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 Forgotten Dwarf Planet Ceres
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