Astropoetics

A closer look at Ceres in the birth chart

2013-04-03T15:38:31-05:00

I have just finished revising Lesson 22 of my Astropoetics correspondence course on the dwarf planet Ceres, and wanted to share part of that with you since it seems quite pertinent to the present times.

Ceres - a Roman goddess of agriculture - is known mostly through the story of her Greek counterpart Demeter. Demeter is famous for withdrawing the fertility of the Earth in order to bargain for the return of her daughter Persephone from the Underworld after her abduction by Hades. The agreement worked out between Demeter and Zeus returns Persephone to the upper world for part of the year - an arrangement that is evoked as the mythological basis for the turning of the seasons.

Modern astrologers associate Ceres with mothering, as well as the wounds associated with meddlesome or neglectful mothering - particularly eating disorders like anorexia, bulimia, or weight issues; abandonment issues; and issues associated with sexual abuse.

On a more global scale, Ceres may be implicated in growing concerns about climate change, genetically modified foods, and population growth (7 billion and counting) that places increasing stress on the planet's natural resources and life support systems.

There is another side to Ceres, however, that gets less astrological press. After Demeter learns of her daughter's abduction through conversations with Hecate and Helios (Moon and Sun deities respectively) she doesn't immediately respond. Instead, she puts on a disguise and wanders incognito through the human world.

Eventually, she winds her way to the town of Eleusis and gets a job as a nanny to Demophoon, heir to the throne of King Celeus. By day, she goes about her day job, but at night, she works in secret to make Demophoon immortal, anointing him with special oils and dipping him in fire.

After a while, she is discovered and reveals her true identity, commanding that a temple be built for her on the spot. It is only then that she retires into the temple to mourn for her daughter, and begins to withdraw the life force from the Earth, forcing Zeus and Hades to the bargaining table.

After the dust settles and the seasonal compromise is reached, Demeter's temple at Eleusis becomes the site of a mystery school, where supplicants learn the secrets of immortality - secrets that largely remain secret to this day.

in contemplating this myth, I have come to believe that in addition to her more outwardly visible manifestations such as the psychology of mothering and climate change, Ceres also governs the secret inner workings of transformation and healing - precisely those aspects of deep change that cannot be measured in an increasingly evidence-based world and whose true efficacy defies rational explanation.

In some way that is not immediately obvious, those souls with Ceres prominent in their chart will transmute deep inconsolable grief, irrevocably loss, or the unspeakable tragedy of a Hurricane Sandy, or a Fukushima, or a Newtown massacre into another magnitude of strength. This does not happen in the limelight of public discourse so much as it happens in the secret chambers of hearts that have been violated by catastrophe and loss.

Astrologers have long assigned the process of death and rebirth to Pluto - who is in fact Ceres' divine adversary in the myth. But I have come to believe that the inscrutable mystery of the passage between death and rebirth - the bardo state - belongs to Ceres. We see the death; we see the rebirth - what happens in between is beyond our scrutiny.

Nearly 50 years ago, Timothy Leary (who had Ceres conjunct Pluto within 3 minutes of arc) wrote The Psychedelic Experience: A Manual Based on the Tibetan Book of the Dead - meant to be a guidebook for those who wished to explore that mysterious space between death (of the ego) and rebirth of a more liberated being - using LSD as a catalyst. Gushing with enthusiasm in the introduction to his book, Leary says (p 30):

Here then is the key to a mystery which has been passed down for over 2,500 years – the consciousness-expansion experience – the pre-mortem death and rebirth rite. The Vedic sages knew the secret; the Eleusinian initiates knew it; the Tantrics knew it. In all their esoteric writings they whisper the message: it is possible to cut beyond ego-consciousness, to tune in on neurological processes which flash by at the speed of light, and to become aware of the enormous treasury of ancient racial knowledge welded into the nucleus of every cell of your body.

