Ask Ada: Which Asteroids Are Most Important?

Question: I am trying to incorporate ASTEROIDS into my astrology chart because there are a lot of them between Mars and Jupiter. I understand them to be geared more to the feminine energy. But there are 1000’s! I know the primary dozen or so, but how do you know when you have to go digging? Do you know of any astrologically oriented resources? Do you use asteroids?

Astrologers talk a lot about how much the discovery of Uranus shook up the astrological world, but I think the discovery of asteroids and dwarf planets might be even bigger.

Like you point out, there are thousands of asteroids. If you take them seriously, it’s no longer possible to pretend that we can understand everything there is to know about astrology. Even if you spend your whole life just reading the asteroids in your chart, you will never get through all of them—let alone understand the relationships between them. There will always be mysteries.

No matter what we do now, we are all specialists. Even those who focus on the 7 or 10 “major” planet are specializing in a tiny part of the sky. We know this is true, but the astrology community hasn’t begun to process what that means. We’ve seen the lightning, but we still haven’t heard the thunder.

Don’t take asteroids too seriously.

Between us, I think asteroids are the most fun topic in astrology. I love them because they don’t take themselves seriously. The people who discover asteroids are allowed to name them, so asteroids are named for all kinds of things.

There are the famous asteroid goddesses, of course, but there are also asteroids named Superbus (18596), Monty Python (13681), and Sherlock (5049). There’s even an Ada (523).

Sometimes the insights asteroids provide are as silly as their names. Other times, they hit with the piercing accuracy of a standup comic.

Asteroids are surprisingly insightful.

There is a good chance that there is an asteroid that shares your name or the names of your friends and family. Including asteroids in your chart can give you startling insight into your relationships.

In my chart, my father’s name is in Pisces, and my mother’s name is in Virgo. Seeing this helped me understand the role my parents played in teaching me how to manifest my dreams. My father (Sagittarius sun) taught me about dreaming, and my mother (Virgo sun) taught me critical thinking and the importance of keeping my feet on the ground.

As a polytheist, asteroids have given me a lot of insight into my relationship with the gods, too. I have Apollo (1862) conjunct my ascendant and Dionysus (3671) conjunct Chiron. Studying those asteroids has helped me to understand why I’ve been drawn to healing through theater and words but not a career in medicine.

Where do you get started with asteroids?

Astro.com allows you to choose from 23,838 (look under additional objects), and you have even more choices if you input asteroid numbers in the manual entry box using the minor planet names list from the IAU.

If you are just getting started with asteroids, I suggest starting with play. Look up your favorite people, characters, and snacks. (Potato is (88705). You’re welcome.) And consider what their house placement in your chart means to you.

Don’t worry about whether or not the asteroids you’re interested in are important enough. Your chart belongs to you, and the most important thing is that you find meaning in it. And you get to decide what that means.

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