to learn about her influence it's a good idea to keep track of her in natal and mundane events.
Chaos theory in action?
She has been identified as the twin sister of Aries/Mars and is, like Mars, a lower octave of Pluto. And like Pluto she challenges the cherished attachments of our ego/personality that stand in the way or have become obstacles to our soul purpose. She stirs the pot to reveal its hidden contents. It is interesting to me that she is the feminine side of Aries/Mars. Both concerned with self determination but their gender difference brings something a bit different to that energy.
From what I've read of Eris in mythology, she is not so much a representative of chaos, but rather the one who provokes and stirs up situations that can then lead to chaotic situations. She was not invited to a wedding party and is hurt/angry by this snub. She goes anyway and breaks up the wedding party - an arranged/forced marriage (which symbolically undermines martian-type self determination) and then tosses something unexpected into the situation with her golden apple which serves to spark an argument and a competition. "To the fairest" on the apple was written, which appealed to the ego of the three goddesses present, who all wished to claim the apple. And this competition in turn leads eventually to the Trojan War.
The Discord which she is known to provoke, is not really the problem so much as the various party's inability to accept that more than one answer or solution is possible. Is beauty something that belongs only to one?
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In a chart done for the time of Eris's identification (Jan. 5, 2005 @ 11:20AM PST, Pasadena, CA) the Sabian symbol for her placement at 19+ degrees of Aries might provide a key to what she has to offer this dualistic approach to the world at a time of crisis. And it is a solution that invokes the feminine:
A YOUNG GIRL FEEDING BIRDS IN WINTER - Overcoming crisis through compassion.
Nature's seasonal rhythms imply an oscillation between living and dying. Through creative
imagination man can "fly over" the cycle, and discover means not only to escape from the fatality of seasonal decay or deprivation, but to assist other living entities to survive through crisis. Migrating birds fly south but by establishing a partnership with other creatures unable to escape wintry deprivation or death, man can maintain the life of the spirit (symboloized by birds) steady through all crisis IF, like a "young girl" he is widely open to the promptings of love and sympathy.
The transmutation of life into love.------
If we accept that this might be the result of the chaos stirred up by Eris then we might look
at the New Moon/ Bailout calamity as her "apple" that asks us to re-examine our ego attachments so that we might discover answers that lead to an awakening of a more holistic and inclusive way of
approaching the changes required of us to further our collective soul development.
It is the winter of our discontent and the end of a cycle.
Compassion inherently requires that we recognize our own humanity in others.
And perhaps we have to lose one kind of abundance in order to learn the true source of Abundance.
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NEW MOON - 7 Degrees of Libra (9/29/08)
The Sabian symbol for the degree of Libra (relationship) on which the new Moon fell, again suggests
a feminine element as not only nurturer but protector.
It's position is opposite 7 degrees Aries which is very likely the degree that many people born in the 20th century have Eris in (or close to it and therefore would be affected by this new moon) in their natal charts. The opposition of these two is kind of the "I" (Aries) and the "We"(Libra) of the signs. So this, like all oppositions between signs asks us to reconcile and integrate their energies.
A WOMAN FEEDING CHICKENS AND PROTECTING THEM FROM THE HAWKS - The need to face the antagonism of "powers of darkness" as one attempts to feed the mind of as yet helpless and frightened apprentices.
The most basic "Law" of our universe is taht every release of new potentialities (or modes of energy) brings about a polarization of effects - that is, the new potentiality will be used both for construction and destruction. It will arouse individuals (or groups and nations) to take a series of steps which will lead some to greater success, others to deeper failure. Whoever makes possible this new release has to accept the karma of BOTH the success and the failure. When Jesus showered his immense love upon lukewarm, self-centered individuals, it inevitably came to be turned into violent hatred when these soul-minds were unable to cope with its frightening intensity. Jesus had to accept spiritual responsibility for those who crucified him.
