Ceres is the goddess of agriculture in Roman mythology. The origin of the word “cereal, Ceres is often depicted with a shaft of wheat and a sickle.

The myth involves the kidnapping of Ceres’ daughter Proserpina by Pluto, who selfishly steals her away to the Underworld. Ceres is bereft. Proserpina (known in Greek mythology as “Persephone”) is not only tortured by Pluto but her absence from earth harshly affects agriculture.

Ceres vows to destroy earth if Proserpina is not returned to her side. Her brother Jupiter journeys to the Underworld to inform Pluto of this and Pluto releases Proserpina. He gives her a pomegranate as a parting gift and tells her to eat some seeds for good luck, since it is the food of the Underworld. Naively, she eats four seeds.

When she runs into the arms of Ceres, her mother asks if she has eaten anything under Pluto’s supervision. She admits to eating the four pomegranate seeds. Ceres reveals that each seed represents one month in the Underworld. This means Proserpina will have to return to her dark captor four months of each year, which is when winter occurs. For the rest of the year, agriculture can flourish. It’s a tale of nurturance and fertility that kept the human population alive.

Around 40% of the world’s wheat supply is grown in Ukraine. Something like 22 million tons of grain were held up in ports because of the war in the spring of 2022, though apparently a good chunk of it went to China. China’s grain stockpiles are now over half of the global supply at roughly 600 million tons.

Ukraine used to export 6 million tons of grain every month to the Middle East and Africa. Countries like Lebanon and Somalia are suffering because most of the the grain they import is now locked up in silos or trapped in ports that are too dangerous to access because of the Russian blockade.

The asteroid Ceres is currently transiting Leo, but will ingress into Virgo at the very beginning of October. The current natal chart for Russia (December 25, 1991 at 7:00PM GMT, Moscow) has the moon in the 1st house at 02 degrees Virgo. Ceres will conjunct Russia’s moon for the first week of October and will remain in the 1st house until the middle of the month.

Ceres conjunct the moon is a very nurturing transit and could result in Russia redistributing excess grain supplies (most likely to their own people). Since this year’s grain harvests are being processed now in August and much of September, stockpiled grain could trigger the escalation of conflict as many countries become more desperate for food.

Jupiter at 14 degrees Virgo is positioned in the 2nd house of finances in Russia’s chart. Ceres will conjunct Russia’s Jupiter in the 2nd half of October and into the 1st week of November. Again, this could lead to compassionate, magnanimous behavior but it’s obviously not going to be directed towards western nations. North Korea is most likely to benefit, as they recently formed an alliance with Russia.

One aspect we must also consider when looking at Ceres transits is that they aren’t just about fertility and motherly love. A mother’s rage at her daughter being stolen away from her is a very relatable reaction. Just as Lilith isn’t just about wild sexuality. Every archetype has depth, rather than being one dimensional.

In China’s chart, Ceres is exactly conjunct Neptune at 14 degrees Libra as well as the south node, along with Mercury. If you read my post about China, you’ll remember that this Libra stellium is in the 8th house of sex, death and shared resources. Ceres conjunct Neptune in the 8th house isn’t exactly loving and nurturing. When it comes to basic life necessities like food, I consider Neptune a malefic. Neptune can be compassionate and self-sacrificing yet also cunning and delusional.

In the first week of August 2023, transiting Ceres will conjunct China’s natal Ceres in the 8th house. This probably won’t be that noteworthy, but as Ceres progresses to the end of August and beginning of September 2023, it will conjunct the transiting south node. This will be around 23-24 degrees of Libra, which will be moving through China’s 9th house of foreign relations.

When Ceres was transiting Aquarius in the first few months of lockdown in 2020, it seemed like everyone I knew started baking bread. It was like a collective bonding activity that people could share with each other from within the safety (or prison) of their own homes. I’ll admit – I kind of liked seeing so many loaves on Instagram. I caught the wave a little later that year and started hustling my sourdough game in a mud oven in Arizona.

Arguably, despite the popularity of the Paleo trend, we humans have survived as long as we have because of agriculture. There’s only so many animals you can hunt and wild berries you can gather before there’s nothing left. Sure agriculture has been destructive to much of the world’s soils, but what’s the alternative? Grain in particular not only feeds us but think of how many animals it feeds. Take grain out of the picture and famine begins alarmingly quickly.