This Year’s Ceres Retrograde

Is Ceres Retrograde?
Ceres is currently direct (moving forwards)

Current Ceres Retrograde:
Ceres Retrograde in Capricorn
May 14, 2024 to August 26, 2024
From 7° to 21° Capricorn.

Ceres, goddess of the harvest and the physical world, goes retrograde in our skies about every year and a half. During Ceres Retrograde 2024, she takes us into a three-month-long journey into the past to review and reflect on how we can be the best stewards of our physical world.

In other words, a retrograde is a return to the past. For example, it can be a retrieval, a turning inward, perhaps a letting-go. According to Ceres’ domain, when she is retrograde, this turning inward happens in the realm of our physical world.

Who is Ceres and What Principle Does She Represent?

Ceres is a goddess of all things physical and as the Earth Mother, she helps us get into better relationship with our physical world. How? By demanding that we be good stewards of our physical bodies, by teaching us to eat in ways that support our bodies and their health and by helping us build physical and financial security. Above all, Ceres is a goddess of the “healthy, wealthy and wise” and she covers the basics: food, body and money.

What is Ceres Retrograde?

When Ceres goes retrograde, she calls into question our habitual ways of connecting to the physical domain of our lives, and the ways we take care of ourselves in our bodies and our material stability. Thus, during a Ceres Retrograde period we find ourselves asking,

• “How do I maintain my body for health and longevity?” or “Have I lost my good habits?”
• “What is the best way to feed myself?” and “Has my diet gone off the rails?”
• “Am I stable and how do I maintain stability?” and “Am I safe and how do I stay safe?”
• And this biggie: “How do I need to manage my money for consistent wealth-building?” or “Why are my finances a mess and what can I do about it?” 

Throughout, all of these questions bear on something deeper: our value in the world and our worth or deserving. If you don’t feel that you bring value to the world by being in it, how can you ask for a better compensation at work? If you feel worthless, why would you take care of your body and not let your healthy habits fall apart?

Overall, Ceres is an important lifestyle planet, that allows us to build wealth and security on top of a solid foundation of self-worth–or to repair that self-worth if the foundation is not so solid. Therefore, during Ceres retrograde, our physical self-stewardship attains a great importance, and we are shown how to course-correct for the benefit of our overall stability, safety, contentment and connection to ourselves and to all life on earth.

How to get the most out of Ceres Retrograde

Most of us would like to be wealthier and more in control of our physical selves. However, life demands much of us and it’s easy to neglect our bodies and forget what we really value (as well as our own value and worth). That being said, Ceres retrograde can bring these issues to your attention. Although it’s uncomfortable, in the end we can gain tremendous clarity on how to take care of our physical selves. Read on for more about how to go about doing that.

To really get the most out of Ceres’ retrograde cycle, you’ll want to reflect and notice when and where you got off track and forgot to maintain yourself in the right way. Look at Ceres in your natal chart for clues and reminders. Specifically, Ceres’ house position, sign, and aspects will point to your physical tendencies and core values. This will show you the path to greater self-worth, better eating habits and greater prosperity. Overall, Ceres shows you how to be solid and feel more at home in the physical world.

Understanding the Ceres cycle can help you
unlock your physical health, self-care routines
ways to eat right, and help you manifest financial prosperity.

To learn how Ceres functions in your chart
and how to use Ceres Retrograde to your advantage,
Contact Pandora Astrology for a Natal and Transits Reading.

How Often Does Ceres go Retrograde?

Ceres goes retrograde about once per year.

How Long Does Ceres Retrograde Last?

The Ceres retrograde period usually lasts about three months.

Ceres Retrograde 2024: Ceres Retrograde in Capricorn

In 2024, Ceres will begin the year in fiery Sagittarius. Soon after, on February 7, 2024, Ceres will enter serious, responsible Capricorn. On May 14, 2024, Ceres will go retrograde at 21º Capricorn and travel backwards to 7º Capricorn, stationing direct on August 26, 2024. Her retrograde will bring up issues of professionalism, earning power, imposter syndrome, deservingness, self-sufficiency, adulthood, retirement and future security, and financial responsibility. Additionally, she will trigger health issues pertaining to the skeletal system, dental hygiene and care, and aging.

These issues will not fully resolve until Ceres passes the degree of Capricorn where she went retrograde, on November 11, 2024. At that point, she will be finished retracing old ground and her mission to teach us about our physical stewardship of our lives will be over for the year.