At this stage we witness the contrast between the ideal situation envisioned clearly by the creative consciousness and what it will be in actual operation; thus the forever-present struggle involved in making it possible for the future-oriented actualizers of an ideal to survive attacks of tradition-worshiping minds that can only follow lines of automatic response. Guardianship.---
Further reading on Eris:
http://www.astrodynamics.net/Articles/Eris.htmhttp://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A258608http://www.lynnkoiner.com/astrology-articles/eris-planet-x-ub313http://www.smeddum.net/astrology/eris.htmhttp://stores.lulu.com/astrology--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Fruit appears in myths from around the world. Often it is a symbol of abundance, associated with goddesses of fruitfulness, plenty, and the harvest. Sometimes, however, fruit represents earthly pleasures, gluttony, and temptation. Specific kinds of fruit have acquired their own symbolic meanings in the myths and legends of different cultures.
Apples are brimming with symbolic meanings and mythic associations. In China they represent peace, and apple blossoms are a symbol of women's beauty. In other traditions, they can signify wisdom, joy, fertility, and youthfulness.
Apples play an important part in several Greek myths. Hera, queen of the gods, owned some precious apple trees that she had received as a wedding present from Gaia, the earth mother. Tended by the Hesperides, the Daughters of Evening, and guarded by a fierce dragon, these trees grew in a garden somewhere far in the west. Their apples were golden, tasted like honey, and had magical powers. They could heal, they renewed themselves as they were eaten, and if thrown, they always hit their target and then returned to the thrower's hand.
For the eleventh of his 12 great labors, the hero Hercules* had to obtain some of these apples. After a long, difficult journey across North Africa, he enlisted the help of the giant Atlas, who entered the garden, strangled the dragon, and obtained the fruit. Hercules took the apples to Greece, but Athena* returned them to the Hesperides.
A golden apple stolen from Hera's garden caused the Trojan Warf, one of the key events in Greek mythology. Eris, the goddess of discord, was angry not to be included among the gods asked to attend a wedding feast. Arriving uninvited, she threw one of the apples, labeled "For the Fairest," onto a table at the feast. Hera, Athena, and Aphrodite* each assumed that the apple was meant for her. They asked Paris, a prince of Troy, to settle the matter, and he awarded the apple to Aphrodite. In revenge, Hera and Athena supported the Greeks in the war that led to the fall of Troy. People still use the phrase "apple of discord" to refer to something that provokes an argument.
In Norse* mythology, apples are a symbol of eternal youth. Legend says that the goddess Idun guarded the magical golden apples
gluttony excessive eating or drinking
discord disagreement
that kept the gods young. But after the trickster god Loki allowed Idun to be carried off to the realm of the giants, the gods began to grow old and gray. They forced Loki to recapture Idun from the giants. Celtic* mythology also mentions apples as the fruit of the gods and of immortality.
Today the apple is often associated with an episode of temptation described in Genesis, the first book of the Bible. Adam and Eve, the first man and woman, lived in a garden paradise called Eden. God forbade them to eat the fruit of one tree that grew in the garden—the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. When they gave in to temptation and tasted the fruit, God drove them out of the Garden of Eden for breaking his commandment. Many people picture the forbidden fruit as an apple because it has been portrayed that way for centuries in European artworks. However, the apple was unknown in the Near East when the Bible was written there. The biblical description of the tree in the Garden of Eden does not name a specific fruit, and in some traditions, the forbidden fruit has been imagined as a fig, a pear, or a pomegranate.
Breadfruit. The breadfruit—a round fruit that can be baked and eaten like bread—is an important staple food in Polynesia. Myths about the origin of the breadfruit are found on several Polynesian islands. One story told in Hawaii takes place during a famine. A man named Ulu, who died in the famine, was buried beside a spring.
trickster mischievous figure appearing in various forms in the folktales and mythology of many different peoples
== immortality ability to live forever
This painting of the 1400s illustrates the Greek myth about a beauty contest involving the goddesses Hera, Athena, and Aphrodite. The goddess judged most beautiful by Paris, a Trojan prince, would receive a golden apple.