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e-spot-asteroid-eros-in.html

Finding your ‘E’ spot: Asteroid Eros in the

natal chart

 November 20, 2007 by Julie Demboski 18 Comments 

Though there are many reasons for seeking relationship, it’s probably our sense of the erotic, the

 passionate core of our desire to connect with others, that is the true driving force behind dating

and mating. When we inspect the natal chart for ‘passion indicators,’ we see various facets of passion, desire, and sexuality:

  Venus tells us the nature of our loves, our values, our idea of what relationship is like,and for a woman shows her ‘ideal Self.’ 

  Neptune points to the character of our life ideals, our spiritual ideals, and our fantasies.

  Uranus hints at our concept of Utopia.

  The Sun describes our Soul needs (which may or may not involve relationship).

  The Moon sings of our emotional needs, Mercury of our communication requirements

(and our possible fraternal or sororal ones) and Jupiter of our social ones.

  Saturn suggests what we need to feel secure.

  Mars and Pluto focus on our need to assert ourselves, to express our life energy in the

world (including via the urge to reproduce), with Mars describing a man’s ‘ideal Self’

and Pluto suggesting our darker nature, which may have sexual overtones.

Using the natal horoscope, we can cobble together a colorful and relatively full picture of the

individual as a passionate Being, but we may miss out on some very important points, namelythose indicated by the placement and aspects of the asteroid Eros .

Eros Mythology

 Named for the child of Zeus/Jupiter and Aphrodite/Venus —  who was the forerunner to our

modern day idea of Cupid —  Eros is no diaper-clad, arrow-slinging cherub, but a full grown

winged god. Eros symbolizes passion, and all the things that can go wrong with it; his ownstory illustrates many of the points brought forward by the asteroid. Eros was given a quiver of

magic arrows by Venus in order to make Psyche —  a mortal whom Venus had heard rivaled her

in beauty —  fall in love with a beast, which Venus believed would cause Psyche to be rejected

 by humanity. But Eros accidentally cut himself, fell for Psyche, then whisked her away to ahidden lair where he would come to her as her husband at night. Psyche was forbidden to look

upon him; if she had, she would’ve known it was a god to whom she was married. The secrecy

of their arrangement was to keep Venus from knowing. Venus kept her son Eros close to her, and

 

her refusal to allow him to form bonds with other living Beings brings us to the nature of Eros

itself: Eros (and the erotic) are expressions of the sexualizing of someone or something.  

Previous to meeting Psyche, poor Eros had fixed his sexual energies on objects, when his mother

thwarted his natural inclinations; thus Eros can also indicate fetishism. This introduces a further,

important component of Eros —  we must choose the erotic object, and that is a mental

process, not simply a response to existing passion . Though Eros fixed on Psyche

‘accidentally,’ we must recognize that —  though we pretend to have no part in forming erotic

attachments —  the choices are ours alone. In short, Eros in our charts describes what and whomwe choose to have a sexually-charged passion for.

Eros contacts in the natal chart

Eros contacts between partner charts can pinpoint the most exciting parts of the interaction, but 

Eros’ aspects to other bodies in the individual chart illuminate what we may focus our

erotic enthusiasm upon; these are our ‘E’ spots, or, to use an antique phrase, ‘what turns us on.’

Whether the aspect is ‘hard’ or ‘soft’ between Eros and other placements may lend a more positive or negative cast to the manifestation, but what’s really important is that contact is made,

especially between Eros and the personal planets.

  When Eros touches the Sun, we have someone whose very identity is erotic in nature —  

he or she may have many passionate attachments expressive of the Soul, or may feel‘blended’ with and identify themselves as an embodiment of eroticism and passion.

(Power, or persons who stand out, who ‘shine’ in some way, are the turn on.) 

  With the Moon, Eros imbues the emotions with a high degree of passionate intensity, as

well as a strong desire to have one’s emotional way. (Remember, Eros married Psychedespite his mother’s objections to her  very existence —  in this, Eros showed both a

healthy desire to break away from parental control, and a dysfunctional and immature

insistence on doing what he wanted without the courage to do it openly.) Here, emotions

are the turn on.

  Teamed with Mercury, we may see communication that inherently carries a sexual

charge (or that carries sexual content or implication, deliberately or not; all exchanges

may be the turn on).

  With Venus, we find Eros welcomed, as the love and erotic nature merge, but Eros may

 be overwhelmed by the requirements of Venus —  thus the chosen erotic target may have

to have Venusian standards attached and these will be the turn ons, such as great beauty,money, identical erotic preferences, or compatible values.

  With Mars, Eros may bring the erotic into the competitive sphere, or every Self assertion

may be tinged with an aura of sexual conquest —  even relationships that are platonic.

Ego, aggression, even selfishness may be turn ons.

There are many other possibilities; an awareness of the inclinations of the erotic within ourselves

can only expand our Self-understanding, and open our nature to new, suitable expressions of passion.

 

About the Author  Julie Demboski has been an astrologer for 20+ years and currently resides in Eugene, Oregon.

View her   services , her  blog  , and her books, Chiron in the Natal Chart and  The Astrology of

 Intimate Relationshipavailable at Amazon.com or through  Dog & Sunflower Press. Contact Julie at:  juliedemboski@hotmail.com 

Find Eros in your birthchart:  View the Eros ephemeris at astro.com.