Ixion

Stephanie Azaria & Shelly LealCosmic Consciousness Corner

 

Ixion is a large trans-Neptunian object. It is located in the Kuiper belt, a region of icy objects orbiting beyond Neptune in the outer solar system. Ixion is classified as a plutino, a dynamical class of objects in a 3:2 orbital resonance with Neptune. Trace amounts of water have been identified on Ixion’s surface, implying that most of the water ice there is likely to be hidden underneath a thick layer of organic compounds on its surface. This causes the planet to appear red in the visible spectrum.

Ixion has a measured diameter of 710 km (440 mi), making it the fourth-largest known plutino. Several astronomers are considering that Ixion may be a dwarf planet because it is large enough to have assumed a round shape caused by hydrostatic equilibrium, although studies in 2019 suggest that objects around the size of Ixion may retain significant internal porosity and thus represent a transitional zone between Small Solar System Bodies and dwarf planets. This transitional zone of small solar system bodies (SSSBs), including Pluto, represents the part of our consciousness that delivers us from the 3D realm to 5D consciousness. Small Solar System Bodies were given their own classification in 2006. Ixion is currently not known to have a natural satellite; thus its mass and density remain unknown.

Ixion was discovered on 22 May 2001 by a team of American astronomers at the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory in Chile, and introduced to the world in July 2001. At the time of discovery, Ixion was located in sidereal Scorpio (in the constellation of Ophiuchus), and was positioned in an opposition (bridge) with Saturn in Taurus, with the Sun approaching Saturn. This suggests the theme of becoming responsible for one’s actions.

The discovery supported suggestions that there were undiscovered large trans-Neptunian Objects (TNOs) comparable in size to Pluto. Since Ixion’s discovery, numerous large TNOs, notably the dwarf planets Haumea, Eris, and Makemake, have been discovered; in particular, Eris is almost the same size as Pluto.
From the beginning, Ixion was thought to be among the largest TNOs in the Solar System, as implied by its high intrinsic brightness. With regard to this brightness, Nick Fiorenza pointed out the presence of three potent binary neutron stars that were discovered upon further observation. These stars are X-ray sources that express into this few degree area of the ecliptic: Hercules X-1, Scorpio X-1, and Circini X-1. Their intense X-ray emissions excite a high-vibrational resonance beyond the visible realm of light that supports personal transmutation into a greater level of self-awareness.

In August 2001, a team of astronomers obtained nine precovery images of Ixion, with the earliest taken on 17 July 1982. These images, along with subsequent follow-up observations in 2001, extended Ixion’s observation arc by over 18 years, sufficient for its orbit to be accurately determined. Ixion was given the permanent minor planet number 28978 on 2 September 2001.

Ixion orbits the Sun at an average distance of 39.8 AU, taking 251 years to complete a full orbit. This is characteristic of all plutinos, which have orbital periods around 250 years and semi-major axes around 39 AU.

Like Pluto and all bodies that represent the 5D consciousness, Ixion’s orbit is elongated and inclined to the ecliptic. Ixion has an orbital eccentricity of 0.24 and an orbital inclination of 19.6 degrees, slightly greater than Pluto’s inclination of 17 degrees. Although Ixion’s orbit is similar to that of Pluto, their orbits are oriented differently: Ixion’s perihelion (closest distance to the Sun) is below the ecliptic, just out of the realm of our waking consciousness, whereas Pluto’s is above it, making it far more accessible to us consciously. Ixion reached perihelion in 1946 and is currently moving away from the Sun. It will approach aphelion (furthest distance) in November 2070.

Due to Ixion’s elongated orbit, it spends more time in certain signs than others. For example, it entered Virgo in 1906 (29 years), Libra in 1935 (31 years), Scorpio in 1966 (30 years), Sagittarius on 12/13/95 (24 years), and Capricorn on 2/25/2020; it will spend 19 years in that sign before entering Aquarius on 12/19/2039, just in time for all the Aquarian ingresses and the birthing of the new world.

This Kuiper Belt object is named after the Greek mythological figure Ixion, in accordance with the International Astronomical Union’s (IAU’s) naming convention which requires plutinos to be named after mythological figures associated with what we have long considered the underworld.

