The link between Astrology and Astronomy is a tenuous one at best. Yet, the decisions made by astronomers have an impact on not only Astrology, but the collective as well. Will Ceres' promotion to dwarf planet highlight the sweeping change in progress in the collective consciousness of the world?

Our place in the cosmos is rare and sweet. We live on Planet Earth, the third rock from the sun, where life is supported, flowers blossom and birds sing. We define our position and our gratitude for it, by examining the nature of our celestial neighbors. We have models of our cosmos that hang as mobiles from classroom ceilings. And we know why life exists here, and not there.

Since kindergarten we've chanted: Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune and Pluto. Being raised in Africa, we had a culturally specific pneumonic to help us remember the order of the planets. For the life of me I can't remember it now, but it had something to do with eating.

Last September our scientists decided to revamp our current cosmology. They demoted poor old Pluto. He's spent way too long hanging out at the black hole that is our galactic center and as such, has almost disappeared. And they also added Ceres. The Goddess. She's a dwarf planet, not too big in stature, but she's included.

Now all the classroom mobiles, models and posters have to come down from the walls and ceilings. Children will have to learn a different order of planets than the one we learned. In that learning process they will assimilate an unconscious paradigm - that of the increasing strength of the feminine.

Before Ceres we had only Venus and the Moon as female archetypes. Venus' languid passive nature, and the Moon's constant cycle, has served us long and well. But we need more. Ceres is more. She is the archetype of the Earth Mother. She is the Earth's friend and trusted companion. This is the unspoken essence that will permeate our children's consciousness as they gaze at the turning planets on their strings dangling at the back of the classroom.

Ceres is also known as Demeter. In mythology Demeter had a girl child named Persephone whom she loved very much. Together they wandered through fields and over mountains, happy in each other's company and in the beauty of nature. They sowed seeds of food and let rivers run. They plumped the crops of the fields and blessed each harvest.

But one day, when Persephone was grown, she disappeared. Devastated Demeter searched the earth for her child. Tears poured down her face. She did not stop to eat nor drink. Her feet grew tattered and bloodied as she walked mile after mile looking for her child. The fields became neglected. Rain did not fall. The sun dimmed in the sky and moved away. It grew colder and colder. Leaves fell from the trees and everywhere people began to mourn. They begged Demeter to pay attention, to pause in her anguish to consider theirs. Finally their prayers were answered.

Demeter discovered that Persephone's father, Zeus (Jupiter), had sold her into marriage to Hades (Pluto) the God of the Underworld. Zeus had to appease his people who wanted Demeter happy so they could live well and fruitfully. Zeus negotiated with Hades to release his new wife for nine months out of each year so she could be with her mother.

At last mother and daughter were re-united! Spring warmed the land and flowers blossomed again. Yet mother and daughter had to honor the agreement set forth for them, and were separated for three months out of every year. Demeter took the three months as a time to withdraw. She gave the people grain so they could survive the winter, and then she removed herself.

Demeter and Persephone are two images of women - the innocent maiden who loses her innocence by descending into the underworld, and the mother who mourns. This archetypal power exists in each of us, whether we are man or woman; whether we have birthed a child or not.

The archetypal energy describes a being in total happiness and deeply entwined in companionship. In this happy state, the being creates, and loves, and enjoys a pleasurable meaningful life. Yet, along the journey, disaster comes. Separation occurs. Darkness falls. Coldness covers all. The innocent part of us is exposed to hell. This can occur through the loss of illusion as in divorce, or some other life crisis. The wiser more creative part of ourselves, accepts the tragedy, understands the need for it, and makes room for it in our psyches. We take the time out. We cease our activity. We enter into our winter and face our aloneness.

We come to understand the vibrant principle of life its self: that is has a night and a day, darkness and lightness. That it is in the dark that the seed is planted. That it is out of the dark that our greatest understanding comes. This darkness may well be our ignorance. It is likely to be what we are unconscious of. This unconscious pool needs our attention periodically. We are thus, by the gifts of the Goddess, given permission to attend to this essential side of our natures. Demeter/Ceres invites us to walk where we very seldom willingly go. Our ignorance diminishes because we take the opportunity to examine it.

And thus, we become more conscious of what deeply propels us. Regular sojourns to our buried agendas allow us to examine our hidden motives. And so we become enlightened. In that enlightenment we connect more vibrantly with our earth home.

Now, as little children recite the names of the planets, both the new and the old, they are invited to consider an aspect of self-hood essential to their blossoming as creatures of the earth, and thus they become a friend to the Earth, like Ceres.

© 2007 Dulce Bell-Bulley