Asteroids

Ceres, Pallas, Juno, and Vesta are the four major asteroids. Chiron has also been classified as an asteroid, although for a number of reasons Chiron does not belong in the same group as the other four asteroids.

The first thing to bear in mind when looking at the asteroids is that they are entirely unnecessary and extraneous. You do not need to include any asteroids in the natal chart in order to come up with an in-depth, detailed, comprehensive interpretation. Period. Many astrologers swear by the asteroids. I, myself, always include Chiron in my charts and interpretations (although I don’t work with any other asteroids).

But the fact of the matter is that they are not required for chart interpretation, and I recommend that you avoid and ignore them until you are extremely confident and competent with your interpretation skills using only the major bodies in the chart.

The asteroids will not tell you anything new. Every important theme in the chart can be seen through working with the major bodies in the chart. Asteroids can be useful in pointing out secondary themes, but if you can’t find a theme in a chart using only the ten planets (Sun through Pluto), the angles, and perhaps the Part of Fortune, then it’s simply not going to be an important issue for the individual in question.

It’s far too easy to look at minor bodies and obscure elements to try and tell the story of a chart. You can include literally thousands of asteroids in a chart.

The disclaimers and warnings out of the way, we can look at the four major asteroids: Ceres, Pallas, Juno and Vesta. One argument that I will make in favor of working with these bodies is that they go a long way towards breaking up the boy’s club of the major heavenly bodies.

Out of the ten primary influences in the chart, eight of them are male (Sun, Mercury, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, Pluto) while only two of them are female (Moon and Venus). (I’m classifying Mercury as "male" because the mythological figure was a man, even though Mercury’s energy is entirely neutral, being equally "Masculine" and "Feminine."

Likewise, although a strong case could be made that Neptune’s energy is more "receptive" and therefore "feminine," Neptune was a male god. And even though Pluto started out as a goddess–the crone figure with Persephone being the Maiden and Demeter being the mother–the best known form of them myth gave Pluto a sex change.) Adding the four asteroid goddesses in to the mix certainly helps balance out the masculine energy of the planets.

Ceres is, in fact, the Roman counterpart to Demeter, the goddess of grain, of the Earth and the Spring. Ceres, much like the Moon, represents nurturing and comforting urges–although while the Moon represents many other qualities, Ceres is primarily focused on these.

Ceres is the protective mother–the one who feeds an cares for us, and Ceres is often associated with nutrition, food, and (if afflicted in the chart) can even be linked to eating disorders.

To work with Ceres, it’s important to remember Demeter’s part in the Persephone story. When her daughter was kidnapped and taken to the underworld by Hades (Pluto), Demeter (Ceres) mourned her loss with a tremendous amount of grief, during which time, nothing on earth grew–the first experience of Winter.

When Persephone was returned to her, Demeter rejoiced and things grew again; however, each time that Persephone had to leave and return to the underworld, Demeter mourned her loss anew. Ceres energy has to do with caretaking, nurturing, and an understanding of the natural cycles of growth and death.

Pallas Athena emerged a full-grown warrior out of her father, Zeus’ head. Athena was the goddess of wisdom–and by all accounts, she was one of the most industrious, level-headed, and productive of all of the residents of Olympus.

Pallas is the female warrior, the strategist, the artisan, and the inventor. Pallas is driven to understand the mysteries of life, and to make use of this information. Working with the mythology associated with Athena and Zeus, Pallas Athena becomes the daughter archetype in the chart–the daughter who strives to win the respect and approval of her father who always made it clear that he wanted a son.

Pallas in many ways represents women striving for equality with men in today’s society, trying to demonstrate their skill and prove their worth using a male-centric view of the world.

If Ceres is the mother archetype and Pallas is the daughter archetype, Juno represents the third female archetype: the wife. Almost by definition, then, Juno has to do with relationships; however, Juno isn’t going to replace Venus any time soon.

Juno, you see, relates to very specific issues in relationship. Juno, who is the Roman version of Hera, was the wife of Jupiter (Zeus), and is perhaps the single most betrayed, manipulated, and suppressed figure in mythology.

Zeus managed to be faithful while he was in the same room with Hera (usually), but once he left the room, all bets were off. Yes, Juno is strongly connected to the institution of marriage, but Juno also represents the darker side of relationships: she is the angry, vengeful, jealous wife–the woman scorned and seeking her due.

Finally, we come to the sister archetype, represented by Vesta. Vesta is the goddess of the hearth, and was primarily worshipped by the Vestal Virgins (who are, of course, related to the sign Virgo). The Vestal Virgins were women who owed allegiance to no man–they maintained control over their own lives, and dedicated their lives to the service of Vesta.

One of their primary functions was to select the best grain from the harvest each year and hold it back so that it could be planted for the following year’s crops. The Vestal Virgins tended the fire–the symbolic center of the Roman Empire, and they also tended the inner, spiritual fire, maintaining a direct connection with the divine and the sacred. Vesta represents where and how we focus our energy, and how we protect, tend, and nurture the spiritual fire within us.

Chiron, on the other hand, is a different story. Chiron was initially classified as a "planetoid" because of its large size; then it was downgraded to "asteroid" and finally it’s considered to be a captured comet.

Regardless, Chiron is a very different entity than the other asteroids. First of all, Chiron’s orbit is nowhere near the asteroid belt. While Ceres, Pallas, Juno, Vesta, and the other thousands of asteroids are found in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, Chiron’s orbit connects Saturn and Uranus.

Chiron is very much an outer planet energy, while the other asteroids are more in the category of the personal planets.

I’ve covered Chiron before several times. But briefly, Chiron represents the archetype of the wounded healer. Chiron is associated with our spirituality and our core wounds, and can help to bridge the gap between the Saturn-based reality that we experience on earth, and the higher, spiritual truths that are represented by the outer planets.