In Greek mythology, Ixion was a descendant of Ares, and he was the king of the legendary Lapiths of Thessaly. He had married Dia, a daughter of King Deioneus (or Eioneus), promising to give valuable bridal gifts to the King. But he reneged, and the King retaliated by stealing Ixion’s mares. Enraged, Ixion plotted his revenge by inviting Deioneus to a banquet, where he pushed him into a pitfall of burning coals and wood, killing him.

Although the lesser gods despised his actions, Zeus pitied Ixion and invited him to a banquet with other gods. Rather than being grateful, Ixion became lustful towards Zeus’s wife, Hera. Zeus found out about his intentions and created the cloud Nephele in the shape of Hera, and tricked Ixion into coupling with it, fathering Centaurus. Centaurus later mated with the mares of Mt. Pelion, producing the race of Centaurs (not including Chiron). This makes Ixion the grandfather of the centaurs. For his crimes, Ixion was expelled from Olympus, blasted with a thunderbolt, and bound to a burning solar wheel in the underworld for all eternity.

This ‘punishment’ is clearly a metaphor for being bound to the karmic wheel of reincarnation. The 5D expression of Ixion has everything to do with one’s awareness (or lack thereof) of their karmic plight, and the ultimate decision, which comes repeatedly within every incarnation, to choose to rectify one’s mistakes once and for all.

Nick Fiorenza observes: “I find the theme here diverse, with twists of financial and sexual exploitation, deceit, delusion, and karmic retribution. This is one of uncontrolled righteous rage carried from a long standing warring and arrogant time-stream of consciousness (Ixion being a descendent of Ares). It is of deliberate deception and retaliation between two authoritarian figures (King Ixion of the Lapiths versus King Eioneus of Thrace). It has an element of deliberately causing death (through fire). It has an element of a female (princess Dia) being treated as property, owned and stolen; i.e., feminine or sexual exploitation. It reveals a long drawn-out karmic scenario: Ixion takes Eioneus’ daughter Dia and then deceives and kills Eioneus with the karmic payback provided by Zeus after Ixion once again demonstrates his deliberately deceptive intent. But this time Ixion is lost in his own deception to pursue only an illusory image of Hera.”

This long standing issue of ‘uncontrolled righteous rage’ affects us all at the level of collective unconsciousness, and continues to play out today, pointing to the Truth that everything here in this 3D world has the potential to trap us in illusion. How each individual responds to this energy is a matter of conscious choice. It reveals that the decision to focus on the higher Self can lift one up above the fray. Rage is a fear-based reaction that stems from a lack of awareness and unconsciousness. Once one becomes aware of being in the throes of this emotion, the choice can be made to deliberately direct the consciousness to higher ground, bringing Love into the mix. Love is the only way to neutralize the karma that fear-based action manifests.

Ixion represents the purpose the soul has for coming into physical form in this lifetime: to correct karmic imbalances. Whether or not one undertakes this effort is an individual choice that depends upon one’s level of conscious discipline and devotion to the higher Self. The individual who has not yet become aware of the Path will be more inclined to repeat past karmic circumstances, which are always designed to offer the opportunity to awaken. The transiting Ixion represents the same collective purpose: to learn to choose to take the Path to Self-realization.
Ixion is one of many plutinos, and Pluto is the first of these bodies (such as Orcus, Arawn, and others) that have an orbit with a 3:2 ratio to Neptune’s orbit. That is, Neptune takes 165 years to orbit the zodiac once, while the plutinos take about 250 years to do the same. This 3:2 ratio has everything to do with the new consciousness. Neptune is the outermost planet in our solar system, and the plutinos are gathered together at the beginning of the Kuiper Belt to bring consciousness into the higher frequency of the outer realm, the 5D consciousness, taking us from 3 to 2. Three represents the conscious manifestation required to move through the illusion of the Neptunian realm. The awakened consciousness is ultimately ONE. The Self-realized, conscious soul experiences the Self as the mirrored Self, and understands that all is a reflection of one’s own Being. It is a well known higher Teaching that there is no duality except the duality required to experience Love. All plutinos provide a connection to the higher, immortal eternal Self.

