The New Centaurs of Transformation– Cruithne, Quaoar, Sedna

As scientists probe further into space, astrologers are being challenged to cope with the new Kuiper Belt Objects and those even further beyond. It is my personal observation that these slow-moving Objects do not portend specific events but rather events that are part of a major transformational process. For example, Transpluto (I know, theoretical, but it works) will take almost 80 years to go through the sign of Leo. In Leo, the individual is seeking of external approval and validation and its transformational process (after experiencing criticism and reacting with self-sufficiency) is towards wholeness and integration… seeking approval from within rather than from without.

Cruithne

In 2002, Cruithne caught my attention. An ephemeris for Cruithne can be obtained at www.astro.com. This near-Earth asteroid, orbiting between Venus and Mars, is now known to be a companion, and an unusual one, of the Earth. This asteroid shares the Earth’s orbit, its motion “choreographed” in such a way as to remain stable and avoid colliding with our planet. The correct pronunciation for ‘Cruithne’ is ‘croo-een-ya’. Cruithne is another that brings an internal transformation through seeking one’s roots and our rootedness to this planet.

The Cruithne were the first Celtic racio-tribal group to come to the British Isles, appearing between about 800 and 500 B.C., and coming from the European continent. They were a matrilineal people, tracing royal lineage and inheritance through the female line and, in pagan times, had worshiped the mother-goddess of fertility. By historical times, they had come to reckon descent patrilineally, by the male line, hence, their traditional descent from Conall Cearnach, one of the legendary heroes from early Irish literature. Conall Cearnach is ultimately a male-manifestation of Brigid (later St. Brigid), the original mother-goddess of the Cruithne.

The Cruithne of Scotland are the original Albans and they are commonly referred to as Picts. The Picts were an equestrian warrior aristocracy of the classic early Celtic type They were the last of the Cruithne to lose their matrilineality. This happened during the ninth and tenth centuries (the Cruithne of Ireland had lost theirs centuries earlier).

On the Centaurs E-List, when the discussion mentioned tattoos and ancient Scottish ancestry, I located my own Cruithne conjunct my Point of Transformation (Ruler of 4th+Jupiter-7th cusp) and this triggered my interest in this little celestial body.

My Cruithne is in my 7th House. I have gone over some significant dates and one event comes up every single time— someone from my distance past shows up or calls. Even recently as it trined my Sun at 6°, a client who has not called me since 1984 called for a reading. He was born in Berlin. In 1984, I could not begin to imagine that I would be a regular visitor to that city. When it was in Gemini in September crossing my 3 Gemini planets, I saw a woman whom I had not seen since the 1980s and a man that I had been with for 28 years but had not seen for 10 years knocked on my door. I was shocked each time.

Now to my Point of Transforamtion conjunct Cruithne: Around 2002, it was first surmised that there was a connection to ancient tribes, especially those with Irish-Scottish connections, cave drawing and ancient roots. For the past 14 years, it has been a part of my personal transformational process to find my past life roots, some evidence of a previous existence on this planet— drawings in a cave, something that I buried to be dug up in this lifetime, the old monastery in southern Germany, the old castle in Ireland. Every year, when I travel to Europe, I look for some clues. It is the search that is really the catalyst for transformation, as far as I am concerned. This is a quality that is so pronounced in my nature that there must be a connection. As for the tattoos, I have 3… so far.

When I printed out my transits to Cruithne, I discovered that, in 1991, when Uranus sextiled Cruithne, I embarked upon an ongoing journey to find out who am I, totally in terms of the distant past and a past life. At this time, I discovered that the Koiner family had its roots as early as 1400 with Jacob Keinoth in Winterlingen, Germany. A family history was written in 1890, before the wars. It was in 1992 (no significant outer planet transits at the time) that I went to Winterlingen and knew (when I saw monuments to WWII heroes) that these were not my people. During that month in 1992, Cruithne was in fast retrograde motion, passing its Return in my chart. On the same trip, I found my spiritual and past life home and a place where another side of my family originated… Mittenwald, Germany. This town has an old history of making violins and this part of my family, in America, is famous for playing the violin… not classical, Johnson Mountain Boys and Blue Grass.

