The library · The other points and bodies

Ceres in Libra

the dwarf planet Ceres in tropical Libra, in modern Western asteroid astrology

What the tradition reads

Ceres is read in modern Western practice as the manner of nurture given and wanted, and in Libra the delineations consulted make it a matter of proportion. Bob Marks reads Ceres in Libra as nurtured by beauty, and stresses that the sign is moved by the small and subtle signals of care rather than by large ones: good manners and a tasteful, balanced appearance work here, and the same person tends to nurture others in that register, through small and tasteful touches. Astrology Club calls this the peace figure among the twelve, nurturing by bringing harmony into the lives of those it loves, carrying fairness and equality, and putting beauty and gentleness into its surroundings; the same page reads it as soothed by serenity and balance, and warns that this placement can dismiss its own inner conflict and its own need to assert itself, since asserting would risk the balance it keeps. Cafe Astrology, which groups Ceres by element rather than sign by sign, has the air signs reaching first for mental and communication support. Wikipedia dates astrological use of the asteroids to 1973, so the reading is recent.

The story

The myth ends not in rescue but in a settlement, which is the Libran part of it. Wikipedia's article on Proserpina records that Jupiter sent Mercury to order Dis to free her, that she had eaten several of the pomegranate seeds he offered, and that those who have eaten the food of the dead cannot return to the world of the living; Pluto insisted she had eaten willingly and must therefore stay with him for half the year. Virgil, the same page notes, has Proserpina agree to the arrangement, and reluctant to ascend to rejoin her mother. Cafe Astrology takes this bargain into the astrology directly, reading Ceres as connected with separation and time sharing because in the myth she had to strike a deal with Pluto and return the daughter for a portion of the year. A divided arrangement that both sides can live with, held in place year after year, is the background the tradition gives a sign read through equilibrium, contract and the terms two parties agree.

Written from

Corpus key point:Ceres:sign:Libra.