Almagest

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Vesta in the second house

the asteroid Vesta in the second house, in modern Western asteroid astrology

What the tradition reads

The modern sources read Vesta narrowly and agree with each other. Wikipedia's account of asteroids in astrology, which dates asteroid practice to Eleanor Bach's ephemeris of 1973, says astrologers use Vesta to determine what a person is devoted to; Cafe Astrology's asteroid pages list dedication, focus, devotion, warmth, a sense of purpose, hard work, structure and tradition; Always Astrology's general description adds mental clarity and self respect, and names security, investments, insurance and inheritance among the matters it says Vesta carries influence over. The second house, in Alan Leo's account, is finance and monetary prospects, the outcome of the labour or profession in remuneration and in the monetary condition generally. He sets it in a triad with the tenth house and the sixth, holds that such matters cannot be judged from the second alone though the second must be allowed the final voice among them, credits it besides with considerable sway over the emotional and desire nature, and assigns to it the throat and ears. Of the sources consulted, none gives a reading for Vesta in the second house: the two delineations that treat Vesta placement by placement, Always Astrology and Astrology Club, work by sign only, and Cafe Astrology's asteroid pages give Vesta's keywords without any delineation by house, so no reading is offered here.

The story

Vesta's temple kept things as well as fire. Wikipedia's account of the sacred fire records that among the sacred objects held there was the Palladium, a statue of Pallas Athena said to have been brought from Troy by Aeneas, and that the temple burned and was rebuilt several times, its final reconstruction carried out in AD 191 on the orders of Julia Domna, wife of the emperor Septimius Severus. The inner store, the penus Vestae, was normally curtained off; Wikipedia's account of the Vestalia says it was opened for the only time in the year on the festival's first day, and that while the curtain stayed open women brought offerings in exchange for a blessing on their families, the whole festival standing for domestic life and for the spirits of the storechamber, the Penates, together with Vesta. The priestesses held other people's valuables too: Wikipedia's account of the Vestal Virgins records that they had custody of important wills and state documents, and that unlike any other Roman women they could make a will and dispose of property without a male guardian's sanction.

Written from

Corpus key point:Vesta:house:2.