Today, most of us cringe in embarrassment at the caricature that Leary became, while nodding secretly to our psychedelic roots. But as Ceres moves into her power as a dwarf planet on a par with her nemesis Pluto - after 205 years of secret gestation in asteroid status - the question remains as potent as ever:

How is it possible rise above the petty concerns of a beleaguered ego and access "the enormous treasury of ancient racial knowledge" within in order to meaningfully serve a world badly in need of every single one of us to step up to the plate?

Are we not in a kind of bardo state now? The old order - built on fossil fuels, capitalism, war, and the myth of limitless expansion - is dying. The future is uncertain. To be alive on the planet now is to be in a liminal space - between death and rebirth.

Could it be that Ceres' promotion to dwarf planet status at this juncture signals her readiness to be a guide through the bardo state into a more sustainable, more humane civilization, more fully integrated into the whole web of life?

Perhaps a closer look at the placement of Ceres in your chart holds some hidden key to how you can best negotiate this rite of passage, as well as to any potential part you might play as catalyst and co-midwife to the birthing of the new.

At least that is where I try to take Lesson 22 - drawing from examples both of those like the XIVth Dalai Lama, who did access his Ceres in a positive and constructive way, and those like Adolph Hitler, whose failure to do so was catastrophic for the collective wellbeing of the animus mundi.

Individual Lessons Now Available

If you wish to learn more about Ceres, my 36-page lesson is now available as a stand-alone PDF file for $10.

The lesson includes a homework assignment, which is designed to help you consider Ceres' placement in your chart, and more importantly the role that it plays in your life.

There is also a series of provocative questions meant to serve as Cerean meditations designed to take you more deeply into the secret mysterious heart of this relatively inscrutable archetype.

Also available in PDF format are the first 22 lessons of my correspondence course - each from 30-40 pages, with engaging homework assignments - for $10 each. Here is a list of available lessons .

The lessons posted are not currently available as downloads from the website itself - except to students of my correspondence course - but if there is a lesson that interests you, Email me (please state which lesson you want), and I will be glad to make sure you get it.

Each lesson comes with the option of a response from me to the homework assignment. For an additional $150, I will provide a written response plus a 90-minute phone session to talk about whatever questions you have, or whatever life issues have been raised in the course of your interaction with the lesson. To purchase to lesson plus homework response: Email me(state Ceres+response).

What is Ceres asking of you?

Twenty-four Lessons in Astropoetics: Available individually or as a full course

2013-03-28T09:47:22-05:00

The Basic Course of The Astropoetic School was created to promote an understanding of astrology that is rooted in personal experience. Students learn to use their knowledge of astrology as a springboard to an awareness and appreciation of the soul at the heart of their own life's journey.

The Basic Course currently includes 24 downloadable Lessons designed to be taken at the rate of 6 lessons per year over a 4-year period. The course is normally paid for in advance annually. See Application for more. Those with experience of astrology may be eligible to skip certain lessons and/or take a more advanced course after completing an advanced placement exam.

The course is designed to be sequential and to build knowledge and understanding slowly. However, for some people more flexibility may be helpful, so this year we have introduced an option to take individual lessons of your choice.

This new option might be of interest to those who:

want to try out the course before committing to the full program
would prefer to select their own lessons and go at their own pace

The individual lessons are available in PDF format - 30-40 pages, with engaging homework assignments - for $10 each. To see a list of available lessons, go to Student Downloads.

Currently, the lessons must be ordered directly by emailing Joe here: Email

For an additional $150, Joe Landwehr will provide a written response plus a 90-minute phone session to talk about whatever questions you have, or whatever life issues have been raised in the course of your interaction with the lesson.

To learn more about the course please follow the links in the left-hand column on the website - if you are reading this in an email please click on the post title to go to the website itself. Also of interest may be the following six samplers from the correspondence course:

1. Studying Astropoetics

2. Astro-Logic

3. Astro-Logic of the Horizon

4. Astro-Logic of the Meridian

5. The Singleton Effect

6. Application of Principles

Astrology Correspondence Course Sampler: 6. Application of Principles in Real Life

2013-02-08T06:00:00-06:00

The principles governing patterns of hemispheric distribution are not meant to be hard and fast rules, and there will be always be mitigating factors in any birth chart.

