Aries New Moon highlights Eris

The Aries New Moon is just hours away as of this writing. It will occur at 1:38 AM PST and feature an impressive line up of planets, highlighted by a new planet, Eris.

Eris in mythology is the brother and friend of Ares, the god of war. Eris revelled in the strife and discord that lead up to, engulfed, and remained after conflicts. Sound foreboding? Well, perhaps...but we've lived with Aries and Mars for quite some time now, I imagine we can find room for the sister.

Eris was first discovered January 5, 2005 and given it's name in 2006. As with any new stellar body, one of the ways to understand it's energy is to look at the events around the time of discovery. 2005, and going back just a week or two before her discovery, was a year of tumult, strife, confusion, and disaster.

Less than 10 days before the official discovery a horrific earthquake in the Indian Ocean unleashed an epic tsunami that took the lives of hundreds of thousands of souls. How's that for a start? 

The year went on, with Eris now in consciousness, to include a hurricane that took just about no-one but the government by surprise in New Orleans (remember Katrina?), an insurrection in the "mission accomplished" Iraq that lead to tens of thousands dead, a terrorist bombing in England, and another devastating earthquake (this time Pakistan) that killed 81,00. 

Getting the picture?

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This is not all that happened with the discovery of Eris. In the astronomical world Eris caused a bit of reflection. See, Eris is bigger than Pluto and they initially referred to it as the tenth planet of the solar system. Then they sat down, those astronomers, and came up with a new definition for a planet that happened to demote Pluto and Eris to the category "dwarf planet".

Me, I like the idea of planet as derived from the Greek astere planetai which means "wandering stars". Let's be all inclusive with these. Planets in astrology represent aspects of personality, an extension or expression of the soul, and I feel the mystery and magnificence of soul is so vast and undefinable that at best we can pick out pieces. So the more we have to choose from, recognize, analyze, and observe, the more I think we can learn about our condition and articulate our experiences.

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The really important thing I wanted to say about the reclassification of stellar bodies though is that this seems to be an aspect of Eris's function as well. Eris may influence a re-examination of the soul's being. There's all sorts of reflection in the horoscope already sure, but this is different. This is potentially raw, impolite, aggressive, in-your own-face abrupt action. There's a rattling of the inside that Eris may cause that can be difficult for anyone or everyone to sit with.

That this is mixed up in the New Moon makes it that much more interesting. The new moon is a time of energy release that is itself boundless and untamed. It is very Aries like and this being an Aries new moon it's even more Aries like-- and I didn't even mention yet that Mars is mixed up in the batch as well... Eh gads, I'm out of energy just thinking and writing about all this energy release.

Needless to say, proceed with caution. Set clear intentions. remember to be kind and patient with yourself and others...and PAY ATTENTION! There are quite possibly some important insights staring you in the mirror.

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