Eris or Proserpine? E-Book

Raimo Nikula

• Herausgeber: Books on Demand
• Kategorie: Religion und Spiritualität
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 266

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2021

Beschreibung

Raimo Nikula's book on Eris is not quite according to the main current in astrology, but he presents an ample collection of examples which prove his point - as far as it is possible at all. Not Eris - the sower of discord, but a part of the underground triangle, Pluto/Hades (Father), Ceres/Demeter (Mother) and Eris - aka Proserpina/Persephone (daughter). To understand Eris, we have to think her as a part of a mythic family, which present subconscious urges and motives stemming from closeness - mixed feelings of dependencies between mother and father and their daughter. In this mythic triangle, Proserpine/Eris easily becomes a pawn in power games between other family members. Taking Eris at a face value=name is the interpretation misses the point, author says. Most of the interpretations of Eris is not about Eris as such, but they seem to be descriptions of Eris present sign, Aries. By looking into lives of famous people, who had strong Eris, we can expand our understanding this mysterious new (small) planet. The belief that every new planet name corresponds its meaning, should be challenged as a questionable shortcut to truth. We will not know what Eris means unless we collect data and link Eris to individual-psychological as well as universal and collective phenomena. That is what this book aims to do

Leseprobe

Contents

Introduction

About the classification

A mirror of its time?

Eris, false name and address

Dwarf planet’s Astronomy

Position in signs

How on earth does a name come about

Background: Myths, Fairy tales of Femine

Eros and Psykhe

Hades/Persephone, Pluto/Proserpine

Beauty and the Beast,

Snow White

On the Road to the Underworld

The seductive goddess

Divine feminine energy

Examples of aspects

Eris and the Sun

Eris opposition Sun

Eris and Angles

Eris and Moon

Eris and Mercury

Eris and Venus/Mars

Eris and Jupiter

Eris And Saturn

Eris and Uranus

Eris and Neptune

Eris and Pluto

Eris in aspect patterns

Lonely Eris

Eris-Sun theme

Eris-Moon theme

Eris-Mercury theme

Eris-Venus theme

Eris-Mars theme

Eris-Jupiter theme

Eris-Saturn theme

Eris-Chiron theme

Eris-Uranus theme

Eris-Neptune theme

Eris-Pluto theme

Eris-Uranus theme

Eris-Neptune theme

Eris-Pluto

theme

Eris-Angles theme

Eris and appearance

Eris in Houses 1-12

Eris in family relations

External phenomena

Sexual dimensions

Dyke

Glimpses on Ceres/Eris conjunctions

Mundane events

Eris in recent history:

Indian gang apes

Eris and the Aries ingresses

Eris in Aries on 4 June 1922

Eris mixep-up transits – examples

Eris transits: Sun-Pluto-Angles

The synastry case of Rodin and Claudel

Eris in distant history

Eris takes hostages – kidnapping cases

Controversial naming process

Summa Summarum

Sources and literature

Table 1: Eris aspect with slow moving planets

Table 2: Position of Eris 1900-2040

Introduction

New celestial bodies are being found at an accelerating rate at the frontiers of our solar system with advanced search tools. After the discovery of Pluto (1930), there was a long period of silence. Then, in 1977, a small dim celestial wanderer, christened Chiron, caught the eye of the search camera. But it is only since the 1990s, as astronomical technology has improved, that a number of small celestial bodies have been located far from the edge of the Solar System, some of them with very strange orbits, but still belonging to our Solar System as distant objects belonging to several different astronomical categories.

The discovery of new celestial bodies has led to an inevitable shift in focus in astrology, or at least there are tunings in that direction. While the major planets of the solar system will always be the main focus of mythological and astrological interpretation, asteroids and new celestial bodies discovered in the Kuiper belt are gradually taking their rightful place. For now they are still in the periphery and of little interest, but literally 'on the edge of the world' they are gradually trickling into the more general astrological consciousness. The process can be slow because more and more of these new celestial wanderers are being discovered all the time; the sheer number, cataloguing, naming and searhing for meaning, let alone establishing it, takes a considerable amount of time. The tidal wave of new distant celestial bodies is only just beginning and astrology really needs to start thinking about what part they might play in interpreting the charts in the first place. The beautiful, harmonious septet of seven classical planets, or the Harmony Sisters of the Sun, Moon and eight planets, is becoming a veritable mixed choir of celestial throat sounds of different races. But it must be remembered that the new minor planets and celestial bodies are moving far out to the edges of the solar system.