Another example of Cruithne’s connection with Irish-Scottish ancestry is a woman, given up for adoption, who embarked upon a quest for her Scottish roots when Cruithne crossed her natal Jupiter. Later, when Cruithne returned and crossed her natal Jupiter, ruling her 3rd House cusp, she talked to her biological brother for the first time. I am not sure of the connection with adoption but it seems significant. Her natal Mars and ruler of the 7th exactly opposes her natal Cruithne. Her adoptive family never really accepted her in the ways that she was different, very right-brained. With her biological family, she found the acceptance and the common thread of personality traits.

Why I say that the element of adoption is significant is that another woman, with Cruithne in the 11th as the tight Apex of a Yod, gave up a child for adoption when Cruithne exactly crossed her Sun in Aquarius and Saturn was trine her natal Cruithne. I had earlier questioned this woman because she is an expatriate living in Eastern Europe. Was Cruithne involved in her quest for her “spiritual” roots? In 1988, she visited this country for a friend’s wedding— a friend who had always insisted that she longed in this part of the world. When she arrived, she knew in her heart that this was home — Neptune was sextiling her natal Cruithne! The quest had begun but it would be another 10 years before this relocation was possible. The relocation date was not significant but the original trip, the trip that triggered the quest, was significant.

CRUITHNE (Croo-een-ya)UPDATE:

On August 15, 2011, I received an e-mail from a woman who was looking for her cousin, lost to her for many years due to WWII. This cousin is mentioned on my website so, when googling her cousins name, her name came up.

My friend, Ms Capricorn, was thrilled to receive this e-mail since she too had been searching for her father’s family for many, many years. Even one uncle, who was thought to have been killed on the Russian Front, was alive with a large family.
Ms. Capricorn told me that, leading up to the contact, she had been going through old closets and drawers, throwing out old memories from her past. So, this contact was another connection with her past.

My first thought went to an article that I wrote in the early 2000s on the New Centaurs, specifically on Cruithne, as this Centaur has been significant in connecting me, in my own life, to my roots, my lost family and my past.

My friend’s Cruithne is at 6 degrees Pisces opposing Mars in Virgo. This is the interpretation that I sent to her:

Cruithne is associated with connecting with one’s roots. Your Cruithne is located at 6 Pisces. The transiting Pluto is trine your Mars and your Cruithne all year. Your progressed Sun is very close to Cruithne. Your Solar Arc Moon is trine Cruithne. The Transiting Cruithne has been going back and forth over your IC. Our MC/IC are reversed. So, Cruithne has been close to my MC at 27 Taurus 57 — I have connected with family on my mother’s side this summer, Koiners in Virginia and locally and I attended a geneology jamboree in Cumberland Gap Tennessee where I met some distant relatives and learned about my family in America. It was wonderful. There is such a feeling of connectedness.

When her cousin wrote to me, the transiting Moon in Pisces was crossing her Cruithne! However, the transiting Moon was crossing my Cruithne when I sent this information to !
Mars opposing Cruithne often causes deep rooted anger in connection with a lack of family roots or family ties. I have observed that this anger can sometimes be projected onto others who may have very strong family ties, ties that the Mars-Cruithne person is missing.

Ms. Capricorn responded to my comments about Cruithne opposing Mars:
Yes, exactly!!! I don’t like “family people”; I never wanted to have a family of my own. To me, those people seem to be so narrow-minded, only centered in their own, small world. When visiting them, one always feels excluded, unwanted, like an invader in their small, common world.
This is why most of my friends really are not like this! And why my (and not only mine) friendships so often end, when a baby is born — all of a sudden, people seem to change, excluding everybody who’s not a parent himself. (Okay, not everybody is like this, not in my generation). The (few) of my former friends who had children, educated them quite differently, freely, and were glad to have somebody to take care of them sometimes!) My own family was NOT “narrow-minded”, but, surely, involved in their own problems, too. I didn’t like this, didn’t like to hear my mother talking bad about other family members, but obviously being glad to see them! I never understood this!

Quaoar

The next Kuiper Belt Object that I have researched is Quaoar, pronounced KWAH-o-wahr. Quaoar is also a Transformational Object, taking 288 years to orbit our planet. It is the Transformation that occurs after a loss, death or other emotionally painful event. In Belgrad, Serbia, I attended a lecture given by Aleksandar Imsiragic. He have several key phrases to describe Quaoar’s action: 1) After something bad, comes something new, some new expansion of consciousness, 2) A price must be paid, a painful process, before something new happens, 3) A break with something, a break with the past, so that we can move onto something new, 4) Something must die first and then something happens, something new that is beyond death. 5) Because of the Tongva association, the symbolism of Quaoar may be connected with “creating through dance or rhythmic creations.

