This Year’s Ceres Retrograde

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

Most Recent Ceres Retrograde:
Ceres Retrograde in Libra and Virgo
February 3, 2023 to May 6, 2023
From 6° Libra to 23° Virgo.

Ceres, goddess of the harvest and the physical world, goes retrograde in our skies about every year and a half. During Ceres Retrograde 2023, 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?” 

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?

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). 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. 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 the workings of your physical body,
ways to eat right, and how to manifest financial prosperity.

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.

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 Cycle 2023: Ceres Retrograde in Libra and Virgo

In 2023, Ceres went retrograde at 6º of Libra on February 3, 2023 and traveled backwards to 23º Virgo, stationing direct on May 6, 2023. Her retrograde brought up issues of physical health, nutrition, financial abundance and material assets. However, these issues did not fully resolve until she passed the degree of Libra where she went retrograde, on July 15, 2023. Since this day, she has finished retracing old ground and her mission to teach us about our physical stewardship of our lives is over for the year.

Ceres in Libra and Virgo: Balancing Diets and Budgets

Ceres Retrograde amplifies themes of abundance, security and survival at the physical level. As she began her backwards journey in the Cardinal Air sign of Libra (a cerebral, social and balancing sign), we were initially preoccupied with noticing where we were feeling unbalanced. For example, perhaps our lives were too sedentary. Alternatively, maybe our approach to our finances and spending needed balancing. Likely, we were driven by what others thought of us in our quest to become more healthy. Similarly, we may have used Libra’s vanity as a powerful motivation at this time to improve our lifestyles.

However, once Ceres finally retrograded into Virgo (Mutable Earth), she released us from the uncomfortable grip of insecurity into a more grounded, practical, and holistically healthy mindset. Once in Virgo, through sacred routines and sensitive physical presence, Ceres helped us to access the abundant wisdom of our physical bodies.

Ceres’ retrograde process is challenging to the overly superficial and other-focused way we have come to manage our finances, our diets, and our bodies. Likewise, her retrograde upends the information overload we may be receiving from various sources in this area. Ceres is comfortable in Earth, where she utilizes a felt-sense and embodied understanding to engage with the physical world. Therefore, if you were wise, you used this time and your innate tools of sensual intelligence and direct experience to strengthen your own relationship to your physical self.

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 July 21, 2022 at 29º Cancer and finishes with one on November 20, 2023 at 28º Scorpio.

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 February 3, 2023.

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, leading to a deeper understanding 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 March 21, 2023, at 0º Aries.

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 May 6, 2023.

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 (6º Libra), this time to pass through and onward. I call this Financial Resolution Day and it happened on July 15, 2023. On this day, Ceres’ 2023 cycle themes resolved and completed.

Does 2023’s Ceres Retrograde Affect You?

In 2023, Ceres traveled retrograde from 6º Libra to 23º Virgo. Therefore, if you have anything at all in your chart in this degree span, you likely felt this transit strongly. This covers both  23º to 29º of Virgo and also 0º to 6º Libra. Likewise, if you have anything in your chart in 23º to 29º of the other Mutable signs (Gemini, Sagittarius, Pisces), or 0º to 6º of the other Cardinal signs (Aries, Cancer, Capricorn), you also felt this.

Additionally, if your Sun is in a degree along Ceres’ retrograde path, you felt the transit very personally. Thus, if you were born on the following birthdates (in any year at all), you were very personally affected by 2023’s Ceres retrograde:

March 13 to March 26
June 13 to June 27
September 15 to September 29
December 14 to December 28

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:

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