One of the great things about asteroids is that they liberate your astrological vocabulary so you are not perpetually stuck with Venus or Moon as the only female archetypes.
Diana is Jupiter’s daughter. I hope you are getting a feeling for the way asteroids work in modern astrology, now. We use the family tree. Anything else is really just a random symbol and has more to say about an astrologer’s state of mind than anything else. Sedna, Pallas and other archetypes are not used. Why? They are not in the Roman family tree that began with Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and the rest.
Diana is important when understanding Jupiter because you don’t really see his generosity, largeness and abundance until you understand that he bestowed freedom upon her. He had other daughters, like Fortuna (his first-born) and brilliant Minerva (who was born from his brain, fully-formed).
Yet, it was to Diana that he gave the precious gift of freedom from marriage and liberation from motherhood. She begged him to set her free from having to marry or have children, and so he made her a huntress.
Jupiter tends to have this function in a horoscope. He gives and opens doors. He allows and accommodates. To Diana, he offered something she craved, which was space, autonomy and independence. Diana is a symbol of feminism for this reason.
Peter Paul Rubens and Diana
The work of Peter Paul Rubens is preserved for us through a Creative Commons license today at Wikimedia Commons, but to really experience what he felt about women, you need to see the paintings up close and personal.
Rubens understood the importance of Diana’s dogs and also her friends, the nymphs. Diana’s greyhounds hunted with her. She had no interest in a husband or children, but Rubens painted her fondling her animals instead.
Female friendship is also what sustains Diana instead of a family and Rubens also painted this very clearly. Diana is not disinterested in sex. She is sensual, often bare-breasted (as are the nymphs) and in art and mythology, we know she was a wild swimmer.
She was spied on and destroyed the voyeur who did it, having him ripped to shreds by his own dogs. She did have occasional lovers, notably Endymion.
Diana and Endymion
Diana is shown with a crescent moon on her head (a New Moon) but is not the Moon. That is a really important distinction to make. The Moon in your chart is quite separate. (Musée Bonnat – Diane et Endymion – Peter Paul Rubens ca. 1636).
Her Moon is there, because she needed a night light. She comes out at night to have sex with Endymion, who is always asleep. This idea of a passive male lover is central to Diana. Also, a man reserved strictly for the hours after dark. There is no real relationship here. No commitment, no partnership and certainly no family or domesticity.
Rubens painted Diana and Endymion to show her essentially dominating the affair. He is there, but not there. His eyes are always closed, yet he could perform, sexually. Here’s a little test for this week. Find the natal chart of Germaine Greer and see if you can set up Diana in her horoscope. You will need to use the free resources at astro.com or serennu.com to do this and it will take time, but you will also learn how to find Diana in any chart. If you are a Premium Member, you can of course locate her in your own horoscope. 
By sign and house, Diana shows where you cannot commit, where you seek space, where you ‘hunt’ what and who you desire, where you tend to keep the company of women (rather than men) or just your own company, perhaps with a dog.
Diana can be quite literal sometimes! On a purely symbolic level, Diana just shows the need to be free. If you have Diana in Cancer in the Fourth House you will have issues with being tied down at home, or chained to housework or the family.
Diana, Princess of Wales
The passing of Diana, Princess of Wales is recorded in history, so we have a time, place and date. She was a firm believer in astrology and was helped enormously by two of our Sun Sign School tutors, Debbie Frank and Penny Thornton. To develop your understanding of Diana the asteroid, look at her in this chart. She stands at 12 Taurus, the sign which rules money, in the Second House of possessions, property, charity and finance.
Look at the aspects Diana makes (exact or within one degree). Then do your research and find out what happened to Diana’s will and her charities when she passed.
You can go quite deeply into this, and look at Diana’s own inheritance from her father (Diana’s father Jupiter is very important to her in astrology) and also the central principles of freedom, autonomy, independence, liberation.
Uranus also rules liberation but it comes from a revolution. Diana is different. If you want to go even further, compare and contrast the two by doing your own research!
Feature Image: Lightscape
25 Responses
Hi Jessica thanks for this information I adore the visual of The Mongolian lady with the Eagle riding out on the hunt looking happy with friends and in full command of herself . I have Jupiter (father ) at 28 Cap … my Diana is at 23 Scorpio and Ceres at 24 Taurus Saturn at 24 Cap and Pisces at 22 Moon in the context of a pattern and family tree would you be able to shed some light please ? Thank you very much for all your feedback you give to us all .
