Ceres Retrograde 2023: Balancing Our Physical World
Ceres Retrograde in Libra and Virgo
February 3, 2023 to May 6, 2023
from 6º Libra to 23º Virgo
What does Ceres Retrograde mean?
Ceres goes Retrograde in Libra and Virgo from February 6 to May 6, 2023. Ceres goes retrograde once a year for about 3 months. When Ceres goes retrograde, she calls into question our habitual ways of connecting to the physical domain of our lives. This forces us to look at the ways we maintain our physical bodies, our food and eating, safety and stability, and our money.
With Ceres’ help, we examine the physical state of our bodies as well as our relationship to our bodies. Additionally, we look into our nutrition, our lifestyle and physical fitness, and our body image. Also, we review how we manage of finances and our relationship to nature and the natural. During Ceres Retrograde, the importance of our physical stewardship to our overall stability, happiness and connection to ourselves and life on earth, become apparent and demand reevaluation.
Ceres Retrograde in Libra: A Need for Balance
Ceres Retrograde amplifies themes of abundance, security and survival at the physical level. Because she began her backwards journey in the Cardinal Air sign of Libra (balancing, socially concerned energy), we are initially preoccupied with noticing where we are feeling unbalanced. For example, perhaps the balance of time we spend at a sedentary desk job versus physical activity is off. Alternatively, maybe our approach to our earning and spending needs balancing.
Because Libra is such an other-oriented sign, it is likely that we have gotten off balance while being pulled to center in another person instead of in ourselves. Perhaps we have altered our diet to be more similar to a partner, and have gotten off track that way. Also, it is possible that we are driven by what others think of us in our quest to become more healthy or we may be trying to hew to some external (perhaps unattainable) standard of beauty. This is not a problem in and of itself: We can use Libra’s vanity as a powerful motivation at this time to improve our lifestyles. However, Ceres Retrograde in Libra might spark some body image issues.
Ceres Retrograde in Virgo: Sacred Routines
Once Ceres finally retrogrades into Virgo (Mutable Earth), she will release us from the uncomfortable grip of insecurity into a more grounded and holistically healthy mindset. In Virgo, through sacred routines and sensitive physical presence, we can access the abundant wisdom of our physical self.
Virgo’s humble, practical approach to personal health and finances will help us to unify mind and body. We will be more focused on how we feel than on how we look. Virgo’s scientific analysis of empirical evidence will help us to pinpoint changes that need to be made. Once we identify problem areas, we can integrate our new habits into well-oiled Virgoan routines.
Ceres’s retrograde period is challenging to the overly superficial and other-focused way we have come to manage our finances, our diets, and our bodies, as well as to the information overload we may be receiving from various sources in this area. Ceres is comfortable in Earth, where she utilizes a felt-sense, an embodied understanding, to engage with the physical world. A best approach is to use our innate tools of sensual intelligence and direct experience to strengthen our own relationship to our physical self.
To learn how Ceres functions in your chart
and how to use the retrograde cycle to your advantage,
Contact Pandora Astrology for a Natal and Transits Reading.
If you prefer to learn independently
about Ceres’ placement in your chart,
draw up your natal chart here.
Ceres and Value Systems
Ceres’ natural ruler is Taurus. On a basic level, Taurus wants to feel good in its own skin. On a deeper level, Taurus rules our self-esteem, our self-sufficiency and our value systems. That’s because self-esteem is derived from feeling like we can take care of ourselves and knowing what is important to us. Values may be theoretical (Air), but they have a very real impact on your material choices (Earth). In fact, values are the leading edge of what we materialize and what we give energy to.
Our sense of what is important may be in flux at this time. It can be difficult to know what to put our energy into, what to invest in, and what to allow into our world. We may feel vaguely insecure in the very essence of who we are. As long as Ceres is retrograde, we are plunged into an introspective period with regards to our values. So, we may need to wait until Ceres is direct again for any uncertainty to come clear. At that point, confidence in our values can be reestablished.
