Past Articles

AR 59 Neptune in Aquarius

AR 58 Mercury, Messenger of the Gods

AR 57 Moon Signs

AR 56 Chinese Astrology

AR 55 Circular Logic

AR 54 Jupiter in Scorpio

AR 53 The Lion in Winter

AR 52 As Above, So Below

AR 51 The Ancient Quest

AR 50 Astrology and Alchemy

AR 49 Star of Wonder

AR 48 Jupiter in Libra

AR 47 Once in a Blue Moon

AR 46 Sedna Enters the Arena

AR 45 Royal Stars of Persia

AR 44 Ancient Formulas for Immortality

AR 43 Twelve Gates of Heaven

AR 42 Jupiter in Virgo

AR 41 Geometry of the Spheres

AR 40 Saturn in Cancer, June, 2003 to July, 2005

AR 39 The Poles of the Zodiac

AR 38
Uranus In
Pisces
2003-2011

AR 37
Twelfth Planet, Plutinos or
Planet X

AR 36
Eclipses – Promise or Peril?

AR35
Solar Fire

AR34
The Lunar Mansions of Vedic Astrology

AR 33
Children of the Gods

AR 32
Wheels Within Wheels

AR 31
Horoscopes of Destiny

AR 30
Zodicac of Dendera

AR 29
A Star Is Born

AR 28
Age of Aquarius

AR 27
Persia's Royal Stars of Ancients

AR 23
The Lore of a Shaman

Eris, goddess of discord, upsets the planetary apple cart

“There are no rules anywhere. The Goddess Prevails"
The Discordian Society, page 00032

The solar system hasn’t had such a jolt since 24-year old Clyde Tombaugh, continuing the work of Percival Lowell, found Pluto on February 18, 1930. Lowell died in 1916 unaware that his photographic plates had captured Pluto. For a long time that was the final word on planets.

Our word for planet comes from the Greek, “planates,” meaning “wanderer” and was meant to distinguish the moving stars (planets), from what seemed to be fixed stars. That seemed self-evident until now, but life in the solar system is becoming more complex. Burgeoning discoveries of planets orbiting other stars, as well as planetoids and comets which keep popping up in our solar system, created a classification dilemma. In the face of mounting demand the International Astronomical Union (IAU) formed a committee to define a planet.

Eight is enough

Eris, Greek goddess of discord, has upset the apple cart. Officially dubbed 2003 UB313, Eris was identified on January 5, 2005 and is for now the largest object found in orbit around the Sun since Neptune was discovered in 1846. Eris is a spherical body larger than Pluto residing in the Kuiper Belt, the icy ring which separates the planets from the deeper parts of space. Pluto is no longer the solitary object it was once thought to be but rather the brightest of a large class of Kuiper Belt Objects.

True to her name Eris stirred up a tempest of controversy at the August meeting of astrophysicists in Prague. According to reports the scientific discussion about her proper designation became a “raucous” debate which ended with Pluto and newcomer Eris both being relegated to dwarf planet status, leaving the solar system with eight planets. As even more objects may be discovered in our solar neighborhood the astronomers voted that Pluto couldn’t remain a planet without doing scientific disservice to other “real” planets. It had to be a blow, but at least Pluto is considered first in the new class of trans-Neptunian dwarf planets, along with Eris and Quaoar.

Eris is also the most distant object ever found in orbit, further than Sedna, which was discovered in 2004, and has an oval orbit of 560 years, more than twice as long as Pluto’s. Eris apparently looks similar to Pluto, but while the lord of the underworld is red, Eris is white, reflecting more sunlight from her surface than any body in the solar system except Saturn’s moon Enceladus. Scientists believe her great distance from the Sun causes methane and nitrogen to freeze solid and her atmosphere is therefore more reflective. She is visible through a telescope in the constellation of Cetus, the Whale, or Sea Monster. According to my colleague Philip Segewick, Aries currently resides at 20 Aries 54 in the Tropical zodiac.

Power of a name

Some exquisite mechanism appears to act within collective consciousness to result in the naming of archetypal influences. The naming of Eris further confirms my belief that astronomers are just as fascinated by this process as story tellers. Naming something imbues it with power, and once a celestial body has a name its existence comes alive in our consciousness.

Myth transmits truth through the ages even when it seems to contradict history. Troy for example was only myth for a time. Eris was Xena the warrior princes for awhile but is now a full-fledged goddess. Mythically there’s not much to draw on but some sources say Eris was the daughter of Zeus and Hera, twin sister of Ares (Roman Mars), and said to be his constant companion. So Eris is an Olympian in her own right. The Greeks generally disliked Ares as a trouble maker, and likely his sister by association, but the later Mars was held in high esteem by the imperial Romans.

Eris seems to be mischievous with lots of attitude. One of her artifacts is a golden apple of immortality, brilliant, shining and fatally attractive, which hints at a deeper meaning to her nature. Anyone who saw the shining orb desired it. It’s not clear from mythic fragments how she attained this priceless artifact, but in the old stories it was always a goddess who conferred immortality on a hero. That apple instigated the Trojan War. Legend says Eris was angered after not being invited to a wedding on Mount Olympus. She crashed the party and threw her apple (or one of them), into the midst of the revelers. The apple had a note attached with said, “For the fairest.” Naturally, three mighty goddesses each thought they should have the apple: Hera, Aphrodite and Athena. They summoned a mere mortal to choose between them and the result triggered the Trojan War.

