Why astrologers use asteroids
The planets from the Sun to Pluto carry most of the traditional meanings, but the chart's feminine side rests on only two of them, the Moon and Venus. Many modern astrologers add the four asteroids named for goddesses to fill that picture out: the mother in Ceres, the strategist in Pallas, the wife in Juno and the priestess in Vesta. They are read as quieter voices than the planets, and they matter most when they sit close to a planet or an angle of the chart.
The four at a glance
| Asteroid | Read as | Around the zodiac | In each sign, on average |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ceres | Nurture, food, loss and return | 4.6 years | 140 days |
| Pallas | Wisdom, strategy and pattern | 4.6 years | 141 days |
| Juno | Marriage, commitment and partnership | 4.4 years | 133 days |
| Vesta | Devotion, focus and the sacred flame | 3.6 years | 110 days |
Juno has its own page, the Juno sign calculator, with its readings in every sign and house. Chiron, another minor body, is read as the wounded healer, and Black Moon Lilith, a point of the Moon's orbit, as the wild and rejected self.
Reading an asteroid in your chart
Start with the sign, which colors how the asteroid's theme shows up, then the house, which shows where in life it plays out. The contact list includes every qualifying aspect to the ten planets and, with a birth time, the Ascendant and Midheaven. Ceres on your Moon, for instance, is read as care and nurture at the center of your emotional life.
Filter by asteroid, aspect or planet to inspect a connection. Each row shows both positions and the orb, the distance from the exact aspect. Print and Copy for my AI include the four placements and every contact matching those filters. The copy leaves out your birth date, time and place.
Without a birth time, sign changes during the local day are listed with both possibilities. Degrees, motion and contacts use local noon; the houses, Moon contacts and angle contacts are omitted. With a birth time, the result names the house system actually used, including a polar fallback.
How it is worked out
The positions come from NASA JPL Horizons, using apparent positions viewed from Earth's center, sampled every five days and interpolated between samples. Usable coverage is January 6, 1900 through December 18, 2100 at midnight UTC. At 60 tested instants, all four agree with the Swiss Ephemeris to within 4 arcseconds; this is a comparison sample, not an accuracy guarantee for every date. Unknown-time sign checks use half-hour steps. Crossings are estimated from the table and displayed to the nearest minute.
The houses follow the house system chosen in Chart settings (Placidus by default, with Porphyry used where Placidus is unavailable). Contacts use 3° for the conjunction, opposition, square and trine, 2° for the sextile. Your birth details stay in your browser.