Our talents and gifts are given to us to be danced for others. When we make a book of poetry, we dance. When we cook a meal for our loved ones, we dance. When we speak kindness and encouragement onto others, we dance. We are meant to dance for others, and through our dance others too will be inspired to dance in their unique beautiful shining ways.
I love using fixed stars and asteroids in my astrology readings, and I’m very excited to begin sharing more of my insights with you all. I’ve previously written in depth on the asteroids Juno and Chiron, as well as my love to use Eros and Psyche in my professional astrology practice, and today, as I muse with the musings of my Tropical beach and sea vacation, let me guide you through the creative landscapes of the nine muses asteroids in astrology. And of course, we can’t possibly speak of nine muses without also then briefly looking into the asteroid Aphrodite, the goddess of beauty, art and love itself.
The asteroids muses are a set of nine asteroids named after the nine muses in ancient Greek mythology. The muses were the Greek goddesses of inspiration and creativity, including literature, music, poetry, dance, the arts and science. They were considered the source of the knowledge embodied in the poetry, lyric songs, and myths that were related orally for centuries in ancient Greek culture.
According to Hesiod, Zeus visited the titan Mnemosyne, her name meaning “memory”, and for nine nights in a row they made love; of each night, a muse was born. The nine muses were said to be born in Pieria, at the foot of Mount Olympus, and reside at Mount Helicon, where beautiful pure springs sacred to them still flourish.
Each of the nine muses carries within herself a certain form of art. In my work, as a spiritual astrologer, I view the asteroid muses are nuances and whispers towards artistic expressions. They are songs singing you, dances dancing you, poems making you, so that you dance your beautiful unique self for others to feel inspired to dance in their unique ways also. These muses sing us, speak us and dance us through our imagination as they also align us to particular creative urges and talents we may choose to embody, develop further and realize.
We find the muses asteroids quite prominent in the charts of creative people as they are muses after all, and each of the asteroids essentially shows an inspiration and creative talent personified. There are many ways in our natal chart that we see talents and skills; for example, Moon conjunct Venus, especially in certain signs and constellations, gives the native an Aphrodite energy, love and creative expression. There are also many other combinations that show talents for math, science, architecture and history. We usually look at the inner planets such as the Sun, Moon, Venus and Mercury for these, and when we add to that the nuances of the muses we can deepen into the creative landscapes even more beautifully as we analyze the natal charts.
We look for conjunctions, and sometimes oppositions and trines or sextiles, between the inner planets and the muses, especially the Sun and the Moon; or if the muses are clustered together in specific houses, especially the creative houses, or if they are conjunct a cardinal angle, especially conjunct the Ascendant. While asteroids are still quite a bit of an uncharted territory in astrology, for those of us who are professional astrologers working with many clients, it gives us an exciting and amazing opportunity to explore how these play out in real life and deepen our knowledge of them.
Mnemosyne’s name, the muses’ mother, literally means “memory”, so we find here a mystical thread of remembering. This isn’t about history nor relayers of facts thought; it is about a remembering of our divine sacred spark as co-creators, and that each one of us has a creative essence, a unique song of soul, that seeks to express itself.
The muses aren’t merely whispers, like a warm summer breeze, they seek us to become their hands, their lips, their feet in our movements, so that we can embody them – so that we become the muse herself.
The power of them is I believe found in their dancing us through inspiration – they pull us towards the borderless landscapes of imagination, where we seek to reach our hands across the lines that separate us and create something beyond the limitations of our minds. We bring before our minds the gifts of songs, the gifts of poetry, the gifts of remembering the mortal voices which have become immortal because someone once decided to shape feelings and experiences into words or tunes. And thousands of years later we may still feel inspired by these. We immortalize gracefulness and all that moves our human hearts.
We do not call upon the muses for poetic inspiration nor composing new songs, we call upon them for another quality of theirs: to access something that is normally hidden from our human minds or eyes. The immortalization of the subject of the poem, or the song, or book. The eternal essence of love that lives beyond skin. These are qualities and essences that live beyond the poet’s, or creator’s, own powers.
Inspiration can be seen to mean to in-spirit. When we infuse our spirit of love into what we create, whether it is our food, art or how we speak to others or even how we clean our home, we infuse love into it and this may serve to inspire others.
