………………….. .1. The Reality of Eris
Hey, Astrology fans! I found an on-line Ephemeris of Eris, the so-called 10th Planet, sometimes called a dwarf planet. Over the last 6 years it’s been called both 2003 UB313 as well as Xena, after both the old T.V. heroine and X = the unknown. That’s the name the team that discovered Eris visualized calling the planet, but this was somehow later over-ruled in favor of a mythological name, to make it consistent with the origins, in ancient myths, of the names of the other planets. It was re-named Eris within a year of its discovery.
Eris, formerly Xena
I’m going to work backwards on this one, like a crab. First, we try to determine the astrological nature, if any, of Planet Eris. Then, we go back in history to see if the nature, deeds and personality of the relevant Goddess plausibly matches what we see in the Eris that’s in the heavens.
The first thing one may notice when looking in the Eris Ephemeris, is that everyone since 1923 has Eris in Aries so its influence seems, especially on the surface, to be generational. But further study confirms both the generational aspect, and also the personal ‘face’ of the planet and how it works in a chart. The chart I know the best is my own, so I have to start there to see about Eris.
Curiously, both of my wives & one almost-wife and one live-in lover, all had Eris closely square my Mercury and more widely square my Venus, & trine my Moon. MOON attracted, MOON brought about the simulation of family love and potential motherhood… all the warm and cuddly feelings. But Mercury (and to some extent Venus) changeableness, flamboyance, gossip, chatter, idleness, impractical hobbies, etc., was an even more powerful separative element. In two friendships that have persisted through a couple of decades, the Mercury square Eris portion of the comparative aspect does not exist. Eris is closer to the more benevolent trine to my Moon.
Eris was not just ‘closely’ square to my Mercury, it was 3 minutes of longitude from exact. That’s amazing! That gives my Mercury a whole new personality, with new, tremendous 11th House influences. The tight aspect also makes it the closest in my chart between any two planets or luminaries. And to think, I have just discovered this fact after 30+ years of being an astrologer. Well, new things are discovered all the time, and this is proof!
So, already I have a suspicion there may be something very important here, in Eris.
I’ve just taken a good look at my chart. There has always been a huge void stretching from Capricorn all the way to Taurus (NNode) and all the way to the latter part of Gemini to find another planet. Now I find ERIS is my highest elevated planet & looks down over the entire chart. It sits there like a damned spider, or maybe archangel .
It opposes my natal Neptune from the 11th House to the 5th. Eris opposing Neptune, both squaring my Mercury-Venus conjunction. That’s even more amazing and very revealing about certain aspects of my nature. Here’s just ONE thing… I am drawn to believe this explains why the women in my life haven’t been blessed with any live births despite a number of successful “starts” to their pregnancies, with me the prospective dad. That hurts, but it is true! Unrealistic expectations in love (Neptune in 5th), opposed by the Arian beams of Eris, shows I could not trust my friends and associates, and that’s true, too. But the influence on denying parenthood is amazingly accurate. Jeepers, ERIS is “Sire” spelled backwards, just noticed that! Serendipity & then some.
ERIS’s orbit, a long, elliptical one , circles round the Sun every 560 years. If we study famous charts, we might determine its influence Or, not even famous charts! Just accurate charts that reveal important specifics. Unfortunately, I don’t have enough time right at the moment to delve into important or notorious charts…
But history itself is a good teacher. History buffs agree the start of WWI was mysterious, why did all the Europeans go nuts? One country after another plunged into a WAR hysteria. In 1914-1923 Eris was in the last 3 degrees of Pisces, a sign which is ruled by Neptune. Neptune often does bring confusion, illness & delusion, Eris doesn’t do well in Pisces. The dread killer, Spanish Flu appeared in 1918, during this climax of Eris’ transit of Pisces.
As a planet transits the last few degrees of a sign it often leaves a signature impact. The post war hyper-inflation in Germany was Neptunian, also, and occurred as Eris was in the last degree of Pisces.
