Birth Chart Basics: Your Cosmic Goddess Gang

Welcome back to the blog for a new installment of the birth chart basics series. We’ve been discussing the birth chart on the blog since December of 2020 and, honestly, we’re just getting started.

Check out the master astrology list at the end of this blog post to catch up on the foundational aspects of the birth chart: inner planets, outer planets, houses, zodiac signs, elements, modes, aspects, points, and lunar nodes.

I’m pretty stoked that this list keeps growing every month, and our astrological resources are limitless. As I’m finding new podcasts + books + teachers / mentors, I’m updating the list for you all. What began as a series for stepping out of my comfort zone with my blog content has turned into a devotional journey of astrology.

We’re lucky to have spaces online where we can connect with other cosmic enthusiasts. But so much of the beneficial lessons available to us via astrology are accessible in our own birth chart, we just need to know what we’re looking for and what areas of the chart can guide us within for the answers.

This week, I’m letting you in on a little secret: you have a cosmic Goddess gang.

It’s true! There’s a divinely powerful squad of badass Goddesses up in space who, when we find them in our birth chart and initiate their energy, are ready to liberate, nurture, expand, and guide us through our pain, toward our purpose, and unlock our limitless capacity for giving + receiving love. So where have these Goddesses been hiding all our lives? Where can we find them? How does divine feminine energy manifest in the cosmos; how does it manifest in our chart? Let’s get into it.

Before we meet these 4 badass heavenly bodies, let’s define what divine feminine energy means in this conversation.

Feminine and masculine energy in astrology do not imply gender—as in some things are male or female. Feminine and masculine energy, I’ve identified within my own study of astrology, are representative of the Yin and Yang energy of life; action (masculine) vs receptivity (feminine), doing (masculine) vs being (feminine), thinking + creating (masculine) vs embodying + being inspired (feminine).

We all contain masculine + feminine energy in our charts, some of us may have more than the other or perhaps we’re gifted with a balance of that energy.

Masculine energy signs

Aries, Gemini, Leo, Libra, Sagittarius, Aquarius

Feminine energy signs

Taurus, Cancer, Virgo, Scorpio, Capricorn Pisces

Calculating your own masculine + feminine energy, in the context of the chart, requires you to look at the energy of the zodiac signs each planet is placed in. Personally, I have 8 masculine planets and 2 feminine placements—I’m naturally programmed for action (yang) but have to make a conscious effort to engage with intuition (yin).

Embodying intuition is an inherently feminine (energy) pursuit. Feminine energy initiates a personal journey within: introversion, receiving, surrendering, feeling, working with our inner guidance. Working with our intuition can be a messy + uncomfortable act, a courageous reclamation of our natural ways of being. In my next blog, I’ll be unpacking our relationship to our intuition via working with the Moon and the High Priestess archetype.

Now that we understand feminine energy, we can call on some lesser known—but highly powerful—dwarf planets + asteroids in the cosmos.

These ladies are not included in some online birth chart systems. Before you read further, I suggest pulling up an extended version of your birth chart that includes all asteroid placements: here’s my go to extended chart resource.

Don’t let their size fool you—remember Pluto? The cosmic atom bomb? Size doesn't matter in space (sorry Jupiter). The only thing keeping these 4 Goddess asteroids from expanding our solar system, and that lead to the demotion of Pluto as a planet to a dwarf planet, is a set of rules put in place by astronomers that govern the legitimacy of Planet-hood. So even though they’re planets in my heart, these Goddesses are classified as asteroids + dwarf planets in the textbooks.

Who’s in this cosmic Goddess gang?

I’m calling on 4 Goddesses in the chart

Eris, Ceres, Pallas Athena, and Juno

I’ve curated this squad based on the unique flavor + wisdom each of these divine entities embody in our chart and within ourselves. Each of these Goddesses serves a different purpose for us on our journey, but they are all working in tandem toward awakening our highest, most authentic selves.

Like any planet in the birth chart, these 4 heavenly bodies have sign + house placements that make them highly personalized for our own soul blueprint. Recognizing the nature (the sign placement) and the themes (the house placement) each Goddess governs will help us better understand our own strengths + faults in those areas of our life.

It’s time to meet your cosmic Goddess gang: Eris, Pallas Athena, Ceres, and Juno.

Eris—The Warrior

Dwarf Planet

Discovered Jan 5 2005

The friend who fights our battles.

Named for the Greek Goddess, sister of Mars, Eris’ sign placement tells us more about our rebellious side. Eris exposes nerves that have been lying dormant. She doesn’t trigger these nerves to provoke chaos, she does so to help us gain clarity. What she triggers within us has always been there, we just don’t face the iron until it’s hot.

We feel that burn to defend or to act because we realize what matters most to us, what we’re willing to fight for. Eris in the chart governs how we react to personal injustice, how we defend our own honor, how we might project or repress our anger.

Eris in a fire sign could manifest as active, white-hot defense. Eris in a water sign could result in deep resentments, an embodied sense of anger, an intuitive discomfort with our circumstances.

Our rebellious nature is stirred-up by Eris for a reason. She teaches us that which we refuse to settle for. She shows anger, used wisely, is a useful tool for justice and reclamation of personal power. Of course, exerted too heavily, anger could cause us to fall into chaotic or violent ways of thinking + being + acting.

On the other hand, ignoring the rebel within could result in resentment, stagnation, subconscious acceptance and submission to what no longer serves us or what is harming us. Eris wants us to know what is keeping us small.

In our cosmic Goddess gang, she carries out the archetype of the warrior: the friend who urges us to speak out in the face of injustice, the one who knows we need to defend our worth, the one who shakes us up and writes our battle cries. Pick up when she calls and trust her rebellious placement is working for you, not against you.

