Demetra George and Asteroids in Astrology- Part 2

One reason asteroids face skepticism is how they are interpreted. The interpretations of an asteroid in a natal chart usually connect to the asteroid's name and the mythology revolving it, if there is one.

However, the astronomers who first discovered these asteroids hold the naming rights. They usually have no background in astrology and name the asteroids based on their personal inspirations.

For example, Ceres was discovered on January 1, 1801, by astronomer Giuseppe Piazzi in Sicily. In ancient Roman mythology, Ceres (the goddess of agriculture, grain, and motherly harvest) was considered the patron deity of Sicily. According to myth, Sicily was so fertile because it was Ceres’s beloved home. By choosing Ceres, Piazzi was proudly honoring the history and land of Sicily, where the discovery took place.

The interesting part of the story is that Piazzi was actually also considering naming the asteroid "Ceres Ferdinandea." It was a direct nod to his royal patron, King Ferdinand IV of Naples and Sicily, as Piazzi needed to please the king to keep his research funding alive.

Nonetheless, the rest of the international astronomical community soundly rejected the idea because they didn't want a planet named after a contemporary monarch. It was quickly dropped, leaving just Ceres.

In astrology, Ceres symbolizes food, motherhood, and the nurturer. The interpretations derived from how Ceres works in a natal chart usually tie to how one nurtures and receives nurturance.

The logic that a non-astrologer astronomer could randomly name a rock, and astrologers then use the mythology of that name as a foundation to interpret a chart, makes skeptics roll their eyes.

This brings us to Demetra’s second argument:

Since the Babylonian era, astronomers have named celestial bodies after gods and interpreted them through mythological lenses. Subsequent cultures simply replaced those names with deities of similar meaning from their own pantheons. For instance, the Babylonian Ishtar (distinct from the modern Asteroid 7088 Ishtar), the Greek Aphrodite, and the Roman Venus all refer to the same planet, all carrying the core concept of "love."

Demetra asked the astrological world to consider the following questions: Who originally decided it was a planet of love? Did someone meticulously observe it for a thousand years before making a cautious proclamation?

The truth is, even the now-acknowledged but once-controversial outer planets: Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto, followed the same path: 1. Discovery, 2. Naming, and 3. Interpretation based on mythology.

Therefore, Demetra argues that building an asteroid system does not conflict with astrological tradition at all.