There are many asteroids and minor planets that can be explored in astrology. It is important to note the cultural context of these asteroid’s myths and stories that has led to a majority of the asteroids’ meaning in astrology–with many being linked to ancient Greek or Roman gods or goddesses. Astrologer and author Demetra George has done extensive work with the asteroids detailed in the book titled Asteroid Goddesses: The Mythology, Psychology, and Astrology of the Re-Emerging Feminine.

On this page you will find information for:

• Ceres
• Pallas Athene
• Juno
• Vesta
• Eris
• Chiron
• Black Moon Lilith
• Urania
• Sappho
• Eros
• Lilith the Asteroid

And click here for a list of thousands of other asteroids provided by astro.com

Ceres

Keywords: 

Nurturer archetype, harvest and gathering, mourning, life cycles + seasons, provider, caretaker, family loyalty, self-care, food and nutrients, Earth, advocacy, revenge, expressing grief and loss, cycles of nature

Named after the Roman goddess of the earth, Ceres carries earthy elemental energy. Ceres is associated with nurturing and nature.  Along with this earthy energy, Ceres is also the mother of Prosepina (in Greek mythology called Persephone). The location of Ceres in the astrology chart speaks to the desire to nurture and be nurtured.

This planet is symbolic of how we connect to the Earth, how we care for ourselves, and our relationship with nourishing food as well. It also symbolizes how we mourn when we experience tragedy and who or what we turn towards for comfort when we are experiencing a difficult time, overwhelming grief, or an intense loss.

The zodiac sign location of Ceres and planetary aspects can help us more clearly define where our loyalties lie, understand familial connections and dynamics, and uncover details about how we care for the self and body and those who are entrusted to our care. 

Pallas Athene

Keywords:

Sacred warrior, strength, mental fortitude, confidence, wisdom, guardian, protector, arts + crafts, practicality, liberator, defender, advocate, decision making skills, logic, action versus reaction, stewardship

Pallas Athene is symbolic of the application of our skills, abilities, creativity, and how we strategize these projects. This placement lends insight into what aspects of self take the lead when we need to react or take action whether that be emotions, logic, and so on.

This placement shows us what our guiding principles are behind our decisions, whether that be a call to fighting for justice, desire to defend the people we love and care about, steward and protect the land, or feel called to resist oppressive systems.

The location of Pallas Athene in the chart demonstrates an area where we show wisdom, ability, and skill that can be put into practice. This asteroid shows us what parts of ourselves we can cultivate for the collective benefit, peace, and freedom of all beings.

Pallas Athene was known for her successful approach to war and therefore is also a guardian of those who embody the spirit of social justice. Look at the sign, house, and aspects Pallas makes in your chart for more details on your personal creative talents, strengths, strategizing abilities, and physical or personal and collective power.

Juno

Keywords:

Bonding, partnership, royalty, leadership, conception, union, pregnancy, birth, attentiveness, values, loyalty, contracts, relationship structures, managing details, leadership, understanding toxic relationship patterns, stepping into positions of power

Juno in the chart represents how individual leadership abilities emerge and grow over time. Juno was venerated as the queen of the gods and they represents royalty, administration, and oversight. Juno was also married to Zeus (Roman Jupiter) and is often associated with the stress she experienced due to the toxicity of her partnership.

Juno stands for aspects of our romantic relationships, unions, and partnerships–generally in relation to long-term commitments and any sacrifices we feel we are making for them. Juno can also represent difficult emotions that arise in relationships out of jealousy, fear, insecurity, and so on.

This asteroid is also associated with conception and birth which symbolizes the shifts in roles and responsibilities we take due to major life events. The location and aspects Juno makes in the chart can illuminate details about relationships, resentment, perceived duty, actual duties, and personal autonomy.

Vesta

Keywords:

Priestess, internal fire, hearth, flame, sexuality, sisterhood, sibling-hood, ritual, sacred ritual, coven work, witchcraft, spiritual practices, commitments, tending, tending shrines and altars, devotion, spirit marriages, inner passion and inspiration, religious ecstasy, rhythm, holding space, temple practices, dance, being of service, community care, chop wood-carry water

Vesta’s location in the chart is symbolic of the expression that our daily rituals take. In ancient Rome Vesta was worshipped as the keeper of the flame and hearth in the home, tending to this flame was a daily task of devotion. This asteroid is symbolic of tending to our fires within, our divine spark, a heart of devotion, and our spiritual longings.

Vesta represents our internal spiritual fire and desire to practice devotional tasks solitary or with others. This asteroid provides details on how we relate to the spiritual and divine connections we make through ecstatic, mystical, and rapture experiences.

