping to meet someone… Looking forward to autumn now!
Dear Jessica,
Few months bck u hd predicted my ex will be in the most heavy cycle in 2016 and 2017 for his karma and at tht time it will be my choice if I wanna be a part of tht cycle or not. His DOB 10th June 1969 10.10 p.m India,…..mine 28.03.77, 11.40 PM….yes, today same hs happened…..he is devastated n I am in a position whr I can just ignore all n stay busy wid my life………..yet I feel v v bad for him whn I found him in this condition…. depression is devastating n seeing him in this stage hurts coz despite all I cn never wish him bad.
Just wanted to know when will this end..will he be stable soon ….hope depression doesnt end it all for him…I hv already lost a partner in my past to death due to alcohol addiction….already faced tht pain of seeing a loved one go down the drain whr I stood helpless as I saw him devastating …now I dnt want to see the history repeating whr I again feel helpless as I see this man also go down the drain due to depression…..today he is just an ex yet I care enuf to pray well for him .,,,,,,so just asking u for any insights tht u see abt him? Thanx
Does your ex-boyfriend have a good doctor? Is he part of a support group of other men with depression? If not, can you find resources to help him? If they do not exist for him locally, can you find them online for him? Prayer is good. Practical help is good. Yes – he is going through a tough cycle. Yes – you can help him by steering him towards the right professionals and the right group of fellow sufferers/survivors.
Yes….as per him he hs started with his treatment by doc this week…he is also with SM gp ,,thts wht he says…i dnt knw much as he stays in a different city aftr he left me 3 yrs bck so I can’t monitor his life now,,,,,…as per him he hs been cheated by the woman who he married there and he feels he has been just paid for his karma…he says she hs left n he is totally alone n shattered man now at this stage in life
I feel bad for him…actually worried …..he is a gd man n I always lvd him even whn he dumped me……..I guess I shd help him come out of it bt as anodr woman also involved so I just am confused if my entry doesn’t create more mess for him.
I really dnt knw…..I hv been waiting for him to cm bck always yet I just came to knw abt his condition n anodr failed marriage this week…..even I am shocked so wanted an insight what this man s life is heading towards n whr is my life heading to too ?? I feel mny facts are concealed
Be a friend. If you are worried for him, then forget love, sex, relationships, marriages, exes, love rivals and all the rest. Treat him like any other female friend. Make it clear that it’s about friendship. I am saying all this, because we are approaching the Sun in Gemini cycle, and the Sun will make a perfect trine to the Aquarius (friendship) zone of the heavens. Gemini is about communication, too, so really listening – which he needs. The highest expression of your concern for him would be to set aside your desire for him to come back, or your feelings about his failed marriage – and to try and detach yourself. From here, you can make all the calls required to find him what he needs in terms of medical care and counselling.
Thanks….thts exactly wht I am doing….coz at the moment marriage wid him or his coming bck is not in my mind at all,,…all I pray is wherever he is he should stay healthy , happy n live long…thanks Jessica for giving me the comfort n the advice n showing me the light …thnx for ur guidance….I will do exactly the same …thank u so much…u are a great help …God bless u
Thank you. Her passing was a tremendous trigger for me, to look at Ceres in the horoscope.
Hi, Jessica
Thank you for the article. Astrology makes people to know destiny. I have been reading your daily astrology for more than two years. Actually it has become my habit.
I have seen luck happened couple of times for Leo last year and early this year but it was not me.
I have been very sick for couple of years. I thought I was going to die. I want to be independent but could not find job. I believe in sole mate but have experienced the love story. I do not know whether I have chance to change my destiny or be myself? I really want to raise my parents by myself and really want to have a successful career. Every thing what I want is far away from me. The more I want to catch the more they are going further…
Thank you and I am glad the astrology helps you. You’re a Leo? Okay. You have had the worst of the Pluto cycle in your Sixth House, which rules the body. It can and will get better, but you must realise that you run your body. You control your own body. You have total power over how it works (or does not work) and therefore you need to find out every alternative you can, to handle the body you have. Advice, knowledge, treatments, wisdom that you have been told, or read about, or heard, may not be remotely appropriate for you. If it was, would you have been so desperately ill? In order to be successful, you have to have a powerful mind, body, spirit relationship. This can and will happen but you have to go back to your body and really reach for different books, ideas, advice, methods, techniques. They are all out there for you. Just go to the library or hit internet forums. The time has come to become empowered and you are already more powerful than you realised you were, because you have survived a life-threatening time.
Hi. Jessica
you are right and make sense for everything.
I have done some research for body treatment. it works well. these days I can use my body as normal even though sometimes I feel too tired to work. But I can work now. My doctor even spoke to me and asked me how did I do to treat my illness.
Are you sure that a spirit relationship will happen to me? can it? I just know my life is messy and terrible. it seems if I want to change everything I really need a job first. But I am not the lucky one even though I do my effort to find. For this month prediction, everything will not be done until the first week of June. yes it is. I got a work experience chance but everything is going very tough. I just want to learn but people keep their job security and do not want to teach. it is ok, I can suffer. suffering becomes my habit.
everything feels like I want to be strong but I can’t. Just say this to you, please do not mind. you are the only person who has the spirit connection with me.
forgot to say I am Leo. 13/8/1980
You were born with Ceres at 2 Cancer so once a month when the Moon reaches 2 Cancer (you can see that on my website) you actually have a repeated pattern, around the family, your household, your country, your apartment, your house, your home town – basically, your people and your place. The lifetime issue with this is to learn how to enjoy the Autumns and Winters with your people or your place. Sitting with that and appreciating these periods in your life for their own merits is a real lesson but it will make a huge difference to your life. I suspect the family tree contains some powerful stories about mothers and daughters and you have inherited this too.
It sounds as if your spirit and soul is really important to you. Next time you are in the market or supermarket pick up some tea light candles and light one daily to connect with your spirit guides, helpers, friends and family. Focus on the flame, just for five minutes. Ask for guidance and ask what you can do to help others around you, on their behalf. See what happens. Do it every day.
Thank you very much,Jessica.
I did for two days it made me feel calm and peace. I think meditation can really help people. I will continue to do.
You are right, the spirit and soul is very important for me. I would rather live in simple way but do not want to sell soul. However we live in the world, we need to think about money that drives me crazy. I will do my best to do to be independent. The manager offer me a chance to develop a new market. I start from small and simple way and do not know if I will be success but I will do my best to do. Then I let you how did go.
I am glade I can write letter to you and talk to you like an old friend. You gave me a lot help.
