Eris is a slow moving dwarf planet (560 year cycle) that disrupted the astronomical community in 2005 because they didn’t know how she should be classified – as a planet or asteroid?

This created a huge controversy ultimately demoting Pluto from a Planet to a Dwarf Planet – a new classification sparked by the discovery of Eris.

Interestingly this equalized Pluto (a masculine god) and Eris ( a feminine goddess) as both are now considered dwarf planets. See more in videos and article below…

Updated article in 2025

Eris the Dwarf Planet
Eris was first observed in October of 2003 and the discovery was confirmed in January of 2005. Eris quickly became a pivotal point in redefining what constitutes a planet in the solar system. The discovery led to a reclassification of Pluto and a new category of celestial bodies called dwarf planets.

Considering Eris’s size and location in the Kuiper Belt, along with its discovery, it prompted the International Astronomical Union (IAU) to redefine the concept of a planet.

Pluto was demoted from Planet to Dwarf Planet The discovery of Eris, initially considered potentially larger than Pluto, led to the reclassification of Pluto as a dwarf planet, along with Eris creating a new category.

The IAUs 2006 definition of a dwarf planet, including Eris and Pluto, created a new class of celestial bodies that are spherical, orbit the Sun, but have not gravitationally cleared their neighborhood of other bodies.

Eris is a member of the Kuiper Belt, a region beyond Neptune that contains many icy bodies. See video for more of the astronomy.

Eris’s discovery and the subsequent astronomical debate have significantly impacted our understanding of the solar system and the classification of celestial bodies

Eris is the 9th most massive body known to orbit our Sun.

One of the reasons it was named Eris is because it caused so much strife and discord in the astronomical community that they wound up demoting Pluto from a planet to a dwarf planet and elevating the asteroid Ceres from an asteroid to a dwarf planet.

When Eris was initially discovered in 2005 astronomers were calling it the 10th planet.

Eris has a 560 year elliptical orbit staying in the seasonal sign of Aries for about 126 years when it is farthest away from the Sun. Eris entered Aries in 1922 and is in Aries until 2048.

No matter where Eris is located from Earth’s perspective, if you were standing on Eris and looking back towards the Sun, it would look like any other star similar to how we see stars when we are standing on Earth looking out towards the stars. In fact, many of the Stars we see from Earth are much bigger than our Sun but are so far away they look like stars to us. This is a reminder that what we see, perceive and believe is all about perspective.

The Mythical background on Eris goddess of strife and discord

Eris is the eldest daughter of Nyx Greek Goddess of the Night. Nyx, mother of Eris, was the daughter of Chaos. Some versions of the story say Eris’s father was Chronos lord of time.  

Eris was also considered to be the half sister of Ares, the Greek god of war, and she often accompanied Ares into battle, riding alongside him in his chariot.  

Being the eldest daughter Eris was the one who inspires action because the original meaning of strife was about striving for a better life to strive for something better.

In today’s view of strife or discord they imply conflict, struggle, challenges. Another way to see this is strife, conflict, struggle and challenges are what help us grow and evolve.

So Eris as the goddess of strife is the one who pushes us into action. As the half sister to Aries, Eris is about action and Eris was discovered when she was in the sign of Aries where she remains until 2048.

Eris is known as the goddess of Discord. It may help to know Discord comes from the Latin disc meaning is has to do with dividing things or separating things and chord refers to music and that has also been linked to “cor” or heart. So if we consider this it might be an indication of asking where are we separated from our own hearts and what actions would help us come back into accord with hearts and ourselves?  

The most famously recongnized story of Eris in the story that refers to the judgment of Paris.

Interestingly, Paris rhymes with Eris and there is a connection because when Paris’ mother Cuba who was married to Priam King of troy she has a dream that her baby is a firebrand who wrecks havoc and destruction on Troy.

Paris’ mother wakes up screaming that Troy is burning to the ground so the king orders the child to be put to death when he’s born. Paris is given to a shephard who takes the baby and puts him on mount Ida to die by exposure.  The shepard returns a few days later and the baby is still alive so he takes the baby home and raises him secretly.

He names him Paris and when he is grown he becomes known for his beauty and his athletic abilities. In modern day terms he was a jock, handsome, athletic, witty, charming, the type of guy women tend to seek out.  

It comes to pass that there is a wedding between Peleus and Thetis. 

Zeus, fearing a prophecy that the Goddess Thetis would have a son who would be greater than Zeus, so Zeus arranged for her to marry Peleus, a mortal hero on Mount Pelion.

The wedding was a grand celebration attended by all the gods and goddesses, except Eris, the goddess of discord who was not invited.

In act of revenge for not being invited Eris placed a golden apple on the wedding table that said the apple was for the fairest one.

Zeus knew he couldn’t determine who was the fairest as Hera was his wife and Athen and Aphrodite were his daughters. So Paris was given the task because he is considered to be a good judge of beauty, being someone who is considered very handsome and beautiful according to the standards of the time.

Paris agrees to be the judge. All three goddesses offer him a bribe so he will pick them to be the fairest or most beautiful..

Hera offers a great marriage that would assure Paris tremendous wealth and power and he would have also have the greatest Kingdom of Earth to rule over so Paris is thinking wow that sounds great.

But then Athena comes along and promises him victory in all of his battles and that he would also have glory in everything that he does and the wisdom that goes with that as well and so he considers this because at the time the Greeks considered these the most the three most precious gifts, victory in battles, glory in everything he does and wisdom.