In modern charts you can see names like Chiron, Folos, Nessos, Sedna, Gonggong, Chariklo, Hylonome, Ixion, Pelion, Thereus, Asbolus, Elatus (Pylenor) are all so-called centaurs, small and distant celestial bodies whose orbits intersect with those of the planets in the solar system, so that they can typically cross the orbits of Uranus, Neptune and even Pluto as they orbit the Sun.

Classifying new comers

To be more specific, all of the above minor planets are neither centaurs nor transneptunian. The new celestial wanderers were first divided into four distinct groups. 1) Centaurs 2) Cubewanos 3) Plutinos 4) Transneptunians.

1) Centaurs have orbits that cross the orbits of other planets, typically Saturn and Uranus.

2) The name Cubewanot was originally an inside joke among astronomers, but became established. It originally stood for the letter combination 1992 QB1, of which the English pronunciation is cu-be-wan-o, which was given to a new celestial body. The orbit of Cubewana is irregular and does not follow the orbit of Neptune or other planets.

3) Plutinos are distant centaurs that move relatively close to Pluto's orbit and are its kin.

4) Trans-Neptunians (TNO=Trans-Neptunian-Object) are celestial wanderers whose orbits are harmonious with those of Neptune and other planets.

5) Later, the classification was further refined and transneptunian celestial objects were subcategorised as scattered disc objects (SDOs),

The newly discovered celestial body was initially listed by astronomers in 2003 as UB313, but was later provisionally christened "Xena". It originally belonged to the SDO category, but the classification was revised at the IAU Congress in Prague in 2006. According to the decision of the meeting, it is a "dwarf planet" like Pluto and Ceres. Whether it is a dwarf or a giant in astrological terms remains to be seen. In September 2006 it was finally renamed and as a result we have an important planet with the mythological name "Eris".

This is the result of my personal exploration, a small and limited introduction to the symbolic world of Eris. It is not an attempt to nail down the interpretative significance of the new planet in a definitive framework, nor is it an attempt to take the matter forward in a purely logical way. Rather, my purpose is to present the mythological background of the little planet, to put forward suggestions, intuitions, conjectures and to confirm them with examples. My interpretation is based on a different basis from that to which Eris as a mythological figure refers. But still, the discord between those I have seen until now and mine, are not perhaps so great after all.

A mirror of its time

When a new planet is discovered in the sky, it is like a new food being eaten for the first time. Its assimilation into the symbolic world of astrology begins immediately, but still the stomach can growl for a long time at the new arrival. Today, information about astrological novelties spreads like wildfire fed on oil, and speculation about the interpretation of a new planet is generated online.

But no era starts from scratch or from an intellectual vacuum to build its symbolic world either. When Uranus was discovered in 1781, it was fairly quickly understood in astrology as a reflector of its own time. In the late 1700s, the most important events were the independence of the North American colonies from their mother country England in 1776, the Great French Revolution of 1789, the spread of democracy, new civil liberties, human rights and general Enlightenment principles and civilisation in Western culture. The natural sciences advanced rapidly, inventions abounded and the rational management of nature became the guiding star.

Nor was the discovery of Neptune in 1846 a problem. This was accompanied by the Communist Manifesto (1848) and the rise of socialist ideas to represent the worldview and political goals of the working class. Neptune's principle became the 'levelling of everything' or the dynamic movement 'from the bottom up'. The spiritualist movement also began in 1848 in the USA and soon spread to Europe, soon mobilising similar mass phenomena - albeit without concrete aims of changing the world. Anaesthetics were invented and surgery became safer. The word hypnosis was first coined by James Braid in 1843.

