In lieu of Amanda Moreno’s column this week (she plans to be back next weekend) I thought I’d offer readers a couple of Eric’s previous columns on Eris. Eris — the planet ‘responsible’ for Pluto’s demotion in astronomy — is encountering conjunctions from Mercury (exact yesterday) and the Sun (exact today).
Lucy Lawless as Xena the Warrior Princess, after whom Eris got its temporary, provisional name after being discovered. Photo courtesy of Pacific Renaissance Pictures Ltd.
As you feel for what form your inner Eris is taking this weekend, and sort out how to work with the themes her archetype represents, these pieces may give you some context and points of orientation.
In Eris Notebook: Dancing with Discord, Eric offers a brief history of the discovery and naming of Eris before diving into the Chiron-Eris conjunction of the early 1970s. The modern feminist watershed of that era explains this conjunction perfectly. Eric writes:
Many things occurred during that era, but for sure it was the watershed of modern feminism. Feminism is not just about women’s rights. It is about deconstructing the known order of the world, which tends to largely be based on gender roles. When you suspend or even question gender roles, you basically get a form of chaos. It’s impossible to see the extent to which people cling to those roles until you take them away for a moment or two.
You’ll also encounter sex-positive masturbation pioneer Betty Dodson’s thoughts on the subject, and a short timeline of events of the early ’70s emblematic of the social chaos at hand.
Another way to get a more tangible sense of Eris is through the chart of a famous person. In Rachel Maddow: The Apotheosis of Eris, Eric uses the occasion of 2010’s Sun-Eris conjunction to investigate the natal chart of Rachel Maddow.
Rachel Maddow in a PR photo.
Born in 1973, Maddow not only has the Sun conjunct Eris in her chart, but those two bodies are also still conjunct Chiron — plus, Venus is right there, too.
In the case of Maddow, we don’t so much get the fractured/chaotic/snubbed quality of Eris. What we get is a sense of what it looks like when someone (especially a woman) embodies the positive aspects of Eris. Maddow is self-assured; and while she stirs things up, it seems to be a result of her simply being who she is, fully and with awareness — rather than a shadowy, passive-aggressive form of provocation.
As Eric writes, “In the form of Rachel Maddow we have an example of someone expressing the [Eris] energy clearly, authentically and in a way that challenges us to wake up and pay attention.”
If you’re paying attention to the Eris archetype in your life this weekend — either in shadow form or in a fully conscious, embodied, productive form — I welcome your comments below.
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I was paying attention to my inner Eris, and that of others this weekend. I mentioned in a previous comment about how I felt snubbed by the writer of a recent review of a play I performed in over the past two weeks. Years ago I would have gotten all shadowy Eris, and reacted passive-aggressively. Instead I applied my awareness of self & the Eris-heavy astrology to actively work with the feeling of being slighted, thus using it in this weekend’s performances.
Also, there were two instances this weekend that showed me the inner Eris of two people, my girlfriend, and my mom. Mind you, both of these women do not often express anger. However, on Saturday my girlfriend and I got into an argument during which she became quite enraged, and she let it all out. Knowing that we were in a safe place (our home), and that both the Sun and Mercury were conjunct Eris, I did not try to calm her down. In fact, I let out some rage of my own.
One more example of the manifestation of this weekend’s astrology happened on Sunday when my mom called to express how I had hurt her feelings on Saturday night after the play. She was pissed at how I was not talkative, and how I seemed to just want to leave the venue instead of staying for a drink. Funny thing is, when she called me, she didn’t come right out and say what she was mad about. Instead, she was being all shadowy-Eris-like, taking an angry tone with me, but not really expressing herself outright. I had to pry her to express her hurt, and anger.
I am re-printing the review we got for our theater company’s new show – “Birthright?” — a collaboration with Planned Parenthood. We opened three days before the Sun-Eris conjunction, with this Sunday’s show on the exact alignment. Here is what one reviewer had to say:
The Medea Project’s ‘Birthright?” a powerful voice for women
By Michael Rosen Published 1:08 pm, Friday, April 10, 2015
Basking in the glow of a dimly lit stage, Rhodessa Jones erupts with swagger. Each movement of her body is distinct, decisive, crisp; it’s wisdom in motion, from the gestures of her arms to the way she wipes down the lone prop, a chair underneath a spotlight, left of center stage. An ominous piano track emerges from the backstage, as Jones’s character — a former prison inmate — dwells on the troubles of post-prison life. And then, on a whim, Jones breaks character, strutting to center stage with a sheepish grin on her face.
Jones, the artistic director of The Medea Project — a theater troupe with a mission to address the concerns of jailed women — proceeds to introduce her latest project, “Birthright?,” that opened at the Brava Theater Centeron Thursday, April 10, in collaboration with Planned Parenthood. She informs the crowd of the show’s intentions — “Keep in mind, it’s a girl’s world,” she tells us, and exits the stage for the rest of the night.
And for the next two hours, a gaggle of more than a dozen women share stories from their own lives through a variety of approaches. There are monologues, choreographed dances, call-and-response prompts, chronicling experiences ranging from questions about dildos to childhood rape, but what unifies them all is the pureness of their femininity.
Each experience melts into the next, and the ultimate effect of these true stories is one of forceful empathy; not because one necessarily has shared the exact same experience, but because all can understand how pain can feel. And though there is a wide range of skill in each individual performance, the project is effective regardless, because the story they are telling is a true one.
