Introduction to Asteroids in Astrology
– compiled and written by Philip Graves – 19 Jan 2004
– reformatted for WordPress, June 1st-3rd, 2016
Here is information on the general influence of six of the largest asteroids in astrology, plus the popular smaller Sappho and tiny Eros. This article has been compiled from the published assessments of asteroid influence by Emma Belle Donath, Demetra George and Douglas Bloch; and Martha Lang-Westcott.
Ceres
Ceres signifies abortion; adaptation to one’s environment; animal care; anorexia; attachment; the attempt to exert sole control over children, creations or possessions; austere beauty; birth and rebirth; birth control; bulimia; caring for others; child abuse; childbirth training; children’s rights; clanship; concern; conditional love and approval; cultivation and growing cycles; cycles of transformation and renewal; death and dying; depression and isolation stemming from inadequate nurturance; dependency; disability; the discipline required for social adaptation and integration; domestication; efficient functioning; excess weight; extended family; family roots, ties and values; feelings of self-esteem, self-image and self-worth; food; food-related services and physical disorders; grief, mourning, sorrow and suffering; healing (including through gemstones); growth; gynaecological health; helping professions; loss, abandonment and rejection; the meeting or denying by parent figures of personal needs expressed by its sign and house placement; midwifery; miscarriage; mothering and mother-love; mothers’ rights; national product; nourishment; nursing; nurturing; parental relationships; parenthood; platonic friendships; pregnancy; prenatal care; pre-school education; primary education; primitive inherited instincts and responses; productivity; provision for others; the relationship with nature and Earth energies; the search for perfection; service; sharing and letting go; single parenting; social services; survival of the species; unconditional love and acceptance of others; unemployment; universal love; and useful work.
It is associated with agriculture; ants; bakers; botany; bread; breeders; caretakers; caves; cereal grains; commodities; communes; consumers; cooks; co-operatives; corn; cranes; dolphins; domestic animals; doves; earth science teachers; the Earth element; ecology; farming; farmers; farm tools; gardening; grandparents and grandchildren; harvest; honey; horticultural nurseries; hospices; labourers; nannies; nursery school directors; nurses; nutritional counsellors; nutritional healing; pigs; plants; poppies; producers; restaurants; seasons; seeds; servants; social security payments; springs; strikes; the thyroid gland; trainers; tribes; underground water; unions; veterinarians; and waiters and waitresses. Its glyph represents the agricultural sickle; and its symbols include ears of corn or wheat; ploughs; sacrificial knives; scythes; a circle enclosed in a triangle; and torches.
Pallas
Pallas signifies affirmation; androgyny; artistic ability and creativity; bravery; canniness; career choice (especially of women); cellular regeneration; colour blindness; confidence; conflicts between creativity and love; conservation; co-ordination; courage; creating and developing; creative visualisation; creative wisdom; cunning; denial of femininity; the desire to give advice; the desire to please others, and its extent (in accordance with the indications of aspects); diplomacy; dyslexia; emotional insensitivity; energy healing; equality in work; foresight; gender alienation; healing power; holistic techniques that integrate mind and body; hypnosis; intelligence level; invention; kundalini; law and legal issues; learning problems; liaison; magical will; mediation; mental functioning and interests; mental and psychological healing through balance and integration; mental retardation; militant feminism; modesty; nobility of mind; oracle; overidentification with males; pattern and system discernment; peacemaking; perception, and skills or difficulties with it; perseverance; physical healing through balance; planning; political activism; practicality; precision; prophecy; problem-solving; racial and ethnic issues; resourcefulness; the seeking of paternal or authoritative approval for one’s behaviour; sexual identity imbalances; skill; skillful hands; social justice; strategic self-presentation; strength; valour.