The soul has a fully awakened consciousness before embodying, and whether or not it can achieve and maintain that level of awareness in human form is up to the individual.
As a 5D planet, Ixion functions at the level of the new consciousness. It can assist in raising each person’s awareness to the place where it has more of an opportunity to achieve the goal set by the soul itself before it incarnates. In the natal chart, Ixion speaks to the soul’s desire to correct a repetitive karmic cycle, hopefully once and for all, in this lifetime. Just what that cycle is turns out to be the same, and completely different, for each of us. In the biggest picture, It is a collective devotion to the evolution that creates a new world, and it is also a very individualized way of doing just that, distinctly unique to each of us. Any aspect made to Ixion in the birth chart reveals the work that is required to achieve karmic balance in this lifetime. Whether or not one chooses to undertake this effort is utterly up to the individual itself: to clear the karmic slate or commit to another cycle. Each choice creates possibilities for other choices to emerge.

The transiting Ixion deals with the collective journey of every soul here on the planet. Ixion relates to certain evolutionary milestones, and these are usually the kinds of things that were not achieved in past lives, though they were attempted. Wherever the transiting Ixion is located represents the issue that the collective consciousness of humanity is working on. Whenever the transiting Ixion aspects the natal chart, it points to the individual issues that are connected to the collective purpose. Whenever the transiting Ixion aspects another 5D planet, it signifies an opportunity to work with one of those areas that need our attention collectively, and for a prolonged period.

Natally and by transit, Ixion provides the chance to correct anything that was out of integrity or worse in past lifetimes. It’s that effort the soul means to put into the lifetime to get something done that it hasn’t been able to do yet, not for the lack of trying.
Ixion has been traveling within a few degrees of Quaoar for more than 80 years, and will continue to do so for another 25 – 30 years. That means everyone alive on the planet today has the opportunity to achieve something very much related to Quaoar. Quaoar is the capacity to perceive entirely new thoughts and beliefs, and therefore to manifest a new world. Consequently, every soul on the planet right now can choose to expand and elevate its own conscious awareness, the higher Mind. Because this is a generational transit, its long term aspect provides humanity with an outstanding chance to evolve into a new kind of experience.
Ixion spends half the year retrograde and the other half direct. This is very important because a retrograde cycle provides the space to realign and resurrect the patterns and thoughts that we have most recently undertaken. If we have made wrong choices, or begun to repeat old patterns, the long retrograde cycle gives us the chance to observe and redirect our energies. Ixion goes retrograde each year in the spring and turns direct in the Fall.

Despite the fact that the commonly used Solar Fire program does not contain the true symbol for Ixion, (it is represented by a lowercase a in that program), the most utilized symbol for the planet is depicted above. There are others, but this one makes the most sense, since it represents a fiery spinning wheel, which is what Zeus condemned Ixion to when he got caught with the mirage of Hera that was created to trap him. In a sense, as humans, we are all attached to a fiery wheel, the wheel of karma; and it is up to us, as we awaken, to repeatedly make the choice to become fearless and leave the wheel behind. This is, more than anything, an evolutionary process. It takes many lifetimes, but we are at a point where it is becoming possible to make this choice as a collective unified consciousness, thereby creating a brand new world.

Varuna

Stephanie Azaria & Shelly LealCosmic Consciousness Corner

Varuna is a cubewano, one of a cloud of objects pursuing eccentric paths around the Sun beyond the orbit of Neptune, and most likely a dwarf planet. It rotates rapidly (which is rare for objects so large) with a rotational period of 6.34 hours,  hence its shape is very elongated. Its surface is moderately red (similar to Quaoar) and small amounts of water ice have been detected on its surface. Varuna has an estimated diameter of 900 kilometers, which makes it slightly smaller than Charon (Pluto’s companion).

Varuna was first observed on November 28, 2000 by astronomer Robert S. McMillan in the Spacewatch Project at Kitt Peak Observatory near Sells, AZ. It was located at 10 Cancer 29 at 9:51 a.m. MST. The discovery team was led by David Jewitt of the Institute of Astronomy in Honolulu.  When it was discovered, Varuna was the largest such planet-like body yet found, and so was assigned the significant minor planet number of 20000, though there are now numerous known bodies larger than Varuna. 

Varuna follows a near-circular orbit – similar to that of Quaoar, but more inclined. Its orbital period also is similar to Quaoar, but slightly longer. It takes 284.65 years for Varuna to orbit the Sun once. It spends approximately 25 years in a sign. While there is no information on this planet’s retrograde cycle, Solar Fire shows Varuna with an apparent retrograde pattern that runs roughly from November through April, when it resumes direct motion. These dates will likely change at some point, but for now, because the planet moves so slowly, this is its fairly regular sequence. 

