← Encyclopedia of Astrology · lesson 54/235
Juno
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Juno, asteroid number 3, was discovered by Karl Ludwig Harding at Lilienthal, near Bremen, on 1 September 1804. It is named after the Roman queen of the gods and goddess of marriage, the Greek Hera. In a chart it is read as commitment and partnership: what a person looks for in a lasting bond, what they need to feel fairly treated in it, and how they respond when that trust is tested.
The myth
Hera was the wife of Zeus and the guardian of marriage and of women in childbirth. Her own marriage was famously troubled: Zeus was repeatedly unfaithful, and many of her stories, as Ovid tells them, are of her anger and jealousy turned on his lovers and their children. Astrologers draw from her both the dignity of a committed union and its harder side — loyalty, the wish to be an equal partner, and the pain of betrayal or imbalance.
In a chart
Juno's sign is often read as what a person needs from a committed partner; its house, as where questions of commitment and fairness show up. Juno in Aries tends to describe a wish for a lively partner who meets you head on; in Taurus, a need for steadiness, loyalty and shared comforts. Juno in the 7th house is often read as putting partnership near the centre of life; in the 10th, a bond tied up with work or public standing. Contacts with Venus are often read as strengthening the theme.
Asteroid astrology is a modern addition, from the 1970s onwards. Traditional astrology does not use Juno, and most astrologers give it less weight than the planets — a detail that colours a chart rather than leads it.