The Planets of Twilight: Mercury, Chiron, and Ceres in Myth and the Horoscope

Webinar Description

Ancient astrology suggested that three of the seven visible planets — the Moon, Venus, and Mars — were followers of Night, and three others — the Sun, Jupiter, and Saturn — were followers of Day.   The seventh visible planet, Mercury, was said to move between Night and Day.  And this between-ness, this both-and-ness in the astrological tradition, was also reflected in Mercury’s situation both astronomically and mythologically.  As a mythic figure, Hermes, friend of the traveler and god of the threshold, was the only one who moved between the upper, middle, and underworlds at will.  As a planet, Mercury shifts direction most frequently and can be seen only at the twilight just before Dawn and just after Dusk.

Ceres (discovered in 1801) and Chiron (discovered in 1977) are the two most significant additional astronomical bodies used by astrologers in the planetary band from Sun through Pluto and have been used actively in astrology since the 1970s.  Like Mercury they are also “betweeners” astronomically and mythically.  Chiron in myth is half-man, half-human, and even among the centaurs the one closest to human but not human.  The astronomical body of Chiron crosses the orbits of Saturn and Uranus, the line of visibility/invisibility, and continues to defy classification as planet/asteroid/planetoid.  The primary myth of Ceres involves travel down from the upper to middle world, and the middle to under, and back, and initiates the turning of seasons one to the next.  Astronomically the planet resides in the many-bodied asteroid belt between inner and outer planets.

Taken as an archetypal family, these planets seem to invite us into what we might call twilight consciousness, where we can become capable of moving in multiple worlds and weaving the worlds together, becoming more skillful in symbolic process and divination, and transformative participation.   They seem to help bring the moistening and relational possibilities of Night when too much Day becomes arid, stuck, and oppressive; and to bring the illuminative light of Day where Night has become overwhelming, chaotic, and over-involved.

In this workshop we will explore them through image and story, drawn from both ancient myth and the horoscopes and life-stories of modern people.

We will also consider what they teach us about the practice of astrology itself.  Mercury was the ruler of astrologers and later of occultists and magicians; Chiron the healer and mentor of healers and heroes; and Ceres the giver of the greatest initiatory Mysteries in the ancient world for over 1,000 years.

Jason Holley grew up in a family active in astrology and divination arts for five generations and has been a practicing astrologer for over 35 years and was a psychotherapist for 18 years.  Jason is the founder of the Hermes-Hestia Center for Living Astrologies and its practitioner program, and has facilitated living and embodied experiences of astrology for individuals and groups in Australia, North America, South America, and Europe.  His work is grounded in long study and practice of mythological storytelling, archetypal psychology, psychodrama and action methods, meditation and ceremony, and ecopsychology and relational-somatic therapies.  He was the organizer of the Living Astrologies Conference taking place in October 2025 in Santa Fe, and has been an invited lecturer and workshop leader at most national and international astrology conferences including UAC, ISAR, NORWAC, FAA-Australia, as well as a faculty member for MISPA-CPA, Astrology University,  the JWG School for Evolutionary Astrology, and the Centre for Astrology, Myth, and Symbol (CAMS), as well as graduate counseling and art therapy programs at Southwestern College in Santa Fe.