Through anaesthetics and hypnosis, Neptune had the opposite function in terms of self-consciousness, by reaching the lower layers of consciousness, where there is not yet a structured and limited focus on egocentric experience.

Pluto was discovered in 1930, when its connection with its own era was realised. It was the time of Prohibition in the USA, the mind-altering substance coveted by man was banned, so it had to be obtained illegally, and to organise the illegality, bloody rival gangs of gangsters emerged as Al Capone rose to become the most notorious in Chicago. The rest of the world was in the grip of economic depression and soon fascist mass movements were gaining strength in Germany, Italy and even Finland. The whole 1930s was a period of violent black or dark brown extreme-right wing or nationalist mass movements.

It has been more difficult, for example, to link the time of the discovery of Chiron with the symbolism of this small centaur. Its discovery in 1977 does not seem to have provided any particularly clear red thread to follow.

The relationship of all three new planets discovered in the new era to their own time is relatively clear. The phenomena in politics, societies and world development are typical temporal synchronicities: these phenomena have not produced the planet Eris, nor have they been produced by Eris, but they have encountered each other and this encounter can be interpreted in a meaningful way in the model provided by astrology. In order to discover new planetary symbolism, synchronicities in as many areas of life as possible are needed.

But now that Eris was discovered in 2003 and has an official - though in my opinion not so suitable - name, we can stand as a question mark as to the contemporary phenomena it symbolises. What does this time ultimately represent, what is the most important thing here? I am sure that many of us have, at least in our minds, thought about our own time and scribbled down at least these things on a piece of paper:

- Awareness of the possibility of destroying the Earth and humanity.

- The attempt to objectify all that is human and ultimately to fuse man and machine;

- The domination of science, economics and technology over any other mental activity: human, humanistic thinking.

-Following the ideal, the human object environment becomes disposable. And man's relationship with nature is also a model for the relationship with other people, values, opinions and truths: everything is disposable.

-The state of the environment, climate change caused by man, the pollution on land, sea and in the atmosphere and melting of the polar icecaps.

- Threat of depletion of energy resources. Coal is soon banished, and oil will not be available indefinitely. All of this but for the short-sighted human specie the possible natural catastrophe doesn't seem to have much effect. All middle-class people want to buy a gas-guzzling SUV as soon as they can afford.

- Illegal immigration. The migration of people from poor countries to richer countries illegally.

- The shifting space of male and female role perceptions, from male power, patriarchal values sliding towards matriarchal systems. Patriarchal communities are resisting and tensions are arising, sometimes erupting in dramatic and violent ways.

- The accelerating pace of world unification and ensuing merging of all western values and objectives into one cohesive superculture – but it’s materialistic values still unchanged.

-Results of merging: The same hotel chains, McDonald's, pizza bars, and chain stores everywhere, same thought patterns, attitudes, the same average knowledge, the same goals, hopes and dreams cloned in every man.

-The current crisis in the world is terrorism which is not going away any time soon.. Of particular importance and tensions between religions and cultures, especially sharp opposition between Christian West and militant Islamic groups.

Undoubtedly, in this age, there are certain expectations as to what themes – if any - could be associated with the significance of the planet we have discovered. The fact that in 2003 the discoverer of UB313 immediately named the distant planet as a female warrior ("Xena") is, I think, an indication of the expectations and collective pressures of the time. Unfortunately in Xena I see more Aries symbolism than anything else. The world, as it were, is in need of confirmation of the mythical networks of the collective mind associated with a new kind of femininity. And Eris seems to be responding to this cry, even if the title itself seems like an artificial compromise now that it has been given the playful tentative name of 'Xena', the female warrior. Apparently, a somewhat similar warlike female figure (Eris) had to be found in Greek mythology. The result is unsuccessful and creates an unfortunate situation where the name of the planet and its mythical and psychological content are not the same thing.