I will pass that on to Jodi and Justin who design the features, thank you. Diana opposite Ceres in your finance sectors is really about seeking control over your money, house or apartment, but finding that another part of you wants to be free of paperwork, commitment or the ties that bind. The truth is you can’t really be rich in this society unless you wrap yourself around the heavy and onerous ask of a job, or a mortgage, or loan, and so on. This is not really what Diana wants, but Ceres will never put up with feeling as if life is too random, so there is a fair bit of creative inner conflict here about money, shopping, saving, spending, being rich, being poor and the rest. Saturn and Jupiter tie in, because in your chart here, they are about the sort of job you end up with, trading salary against enjoyment. When Uranus eventually goes to 23, 24 Taurus in a few years from now you will have an epic decision to make about your finances.
Hello! I have Diana in Libra. It confuses me because I crave a partnership (marriage) more than just about anything (I haven’t been in a serious relationship since my last partner passed many years ago). Can you explain how the Libra aspect may affect me in other ways?
Thank you!
You have a stellium in Libra, actually, not just Diana. So in Libra and the Seventh House of partnership we also find Saturn, Pluto and Ceres, the Ascendant, Apollo and Aesculapia. None of them are more important than Diana, but they all have to take their place with her, as equals, in your chart. Saturn is about hard karma and difficult learning experiences. Losing a partner must be the number one version of a Saturn experience in the Seventh House. Pluto is about empowerment through willpower and control through self-control. Ceres is about enforced compromises and the sharing of power. In fact she was Pluto’s mother-in-law. The Ascendant is your public image – you are perceived through the lens of your partnerships (not just sexual and romantic, but also business and professional). Apollo is how you lead by example and are often imitated. Aesculapia is – the return from the brink of someone or something you assumed was gone forever. This is quite a complicated pattern in your chart, never mind Diana, with all her rejection of marriage and children. As it is an intensely personal matter, I will leave it to you to use your guidebooks and the paywalled features, to find out, in greater depth, what it means to have this huge number of Libra and Seventh House factors. It never rains but it pours for you and when the transits are right you will be in your next life partnership. And how.
I adore the photo of the Eagle Huntress. I just looked at it and wanted to be her! As usual, so much to think about from your insightful article. I have my Diana at a late degree of Cancer. You are so right about the housework thing. I have always had the philosophy there are so many more interesting things to do than housework. Such as being outdoors and riding horses. Or simply traveling. Especially when you combine this with my Sag sun. It’s real ‘don’t fence me in’. I have always been happiest when Jupiter has beamed in enough money to hire a cleaner! But what i find particularly interesting is the Endymion theme. I have often attracted in partners who are simply ‘not present’ emotionally in the relationship or are distant or unavailable. I wonder if on a deep level this is my Diana not wanting to be confined or restricted? It’s not that I would not like a partner as I would. But I guess I want a fellow free spirit to ride off with! I also did enjoy being a mother and would have loved to have more children. But I was the hippie, globe trotting unconventional mother who took her child traveling.
She is a very particular kind of Diana and every nation has her own Diana image. Housework is very anti-Diana and she would not have stood for it. In fact the key to this asteroid is understanding that the goddess never stands at all! She is always shown in sculpture on one foot, ready to run. And in mythology Diana would not stand for motherhood nor marriage. The Romans were great feminists despite their popular reputation and rated Diana very highly in the pantheon. You believe you have had relationships with Endymions. This is pretty standard if you ‘do’ your Diana very strongly for months or even years. Endymion men are not literally asleep, of course, but Diana types can fall in love with men who are unemployed and sleep for half the day, or have depression and sleep through it. It happens. Dianas can fall madly in love with men who will have issues with sex, or their ability to father children, and so on, so they are nicely prevented from ever having to worry about pregnancy. That can also happen. Seeing a pattern in a horoscope is always a bit of an eye-opener. Many women are very happy to be Dianas!
Hi Jessica,
This is so amazing, I have been thinking of Diana, seeing things reminding me of her myth the past few days, for no apparent reason. I love the hero image too, beautiful!
Freedom is so important to everyone, I feel especially sensitive to restrictions/decisions made by government/big tech that will limit future freedoms (or anything that is unfair or an abuse of power).