Hi Jessica, that was another great post, thank you. In my chart, I have Pluto at 19′ Libra, is that why I’m so vocal and passionate about equality? I have Ceres at 08′ Cancer, I’m a Virgo Sun, so is that my house of groups, friends, associations? I used to have very large group(s) of friends, but with Saturn in Sagittarius, I was forced to leave my home town and abandon/relocate further away. I was also born with ASC 20′ Virgo and DESC 20′ Pisces, does that explain the relentless opposition in partnerships and resulting feuds (adding Neptune’s recent illusions into the mix), many thanks
Thank you very much. Yes, Pluto in Libra is all about equality issues (which push your buttons) but also about feuds with partners and ex partners as well. In your own way you help move the planet forward as your generation is here to stop sexism and the fight begins on the home front – within relationships with men, who need to learn what is fair and unfair. Okay, so that’s your Pluto in Libra position. You also have Ceres at 8 Cancer conjunct Aesculapia at 8 Cancer. This is rare and it’s important. Find out more about your grandmother (maternal). Figure out the relationship with your mum. Look into your own feelings about being a mother. Also, hit ‘Cancer’ on the Search button on this website. Dig very deeply into this because it’s also about your home town too. The more you know the Cancer side of your life and personality the easier it will be to fix these issues. Some of the friendship and partnership concerns may need to be looked at in the context of your family relationships. What patterns have you picked up from your mother and what patterns did she pick up from her own mother?
Thank you for your response, it may be the six virgo and five libra factors, which explain the need for equality and whats fair, but I’m actually male and always have a desire to be the leader, am I right in saying that Pluto was conjunct Apollo 19′ at the time of birth in my chart. I must also add your Lenormand Oracle cards (and your interpretation of them) in the weekly horoscope are spookily accurate, many thanks
Your chart is extraordinary. You have been a leader, possibly a military or political leader, in other lifetimes. Have you ever felt that? Apologies for getting your gender wrong! Not only do you have a Pluto-Apollo pattern at 19 degrees, you have a chart-wide pattern which falls in at 19 degrees, give or take a degree either side. You have a deep need to take charge and take control, and it is triggered every time you are with a former, current or potential partner. It is also triggered by enemies, opponents or rivals. It affects just about every other part of your personality. Read more Apollo and Pluto online and look at the art and sculpture, which may trigger some insights for you. These two are alive and well in your horoscope and yourself, and placed in Libra, they can make balancing the scales very challenging for you – and for the other person concerned. I suspect that the more you explore issues like equality, legality, the law, justice and so on – the more it will ring bells with you. And it may provide a key that you need, to turn a lock in your life.
Hello Jessica, my birthdate is 22.10. 56, but unfortunately I do not have a time of birth. How will the transit of mercury effect me, and will jupiter be very kind to me this year.?? I have been trying to start a business from a hobby of mine which I began10years ago, is it worth
persuing?
Thank you for your time.
Regards Doreen M ?
So you’re a Sun Libra trying to start a business from a hobby. This sounds like a holiday from reality which perfectly suits your Neptune transit through the Sixth House of work. It would not be a job. It would be a way out of the real world, which is fine – as far as it goes. This is certainly worth it, but you need sensible, practical people around you who can explain to you how it might work. I would also keep an eye on boundaries. So, look at hours, deadlines, delivery and other boring things! If you can contain and control the business and watch out for Neptune you’ll enjoy it. Hit ‘Neptune’ on Search to find out more about this cycle.
Hello Jessica,
Can you give an insight into my birth chart. I have Ceres in Aquarius along with many other factors in Aquarius, Pluto in Scorpio and Proserpina in Capricorn.
And how I could work with these factors?
Thank you.
Vulcano, the Sun, Ceres and Diana are in Aquarius, in your Eleventh House of friends and groups. You don’t have friendships, you have relationships with friends, which feel just as intense as the kind of complicated connection you might have with a family member or a lover. It is the same with groups of all kinds, from Twitter – to clubs, teams, societies, networks, group ventures or more formal organisations. Your power rests with ‘doing’ your Aquarius side so the more you push your community, your people power and your gift for friendship the more powerful you will become. At the same time you have intense, potent issues to face about friends, old and new, and about the way the hive mind works.
Hello Jessica,
Thank you another great article. And I ‘ m very sorry for your friend.
I have Ceres in 13 degrees Gemini, Prosperina 13 deg Aquarius and Pluto 8 deg Libra. Can you help me please how to understand this positioning of these heavenly bodies.
Thank you very much!
Thank you very much. You have Panacea at 13 Aries and Proserpina at 13 Aquarius locking into Ceres at 13 Gemini. This tells me that it’s never ‘just’ about the internet, writing, communication, computers, multimedia, education, languages or publishing. What you experience in this area of your life also pushes major buttons about your image, as well as your friendships and your group involvements. I suspect that when Jupiter goes to 13 Libra in November 2016 you will see this work out in a big way – in your favour – and Jupiter’s trine to Ceres should remind you just how powerful you can be, and just how much control you can have, when you really push the Gemini part of yourself. Hit ‘Search’ and look up Gemini.
Hi Jessica,
I heard about this writer’s passing too and was extremely saddened by it. I often used to read her articles, and having depression myself I found her writings about it very helpful.
I have Ceres in Cancer in my 8th House, along with Jupiter, Chiron and the Vertex. I am curious because I am always drawn to Cancer men. I inevitably become obsessed with them but rarely confess my feelings and always feel rejected and frustrated. Would leaving Cancer men well alone help me to deal with my depression and handle my Ceres better?
Also, I am finding your horoscopes very helpful at the moment! Doing a lot of work on my twelfth house and the issues there (I’m a Libra) and I’m trying to take your advice. I’m also seeing a counsellor to try to clear up my relationship/intimacy issues. It’s helping a lot, so thank you.
xxx
She wrote brilliantly about depression and she removed its stigma. I hope her memorial service is loud, celebratory and proud. Okay, so I can’t see your chart – but first of all, I don’t work with the Vertex. I also use the Natural House system. Having said that, if I spin this information in a way that I can understand it, you have Ceres, Jupiter and Chiron in Cancer in the Fourth House. Go back to your family history and the family tree. Dig into relationships with parents, aunts, uncles, siblings, grandparents. Every time you date a Cancerian man, the chances are high his Sun in Cancer will conjunct your Cancer placements. This sheds light on old family patterns or the family inheritance of depression, perhaps. It also makes these issues and patterns unavoidable – the Cancerian men drag them in front of you, in some way. In your solar chart, which shows your public self and public life – you are definitely doing the right thing, pursuing counselling. Hit ‘Search’ and look up Cancer and so much will make sense to you. Always look at your mother, your grandmother and the female line. Read the myth of Ceres too.
Hi Jessica,
How is Ceres in Virgo and Pluto in Libra affecting me? How can I “put Ceres in its place”? Does it mean extremes in weight gain/loss and careers?
Thanks Much!
You have Ceres, Fortuna and Psyche in Virgo so your body is a major issue. Work is also affected, but let’s look at the connection between your mind, your spirit and your body. Extreme weight loss and gain is one way that the pattern can arise. You know what Ceres means – major questions about control, power and empowerment. It also comes with a ton of emotion, from sadness, to anger, which can be channelled through food and eating. In the myth (which you may want to read online) Ceres stops producing wheat and corn, so the people starve. Sometimes these myths can play out in quite an extraordinary way in our own real lives. Fortuna in Virgo means every high is a low and every low is a high. What works with Fortuna and the constant ‘spin’ and ‘churn’ of this placement? A sense of humour and a philosophical outlook. ‘This too shall pass’ and an understanding that just when you’re on top of your body, you’re already heading for a low – and just when you think you’ve crashed out – you’re on the way back up again, to a fantastic peak. You can see why seeing the funny side of it helps – or adopting a Zen outlook. Finally, with Psyche in Virgo, what you achieve with your body lives forever. What you manage to create in your life around health, food, drugs, doctors, drink, healing, fitness is a lasting statement. You are asking me about this during one of the most profoundly healing and helpful transits in 12 years – the Jupiter in Virgo cycle – so this is the moment (until September) to pursue real answers.