The spiritual work Vesta performs is symbolic of the work individuals take on in a priesthood, coven, or sacred circle. They symbolize the small steps and tiny actions-such as adding wood to the fire-that leads to greater change in one’s life over time. Vesta explores the power of daily spiritual practice, acts of service, communing with deities, saying incantations, and devotion in all its manifestations. Look at the sign and house location for more information on how Vesta represents the relationship to your inner soul’s flame and spiritual practice.

Eris

Keywords:

Motivation, chaos, wheel of fortune, strife, discord, rage, troublemaking, manipulation, activism, subversive, reject the status quo, unearth conditioning, sacred rage, resistance to power, speaking truth to power, undermining oppressive systems, rioting, acts of resistance

Known as a goddess of strife and discord, approaching Eris can be intimidating. This dwarf planet has a very irregular orbit and has been slowly moving through Aries since the 1920s where it still is today and through the year 2058. Because Eris has been in Aries for so long it is best to look at the house and the specific aspects this asteroid is making to other planets or sensitive points in the chart.

In myth, the goddess Eris was known for stirring up discord as way of resisting the hierarchies of the Greek pantheon. She was snubbed by the other gods in the pantheon and decided to drum up some drama amongst the gods. Eris today can help us get in touch with our sacred rage at oppressive systems and empowers the fight for liberation and social justice. She also represents that this fight is messy, things are complex, and mistakes will be made along the way.

Chiron

Keywords:

Healing, astrology, medicine, wounds, mentors, teachers, herbalism, plant knowledge, sacrifice, knowledge, wisdom, study, alchemy, making medicines, medical intuition, energy healing, wellness wisdom, community service, being of service

Chiron is a minor planet orbiting as a go-between for the inner and outer planets, which has given Chiron one of its nicknames, ‘the bridge.’ Chiron links our inner energy with the transpersonal energy of the outer planets in our chart (Neptune, Uranus, and Pluto). The other nickname Chiron wears is ‘wounded healer.’ In mythology, Chiron was a healer and teacher but had a wound he himself by poison that he was not able to heal from.

These theme of the wounded healer has drifted into the astrological meaning of Chiron as well. In the chart, Chiron can be viewed as a part of self that needs attention and healing. It can demonstrate how and where our ability to heal or teach others can manifest in our lives.

Chiron illuminates the ways in which we share what we have learned, especially as it relates to personal healing or collective healing journeys. As an archetypal mentor, Chiron, is a teacher, bestowing on us information regarding medicine, astrology, wisdom, knowledge, spirituality, alchemy, medicine making, herbalism, and the arts. And then prompts us to take our ‘medicine’ as a service to those around us, communities, and ourselves.

Look for the house, sign, and aspects Chiron is making in the chart to illuminate the meaning of your personal wounds, healing gifts, and what types of mentors or spiritual learning experiences may be beneficial for you to seek out.

Black Moon Lilith or the Lunar Apogee

(h13 on astro.com or from the drop down list menu for ‘additional objects’)

Keywords:

Psychopomp, underworld journey, shadow work, relationships, periods of confusion, death and initiations, transformation, dream work, enlightenment, self-realization, sacrifice, sexuality, psychic gifts, spiritual transformation, spirit communication. 

In this form Lilith represents the Gates of Initiation, this is active during the Balsamic Moon phase when the sky is darkest just before the New Moon. Powerful magical energy exists here and this is an excellent time in each Lunar cycle to explore the depths of our psyches and souls while also engaging in, illuminating, and holding space for our shadow aspects.

Lilith is asking us to sacrifice and shed off everything that defines us in order to authentically understand our true nature and true divinity. To know our spiritual name instincts, and true nature; finding freedom in the deepest parts of our being. She represents the psychopomp of the underworld leading us through a symbolic Death as we enter through the gates of the underworld, our own personal shadow landscapes, in order to emerge on the other side enlightened and full of wisdom about ourselves and our personal journey.

Astronomical Lilith is a mathematical point calculated based on the orbit of the Moon as seen from Earth. Lilith is the point in the moon’s elliptical orbit that is the furthest point from the Earth. There are two points that can be calculated to get the Black Moon one based off of the wobbly ellipse the Moon actually makes around the Earth called ‘True Lilith’ and one based on an average of the Moon’s orbit as if it was smoothly traveling in a perfect ellipse which is called ‘Mean Lilith.’  This Black Moon is also called the Lunar Apogee, this mathematical point in spaces takes 8 years and 10 months to make its way around the zodiac. True Lilith is wha is h13 on astro.com extended chart selection and Mean Lilith is on the drop-down menu on astro.com.

Urania

(30 on astro.com)

Keywords:

Means the ‘Heavenly One’, divine inspiration, music, rhythm, melody, muse, directions, compass, math, numbers, mental spheres, thought, knowledge, numerology, astrology, astronomy

The placement of Urania in the birth chart can help uncover the way the mind navigates through the structures of existence. They show how the mental spheres are engaged with in order to come into your own sense of knowledge and understanding. Can show what you may be drawn towards in regards to practices that involve calculations, math, numbers, patterns, and sacred geometry. Look to Urania to understand how inspiration tends to flow into your life and mind. What systems, symbols, and structures call to you and how do these callings direct your intellectual understanding and mental organization of what reality is.

