With the discovery of Uranus and Neptune this redundancy was reduced somewhat.
Soon even more planets would be found but a couple of centuries later there still is a lack of certainty of where they belong.
Asteroids, ever since their discovery, have presented such a puzzle for astrologers. The first one, Ceres, was found by Giuseppe Piazzi on the very first day of the nineteenth century. It was later assumed that it was the 'missing planet' that was expected to be in the orbit as predicted by the Titus-Bode Law. Bode wrote to Piazzi:
"You have discovered it in Taurus and it was re-observed in Virgo, Ceres of the old times. These two constellations are the symbol of agriculture, this occurance is quite unique."
So from the very beginning Ceres was associated with Virgo. But what of the others? Perhaps there is a formula that can be used to determine which sign of the zodiac an asteroid is at home in.
Almost all the asteroids have an orbital period of less than half that of Jupiter. The drop-off after that is steep and with good reason. Most any asteroid that crosses the 2:1 resonance with Jupiter will be thrown into an unstable orbit. This can be used as an outer boundary.
Another boundary could be between the orbits of Ceres and Pallas, the second asteroid to be discovered. Both are right near the 18:7 resonance line; Ceres within and Pallas just outside. This can lead to a simple formula for the domiciles of the asteroids:
Resonance Distance Period Day/ Night Rulership
5:18 2.214 AU 3.295 a Leo/ Cancer
1:3 2.500 AU 3.954 a Virgo/ Gemini
7:18 2.771 AU 4.613 a Libra/ Taurus
4:9 3.029 AU 5.272 a Scorpio/ Aries
For instance Vesta's orbital period is 3.63 years so it would be at home in Leo (day) or Cancer (night).
We can thus put just about any asteroid into one of four classes; the Vesta, Ceres, Pallas or Hygiea groups. These four by themselves constitute over half the mass of the entire asteroid belt.
Vesta co-rules Leo with the Sun during the day and Cancer with the Moon at night. Vesta can be thought of as a higher octave of the luminaries, having more influence over matters dealing with friends and family than one's own person.
The Vesta group also includes the asteroids Artemis, Iris, Hebe, and Fortuna.
Ceres shares rulership with Mercury of Virgo and Gemini. As Ceres moves through zodiac much more slowly than Mercury it would affect many of the same things but on a longer time scale. Other asteroids in the Ceres class include Astraea, Egeria, Irene, Juno, and Hera.
Pallas co-rules Libra alongside Venus in the daytime and Taurus at night. Unlike Venus, Pallas' orbit often takes it much higher or lower than the ecliptic and so many aspects have quite a different meaning than is usually supposed. Related asteroids include Thisbe, Herculina, Psyche, and Aphrodite.
Hygiea and Mars both reside in Scorpio and Aries. Hygiea is more about companionship and the company you keep than the more individualistic Mars. Fellow asteroids include Interamnia, Europa, and Euphrosyne.
Always bear in mind the farther a planet is from the Sun the more it is inclined to the social rather than the psychological. The asteroids are somewhere in-between personal and societal, often influencing our interactions with smaller and more close knit groups of people.
)! This was just in time as the next night it was in Libra.
42'.