In ancient times, the poets who called upon the muses in the beginning of their lyrics, were not only described as “entheos”, which literally means “having a god inside,” but they were also described as “ekphrōn”, which means “out of mind” i.e. something beyond rations and logic.
As poets, artists and mystics, we empty ourselves and empty our bodies in order to allow for inspired creativity to enter us and move us. We make space for the divine to speak. We trust it. We exit the limitations of our minds and the conditioned understandings, and we make space for the divine to speak. Through the whispers of the muses, and through creativity, we essentially become vessels for the divine – for something beautiful to be shaped by us, as authentically and as purely as possible, so that it serves to raise others, lift them up, and make our world a more loving space.
Regardless of the muses asteroid positions or aspect in your natal chart, each one of us as individual has unique talents and gifts. We all have a unique song of soul, a unique tune that is unmistakable, and when we understand that each one of us is a muse in various ways, we can move more consciously and lovingly inspiring others along the way also.
Remember that we inspire people in many ways, not just through creative arts. We inspire through our kindness, through our generosity, through our gratitude, through our willingness to learn, through our open mindedness, through our patience, through our gentleness, through the way we speak and move in our most ordinary of moments in our energy day. It is the essence of what we do and how we do it that matters, just like the fragrance of touching someone’s hands with kindness may then inspire to soften and touch others’ hands with kindness also.
May these muses inspire you, sing you, speak you and dance you to be your most beautiful confident self! Invite them in your life as they seek you and desire you, and become their hands, voice and movements, so that you become the muse itself, just like the dancer becomes the dance, the poet the poem, and the one kissing and being kissed becomes the kiss itself!
The Nine Muses Asteroids
Now let’s go through the nine muses, and I’ll share a few words for each on how to interpret the creative essences of some of them. To find your muses in your natal charts, I’ve also included their corresponding asteroid numbers.
Kalliope, Asteroid 22
Named after Calliope, the muse of eloquence and epic poetry, her name means “beautiful voiced”. This asteroid may give you literally a beautiful voice, and the ability to beautifully speak gentleness and inspiration into others. She may give you a voice that has the ability to make others pause and listen to you; you may have a way with words. She may also give you a beautiful singing voice, lyricism when speaking, and storytelling abilities.
She inspires you to speak gently and beautifully and raise the names of heroes, virtues, love, and praise others when they do good deeds in life. Use your voice, both written and spoken, to raise others, lift them, encourage them, empower them and show them the light and beauty they already have.
Named after Clio, the muse of history, her name means “to recount”, “to make famous”, and “to celebrate”. She is not only tied to people who deeply love and study history, but she is also tied to fame. The best way to flow in her creative expression is to treasure where we’ve come from as humanity, remind us of the goodness and the treasures we already have in our shared history, as well as the beauty of various cultures.
Named after Terpsichore, the muse of dance and chorus, her name means “delight in dancing”. She can literally give talent for dancing, choreography, and any hobbies that deal with body movements. She is known for her body movement, and all moves in general, so there is usually some grace, gentleness and femininity in all she moves, whether physically or metaphorically.
Erato, Asteroid 62
Named after Erato, the muse of erotic poetry, lyric poetry and mimic imitation, her name means “desired” and “lovely”. While Kalliope was epic poetry, Erato is lyric poetry, and if you know about poetry, this genre is more water-like, i.e. it moves like romance, like water, like something without boundaries. Romance is a way of life – it inspires us to live life as art, love as art, become not just dreamers but lovers loving.
Eroticism is in way like mysticism, because both seek to expand beyond the borders of the known, so that we enter a space we haven’t before just through our limited minds. It is an energy that seeks us and desires us and invites us to let go of the conditioned minds and limited understanding, and open up through the unknown and our willingness to explore the unknown.
Erato invites you to explore and develop your natural talents in perhaps love songs, love poetry, love letters, and romantic art and romantic writing. Don’t limit yourself within boxed thinking. She can give you sweet voice and sweet speech, and you can be quite charming and good with expressing affection. She inspires you to use love and mysticism to inspire others to be more loving and giving, and to learn to love fully rather than through judgments and resistances. Explore romantic writing, because you can be quite good at writing love poetry!
