When you first look at birth chart you mostly deal with the planets, but there are also asteroids in the sky that impact us too. Their placement can help play a role in your chart depending on its location. Asteroids are great to play around with on your own, because there may not always been in depth information about the placements giving you more freedom to figure it out by yourself. This means you get to learn how to apply what you know about the name of that asteroid to your placement. Most asteroids are named after a mythology. You can then apply the archetype of the mythology to the asteroid in your chart.

Take the asteroid Achilles for example. If you go to astro.com, free horoscope, extended chart selection, and then scroll down until you find the empty bar for asteroid numbers, putt 588 and create your chart, you can see where Achilles is for you. Look to see if you have Achilles at any critical aspects, using a 2 degree margin. I have my Achilles conjunct my Mercury, with a wide orb of 2 degrees. I also have it square my North Node in Scorpio, with a 1 degree orb. So, what does this mean?

If you know the story of Achilles you will know that when he was young his mother dipped him into the river of Styx by his heel. The water made people immortal, so all of his body, minus his heel, became immortal. Achilles grew up to become a great warrior and with pride fought for his people in the Trojan War. Unfortunately, he gets struck with an arrow in the very heel that is oh so vulnerable and died.

Does this mean that your Achilles is your downfall? Does this mean that if I rely on my mind I will eventually reach my demise?

Not really.

Have you ever heard the phrase “you are only as strong as your weakest link”? For Achilles, he more than anything needed to protect his heel. The rest of his body is immortal, so what is the point of armor if you can’t actually die? I’m sure he could still feel pain, so there was probably some use, but ultimately the real concern should have been his heel. However, rather than taking the measures to properly guard his weakest point, taking care to not let it be his downfall, he is prideful in his fighting abilities and assumes he will be able to always defend himself. This causes him to neglect proper armor on the one area that needs it. This ends up being a fatal mistake for our poor warrior.

So what does this mean for the asteroid in your chart? I would say protect the areas affected by your Achilles most. This doesn’t mean that this area of your chart is bad or inadequate, just that it is most vulnerable to threats. My Aquarius Mercury in the eighth house is one of my favorite features. It gives me the ability to see unique and innovate patterns in people’s psyche, including my own. This comes in handy when you are trying to clear up old baggage that is holding you back. If I neglect my Achilles and Mercury then I won’t be able to see those patterns, and if I can’t see those patterns it would be kind of difficult to be an astrologer. Because Achilles is conjunct my Mercury the energy between Achilles and Mercury blend intensely.

Whenever I feel myself going down the wrong path, it’s my mind I first tackle. You are only as strong as your weakest point, and I have to make sure that I maintain proper care of my mind and thoughts. I have to make sure I communicate what I need to communicate. It’s like when you get sick, first you get a few symptoms and if you catch it soon enough can start applying treatment. If you ignore it, things can get much worse. Achilles shows us what is beneficial to work on, to elevate. Achilles needed to bring his heel to the immortal level of the rest of his body by providing protection, but instead he brought his body to the mortal level of his heel.

If you have Achilles opposite a planet, you may find that if you put too much emphasis on that planet, without balancing the opposing energy you are putting yourself at risk. This placement means that it is important for you to direct more energy balancing the opposing side, to bring it to the level of the planet. For example, if you have Achilles opposite your Sun, you may find it is very important for you to not neglect the other. The Sun is your Ego, and if you focus too much on that side of the polarity, Achilles becomes a source of vulnerability. Be careful to balance the energy opposing your Sun. If you are a Gemini Sun, for instance, it is important to focus on your Sagittarius intuition and expansion of knowledge and experiences.

If you have a square you may find that the energy between the planet and Achilles comes with a little conflict. Usually this can be a struggle of introversion versus extroversion. My Aquarius Achilles means that I need to put emphasis on the group and helping society, however my Scorpio North Node means I need to focus on deep exploration of myself and my psychology. It can be kind of tricky to balance the need for solitude for Scorpio and the need for socialization with Aquarius, but I find that they also help each other out. The things I learn when I am alone help me when I’m with people, and my interactions with people are often what fuels my intense transformations you usually see with Scorpio.

If you have a trine between Achilles and a planet you would expect to see an ease of flow of energy. Usually the two will be in the same element, and thus look for the same things. This means as you put energy in one place, it will help the other. For example, if you have a Leo Moon and an Aries Achilles, as you put emphasis on asserting yourself and your passion you will find that this works will with your emotional need for heat and passion and ego fulfillment. The fire may flicker in a different way, but it is still fire.

Do you have any key planetary influences on Achilles? If so, how do they play out for you? Feel free to leave a comment. If you don’t have a planet aspect, what sign and house is it in? Do you find yourself needing to give this area special attention?

Keywords:

Sun: Ego, Heart

Moon: Emotion, Mother

Mercury: Mind, Communication

Venus: Love, Partnerships, Luxury

Mars: Sex, Anger, Drive, Passion

Jupiter: Expansion, Luck

Saturn: Lessons, Restriction, Father

Uranus: Innovation, Collective conscious

Neptune: Subconscious, Collective Subconscious, Spirituality

Pluto: Psyche, Transformations, Death, Fear

 

Aries/1^st House: Identity, Ego Expression

Taurus/2^nd house: Values, Materials, Worth

Gemini/3^rd house: Mind, Learning

Cancer/4^th house: Emotions, Mother

Leo/5^th house: Ego, Heart, Creative, Childhood

Virgo/6^th house: Routine, Body, Order, Details

Libra/7^th house: Partnerships, Balance, Love, Beauty

Scorpio/8^th house: Transformations, Death, Abuse, Psyche

Sagittarius/9^th house: Expansion, Knowledge, Philosophy

Capricorn/10^th house: Business, Father, Restriction, Structure

Aquarius/11^th house: Rebellion, Innovative, Collective Conscious

Pisces/12^th house: Spiritual, Illusive, Subconscious, Dreams

 

Conjunct: Same sign

Opposition: Opposite sides of the chart (Aries-Libra, Taurus-Scorpio, Gemini-Sagittarius, Cancer-Capricorn, Leo-Aquarius, Virgo-Pisces)

Square: Same modality, but not opposite (Cardinal: Aries-Libra, Cancer-Capricorn, Fixed: Taurus-Scorpio, Leo-Aquarius, Mutable: Gemini-Sagittarius, Virgo-Pisces)

Trine: Same element (Fire: Aries, Leo, Sagittarius, Earth: Taurus, Virgo, Capricorn, Air: Gemini, Libra, Aquarius, Water: Cancer, Scorpio, Pisces)

For these, you want the degrees to be no more then 2 away. This means that if you have Achilles at 5 Leo and your Sun at 15 Leo, they are not conjunct, but if you have your Mars at 4 Leo, it would be.

 

Positive energy and love!

Katie