The Astrological Mother
Yesterday was Mother’s Day, the day where much of the world celebrates mothers. In astrology, it is often thought to look at the moon as the depiction of our mother in our birth charts, but like anything else, it is far more complicated than that. In my experience as an astrologer, I’ve come to find that it is a combination of the moon and Ceres, the dwarf planet, that represents our feelings and experience of our mother in our charts, how we mother ourselves and how we mother others.
Astrology is as much an archetypal art and science as it is anything else. The discussion of Mother in the birth chart is no different, as we start with an archetypal understanding of how these two planets function in someone’s chart and then apply it in real world practice, knowing that archetypes have as much depth as real people do.
In the birth chart, the moon represents the Mother from an emotional standpoint, which is why beginners often equate the moon to be the embodiment of the mother. In fact, the moon in our charts is quite emotionally charged for better or for worse, as it is, on a deeper level, indicative of our perception of our mother. The moon in general is a very emotionally charged place for us, as it represents ties to recent karmic past, our immediate family history, roots, and ancestry but also lays the groundwork for what becomes our instinctive emotional framework from which many of our instantaneous, unconscious reactions stem from. Our lunar nature is the first to develop. From the time we’re born to about the age of seven when we begin to develop a sense of self (our sun), our lunar reactions and interactions are forming. But they never really leave us, just as the emotional perceptions of the Mother also never really leave us.
In the meantime, Ceres represents the Mother from the tactile nurturing aspect. It is with Ceres that we ask ‘Did I feel nurtured when I was growing up?’ ‘What kind of nurturing is important to me?’ ‘How do I nurture myself and others?’ Ceres is less emotionally based than the moon, but no less critical in looking at how the mother was perceived and experienced in the chart. In Roman mythology, Ceres is the Prosperina’s mother, goddess of the harvest. When Prosperina is kidnapped by Pluto, the god of the Underworld, Ceres falls into a deep depression, which brings about a halt in the crop harvesting. Part of this story represents the arrival of fall and winter, as Ceres has to adjust to the fact that her daughter is gone from her for 6 months of the year. Spring and summer, when the world is in full bloom, is when Proserpina returns to her mother. The earth is again nourished by the return of child to Mother.
Both the moon and Ceres, like all archetypes, have dark sides. The moon on a darker emotional level can feel suffocating, emotionally enmeshed, and unable to have boundaries or individuality. It can also manifest as a feeling of estrangement, distance, loss, depressive or so changeable that there seems to be no ground to stand on. Ceres, in her darker aspects, is overbearing and controlling, unable to provide the nurturing the child needs because she is so bereft of her own nurturing. Indeed, the archetypes go hand in hand. There is no denying that the relationship with the mother will have some kind of emotional component, but in the same hand, the physical act of nurturing must also be present (or not) and will be felt on an emotional level.
The manifestation of this in the birth chart is going to be dependent on a few things. The first being the signs that the moon and Ceres are in, since the signs are the way energy is acted out. Certain signs, because of the type of energy they emit, are naturally going to be ‘easier’ to deal with than others. For example, the moon is ruled by the sign/constellation of Cancer, which is apt as Cancer is characterized by an ebb and flow of emotional currents. This doesn’t mean that Cancer is always emotional, contrary to popular belief, but they are always aware of the ebb and flow of the feeling nature around them. Cancer is also an archetype that is very caring. They deeply value things like home, family, and security, which are all things highly valued by the moon. The moon also really enjoys being in the sign of Taurus, as Taurus, while less ‘feelings oriented’ than Cancer, is earthy, grounded and also highly values security, home, and creature comforts. Traditionally, the moon does not like being in the signs of Scorpio or Capricorn because in Scorpio, the feelings nature can feel rather overwhelming, overpowering and threatening and in Capricorn it can feel non-existent, like you have to rely on yourself and that you can’t ask for help.
Ceres doesn’t currently have designated signs yet that it rules or doesn’t do as well in, though I doubt we’re far off. I would like to propose Ceres as a potential ruler of Virgo, as Virgo is the sign that marks the time of the year when we begin to harvest. Virgo is deeply caring and dedicated to their loved ones, always working hard to provide for their families, which is an apt expression of Ceres’ nurturing nature. Likewise, I would propose an exaltation of Ceres in Cancer, as at its best, Cancer can provide the caring, emotional nurturing that people need, as well as the physical nurturing, ultimately morphing these two facets of the mother together. That would mean that Ceres doesn’t do as well in Pisces, a sign that is more concerned with dreams, fantasy, and the esoteric. People with Ceres in Pisces might have felt like they had no boundaries from their caretaker or that they had to take on the emotions of their mother in order to receive nurturing. Likewise, Ceres in Capricorn might have felt like there was no nurturing, since Capricorn can manifest as cold, stingy and have an every-man-for-themselves feeling. For Capricorn, there isn’t time to nurture. Life is too hard. This can be hard for a Ceres in Capricorn child.
Of course, it’s more complex than that. I would suggest looking at the aspects that these two planets make in the birth chart, as well. A Cancer moon isn’t automatically easy if it makes a hard aspect (aspects of tension- squares, oppositions, conjunctions) to another planet. A Scorpio moon that makes soft (aspects of ease- trines, sextiles and quintiles) aspects throughout the chart may indicate a more positive emotional perception of the mother than the Cancer moon that has a bunch of hard aspects. Likewise, Ceres in Pisces positively aspected might manifest as feeling very nurtured through Piscean ways (frequent trips to the beach, a household full of music or spirituality, etc) whereas a Ceres in Virgo that makes a lot of hard aspects might have felt like ‘what nurturing?’
While it is next to impossible to figure out what your real emotional and nurturing needs are when you’re a child, it is possible when you grow up to use astrology and other forms of self care, like therapy, to figure out where these areas relating to your mother are still affecting you for better or for worse. You can use astrology to learn about your lunar nature and the aspects your moon makes to ask and answer the question: ‘What do I need emotionally in a relationship with other people in order to feel emotionally safe and seen?’ You can likewise look up your Ceres sign in your chart (it is asteroid #1 if you enter it into www.astro.com) to figure out what you need and how you can nurture yourself. We’re all about self care these days and your Ceres placement can indicate what kind of self care is most fulfilling for you.
But it doesn’t stop there. Your moon + Ceres combo can also indicate how you take care of and nurture others, both tangibly (Ceres) and emotionally (moon). This can be useful for parents in understanding how to make the connection between their style of nurturing (moon + Ceres) and their child’s. A middle ground can always be found. For example, if your moon is in Gemini and your Ceres is in Sagittarius, you’re probably one of those people who is capable of making people feel at ease through communication. People find it easy to talk to you. You can lighten up the mood when things get too heavy (Gemini moon). With your Ceres in Sagittarius, you likely feel nurtured when you’re learning about new things. Different cultures, foods, languages and travel are big points of nurturing for you. You want your loved ones to always feel like they are on the cusp of an adventure with you. If you have a child who’s moon is in Pisces and Ceres is in Taurus, their nurturing needs are going to be different from yours, so it could be useful to you to look into what this combination might need.
In astrology as in with life, nothing is black and white. When we take a topic like our relationship with our mothers, it’s important to remember that none of this is supposed to be fatalistic. It’s merely a tool to start exploring pieces of that relationship in order to have a greater understanding of ourselves- both where we came from and where we’re heading.
