Eros in astrology: the asteroid of desire

The Greeks knew two Eroses. In Hesiod's Theogony, Eros arises among the very first powers, alongside Chaos and Gaia: he is the force of attraction that drives beings to unite and the world to fill with life. Later, poetry makes him the son of Aphrodite, an archer whose arrows strike gods and mortals without asking their consent. The Romans call him Amor or Cupid.

The two faces meet on one point: Eros is not a calm feeling, he is a force that seizes, displaces, draws you out of yourself. His most famous story is the one that binds him to Psyche, told by Apuleius: desire must learn to meet the soul, and the soul to hold the gaze of desire.

Eros was discovered on August 13, 1898 by Gustav Witt, at the Urania observatory in Berlin. It was the first near-Earth asteroid identified: its orbit, which it completes in a little under two years, brings it closer to Earth than Mars. Astronomers of the early 20th century used this proximity to measure the distance from the Earth to the Sun with new precision.

Eros is an elongated block about thirty kilometers long. In 2001, the NEAR Shoemaker probe, after a year in orbit around it, landed on its surface: it was the first landing on an asteroid. This small rocky body, almost familiar since it passes so close to us, is therefore also one of the best known in the Solar System.

Astrologers who use Eros read it as the place of erotic drive in the broad sense: what sets you alight, what makes you feel alive, the quality of desire rather than its object. AstralPro sums it up in one phrase: erotic desire, what sets you alight.

It differs from its neighbours. Venus says what you appreciate, what pleases you and how you create harmony. Mars says how you take action, how you conquer. Eros sits between the two: it is the fascination that comes before the act, the point where interest turns burning. Its sign colours the style (a desire that runs through the body, the mind, play, intensity), its house shows the ground where it most readily awakens.

Many astrologers extend Eros to creative passion: what attracts you can be a person, but also a work, an idea, a cause.

Éros follows the common rule for celestial points: a contact only counts if it is a major aspect within 2° at most of the Sun, the Moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, the Ascendant or the Midheaven. In that case, the orb is shown in the “Aspects of the celestial points” sub-grid, and the report develops Éros in two or three sentences at its anchor, the Love life rubric of chapter IV, alongside Venus, Mars, Juno, house 5 and the Descendant.

Without a contact, Éros does not disappear for all that. Because Love life names it, it comes out as a position only: the Dignity column of the table carries this mention, and the text sticks to one sentence about its sign and house, with no aspect and no development.

Love life does not name Éros alone: when Psyché has no contact, it too comes out as a position only, and the rubric mentions it next to Éros, in a sentence of its own, about its sign and house.

One exception takes precedence over all the others: for a person under 18, Éros is removed from the report, from the text as well as the table, even with a very tight contact. A chart can be drawn up from the age of 15, and desire has no place in a teenager's portrait.

For Camille Morel, AstralPro's sample chart (fictional data), Éros sits at 10°25′ Aquarius, in house 3. It forms no major aspect within 2° of her seven targets: it therefore appears as a position only. Since Camille is over 18, it does appear in the positions table, with the mention “position only” in the Dignity column, and the Love life rubric mentions it in one sentence giving its sign and house. Psyché, also a position only in Camille's chart (12°30′ Sagittarius, house 1), is named there in a sentence of its own.

Sticking to classical symbolism, an Eros in Aquarius suggests a desire awakened by singularity, wit, surprise, and house 3 places this awakening in exchange, conversation, everyday encounters. The report draws nothing more from it: without a tight contact, AstralPro considers that a position alone does not justify a portrait, and Camille's Love life rubric relies first on Venus (6°30′ Scorpio, house 12), on Mars, on house 5 and on the Descendant.