Hi Jessica,
Thank you for all the great articles.
Can you tell me please anything about Ceres in Gemini, maybe for 2016 …or whatever you see fit.
Thank you in advance.
You have Ceres, the MC (Midheaven) and Psyche in Gemini, in your Third House. This rules the internet, writing, languages, multimedia, education and publishing – in fact, all communication. Sometimes it is about communicating with images, not words, but the need to get your message across is quite strong. The MC describes what you will be remembered for, in terms of your most special role or calling – the unforgettable part of what you achieve. It’s not often what springs to mind, but if you dig down deeply for what you accomplish, you will see just how important your Gemini ‘mission’ turns out to be. Psyche in Gemini tells me that your writing or internet/multimedia/spoken word efforts live forever. None of this is easy! Ceres suggests the usual issues about control and power – yet it will all be worth it. In fact, I don’t think you can avoid it. It’s who you are.
I’m sorry for the loss of your friend, Jessica. I have suffered from depression since I was young, so any insight you can give on Ceres and her role in it would be a blessing. I’m Libra and have Ceres at 22 Virgo (part of my six Virgo stellium). Since Virgo rules health, the body, and work, does that mean sometimes Ceres comes through at work and other times as part of my health? I have type 1 diabetes so that’s a big part of my life too. Thanks.
Thank you. Your diabetes is certainly part of the pattern, but let’s have a closer look. Ceres is at 22 Virgo. She is locked into a major horoscope sequence, with an exact square to Mars, a sextile to Neptune and almost an exact conjunction to Pluto. Mars is at 22 Sagittarius. Neptune is at 22 Scorpio. Pluto is at 21 Virgo. The mind, body, spirit connection is really powerful here and you may want to look at what diabetes delivers in your life, beyond the obvious. Hit ‘Virgo’ on Search to find out more about how this sign plays out in your chart. I think you will make a massive breakthrough – if you want it – when Jupiter moves to 22 Virgo, which occurs in July and August 2016. That could be a turning point, not only for your body, but also the way you handle work, unpaid work or housework.
Hi Jessica. So sorry for your loss. Thank you for sharing in depth of Ceres’ meaning. I have Ceres at 0 degrees Aries which links up with numerous 0 degree factors in my chart. I’m curious as to how this plays out for me. Also my Proserpina is at 1 degree Libra, directly across from my Ceres-wondering if that has significance. Thank you so much for your insightful articles!
Thank you. The Ceres-Proserpina opposition is about the inner conflict that arises when you are in a partnership, or dealing with a break-up. Ceres in Aries is about ‘Me’ and your personal appearance, title (married or single?), identity and image. Proserpina in Libra is about the challenge of keeping two people in a partnership happy (and you are one of them). I suspect that when Uranus went over 0-1 Aries in 2011, 2012 you had some issues to sort out. When Jupiter goes to 0-1 Libra from September 2016 you will either get closure and healing, or you will (if single) be given the chance to date someone new.
Hi Jessica,
How does this story plays out when both Pluto and Ceres are in Virgo? Does than Proserpina in Aries feels like between rock and a hard place all the time or is even more empowered?
This is about an inner power struggle which the body. Have a look at the connection between your body, mind and spirit and the way internal conflicts are played out through your health. It’s potentially very powerful but it’s not a quiet, peaceful placement and it may take time to sort out. Sometimes it manifests through struggles over smoking or weight, sometimes the issues are deeper than that. Jupiter in Virgo (now) is the right time to sort it.
So sorry for your loss Jessica and grateful for your positive very powerful article article to help others with their struggles. My birth mum had a capricorn moon conjunct saturn and suffered from depression and it’s really helped to understand her more. I have the transit you described coming up in 2022 seven years from now when pluto will conjunct ceres 26 cap in the eighth house so at least I can psychologically prepare for an inner battle then target the new growth that comes in the spring of any pluto transit. So many give up just before an inner victory. Thanks again.
I am so sorry about your mum and her Moon-Saturn conjunction in Capricorn, which is (as every astrologer knows) very tough to live with. Don’t worry about 2022 so much. Yes, you have Ceres at 26 Capricorn, but Pluto’s conjunction to that also happens when Jupiter is hovering around 26 Pisces, in a perfect sextile. Neptune is also very close to a trine at 26 Pisces in the same time-frame. So – this is a breakthrough year of empowerment.
Thanks a lot for beautiful blog. It is very helpful. My Sun is 8 Cap, Moon 29 Cap, Saturn 9 Cap, Ceres 9 Cap all in my 1st house. Right now i am going through huge phase of rage , every day last 2 weeks. It apears sudenly, I have never expirinenced such before in my life. Almoust animal power. Pluto is also tranziting my 1st house and now is retrograde aproach back to Ceres. My career is central life point ( 10th house Neptun at 8 Scorpio ) but is not realized until now. Feeling is ‘now or never’ but everything is stoped. I’m big fighter but this turns me to the bottom. I will be thankful for any useful hint because this decline started last December and I’m really exhaused.
Thank you for that compliment. Actually in the Natural House system your Capricorn stellium is in your Tenth House of career. So, if I turn your chart around, I can see that Pluto is in Capricorn, and has been affecting your career (and status in general) since 2008 and will continue to change your life until 2024. Without a proper chart to see, it is hard to tell you too much – but in general, the issues for you are to find your self-discipline and willpower, so that you can control your own success and run your own life. If you do not seriously practise self-control then you will find other people, organisations or trends dominate you instead and you end up with typical Pluto issues. For more, hit ‘Pluto’ on the Search button.
Thank you for your feedback. Yes, last December I survive difficult Pluto initiation – Phoenix rising out of the ashes. This turned me back to my own life. Tnx for Pluto articles hint.
Hi Jess. You know that I read and comment on many of your articles. I have to say that the way you have channeled your upset into this article is quite brilliant. I think it’s the finest piece you have ever written. Thank you so much for your wonderful insight.
As for me, you’ll know I have the Sun, Ceres, Pluto and pretty much just about everything in one hyperdecan. I was also interested to read that Pluto was demoted in August 2006 (when I married my now estranged wife). With Prosperpina and Jupiter in Gemini, this ought to give me a clue to handle things best surely?
That means a lot, thank you very much. Did you really marry your former wife when Pluto was demoted? How incredible. If you are concerned about handling that/relationships/partnerships in general, you only have to remember your stellium in Libra and the fact that Mercury is there. You would actually make a very good marriage guidance counsellor or divorce lawyer.
LOL, well that last sentence is the thing that has made me laugh the most this week. If I can’t sort out this can of worms then no-one other than a judge can! And yes, I was somewhat distracted from astrology in August 2006 :/
Jess, what a rich, utterly beautiful piece! Written from the heart – I’m so sorry to hear of your friend’s passing.