I have exact aspect to Apollo (in 4th), while Pluto and Uranus (in 6th) are approx 1º from exact. Would love to know how these might work together if they do? Thanks Jessica
Diana actually dogs your footsteps (excuse the pun) every time you pursue a house or apartment, or a particular lifestyle or job. She will follow you around and remind you that you are never going to be satisfied with lots of rules and restrictions. I imagine being made to stay at home in 2020 has been very difficult for you. You are doing very well to come out of 2020 in one piece actually as you have been put through one of the heaviest, hardest big pressures in your life, coming from the top down, as Saturn, Pluto and the South Node in Capricorn (politicians and big business) have been ‘squashing’ from the top and seeking to get their own way. Diana types like you have no doubt been ducking and diving, looking for oxygen, but the good news is the very last dregs of this cycle, and the people who we might also call ‘dregs’ (good old-fashioned Australian term) are going, going, gone. 2020 is literally the last year.
Is it possible to enjoy more those asteroid lessons ?! Its fascinating, like a whole new world in astrology and as you say Jessica, othe rmuch welcome tools besides Venus. Thank you so much.
Regarding my own chart, Diana in Capricorn : i guess its related to independance in the work place…But more, looking at my life (sun in aquarius), real independance in the 12th house area, religion, astrology ? I dislike vey much dogmas but i have always felt a huge spiritual need, ln my own terms.
Regarding Germaine Greer (what a life !), mmmm…Diana in libra ? She has been always so free in term of relationships and commitments (one wedding lasting 3 weeks and 7 affairs during this wedding ?!!).
I can’t wait for the next asteroid class…
Thank you so much. Yes, Diana in your Tenth House is about your need to be your own person, find space and do your own thing professionally. Germaine Greer taught me first-hand what Diana is like, when I met her in Melbourne. We were talking under a statue of Diana at the time!
Hello Jessica,
Fabulous article. I love the way you link mythology, images and archetypes.
In my natal chart I have Diana at 0 degrees Aquarius, my 10th house, exact with my natal Venus and 1 degree from my Jupiter also in Aquarius. My gut tells me this is significant but as a newbie to astrology it keeps slipping away from me.
Thank you. Diana, the Greek Aphrodite, was updated by the Romans who give us modern astrology. The Romans were quite familiar with ‘Dianas’ in their society who disliked the idea of being tied down to children and marriage, and so they were very happy to embrace her in art and sculpture. She is always shown running, or about to run, with arrows (she hunted) and a greyhound (who brought home the quarry). She was spied on naked when swimming with her female nymphs and turned her voyeur into a stag, who was killed by his dogs. The aspects of Diana, the Princess of Wales, we associate with the spying paparazzi are played out here. Diana was also single for quite a long time and rejected marriage (divorce) and full-time motherhood (the children were never exclusively hers). So, she is complicated. She is not in your Tenth House, though. She is in your Eleventh House, the house of friends and groups.
Hi Jessica, thank you for this article. I have Diana at 21 in Aquarius. How does this play out in my chart. Thank you!
You will find your life follows Diana’s. She was a loner who loved her dog, and her nymphs or female friends were her companions in swimming and hunting. Nothing closer than that. You will be most comfortable in your life being solo, but occasionally finding shared activities with other women to enjoy. And a dog!
OMG! Jessica, You are so accurate about Bacchus in Sag and Diana in Aquarius in my chart, it gives me the chills to acknowledge how true it is. The article touches upon Fortuna, Minerva and Diana. I have Minerva at 11 in Capricorn and Fortuna at 22 in Capricorn. Could you please read my chart and let me know how Minerva in Cap and Fortuna in Cap affect my chart. Thank you!
Minerva was the Roman goddess of wisdom and was always seen with an owl by her side. She defeated Neptune in a contest of wits. Fortuna was Jupiter’s daughter too (so you have both of Jupiter’s daughters in your Tenth House of career in Capricorn). She is blindfolded and spins the wheel of fortune for other people without realising what she is doing. You tend to live this out at work for other people. You are the trusted source of advice and knowledge but you also randomly affect other people without seeing what you are doing.
Can you please explain Diana in Taurus a. Bit more. I never feel independent in this way and feel like any gains I make are always soon needed for something imperative leaving me back at square one again trying to have that stability again. Will I ever feel truly financially secure and independent?