The comparisons between Varuna and Quaoar point to some kind of connection between these two archetypes. Consider that in Cosmic Consciousness, Varuna represents new vision, while Quaoar represents new thought.

Varuna’s orbit is a little more distant from the Sun than that of Pluto – it never approaches the Sun by less than 40 AU – but complexities in the orbits of these two bodies mean that Varuna can at times lie closer to the Sun than Pluto. 

The orbits of Varuna and Pluto have similar inclinations and are similarly oriented. But unlike Pluto, which is in 2:3 orbital resonance with Neptune, Varuna is free from any significant orbital disturbance from Neptune. Neptune’s influence doesn’t cloud Varuna’s vision. Perhaps the similar orientation and inclination of Varuna and Pluto reflects that they have a similar transformative effect on our consciousness.

And although Varuna is associated with water like Neptune, Varuna is more about the higher consciousness of water; in other words, where Earth is mostly water, which is associated with Neptune, Varuna represents the symbolic meaning (consciousness) of water that ‘flows’ throughout the universe. 

Varuna is the name of an ancient Hindu creator-deity, part of whose province was the celestial ocean: a suitable name for a body circling the outer reaches of the Solar System (at the time). He created heaven and earth and determined their outer limits, as the horizon. He is also responsible for ensuring that the sun crosses the sky each day, for rainfall, and the order of seasons. Varuna is the supreme keeper of human order and god of law, insisting that people be truthful and honor their oaths and contracts.He is sometimes described as having a thousand eyes with which he oversees the whole world, or as encompassing the entire world. Varuna means “he who covers” in Sanskrit. 

Varuna was a Vedic deity of vast power. The name ‘Varuna’ comes from the ancient Sanskrit tome, Rig Veda, which depicts him as a sky god who presides over the celestial ocean and cosmic law, where order is born out of chaos. As a huge overseeing energetic, Varuna relates to the evolution of ‘the observer’ perspective that enables healthy detachment from the drama of the lower self, and ultimately heightens our sensory faculties and non-verbal communication ability.

Varuna is the archetype of the perspective of Source, representing a higher vision of wholeness, beyond the veils and illusions of separation, beyond time and space. Unless we work with an awakened consciousness, all Varuna can do is knock at the door from the awakened side. Varuna is there, and named, and so whether we have ever heard of it before or not, it exists and serves as a reflection that awaits our fully awakened consciousness.

Varuna has a breadth of vision that is beyond what we are accustomed to. Its symbol is an eye. His vision is bestowed from the highest observer’s perch that is possible for us at this moment, and his perspective rises as ours does. 

If we were to look at all of God’s Creation from His perspective, we would see the Oneness of everything. God Sees all, without separation or judgment. Everything is, in God’s eyes.

The New Sun

Stephanie Azaria & Shelly LealCosmic Consciousness Corner

The Sun, a yellow dwarf star, is the heart of our solar system. Its gravity keeps everything from the biggest planets to the smallest particles of debris in its orbit. It is 26,000 light years from the Galactic Center, which is the Source, or Creator energy, of our galaxy.

The Sun (and the rest of the solar system) formed from a giant rotating cloud of gas and dust, called a solar nebula, about 4.5 billion years ago. As the nebula collapsed because of its own overwhelming gravity, it spun faster and faster, flattening into a disk. Most of the material was pulled toward the center to form our Sun, which accounts for 99.8% of the mass of the entire solar system.

Though it is special to us, there are billions of stars like our Sun scattered across the Milky Way galaxy. Our Sun is not an especially large star—many are several times bigger—but it is still far more massive than our home planet. 

Like other stars, the Sun is a ball of gas, made of hydrogen and helium.  The Sun’s enormous mass is held together by gravitational attraction, producing immense pressure and temperature at its core. 

The Sun has six regions, and the visible surface of the Sun, the photosphere, is 300-miles -thick, and from it most of the Sun’s radiation escapes outward. We see this radiation from the photosphere as sunlight when it reaches Earth about eight minutes after it leaves the Sun. Above the photosphere lie the tenuous chromosphere and the corona (crown), which make up the thin solar atmosphere. This is where we see features such as sunspots and solar flares. 