So I have a Ceres in Pisces along with a few other factors, significantly Saturn and Bacchus, I guess.. Prosperina in Leo. Is there anything else significant? Can you let me know how all this works for me?
I’ve come to embrace my Pisces side (especially can see how Bacchus works), although before I had children I was definitely prone to melancholy, mild depression, generally other worldly. Children grounded me. But all three of my children suffer from some form of anxiety, depression, mental health problems, or addiction issues, and it is a real struggle.
Your insight gratefully appreciated!
Thank you, you are right, it was written from the heart because I could not believe her horoscope, on the day that she passed. Let me look at the children in your chart. You have both the Cancer patterns which are typical of someone whose real job in life is her sons and daughters. Ceres is not really your issue here, but you do need to look at the aspects made by the various Cancer chart factors to figure out what is going on. Basically as Pluto goes through Capricorn, the sign which is opposite to Cancer, you are experiencing oppositions (deep challenges) which can only occur every 240 years. These happen in stages, very slowly, until 2024 and began back in 2008. The key to Pluto is to understand that until you use iron willpower and tremendous self-discipline, you will always be dominated by ‘something’ or someone which takes over your mother-child relationships. Look up Pluto on Search on this website and see what he’s all about. Pluto can manifest as power plays, manipulation or string-pulling when he arrives. Pluto can also arrive as just a trend or situation (like a child’s addiction issue) which you feel is bigger than both of you. The only way to handle Pluto oppositions is to summon up the self-control to take control and to find your power. Becoming empowered is the best result from this cycle. You also need to figure out the sign of Cancer in more depth and really ‘get’ that in your chart, yourself and your life. That should help too.
Dear Jessica (sorry my english is not so good, I live in Switzerland) I’m very interested in this article, I ve been reading it and then I found out that I have Ceres on 0 Aries. My Sun is Aquarius 17th feb, 1975. Ascendent Scorpio (born in Poland) moon taurus, Jupiter/Venus pisces and 4th hous, same as Ceres. I found out on astro.com that on the day when my mother died (also depression), 13.August 2011, Ceres was 0 Aries. And i was for many years now suffering from separation of my Ex boyfriend and child boy (he lives half time with his father) since 2007 the separation started in march 2007 when Ceres was 0 Aries. Can you tell me what it means to have Ceres on 0 Aries and in the same house as Jupiter/Venus, 4th house. What would you suggest is the best way to deal with this? Thank you so much, marianna
I am so sorry to hear about your mother, that must have been devastating. Without your chart it’s hard to see the full picture, but just from knowing that Ceres is at 0 Aries and that your mother passed when transiting/travelling Ceres was at 0 Aries, that is clearly a major placement for you. I suspect you have lots of patterns at 0-1 degrees in your chart which are always triggered there. I use the Natural House system so actually, Ceres is in your First House which rules your identity, reputation, name, title, role, appearance and image. In the myth, Proserpina was identified by her relationship with her mother. She was the virgin maiden. When she married Pluto she became the powerful Queen of Hades. One thing that may help, is for you to explore the way mothers and daughters define each other. Of course, Ceres also gained her identity and sense of self when her daughter, so when she left, Ceres fell apart. Dig deeply into the myth and hit ‘Ceres’ and ‘Aries’ and ‘First House’ on this website’s search button.
Dear Jessica,
So sorry about your friend, it is a tragic loss. I’m sure her writing will continue to shed light and help others with depression. Your link between Ceres and depression is really interesting.
In my chart it’s at 7º Cancer (4th house) exact sextile to Moon in Virgo (6th) my depression is cyclical and influenced largely by hormonal factors and diet, which fits with what you’re saying I think. Ceres is also semi sextile Venus 7º Gemini (3rd) and sextile North Node 6º:56′ Taurus (2nd) and square Saturn 5º:53′ Aries (1st)!
However it is also triggered deeply by difficult interactions with my daughter, my Proserpina! (which is 4º from my ascendant, semi sextile my sun exact, conjunct Persephone 1º orb, Chiron 2º orb – all in 1st house)
My daughter also suffers with depression and we have some interesting synastry, her Ceres and Proserpina are conjunct my NN exact in her 6th. Her Ceres is exact quincunx her NN in the 12th!
I can see the links but not quite sure how to interpret them.
Thank you for these great insights!
Thank you. I hope my friend’s memorial service will remove the stigma that surrounds depression and suicide and remind us all that it is a serious illness, which can be as deadly as cancer, and those who suffer from it should have their lives celebrated as much as anyone else. Okay, let’s have a look at the rather depressing subject of depression! Ceres at 7 Cancer aspecting the North Node and South Node, very close to 7 degrees, tells you instantly that there are past life connections with both your mother and daughter. The Nodes are karma. You mention your daughter also has depression and her chart aspects your Nodes. Have a look at as much material on the Nodes as you can. You two were born to figure out issues that come from other lifetimes and have chosen to be here, to do just that. Beyond reading about the Nodes, read the myth of Pluto, Proserpina and Ceres and something may come to you. Your insights and ‘Aha!’ moments of truth will be personal to you. Look at the paintings and sculpture which will also work as a trigger. I am very interested that your depression is cyclical (Ceres) and linked to food (Ceres, as you know, ruled wheat and corn) – and maybe you will dig out some real inspiration just by focussing more on that myth. Astrology is a mysterious business and it runs on synchronicity. The best answers may be locked inside you, once you start exploring all that – and do find out who Pluto is, or what Pluto is!
Hi Jessica
I found this article on Ceres very moving and I love the way you link art and images to astrology. I hope it helped you come to terms with why your friend chose to end her life.
I have Ceres in Virgo along with six other aspects including Uranus, Pluto and Mars – work has dominated my life and I have had many different jobs and several careers. I was once made redundant from a fabulous job and I am always searching for work that fulfils me and is useful. I suffered depression when I was younger and found I was being steered into the wrong career. I have always tried to avoid that happening again and to prevent work depressing me by moving on to something else. Thirty years on from the start of my career and work life – how can I manage this Virgo dominance better so that I have a fulfilling life?
Any advice gratefully received!
Pauline
Thank you very much. Sometimes things happen in my own life which make me dig more deeply into astrology and this is one of those events. Okay, so not only do you have a ton of Virgo factors in your chart, you also have a Gemini cluster too. Both Virgo and Gemini are ruled by Mercury, the Messenger. In astrology we associate Mercury with the mind. You have so much going on in these Mercury-ruled signs that living in your head is almost to be expected. Two things fix this. One is keeping a diary and then either trashing it on your computer or ripping up the paper, if it’s in a notebook. Just getting stuff out of your head and into words will be therapeutic. The other trick with such a Virgo-Gemini chart (and depression) is to be aware that your thoughts influence your body chemistry. This is the ‘mindfulness’ movement which is sweeping the world as science has proved that in depression, anti-depressant drug treatment is vastly enhanced by meditation or mindfulness habits. I get that work is everything to you. So it should be with a big Virgo placement like that. However – there are things you can do, which will make you feel better about your vulnerability to depression and it begins with seeing how mindfulness works. Hit YouTube and that very subject, or go straight to Ruby Wax, who is flying the flag for all that!