When paradigms shift

How will astrologers adapt to the demotion of the smallest planet and the addition of a new Olympian, albeit a dwarf planet? Before Herschel discovered Uranus in 1781, there was a convenient relationship between the known planets and their relationship with the twelve Zodiac signs. Astrologers speculated about other planets which would ultimately fill out rulership of the twelve. Planet Vulcan and the dark Moon Lilith were popular candidates. There is actually some talk of returning to the classical rulerships, but I think this is unlikely.

Esoterically astrologers adapted and defined the discovery of Uranus as an evolutionary step in humanity’s unfoldment. When Neptune (1846), and Pluto (1930), in turn were “discovered” astrologers perceived that our collective consciousness as a human race had evolved to the point where we could recognize and respond to these higher planetary frequencies on a conscious level. Symbolically we were ready to move beyond the limiting rings of Saturn. Astrologers speak of the outer planets as “higher octaves” of Mercury, Venus and Mars respectively, acting to raise our thoughts, feelings and actions above the realm of ordinary pursuits.

Undiscovered country

These new discoveries have the potential to expand how astrologers interpret symbolic and archetypal content of the solar system and our psyches. Like the discoveries of Uranus, Neptune and Pluto heralded new awareness, technology and transformation, so too will further discoveries take us to the next level in our unfolding pattern. As new objects are discovered within the Kuiper Belt and Oort Cloud it is possible that we will experience an entirely different psychological mechanism.

Pluto was named for the mythical god of the dead, Hades in Greek. He was an Olympian who was given rulership of the Underworld, called the House of Hades. Hades name meant “the Invisible,” and was not spoken aloud for fear of arousing his anger. Instead he was most commonly called Pluton, “the Rich,” signifying the wealth of mines cultivated beneath the Earth, and he was often depicted with a horn of plenty. Pluto has guarded the gates to the underworld for nearly a century but we have lost the deeper meaning of Pluton and what it means to mine the depths. There are wonders waiting beyond the artificial limits we have enforced but we must summon courage to dive.

Since Pluto’s discovery astrologers have witnessed the paradox first hand that Pluto’s small size is no indication of its influence. Astrologically and archetypically Hades, the Invisible, and Pluton, the Rich, fits well with the deep, psychological issues which must be mined when the influence of Pluto presents itself. Whatever we call Pluto his influence will still be felt. If we doubt that look at the ruckus tiny Eris has stirred up.

The Kuiper Belt itself may archetypically prove to be like the mythical River Styx, and crossing the outer reaches of the solar system will lead us to the dark and icy realm of the Oort cloud, an underworld containing potential riches to be mined. As we pass the outer limits of the solar system we begin to engage the galaxy itself; the largest unit most of us can conceive.

Principia Discordia

Strange forces are at play in collective unconsciousness which Freud never even dreamed about. In 1958 a new religion was created. Called Discordianism it is a modern, chaos-based religion. The deity of Discordianism is none other than our new dwarf planet, Eris, who the Romans identified with their goddess Discordia. Described as both an “elaborate joke disguised as a religion, and as a religion disguised as an elaborate joke,” it has also been called "Zen for round eyes. Discordianism is evidently the code of computer hackers.

Although most religions revere the principles of harmony and order in the Universe, Discordianism can be interpreted as a recognition that disharmony and chaos are equally valid aspects of reality. The tenets of this discordant religion can be found in their guide book, Principia Discordia which often hints that Discordianism was founded as a dialectic antithesis to more popular religions based on order. The book describes, often with humor, chaos as a much more underlying impulse of the universe. Perhaps the intent was to balance the creative forces of order and disorder, but the focus is certainly on the more disorderly aspects of the world — at times the forces of order are even vilified. It’s fascinating that Eris was worshiped as embodying disorder half a century before she reentered the Olympian arena. How might we examine the purpose of strife, as in an Olympic game for example?

Serious students of myth notice that the tenor of the stories began to change after destruction of Thera by a volcanic eruption and the corresponding culture in Old Kingdom Egypt. Symptoms of this shift in Greek myths included an increasing glorification of war accompanied by a deteriorating value of agriculture and cyclical time. This coincides with the end of the age of Taurus and the beginning of the age of Aries. We are approaching the end of the age of Pisces and the dawn of the age of Aquarius, and it’s time for the paradigm to shift again.

In October 2002, based on observations of the star closest to the heart of the Milky Way, Rainer Schoedel, at the Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics in Garching, Germany announced, “We can now confidently say that a black hole does indeed exist at the center of our galaxy.” As recently as the Middle Ages Galileo was imprisoned for advancing Copernicus’s view that Earth circled the Sun, not the other way round. In some ways our awareness has come a long way in several hundred years.

The solar system hasn’t changed; we just see it differently. We shouldn’t be surprised. As accounts of Near Death Experiences, After Death Communications, angelic visitations, encounters with extraterrestrials increase dramatically it is becoming clear that the once impenetrable borders of the underworld, described like a veil between the worlds, is thinning and revealing more denizens from that realm.

These discoveries challenge traditional astrology to widen the lens and deepen the interpretation. I expect that Astrologers will grab the golden apple which Eris offers, expanding the symbolic view of our collective consciousness without asking permission from the IAU.