Everything in life is romance if we have the right eyes to see it; tea making is romance, walk in nature is romance, the way we move and speak and touch and see the world can be romance as well – an intimacy with the world where we open our hearts and minds, and soften in perspectives.
Named after Euterpe, the muse of music, flutes and lyric poetry, her name means “to delight”, “to rejoice”, and “to please”. In ancient times, musicians would often look towards and pray to Euterpe for guidance in their compositions. She is quite prominent in the charts of musicians, song writers, composers, and anyone who plays with wind instruments. She inspires you to move with grace, gentleness and make life music as well as sing others into more goodness, encouragement and love.
Named after Polyhymnia, the muse of sacred poetry, sacred hymn, dance, eloquence, agriculture, pantomime, geometry, and meditation, she is mainly known as the muse of hymns. “Poly” means “many”, and “hymnos” means “praise” or “hymn”. As many of the other muses she is also linked to acting and poetry, but she is especially linked to creative spirituality and the natural metaphysics.
There is a meditative nature and essence to her, and she can be quite introspective also; she often gives many talents in various artistic, creative and music fields, and these natives may also receives praises for their contributions. She inspires you to uplift others and praise them as well, and use your voice to speak goodness into people and remind them of how the sacred lives within each one of us.
In a world that feels a bit disconnected, it is perhaps more important than ever to remind ourselves of sacredness sounds like, looks like, moves like, and whether it is connected to religious like beautiful icons and art, religious hymns or choirs, or spiritual poetry, sufi poetry, or meditation music, sacred poetry and music raises us in vibration.
Named after Urania, the muse of astronomy, astrology, Christian poetry, and Universal Love, her name means “heavenly” and “of heaven”. Urania is known for her majestic, beautiful, and graceful demeanour. She is philosophical, mystical, and guides all those who are philosophers, astronomers, astrologers, fortune tellers, prophets, priests, and even mathematicians and physicists.
She is connected not just to metaphysics and astronomy, but also to mathematics and religion. As we all know, everything is math and numbers, and astrology is certainly all about numbers, math and sacred geometry. She also inspires people to see the unknown, explore it with an open mind, keep learning, and be open and willing to learn abstract ideas and theories.
Urania has a beautiful blend between mind and spirit, intellect and mysticism. She balances the heavenly globe of symbolic wisdom, and inspires us to understand the connection between life in the cosmos and life here on our beautiful earth. She is like the bridge between the two – of both stars and soil. She reminds us all of the interconnection of everything and that we must be discerning in cosmic interpretations while also keeping ourselves humble that we’ll never know it all – and yet that’s the beauty of it!
Named after Thalia, the muse of comedy and idyllic poetry, her name means “joyous” and “flourishing”. She can indeed give talents for comedy literally, but mainly, I’ve seen her to bless people with a lighthearted and quirky sense of humour that is absolutely addicting and uplifts people right away!
To understand her essence properly, we have to understand what comedy meant during the ancient Greek times of these muses – and comedy was a very intelligent art. To have been an artist in comedy you had to be someone intelligent and able to play various roles i.e. very creative and talented. You also had to have a way of words, and be very attentive in order to understand what people desire to hear on a deeper level.
Laughter is an aphrodisiac, and it is something that softens and opens people’s energies. It is also something that can literally heal people, soothe them and make them feel more alive, which is why her name means “flouring”. She is known to bring vitality to people and their lives, and their wellbeing and health also. She is also quite the shape shifter, and often very talented in various fields, which is what can make her fascinating, charming, magnetic and alluring.
Named after Melpomene, the muse of tragedy and chorus, her name means “to sing”, “melody or melodious one”, and “to celebrate with dance and song”. She is known to give many talents to people, including writing, storytelling, acting, singing and dancing – and in ancient times, poets who desires to become the best poets would pray to her, so that she blesses them with emotional depth in their writing.
In ancient Greece, the dramatic arts were all tragedies to begin with; comedies develop only much later. So tragedy as genre was highly revered, because it was considered an art form to be properly understood and shaped as art only by the deepest, most intelligent and most spiritual people.
