By Madame Dana Zia
The Moon conjoined with Pluto September 17th, opening the window to the Autumnal Equinox. The Sun is in the last decent of Virgo and the harvest season is quickly coming to a close. Chiron, the planet of the wounded healer/teacher, is lining up to directly oppose the equinoxal Sun which will be conjoined with Mercury, bringing a somber ending to an interesting summer!
This whole alignment ripples with the myth of Persephone. As many of you know, the myth of Persephone is woven with the changing of the seasons, particularly Fall and Spring. Persephone was a maiden of incredible beauty that was the daughter of Zeus and Demeter. Demeter was the Goddess of the harvest and fertility and she was one formidable helicopter momma that had refused the hand of many a suiter for her daughter including Hades/Pluto, the lord of the underworld.
Pluto/Hades decided that he needed to take things into his own hands and went up with his flaming chariot and stole the beautiful Persephone as she was giggling and picking flowers with friends. Demeter didn’t see this happen and wandered distraught and heartbroken around the earth looking for her lovely daughter till she figured out where she went. As you can imagine, she.was.pissed! She decided to get even and took a long and indefinite leave from her duties of fertility and the harvest, with devastating consequences. The Earth dried up, plants died, animals were starving to death, and famine and thirst spread across the Earth.
Zeus finally got involved and decided to have a meeting with Pluto, Demeter and Persephone to see how to sort this out. It was decided that Persephone would lie half the year in the underworld and half the year with her mother on Earth. So the seasons were born. Spring equinox marks the arrival of Persephone brought by Mercury to her mother’s home and the Earth is fertile and alive. Autumnal equinox is when Persephone is escorted by Mercury back down to be the queen of the underworld and the Earth goes dormant and quiet.
Demeter never forgave Pluto for this betrayal even though Persephone came to love her dark husband and her role as the queen. With Pluto and the Moon conjoining right before Autumnal equinox, I can almost hear the cries of Demeter when she finds that her daughter was kidnapped by Pluto. The loss of the fruitful season is upon us.
During this transit, one might feel loss and sadness at the end of the summer and the lost promises of what it could have been. Now we prepare for the dark season where we cannot hide from our wounds and what needs to be attended to that was so easy to ignore while we were busy chasing the Sun. What must be remembered is that the dark season is just as fruitful as the light season, but the fruits are rest, quiet and introspection. Prepare for the change thoughtfully and with care so that your dark season will be just as bountiful as your summer. The dark is not to be feared, it is rich and voluptuous.