Ceres

Ceres is the largest body in the asteroid belt — reclassified in 2006 as a dwarf planet — and astrologically represents the archetype of nurture: the mother, food, what sustains, the giving and receiving of care. The Greek-Roman myth of Demeter/Ceres (whose daughter Persephone is taken to the underworld, prompting her grief to make the earth barren until her daughter's seasonal return) gives the symbol its complex texture: nurture, loss, the cycle of withholding and giving. Your Ceres sign and house describe how you nurture and how you most need to be nurtured. Strong Ceres placements often produce people who work in care professions, food, or the soil. Ceres is the most widely used asteroid in modern astrology, along with the four other major asteroids: Pallas, Juno, and Vesta.