Today (August 27, 2021) is the third exact 90 degree aspect (square) between Pluto, planet of creative destruction, and the new planet Eris, planet of discord. In Rome Eris was called Discordia – she is the goddess who, when not invited to a wedding, began the Trojan War by throwing a golden apple marked “for the fairest” into a circle of goddesses, beginning a dispute that threw Greece into turmoil for ten years. (Read more about the mythology of Eris here.) In my research, the influence of the planet Eris appears to coincide with small, seemingly minor, events which create great chaos and disrupt the status quo.
This cycle of the Pluto/Eris square began in January of 2020, and is affecting the US chart rather intensely. I don’t have to remind you how crazy the election process was in 2020, and how that craziness has continued into 2021. The second phase of the exact alignment occurred in June 2020 along with all of the other intense planetary energies: a stellium in Capricorn that lasted for weeks, all planets retrograde, etc. For much of the summer of 2020 the stellium in Capricorn (including Saturn, Pluto and Mars) formed a square to Eris as well. Talk about discord! The symbolism of Eris as the goddess who became angry when she didn’t receive a wedding invitation and retaliated by starting the Trojan War is eerily reflected in the events occurring in US politics over the past few years, as well as other events around the globe including the takeover of Afghanistan after 20 years of American efforts.
The Covid-19 virus itself seems to embody the discordant nature of Eris. It doesn’t follow any rules. It can’t be predicted in any way. It affects every patient differently. There are a myriad of symptoms that seem disconnected. It erupted, seemingly out of nowhere, quite suddenly and has spread like wildfire. Just as the golden apple of Eris began the Trojan War and transformed the political landscape of Europe and Asia, Covid-19 will likely create long-lasting transformation to global society. Since we are in the doorway to the Age of Aquarius, it seems likely that the destruction and transformation caused by the spread of this virus will pave the way for the shift in ages. Aquarius, the opposite of Leo which is all about the individual, tends to be willing to sacrifice the individual for the sake of the collectively.
The entire planet is affected by this planetary alignment which will start to wind down towards the end of 2021 (beginning in October). When there is a cataclysm that is beyond our control we can only let go and wait for clarity, and that is what is happening now. We are in a portal of so many different planetary shifts: The Jupiter/Saturn conjunction in December marked a shift in the 800 year elemental cycle from Earth (building) to Air (ideas), and all three outer transformational planets will change signs with Neptune moving into Aries in 2025 and Uranus making the shift into Gemini that same year. That is a lot of intense transformational energy which will change our world beyond recognition.
I keep having this image of a chasm opening up in the earth between the old age, the Age of Pisces (religion, mysticism, deception, illusion) and the Age of Aquarius (technology, detachment, idealism, collective). Neither is good and neither is bad, but the chasm is forcing us to either make the jump into the future, or stay stuck in the past and be left behind. ❤️
Your post made me read up a tiny bit on Eris. When I saw her moon is called Dysnomia, the two names struck a chord in me, since I have a condition called dysautonomia and it behaves in the way you describe for Eris–it creates small, seemingly minor symptoms, but when you have all of those minor symptoms at once, it can be a “thing.”
It made me wonder…has anyone ever taken into account a planet’s moons as factors in the astrological chart? Not just earth’s moons, but the moons of all the other planets, as well. I can imagine that this would complicate the effort to read a chart hugely. There are already so many factors in play that I find it daunting to try to do. But the apparent link between Eris’s moon’s name and Eris’s mode of action made me wonder….
And BTW, you always have such interesting, lovely artwork. Where on earth do you find so many pieces like this allllll the time?
Brenda, I love that connection between Dysnomia and your dysautonomia. I’d be very interested to know what Eris is doing in your chart – if you don’t mind posting them I’ll take a look.
Yes, there are some astrologers who work with planetary moons, and planetary nodes, and 10,000 named asteroids, and trans-Neptunians, and theoretical bodies… it’s all very interesting. But the more detail I put in a chart the less I can read it. Here’s an example of someone who looks at planetary moons. https://www.astrolog.org/astrolog/astmoon.htm
And as far as the art, I collect it on Pinterest! Here’s a link to my art board: https://www.pinterest.com/lynnjhayes/art/
Seattle, Washington
June 21, 1953
@ 10:30 AM
At least, that’s the time we’ve always used. Give or take a couple of minutes, it seems to be pretty accurate.
I can’t imagine working with that many points. Like you say, it all becomes even more complicated. I have trouble enough with the basic planets, houses, and signs! That right there is a stew! When I first got into astrology, I was in my early 30s. If I’d kept at it diligently, by now I’d be very good at it. Sadly enough, I didn’t. But I remain interested and at times dabble a bit.
I have Jupiter at my midheaven, but it’s not really well-aspected. I’ve always said that it probably meant that as I got older, I’d either get fat or get something “expansive” like cancer. I seriously doubted that I’d get rich (ah, if only!), as I have a stellium in my 2nd house that, I think, probably precludes the likelihood of that. But I was sure right about the fat AND the cancer! (Just had an interesting thought about the timing of my diagnosis in regard to the years leading up to that, and my Mars placement….Hmm……)
You have an eye for neat artwork. There’s been a few times I’ve added the pieces you’ve selected to my own Photos collection on my computer.
If you ever offered an online “basic astrology” series of workshops, I’d be interested in knowing about it. I wouldn’t mind sharpening my memory and skills a bit in a systematic fashion. You know, just the basics: what the planets rule, what “scripts” the signs provide, what “stages” the houses signify…..
Brenda: Eris squares your Sun/Mars conjunction. Your chart is a great example of what I wrote about with Mars problems causing health problems. You have Sun conjunct Mars, very fiery, but in Cancer where it is suppressed. No other fire other than Pluto in Leo, and Virgo rising. AND Saturn square Chiron. So yes, there are medical conditions, but they are reflected in the chart so the energetic patterns are there and can potentially be worked with.
Hmmm… Thanks. Eris squares the Sun/Mars in which direction? Toward the Venus, or toward the Mercury/Uranus?
Sometime about 2005 something shifted for several years. It’s like I found my “voice” and quit being afraid to speak up. To speak truth to power, if you will. I spent about 4-5 years in a very public, productive way, speaking that truth. Feeling fiery! (I got a lot of good things done, and am to this day proud of what I accomplished.) I even painted one wall of my living room a deep red, as well as my front door. :) And on the red wall, I put a metal sculpture of a sun radiating its beams outward.
Then, as that time came to a close (literally,…to the DAY), I was diagnosed with <> **inflammatory** breast cancer. Not regular breast cancer. “Inflammatory.” All kinds of deep symbolism there! LOL! In that situation, I had to use my voice still, but in a very different way, as I also discovered then that I had PTSD due to childhood medical treatments, so I was battling a deadly cancer AND a mental health issue that threatened my ability to get cancer treatment at all. These years of being in the public eye and then turning immediately to fight cancer (and PTSD) is the single most “outspoken” and “assertive” time period I’ve had in my entire life. My most “laying it on the line” time period. I’m sure that there was something transiting or progressing that triggered not just the health indicators in my chart, but that struggling Jupiter at my midheaven as well.
That’s why I’ve been interested in having a “Jupiter study” of my chart. Where I’d focus on just the role that Jupiter has played in my chart and throughout my life via aspects to it as well as its own transits and progressions. You make me think that I need to do a similar thing for the “fire” pieces in my chart. I had never considered that there were such clear health-related dynamics in my chart.