Of the current planets in the astrological chart, the Moon, Venus and Neptune are more clearly feminine in nature. The Sun, Mars, Jupiter (and Uranus) are masculine. Mercury is neutral and so is Pluto in more complex way. Saturn is a paradox in this respect, symbolically the patriarch and fearsome father-figure if anyone in mythology, but the ruler of the feminine sign Capricorn. There are more masculine planets than feminine ones. That is why many astrologers have also adopted the four largest of the asteroids, Ceres, Pallas, Juno and Vesta, which also represent the needs and motivations of the female world and psyche. In any case, in the interests of symbolic fairness, Eris’ arrival evens the playing field and in this sense the new planet's meaning is a welcome new perspective on astrological interpretation.

Eris – a false name and address

But as such, the name Ewas ris, in my opinion, a failure and the situation is unpleasantly confused when behind the Eris’ name another kind of collective, psychological and mythical forces are operating. Eris was a minor deity in Greek mythology, brother of the war god Ares (Mars). The name itself means 'strife, quarrel, dispute' and, in the broadest sense, chaos. Its Latin equivalent is 'Discordia', which is, of course, the direct opposite of harmony. Depending on the source in ancient mythology, two goddesses named Eris can be distinguished. Homer's Iliad, on the one hand, speaks of the daughter of Cronus and Nyx, and the sister of Ares, who sowed discord and strife wherever she went. She was the one who just ignited the Trojan War by throwing an apple before the goddesses with the inscription 'kallisti' - to the fairest'. The dispute over who was really the fairest led to a Great War and destruction. On the other hand, Hesiod's epic of Days and Labours mentions the much more positive Eris, daughter of Zeus and Hera, who encourages work, diligence, competition and enterprise to achieve economic security. As I said, I think the name Eris is ill-considered and I will argue that it is a different mythical basis from which to start.

Many people have already forgotten that the symbols of astrology have not so far followed slavishly in the direction of the planet's name and mythology. Uranus in mythology was little more than an abstract 'sky god'. It does not offer much of any clue to build Uranus' symbolism on. Instead, the myth of Prometheus offers and is the basic myth of Uranus symbolism. Neptune was originally the Greek Poseidon , the brother of Zeus, the god of the seas, but there are more dimensions to this figure in astrology than what appears on the surface to be Poseidon. Neptune is nowhere near as powerful a deity as the multi-powered Poseidon, who could cause mists, floods and earthquakes. Neptune can be compares with smaller gods of the sea, such as Nereus, who could change shape at will and that’s why Neptune can appear in human behaviour a power to adapt to anything and to disappear into nothingness.

Profile of the miniature planet

But what is the planet Eris like physically, what are its strategic dimensions? At the International Astronomical Union meeting in Prague in August 2006, it was named a dwarf planet along with Ceres and Pluto. Or was it the case that dwarf scientists named Pluto the astronomers' favourite planet? Pluto is now a dwarf planet too. How successful this external definition is, is left to the humorists... The discovery of Eris in 2003 was just one of many discoveries of distant celestial bodies in recent years, but the planetoid later christened 'Eris' was larger than the others and in that sense an anomaly. Its orbital period is a whopping 556 years and its orbit is comet-like super elliptical. That's why its slow signs are Aquarius to Taurus and its fast signs are Gemini to Capricorn. Its temporal effect is therefore very different depending on the sign. In Libra, the sign where it is closest to the Sun, it stays for only 12 years, and in Aries, the furthest sign, it stays for almost 130 years! Being closest to the Sun, it comes close to Pluto's orbit and you can take that as a technical clue too: Pluto and Eris are linked, they come close together like couples after separating from each other.

Eris' orbit in relation to Pluto and the other planets in the solar system.

