What do asteroids matter?

[Arianna]

Do they matter? Are some more important than others?

Discussion

[EverbrightRDT]

Depends on what interpretation methods you’re using. Asteroids aren’t more important than the seven traditional planets nor the three outer planets, but they can be relevant when they form tight aspects (<1°) to certain planets or points. Asteroids on the ascendant or asteroids on the Sun/Moon tend to be relevant.

The goddess asteroids (Ceres, Juno, Pallas, Vesta) and Chiron are the ones you’ll find the most information about. Demetra George has a book on the goddess asteroids and I’m sure there are books out there on Chiron.

[treeeeeeeee96]

Yes! I actually pay a lot of attention to Chiron whenever I read a chart. I wonder why it doesn’t come up more in readings

[threetimesavirgo]

They all have a different story.

Persephone has a relatable story to me and she is at the bottom of my chart exactly opposite my Pluto. There are other angles and such that have helped me discover a very deep understanding of how to work with the healing aspects of my chart.

In addition, my legal full name and a nickname that stems from it are asteroids as well. When I look at their placements in my chart and my parents, it’s a direct story to the one I have lived in relation to my parents and how they are in relation to each other in regards to me (mom calls me my full name, dad my nickname).
An example, Nickname asteroid is Rx less then one degree in my moms 4th house(home). My dad left the family less then a year after I was born. The asteroid, and my dad, were both reaching to leave the emotional attachment of my mom, but had to stay due to me.

I don’t even know what energy these two asteroids provide on an astrological level, but the representation adds validity to the storyline of our charts.

So, not all asteroids are going to matter enough to look further into. But, if you have a personal connection to one (or some), they can be a useful piece of your puzzle.

[garthastro]

They are a feature of modern astrology, and seem to be useful for many for whose focus is that style of astrology.

In the area of traditional astrology, they would be of no importance whatsoever.

[gcolquhoun]

I look at Chiron, Juno, Vesta, Ceres, and Pallas pretty regularly, though my understanding of them is still less than for the more traditional bodies. They are among the oldest asteroids (or asteroid like objects) used in astrology and have the most consistently defined significations.

That said, an exercise that can be illuminating: go to the extended chart selection on astro.com and peruse the alphabetical list of asteroids. If you pick ones that jump out to you, names of people you know, celebrities or artists that have impacted you, concepts/fictional characters/mythological figures that are meaningful to you, or even just a word that intrigues or makes you want to look it up, you can sometimes find very interesting connections. There are a lot, so it can be something you do in stages, whenever the mood strikes you, go through a letter. I learned a lot about asteroids in general, and found a few placements for myself and others that have been really enriching. Just know that this approach invites in synchronicity as a divinatory mechanism instead of hard and fast codified significations being clearly delineated and of roughly equal significance to each chart.

[Old_Bones_Walking]

I use the four goddesses (Ceres, Vesta, Juno, Pallas) at times, and sometimes Lilith (the asteroid). But I always use Chiron as it’s fundamental to a proper interpretation in my books.

[Badcatgoodcat]

Ugh. I’m utterly not convinced they do, with the exception of Chiron, which is more than an asteroid and technically classified as a minor planet (ETA: not more than an asteroid, just an asteroid *and* a minor planet according to NASA, correction), and Lilith (*sometimes*) primarily in the natal chart. In the past- for long periods of time, as they have gathered steam among the community- I’ve attempted to work with asteroids in transit and aspects to the natal chart, and they have largely proven passive and irrelevant in my practice.

For that reason, I now really dislike seeing them clutter a chart, and distract those who are new to astrology from focusing on the fundamentals of the personal, social, and transpersonal planets. Those alone are sufficient FOR YEARS of study. Leave Pallas out of it. Don’t worry about Eros- you literally have Venus and Pluto, aspects and houses, and signs, like why???

Asteroids are superfluous, and simply…..Randomly modern. We have better, clearer, ways elsewhere in the chart of arriving at the same conclusions a portion of the astrological community claims asteroids necessitate. And these other aspect paths provide us with far more information than a single asteroid placement could, because asteroids in many ways translate to shortcuts in astrology. Want to know who will make you crazy with sexual desire? Just plop down Eros in your chart!

But it’s so flawed. What if you don’t have that coded into your biology at all? What if you’re asexual and practicing celibacy? So you throw Eros down on a chart and you get nothing but all the indicators of a totally thriving sex life until the cows come home, but taken independently- absent of Eros- the natal chart indicates something else. You’ve got Venus conjunct Chiron in the 12th house opposite Pluto in the 6th (amongst other indicators, most likely). You would have read everything differently.

Asteroids rarely help clarify anything for anybody, but they generally aren’t helpful ever for students of astrology.

And don’t get me started on Hygeia. Hi, are you conscious of your health/or conscious of the fact you need to be more conscious of your health in some area of your life? Yes, everybody, everywhere. It is such a loaded asteroid. This is a gross oversimplification on my part, I know, but that is really what it comes down to….Everything pertaining to Hygeia is already ruled by another planet, and could be determined by another path.

It’s a slippery slope and I think if anyone goes too far down it early on, they will have to unlearn it at some point to reacquaint themselves with the properties of the personal, social, and transpersonal planets.