Eris semi-square North Node

I hope you are enjoying the Sun, Venus, Mars conjunction we are having over these next couple of days. Venus is conjunct Mars today, with the Sun conjunct Mars tomorrow. Our will, our relationships and our actions are all pulling together in these days. We just have to be gentle on ourselves and not let our will run the show too much. If you remember instead to let your values play that role, things will go a lot better.

The three planets are opposite Jupiter, with the exact oppositions occurring this weekend, so we're in the full moon phase of the Sun-Jupiter cycle. Something we started six months ago is coming to fruition and we are being challenged to work with the stresses and opportunities that is bringing in our relationships and in the actions we take, as we live up to that potential. 

Meanwhile the North Node is sextile Mercury and semi-square Eris, our new planet of diversity consciousness, at 25 degrees of Aries. Eris is where we learn to value everyone, to speak our truth, and to embrace our feminine power. So in these days our developing dharma is flowing with our communication, but challenging us to speak our truth in a way that others can accept.

Eris is the sister of Mars in myth and they are always allied in battle together, so she gets a bit of a bad rep as the goddess of discord. Astrologically however, where Mars is fighting mundane battles, Eris’ challenge is on a more esoteric level. This means that when we are unconscious of her energy, she does encourage us to engage in discord and strife, but the aim of this is to learn to stop fooling ourselves, or to stop being fooled. 

So, if we are operating at the personal planet level of consciousness and sensing the North Node semi-square to Eris influence unconsciously, we might get caught up in what seems like destined battles in our lives this month. Or we might actively seek these out by getting on our high horse about something that is important for us, or speaking out about the truth as we see it, whether this is appropriate or not.

This aspect came within a 1 degree orb last weekend, it will be exact in a week and a half on the 18th January, and go out of orb at the end of February. So over the next month and a half we are being encouraged to speak out. And the semi-square to the North Node means that Eris is also sesquiquadrate the South Node. So we are likely to find that fated karmic factors are motivating these outbursts.

For your truth to be effectively communicated, you have to be sensitive to how open the other person is to that message. Everyone tends to tune out or protest against information that is going to challenge their personal truth. This is where the discord comes, and with Eris we have to be like the Sufi teachers who could see the simple thing to say to get through to each person and help them with their growth. We have to see what people are ready to accept and offer them that, otherwise they will protect themselves by ignoring us, or by arguing back.

As we adopt a more spiritual approach, we understand that our strife can be dealt with simply by accepting opposing points of view. That's easy to say, but very hard to do. We do this by embracing a practice of love and sympathy. We realize that growing spiritually and pushing the boundaries of our understanding is challenging and uncertain, requiring a willingness to step out of our comfort zone and face potential obstacles, and we know that love and sympathy gives us the motivation and support we need to navigate these risks.

So, if you find yourself in what feels like a destined confrontation this month, examine what would need to change on either side to reach an accommodation. Can love and sympathy come into the equation in some way that makes a meaningful difference? Is there a way to allow the opposing view so you can both live in harmony? If there is, make moves to enable that. If there isn’t, quit the dispute.

At the spiritual level, Eris enables you to see clearly without preconceptions, and this helps you keep your body and mind in harmony, so that you feel healthy and happy. And at the highest level, she is a spirit-guide, able to transmute life into love, and bring sacred wisdom into your life. So you might find that you can make this sort of divine connection in these next weeks.

Or this transit could strengthen your connection to an inner guide, the part of you that knows where you are in your dance between karma and dharma, and what is best in each situation. At this level, by valuing everyone as they are, and by accepting everything and neither comparing nor judging, you become a truth-telling trickster, able to get your message through by crafting it perfectly for each person. 

In modern astrology Pluto is considered to be the higher octave of Mars, so we can look at Eris as the higher octave of Pluto. She steps up his transformative energy into a fierce grace through which everything in our lives is opened to the light and can be transmuted into love.

At this level, you understand that it is through engaging and doing the consciousness growth work, that this effort is transmuted into love. And this gives you a female power that you can bring to bear in your life. Where the male power of Pluto and Mars is coercive, Eris’ power is more sensitive and gentle in its engagement, but it still rises to meet the needs of any challenge.

So that is the challenge and the opportunity over the next month with Eris' transiting Nodal aspects. This is a time to develop your fierce-but-gentle, love-based female power and connect that with your higher truth in a sensitive way that others can relate to.

Eris Early Scholarships

And, if you want help with this, jump into our Eris course, starting in March, to embrace your female power, find your inner guide, and learn to be diplomatic in your truth-telling. It is easy and fun because you get the support of a friendly international community of astrologers. And I have a handful of Early Scholarships to encourage you. This is the best deal you will get on this course and the only time it will be offered.

Eris 101 - Early Scholarship

NZ$270.00NZ$80.00

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And remember, you don't need any prior astrological knowledge to do this class. It is a course in consciousness, using astrology as the language, and we have small group support sessions to help with the language and the assignments. What students love is the interactive learning through blog posted assignments and interactive Zoom sessions, which show us how these new planets act similarly yet diversely in each of our lives.

I hope you can join us on Eris, and thanks for your work embracing these new aspects of consciousness. 

Love and laughter

Alan

"What Alan Clay has created with the Dwarf Planet University is nothing short of genius.  His in-depth knowledge and amazing teaching style are unique and what the astrological world has been waiting for. I'm so enjoying learning about our far-reaching dwarf planets amongst a galaxy of friendly, intelligent student astrologers from all over the universe, logging on at their differing time zones."  Eileen Richardson, UK.