Now let’s look what happened when Eris entered bold, masculine Aries. The boys born those few years, ended up serving in W.W.II. Mars ruled at that time, & for “our side” it was a GOOD cause, people say, THAT war was a good one to fight & win.
Now, for the girls… Girls born under ERIS in ARIES had an extra MARS component in all their charts. You can think of this as girls born in the mid-1920’s who grew up and married in the 1940’s, during the war. Meanwhile, the girls born in the 1940’s and 1950’s grew up in the 1960’s and 1970’s, in those years that girls were in the Free Speech movement, the sexual revolution, burning their bras and running away from home, often living in co-ed dorms or out in the communes. This was unprecedented, heady behavior. Aries rules the head. These females were using their heads more than previous generations, albeit not always successfully. But Eris in Aries explains (1) Women’s Liberation, (2) the rise of Lesbianism. Both of these, formal & informal societal/sexual changes of emphasis, happened as Eris entered the 2nd Decanate of Aries, i.e., 10, 11 deg.
This also coincided w/ the “Hippy” & anti-war movement of the mid- to late 1960’s. Eris moves SO slowly, it may influence specific degrees. I know I am looking at history through my particular memories of colleges in California in the United States; if I’d lived in some other part of the country, or in any other part of the world, no doubt my experiences and those of the people around me would have been very different.
When I was talking about women.. Obviously, men, also, were influenced by presence of Eris in the Mars-ruled sign Aries from 1923– present. It is just a terrific Mars-influence, in both Aries advancements for our society, as well as military & warfare issues &.”Balance of Power”. The harnessing of the atom for military purposes, and its use for those purposes, killing hundreds of thousands of individuals, occurred in the 1940’s while Eris was in the first decan (0–10 degrees) of the First Sign of the Zodiac, Aries. I see that as potentially significant, since it is possible that no other planet is as indicative of major events and major historical events and changes as Eris.
There are certainly indications that specific degrees as well as decans (decanates) may be significant. For example, the Wall Street crash, 10/29,1929, occurred with Eris in 1.06 Aries. A great wave of confidence in the economy, with soaring stock market prices, ended in a crash, all while Eris was hovering — advancing and retrograding again — in the first few degrees of Aries. When another sudden and crucial event, John F. Kennedy shooting occurred, Eris was in 10.03 Aries, just nosing into the 2nd decan of Aries, and on the terrorist attack on 9/11, Eris was in 19.53 Aries, just finishing the 2nd decan, about to go into the 3rd. From surprising sudden flare-ups like this, it appears the 10-degree decanates may be more significant for Eris than they are for other, much faster, planets.
Eris will enter Venus-ruled Taurus in 2044, a bit too late for some of us to enjoy. But implying that if we’re still here, times may improve. That information won’t help very much to those people wondering about paying the rent next month.
Let’s look at Eris in history. Here’s an Ephemeris of Eris’ position going back 1,400 years into the past: http://www.thegreenduck.com/ka/eph/Eris.602-2103.short-eph.txt
Let’s see what I can spot by using this ephemeris. This one goes back to 601 A.D. I wish it went farther, I’d love to see Eris’ position during the great, well-marked events of Classical Antiquity and the birth of Christianity.
In 630 A.D., Mohammad and 10,000 warriors conquered Mecca and soon took over all of Arabia. Eris was in 23 Scorpio that year. Scorpio is a sign related to both Pluto and Mars. Pluto means control and Mars means battle and conquest. Let me look back at the life of Mohammad. It was in the year 610 that Mohammad reports the Angel Gabriel appeared to him and ordered him to recite various verses, which was the beginning of The Koran. Before this moment, Eris was in Libra, ruled by Venus, a more ‘balanced’ energy. Eris was in 1 degree Scorpio at this time. It was the sharp break in the energy flow from Eris, at the very dividing line between the balanced energy of Libra, ruled by Venus, and the Martian and Plutonian energy of Scorpio, when the Birth of Islam occurred.
So. I have just discovered what astrological event was responsible for the birth of Islam.