It is associated with acupuncture; the aged; armour; beetles; champions of the people; channelling; cockerels; counsellors; crusaders; defenders of justice and of minorities; design; drawing; domestic crafts; embroidery; fencing; flutes; graphics; gestalt; handcrafts; the Heart chakra; homeopathy; horse trainers; industry; irises; jobs; knitting; librarians; light; macrobiotics; martial arts; metallurgy; musical instruments; numbers; olive trees; ombudsmen; owls; painting; peace campaigners; patrons of art and crafts; photography; pottery; psychodrama; scarabs; sculptors; sewing; smithing; spinning; symbols of wisdom; technology; Transactional Analysis; unicorns; visual arts; vocational trainers; the Water element; weavers; weaving; whales; witnesses; working women; and the young. Its glyph represents the spear of the protectress; and its symbols include an aegis with a gorgon’s head; diamonds; distaffs; lances; shields; and a triangle centred in a six-pointed star.
Vesta
Vesta signifies alienation and separation from and denial of personal relationships; anchoring in stability; ascetism; aspiration; avoidance of marriage and children; the balancing out of excessive emotionalism (where indicated elsewhere in the figure) or deficient self-esteem; barrenness; the binding of groups of people having a common belief; celibacy; chastity; clearing away of débris; commitment; conservatism; contracts; credibility; dedication (to causes, careers, or service); delay of desires by responsibilities; devotion and devotional activities; exercise; extremism; fanaticism; fear of intimacy and commitment; fertility; focus and centredness; frigidity; health; heritage; hospitality; impotence; initiation; inner strength; liberated or discriminating sexuality; meditation; nutrition; the perception and use of physical space and of the home; personal integration; personal routines; prayer; preparation for new growth; preservation of what is important; promiscuity; prostitution; protection; psychic development; purification; purity; retreat; religious activities; religious and magical ceremony; ritual; the transmutation of karma through dharma; safety; sanctuary; scholastic interests; security; self-containment and self-reliance; self-discipline; self-regeneration; seniority; service and servitude; sex outside committed relationships; sexual fears, guilt and inadequacies; solemnity; sterility; sublimation or transmutation of sexual energies in devotional, intellectual, mental, physical or work outlets; tradition; treaties; virginity; voluntary simplicity; vows; warmth; willing sacrifice (especially to reach goals); ‘workaholism’; work motivated by personal alienation or compensation; and zealousness.
It is associated with acolytes; altars; ancestral care; assistants to priests; caretakers; ceramics; ceremonial objects; club members; deer; donkeys; esoteric, fraternal or sororal orders; fences; fire as used for human benefit; the Fire element; heart fires; gurus; hearts; houses; ibises; illuminators; keepers of traditions and of esoteric and religious teachings; keys; lamps; laurel trees; light bearers; locks; masons; monks; nightingales; nuns; oak trees; the pineal gland; pornography; priests and priestesses; professors; religious orders; Rosicrucians; safes; scholars; scribes; secret societies and orders; service groups; slow, steady animals; social groups; spiders; teachers; and zealots. Its glyph represents the Hearth Fire; and its symbols include eternal flames; five-pointed stars; flaming altars; torches; and tripods.
Hygiea
Hygiea signifies health; the idealisation of cleanliness; and hygiene. Aspects to Hygiea can sometimes indicate health problems of people signified by the planets aspected. The glyph for Hygiea represents the caduceus, or staff of the medical profession.
