Some Thoughts on the Meaning of Ceres

Ceres is one of the MANY mythological women somehow associated with harvest and grain. Sometimes--actually often--I want to yawn at all the nearly identical female figures in mythology. Women are--according to the storybooks--symbolic of (1) wheat fields/harvest/hearth, (2) the green-eyed monster a.k.a. Medusa or Lilith or (3) the hopeless victim or nearly every kind of calamity.

If I am ever a mythological character, I am staying far away from wheat fields, snakes and beautiful swans. I'd rather be like Venus, personally.

Venus is the one real exception.
Venus, as a representation of all women, gets to have fun for a change (representing, in part, romance, chocolate, shopping and glamour). She gets to be in charge and gets to play a part in government and the laws of society. She is more of an equal within the Pantheon. Her power is relatively respected.

Ceres, on the other hand, is thought to be yet another milk-toast, harvest goddess who happens to have a lost child. But my thinking is: Ceres is not really another milk-toast figure.

My thinking is that Ceres represents the following:

1. A reminder about what we ingest (what exactly are we eating? what are the consequences of what we eat? can we heal ourselves by changing what we ingest?) Are our food industry practices wise, out of date or plain stupid? What are we serving children in the schools? Within institutions, how do we approach food as it is distributed to children? What are our food practices doing to our children?
2. Working single mothers, balancing work with child-rearing, the need for balance and equal participation from society, government, the courts and fathers. Latch-key kids. Custody battles. Child support. Divorce court. Child-brides.
3. Where should the mother and children live? Where should the children live? Should they go to boarding school? Should they live half the year with one parent and then half the year with the other? Issues of dormitory living with a child. 
4. Orphanages. Foster care. Baby-sitters. Nannies. Juvenile court. 
5. Female success and wisdom in negotiating on behalf of a child (the King Solomon story, but with a woman in charge). Tactical negotiation within the family. 
6. Tactical negotiation about food supplies or food issues. 
7. Feminine (or more Yin) strategy that saves the day (literally, in relation to "bringing light")
8. Feminine (or more Yin) strategy that ensures the best possible outcome given confines of a situation. 

So look to the house where Ceres sits in your chart to see how these themes apply in that arena.

1st house: You, yourself, have a Yin quality that allows you to negotiate well. You would make a good gastroenterologist or nutritionist (or speaker about diet and nutrition). You might serve as a foster parent or adopt children. You may have been a child of divorce or one who went to boarding school or "away." You might be a single parent or need to negotiate something significant for your own children. Mostly, your ability to negotiate on your own behalf is highlighted.

2nd house: Your career might have something to do with food supply, public health or nutrition. You might negotiate on behalf of children or mothers in some way. You might work in public policy. You might donate significant sums of money over your lifetime to causes that echo these themes.

3rd house: You might write about the plight of women and children and themes of nutrition or divorce court. Themes of the working, single mother. The latch-key kid. Legal issues around children. Your kids might travel between two homes or two schools (Don't freak out! You might have a vacation home or a lifestyle that requires this). Your siblings might have issues around their children's nutrition and also issues around where their children live. There may be something unusual about where they live and how your sibling's family divides itself (at some point in the kids' growing up). You are able to negotiate on behalf of local children or local food sources.

4th house:  You might live part of the year one place and part of the year another place at some point in your lifetime. Your parents (or one of them) might do this, too. There is something unusual about your home or home life. Maybe you were in foster care at some point. Your mother was a working mom or single. Part of your childhood was in an orphanage. Or one of your parents has this story from their own childhood. You are able to negotiate on behalf of your parents (particularly your mother) and in land and real estate matters.

5th house: Your children might go to boarding school or be absent from home at some point in their growing up. You might do something unusual in how they divide their year. Something about where they live. As for you, you might explore these themes of children and nutrition (food supply) in your art or hobbies. One of your hobbies might have to do with food (gardening comes to mind...). You are able to negotiate on behalf of your own children particularly well. Or on behalf of food concerns that link to a hobby or love of yours.

6th house: Due to your health or your children's health, you might do something experimental with living situations or switching climates. You will be very conscious about what goes into your body or the bodies of children (if not now, then at some point). What you eat is quite significant and there is a life-changing moment around the theme of what you ingest (this is not as simple as one day you decide to go on a diet..that is too mundane--unless of course you have always, since birth been somewhat overweight and then one day you do something dramatic and forever more you are thin). People with gastric by-pass surgery might have Ceres here. You are a good patient advocate. You are able to negotiate well on the schedules of children and the health routines of children (or single working mothers). You are able to negotiate with regard to health and food matters.

7th house: You might date or marry someone who had an unusual childhood living situation. You might marry a farmer or someone who work with food or public policy around food. You might marry someone who negotiates on behalf of women and children (a social worker or family law attorney). You are able to negotiate on behalf of your spouse.

8th house: Themes around the plight of latch-key children, single mothers, adoption, homelessness, complicated real estate issues, complicated mental health issues of children/parents, legal issues around divorce or family permeate your world of money. There are darker/secretive versions of these themes in this house. You might be an investigative reporter or do some kind of undercover work or research on these issues. Going undercover to a factory farm, perhaps, or into the world of foster care to unearth destructive practices or illegal practices. You are able to negotiate well with regard to money.

9th house: The legal house. Again, you may be--in your profession or in something you study--involved with the courts around food or children (and where they live). If you marry a 2nd time, then your blended family contains themes around unusual food consumption issues or living issues. Your mother-in-law or father-in-law could have been an orphan or had an unusual childhood with regard to living arrangement and custody. Your in-laws may have unusual or foreign food practices or unusual ideas about how and where children should live. You are able to negotiate well with foreigners and about travel matters. You are able to negotiate with universities and attorneys/judges.

10th house: Your career might have something to do with food supply, public health or nutrition. You might make a good gastroenterologist. You might negotiate on behalf of children or mothers in some way. You might work in public policy. Your parents (or one of them) might have had an unusual living situation when younger. Maybe your father was in foster care at some point. Or an orphanage. Your father might have worked in the food industry or in farming. Your career might contain a significant role of negotiation. You would make a good mediator or work well in arbitration.

11th house: You might get involved in philanthropic concerns to do with nutrition of children or the care and housing of children. Your friends might tend to be active in these areas, as well--but obviously so. You can negotiate well with regard to online concerns or large groups of people.

12th house:  You may have had to go away as a child to live somewhere else. It might have been temporary. As a child, you may have been confined in a hospital setting at some point. This will have made a lasting impression on you (good, bad or neutral). As a child, you may have had many food allergies. You can negotiate well with yourself and God. You can negotiate well with hospitals or larger institutions.