Thanks Jessica
I do in fact keep a journal and every few years I shred it! It’s a useful observation that my mind influences my body. I do try to get outside as much as I can, garden, walk about and look at things and try to create a positive mindset. I’ll look into the ‘mindfulness’ thing – I’ve never quite understood what it meant.
Pauline
I’m glad you are keeping a journal – you are ‘doing’ your horoscope without even realising. The treatment of depression is evolving, as studies are showing that walking (for example) makes a powerful difference. The other leap forward is mindfulness, which is meditation (colouring in is one way of doing it) and also watching your thoughts so that you become aware of how you speak to yourself, about your life and your personality. It’s really worth updating yourself regularly on what is going on out there in psychology and medicine, where depression is concerned. Ruby Wax is a really good translator, if you can find her website, books and videos online.
Hi Jessica,
Thank you for this beautiful and very insightful piece.
I have Ceres, Pluto, Jupiter, Saturn, and five other aspects all in Libra. I have Proserpina in Leo at the same degree as my Sagittarius sun.
I know that partnerships of all kinds are of huge significance in my life, but would like to know a little more about how the Ceres – Pluto – Proserpina story plays out for me?
I appreciate your feedback, many thanks. Ceres is at 23 Libra in your chart and the North Node/South Node axis is at 23 Cancer and Capricorn. I can tell you immediately that every time you deal with your former, current or potential partners – you are dealing with past life karma. You have a T-Square in your chart, which is unusual, and Ceres is at the pointy end of the T and the North Node and South Node are very much about home, family, roots, background, culture, ancestors, class and so on. This pattern is being triggered right now as Uranus goes over 23 Aries and creates what is known as a Grand Cross in your chart. It does get easier! In fact, it gets a whole lot easier, as eventually Uranus moves off 23 degrees and Jupiter moves *into* Libra where he will do his usual healing and repair work. Look at the charts of your former, current or potential partners always, and see what they have at 23 degrees, or close by (21 or 22). That will tell you more than anything else about the power and control issues you are dealing with. At least one of these people has reincarnated to try and sort things out with you again, according to all we know about the Nodes in astrology. They show repetitive patterns from past lives.
Hi Jessica,
Would you ever consider doing an astrology reading addressing, Saturn, Pluto, Ceres & Uranus in a chart? I am Capricorn born 17th of Jan 1973 @ 2:15pm. I have moon Cancer (full), Pluto & Uranus in Libra, Uranus opposite in Aries, Ceres at 29 Scorpio, Saturn in Gemini, ascendant in Taurus, and a whole host of asteroids/planets being triggered by Pluto in Capricorn at the moment . I have been plagued by depression/anxiety for most of my life. I have had a lifetime horoscope by you, but I know how karmic 29 degrees is and I would like to understand why I function/dysfunction the way I do. Thank you.
The main thing you need to know is that you were born with Ceres at 29 Scorpio and you have just come out of a very heavy cycle which can only happen every 29 years, as Saturn at 29 Scorpio made a conjunction (Transiting Saturn conjunct Natal Ceres). It became exact in 2015. Every time you enter into a deadly serious relationship (or a sexually intimate one) over your money, house, possessions, business or apartment you will ‘meet’ Ceres in your chart. I am sure you had to do a lot of bargaining with people, organisations or the universe itself in 2015 as you were stretched so hard. The reason you may be on this website now looking up depression, is the Mars Retrograde in Scorpio, which is no doubt triggering things for you. Mars will return to Scorpio 29 in the final week of May and first week of August. This is a useful time to really explore how Scorpio works in your chart (please hit Search) and to ask yourself how you might deal with the Autumns and Winters that come with your finances, property and so on. Sometimes with a horoscope you just need to dig deeply into one placement and if I was you, I would start with Ceres because she has been well and truly triggered.
Hello Jessica
I am sincerely very sorry for your loss . I absolutely understand your feelings regarding your friends loss as I too lost a very dear friend of mine due to same reason last year . May he soul rest in peace and may God give you strength to come to terms with your loss.
I have ceres in Capricorn . Don’t know how should I take it . Where can I be cautious to take steps to make myself in check .
Thank you
It is so difficult to lose someone who has lost the battle with life-threatening depression and I am also sorry for your loss. I have looked at your chart and you have Mars at 9 Libra square Ceres at 10 Capricorn. There is an inner conflict there, which is occasionally triggered. It concerns your need to come first, be first and ‘win’ with partners. This also applies to former or potential partners – enemies or rivals too. You can find out more about that by looking up Mars and the sign of Libra. Ceres in Capricorn is about your career or your calling as a student or full-time parent. A square in astrology is tension and it describes what you cannot square easily within yourself. Exploring Ceres more, and also the sign of Capricorn, could be useful. There are ways around it, but any time the outer planets like Saturn, Uranus, Neptune or Pluto moves to 9 or 10 degrees you will find that it’s triggered.
Thank you for a heart-felt article. Sorry for your loss Jessica, losing a dear one is devastating.
I have being diagnosed with mild depression and referred to a psychologist. I have had one session and really hopeful I will get better. My Ceres is in Taurus and Ops in Virgo. What does this mean?
Again, many thanks. Bless you.
Thank you, I do appreciate that. Yes, you have Ceres in Taurus in the Second House of the Natural Horoscope so your money, house, business, possessions or apartment is the trigger for major questions about compromising with other people and also compromising with life itself. You are powerful here, yet you also have to learn how to put up with the Autumns and Winters. You also have what is known as a T-Square in the same sign. You have Saturn at 21 Taurus, the North Node at 21 Aquarius and the South Node at 21 Leo. In astrology a T-Square is a point of tension. It may help you to look up Taurus, Aquarius and Leo to find out how these aspects of your personality work. Looking at the transits, I suspect that when transiting (travelling) Saturn moved to 21 Scorpio in October 2014 you may have been put through an episode which still needs to be processed and absorbed. It would have involved what you earn, own or owe. On a deeper level it would have been about who and what you value most (what is priceless, what you will or will not sell your soul for). These are typical Taurus concerns. I hope you are able to find peace of mind with your psychologist and I hope your horoscope is useful.
Not a question, just feedback. I have my ceres in cancer and would say my relationship with my mother replicates this. Also my son. I think this article was fabulously detailed and from the heart. I can relate. Thank you.
Thank you so much for writing this. I felt a sigh of relief reading it. I’ve been fighting serious depression for at least 18 months, with the IC, Moon and Ceres in Cap. It was triggered by events with my ex-partner that happened about when Pluto passed over the natal IC. With Pluto’s long Cap transit, it suddenly makes so much sense to have been caught up in these feelings, and this gives me ways to strategise about them.
I’m so sorry to hear about your friend. From the comments it appears that such a deep and heartfelt article is helping a lot of people. Maybe this is her legacy passing on through you.
x H
It will never be this hard again. And thank you for your kind words. What you have experienced (especially with Pluto going over your Capricorn stuff by conjunction, and opposing your Cancerian side by opposition) is so tough, yet if you work with the imagery of Pluto in particular and dig deeply into the myth you may find it helps shift a few things. Dreams are one way of working through issues, too.
This is a really beautiful, illuminating article – thank you so much and I’m really sorry for your loss.