We have seen how singleton planets can skew the orientation toward an otherwise empty hemisphere. In a more balanced chart, a prominent Saturn or Neptune can mitigate an extroverted (southern dominance) or masculine (eastern dominance) orientation, while a prominent Mars, Jupiter or Uranus can mitigate an introverted (northern dominance) or feminine (western dominance) orientation.

Hard aspects (formed by planets some multiple of 45° from each other) can skew a chart toward the south or east, while soft aspects (formed by planets some multiple of 60° (but not 180°) from each other) can skew a chart toward the north or west.

Every astrological principle must be considered in relation to other factors that reinforce or counterbalance it. The balance between principles shifts as different factors come into play in real time, and as you grow in consciousness. Learning to intuitively weigh these contradictory factors – always with reference to your life – is the true art of astrology.

Regardless of mitigating factors, it is important to understand that every imbalance in a chart implies its own counterbalancing force. Wherever there is preponderance, there is internal pressure to explore the unoccupied section of the chart, particularly during the second half of life.

In this way, extroverts (with a southern preponderance) are often moved, after age 40, to develop more of an inner life, while introverts (with a northern preponderance), are often compelled to actualize more of their potential within the world.

Likewise, those with an eastern preponderance are often pushed by circumstances to develop the more western aspects of their being – to pay more attention to the needs of others, express their feelings and their caring more openly, and become more receptive to experiences not under the control of their conscious volition. Those with a western preponderance are often driven to cultivate a more deliberate expression of their eastern side – to take more control over their lives, exercise more initiative, find their own identity apart from those they love, and so on.

Lastly, it should be apparent that no one pattern of distribution is better or worse than any other. The distribution of planets in your birthchart is perfectly suited to you, and reflects your optimum opportunity to grow in this lifetime. You may be tempted to believe some other chart would be easier, but the astrological grass is not greener on the other side of the fence. You are given exactly what you need, and the ease or difficulty of your life depends not on what you are given, but rather on the extent to which you embrace or resist the challenges of your particular pattern.

Ultimately, your birthchart is only a springboard to a process of becoming. In real time, all planets are continually changing position. Over the course of a lifetime, you will experience many of your planets in both their worldly and their more internal manifestations, as they rise above and dip below the horizon, and both as aspects of your individuality and through relationships, as they move back and forth across the meridian.

Having said this, the positions that your planets occupy at birth (called your natal birthchart) are most important. They put a relatively permanent stamp upon your experience in this life. This is not to say that you will repeat your natal patterns throughout your lifetime in exactly the same way, but rather that in this life, you will have many opportunities to learn the lessons and embody the wisdom encoded within these patterns.

As you live through multiple cycles, your essential life lessons can become integrated on ever-deepening levels of your being. You will always have the option to refuse these lessons. But if you fail to face them now, they will inevitably be repeated down the road.

Hopefully, within this blog series, I have demonstrated how it is possible to understand something about your basic orientation to life, by looking at the distribution of planets above and below the horizon, and to the east and west of the meridian. If you note your preponderances and deficiencies, you should be able to intuit some of the basic life tasks that characterize your most important evolutionary challenges.

For more information about astropoetics, read the articles in the top menu to your left entitled ASTROPOETICS.

To sign up for the course, go to Application.

Astrology Correspondence Course Sampler Series

1. Studying Astropoetics

2. Astro-Logic

3. Astro-Logic of the Horizon

4. Astro-Logic of the Meridian

5. The Singleton Effect

6. Application of Principles

Astrology Correspondence Course Sampler: 5. The Singleton Effect

2013-02-01T06:00:00-06:00

In this post, we observe that patterns of 9-1 are sometimes weaker (less demonstrative of hemispheric principles) than patterns involving an 8-2 distribution because of what is known as the singleton effect. The lone planet (called a singleton) often assumes a potency that matches the other 9 and draws energy and attention to itself.

