Asteroid Eros

by Jennifer Houle

“In Classical Times, when such things were properly understood, Eros was considered a god whose divinity transcended our human limits.”
- C.G. Jung, Memories, Dreams, Reflections.

Like Jung, I too falter before the task of attempting to describe Eros. Attempting to describe Eros, or love, is like attempting to describe the universe. No matter how much you say, there is always more to say. What love actually is, how powerful and transformational it is, has yet to be fully grasped by humanity. This is one of the reasons why I am so fascinated by the astrological implications of asteroid 433 Eros.

It has long been held that the discovery of a new planet or body coincides with the coming into consciousness of new ideas, along with accompanying cultural and technological innovations. The discovery of Uranus coincided with the discovery of electricity. Neptune’s discovery coincided with great medical advancements including new surgical techniques and anesthesia, along with a resurgence of transcendent spiritual movements. And Pluto - well, we all know about Pluto’s discovery coinciding with the Great Depression, a front-page kidnapping caper, as well as a bit of a Mafia boom.

Eros was discovered more than a century ago in 1898. While I have no doubt that many other historical trends can be correlated to the turn of the 19th century, when I hear “1898” I think of Oscar Wilde and the circles he belonged to. In British literary history, that turn-of-the-century time has come to be remembered as the Aesthete or Decadent Period and is often associated with such overtly sensual writers as Wilde, Walter Pater and Dante Gabriel Rossetti (to name but half a handful). In the works of these fin de siecle writers, Victorian repression gave way to a much freer, rebellious, and decidedly sensual form of expression in literature and art. This is the climate in which Eros made himself known to Western society, seeming to suggest that human sexuality and creative passion truly are, and must be, linked to love; suggesting that the energy of love is indeed the energy that fuels creation.

In 1996 NASA launched a mission to Eros to investigate the environment of the largest of the near-Earth asteroids. Symbolically and collectively, with Eros coming under such scrutiny, it seems time to explore the true nature of love. Love needs to be re-evaluated, reconsidered and renewed in each and every sojourner upon our wildly spinning planet. Appropriately, the NASA mission was named NEAR, for Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous. The very word “rendezvous” smacks of intimate encounters, deep knowing, long labyrinthine conversations, and yes, also a bit of the forbidden, the secret, and the very much desired.

Eros orbits between the Earth and Mars, part of a group known as the Amors (meaning, yet again, love). Other than the Moon, the Amors are our planet’s nearest celestial neighbors. The NASA mission was designed, in part, to obtain information that might someday aid us in preventing an Earth/asteroid disaster. How appropriate that the asteroid named for the god of love might help us to prevent a future tragedy. Love always does everything in its power to save the day, doesn’t it? Perhaps, on an even deeper level, we are being urged to finally comprehend the riddles and mysteries of love, in order to ensure our own survival, as well as to ensure the survival of many generations to come. The energy of love is crucial to evolution.

The asteroid belt, which falls between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter, farther from us than the Amors, remains one of our solar system’s most perplexing mysteries. Most astronomers and physicists believe that no actual planet formed there because the pull of Jupiter’s gravity was too strong. Others postulate that at one time a planet did reside there, and that a great collision resulted in the many scattered bits and pieces that make up the asteroid belt. Whatever cosmic secret lies behind the riddle of our solar system’s “hammered bracelet,” as the asteroid belt is sometimes referred to, one thing is certain. The sheer multitude of asteroids, those known and those yet to be discovered, can be symbolically related to many of humanity’s current woes and wonders. Surely it can be no coincidence that the first asteroid, Ceres, was discovered in 1801, just before the Industrial Revolution galvanized civilization and changed the face of our dear planet forever. Suddenly possibilities existed that never had before. Invention upon invention appeared as asteroid upon asteroid was discovered.