When Quaoar opposed my Moon in Gemini, the loss of my mother was incredibly painful. This is a woman whom I had known for my entire life. Yet, out of the ashes of this pain, I grew in awareness and personal empowerment. This transit affected a healing in my family relationships and this, too, was very empowering. By the time Quaoar left the opposition to my Moon (December 2002), I no longer felt the pain of loss. I created new traditions for my father and myself. I have been able to move on.

Earlier, when Quaoar squared my Sun in Virgo, my dear friend, JoeAnne, moved away to Virginia Beach. I felt once again abandoned but, as the square became exact, I finally began visiting her, since the trip was only 4 hours from my home. This became a regular and transformational journey. The transformational healing occurred because JoeAnne and her husband treated me so special, I learned about Nikkon magnets (which I feel have saved my life) and I began having regular Cayce Spa treatments. When Quaoar squared my Ascendant, an important friendship suddenly ended. This was so painful but I realized that we both needed to move on in different directions. I truly began feeling my feelings at this time.

I discussed the transits of Quaoar with friends. One reported that, when Quaoar opposed her 6th House Mars, her unemployment finally ran out and she was thrust into a new job for which she was highly under-qualified and yet overpaid. This was a great learning experience for her that has allowed her to advance herself professionally in ways not before possible. Around the same time, she became pregnant, something that she and her husband did not want! Yet, it was a miraculous event that became a positive financial turning point in their lives.

Sedna

In November 2003, another celestial body was discovered and given the name Sedna. It is not a Kuiper Belt Object but rather the first Oort cloud object ever discovered. Check www.gps.caltech.edu/~mbrown/sedna to see its extreme elliptical orb around the Sun.

I have only just started my observations so I have no real conclusions about Sedna’s transformational process. At this point, however, I feel that it is the transformation that comes from going within and confronting long repressed, angry and even enraged issues in our lives. There has been a lot of activity on the E-Lists about Sedna. The following article was posted on the AngelFire website and I have included this here: www.angelfire.com/va/goddesses/sedn.html

The Mythology

The Inuit of North America called their sea Goddess Sedna (pronounced sed’nah). Sedna was once a beautiful woman who was not satisfied with the many suitors who courted her. Wooed by a seagull with promises of plenty of food and servants, she went to live with the bird people. Instead of the promised conditions, she was forced to live in filth and squalor. When her father came for a visit, she begged him to take her back home with him across the waters. The bird people pursued them and to save his life, her father threw Sedna overboard. When she tried to climb back into the boat, he cut off her fingers. Sedna’s cut fingers transformed into fish and sea mammals.

The Lessons of this Goddess

Sedna swims into your life to tell you to stop being a victim. The way to wholeness is to recognize how you’ve been caught up in and are living the victim archetype, then to change the pattern by empowering yourself. Are you fond of saying, “Why is this happening to me?” Don’t get stuck in the “why”. Look realistically at what you are creating, then work to change it. Do you feel your needs are too insignificant to negotiate? Does everyone in your life seen to take advantage of you? Your way to wholeness lies in recognizing when you are playing the victim and stopping it. Sedna says we have all been victimized by something, by patriarchal institutions, discrimination based on race, gender, sexual preference, religion, or color. She encourages you to claim your power (see Lilith) The Goddess says you are too precious and necessary in this dance of life to waste valuable energy and time being a victim. Rather than dissipating you energy, create what you want.

It has been surmised that Sedna is connected with environmental issues, diet and eating disorders, as well as the victimization issues described above. The first post that struck a cord with me was given by Nana Underhill. Sedna makes a tight trine to her Moon and, interestingly; Sedna makes a tight trine to my Mercury, ruler of my chart. Nana wrote: “My parents both left when I was young so I grew up with my grandparents. I have missing chunks of memory (beneath the ocean). Food was a major issue in my life since it was a substitute for parenting.” What she next said that I could relate to with the transiting Sedna events in my life— “And, on another level, I wonder if Sedna is connected with sacrificing a part of ourselves so that we can survive (throwing our Sedna into the ocean), and how we are especially responsible to “comb her hair”, since we (the father) put her deep in the ocean.”