As a general principle: a singleton planet creates strong focus for the birthchart as a whole.

The surrealistic painter, Salvadore Dali, for example, has 9 planets above the horizon, and only Uranus below.

With a southern preponderance, we expect Dali to be an extrovert, shaped largely in response to the norms and expectations of consensus reality. If anything, the opposite seems true.

Early in his career, Dali was known for his near photographic realism, painting still life oranges with every dimple visible. Today, Dali is known for an extremely subjective style of art called surrealism that celebrates the unconscious and the interior landscape of the psyche.

At the other extreme, we have filmmaker Steven Spielberg, who has 9 planets below the horizon and only Uranus above.

With a northern preponderance, Spielberg should be a classic introvert, living in his own world, shaping himself according to some internal dictate. Yet Spielberg is one of the most prolific directors of his generation, with many of his films touching a powerful chord of recognition within the public – exploring such extroverted subjects as extraterrestrials, the horror of war, and the adventures of swash-buckling heroes.

As a child, Spielberg suffered from Asperger’s Syndrome, a mild form of autism that leads to obsessive interests – often with positive results, but here noted as an expression of the exaggerated introversion his pattern would lead us to expect.

Despite the northern orientation of his chart, its singleton effect has propelled him to superstar status within the extroverted domain of public recognition. He is noted for projecting his personal obsessions onto the big screen for public consumption – speaking a common language with widespread resonance.

As an example of western preponderance with an eastern singleton (Mars), we have Sigmund Freud.

A European Jew born in the mid 19th century, Freud grew up in a world that was a broad social experiment in adaptation to the German mores of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Jewish men of the day were limited to careers in law or medicine, and so Freud chose medicine. What he really wanted to do was neurophysiological research, but he lacked the necessary funds. Since Freud was already engaged, and planning a family, he chose a practical career as a physician with a specialty in neurology – essentially pursuing an adaptive path in line with his western orientation.

With a singleton Mars in the east, however, Freud had the opportunity to put his distinctive stamp on the practice of neurology. His big breakthrough came when he underwent self-analysis (a particularly eastern experience) that would continue for the rest of his life. Out of this came his notion of the Oedipus complex that put sex (governed astrologically by the planet Mars) at the root of human motivation.

The opposite situation exists with impressionist painter and older contemporary of Freud, Pierre-Auguste Renoir – who had an eastern predominant chart, and Mars as a singleton planet in the west.

Expressing an early interest in art, Renoir took an apprenticeship painting decorations on china for a porcelain factory. He moved on to study the classical art of the Old Masters, but soon rebelled against the art establishment of his day. In contrast to the somber realism of Victorian Europe in vogue, Renoir began painting colorful scenes in bright colors and quick brush strokes, cultivating a style that came to be known as impressionism. Shunned by the stodgy art elite, Renoir and some fellow renegades started their own Salon des Refuses, the show of the refused ones – a rebellion often characteristic of eastern predispositions.

Unlike Freud, who started pioneering in his 40s, Renoir returned to his roots as a traditional arts craftsman and admirer of the Old Masters, and to a more classical style, involving greater attention to detail. His subjects, however, remained cheerful dancers, sun-drenched landscapes and young nubile women painted in luminous, vibrant colors – blending a typical Marsian lust for life with a western response to the challenge of his critics that impressionists sell "sketches that are hardly dry.”

For more information about astropoetics, read the articles in the top menu to your left entitled ASTROPOETICS.

To sign up for the course, go to Application.

Astrology Correspondence Course Sampler Series

1. Studying Astropoetics

2. Astro-Logic

3. Astro-Logic of the Horizon

4. Astro-Logic of the Meridian

5. The Singleton Effect

6. Application of Principles