Position in signs

But before the interpretation part, let's look at the technical side of the new planet, its movement in the sky and, first of all, its timing in the signs of the zodiac:

001-015 Leo

015-033 Virgo

033-058 Libra

058-086 Scorpio

086-118 Sagittarius

118-160 Capricorn

160-226 Aquarius

226-341 Pisces

341-453 Aries

453-510 Taurus

510-538 Gemini

538-553 Cancer

553-567 Lion

567-585 Virgo

585-607 Libra

607-635 Scorpio

635-666 Sagittarius

666-703 Capricorn

703-762 Aquarius

762-866 Pisces

866-989 Aries

989-1057 Taurus

1057-1087 Gemini

1087-1107 Cancer

1107-1121 Lion

1121-1139 Virgo

1139-1161 Libra

1161-1187 Scorpio

1187-1216 Sagittarius

1216-1251 Capricorn

1251-1302 Aquarius

1302-1393 Pisces

1393-1521 Aries

1521-1606 Taurus

1606-1642 Gemini

1642-1662 Cancer

1662-1677 Lion

1677-1693 Virgin

1693-1714 Libra

1714-1740 Scorpio

1740-1768 Sagittarius

1768-1800 Capricorn

1800-1846 Aquarius

1846-1926 Pisces

1926-2048 Aries

2048-2169 Taurus

Years in bold font are more precise than others. The further back you go in the history, the less accurate positions become. Accuracy is also hampered by the definition of when the Eris moves from one sign to another as it can saw into sign and back to the previous one by up to ten years. On average, Eris is in the signs as follows (this varies quite a bit from cycle to cycle):

Aries130 years

Taurus 86 years

Gemini 36

Cancer 20 years

Leo 16 years

Virgo 17 years

Libra 21 years

Scorpio 28 years

Sagittarius 30 years

Capricorn 35 years

Aquarius 54 years

Pisces 90 years

556 years in total. When closest to the Sun, Eris is in Leo and furthest away in Aries- like now. This corresponds to the symbolic situation that I will later propose as the overall theme of Eris - changes in the potential of the whole of womanhood. For all the influence of feminism, Eris is now in her orbit furthest from the Sun and from us.

The discovery of Eris was announced on 29 July 2005 and at a meeting of the International Astronomical Union (IAU) in Prague in August 2006, Eris’ status as a planet or other celestial body was raised and the decision was taken to name it a dwarf planet. Other information about the new planet is:

Estimated diameter 2400-3000 km (Pluto is about 2300 km).

Mean distance 67.7 AU, currently 96 AU, (Pluto mean distance 39.5); Eris is therefore very far away from us.

Node 5.52 Taurus.

Angle of inclination to the orbital plane 44.10 degrees (Pluto 17 degrees).

Orbital eccentricity 0.44 (Pluto 0.25).

Orbital period 557 years, Pluto 248 years.

The perihelion is 9 degrees Libra, so at this degree Eris is

closest to the Sun (and Earth).

Found in photo: 21.10.2003.

Eris also has a Moon, which was jokingly called Gabrielle at first - still according to the TV series of Xena, and now officially Dysnomia. Which means "illegality". In the TV series, "Xena" is a large woman (180 cm) and Gabrielle is a small and slender girl.

How on earth?

1) The astrological chart of the time of discovery. The astrological chart of the moment of naming can also be used or the chart of the declaration of the discovery. These correspond to the principle of the initiation chart... everything has its first moment.

2) The shape, size and position of the planet in the solar system, its orbit and possible, its orbital position in the system, and its possible points of contact with the orbits of other planets.

3) The planet's name and associated mythology. Myth is a story, it describes themes that can be translated into human language, and can be used to describe a planet’ functioning.

4) The temporal and historical context of the discovery. What kind of time are we living in? What was the time of Eris’ discovery, what global or at least Western cultural changes and pressures were present by the time Eris was found?? Is there new mass movements on the rise? These tell the story of a new planet and the synchronicity between contemporary phenomena and the planet. A variety of phenomena of the world are interconnected, they sleep"under the same roof" even though there are no causal effect to bind them together. The problem is often the blindness of all of us to the phenomena of our own time. We don’t see what’s in front of our eyes. What will this time be called in 50 years' time, what was essentially new about our times?

5) The long-term effects of the planet in the past. They can be studied in the context of major historical turning points and history-changing events.

6) Studying charts of significant people. A new planet may repeatedly appear of certain types of people or human events can tell you what kind of world of meaning associated with it.

