At the New Moon at 28+ degrees of Capricorn there was a cluster of planets and minor planets in late Capricorn and early Aquarius. The New Moon is sextile to Saturn and Neptune in Pisces and trine to Uranus in Taurus.

The Sun and the Moon were in conjunction with asteroid 5 Astraea, also at 28+ Capricorn. Astraea was the fifth asteroid discovered. The first four (Ceres, Pallas, Juno and Vesta) were considered first as planets, but rapidly after the discovery of Astraea in 1845 more asteroids were discovered, and it became apparent that these were members of new type of celestial bodies. Astraea was a Greek goddess of justice, who was the last of the immortals to live together with humans during the idealistic Golden Age, when no evil existed in the world. But when humans became crueler and more corrupt, Astraea abondened humanity and went to live among the stars in the constellation Virgo. Astrologer Martha Lang-Wescott describes the meaning of Astraea excellently with these phrases: “it ain’t over ’til it’s over”; “go down with the ship”, “wait until the dust settles”; “the famous final scene” (Martha Lang-Wescott, Mechanics of the Future).

Mars and Mercury at 26+ Capricorn are in conjunction with another Astraea family asteroid, 8273 Apatheia, discovered in 1989. In Stoic philosophy, the concept of apatheia refers to a state of mind in which one is not disturbed by the passions. It was the quality that characterized “the sage”, someone who had attained wisdom.

Asteroid 1566 Icarus and centaur Hylonome are in the first degree of Aquarius. Among the keywords of astrologer Juan Revilla for centaur Hylonome are “lost innocence” and “the cry of the poor.”

Asteroid Icarus was discovered in 1949. It is a potentially hazardous asteroid with an extremely eccentric orbit. It comes closer to the Sun than Mercury and goes further out than Mars. It was named from Greek mythology after Icarus, the son of Daedalus. They attempted to escape from prison with wings that Daedalus constructed from feathers and wax. Icarus ignored his father’s advice not to fly too close to the Sun. The wax melted and Icarus fell into the sea and drowned. Astrologically Icarus likes to take risks and wants to escape limitations.

Plutino Arawn is in conjunction with Venus at 1+ Aquarius. Arawn was the ruler of the Celtic otherworld, Annwn. Arawn was a shapeshifter, who switched places with a mortal man. Van Morrison (the Sun conjunct Arawn) has said: “What’s your original face? Know what I mean? Who are you really? There’s so many different kinds of healing but, if you are in alignment with yourself, then that in itself is going to be healing. If you’re trying to be something other, like something superficial, trying to be someone you’re not, then that would take you away from your true centre.”

At 3+ Aquarius there is Pluto, the Greek ruler of the underworld, who kidnapped the maiden Persephone and made her the queen of the underworld.

In Cancer, opposite the New Moon and the cluster, is Cardea, one of the quasi-moons of Earth. It is an asteroid discovered in 2004. A quasi-moon is an asteroid that actually orbits the Sun, but if you watch it from the Earth, it looks like it’s orbiting our planet just like the Moon does. Cardea is named after the Roman goddess of the hinge, the goddess of doorways and transitions, symbolizing the guardianship of thresholds.