Ceres—The Mother

Dwarf Planet between Mars + Jupiter

Discovered Jan 1 1801

The friend who brings the ice cream.

Ceres rules love in the simplicity of our lives: what nourishes us. Her sign placement tells us how we seek and find nourishment through love and security, what provides us that sense of unconditional love and safety.

Ceres brings the ice cream to your door after a bad day, leaves a nice note on your windshield just because, makes you a pot of warm soup when you’re feeling under the weather. These are acts of unconditional love that make us feel whole, that give us the warm + fuzzy feeling of security + safety.

Ceres in the chart will tell us what makes us feel nurtured + secure, what we look for in others for that sense of safety, how we choose to nourish + comfort others and ourselves, and where a lack of familial nurturing could be wounding our subconscious self.

When we lack or avoid what brings us security and comfort, we may slip into grief over what we believe to be missing out on, or perhaps we’ll question if we are even worthy of love or of comfort. If we are over exerting our Ceres placement, we may find that we over extend our caring nature. We may absorb the archetype of the nurturer at the detriment of our own needs. We may begin to resent those who do not reciprocate the devotion we identify with ourselves.

Compassion and comfort are beautiful things to give and to receive. We are allowed to feel good, allowed to smile as we open our door + hearts to the gifts that Ceres offers or inspires us to share ourselves. And also, we must ask ourselves how our search for comfort signifies a lack of something within: where and why is the soul looking for comfort? Can we provide ourselves that comfort instead? There’s no right or wrong answer, simply being curious + open to your intuition is enough.

Pallas Athena—The Brain

Asteroid

Discovered March 28 1802

The friend with the fresh perspective.

Pallas Athena’s placement in our chart is one of wisdom and creative intelligence. Where she lands in our chart tells us how we can bridge the gap between our intellect and our intuition in order to think more creatively or to take some innovative action.

Pallas Athena is the “smart friend.” She’s the one who encourages us to think outside of the box. We trust her because her wisdom has been earned through lived experience. Pallas Athena sees all sides of a challenge or an idea, similar to Mercury, and she explores every option available.

Being open to new ways of thinking will benefit our ability to pivot, to seek our own unique purpose and answers in the face of fear or uncertainty. The placement of Pallas Athena in our chart—the sign in rulership—will tell us how we process + perceive new information, creative insights, and our energetic downloads—connection to intuition.

Polarity in the cosmos is a given no matter what sign, planet, asteroid, or dwarf planet we’re initiating. Every sign in the zodiac has a higher and lower nature to them. Pallas Athena’s sign rulership can take on the higher or lower aspects of that sign and these ways of thinking + perceiving will either hinder our connection to creative thinking, or they will give us clues on how to authentically lean into our strengths.

We all have unique processes for interpreting + utilizing knowledge and Pallas Athena comes in to teach us how trusting our own unique process can help us thrive.

Juno—The Lover

Asteroid

Discovered September 1 1804

The friend dishing out the harsh—but true—relationship advice.

The Greek Goddess Hera—Juno—governed marriage and the family. This lovely Goddess was also no stranger to jealousy + vengefulness: common emotions when dealing with matters of the heart.

Juno’s placement in our chart rules our soul connections, our relationship to intimacy, what we seek in our long-term relationships, what we accept as love, how we give out our own love, and how we can negatively grapple with envy + grief in the face of losing or lacking love.

Juno is going to give it to you straight:

Yes this love is authentic and serving your highest good. We love, love!

Hell no! We won’t accept being treated this way! Evacuate, you deserve better!

That’s why this sign placement is deeply insightful for how we develop soul connections in love + our intimate relationships. You don’t seek advice from Juno over flings or playful partnerships, or for the shallow + egoic connections we all find ourselves in from time-to-time. Juno is here to tell us what lifelong intimacy looks like to us, feels like to us, and she does this for the honoring of our own authentic love language.

As we’ve covered before, and we’ll always need to consider, is that there are helpful + hindering sides to all zodiac sign placements in the chart. When Juno is helpful and the higher nature of her sign placement is utilized, we are being handed the soul-connections we deserve.

When the lower nature of Juno’s sign placement is being expressed, we may be privy to emotional crimes of passion: envy, grief, or acceptance of love that hurts us more than it helps us. Get to know the zodiac sign of your Juno placement, as the higher + lower nature of each will vary depending on where Juno decides to call home in our chart.

The Warrior, The Mother, The Brain, and The Lover

That’s a Goddess dream team of energy. Isn’t it refreshing to know that no matter what we are handed in this life, there are cosmic forces here to help us, to guide us, and to push us forward?

If it helps you understand these Goddesses even more, I encourage you to look to your own friend group and see who might embody the different archetypes of this cosmic goddess gang. If you don’t have a larger friend group, don’t sweat it. You legitimately always have the comfort + guidance of this Goddess gang working in your chart.

Astrology shows that the journey within is meant to be taken alone, but it need not be lonely. The characters of the universe are here to serve our purpose, they just serve their wisdom in different ways. Some test us, some inspire us, some lift us up, and some lovingly tear us down. No matter how they show it, they’re serving our authentic selves. They’re teaching us how we can serve ourselves better as well.

Drop me a DM on instagram or comment below about how your cosmic Goddess gang is showing up for you. What signs are they hanging out in? What aspects are they initiating with your other planetary placements? What’s your role in this gang? Are you quick to identify with one of these archetypes, and is that truly who you are on a soul level?

Again, there are no right or wrong answers to these questions. This is a journey of seeking out the truth, not demanding it immediately. Ask these questions this week to keep yourself on your toes, see how these Goddesses can help you expand even just a fraction deeper into your authentic self.

Stay present, stay curious, and kick some ass if you need to.