10 Recently-Added Astrological Placements

Astrology is an incredibly prevalent discipline in Western society. From the classic “what’s your sign” conversation starter to daily horoscopes ready by devout acolytes, astrology is everywhere. In fact, as many as 70% of surveyed Americans believe in astrology to some degree. Despite this statistic, astrology is considered to be a pseudoscience despite being around for millennia. Ancient peoples across the globe looked to the heavens to help explain phenomena on Earth, as if finding correspondences between the two could help deepen our understanding of ourselves and our world, as well as predict what is to come.

Before modern science, ancient Greek Hellenistic astrology included the Sun, the Moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn. In addition, there were twelve Zodiac signs, depicted by constellations in the sky, which are the twelve we know today: Aries, Taurus, Gemini, Cancer, Leo, Virgo, Libra, Scorpio, Sagittarius, Capricorn, Aquarius, Pisces.

It is not an outlandish supposition, but our knowledge of the universe has greatly expanded since the Greeks charted the stars thousands of years ago. Logically, the addition of planets, comets, asteroids, and motion would disprove astrology. Yet instead, astrologers have taken almost every astronomical discovery since Hellenistic times and created meanings for them in natal charts.

These are ten celestial discoveries that have since made their way into your daily horoscope long after the advent of astrology.

Related: 10 Discoveries We Wouldn’t Have Without Space Travel

10 Supermoon

While not physical bodies or placements, the supermoons have earned a place in astrology since the discovery of the elliptical orbits by Johannes Kepler in 1605. Astrology’s roots go back as far as the third millennium BC, so this lunar placement is quite behind the times.

All celestial objects, according to Kepler’s first law, orbit in an ellipsis rather than a perfect circle. This law also applies to the Moon, meaning that from our perspective here on Earth, the Moon will vary in its distance from us. When it’s at its farthest point, that is called the apogee. When it is at its closest point, that is called the perigee.

The latter is more commonly known as a supermoon, which is an “extra bright” or supercharged full moon. In astrology, full moons have traditionally meant the end of cycles, clarity around matters, illumination of ideas, and releasing emotion. A supermoon, then, has the same qualities as any other full moon but much more amplified, boosting the qualities of whatever sign it’s in along with it.^[1]

9 Black Moon Lilith

While the supermoon makes headlines on Instagram Reels and your favorite magazines, the apogee of the moon, also known as Black Moon Lilith, gets a bit less attention.

What makes the addition of this placement to modern astrology so interesting is not only its relatively recent astronomical discovery but also its name. While most objects have names from Greek or Roman mythology, this one takes its name from Abrahamic mythology.

In Jewish myth, Lilith was the first wife of Adam. She and Adam were created by God from the same earth, making them equals, but Lilith refused to be submissive to Adam. This resulted in her exile from the Garden of Eden. Subsequently, in astrology, she symbolizes the parts of us that have been exiled or shamed.

The Black Moon Lilith placement is the “dark feminine.” It is a relatively new lens through which to view one’s personality.^[2]

8 Ceres

The asteroid Ceres is one of four major asteroids that were discovered in the nineteenth century. Ceres, specifically, was identified in 1801 by Giuseppe Piazzi. Piazzi and his colleagues named his “planet” after the goddess Ceres on the grounds that “the symbol of Saturn… represents a scythe, so the symbol of ceres… may be a sickle, as Ceres is the goddess of corn and tillage.”

While the dwarf planet got demoted to an asteroid by NASA in 2006, astrologers ensured it retained its status among their charts despite its lack of ancient origins.

In modern astrology, Ceres represents all that which the goddess herself represents, namely how one nurtures themselves and others. This can look like motherhood, life transitions, food and nourishment, and well-being.^[3]

7 Pallas

The asteroid Pallas was the second asteroid to be discovered in the nineteenth century. The astronomer who discovered it, Wilhelm Olbers, named it Pallas Athena. Pallas is a name taken on by the Goddess of Wisdom, Athena, in Greek mythology. She took the name as a token after defeating a giant of the same name, according to one telling of the myth.

In astrology, the asteroid is meant to represent all that Athena would be the patroness of: wisdom, justice, drive, and natural talent.

Based on this trend, it seems likely that if Olbers had chosen a different name for his discovery, our personalities would be affected much differently by this asteroid than they have been since 1802. ^[4]

6 Juno

The asteroid Juno was the third asteroid to be discovered orbiting the solar system in the asteroid belt. It was discovered in 1804, following the discoveries of Ceres and Pallas, by Karl Ludwig Harding.

The asteroid is named for Juno, the wife of Jupiter, from Roman mythology. According to myth, she was a great protector but gave special attention to women’s lives. She ruled over marriage and fidelity, similar to her Greek counterpart, Hera.