The electric currents in the Sun generate a complex field that extends out into space to form the interplanetary magnetic field. We call this field the heliosphere. It is carried through the solar system by the solar wind—a stream of electrically charged gas blowing outward from the Sun in all directions. 

The Sun doesn’t behave the same way all the time. It has its own solar cycle that goes through phases. Approximately every 11 years, the Sun’s geographic poles change their magnetic polarity. When this happens, the Sun goes through changes that range from quiet and calm to violently active. The height of the Sun’s activity  is a time of solar storms: sunspots, solar flares and coronal mass ejections. These are caused by irregularities in the Sun’s magnetic field and can release huge amounts of energy and particles, some of which reach us here on Earth. This space weather can damage satellites, corrode pipelines and affect power grids.

Our Sun, along with all the planets in our solar system, exists in a spiral arm of the Milky Way Galaxy called the Orion Spur,  which extends outward from the Sagittarius arm. The Sun orbits the center of the Milky Way Galaxy, bringing the planets, asteroids, comets and other objects along with it. Our solar system is moving with an average velocity of 450,000 miles per hour. But even at this speed, it takes us about 230 million years to make one complete orbit around the Milky Way.

The Sun rotates as it orbits the center of the Milky Way. Since the Sun is not a solid body, different parts of the Sun rotate at different rates. A number of ancient cultures built stone structures, such as Stonehenge,  or modified natural rock formations, to mark the motions of the Sun. In this way they charted the seasons, created calendars and monitored solar and lunar eclipses.

The Sun only appears to travel through the signs. The Sun doesn’t really move from our perspective, but it APPEARS to move about a degree a day, because the Earth moves at that rate. It travels along a path we call the ecliptic. It runs from approximately 23 degrees South to 23 degrees north. The ecliptic is the band of the cosmos that marks the Sun’s entire journey during the course of a year.  It could be considered the realm of our waking consciousness. 

Every single culture has its own version of the Sun’s mythology and they are all very diverse. For example, the Greek Sun god was originally known as Helios, and later Apollo. His Celtic counterpart was called Lugh. There are Sun goddesses too: Sunna from Norse mythology and Amaterasu, a major deity of the Shinto religion in Japan. In Cosmic Consciousness, our Sun is a stepped down version of the Great Central Sun (Source). It is a representation of the SON of God, but the force and life giving energies it provides are but a fraction of the Truth of its essence. Everything in our solar system is a stepped down version of the Truth. 

The Solstice is an interesting phenomenon, in that it is the closest thing to a station of the Sun that we have. The Sun never goes retrograde, but when it approaches a solstice, either in June or in December, it appears to slow down a great deal, so much so that it barely moves for three days.  After a Solstice, the Sun will rise a little bit higher, or lower, each morning depending on which hemisphere we are in. When the Sun ‘stations’, our consciousness takes a turn. In the Winter Solstice in the northern hemisphere, we are turning inward, connecting more deeply with our inner planes; in the Summer Solstice we are expressing our energies outward. 

What we are is immediately reflected in the cosmos, and the cosmos is effectively interacting with our collective consciousness at the same time. That is, as we raise our awareness level, the Sun participates in our transmutation.

The Sun represents the energy we use to express our unique individuality. It provides us with our consciousness at the most personal level. In the higher sense the Sun reflects our higher consciousness, which is now being reactivated and rediscovered. The SUN is the great metaphor for the SON, the one Creation of Source.

Together the Sun and Moon are known as the Lights and they are the generators of our consciousness, especially at the most personal, most individual level.  As one of the Lights, the Sun co-disposes our lower spiritual body (with the Moon), providing expression for our masculine energy, or our creative and expressive side. Through the Sun you experience our personal power and access our life force energy. The Sun is the quintessential archetype for the masculine (spirit). It imparts life, Light and consciousness.

When the Sun changes signs, the general atmosphere of our conscious awareness shifts to a new part of our energy field. Our individual energy field is made up of 13 different qualities of consciousness. With the advent of Ophiuchus, the 13th sign, the Sun now spends varying amounts of time traveling through each of the signs. We have grown accustomed to the 30 days the Sun spends in each sign, but that is actually not our reality. The new consciousness has so much to reveal about the nature of the different signs we work with. 