My Ceres loosely sextiles (2-3 degrees) both my Pluto and my Proserpina (conj my Mars) – which you’d think would be a good thing – but Ceres also squares my Moon and Chiron. I’ve suffered bouts of depression periodically over the last few years – triggered by a change of circumstances five years ago. Do you have any thoughts on navigating these?
Also, as feedback rather than a question, I’ve been looking at the chart of an acquaintance with a troublesome Moon-Uranus square that I’ve just seen becomes a Grand Cross with his Ceres and Proserpina. His moods seem to follow a lunar cycle and I think I’ve just realised why!
Thank you so much. I have looked at your chart with one eye on Ceres and the other on Saturn. Those are usually the culprits when we are tracking depression. You have Saturn at 4 Libra, the MC or Midheaven at 4 Taurus and IC or Immum Coeli at 4 Scorpio. If you want to look this up, Saturn is quincunx the MC and semi-sextile the IC. What it means is that you can never go very far with family, career, partnership before you run into the usual Saturn fear. My favourite writer on Saturn is the astrologer Sue Tompkins who talks about Saturn in terms of freezing, which of course animals do, when they meet a car on the road, or they see a predator. Saturn makes us very stagnant, stuck and slow, almost as if we have stopped moving. It may be useful for you to read more widely about the way these patterns are affecting you, and any transit at 4 degrees will trigger it. There are ways to handle Saturn and the astrologers Babs Kirby and Janey Stubbs have also looked at him, as has Liz Greene. Look at the paintings and sculpture surrounding Saturn too and really dig into him, in your chart. You also have Ceres at 23 Leo and Ops at 23 Leo so that’s an exact conjunction. They both semi-sextile Diana at 23 Cancer. That is a big pile-up in your chart and it concerns issues like pregnancy, fertility, termination, sons, daughters, stepchildren, godchildren and so on. It can also concern paid or unpaid work involving children (Leo rules your heirs to the throne). The sign of the lion is very much about the legacy of your personality which you leave to a younger generation, while Cancer is traditionally about motherhood, and the matriarchy within a family. Given that Diana is famously free and independent (she asked her father Jupiter to release her from motherhood and marriage) and that Ceres has such major issues about motherhood – you have quite a pattern here. I will leave it to you to explore, but have a look at what happened/what happens when you get transits to 23 degrees of any sign. By the way, I’m glad you have figured out your friend’s chart in relation to Ceres and Proserpina. I bet he is too!
Thank you – that’s really interesting and rather uncannily accurate!
Jessica, I am very sorry for your loss. I have a number of factors in Pisces, including Ceres, and I’m hoping you can give me some insight into what this means for me.
You have Jupiter, Juno, Ceres and Vulcano in Pisces in the Twelfth House of your horoscope, so that’s a stellium (on average you should have three factors there; you have four). Vulcano is at 24 Pisces so he is being triggered by Chiron which moves to 24 Pisces in June and August. You have ‘volcanic’ depths of emotion which may only surface in dreams, psychic work, psychology or meditation. Your hidden self and inner world is a colourful and complicated business. Your unconscious mind drives the bus. A big part of who you are, exists behind the scenes, below the surface or behind closed doors. This may need a bit of management as it’s so easy to lose touch with the real world and rather difficult to step back and get the detachment you need to really see yourself, sometimes. You might find it useful to look up Chiron and Vulcano on ‘Search’ here but also (most of all) to really dig deeply into the Twelfth House of your chart and see what patterns you might have there.
Hello Jessica. I’ve just read your article on Saturn in Sag and was not at all surprised to see what it means for a Gemini Sun. I’ve struggled with depression most of my adult life and this latest bout was triggered by a difficult relationship with a Scorpio man (young enough to be my son – what was I thinking?!). I had not considered Ceres in relation to depression and now I’m curious. I have never been able to work out what my underlying ‘problem’ might be and I hope you may be able to throw some light on that.
I have Ceres at 24 Cap, 11th house, and Pluto at 24 Leo in my 6th. And Bacchus at 24 Pisces, 1st house, just for interest’s sake. Any thoughts? I’m at a bit of a crossroad in my life and am struggling to cope with a deep sense of isolation.
Just noticed Venus sitting at 24 Taurus – how did I miss her?
Have to say my psychologist is fascinated that astrology seems to back up her work with me. Of course, we all know it’s the other way round! .
I am sorry that you have been put through these episodes of depression, but maybe astrology can help shed some light for you, and even your psychologist. The first thing I am going to do is rotate your chart so we are using the Natural House system. This puts Ceres at 24 Capricorn in the Tenth House, Pluto at 24 Leo in the Fifth House (that’s your Scorpio ex-boyfriend), Bacchus at 24 Pisces in your Twelfth House and Venus at 24 Taurus in your Second House. This means that whenever you have transits at 24 degrees, made by the slow-moving planets (Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, Pluto) you find the whole pattern is triggered. It’s about your inner conflicts about control and power, and major issues about empowerment. In fact, the Ceres-Pluto myth is alive and well inside you, so digging into the painting, sculpture and storytelling surrounding these two could be a useful key for you. Uranus is approaching 24 Aries at the moment which could be quite liberating for you. It is exact in July and August 2016 so the usual radical changes and sudden ‘upside-down world’ events are likely, all of which will help you identify what is going on, and why it is happening. Pluto at 24 Leo is very much about younger men (young enough to be your son) but also about the pregnancies you did (or did not) pursue in the past, as well as any children you have now – or godchildren/young relatives. I don’t know if you work with dreams or are familiar with the work of Jung but it is one way into all this. And do go back through your life history to see if any of the catalysts for your depression took place during the outer planetary or Node cycles at 24 degrees. I mention dreams in particular, because right now Chiron is at 24 Pisces so he is conjunct your Bacchus at 24 Pisces in the Twelfth House of counselling, psychology and dream interpretation and one of his many roles in astrology, is as healer.
Hi Jessica, I am very sorry to read about losing your friend. I have Ceres in Pisces which rules over unconscious mind, how should one take this in practical world?. Also, I have sun 29 degrees cap does this mean I still have Pluto related changes to come? I have already gone through some major changes and just want to settle before I can be ready for more. Please advise…
Thank you. Your Pluto-Sun conjunction will not occur until 2024 so I’ll look at other issues for you. Saturn is at 14 Cancer and Cupido is at 14 Leo natally in your chart. So if you have been through depression, it’s not really Ceres you need to look at – it’s this pattern, which is Saturn semi-sextile Cupido. Cancer and Cupido are both concerned with the world of pregnancy, babies and children. So, every time you find yourself involved with your godchildren, offspring (or lovers who could bring a younger generation into your life) you hit Saturn. This is particularly important now as Saturn is at 14 Sagittarius so he is triggering the pattern. If you go back through your own history and look at what happened in your life during other triggers at 14 degrees, you can help yourself move forward by examining how you remember the episode; how you see it now; what your version of events does for you – or not! In this way you can begin to reframe Saturn in your life and this could make a real difference. It’s one approach, anyway.
Hi Jessica I love your website it’s so informative and makes so much sense, when we look at the past and see patterns it a little easier to understand and you explain it so well.
