birth

Numerology is the study of numbers. Right you say. But what does that mean to me? I’m not a mathematician. Why would I study them? Well, ask yourself this question: Are there some colors that make you feel good? Are there other colors that make you feel nervous or ‘icky’? Colors are actually light vibrating at different frequencies. Have you heard music that just makes you feel good all over or have you heard that earsplitting beep of that microwave in the coffee shop that makes your teeth itch? Sound is a vibration at different frequencies too.

We have examined the natal chart, which depicts the positions of the planets at the birth moment, and interpreted it as a description of a person’s character over the duration of his or her life. We’ve used it as an indicator pointing to the kinds of activities that will lead a person toward a sense of living a purposeful life. But the birth chart is also a map of a person’s destiny, indicating when the various events promised in the natal chart will occur. From a modern perspective, timing factors can forecast opportunities for personal growth, as well as the nature of obstacles to be overcome in the process of self-improvement and development. Dane Rudhyar spoke of timing in astrology as a schedule for the unfoldment of the birth potential over time.

Generally, when people’s lives are going well, they do not seek advice or counseling. But when things start going badly—difficulty with or loss of relationships, jobs, health, or belief systems—they become anxious, fearful, and insecure. At these times, they are more likely to seek insight or advice about what is happening and what the outcome is going to be. This is when many people come to an astrologer’s consulting room. The timing of these critical periods of crisis and change can often be seen through the timing factors in astrological prediction. It was astrology’s claim to be able to predict the future that contributed to it becoming the premiere system of divination in the ancient world. In fact, historically, one of the main questions posed to astrologers is: What is going to happen next?

From a traditional perspective, timing factors predict the rise and fall of favorable and unfavorable periods in life. In addition, they indicate when specific events like marriage, the birth of children, health crises, or professional promotions will occur. Some of these events can be fortunate, others unfortunate. From a modern perspective, timing factors show periods of transition and change in our lives, where opportunities exist for growth by releasing and transforming the old so the new can emerge and take shape.

Ceres, known to the Greeks as Demeter, is the classical goddess of agriculture who worked unceasingly to bring food and nourishment to the people of the Earth. One of the most famous stories of antiquity tells of the ravishment and abduction of Persephone (Latin Proserpina), Ceres’ daughter, by Pluto, Lord of the Underworld, and of Ceres’ subsequent grief and suffering as she wanders disconsolately over the Earth in search of her missing child. In her anger, she causes a famine, withholding production of all food, until her daughter is returned. Meanwhile, Persephone, in a symbolic act of rape, is tricked into eating pomegranate seeds, associated with sexual awareness, thus giving Pluto a claim over her.

A compromise is reached between Ceres and Pluto whereby Persephone spends part of each year in the underworld with Pluto caring for the souls of the dead, but returns each spring to her mother in the upper world after having initiated the dead into the rites of rebirth. For over 2000 years, this drama was celebrated regularly in ancient Greece as the initiation rites of the Eleusinian Mysteries.

In the human psyche, Ceres represents that aspect of our nature that longs to give birth, nourish, and sustain new life, as well as to nurture and be nurtured by others through the giving and receiving of unconditional love and acceptance. She represents the essential bonding or lack thereof that occurs between mother and child—a bonding centered on the giving of food as the expression of love. In our early experiences as children, this food/love may be freely given. In other instances, however, it is conditionally awarded, withheld as a form of punishment, or denied through neglect, causing the self-love and self-worth normally associated with Ceres to be undermined and undeveloped, and precipitating a host of psychological problems for the child and, later, the adult.