Ceres – food intolerance anyone?

My curiosity has been tweaked of late as to where the correspondences for food intolerances and allergies lie. I wanted to write a “quick post” on this subject, but it appears to be sucking me ever deeper into the world of eating disorders, anaemia, malnutrition… I suspect that there is a lot more research and digging around to be done here and, having Hygeia on the astrologer’s degree of 26° Leo, it is perhaps not surprising that I am being drawn in so!

I am, I might add, struggling to find the words I need, since Mercury squaring Neptune is fogging my brain. I sit here, alongside my lovely astrologer, and he admits to me he is having just the same problem (but let’s not forget there’s nothing in this astrology lark )

So, I shall attempt to keep this first foray into such matters short and sweet.

My astrologer and I both have problems with wheat, to varying degrees and for different reasons. Neither of us, thankfully, suffers from an allergy, simply an intolerance, but that is irritating enough on a niggly daily basis. (I might add that my third son suffers from a dairy intolerance and I shall be looking into that at a later date).

In my efforts to find a common denominator in the astrological configurations of food-allergy sufferers, I have looked at a fairly exhaustive number of charts, taking into account most particularly what Ceres is up to: what aspects she makes most commonly to which planets. The biggest co-conspirators so far appear to be Neptune – dissolving the issue; Pluto – supercharging it; Saturn – restricting things and Mars and Uranus – giving it too much oomph and sudden impetus (think nuts and anaphylactic shock).

But, for now, back to wheat.

I started, naturally, with my chart and my astrologer’s. Both of us have aspects from Ceres to Pluto (he a conjunction, I a square) and Neptune (he a sextile, I a quincunx), while he also has a square to Mars and I a semi-sextile to Saturn.

Looking, then, at known and celebrated coeliac sufferers, I took what I already surmised from the above and applied that information to their Nativities. Neptune is the unifying factor, with barely a single case being unaspected to him. Following a close second is Pluto. I shall list, for your persusal, a few examples:

• Jim Carrey: Ceres opposition Neptune and trine Pluto
• Jude Law: Ceres semi-sextile Neptune and contra-parallel Pluto
• Amanda Donohoe: Ceres trine Neptune and sextile Pluto
• Kelis (actually a nut-allergy sufferer): Ceres trine Neptune and opposition Pluto

Ceres in Taurus appears to be another contributing factor. Consider these examples:

• Jim Carrey (again) with Ceres in Taurus, and the above configurations
• Rachel Weisz: Ceres in Taurus and quincunx Neptune
• Scarlett Johansson: Ceres in Taurus and sesqui-quadrate Neptune
• Bill Clinton (asthmatic): Ceres in Taurus and trine Neptune
• Terence Stamp: Ceres in Taurus and trine Neptune

There are other considerations as well, of course, mostly involving aspects to Saturn, Mars or Uranus, but they simply appear to add weight to the issue, perhaps even bringing other intolerances or allergies in to play alongside the wheat problem. Juliette Lewis, for example, has Ceres conjunct Neptune, trine Mars and semi-square Uranus. Goldie Hawn has a peregrine Neptune and Ceres opposition Uranus and trine Pluto. Terence Stamp, renowned for his regimented diet and coeliac trouble, has Ceres in Taurus, trine Neptune, conjunct Uranus and quincunx Saturn – the whole shebang!

These things can all be common factors, incidentally, in the suffering of the rather widely-spread umbrella term of IBS.

Should you find yourself with a combination of these indicators, I am not for a minute suggesting that you will find yourself in the grips of a full-blown wheat allergy. I would simply suggest that it is something to be wary of as you may find that such a thing might be triggered by a tricky transit, arc or direction. My astrologer and I, for example, discovered to our surprise and mirth this afternoon that his problems were triggered by his Pluto square in 2004. This he worked out just after I had mentioned that mine came into effect some time after the birth of my fourth son. I went to a homeopathic doctor to ask why I was so tired: was I being stupid and just exhausted because I had four children under 7 years old?? She did various tests on me and came up with a wheat intolerance. When we looked at my transits for that period of 2007, what should we find? Yup. My very own Pluto square.

Hah! Nothing in it, eh?

For those that might be interested, and as long as you have no problem with eggs, might I offer you here my own recipe for wheat-free bread?

Wheat-Free Bread

I use a bread machine for this, for ease and convenience, but it can be made with pretty good results in the conventional manner.

Ingredients:

500g wheat-free flour. You can buy ready-mixed flour, but I mix my own, using roughly equal quantities of any three of the following:

gram (chick-pea) flour
rice flour
potato flour
buckwheat flour
tapioca flour
soya flour
[Note: I find that a base of gram and rice flour with a third type from any of the rest works best)

1 tsp xanthan gum (optional, but performs the gluten-like action of binding the bread together)
2 tsp dried yeast
2 tsp sugar
1 tsp salt
1 egg
2 x 250ml warm water

In a bread machine:

1. Put in the 2 tsp yeast, 2 tsp sugar and 250ml of warm water. Allow the yeast to activate while you prepare the rest.
2. Measure out 500g wheat-free flour and add to it the salt and xanthan gum.
3. When the yeast is activated and bubbling up, add the egg to the yeast mixture.
4. Add the flour mixture to the bread pan, along with the other 250 ml warm water. Mix well and bake on an ordinary loaf program.
5. Tastes best toasted.

Bon appetit!

Protected: 21st July 2010: What’s up with that??

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