If indeed the NASA mission prompts us now to look more closely at the asteroids, and all of their stories, Eros certainly provides a marvelous starting point. Where better to begin than with love? In mythology, Eros is first mentioned as one of the original primordial beings. The creation story of the Greeks begins with Nyx, a black-winged bird laying an egg, which she nurses and warms for ages until it finally begins to hatch. Out of the egg emerges Eros, and the two halves of the shell fall away, one becoming the sky (Uranus) and the other becoming the Earth (Gaia). Eros immediately has the sky fall in love with the Earth, and so it all begins.

Eros appears many times in later myths, showing up as the child of various gods and goddesses. Perhaps the myth in which he plays the most vital role, however, is that of Psyche and Eros. Their story truly transcends time as the perfect example of a soul union. In Greek, “Psyche” means soul, and “Eros” means love. Soul and Love. Need I say more? Their story is most dramatic and, in my opinion, correlates strongly to the processes involved in the union between “twin” lovers. Gifted astrologer Kim Falconer has studied Eros in depth, and her web site http://www.nrg.com.au/~d-falcon/Eros.htm is a valuable source of information. I recommend it highly to those interested in furthering their understanding of the mythology of Eros, or curious as to how to begin working with Eros astrologically.

What I find particularly fascinating about Eros is his correlation to Uranus and Earth. In the original Greek creation myth, he is responsible for uniting the two. To me, this suggests that the study of Eros may herald a time when Uranian freedom and love on Earth truly come to be understood as inextricable. We’ve all heard the old adage: “If you love someone, set them free, and if they come back to you...” etc., etc. How many of us have rolled our eyes and thrown up our hands in despair at this advice, all the while knowing that it was true? I know I have. Love, after all, is powerful. We want it and we don’t want it, all at the same time. We yearn for it and yet deny that yearning. We make up excuses. We decide it is safer, perhaps, to opt out of the whole mess. And so we settle. Sometimes we settle for relationships based on the safer emotional territory of friendship and comfort, not realizing that in so doing we have committed ourselves to denying who we truly are and what we most deeply desire. The same phenomenon also often applies to our careers and pervades our creative natures. We turn our backs on our wildest dreams in exchange for safety. We allow ourselves to stagnate, using very material considerations such as responsibility, survival and finances as excuses. But we must make no mistake about it: as seemingly reasonable as they are, they are excuses nonetheless.

Eros transits might indeed coincide with times when we question whether or not we should stay or go, when we so urgently feel the lack of passion in our lives that we are tempted to throw everything to the wind. An unsatisfied Eros will not be subtle. Relationships or careers of convenience and social grace will no longer float. Marriages made out of fear that no one better will ever show up will no longer be cosmically tolerated either. Eros will intervene. This is not to say that every moment of life is meant to be a constant passionate whirl. On the contrary, Eros cannot handle day-to-day chores and life. Eros drowns in dishwater, disappears at the mention of bills, hides when the relatives come over to visit...and this is appropriate. Eros will not deter us from earning our daily bread if we acknowledge his presence when necessary. If we remain keyed in to our deepest desire natures, Eros will allow us the freedom to accomplish what needs accomplishing, and yet our hearts will not feel the lonely ache of time and dear love lost whilst we are so busy earning our sustenance.

Resisting Eros altogether is a bad idea. He will torment us with unreachable desire after unreachable desire. To work with Eros, we must remain flexible and open. We must acknowledge his loving darts. We must follow our hearts, always, and without fear or guilt. We must learn to love ourselves enough to do this.

Some people truly are afraid to give in to Eros. They are afraid that if they give in to love, they will become soft and lose everything. They are afraid they will be made fools of, financially, emotionally, every which way. And perhaps they will at first, until they become more in touch with their own wisdom. But so what? Love has ever been and ever shall be the property of the fool. Only the fool will get to experience the dizzying heights, the sublime depths.