7) Let us not forget the role of pure intuition. Intuition is not guesswork, but the broader perspectives of the mind. Mind’s active participation of the broader layers of universal Mind is present in every one of us – but mostly in sleeping state.

8) Symbolic interpretation of the degree of the planet of discovery. This is complicated at the outset by the fact that there are so many symbolic interpretations of degrees of the Zodiac and all are very different. At least dozen of degree symbolic series are available.

9) It has also been suggested that the sign in which the planet is in its perihelion (closest to the Sun) would be a suitable planetary home sign. However, this cannot be applied to the classical planets. The Sun is closest to Earth when it is in Capricorn.

Personally, I can't make sense of the interpretation of the discovery chart and wonder how others have got the Pluto discovery chart to relate to the Pluto theme, for example. Pluto was discovered on 18 February 1930 at 23:05, and the lucky discoverer was amateur astronomer Clyde Tombaugh. Eris was discovered from photographs taken on 21 October 2003, but the discovery was made on 5 January 2005

Background material for interpretation: myths, fairy tales and stories

Before any attempt at interpretation of "Eris" has been made, from the rather distant past of astrology, the name of Proserpine and the mythical landscape behind the name emerge. Dane Rudhyar wrote sometime in the 1940s about Proserpine, the planet behind Pluto, and he revisited it in his book An Astrological Triptych.

Let us follow some mythical ramification of Female archetype. Maybe they will help to understand the roots of Eris/Proserpine’s development through different ages and cultures.

Eros and Psyche

The driving force behind the story of Eros and Psyche (or Psyche) is jealousy. Venus' son Eros fell in love with Psyche, a well-known beauty, but Venus could not stand Psyche's obvious dazzling beauty and self-absorption. So Venus forced Psyche's father to take his daughter to a high mountaintop to await the gods' punishment. Zephyr, the west wind, however, gently captured Psyche and took her to a glorious castle. Each night, as Psyche was drifting off to sleep, a mysterious being appeared beside her, claiming to be the one chosen to be her mate, but unable to reveal her face to Psyche. The creature spoke in a soft voice and was a lovable bedfellow. Before dawn, the sly creature had disappeared into the shadows, having previously sworn to Psyche never to look upon her face. Psyche's jealous sisters spoke ill of the lover, saying that if the lover wished to stay safe in the dark, he must be some shivering monster.

Curiosity won out and one night Psyche was equipped with a lamp. When night came and the lover fell asleep, Psyche lit up the room and saw the most adorable young god in the guise of a young man lying on the bed. To get a closer look at Eros' face, Psyche brought the lamp closer and then a drop of oil fell from the lamp onto Eros' shoulder and he woke up. At that moment the whole palace disappeared and Psyche found her alone again on the mountain, waiting for the promised punishment of Venus. He decided to throw himself into the ravine to free him from the curse, but as he jumped he was carried by an unseen force to the riverbank. Venus found out what had happened and sent Psyche to suffer a series of hardships and obstacles. Psyche survived them all with the help of mysterious helpers. Finally, Eros ascended to Jupiter and asked for Psyche to be spared from Venus' wrath. He agreed and Psyche was released from her suffering. Psyche and Eros were reconciled and a grand wedding was celebrated on Mount Olympus.

The myth of Eros and Psyche is really a story of three powers, including Venus. Venus represents the eternal, the world of Woman (and Mother), the clinging, possessive and jealous tendencies of Mother. Eros is her son to whom she is almost incestuously attached. Eros is the metaphor of maturing masculinity, the son-god of perfect physical beauty, the idealized lover. Psyche is a young girl who must fight her way free from the vicious circle of Mother and siblings, or her own negative fears, to finally encounter Eros, or erotic love, in freedom and become a mature woman who has absorbed sexual femininity. Psyche simply means "Soul" and the story depicts the difficulty of the feminine soul to digest the Eros, the awakened sexual power embodied by Eros.

