ERIS: PATRON SAINT OF TERRORISTS AND ASSASSINS

In her blog of 1st Oct (see Astrodynamics Link), Lynn Hayes says "I believe that we will come to discover that Eris rules the small events that change the course of history." This was by way of the story of the goddess Eris throwing the golden apple into the wedding feast that eventually led to the Trojan War. I sort of banged my head at this one, because in a way it's so obvious, but I hadn't thought of it!

Eris, incidentally, is one of the 3 newly classified 'dwarf planets', along with Pluto and Ceres. She was discovered in 2003, and is bigger and further out than Pluto. Eris is the Goddess of Strife. In my blog of 22 Sept, "The Bloodlust of Eris", I listed a whole series of persons and events associated with carnage, where there was also a prominent Eris in the relevant chart. Carnage because Eris isn't just about Strife, she also glories in slaughter on the battlefield.

Anyway, back to Lynn's idea. I looked up the assassination of the Archduke Ferdinand of Austria in 1914, which triggered WWI. It was on 28 June 1914, and the time was around 11am (according to the author Colin Wilson at Bemyastrologer.com) Eris was then at 28 Pisces, and the ASC for this chart is at 25 Virgo, and the MC 24 Gemini. So Eris was opposite the ASC and square the MC.

Then I looked up 9/11 (see my blog of 22 Sept). Eris was at 20 Aries, opposite the ASC (at 14 Libra) and square the MC (at 16 Cancer). Exactly the same result! And of course 9/11 triggered off the whole War on Terror and the invasions of Afghanistan and then Iraq. It's perhaps this square to the MC ('The World') that is the more significant aspect.

So it seems to work. The 9/11 chart is also a chart for the current War on Terror (see my posting of 23 Aug 'The War on Terror's New Moon'), suggesting a link between Eris and what we have come to call 'terror'. And this makes sense inasmuch as the aim of the 'terrorist', who is generally at a big disadvantage in terms of straightforward military strength, is to cause maximum impact, often of a psychological nature, through a single event. Eris and her apple. And the assassination of the Archduke Ferdinand, in which Eris was implicated, was also what we would now call an act of 'terrorism'. So Eris as the patron saint of terrorists!

Incidentally, 9/11 was in fact a small event in the larger scheme of things. It seemed big because it was America that was hurting, and Americans are not used to this. But compared to what happens in many other countries, it wasn't that big a deal. We can, in other words, see 9/11 as the work of Eris.

ERIS AND PLUTO
Eris and Pluto share the characteristic of something tiny leading to something huge. Nuclear energy is a part of Pluto's domain, and it involves the energy contained in the nucleus of the atom, which is absolutely tiny compared to the whole atom, yet contains vastly more energy. In the same way, a nuclear bomb like Hiroshima was caused by the fission of just a few grammes of Uranium.

And Pluto transits can have this characteristic. Though the clearing away and letting go often happen on a big scale, it is so that a seed of something new can be planted. And this 'something new' has often always been there, but we haven't had the confidence or whatever to take it seriously. And though it seems small, it is real, and therefore contains a power that our previous, less authentic self could never have had. But it can take time to see this.

ERIS ON A PERSONAL LEVEL
In my blog of 22 Sept, I talked about someone I know with Sun conjunct Eris in Aries who is not a violent person, but who believes in assassination, and could conceive of being an assassin herself. She has always been aware of the potential for violence in people. I talked to another person with Sun conjunct Eris in Aries the other night, and they were going yes, yes, yes, I'm like that as well! (The point of assassination is to have a big effect by taking out just one person - i.e. Eris) Another person who has Eris conjunct an Aries-Libra Nodal axis has found themselves encountering terrorists at various times, and has had intimations of past-life involvement in this area. And another person with a 12th House Sun sextile to Eris has often found themselves throwing in the golden apple in a positive way, spontaneously coming out with things that are a bit repressed or taboo within group situations, causing a bit of trouble, but ultimately having a beneficial result.

Eris Astrology