In astrology, the asteroid Juno has been attributed to the same qualities as its namesake. For the last 220 years, the rock has been said to rule women’s lives, marriage, and unions. If the ancient Hellenistic astrologers already had correspondences for these themes with existing planets, they have been overshadowed by one of the largest asteroids in the solar system.^[5]

5 Vesta

Vesta is the second-largest asteroid in the Asteroid Belt and was the fourth to be discovered, following its companions Ceres, Pallas, and Juno, in the early nineteenth century. The same astronomer who discovered Pallas, Wilhelm Olbers, allowed his colleague Carl Friedrich Gauss, a mathematician, to name the asteroid. He settled on Vesta, the Roman goddess of the hearth.

He chose the name simply out of tradition. If the previous three asteroids (or, at the time, dwarf planets) bore the names of Roman deities, so would this one.

In the years since its discovery, astrologers have attached aspects of our lives and personalities to the asteroid. Much like how the goddess Vesta rules over the hearth, which warms the home, the asteroid represents that which lights you up. It’s all about your devotion to yourself, your sexuality, and your sexual and creative potential.^[6]

4 Chiron

Chiron is one of the most well-known comets in the solar system, though the title of “comet” is not quite accurate. This icy body is actually called a “centaur,” which is what astronomers dub objects that have the composition of comets but are the size of asteroids.

Chiron, the wisest of all centaurs, was the teacher of the Greek heroes Jason, Hercules, Asklepios, and Achilles. Chiron was well-versed in medicine, music, prophecy, and hunting, having been raised and educated by Apollo and his wife, Artemis. Chiron was the son of the god Cronus and the sea nymph Philyra.

In astrology, Chiron is known as “the wounded healer.” This means that the placement of Chiron in your chart represents the area of life with which you struggle the most but also where you will one day help others. For example, if you struggle with and overcome addiction, you may find yourself becoming a sponsor for someone else who is battling addiction like you once did.

Astrologers consider Chiron to be “just as impactful as knowing your sun sign, moon sign, or rising sign,” according to one source. It’s an interesting proclamation, considering no one knew Chiron even existed before 1977…^[7]

3 Uranus

In keeping with the theme of the gods ruling the sky (like Venus, Mars, and Jupiter), as new planets were discovered, so, too, did more gods join our birth charts. For thousands of years, astrology hinged on the major planetary bodies that could be seen with the naked eye: the Sun, the Moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn.

As technology advanced, humans eventually spotted more massive bodies, and knowledge of the nature of our solar system expanded.

In 1781, German astronomer (and musician) William Herschel noticed a small body moving slowly amongst the stars in the constellation Gemini. He later identified the faint light as a planet, making it the first one to be identified since ancient times. He kept the tradition of naming celestial bodies after mythological figures, so he gave this one the name Uranus, after the Greek personification of the heavens. Uranus was born of Gaea and was the forebear of the Titans, which eventually gave way to the Olympian gods most of us are familiar with. In other words, Uranus is the grandfather of Zeus, or “Jupiter,” in Roman mythology.

In an astrological birth chart, Uranus rules rebellion, disruption, breakthrough, out-of-the-box action, social change, and revolution. Its energy is considered to be quite palpable despite its slow transit through the wheel of the Zodiac. Though one cannot help but wonder, to which planet would astrologers adamantly attribute such poignant energy had Herschel not pointed his telescope in the right direction? Or if he had named it after the King of England like he originally intended?^[8]

2 Neptune

After the discovery of the solar system’s seventh planet and several asteroids in the asteroid belt, Johann Gottfried Galle discovered yet another massive, peculiar body in the far beyond in 1846. The ocean-blue object was named Neptune after the Roman god of the sea, keeping with the tradition of naming planets after deities.

Astrologers, then, kept with the tradition of giving a celestial body the same influence as that of the deity after which it was named. In a natal chart, Neptune is said to rule the “watery” aspects of life: dreams, illusion, creativity (such as music and poetry), trances, delusion, obscurity, rose-colored glasses, and enlightenment.

It is said that it rules a generation, making its way through each Zodiac every 14 years. How generations were able to define themselves before 1846 will forever be a mystery.^[9]

1 Pluto

One astrological website describes the dwarf planet Pluto as one with “subtle” energy, “but its results will hit you like a ton of bricks.” However, this heavy-hitter was discovered less than 100 years ago, in 1930, by astronomer Clyde Tombaugh.

Its discovery was a big deal, with the news of a new planet spreading quickly across Europe, but it still didn’t have a name. One day, a young British girl, Venetia Burney, was having breakfast with her grandparents when she suggested the name “Pluto.” In a statement she gave later in life, she said, “For some reason, I, after a short pause, said, ‘Why not call it Pluto?’ I did know I was fairly familiar with Greek and Roman legends from various children’s books that I had read, and of course, I did know about the solar system and the names the other planets have. And so I suppose I just thought that this was a name that hadn’t been used.”

That ominous, highly impactful planet, named for the god of the underworld, ultimately got its astrological traits from an eleven-year-old girl. These traits, which “hit you like a ton of bricks,” include death, rebirth, obsession, vice, transformation, secrets, and the underground parts of life.

Imagine if she had decided upon something else entirely. Our birth charts just would not be the same.^[10]