Something I read recently, on the subject of feudalism, set my mind, surprisingly, on a track marked "Eris", a track it hadn't followed before. Various astrologers "embraced" Eris (first known as UB313, then Xena) almost as soon as it was discovered in 2005. Even now, wandering warily down the Eris track to see what I can find, I remain doubtful about astrological interpretations so far put forward, based on the symbolism of the name Eris, given to this body by some committee or other. What follows, product of my own grey matter, could be equally questionable, of course - or more so! Still, I'll try it for size.
Cycles.
Whatever else we might consider astrology is all about, cycles are what
drive the true astrology. Eris' cycles deserve a thought or two.
Here is what set me wondering about a planet whose orbit of the Sun takes around 560 years to complete - twice as long as that of Pluto. The pattern, or social construct of life on Earth, for those of us who live in what we laughingly call the civilised world - the most developed areas anyway, seems to me to be following a very wide cycle, one much wider than Pluto's orbit encompasses.
Next stop Eris!
Any cycle with a span as wide as 560 years (7 longish lifetimes) is going to have to somehow relate to vastly different factors and features each time it reaches a particular point in relation to planet Earth. I'm not going to suggest that when Earthlings reach a point on the Eris merry-go-round after one cycle is complete, the surroundings will seem much the same as it did for Earthlings when the cycle last hit that same point. But allowing for developments of various kinds, the general pattern, at the same point in the previous cycle, ought to be recognisable, under a new outer layer.
One big change, as Eris returns to a pre-designated point in its orbit, will be the positions of the other outer planets. These will be very different from the way they were configured last time around. For simplicity I'm going to put that issue to one side and concentrate only on Eris and the 560 years from point to point, and see where that goes.
In 2010 Eris sat at around 21 degrees of Aries, we must go back 560 years, to find it at a similar point in its orbit: 1450 AD. I'm going to ignore interpretation of the zodiac sign itself, and of Eris, andsimply look for patterns in a cycle.
A few stand-out events from around the period when Eris was in roughly the same position in its orbit as it was in 2010 are noted below. An idea of the "flavour" of the times ought to be discernible from these.
1450: Here began what we now call
The Age of Discovery. That's one clear factor to note. We'll certainly be seeing a new set of previously unsought and undreamed-of discoveries begin to show up any time now, and continue to do so.
1455-1485
The Wars of the Roses in England - when civil wars for the throne of England took place, fought between supporters of two rival branches of the Royal House of Plantagenet: the houses of Lancaster and York (the "red" and the "white" rose, respectively).
With their heavy casualties among the nobility, the wars are thought to have continued the changes in feudal English society caused by the effects of the Black Death, including a weakening of the feudal power of the nobles (see plan below) and a corresponding strengthening of the merchant classes, and the growth of a strong, centralized monarchy under the Tudors. It heralded the end of the medieval period in England and the movement towards the Renaissance.
On the other hand, it has also been suggested that the traumatic impact of the wars was exaggerated by Henry VII to magnify his achievement in quelling them and bringing peace. Certainly, the effect of the wars on the merchant and labouring classes was far less than in the long drawn-out wars of siege and pillage in France and elsewhere in Europe, which were carried out by mercenaries who profited from the prolonging of the war.
The Spanish Inquisition began in 1481 (and as now we all know "nobody expects the.....")
Feudal society and
manorialism in England and Europe had started a very slow decline.
A money economy had developed - land was no longer the only measure of wealth and political power. Towns had grown and a "middle-class" emerged, different from the serfs of previous centuries, though serfdom remained in rural areas for longer. Peasants began to "find their feet" and demand better conditions, legal structures were developed and tenancy agreements could be maintained without the landowners insistence on the servility of tenants.
There were peasant revolts, participants seeking better terms of tenure. Peasants were now free to leave the agricultural manor on which they were born, and they had the opportunity to rent, buy/sell land themselves....though not many had the necessary money. Many borrowed money, fell into debt and lost their land to money-lenders. Feudal taxes replaced by sometimes greater state taxes. (
See here)
Recognise any loose, very slow-moving pattern of our recent past, present and, perhaps, immediate future?
These scenes are from England and Western Europe. The USA had its slightly different cycle starting around 1492, part of the Age of Discovery. Previous scenarios in the US cannot be likened easily to anything happening in Europe, other than in the common fact that strong winds of change were about to blow through the land.
What came next, as Eris moved painfully slowly around its cycle on from 21 Aries last time around?
The 16th, 17th and 18th centuries (using a very big picture format) saw increasing power from religious bodies, a renaissance in the arts, culture and philosophy. There came, still, no relief for the rural peasantry, but they continued to rebel at times. Their equivalent social class in urban areas became more and more slave-like as industrialisation took over in the 18th century. Conditions for ordinary working people became intolerable, especially in cities. Things reached boiling point: almost every country in Europe saw some level of revolution, The French Revolution most notorious of all. England avoided revolution by introducing some reforms, reflecting lessons learned from the French, even so they came near to disaster at times. (
See here)
So, with revolution or reform in the past, the world entered the 20th century, with some new political and philosophical ideas being thrown around by figures such as Karl Marx. Still though, not much changed for the urban poor and rural underdogs. The class system had remained securely in place through all the trials and tribulations of four centuries. It took 2 World Wars to bring some true radical change.
Europe and Britain saw devastation, followed by re-growth and a new respect for "the man in the street" (though after World War 1 in particular there were not too many of those still alive in England and Europe!)
Then, after 1945, the bubble began to gradually fill again.
We find ourselves at the start of 2011 with Eris at around 21 Aries, where it was, at the point this ramble began: 1450 AD.
Consider the way things unfolded from 1450 forward, dress it up in 21st century clothing and technology - and what have we got? A very slowly-developing pattern of the future?
In a nutshell: new discoveries coming soon, internal war within nations, slight balance adjustments, minor social reforms to be made but things quickly reverting to same ol' same ol' class-ridden society based on wealth, but eventually spilling into all-out revolution and/or significant reform. All this over several hundred years however, according to the last go-around. Add climate change to the mix, new technology and our now devastating weapons of mass destruction and the pattern could take on a rather different shade of intensity, hard to define in detail. I do believe there will be a shadow of that previously laid pattern though, somewhere beneath all that is still to come, if this Eris cycle theory is anywhere near correct.
An ephemeris for the outer planets, including Eris HERE.
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