Hades and Persephone & Pluto and Proserpine

We get even closer to Eris through Pluto. Homer's Hymn to Demeter contains a description of the rape of Persephone. Persephone herself naively and endearingly describes what happened in her own words:

"So we played and gathered sweet flowers in our hands, soft crocuses, irises and hyacinths and rosebuds and lilies that were lovely to look at and daffodils and yellow crocuses that the lowly earth grew. I picked them with joy, but the ground beneath me disappeared, and there stood a mighty ruler, the master of many people, who rose in his golden chariot and took me under the ground with him, though I resisted and screamed in deafening anger. And true it all is and painful it is to tell this story."

The Myth of Difference and the Psyche describes the integration of a girl's sexuality with other, higher elements of the psyche. In astrology, on the other hand, the myths of Korea-Pluto of the Romans or Persephone-Hades of the Greeks describe the same problem on a psychological level. Persephone is the girl, the "eternal girl" (Puella), the archetype of the girl in the possession of the ruling Mother (Demeter). Demeter, the mother-goddess, is the earth-mother, the mother, Gaia. But she is also, in the words of Tatu Vaaskivi, the universal gateway... "whose immense womb, through inexhaustible fertilization, discharges ever new foetuses into its sweating bowels." Hades steals the daughter of the earth-demon, Persephone, in the midst of innocent flower-play, and the innocent life-cycle ends dramatically when Hades takes the maiden to his subterranean kingdom as his wife (remember that the name Hades was used both for the god Hades and for his abode in Underground.

Mother Demeter searches for her lost daughter, withering and mourning endlessly for her lost treasure, and for her sake the earth withers, dries up and becomes desolate. It is only through the intervention of the gods that Demeter gains the power to meet her daughter on earth - but only for part of the year, in spring and summer. Persephone and her husband must spend the winter season in Underground, invisible. Persephone is roughly equivalent to the Roman Proserpine and the names are interchangeable. In the visual arts, for example, the well-known sculpture by Lorenzo Bernini, The Rape of Persephone, is a

However, as a rough starting point, Eris/Persephone/Proserpine is a symbol of subjugated femininity or virginity.

The myth of Hades and Persephone therefore has the same themes as the Beauty and the Beast story. Fear of sexuality, fear of men, fear of rape - only to be overcome by confronting one's true feelings, which develop during puberty and are structured in adult womanhood into healthy eroticism and sexual ecstasy. The sexual partner, the beloved, is not a monster, an animal or a rapist, but an attractive man and a desirable being. The psyche sees the beauty of Eros in the light of the lamp - Eros is love itself, the god. From the union of Eros and Psyche arises Voluptas - (desire, pleasure), representing the integrated Man/Woman humanity, the Jungian Self, which often appears in dreams in the figure of the vital, radiant Child, as it appears in the Sun card of the Tarot deck.

Naturally, the Demeter-Persephone and Hades trilogy is more than just a depiction of the different stages of human development and the Daughter-Mother relationship. Exactly what happened in the Eleusinian mystery menus, which focused on the restoration of the divine connection through this very myth, remains an open question. The historian Herodotus, who himself received the Eleusinian initiation, is silent on the matter, since the first thing an aspirant had to do was to take a vow of silence.

In any case, the Eleusinian mystery myths were based on a very long tradition and involved a multi-stage series of events. It began with purification, the acquisition of mystical knowledge through teaching and warnings, continued with the revelation of sacred things during the initiate's performance of a part in a sacred play, and ended with the coronation, the coronation and the celebration of the end of the initiation. The ceremony also included a communion-like ritual with the breaking of bread and the drinking of barley. Fertility and fecundity were prayed for. At the end of the procession, the neophyte was considered to have reached a higher consciousness. Christianity borrowed much from the ceremonies, but transformed it’s spirit into something more straight-forward, as it simplified the interplay between good and evil, light and darkness, to suit the understanding its adherents. The crystalline essence of the Eleusinian mysteries celebrated in the autumn (Sun in Virgo) was the contact with God through purification and rebirth. Ceres was Persephone, the renewed life of the earth; Demeter was the Earth, the eternal fertile field from which new things are always growing. I believe the same star appears in the iconography of the sign of the Virgin.