The Eris Ephemeris only goes back to 601 A.D. But if we figure 560 years for a complete cycle, and subtract from 610, the year Eris was in 1 degree Scorpio when Gabriel supposedly began dictating the Koran to Mohammad, we get the year of 50 A.D., when Jesus’ teachings were beginning to spread, but repression was also occurring. According to this schema, in 70 A.D., when Jerusalem and its Temple were leveled and sacrificial Judaism came to an end, Eris would have been about 23 Scorpio, the same exact degree that it was in when Mohammad conquered Mecca, 560 years later. Now that’s interesting! Let’s subtract 560 years from 70 A.D., the Destruction of Jerusalem — what do we get ? 490 B.C., which was THE year that King Darius the First launched his invasion of Greece (goal: Athens), thus setting off the first of several nasty Persian Wars.
Now let’s jump up to the next time Eris is in 23 degrees Scorpio. What do we see? That in 1181, Japanese and Chinese astronomers observed what we now know was a supernova, one of very few that has ever happened in the Milky Way Galaxy, and similar to the Crab Nebula of 1054. The 1181 blast was visible 185 days in the heavens. Of course, nobody can claim Eris in 23 degrees Scorpio has anything to do with a supernova!
Here’s another Eris phenomenon. In 1095, Pope Urban II launched the First Crusade, which called for the re-capture of the Holy Land, specifically Jerusalem, from the Muslims. This was accomplished 4 years later. Eris was in 9 to 15 degrees of Cancer at this time. Cancer is deeply related to home and therefore the homeland. This energy seems to have helped generate the Crusade and hundreds of years of crusades that followed. More than 500 years later, Eris entered Cancer again, 1642. That were exactly the year the English Civil War, in which Royalists battled the Parliament. What is a civil war except a battle for “home” and home = 4th house = Cancer? The uprising by Parliament was successful; the King was beheaded in 1649.
In 1453, the ancient and holy city of Constantinople fell to the Islamic Turk invaders and the oldest existing link to the ancient world was broken. This happened when Eris was traveling very slowly, in 14 degrees of Aries. Aries, remember, is Mars-powered, and Mars often equals war and strife and conquest.
In 1492, when Columbus discovered the New World, Eris was in 23 Aries. Aries = new discoveries. Aries = adventurous conquest. Eris is TODAY, 2009, in 21 Aries, so it seems we may be on the verge of a new discovery, as well. Is there a “New World” out there that we don’t know about, or know about and haven’t visited yet? When Eris hits 23 degrees, will we learn that extraterrestrial civilizations really exist?
In 1521, Cortes entered Tenochtitlan and conquered the Aztec Empire, annexing Mexico and beginning the destruction of millions of native Americans through illness, and reducing the rest of them to slavery or serfdom. Eris was is the last degree of Aries in that crucial year of conquest, tending to indicate that Eris on a cusp, (or on a decan, as I mentioned earlier) really does have a powerful effect. The Aztec Empire collapsed as Eris entered Taurus, Venus’ sign, and possibly not fit for much battle.
In 1588, the Spanish Armada, King Phillip’s wacky idea that he could conquer England with 131 ships, was blown by gales up and around England and Scotland and many on-board perished. Eris was about 21.40 Taurus at this time. Eris in Lady Venus’ comparatively peaceful sign of Taurus was obviously a BAD year to mount an invasion! Most of the invaders were killed for spoils by the locals in Scotland and Ireland as they tried to scramble to shore.
In 1692, hysteria about the idea that “witches” might be casting spells in Massachusetts led to the Salem Witch Trials. When you think about witch-hunting you see it is a persnickety, censorious, symptom of religious and social “uptightness” that is consistent with Puritanism and is the culmination of Virgo energy. ( Eris was in 28 and 29 degrees Virgo that year.) When Governor Phips pardoned the remaining defendants who had been accused of witchcraft, it was May, 1693, and Eris was a third of the way through the first degree of Libra and the Virgoan Puritanism had been overruled by more balanced (Libra in Eris) thinking.