I believe Eros will force all men and women to remain true to themselves, to remain true to their own identities. In so doing, people will be led to make choices about their romantic and sexual lives based upon their own ideals, rather than out of fear or as a grudging nod to consensus reality. Love - real love - will no longer be relegated to the realm of fantasy and myth. As humanity hurtles through these twilight hours, these difficult days of transition, love is needed more than ever. The type of work these lovers will accomplish for our planet will be its saving grace. Stories of twin souls who have re-united and gone on to develop brainchildren and projects for the benefit of all humanity are already beginning to abound. This type of fated coupling must become commonplace if humanity is to evolve spiritually. As the Age of Aquarius begins, suffering is no longer the swiftest means by which to grow. Suffering may no longer be so noble. Now, ecstatic flight and ecstatic faith are the way to progress. Eros reminds us that love, now more than ever, is life.

Above all, Eros will ensure the survival of the creative spirit. This means freedom. Eros, after all, is a near-Earth asteroid. This means it broke free from the asteroid belt and crossed Mars’ orbit to arrive at its present position. Eros is a planet-crosser, a rebel. He will teach us to break free, to dare, to approach what it is we desire. His arrows will prick us, and we will realize we have no choice but to follow our bliss if we want to survive. He will direct us to our great loves - be they people, places or projects. He will introduce us to them.

I hesitate to say that Eros will always be active in the astrological synastry of twin souls, flames, soul mates or twin selves (call them what you will - these “destined lovers”). Nor would I go so far as to claim that Eros transits will always coincide with fated love affairs. Eros’ orbital period is fairly short, only 1.76 years. Obviously we do not fall in love on any type of predictable schedule. No transit can predict falling in love. Falling in love may be written in the stars at times, but it is also eternally and appropriately above the stars. Ultimately, love rests within us, within our most authentic selves. What I do believe Eros transits will never fail to do is to shake us up. To remind us what it is we are passionate about.

That being said, in synastry Eros does become even more interesting, and while I would imagine that it is often indicative of love, yet again I hesitate to make sweeping generalizations. The person whose Eros contacts our natal planet could just as easily be the “Cupid” who introduces us to our lover as the lover himself or herself. However, it does seem (almost) safe to say that when combined with Psyche, Eros is almost always a clue or a key to the greatest love stories of our lives. When I first became aware of Eros, I scrolled back through my memory and ran the synastry charts for myself and the men I have loved the most. Not all the men I have had relationships with, mind you, but those who have left me inspired and more alive - those who really sparked my desire nature. Sure enough, I found Eros aspects with all of them. My Eros conjuncts the Aquarian Suns of two of my craziest lovers. My Eros squares the Sun of the first boy who ever broke my heart badly enough for me to literally beat my head against the hardwood floor of my living room until it hurt so much I had to stop, and so I did, stunned at the depths to which our emotional tangle had brought me. And my Eros beautifully trines the Venus of the man from whom I learned everything I ever needed to know about true intimacy but was too afraid to ask. I urge everyone to examine the Eros contacts between their charts and those of their loved ones. Not only for proof of romantic love, but in order to obtain a deeper understanding of the nature of the love shared.

For example, my Eros is square my best friend’s Mars/Venus conjunction. Of course, we are not lovers, and yet, whenever our hearts are on fire or broken, it is to each other that we turn for insight, understanding and empathy. I imagine an Eros-Mercury contact might indicate two people who talk about love a lot, or who love to talk to one another, who have passionate conversations or write each other passionate letters. Eros can appear in many guises, not necessarily as a lover.

And yet, Eros certainly does have a great deal to do with sexual love. When the god of love does come for us in the form of a flesh-and-blood human - look out! All of our equilibrium, all of our hard-won stability goes out the window. Since the dawn of civilization, poets, philosophers, sages and dreamers have been trying to put the experience of true love into words. So many different metaphors and descriptions of love have been written. Some are heartfelt, some are sarcastic, some are wryly witty, some bawdy, some downright disturbing. One of my favorites is from John Barrymore, who said, “Love is the delightful interval between meeting a girl and discovering that she looks like a haddock.” (Ouch!!!) But it is true that often the people we have ceased to love become utterly repulsive to us.

