Opinions expressed in response to Maria's question:
Our New Planetary Goddesses! What Signs Should They Rule?

A few readers have emailed in response to my article on potential rulership assignments for Ceres and Eris. The follow two have given me permission to quote. Other opinions have been expressed, but without accompanyng permission. I'd like to hear more opinions on this topic, and would like to post them. If you email your comments, please be sure to tell me if I have permission to quote you.

March 18, 2007

We both totally agree with you on your placement of Virgo with Ceres and Eris with Libra. Both perfect fits. Ceres shows the human caring nature of Virgo and Eris shows the conflict and competition which sometimes is necessary to achieve balance and harmony.

Now each sign has its own planet. We welcome Ceres and Eris into our charts and our lives, also as rulers of the sixth and seventh houses.

—Marty and Diane Kline

November 15, 2006

I am not an astrologer, but I really enjoyed your ivew on this topic. I long to see Mercury off his rulership of Virgo, and so far agree with Ceres replacing him. As for Eris, I still have doubts, as she seems to fit better as a female ruler of Aries.

I'm a (female) Aries myself, with Libra rising, striving to accept and embrace the Aries in me (sun, venus, ceres, eris—all in the 7th house). One thing can I say about Libra rising, maybe an unknown (?) fact: many of us strive to be in control of our lives, which is difficult to manage, as if we are prone to chaos...and this is maybe one vote for the Eris rulership.

I would be happy to hear your opinion here.

—An

November 30, 2006
As a classicist, the demotion of Pluto had no effect on my use of rulerships, because I don't use the so-called modern rulers anyway. The ancient system of rulerships was based on strength, not analogy, so most of the 20th century arguments about rulerships don't apply in this pond anyway. There's also one further idea to ponder. According to the Medieval astrologer Guido Bonatti, a malefic planet in rulership acts less malefically. Thus, Saturn in Capricorn, Aquarius or Libra almost doesn't act like a malefic. This raises a couple of challenges. Firstly, it underscores the need to be honest about the term malefic. Is Eris malefic? We don't know yet: but Pluto certainly is, if we accept the mythogical Pluto, as then the core definition includes rape. The second point is whether we can discern malefic behavior. That may be a harder call.

Email Maria with your opinion and vote!

See more on Ceres and Eris, with cartoons of each in
Magical Moon: Cycle of New Moon in Virgo, September 2006