I have Cer’s at 16 deg Virgo can you tell me a little more about that.
thank you so much Sandi
Thank you – yes, identifying past patterns is exactly how astrology helps. I am thinking about this as I see you have Ceres at 16 Virgo, Moon at 15 Pisces, Neptune at 15 Scorpio and Aesculapia at 16 Aries. That is a pretty tight pattern. Taking it apart can be helpful. Ceres in Virgo suggests you have to make repeated ‘deals’ with the universe, life and other people about your work. It always comes down to compromises and sharing the control. Your body (from drugs, to food, to doctors, to healers) may also be where you find yourself having to accept the Autumn and Winter as well as the Spring and Summer. Every time this happens it affects at least three other areas of your life. At the moment the pattern is being triggered by transiting Saturn at 15 Sagittarius, and it is forming what is known as a T-Square in your chart. T stands for tension, as you need to figure out a creative way to handle the tension between the side of you that wants to escape from the real world (Moon in Pisces) and the side of you that must deal with it, especially through work and housework (Ceres in Virgo). Anyway I will let you dig more deeply into all that – this website has a lot of information on Saturn too, which is triggering the pattern.
LOL. Ceres 3 deg from my Descendant in 7th House Cap (square depressing old Saturn!!) and was cleaned out by an abusive partner….what has kept me going since escaping from him was thinking that there was some sort of Universal Bank Account and I would get the money back somehow.
But it’s not working out that way. And I can’t roll back time and give myself another 20 years to work, scrimp & save it all again.
It is terribly depressing. I am so sorry you lost a friend to this. It’s so lonely and overwhelming and horrid.
May she rest in peace.
Thank you. My friend’s funeral was yesterday so we all donated to MIND and SANE, the two British mental health charities. I suspect that when you went through that terrible episode, you may have had Pluto at 3 Capricorn on your Ceres,or perhaps Uranus at 3 Aries square Ceres. Have a look. Knowing the pattern helps you unlock a new way to see it, and a new way of seeing the past is what astrology is here for.
Wow, an Ocean of information. Thankyou once again.
I have Ceres at 14 Virgo . By any chance does it relate to failures in relationships? How do you see it
Thank you. Ceres at Virgo is not about relationships – it is about your working life and job situation, and now is the time to come to a new arrangement with others where you share/compromise over control, power, hours, conditions and so on – while Jupiter is making a rare conjunction to Ceres.
Hi Jessica – I have Ceres and Mars in Gemini. What is the significance of this? I suffered depression whilst living abroad & travelling overseas some time ago (2001-2002). Out of curiosity, are you able to see if there was anything significant in my chart at the time? I’ve had ups-and-downs, but have been fine since. With TIA
Saturn was conjunct your Ceres in Gemini in 2001-2002 so I suspect one of the most depressing things for you was the lack of communication, or the issues you were having with language barriers, internet and telephone access – and so on. You ‘own’ words, ideas and images as a general rule but every 29 years you get a transit like this one and you have to get through it.
Hi jessica..I just read the story about Ceres..boy I can identify with cyclical depression. I’m driving my poor husband crazy! I tried to look at my birth chart …my Ceres is 28 degrees taurus 23’06..not sure what all that means but I feel like I keep falling down a rabbit hole with work and my marriage. Can Ceres make you “see” things that are not actually there? I feel like I’m going crazy. I’m accusing my husband of things I really don’t think he did! We have been to therapist and even a polygraph test! I love him so much..met at 13!! Any help is appreciated!!!
I am sorry about your depression. Ceres in Taurus is actually about your money, not so much other issues. Meeting at 13 is a bit of a clue as this is close to your Saturn cycles and you also have Saturn in Pisces in the Twelfth House which rules your inner vision. Read more about Saturn in Pisces on this website.
Dear Jessica,
Thank you for this extensive piece on Ceres. I am a student of astrology and I have only recently started focusing my attention on Ceres. Funny, the day I started using the planet in the astrology software, it was in conjunction with my natal Venus and opposing my natal Pluto….
I have a lot of theories and ideas, but I would also like to know what you think, since I am still a rookie.
I was born on the 9th of june 1985 at 4 am in cluj-napoca, romania….
My ceres is at 0 degrees cancer conjunct mars at 29 gemini.
This duo is part of a water grand trine with my moon in pisces and my pluto in scorpio…ceres conjunct mars are also opposing neptune in capricorn and forming a sextile to venus in taurus… i have a taurus Asc and my north node conjunct my Asc.
I am really really curious about your reply. I hope to get to understand this
Ceres energy better. I think i have been attributing many ceres effects to my pluto placement in scorpio…
Thank you. Ceres is as important as Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus or any of the other planets. Ceres at 0 Cancer conjunct Mars at 29 Gemini would have been most obvious to you recently as the Sun crossed 29 Gemini through 0 Cancer. A good place to begin is to look back at that 24-48 hour period to see what occurred.
Hello Jessica,
I just discovered your site and feel like I have found a compass in the middle of a raging storm, having been lost at sea for years with little or no direction. Your insights and musings will surely provide a beacon in the night to guide me going forward.
This article speaks dearly to my heart, as I also suffer from bipolar highs and lows (perhaps Pluto in opposition to Chiron is a contributing factor) with Ceres at 0 Gemini. Interestingly enough, I have gone through tremendous swings in fortune (2nd house) throughout a career in writing software. I can sense a tremendous change begun in 2011 (medical help) is now starting to bear fruit, and am on the cusp of a tremendous transformation in my relationship that requires me to keep transits to Ceres under control (under stress from a strong Saggitarius influence).
That is a really lovely thing to read, thank you, and I am glad the astrology is serving you. I am very glad you are making progress with your medical help. You have Ops at 0 Pisces in the Twelfth House square Ceres at 0 Gemini in the Third House and just researching that one, single pattern in your horoscope and your life, could really be interesting for you. If you want to find out more about the meanings of those placements, look on this site and also pick up the new ebook 2020 Astrology on 1st August, which goes into Ops, Pisces, Ceres, Gemini, the houses and the aspects. You have Ops square Ceres. Look at the art around Ceres and Ops too and see what comes to you. It may help you to crack your own code!
I have Ceres in Sagittarius in the 12th House; it forms a partile conjunction to my Sun (which, in turn forms a partile sextile to my Midheaven in Libra). Ceres forms squares to both Jupiter and Vesta in Virgo (the square is partile with Vesta – 0°48′), and it forms a wide conjunction to Mercury and my Ascendant in Sagittarius.
I can relate a lot to the highs and lows of this aspect, especially since the Sun and Ceres form a conjunction that’s 0°40′. When I’m happy, I buoyant, extremely generous, and the very definition of jovial. When I’m upset or depressed, everyone around me knows it and is unhappy. I wonder if Ceres should, more appropriately, be tied with bi-polar disorder rather than depression.
Found out that Prosperina in my chart forms a conjunction to my Pluto in Scorpio (3°25′ s) in the 11th House.
I do suffer from severe clinical depression. Been living with it since I was 12 years old. With Ceres’s strong presence, Prosperina conjunct Pluto, and having Moon conjunct Saturn in Aquarius (I see Saturn in Aquarius as the strongest position Saturn can be in, and the Moon has to “answer” to Saturn), it seems that, astrologically, I’m living in a constant state of autumn and winter. If I was any place personified, I would be the arctic or antarctic poles: long periods of colds with short bursts of summer and life; anyone who deals with me has to tough out the cold and bleak conditions.