 Then Aphrodite comes before Paris and offers him the gift of love with the most beautiful woman in the land or in the in the world at that time and that the beauty of this woman would equal Aphrodite. While bribing Paris she is standing before him in her most seductive manner telling Paris that he will also have the greatest delights possible in the experience of love making with this most beautiful woman. Paris is so overcome with her beauty he immediately without even thinking gives her the apple without really thinking about it any further.

Athena and Hera are so upset they became immediate enemies of Aphrodite.

Meanwhile, Aphrodite arranges for Paris to meet Helen of Troy who is considered the most beautiful woman at the time and she’s married to the King Menelaus of Sparta. When Helen and Paris meet, they instantly fall in love and Helen leaves with Paris for Troy. Sparking the Trojan war.

Returning to the wedding it turns out Thetis and Peleus had a son sometime later known as Achilles, who became a hero of the Trojan War.

It is also interesting to note the reason (or so we are told) Eris wasn’t invited to the wedding is because she was known as a troublemaker, she was ill tempered and hard to get along with so she is not invited to the party. Her retaliation is what ultimately starts the Trojan war.

That is another story but what this is telling us – is what happens when we do not embrace our shadow, our inner turmoil and discord, our angry uninvited parts the parts of ourselves that have been disowned or denied.

This is how Eris is very similar to Pluto. Both are about shining a light on the shadow and getting our attention. Eris goddess of Chaos and Discord is reminding us to pay attention to our hurt feelings, the feelings that hurt our heart or where we feel disconnected or divided or separate separated from our hearts.

If we think of discord as something that has also been known to foster competition, the competition between the three goddesses to be claimed as the fairest, it is based in a sense of scarcity. Only one of them could have the golden apple, only one of them could be claimed as the fairest.

If instead they could all three be claimed as the as the fairest recognizing there’s plenty for everyone it would be a different story. So again this is coming from a place of competition and scarcity and it is an old paradigm model from the patriarchy and part of the challenge or maybe part of the opportunity that we have now is transforming this discord and strife by reconnecting with our hearts and taking action designed to heal our hearts.

This is possible when we  commit to loving ourselves and to loving all life and to loving all the parts that we don’t necessarily like that much including, the parts that we may feel are disagreeable that are challenging, where we might have judgments about ourselves, in the same way that the gods and goddesses had judgments about Eris.

This is about committing to really truly loving ourselves and all of our parts loving our lives and loving all life as a way to perhaps bring us back into our hearts instead of being in discord then we can be in unity we can reunify ourselves with that place within our hearts.

Valuing and honoring the loving wisdom within our hearts through loving ourselves, loving each other, knowing that from the place of love there is more than enough, there is plenty for everyone and when we’re reconnected to that place we move from discord to unity.

A helpful practice might be tapping on your heart or putting your hand on your heart or whatever can help you feel connected to your heart. Ahhhh breathing to activate your heart energy and Vagus nerve as you drop your awareness into your heart and saying to yourself:

I love myself! I love and accept myself exactly how I am in this moment. I love my life. I love and accept my life exactly as it is right now! I love and accept myself, I love and accept my life and all I love and accept all life as it is exactly right now!

Tuning into your heart with awareness is a great way to make your choices going forward so we are transforming the chaos and discord within ourselves first and then in the world around us. As Wayne Dyer reminded us “If we want to change what is going on around us, First we must Change what Is going on within US. Eris would agree.

In April of 2011 Eris was with Uranus and in 2025 Eris is with Chiron and will eventually be with Saturn and Neptune with both having moved into Aries in 2025.  

In 2025 and 2026 Chiron is with Eris in Aries 3 times. The last time Eris and Chiron met in Aries was in 1971 and then they only met once.

Saturn and Neptune will catch up to Eris still researching those dates …

Eris Planetary Conjuncts
2025 Chiron is with Eris May 26, and Oct 08
2026 Chiron is with Eris on March 19
2027 Saturn is with Eris on June 24, September 29
2028 Saturn is with Eris on March 4
2023 Jupiter was with Eris on April 23
2035 Jupiter is with Eris on April 18
2047 Jupiter is with Eris on April 14
2037 Neptune is with Eris June 07 and Oct 05
2038 Neptune is with Eris on March 21
Uranus was with Eris
2016 June 08, and September 25, and March 16, 2017
2106 Uranus and Eris meet again on April 28

Find Where Eris was when you born and where it will be in the future

 An Eris Ephemeris from 1900 to 2100

Eris Orbit Approximate Most Recent Years through the Signs

Aries          1393 to 1521 (128 years) and 1922 to 2048 (126 years)
Taurus         1521 to 1606 (85 years)
Gemini        1606 to 1642 (36 years)
Cancer        1642 to 1662 (20 years)
Leo             1662 to 1677 (15 years is the shortest time Eris is in one sign)
Virgo            1677 to 1693 (16 years)
Libra            1693 to 1714 (21 years)
Scorpio        1714 to 1740 (26 years)
Sagittarius  1740 to 1768 (28 years)
Capricorn    1768 to 1800 (32 years)
Aquarius      1800 to 1846 (46 years)
Pisces           1846 to 1926 (80 years)

Here is a comprehensive list of Eris through the signs back to 339.

SIGN          Year of ingress (approx.) back to 330 A.D. up to current time
Aries             339      866      1393     1922
Taurus         457      989       1521      2048
Gemini        510     1058    1606
Cancer         534     1088    1642
Leo               552     1107    1662
Virgo            567     1122    1677
Libra            585     1139    1693
Scorpio        609    1161    1714
Sagittarius  637     1188    1740
Capricorn   667     1217    1768
Aquarius    704     1251    1800
Pisces         763     1303    1846