The Sun disposes Leo, sign of inner gratitude and emotional Love. Leo is the Sun’s home sign, and the Sun has dignity here.  Leo represents the heart, the Life Force, and the Sun represents our consciousness of Self. Everything brightens and lightens when the Sun is in Leo. Our spirits lift considerably and If nothing else, we can expect plenty of clarity and a new sense of realization.

A solar year, the time it takes for our Sun to make one journey around the Great Central Sun, and all the signs of the Zodiac, takes 24,000 years. The Great Central Sun is not the same thing as the Galactic Center, but our Galactic Center, and the nearby Suns of other Galaxies in our neighborhood, all revolve around the Great Central Sun, which is also known as the ‘Sun behind the Sun’. Our solar system is currently  within the major band of Light cast by the Great Central Sun. Additionally, our Sun is currently in alignment with the Galactic Center of our Galaxy, a phenomenon that occurs once every 12,000 years. 

When the solar year begins, the Sun of our Solar system is aligned with the Galactic Center (also the Winter Solstice point, which at this time is seen to be at 0 Capricorn). It is important to note that  0 Capricorn is less than 3 degrees away from the Galactic Center, and for the purposes of Cosmic Consciousness, they are one and the same point. The Winter Solstice point is the place where all cycles begin.

The sign and hour that the  Sun is placed in our charts are our lifelong landmarks, the most comfortable and familiar ways for us to focus our energies. The Sun in our natal chart indicates how to access our vital life force, personal power and limitless creativity. The Sun’s energies illuminate our natural confidence and talent, and through our own personal experiences, we may discover the leadership capacity within. Depending on the way we utilize the vital power the Sun offers, the personal vibration of our individuality will emerge over the years and shine forth throughout the course of our lifetime. 

The transiting Sun lights up the area of our life (the hour) it is moving through, bringing new energy and conscious awareness to everything it touches. When the transiting Sun moves over a planet in the birth chart, it vitalizes that planet’s energies, and stimulates new awareness and creativity with regard to that planet’s expression in our life. The Sun’s transit always deals with Identity issues at the most personal level.

ERIS THE FEMALE AWAKENER

Stephanie Azaria & Shelly LealCosmic Consciousness Corner

 

 

 

 

Dwarf planet Eris is a member of a group of objects that orbit in a disc-like zone beyond the orbit of Neptune called the Kuiper Belt. She is the only planet, however, to take 558 years to orbit the Sun. In this sense, she stands alone. She is unique in our solar system, and everything we learn about her will make this more evident.

Eris appears almost white.  With a radius of about 722 miles, Eris is about 1/5 the radius of Earth. Like Pluto, Eris is a little smaller than Earth’s Moon. 

Eris is one of the largest known dwarf planets in our solar system. She is about the same size as Pluto, but is three times farther from the Sun. Eris first appeared to be larger than Pluto. This triggered a debate in the scientific community that led to the International Astronomical Union’s decision in 2006 to clarify the definition of a planet. Pluto, Eris and other similar objects are now classified as dwarf planets. Therefore, Eris was responsible for the formation of the new “Dwarf Planet” classification and the reclassification, some say demotion, of Pluto—upsetting the apple cart, which is very much what Eris is known for.

Eris was discovered in the constellation Cetus, known as the whale, which in ancient times was viewed as a man-eating monster of the deep. Cetus is therefore a symbol for the collective unconscious realm of humanity. It exists in the cosmos just “out of bounds,” past our ecliptic, (aka the ring of constellations we call the zodiac), and can be found just outside and alongside the constellations of Pisces and Aries. It is a vast constellation, covering about 45 degrees of space. 

Eris however, has an extreme orbital inclination (44°), which is  almost twice as long as it is wide. Eris’ extreme orbit takes her inside the orbit of Pluto, much like Pluto’s orbit travels inside Neptune’s. (This last occurred 1980 – 2000). Eris is slower moving than Pluto, taking more than twice as long to travel around the zodiac once, compared to Pluto’s 248 year orbit. All of this suggests that Eris, through a very long process, longer than any we are accustomed to, works to interrupt our unconscious sleep to wake us up from our long collective dream. Her action may at times be more intense and dramatic than Pluto’s effect, much like an earthquake or volcano that erupts after a long period of unsettled energy. But for the most part, her action is persistent and subtle, which makes for the distinct possibility of a powerfully disruptive moment from time to time.