Women of all ages and sizes tell true stories of their own experiences with having a female body and an awareness of how often that body is exploited. Many women in this show are HIV positive; most tell stories of getting infected by a man. Almost every woman recounts an experience with abortion, and often, the conversation veers toward questions of ownership over their own bodies; at one point, one woman wryly remarks that “a panel of old white men are deciding women’s reproductive rights.”
But “Birthright?” is not simply content to simply shed light on the pervasive oppression of women and minorities; rather, it’s intent on crushing it, and its method is through the rawness of their stories, manifested through a visceral physicality in the vein of Jones’s opening scene.
Just as Jones does in the tone-setting opening piece, each woman moves distinctly, decisively, crisply, channeling their personal experience into a felt confidence in their stage presence. The first performer following Jones delivers a monologue alone, wondering where her support is; on cue, the entire cast emerges from backstage, each carrying a chair, and sits down in a line behind her. The message is clear: she is not alone, and for nearly the rest of the show, nobody is hardly ever alone; each speaker is either accompanied by a few women, or a dozen women, or a backing soundtrack.
Instead of sympathy, then, the effect is joyousness: the women revel in an aggressive, unapologetic, self-assured femininity. Their bodies are not objects for the male gaze; instead, they become vessels for chipping away at the institutions reinforcing systematic oppression.
In a scene late in the second act, the lighting goes dark red, and the dozen women begin to chant: “Burn, m————, burn.” It is not a quiet chant — it is screamed, yelped, escaping primally from their vocal cords. Projected onto the back of the stage is an image of the White House, and then picture after picture of Republican political figures — Newt Gingrich, Rick Santorum, Ted Cruz. With each successive politician, the chant grows louder: “Burn, m——- , burn.”
It is clear “Birthright?” is not concerned with a calm conversation, because this is a show convinced the only way to enact change is to fight fire with fire. As I walked out of theater, I was pretty convinced they had a point.
Thoughts that I’m chewing on about Eris:
There’s a fine line between striving (Eris) and force (Mars!), frustration and anger, emotion and action. I need to recognize when I’m at that line and choose an appropriate, responsible expression of it. Even decide if it’s necessary to step over that line.
I see the message from Eris carried a double entendre – she surely would have thought to herself “That’s not fair!” upon hearing she wasn’t invited (that’s really what started the apple rolling). That’s what she also meant by “Who’s the FAIREST of them all?”. She has been standing across from Libra since we discovered her. Scales are a see-saw.
So, my discarded parts seem to evolve from not being fair to/with myself (this fits with my chart).
Synonyms for ‘fair’: impartial, clear, just, tolerable, honest………a fair is also a gala!
For me, the story is really about the exile of chaos, which is going to show up anyway. By banning chaos the party people created it. By banning this part of myself, I am creating it.
I’m looking at the chaotic parts of myself – what triggers them, how I feel about them, how I’m expressing (or suppressing) and manifesting them. This is what I’ve been discarding.
Mandy, Wow! That is a lot of powerful thought. My Eris is in Aries at 10.18.
My Mars is in Libra at 10.29 and it has “Point of Fortune” conjunct at 9.15. This opposition is the center point of a YOD consisting of Sun/Pluto at 8-9.38 of Virgo – and Neptune at 9.01 Scorpio.
North Node and South Node are aligned with the Arrow of Mars and the target of Eris.
(So, my discarded parts seem to evolve from not being fair to/with myself (this fits with my chart).
Synonyms for ‘fair’: impartial, clear, just, tolerable, honest………a fair is also a gala!
For me, the story is really about the exile of chaos, which is going to show up anyway. By banning chaos the party people created it. By banning this part of myself, I am creating it.
I’m looking at the chaotic parts of myself – what triggers them, how I feel about them, how I’m expressing (or suppressing) and manifesting them. This is what I’ve been discarding.)
This preceding thought process seems to hold some truth for me. I will ponder this revelation for some time to come. Thanks.
You’re welcome, Cowboyiam. I’m glad my journey can be of service to yours in some way.
Transiting Mars and Neptune sextile just made a close Yod with your Mars/POF (and Eris in the middle of the sextile). So, you had a flipped double Yod going on from Pisces to Taurus and Virgo to Scorpio. Pretty cool.
As Eric said that sextiles are useful tools to get a grip with, perhaps this passage benefitted your focus or frustration somehow.
“Many things occurred during that era….. It’s impossible to see the extent to which people cling to those roles until you take them away for a moment or two.”
I got rush of euphoria while reading the above paragraph.
Eric, when you nail issues within the framework of well constructed words..
Bliss .. Therapy..Orgasmic
Amanda,
Great post. Through and Through
Yep, Eris is currently sitting on my 7th house cusp and natal chart wise is still within 4 degrees of Chiron and 0 degrees from a square to my Capricorn Mercury while Chiron is only 2 degrees from a square to my Sun and 0 degrees from a semi square to Moon. As I get older it becomes a lot less frustrating than it was in my youth, probably cause of Chinese Martial Arts and vegetarian eating, not only cause I’ve been getting older. I alternately feel vexed and inspired by women radiating various forms of Eris energy, but the more Tai Ji helps me sink into my own power as a Jade Dragon the less apt I am to fear the White Tigresses and the more respect I receive from the strong women. It helps a lot to have found the root of my own sexual energy so that I don’t mistake the energy in my own body for something the woman is holding hostage, a forest of projections that elevate the woman as sex object while the man just blows his wad every time he feels an itch and never learns to cultivate his own sexual energy: like I was in the 90’s. The Red Dragons sitting on my 7th house cusp freaked me out at first, but now I realize they were only training me to keep cool in hot situations.