Sappho

(80 on astro.com)

Keywords:

Queer love, sapphic relationships, poetry, admiration, singing, invocations, lyrical poetry, bardic rites, writing, music, artistry, inspiration, adoration, the sublime, symbols of love and affection

Sappho is like the queer Venus archetype of the zodiac. Asteroid Sappho in the natal chart can indicate your inspiration, desire, and artistic self-expression. It can show the ways in which you feel called to express love and admiration–who your muses are along with the art and devotional forms you utilize to illustrate your experiences.

Sappho in astrology shows how you unearth your own pleasure. It also lends insights into how you give space to your experiences of the sublime, beauty, life, family, relationships, and romance. Unlike the other asteroids here which are gods, Sappho was an actual human who lived and died. And her being, existence, and life would have been complex and nuanced just like all of ours. So even though the ‘archetype’ of this person represents certain aspects in an astrology chart this can only represent some of the threads of the full tapestry of her actual life.

Eros

(433 on astro.com)

Keywords:

The erotic, desire, sexuality, mystery cults, queer love, artistry, beauty, loyalty, eloquence, liberation, homoeroticism, child of Nyx (night), ecstatic, pleasure

At the beginning there was only Chaos, Night, dark Erebus, and deep Tartarus. Earth, the air and heaven had no existence. Firstly, blackwinged Night laid a germless egg in the bosom of the infinite deeps of Erebus, and from this, after the revolution of long ages, sprang the graceful Eros with his glittering golden wings, swift as the whirlwinds of the tempest. He mated in deep Tartarus with dark Chaos, winged like himself, and thus hatched forth our race, which was the first to see the light.

Aristophanes (c. 400 BC) description of the birth of Eros

Eros in the chart represents the erotic and the zodiac archetypes through which you tend to experience eroticism, pleasure, and desire. In ancient Greek religion, Eros was part of a triad of patron gods, including Heracles and Hermes, for men in queer relationships.

Early accounts of Eros also place him as one of the primordial deities featured in mystery rites, such as the Eleusinian Mysteries, which was the sacred annual festival of Demeter and Persephone exploring entheogenic plant mysteries. This places Eros in an interesting position in the astrological chart. Not only does he represent queer love and relationships, but also represents the ways in which you are drawn towards spiritual mystery rites, initiations, ecstatic religious rituals, and understanding the spiritual dimensions of pleasure through the body and deeper embodiment.

Asteroid Lilith

(1181 on astro.com) 

Keywords:

Liberation, leaving abusive relationships and situations, difficult decisions, overcoming struggles, abortion and pregnancy release, speaking your truth, sovereignty, periods of grief and loss, making sacrifices, choosing to go your own path, resistance

This is the only physical astronomical body of Lilith in astrology. To find the placement of this asteroid in your chart type in 1181 on astro.com in the extended chart selection section. Lilith is a sheyd and later turned into the Queen of ‘Demons’ as the lore eventually describes her after she uttered the ineffable name of God, left Adam in the Garden of Eden, and took flight to the shores of the Red Sea.

Lilith made the choice to be separate from Adam and from God at the expense of having to murder her children every day. Three angels came to her at this God’s command demanding she returns to the Garden of Eden with Adam. She refused to give up her sovereignty but also faced consequences for this choice being cursed by an oppressive God with the severe punishment of having to kill 100 of her children each day in exchange for her liberation. In this aspect, Lilith represents loss, grief, resistance, and sacrifice.

Lilith chose to leave her paradise home in the garden of Eden for the sake of her life, autonomy, and self-determination. But also in this story Lilith found a way to channel her rage and her pain by taking something from men; her story tells of her stealing their semen while they sleep. She is said to cause nightmares and sleep paralysis. She is also feared as a being who will harm pregnant people and their newborns.

Jewish magic is full of practices to protect against Lilith. Protection bowls along with other amulets have been created using Lilith’s image in the middle and incantations for protection inscribed around the image to bind or keep Lilith from doing harm.

And even though she has been reclaimed in many contexts as a feminist icon of sovereignty, it would be remiss to not share who she is in all her complexities. Many people feel very drawn to Lilith in her aspects of empowerment. Lilith is a being with immense power, rage, and grief, therefore protection from her spirit can be warranted in some circumstances. As an archetype she is supportive for reclaiming your power in the face of oppressive systems. Making choices to be free from the control of others even when that choice leads to paths that are woven with difficulty and hardship, can make us more aligned with our power, integrity, and potentially our values.