You also have the Moon, Hygiea and Proserpina in Taurus in the Second House alongside Diana, so you are conflicted about money and shopping. Part of you wants to be rich, another part of you wants to give it away, or spend it, or just rejects the idea of looking wealthy to a watching world. The Moon and Diana are in conflict. The Moon is your maternal instinct. Diana did not have it. She rejected motherhood. The Moon wants and needs someone to care for, very much. You won’t be secure and independent at the same time until you figure out your inner conflict about earning or saving. Spending and giving away. That takes time but just looking at the paintings of these archetypes, or the sculptures, can bring mental breakthroughs. Have a look at the way Diana in particular was painted. What does she tell you?
Hello Jessica, I have Diana at 1 deg Saggi, and what an image this is! To ride and rein a horse with one hand, have a giant eagle perched on the other as a second eagle casually lay on her shoulder, this girl is so superbly in control and calm. Love her smile!
Thank you.
Hi Jessica. I have asteroid Diana at 9 Taurus and transiting Uranus at 9 Taurus is exactly conjuncting it now. What is the significance seeing I also have Fortuna at 9 degrees Taurus? Was the sisterly relationship of Diana and Fortuna harmonious?
Would having Uranus conjunct those asteroids give the potential for more financial freedom? I’ve certainly had freedom doing my shopping online these last couple of months. Only last week a reputable person recommended doing online selling on that Amazon selling place. But I don’t think I’ll do that until Mercury retrograde has gone. I donated to a charity online for the first time a couple of days ago and felt really good about doing that. I’ve always had luck with clothes and they always fall into my lap. The last couple of years I’ve been giving some to charities. To get more freedom physically I’m going to buy a bicycle and cycle around the surrounding streets – something I haven’t done for years. Ultimate freedom!
Anyway, thanks for the asteroid insight.
JC
Diana and Fortuna didn’t know each other but were both blessed by having Jupiter (the greatest and best) as their father. Jupiter gave Diana what she wanted, which was a dog, a pack of nymphs and life without a husband or children. He gave Fortuna the gift of taking people all the way to the top, after being at their lowest ebb. His optimism is in Fortuna. Your bicycle is funny to me, because it is both Diana and Fortuna in Taurus in the Second House of possessions. Fortuna is the Wheel of Fortune. Literally ‘wheels’ which you are buying. Diana ran, she didn’t ride, but you’ll both go places!
Hi Jessica,
I love this article. I’m curious how Diana works in my chart as it’s in Pisces. I do love my own space, even when in a relationship, despite being a people person. And I just had to check out Germaine Greer’s chart to learn a bit more. She’s a great example of how it works in the fourth house.
Thank you. Diana in Pisces in the Twelfth House will emerge in your dreams as herself (the huntress with the greyhound) or in disguise, as a dream figure who is clearly female, independent, anti-children, anti-marriage and anti-commitment. The Twelfth House rules religion, astrology, the Tarot, mediumship and scepticism, which is also a belief (scientism is another belief). Diana suggests you have gone your own way here. You would have rejected God as a commitment, or perhaps the bible, or even certain kinds of astrology or psychic pursuits. Why? Not enough freedom! It makes for an interesting life. Watch your dreams.
Hello Jessica,
As i said in my earlier post, I’m new to astrology but I’m hell-bent on learning it – thats because I’m a Sag. Well you had me scratching my head when you said that my Diana, Venus and Jupiter were conjunct in Aquarius, my 11th house. I believed they were in my 10th house cause my Asc is Taurus. So I went searching – i knew you werent wrong. Found it in your Astrology Basics blog. Natural House system of course. You said that this system links in more powerfully with our national and international charts. This seems crucial in our current times when the individuals journey is so emmeshed in the turbulance of national karmas. Is there further reading youd recommend on Natural House?
The Natural House system is explained on this website and in my book 2020 Astrology: Your Five-Year Horoscope Guide. I have tested over 30 house systems using Solar Fire software and it’s the only one which works for date-stamped prediction. As I just explained to another reader, I used it to predict the virus, twice, and it was possible to do so (to the day) in the case of the first death in China. That was a year before it happened. So, using that system, your Taurus Ascendant goes into your Second House. Your stellium in Aquarius is in your Eleventh House. You are born to be in groups. With Jupiter and Saturn both in Aquarius in 2021 you will be involved with one or more groups which change a small part of your world, and also change you. That is your destiny and it will be hugely rewarding.