Ceres in Capricorn: A Tough Standard

Ceres Retrograde amplifies themes of abundance, security and survival at the physical level. As she begins her backwards journey in the Cardinal Earth sign of Capricorn (a self-denying, ambitious, hardworking sign), you may be initially preoccupied with noticing all the ways you are lacking in professionalism and mastery. For example, perhaps you are having trouble getting a raise and you attribute it to your lack of skill, and therefore, your lack of deservingness. Alternatively, maybe you have worked hard to achieve something and you see others getting rewarded who don’t deserve it as much. Likely, you will come face to face with some of the unhealthier tendencies of Capricorn, especially as it relates to self-denial and driving yourself too hard. 

You may also discover the worry about your future security that drives your unhealthy relationship to work. Perhaps you haven’t saved as much as you’d have liked to. If so, this retrograde will plunge you into a confrontation with that fact, and ask you to figure out how to attain a greater level of security.

Ceres’ retrograde process is challenging to the overly results-oriented way we have handles our finances, our diets, and our bodies. Likewise, her retrograde may reveal health problems that have resulted from this lack of self-care and sensitivity to process. Ceres is comfortable in Earth, where she utilizes a felt-sense and embodied understanding to engage with the physical world, but Capricorn is not comfortable with nurturing. Therefore, if you were wise, you will use this time to strengthen your self-nurturing and learn to listen to your body.

The Ceres Cycle and its Milestones

Financial Epiphany Day

First, the grand cycle of Ceres begins and ends with a day of “Ah-ha!” or epiphany. This happens when Ceres conjuncts the Sun while moving forward swiftly, bringing an “Ah-ha!” in our relationships to our bodies and material wealth. Thus, this day helps us progress at speed in learning how to better nurture ourselves. Two Financial Epiphany Days act like bookends, forming the beginning and ending of a Ceres cycle. As you can see on the diagram above, the present cycle began with a Financial Epiphany Day on November 20, 2023 at 28º Scorpio and finishes with one on February 14, 2025 at 26º Aquarius.

Ceres Retrograde Day

Second, the day when Ceres goes retrograde is a crucial milestone in this cycle. This day usually brings a signal that we can no longer go on the same old way. We find our financial systems are untenable, or our health habits are falling apart, or our physical self-care is no longer working. Something may very well happen to turn us inward or make us look backward to understand what’s wrong. The current cycle’s Retrograde-turning day is on May 14, 2024.

Financial Crisis Day

There is another kind of epiphany during the Ceres cycle—it occurs while Ceres is retrograde, on the day she opposes the Sun.  I call this “Financial Crisis Day,” because if Ceres’ reexamination period has been challenging for you, clarity is likely to come on this day. This then leads to a deeper understanding of and greater connection to your self-nurturing going forward. Alternatively, it can also bring the clarity that leads to a wake-up call about something that isn’t working in these areas, or a need for a serious restructuring—with the possibility of real resolution in the future. The current cycle’s Financial Crisis Day is on July 5, 2024, at 14º Cancer.

Ceres Direct Day

Fourth, the day when Ceres turns direct can feel like a natural end to a period of retrospection or introspection. Ceres Retrograde ends on this day and we feel that closure is on the way. The current cycle’s Direct-turning day is on August 26, 2024.

Financial Resolution Day

And there is a fifth, very important point in this cycle and that’s the day when Ceres once again returns to the place where it first went retrograde (7º Capricorn), this time to pass through and onward. I call this Financial Resolution Day and it happens on November 11, 2024. On this day, Ceres’ 2024 cycle themes resolve and complete.

Does 2024’s Ceres Retrograde Affect You?

In 2024, Ceres will travel retrograde from 7º to 21º Capricorn. Therefore, if you have anything at all in your chart in this degree span, you likely felt this transit strongly. Likewise, if you have anything in your chart in 7º to 21º of the other Cardinal signs (Aries, Cancer, Libra), you will also feel this transit keenly.

And of course, if your Sun is in a degree along Ceres’ retrograde path, you will feel this transit very personally. Therefore, if you were born on the following birthdates (in any year at all), you will be very personally affected by Ceres Retrograde 2024:

March 27 to April 10
June 28 to July 13
September 29 to October 14
December 28 to January 12

Go Deeper

There’s no doubt you felt a Ceres transit in the area of life corresponding with the house Ceres was retrograding through in your chart.

In fact, that’s something you can find out about in an in-depth reading. Or, try casting your chart and looking into it yourself.

If you want to understand Ceres in your own natal chart, get your Ceres sign recording here.

Previous Ceres Cycles We Covered:

February 3, 2023 to May 6, 2023: Ceres Retrograde in Libra and Virgo
Ceres Retrograde: Balancing Our Physical World

October 8, 2021 to January 14, 2022: Ceres Retrograde in Gemini and Taurus
Ceres Retrograde: Get Your Finances Back To Fundamentals

July 7 2020 to October 18 2020: Ceres Retrograde in Pisces and Aquarius
Ceres Retrograde and Your Health