1799–1815 were the years of the Napoleonic era. A new energy ruled France and threatened the rest of Europe, including all the existing and ancient monarchies. It is interesting to see that Eris was between about 29.25 Capricorn and 0.15 Aquarius in 1799. So Napoleon came to power, putting a definite end to the chances of monarchy in France, just as Eris was entering the sign of the Uranian individualist, Aquarius. Again, we see Eris on a cusp at decisive times in history.
The U.S.–Mexican War, during which Mexico lost California and much of the rest of the Southwest, Eris was in zero degrees of Pisces, another major ‘energy change’.
The Terrorist Atacks on 9/11 occurred when Eris was in 19 degrees Aries, continuing the same Martian energy that had given us the Second World War. the Atom Bomb, and the Cold War earlier during the Eris-Aries cycle, and repeating the Arian energy seen in the conquest of Constantinople in 1453 and also the Discovery of America energy of 1492… foreign invaders crossing the ocean, (or the Bosporus), bent upon conquest!
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After looking at a chart of Eris’ size & orbit, which cuts into the outer planets, it seemed just crying out to be investigated. I notice Pluto cuts into Neptune’s orbit along one long stretch in which the two planets are practically parallel, but Eris cuts into Pluto’s much more sharply at two points. Wow, what if they ever met? VELIKOVSKY-ville, man! (He authored: “Ages in Chaos” and “Worlds in Collision” among others!) Nobody knew about Eris until very recently… except Eris & Pluto! They must have coasted pretty close to each other a few times. So, you’ve got planets measuring a little smaller than our Moon, on gigantic swings around the Sun. Chances of a crash? Well, really… almost — but not quite — zero point zero.
Let’s say they WERE to crash! Maybe two planets DID crash at some point in our distant past, thus explaining the existence of the Asteroid Belt. Would ANY debris be drawn toward the inner Solar System? Noble Jupiter, like you’d expect the Roman King of the Gods to do, might scoop it up like it did the 1994 Shoemaker-Levy comet chunks. But not if Jupiter’s orbit took it to the other side of the Solar System at such time as the Eris-Pluto debris was heading inbound! I know that’s SUCH a remote possibility… I’d say “things like that don’t happen!” But we saw the Shoemaker-Levy comet break up into 21 or 22 pieces which then followed each other like hornets, crashing into Jupiter’s pliable, cloud-covered surface.
But really, the question is, what is the chance of 2 smaller-than-Moon-sized planets crashing into each other? Eris, orbiting every 560 years…?
I just divided 4.5 billion years by the 560 year orbit of Eris. Eris has orbited maybe 8,035,000 times around the Sun. No known crashes! Not even a brush with fate! Not even a fly-by! Lucky Pluto! Lucky Eris!
Actually, you’d think there’d be some CLOSE CALLS, though wouldn’t you, astrology buffs? Seems to be dangerous out there, eh? Here’s a good ERIS link. I suggest option #1, no download necessary, click the underscored words, it pops right up. http://cli.gs/3sNSaV
………………….. 2..The Mythology of Eris
........Eris, aka Discordia
It seems unfortunate that the name Eris was used, because even though several of the Outer Planets have a ‘bad reputation’ when it comes to both astrology and ancient mythology, Eris is perhaps the worst. Well, maybe it is tied with Pluto and Saturn, since Pluto was, after all, the God of the Underworld. That can’t be good! And Saturn, the baleful world of ice, has been identified in some ways with the Grim Reaper, and with aging, infirmity, and poverty. Saturn is no picnic in the park. But listen to Eris’ pedigree! Eris was traditionally a daughter of Nox or Nyx (night) and the wife of Chronos, aka Kronos or Saturn. Eris, like a good daughter, begat many children, but unfortunately , the names of these Gods are : Sorrow, Forgetfulness, Combat, Hunger, Disease, Murder, and Lies. These are like the sorrows mankind is afflicted with which turned many to Buddhism. The Buddha could have learned this at the altar of Eris. if there had been such a thing in India. Probably not, since Astronomy and Astrology came to India via Alexander, who lived 200 years after The Buddha.