Eris was discovered on January 5, 2005 and announced on July 29, 2005. The discovery team originally gave the planet the provisional name Xena, after the character in the TV series Xena: Warrior Princess played by actress Lucy Lawless. Eris was formally named on Sept 13, 2006 for the ancient Greek goddess of discord and strife. The name fits since Eris remains at the center of a scientific debate about the definition of a planet. She is truly the Great Disrupter. 

As Eris orbits the Sun, it completes one rotation every 25.9 hours, making its day length similar to ours.

Even though Eris can be up to three times farther from the Sun than Pluto, it approaches close enough that some of the ice on the surface might change directly into vapor, perhaps forming a solid deposit again when it moves away. Eris is covered in methane. which is highly volatile, just as she is. 

                                                                                                                                          Eris’ Orbital Inclination ~44°Pluto’s Orbital Inclination 17.133°

 

According to Nick Fiorenza, “Eris’ extreme eccentric orbit and its steep orbital inclination is our first clue to Eris’ rather radical and interceding nature. Planets with extreme eccentric orbits tend to bring awareness (or knowledge) from distant realms of consciousness into more conscious realms. Planets with extreme orbital inclinations tend to cut through the comfort of our existing sense of reality.”

                                                                                                                                          Photo Courtesy of Nick Fiorenza, lunarplanner.com

Because of the high inclination of its orbit, Eris passes through only a few constellations of the traditional Zodiac; it is now in the constellation Cetus.

                                                                                                                               Photo Courtesy of Nick Fiorenza, lunarplanner.com

 

According to mythology, Eris was the Greek goddess of chaos, strife and discord. She was the daughter of Nyx (dark night) alone. She rode her chariot to war alongside Aries (Mars).

Eris played an important role in the events that eventually led to the Trojan War. All of the Olympians had been invited to the wedding of Peleus and Thetis, who would become the parents of Achilles; however, Eris was not invited, due to her inclination to cause discord. As a means of revenge, Eris dropped the golden Apple of Discord into the party, which had the words To The Fairest One inscribed on it. Hera, Athena and Aphrodite started quarreling over who the apple should be given to, so Zeus appointed Paris, Prince of Troy, as the person to solve the dispute. The goddesses offered Paris various gifts, but he eventually picked Aphrodite, who promised him the most beautiful woman in the world; Helen, wife of Menelaus, king of Sparta. (greekmythology.com)

Eris has one Moon, named for one of her daughters, Dysnomia, who is said to be the “spirit of lawlessness”—disrupter of civil order. Dysnomia has a nearly circular orbit lasting about 16 days. However, in myth, Eris had two daughters, Dysnomia and the peaceable one, Eunomia, who ends strife, returns order and maintains social stability.

Eris’ disruptive effects can linger for quite a stretch while we get over the upheaval she creates. It is built into Eris’ orbital process to take some time for her more positive results to manifest, which always come after discord. 

For example, although the discovery of Eris invariably created disorder at first, a new order followed, in this case  producing a new classification of Dwarf Planets (which is fitting to the theme of daughter Eunomia). This is significant when considering Eris’ astrological character. Eris dismantles limiting conceptual boundaries to open us to a more authentic embrace of the bigger truth. Thus, Eris expands our awareness by upsetting existing, limiting and antiquated structures of consciousness.

Eris opens us to see beyond the finite bounds of our current perception, beyond the bounds we place upon ourselves, shaking up what is stagnant in consciousness. In doing so, we are left to redefine and reorganize our world view to embrace a far vaster reality—a view more fitting to our rapidly expanding awareness.(Thank you Nick Fiorenza).

Eris is currently out of bounds, traveling outside the ecliptic (which houses our zodiac) and she has been moving through the constellation Cetus  for nearly 100 years. She is currently running parallel to 24 Aries in the tropical zodiac, which puts the female Great Awakener close to 0 Aries in the sidereal system. She is currently traveling parallel to the tail end of the constellation Pisces, and will arrive at 0 Aries in 2024. This transit, again 100 years long, has taken us from the depths of our subconscious realm (Cetus) to the realm of human consciousness (Pisces) and eventually to the Great Awakening of Humanity (Aries). 0 Aries is the birthing point of the western world. This is truly a new beginning, the birthing of the new order, the coming together of the two worlds.

