Celestial points: why so few of them appear

The term groups together objects of very different kinds, which modern astrology has taken on as astronomical discoveries were made and dedicated ephemerides were published. In your reports, the list is closed: ten points, not one more.

• Asteroids: Éros, Psyché, Dejanira (Deianira in English) and Hygiea (Hygieia), discovered between 1849 and 1898.
• Centaurs: Pholus, Nessus and Chariklo, small icy bodies that travel among the giant planets, from the same family as Chiron.
• Trans-Neptunian objects: Éris and Sedna, beyond Neptune, whose orbits are counted in centuries for one and in millennia for the other.
• A calculated point: the Vertex, which is not a body but an intersection of circles in the sky, obtained from the time and place of birth.

Two neighbouring families follow their own rules. Ceres, Pallas, Juno and Vesta always appear in the positions table and each feeds a life domain. Fixed stars, for their part, only count by conjunction, with orbs of their own, and the report only mentions one if it detects it.

Tradition does not agree on how much weight to give these small bodies: some astrologers read them all, everywhere, others keep none of them. Many practitioners who use them sharply reduce their orbs. AstralPro applies a single, strict rule: a celestial point only appears if it forms a major aspect (conjunction, sextile, square, trine, opposition) within an orb of 2° at most with one of seven targets: the Sun, the Moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, the Ascendant and the Midheaven.

The reason is as much arithmetical as astrological. Ten points, seven targets, five aspects: with the usual planetary orbs (up to 8°), almost every chart would show a dozen contacts, most of which would say nothing about you. At 2°, a contact becomes rare, and therefore meaningful. The outer planets beyond Saturn are excluded from the targets, because a contact between Nessus and Neptune is shared by an entire generation. No aspect is calculated between a celestial point and Chiron, Lilith or the North Node, nor between two celestial points: mere closeness in degrees is not an aspect.

Five bodies can appear without any contact: Éros, Psyché, Chariklo, Nessus and Dejanira. AstralPro lets them through because the Life Domains (chapter IV) name them: Éros and Psyché for Love life, Chariklo for Wounds & repair, Nessus and Dejanira for Shadow side. A domain that announces Éros and does not find it in the data would be inconsistent.

These bodies then receive minimal treatment: one sentence, giving their sign and house, never an orb or an aspect. In the positions table, the Dignity column carries the mention “position only”, and a note below the table specifies that their sign and house are accurate but that no angle is calculated for them. Pholus, Hygiea, Éris, Sedna and Vertex, on the other hand, stay silent without a contact.

An AstralPro chart can be drawn up from the age of 15. For a person under 18, Éros, Nessus and Dejanira are removed from the report, from the text as well as the table, even if they form a tight contact. Desire and dynamics of control have no place in a teenager's portrait.

In the myth, Nessus and Deianira are bound by a story of violence and passed-on poison. Astrologers who work with centaurs read in them dynamics of control within a relationship. AstralPro marks these two bodies with a specific instruction: the report describes a dynamic, never a person. It casts you neither as a victim nor as the one responsible, targets no one close to you, and always points toward vigilance and reclaiming personal power.

This setting concerns the tone, not the presence: Nessus and Dejanira appear or do not appear according to the same rule as the other bodies.

Take Camille Morel, AstralPro's sample chart (fictional data). Below the main aspect grid, a sub-grid titled “Aspects of the celestial points” (columns Point, Aspect, Body, Orb) lists her three contacts, from tightest to widest:

• Pholus square Mars, orb 0°11′: Pholus is at 3°48′ Virgo in house 10, and the contact is read in the Mars block, in chapter I.
• Hygiea sextile Mars, orb 1°47′: Hygiea, at 1°51′ Libra in house 10, is read in Health & vitality.
• Chariklo trine Sun, orb 1°47′: Chariklo, at 20°07′ Cancer in house 8 and retrograde, is read in Wounds & repair.

Four bodies appear as a position only: Éros (10°25′ Aquarius, house 3), Psyché (12°30′ Sagittarius, house 1), Nessus (11°27′ Scorpio, house 12) and Dejanira (13°39′ Sagittarius, house 1). Éris, Sedna and Vertex appear nowhere: none of them touches her seven targets within 2°. This silence is not an oversight, it is the rule being applied.

• Eros: desire, what sets you alight.
• Psyche: the soul bond, the need to be seen in depth.
• Pholus: the small trigger with big consequences, the transgenerational thread.
• Nessus and Deianira: dynamics of control, read with care.
• Chariklo: boundaries, the space for healing.
• Hygieia: health and lifestyle, in the astrological sense.
• Eris: discord, the excluded part that claims its place.
• Sedna: the founding betrayal and long-term resilience.
• Vertex: significant encounters and relational turning points.
• Fixed stars: nine stars, four of them royal, by conjunction only.