As Ceres also represents what comforts us and how we comfort others, I do find a lot of joy into looking after animals. My particular love are parrots. I have found that when I’m not taking care of a bird or have any other pet to look after, I get really depressed and life gets hard for me emotionally and spiritually. From personal experience and because of my mental health conditions, I would benefit from an emotional support animal.
I would love to hear your comments on what I have divulged. How do interpret my Ceres and the aspects and interactions she makes amongst my other planets?
I am so sorry that you suffer from clinical depression. I don’t have your chart but in the Natural House system you have Ceres in Sagittarius in the Ninth House, which I am sure you realise rules your belief system (be it science or astrology), foreign people and places, travel, education and academia, publishing, the worldwide web and also regional and cultural differences. This reminds me very much of Stephen Fry who is bipolar, and for whom all those areas are important! (Even though he despises astrology). Your Sun-Ceres conjunction is extremely important. I use quite a different astrological system to you, but I do work with exact conjunctions and this is basically about shining and standing out, as a student (firstly) and then later in life, as a perennial student in workshops, seminars or evening classes. I would say that being 12 years old at your particular school was an example of that. Ceres is powerful. In the Ninth House she is a tremendously powerful lifelong student, mentor/guide/teacher/academic, author (for example), self-published internet phenomenon, traveller, true believer (perhaps in astrology, for you) and sometimes a linguist. It is interesting that you are drawn to parrots. They are dear birds, as we all know, and they have a lot to teach you. They are seasonal creatures who adjust to night/day/dark/light/heat/cold in their own special way. They are also students and teachers, aren’t they? They ‘parrot’ what they learn from us and repeat it, and in doing so, sometimes teach other parrots. I reckon there is a whole lot for you to uncover by looking at Ceres in the Ninth House conjunct the Sun. This uses the Natural House system which puts Aries 0 on the First House cusp.
Hi Jessica,
I am very sorry for your loss, but I do hope the article helps a lot of people like me battling their own demons.
I have Ceres in 3 Libra and have constantly struggled with highs and far too many incredibly low lows in this area because of this. It’s a constant battle I don’t ever feel quite in control of (I am seeing help). I also have my Sun in Cancer 3 and Chiron in 4 Taurus. With my very basic understanding, I believe these all aggravate the issue, as well as my stellium in Libra (including Bacchus & Pluto) and Cancer – 5 planets in each, and also 4 in Taurus!
I met a very laid back incredibly inscrutable Scorpio in May, who really seemed different, but is now driving me to distraction – I really honestly felt like things had changed last weekend for the better, but now, it feels again like the scales are balancing out of my favour. I don’t know if it’s accurate, or my self-sabotage coping mechanism – I am rather apprehensive, the slightest jitter and I retreat into self-defence mode, often ruining something before it was ever anything!
I don’t know if you can share any insights. I am ever hopeful for the year head with what you have said about Jupiter in Libra – I don’t want to ruin any possibilities, but I know Ceres is passing at 3 / 4 degrees at the moment, and I am ever so confused with this man and situation.
Thank you. When my friend took her own life it woke a lot of us up, in different ways. It woke me up to the role of Ceres in cyclical depression, no matter if it’s the highs and lows of bipolar or S.A.D. (Seasonal Affective Disorder). I am glad you are getting help. I always recommend anyone with depression goes straight to professional help, beyond astrology! Let me take this pattern apart in your chart, starting with Ceres at 3 Libra in your Seventh House. You were born powerful when it comes to balancing the scales with partners (not just sexual – also professional) and you can be impressively creative, shaping and reshaping partnerships, duets and double-acts in a way not many other women can manage. This is a tense business, though, as you find that your identity within your family, within your house or apartment, or in terms of your home town/homeland/heritage/roots is always at odds with what is going on with the other person. You shine when you are true to your family tree, your place in the world and so on – yet if you shine too brightly then it somehow gets in the way of the partnership. It works the other way too. If you ‘do’ the partnership and pour all the passion, intensity and control into it that comes naturally – you find that there are issues about your family, the house or flat, maybe your roots – which can’t be squared. An added factor with all this, is the actual value of the house or apartment itself, the rent or mortgage, and your values as a whole, as you have Chiron in Taurus in the pattern. Jupiter will be very healing as he passes over 3 and 4 Libra in the closing days of September and opening days of October. It is not unusual for there to be a problem at the start of this cycle. It comes to the surface so you can fix it once and for all. Don’t be anxious about this man. You will always have men, with that chart – and you are going to have a fantastic 12 months of repair work, opportunity, growth and hope. It will either happen with Mr Scorpio or a superior substitute. You have a Libra stellium which will be helped by Jupiter at various points between now and October 2016 so please be optimistic. Take the acorns, plant them and use the thunderstorms when they come to fertilise the garden. I think it may help you to read more about Ceres, Chiron and the Sun – and Cancer, Taurus and Libra. You also need to look at your parents. I am sure you have done this.
Thank you so much for taking the time to reply Jessica and in such depth – it’s really very generous of you.
I was a little bit gobsmacked by what you have written (not that I don’t believe), just by how much can be seen in a chart. I have a lot of difficulties around my roots, identity, self value – or rather self worth and it causes many problems for me – these are things I am working on.
I will definitely do the reading you mention and let me look towards the 12 months ahead as you say.
I hope there wont be too many storms, but if there are, I’ll try to remember!
Thank you again
hi Jessica – Thankfully I don’t seem to suffer from depression regularly although I think I went through a period in 2009 – 2010 for about a year when things were pretty grim. I have Ceres 28 Pisces and Jupiter 28 Gemini and then Cupido 29 Virgo nearby, does this indicate the triggers for me? I don’t really understand how to interpret these aspects. Many thanks
Yes, your aspects involving Ceres-Jupiter-Cupido are tight enough to trigger mind, body, spirit issues. Any time you see exact aspects from Virgo to Pisces, you are looking at the unconscious mind (the spirit or soul) directing the body, and vice versa. Gemini and Virgo also rule the mind and all mental function because Mercury is the planetary ruler of both signs. So with you, there is a subtle interplay between your physical condition (Virgo) and your unconscious mind (Pisces) which also affects the way you think (Gemini). What you eat, what you drink, what you think, how you move your body – can’t be separated.
Hi Jessica, I loved this article. I have Ceres conjunct South Node in Pisces by 1 degree but I’m confused about the interpretation. Thank you so much.
Thank you. You have Ceres conjunct the South Node in Pisces in the Twelfth House, so you have repeated lifetime patterns (South Node) from previous incarnations (South Node) regarding the secrets you cover up (Pisces) and the things you do behind the scenes, with no recognition (Pisces). You also have repeating patterns of having to strike deals with yourself and others (Ceres) about these secrets or hidden roles, and regular compromises (Ceres) will be necessary. This is not an issue right now. It was an issue many years ago when Neptune crossed 1 Pisces, but if you look back at your life you will see why your ‘vault’ or your invisibility is a recurring theme – and it will frequently require effort.