On a wonderful site, “Portable Planetariums”, which I don’t quite understand the purpose of, www.planetarios.com/mythology-troy-1.htm there is a great description of Eris (Discordia to the Romans), as given in Hesiod’s Theogony: “But abhorred Eris (‘Strife’) bare painful Ponos (‘Toil/Labor’), Lethe (‘Forgetfulness’) and Limos (‘Famine’) and tearful Algea (Pains/Sorrows), Hysminai (‘Fightings/Combats’) also, Malchai (‘Battles’), Phonoi (‘Murders/Slaughterings’), Androctasiai (‘Manslaughters’), Neikea (‘Quarrels’), Pseudea (‘Lies/Falsehoods’), Amphillogiai (‘Disputes’), Dysnomia (‘Lawlessness’) and Ate (‘Ruin/Folly’), all of one nature, and Horkos (‘Oath’) who most troubles men upon earth when anyone wilfully swears a false oath.”
What a crowd of kids in THAT family, eh? Eris also was blamed for directly causing the Trojan War. Snubbed rather than invited to a party of the Gods on Olympus, Eris contrived to toss in a golden apple, marked ‘To the Most Beautiful’ which caused a major disagreement among the Goddesses as to whom should get the apple. This sparked the Judgment of Paris which caused the kidnapping of Helen and the Trojan War.
If there was any kind of discord or upset, the ancient Greeks attributed it to Eris. Tje belief in Eris was passed on to the Romans like so many of the other Greek Gods were. In ancient Rome, the troublesome Eris was known as Discordia. It was paired with another goddess, Concordia, or Concord. Finally, Eris passed from the scene with the passing of the ancients and their world. It’s amazing, therefore, that it has come back to life in the first decade of the 21st Century, and almost a shame that she’s been dug-up again, but then again, what better time, when one considers the strife and afflictions and uncertainties in the world today? Eris is no doubt an adequate mirror of the times of her re-discovery, in the form of the Planet by that same name. These things don’t happen by accident, you know. Or maybe they do — but they’re not really accidents!
I had to raid the Wikipedia to find my information about both Eris and Discordianism, which is a modern religion centered on the idea that chaos is all that there is. Disorder and order are actually part of chaos. It was founded in 1959 and may be more of a joke than a true religion. As Wikipedia says: “Discordianism recognizes chaos, discord, and dissent as valid and desirable qualities, in contrast with most religions, which idealize harmony and order.” Eris has also become the goddess (aka ‘matron deity’), of the Discordian religion.
So, what’s the matter with the astronomers? They have given us the name of a horrible goddess for this important newly discovered planet. Don’t they know that words are dangerous, and that reality can come to resemble myth? Why can’t they name any of the newly-found planets after good and bountiful goddesses? Does their obsession with cruel and evil goddesses reflect a view they have of women? I would have preferred we call this new planet after a comic book character such as “Xena” rather than Eris, the mother of so much mythological suffering. But since the overriding idea was to name the newly-discovered planets after gods and goddesses drawn exclusively from Greek mythology, then I propose that the next 3 planets discovered be named after the Graces. These were (or are) the three goddesses of joy, beauty, charm, feasting and happiness. Hesiod named them : Thalia (Good Cheer), and Aglaia (Splendor), and Euphrosyne (Mirth). The Graces were quite charming and beautiful, joyous and health-giving. The Graces often danced with the Muses and acted as messengers for Aphrodite and her wimged son, Eros.
Hopefully, the next set of Outer Planets discovered by the astronomers will be named more pleasant names. Thalia, Aglaia, or Euphrosyne. Well, okay. Thalia, anyway. That’s the only one that’s pronounced the way it looks!
Best, —–Ed
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I have revised and re-revised this article over the past 24 hours and am done with it for now. —e.a.
