I was supposed to live to be 102 and be shot by a jealous wife

bookplate at vintage inclination
I am taking a little blog break this week to

1. celebrate a very big birthday (yes, I said very)

(although my memory is mostly still intact because just yesterday I was reminiscing about another birthday morning when I put on my red striped Jackson Arts & Craft Camp t-shirt, a pair of denim overalls with white socks and looked at my recently permed reflection, yes a Toni home job, and solemnly wished that I would look like that forever ... )

2. gather information about this "grave" thyroid prognosis I have just been given

(which started when an eye doctor while looking at my eyelids asked "do you have a rash on your shin" - I do - and yes, I said eye doctor and yes I said shin - the auto immune system is a tricky thing folks - when she asked me such random correctness I actually felt my teeth chatter - I thought she was about to rip off her face and confess herself an alien - it was the same feeling I had when riding in the car with my father many years ago listening to the radio and he said "what year is this?" - I thought he had lost his mind on the way to the mall - and I stammered "...uh, 1986" and he said, "It is?! I thought this song was older." - which is totally unconnected, but a totally scary moment, and again this is the birthday season of reminiscing folks)

I am pulling this week's giveaway and will bring it back when I have the time to give it a proper promotion (and yes, this involves t-shirts and balloons and the Miss America pageant hand-wave).

There is a LUCKY new moon this Sunday (I know you are thinking, not another new moon), but trust me this one is a goodie - you must be starting something new now - you must - this is the time - I will post more on this later.

Saturn Saturday - a wrap up and intro to this month's fun

greek goddess art print by LipsticKissPress
This post wraps up my Saturn and Nodes of the Moon charts for last month's volunteers. I am so grateful to all of you for letting me get my feet wet with this again - thank you!

Over the next few weeks I'm starting a new series working with the energies of the first four asteroids sited in the 1800's - Ceres, Pallas, Juno and Vesta.

Just like the planets of our birth chart, the position of these asteroids at the time of our birth carries meaning about our astrological makeup and reflects how our goddess energies influence us!
(plus they are fascinating!)

Ceres (known to the Greeks as Demeter) is the mother - the provider, the nurturer - the goddess archetype of spring. Ceres represents the part of our nature that longs to give birth and then nourish and sustain new life. She represents the essential bonding or lack of that occurs between mother and child. She is the impulse to nurture and also to be nurtured by others.

Ceres's daughter, Persephone, was abducted by Pluto, lord of the underworld. The grieving mother, Ceres wandered the earth in search of her missing child.

In her grief, depression and anger, she caused a famine, withholding nourishment from the world until her daughter was returned. Persephone meanwhile had eaten pomegranate seeds, a symbol of sexual awareness, which gave Pluto a claim over her so she could not be returned permanently to her mother.

(damn you pomegranate seeds!)

A deal was reached so Persephone would spend part of each year in the underworld with Pluto caring for the souls of the dead, but each spring would be reunited with her mother in the upper world as she initiated the dead into the rites of rebirth (spring).

Ceres in our chart alerts us to any challenges with nurturing and directs us to the kinds of experience we need to feel unconditionally loved and accepted.

We'll take a look at her and Pallas (known to the Greeks as Athena) next week.

If anyone wants to know how the asteroids Ceres and Pallas harmonize and clash with the other points in your chart send me your birth date (yes, I need year, too - sorry), place and time or leave this info in the comments section at the end of this post.

Now to our next guinea pig volunteer : Bliss.