Juno
Juno signifies adornment; anniversaries; atmospheric purity; the attempt to regain power; the balance of power; betrayal; betrothal; business relationships; the ceding of power; charm; chastity; childbirth; compatibility; courtship; creative / artistic talent; divorce; dress-style; eccentricity; emotional attachment; emotional and sexual power games; engagement; enhancement of female beauty; environmental quality; equality, fairness and freedom as issues; expectation of the behaviour of the (marital or equivalent) partner; entertainment; etiquette; fears of future problems in a relationship; female discontent; female virtue; female wiles; fidelity; financial costing, estimation and accountancy; friendship; fruitfulness; glamour; grace; group care; home organisation; hospitality; identification of the self through the partner or children; inequality in partnerships or work; image projection; incest; infidelity; insecurity in a relationship; intimacy; jealousy; the legitimacy or illegitimacy of children; marriage institutions and rituals; marriages as unions, and their accompanying obligations and commitments; the marriage partner; subtle manipulation; matriarchs; mating; new relationship forms; non-acceptance of areas of the partner’s nature, serving to divide and limit fulfilment; one-to-one relating; partnership; possessiveness; the powerless; projection and reflection; protocol; quarrelsomeness; relatedness; relationship as a means of self-expression; the relationship dynamic (partly as learned from parents, especially the mother); relationship counselling; relationship problems that test the level of commitment; separation and return; seduction; sex crimes; sharing; shrewishness; social patterns and ritual; social welfare; soul mate bonds; spiritual relationships; the structuring of activities; subjugation; subtlety; tantric sexuality; trust; understanding; unwillingness to compromise in relationship disagreements; victims; vindictiveness; virtue; weddings; and women’s rights.
It is associated with abused children; the atmosphere; bees; brides; ceremonies; climate; conjugal honour; cosmetics; cows; cuckoos; dance; décor; the disabled; drama; eggs; the element Air; etiquette; grooms; heirs; hosts and hostesses; housekeepers; husbands; jewellery; joint leaders or rulers; lilies; make-up; masks; matrons; meteorology; minorities; mint; ornamentation; peacocks; performing arts; pomegranates; roses; scents; siblings; singing; the solar plexus; storms; treasurers; vice-presidents; weddings; widows; wives (including abused ones); women; women’s support groups; and yokemakers. Its glyph represents a royal sceptre. Its symbols include the diadem; linked double rings; rainbows; sceptres; a triangle at the centre of a circle; and veils.
Psyche
Psyche signifies the capacity for clear psychic attunement and sensitivity to and bonding with another person, by mind and feelings; conscious relationship as a path to spiritual illumination; deep, intuitive communication; a struggle to achieve a true, lasting love; and yearning for soul-mate union. It has also been interpreted as a point of damage, psychological trauma or wounding from which the individual does not recover, leaving an open, hypersensitive wound. In Fire signs, Psyche describes the ability to control and direct energy fields; in Earth, concretely manifested achievements; in Air, mind telepathy; in Water, empathy. Afflictions to Psyche lead to blocked psychic awareness; inability to enter personal relationships; or insensitivity to others. Aspects to Psyche heighten awareness of the principles governed by the aspected planet; and harmonious aspects can seem to share the burden of wounding with the aspected planet. In synastry, Psyche highlights areas of intuitive understanding or lack of understanding between the individuals. Transits to Psyche affect the state of psychological health. The glyph for Psyche represents a butterfly.
Sappho
Sappho signifies aesthetic refinement; the desire to bond deeply with or feel the same way as others. education of females in the fine arts; emotional extremes in love; friendship needs; poetic ability; romantic and artistic sensitivity; same-sex bonding that exceeds ordinary friendship; the sensitisation of individuals to their sexuality; sensuality; the sharing of aesthetics, artistry, interests and values; and sociability. Inharmonious aspects to Sappho indicate difficulties in forming close friendships; loneliness; problems in expressing or understanding love and sexuality; and trouble in balancing of intimacy needs with other areas of the personality. Sappho’s natal sign placement shows what the individual does for or with close friends; while its natal house placement shows what he or she most needs to share. In synastry, Sappho highlights sensual and sexual attractions. Transits involving Sappho highlight common ground between people and accentuate interaction with close friends. The glyph for Sappho represents linked Venuses.
Eros
Eros signifies the capacity for passion; compulsive attachment; joie de vivre; motivation to consummate desires; sexual attraction; sexual preference; the survival instinct; and vital energy. Aspects highlight desires for, or sensual pleasure stemming from, what is governed by the aspected planet. In synastry, Eros shows sexual compatibility, and the reciprocation of passion. The glyph for Eros represents Cupid’s dart in a heart.
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