The tragedies were written by philosopher poets, and even mystics, and the focus was on morality, and the notions of right and wrong. The players wore masks which allowed each to play many roles. This is why Melpomene has always been known for her multi talented nature and very spiritual, philosophical and emotionally deep essence.
People with prominent Melpomene, especially if they are writers and poets, are known to create works and words that are emotionally moving and soul soothing. Their words will often pull tears out of the eyes of the readers and listeners, because Melpomene blesses the natives with the emotionally sincere and deep nature that touches people’s hearts and souls.
To touch people on a such a deep level is really difficult, because you yourself need to be in touch with something very deep and universal also. Many people may feel understood by you and your words in a way they haven’t been before, and they may recognize their deepest selves through your words. It isn’t necessarily that you yourself have experienced these things, but you just have a deeply attuned sensitivity, empathy and intuition that allows you to tune into the collective consciousness. You may be able to shape complex nuances of the human experience through words, and these can be very healing for people to read. It may help them feel understood, seen, and even healed.
Melpomene could also show you may be good at acting, or mean you are poetic and can write and communicate well and your words deeply touch people and they feel deeply seen by you. You pull tears of them, which cleanses them or because your work is so beautiful and soulful.
Throughout history people would often pray to and invoke this muse to become great poets, writers and philosophers i.e. have the needed depth to understand the complex emotional layers and nuances of humanity and be able to clearly express them.
Think of Shakespeare. Romeo and Juliet, Othello, Macbeth … sure we know of his beautiful sonnets and comedies, but most people think of the former plays first. These are the famous plays and the ones that stay in time. There are also many famous singers nowadays who have Melpomene prominent in their natal charts, especially the soulful ones whose songs you cannot ever forget and their voices are unmistakable and heart touching.
Additional: Musa, Asteroid 600
Asteroid Musa is named after the nine muses, so essentially, you can view her as all of them into one. Having her in your chart in a prominent position shows your ability to be a muse for others, an inspiration for others, and that you yourself are inspired easily and often.
It’s because you have the heart and soul of the muse herself, and you have the eyes to see beauty, love and inspiration everywhere. You can see love and inspiration in a flower, in snow, in a little squirrel, and life itself becomes poetry. Musa blesses you with grace, beauty, charm, musings, creativity, inspirations, and many artistic talents. Life becomes art for you, love is art, and you become not just a mystic, not just a muse, not just a lover, but love moving and loving, and then loving even more.
Additional: Mnemosyne, Asteroid 57
Asteroid Mnemosyne, named after the nine muses’ mother, meaning memory and inspiration. She may show where you’ll be inspiring people and making something for which you’d be remembered. In your natal chart she may also show what you have remembered from past lives, and how you may be inspiring people through these past life gifts or memories.
Aphrodite Asteroid
Aphrodite asteroid, 1388, is named after the goddess of love, fertility, beauty and passion Aphrodite. In a natal chart, especially if she is conjunct your Moon as a woman, she blesses you with beauty, harmony, abundance, magnetism and all of her qualities of love and creativity. You may be especially feminine, graceful, loving, and gentle.
Like I mentioned in the beginning, if you have your natal Moon conjunct Venus, this aspect in itself will probably bless you with the energy of Aphrodite as it carries her expression. Her gift of fertility isn’t just physical fertility in the way we may understand this word, it is making things grow and bloom as we nurture them and infuse them with our loving care.
For asteroid Aphrodite, it largely depends on what sign and house she resides in your chart. If for example she is in Cancer, which is feminine, lunar and water sign, she can be quite creative, emotionally deep, poetic and beautiful. There is mysticism and intuition here also, as this sign is ruled by the Moon, so we see the flow of both lunar and Venusian energies; and if your natal Venus is an evening star, this will magnify your Aphrodite even further, as the evening phase of Venus is known as the Aphrodite phase.
With this placement in watery goddess Cancer, or if conjunct with the Moon, you can have a calm and serene energy, be very graceful and emotionally deep, nurturing and alluring. Silks, pearls and all kinds of sparkling jewels may be especially pleasing to you, as well as silvery, white and all shades of blue such as larimar and turquoise.
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Cover art is Dance of the Muses by Warren B Davis, 1920.