Eris is the main dispositor of Ophiuchus. Ophiuchus is the newest quality of consciousness (or sign) we have available to us. It is known as the Serpent Bearer. In a recent workshop, Derek O’Neill said it is the emotions we must go after, not the mind. To do so we have to hang on to the serpent, and let it take us deep into the center of our hearts, where all the answers are. (I am paraphrasing… this is what I got out of his teaching). This is how we begin to work with Ophiuchus. We ride the serpent and take that second bite out of the apple that we misunderstood the first time. We have come full circle. We are at the beginning again. It is up to us to write a new story line, with our new consciousness.

Eris’ retrograde cycle moves her back and forth over a degree or two each year. Much like the Black Moon, she dances over the same degrees repeatedly, as though the constant communion with that part of our consciousness is what is needed to wake us up.  Eris’ retrograde lasts about 25 weeks. 

Eris is the only other planet or point in our solar system (at this moment) that dances wildly back and forth, like the Black Moon does. She is a Great Disrupter, an awakener, and she is here to shake things up. The Black Moon has a similar function, unveiling the Truth for all to see.

When Eris stations, either retrograde or direct, it can feel like an intense emotional upheaval. It doesn’t have to be out of control, but it can definitely feel that way on the inside. Sometimes, we are so stuck in our old emotional habits that it is nearly impossible to get unstuck. The emotional disturbances of Eris are meant to take us to higher ground.  When we are in Eris’ storm period, (which lasts about a week before her station) don’t be surprised to find emotional disturbances everywhere you turn. Keep to your Self, as other people’s issues are none of your business, even when they try to make them so. Stay as centered as you can, keep breathing, deeply, and let those storms rage. They are clearing the field for each and every soul and soon we will have brand new territory to play in.

Eris’ energy crackles with intensity. It is overwhelmingly disruptive, making us inwardly uncomfortable. Discontentment comes over the soul, and depending on how willing we are to accept discomfort for the agent of change that it is, we will experience anything from inner rumblings to a full blown earthquake that unsettles us or unearths us completely, to, at the most conscious level, an all-out volcanic eruption that blows our stack and causes us to emit the hot lava that has been building up inside us, sometimes for centuries. She can be considered a great excavator of sorts.

It gives new meaning to the truth that there is a blessing in every circumstance. We are beginning to get the hang of allowing our discomforts to just Be what they are, and we are learning that by doing so, we get to see the real reasons why they arise. It is now possible to redefine her highly judged tendency to be quick tempered and perceive it for what it really is: a passionate devotion to raising consciousness; the mastery that does not allow for too much sleeping or laziness, and the capacity to create the upheaval that is essential to clearing away the old and preparing for the new. 

Eris is the female AWAKENER, and her purpose in causing us so much unrest is just that… Self-realization. Uranus awakens us with a lightning bolt, Eris awakens us with an inner event. She is not content to jolt us, or hit us with something that will disrupt the outer life… she aims with great precision at the core of our being, at our lower three chakras, and aims to get us to clear them all out. Uranus’ revelations occur at the mental level, and Eris’ occur within, at the core, in the heart. 

There is a real reason why everyone on the planet today appears to have Eris in Aries. With each new degree Eris transits, we all awaken en masse to whatever she manages to provoke in our consciousness. Of course, that provocation comes from within, not from the planet herself. The planet is a reflection of what is taking place within. Aries is disposed by Mars, which  has domain over the physical body. Eris’ purpose right now is to clear us out at the lower levels of our physical being, (the lower three very physically oriented chakras), in preparation for her entry into Taurus in 2046,  where the wise awakener will take aim at the heart center. 

 Eris is a lot like a loud alarm clock that goes off when we are in the middle of a deep and peaceful sleep. We may not like it when it goes off, but it wakes us efficiently. When she goes off, it is definitely time to wake up.

When the energetic atmosphere becomes distinctly uncomfortable, but we can’t quite see anything yet, that could be compared to being soundly asleep, unaware that the alarm is about to go off. Fortunately, for those of us who are ready, willing and able to wake up easily, the alarm is no big deal. It serves an important purpose, which we embrace. We turn it off, get up and do what we have to do.

Look for anything in you or anyone in your life that is bringing the element of discontentment or disruption to your world. That is Eris at work, generating the inner earthquake or volcanic eruption that will soon awaken you.