The 13th-century Persian poet Rumi wrote, “Lovers don’t finally meet somewhere, they’re in each other all along.“ (How Neptunian!!) And then there is Stendhal, who wrote, “A woman’s power lies only in the degree of unhappiness with which she can punish her lover.” (Ouch!!!) But Stendhal was a man who suffered greatly most of his adult life from unrequited love for a lady named Mathilde Viscontini Dembowski, a powerful woman, active in Italian revolutionary politics, separated from her husband and raising two children. Stendhal swooned for her, adored her, yearned for her almost pathetically. And yet she would not quench his desire. Oh, she led him on, invited him into her graces just often enough to fuel his hope, apparently enjoying the game, presumably aware of the angst and pain she was causing him. Even after her untimely death at age 35, Stendhal continued to write about her. She was a force of nature to him, his unrelenting muse. He never ceased to love her despite the fact that his love was never requited, never truly answered. You might wonder why I am going into such great detail about poor Stendhal. After all, doesn’t the exploration of Eros herald a time when such painful masochistic games become a thing of the past?

Well…in an interesting side note (and isn’t it just like love to lead us off on countless curious tangents?), as the NASA mission to Eros approached its target, it paused to visit asteroid 253 Mathilde in June of 1997. Pictures of Eros orbiting in close proximity to Mathilde are easily available online. By sheer coincidence, on the very day that I read of Eros’ neighbor, Mathilde, I “happened” to read the story of Stendhal and Mathilde in a book I had recently purchased. My intuition was clanging. To be quite honest, it perplexed me a great deal. I wondered if some great astrological deity was trying to warn me not to study Eros in relation to true love, but rather in relation to the illusion of love, or unrequited love. I thought and thought. But I kept in mind what author Diane Ackerman wrote of Stendhal’s obsession with Mathilde, in her beautiful book A Natural History of Love. “For Stendhal, the essence of love is fantasy. We fall in love with gods and goddesses of our devising. We never see them clearly. We never know the forces that drove us to them, but we are predisposed to love them.” Stendhal’s love for Mathilde, after all, drove him to write his famous book On Love (De l’Amour). Writes Ackerman, “…he didn’t regret the mad catastrophe of his feelings. Even in its unrequited form, love rewarded him with ambition, imagination, and vigor. It gave a sense of enterprise to each day, filling his daydreams with beauty and hiding his worst nightmares behind a veil of possibility.”

Immediately, this called to my mind the same type of driving belief in love that led Linda Goodman to write her masterpiece, Gooberz. And then it hit me. Of course. We often meet Mathilde on our way to true love. Mathilde is the lover we simply burn for, the lover who (or the situation which) drives us to perfect ourselves, to aspire to bigger and better things, to know ourselves, and to understand the purest, highest, most unadulterated essence of our own love nature. If we survive Mathilde, we go on to land on Eros, just as the NASA mission did. Mathilde and Eros often resemble each other, and Mathilde may even masquerade as Eros, a tantalizing imposter. In reality, the two asteroids are not similar in shape. It’s just that until we pass Mathilde, we have never even seen Eros, and so have no standard by which to distinguish our emotions. At least this is what I have come up with so far, and it is only a theory.

So little astrological research into the asteroids has been done that we all have to serve as our own guinea pigs. We have to do this research with our bare hands and our bare hearts. Kim Falconer, the astrologer mentioned above, will soon release a groundbreaking work on Eros. However, we need more voices, more experiences to cull from and more time in order to truly understand Eros and the other asteroids. For the time being, I leave you with these, my very preliminary observations and insights, together with this quote from Oscar Wilde, written in 1897, just before Eros first appeared to humanity. It seems to sum up exactly the type of lesson Eros (with any luck) will teach us all. “To reject one’s own experiences is to arrest one’s own development. To deny one’s own experiences is to put a lie into the lips of one’s own life. It is no less than a denial of the Soul.” And Psyche, Eros’s own “twin” lover, you’ll recall, is the Greek word for soul. To deny Eros may well be to deny our very souls. As such, this asteroid is certainly one to watch.