Let’s talk space rocks, folks.
The placement and movement of planets and constellations in the birth chart offer insights into the blessings and banes that befall us on our flaming motorcycle ride through the mortal coil.
Asteroids offer yet another layer of nuance, energy and understanding.
Which asteroids matter in astrology?
Our solar system is studded with thousands of asteroids, but a select few, named after mythic deities, are of significant importance.
Like planets, asteroids are imbued with signature astrological energy and their placement in the birth chart and their individual transits have a direct bearing on we fraught, fumbling carbon dumpsters.
Planets are showboat luminaries that represent and influence major life themes, while asteroids are more of a subtle sprinkle that add richness to the sordid story we make of our lives.
As with planets, you can see what zodiac signs asteroids occupy in your birth chart. To identify the primary asteroids in your birth chart, enter your birth date, time and location into a birth-chart generator like this one, and select these asteroids from the drop-down: Ceres, Chiron, Eros, Juno, Pallas and Vesta.
Read on for a cursory course on these primary asteroids.
Ceres
Named for the Roman goddess of the maternal, fertile and agricultural, Ceres is technically a dwarf planet but is regarded by astrologers as an asteroid.
In addition to indicating what and who we create and protect, Ceres helps us alchemize lessons of loss and sacrifice.
Demeter is the Greek equivalent of Ceres, and as the myth goes, the goddess of the grain endured the abduction of her daughter Persephone by underworld death daddy Hades. A deal was struck to satisfy both deities, and Persephone would eventually come to spend 1/2 of the year above ground and 1/2 below, giving rise to seasons. This myth and this asteroid illustrate themes of maternal devotion and surrender.
Ceres in the birth chart helps us unlock our unmet needs and serve as better stewards of our own self-care and inner children. Ceres shows us what we need to be nourished.
Chiron
Named for the immortal centaur and mentor of Achilles, who could not cure himself, Chiron is known as the wounded healer. The symbol for Chiron strongly resembles a key, and for good reason, the sign and house placement of Chiron within the birth chart unlocks our point of greatest pain and ultimate potential.
Artist and astrologer Elise Wells of Planet Poetica tells The Post, “Chiron is the bruise. It’s not about pushing on the places where it hurts; it’s about finding what the wound is and where the wound is so we can address it. What is not addressed gets repressed, and what we repress will get projected, and that is when the wound shows up everywhere!”
Indeed, if we choose to ignore our Chiron and the trajectory it offers, we will continue to activate it. Just as untreated wounds fester, so too does an unattended Chiron cry out for reprieve.
Wells continues, “In astrology, your Chiron placement is the healing work you are destined to do, your personal medicine. The balm and the relief, can be found in the polarity point of that placement. For example, if your Chiron is in Scorpio, look to Taurus for things to provide comfort, relief and beauty.”
Eros
Named for the nipple-baring spawn of Aphrodite, Eros is the god of the erotic. The sign and placement of Eros in the birth chart influence the realms of sexual conquest and desire.
What quickens your pulse and flushes your loins? Eros urges us to trust in lust as it is the lens through which we can see and feel everything that lights us up, turns us on and pushes us forward.
Juno
Named for the long-suffering wife of serial cheater Jupiter (the Roman equivalent of Zeus) Juno is the goddess of love, marriage and business partnerships.
The month of June takes its name from Juno as does the word ‘money’ as her temple was essentially a mint and she was venerated as “Juno Moneta”, guardian of funds.
In terms of literal and emotional investment, Juno’s placement indicates our relationship motivations and expectations and the type of person that calls us to commitment. Juno also reveals the way attachment activates our pain points and insecurities and how we respond to betrayal.
At her highest expression, Juno illustrates how we can be autonomous and interdependent, thriving in partnership without forfeiting our selfhood.
As her lowest vibration, Juno falls prey to jealousy, power struggles, emotional manipulation and self-abandonment in the name of ‘love.’
Pallas
Named for the Roman goddess of wisdom and warfare who sprang, fully formed and fully armored from her father’s brow, Pallas Athene, or simply Pallas, reveals our relationship to strategy, conflict, intellect, social justice, courage and patriarchal figureheads.
The archetype of the female warrior who leverages cunning over combat, Pallas demonstrates our ability to problem solve, think freely, and bridge intellect and emotion. Pallas is the marriage of head and heart, and reveals the kinds of war we are apt to wage.
Vesta
Named for the virgin Roman goddess of hearth, home and family whose symbol was the perpetual flame, the asteroid Vesta indicates what sparks inspiration and stokes devotion.
Integrating the sexual and the sacred, Vesta represents how we channel and exalt in our essential life force.
Connecting with Vesta’s energy helps us uncover what we hold as holy and how we ritualize that reverence. Blocked or unintegrated Vesta energy can manifest as a Virgin-whore complex, dividing the body from the spirit and denying the sanctity of the inexorable relationship between them.
Astrologer Reda Wigle researches and irreverently reports on planetary configurations and their effect on each zodiac sign. Her horoscopes integrate history, poetry, pop culture and personal experience. To book a reading, visit her website.
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