For me, these words unlocked the key to the transformational process of Sedna. I will add that the part of yourself that you sacrifice, split off and repress will linger deep in our subconscious, acting as a driving force, little known to our consciousness, but demanding our attention. Just as the Inuit must go to the ocean’s depths and “comb Sedna’s hair,” we must make that Transformational Journey and tend to these subconscious emotions, desires and memories. If we do not, these issues will drive our lives in ways that are destructive and frustrating. When these emotions are filled with anger— remember, angry people never get what they want. When our actions and our behavior continually drive away what we seek, we become more bitter, angry and frustrated. One’s actions become self-sabotaging, leading the individual to see one’s self as a victim of forces that seem totally beyond one’s control, forces about which the individual seems totally unaware. And, until the individual takes that Spiritual Journey into the Watery/Astral realm of the subconscious, these emotions will remain beyond our range of awareness. When split off from the context of the individual’s personality, it looms beyond control, revolving internally, becoming explosive and disruptive when discharged. The explosiveness of the repressed affect is all the greater because, by its very isolation, it assumes greater dimensions. Often, angry repressions are denied and projected onto someone or something else.

In my own chart, in my own life, the early transits of Sedna marked a time of “sacrificing part of myself in order to survive.” As I look back, I was like Harry Potter being raised by a family of Muggles! Even the favorable aspect to my Mars in Gemini, forced me to suppress my true persona in order to cope with the early social interaction of elementary school. In the mid-1960s, with Sedna square my Venus, ruling my 10th cusp, I sacrificed part of myself rather than pursue a career in business, something for which I had no aptitude, but this allowed me to focus upon my studies in astrology. After Sedna left the square to my Venus, I was able to become a full-time practitioner. In the 1970s, I sacrificed part of my true self in order to maintain a relationship yet I attempted a form on inner work through a spiritual study group. Later, when Sedna trined my Sun, that part of myself, long suppressed, that was a great speaker, found an outlet.

While I may have initially seen myself a victim of forces beyond my control, I did take full responsibility for my reaction to the external forces, the reaction of repressing and sacrificing a vital part of myself in order to cope with life on planet Earth. One of the ways that I coped was through compulsive over-eating— and several people have commented that this was their mode of choice for handling the repressions of Sedna. With the Sedna symbolism, it you do not tend to these repressions, combing Sedna’s hair, you will “starve.” Rather than starve, we compulsively over-eat!

In a recent post on SednaSymbols, Tracy Marks made this very insightful comment: “Sedna had no mother; the myth implies that either her mother died when she was born or died when she was young. When one lacks the Moon energy, one tends to attract Neptune and Pluto to fill in the void. In Sedna’s case, it was the illusions of Neptune and the destructiveness/judgment of Pluto. But, later, she is healed by the waters of Neptune and the Plutonic energy of shamanism.”

“There is also a tendency to universalize rather than personalize the energy of a planet/sign which is very weak in the chart or buried in the 12th house. In the case of the Moon, this could be to become a “universal mother” rather than personal mother. But initially on a personal level, there is a weakness in regard to nurturing energy and the ability to respond to the needs of others. On one level I think the Sedna myth is a myth about what can happen when one lacks Moon energy— and, in Sedna’s case, the male energy of the father is aggressive/abusive.”

Tracy gave an excellent example of a man driven by long suppressed demons: “Again, consider George W. Bush — with Sedna on the Midheaven and Sun/Saturn (father) in Cancer (mother) buried in his 12th house, squaring his Moon (cancer).”

Indeed, Sedna helps us to address the issues connected with our natal Moon. My own natal Moon is intercepted, blocked from its expression, and it is conjunct Uranus-Mars. Not trusting my own mother, I sought the “universal mother” in astrology and later in a mountain in southern Germany, a mountain that I call “My Mother.” Using Neptune as a substitute, I denied my personal emotional issues. Yet, both Neptune and Pluto offered a healing in my life through their transits in my natal chart.

I hope that this discussion gives you, my readers, some insight on these important New Centaurs. Feedback is appreciated.