Ceres and the Earth.

Modern astrology consigns the three recently discovered celestial bodies - Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto - to rulership of the signs Aquarius, Pisces, and Scorpio respectively.

In ancient times the five planets: Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn - each governed two signs - the night sign and the day sign.

The Sun and the Moon each ruled a single sign.

This leaves two signs - Virgo and Taurus - without their own rulers.

Mercury rules both Gemini and Virgo.

My contention is that Virgo should be ruled by the dwarf planet Ceres which is the largest body in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter.

My reasoning is that since Pluto has been demoted to the status of dwarf planet there is a precedent for dwarf planets ruling signs.

And Virgo, as an earth sign, is ideally suited to Ceres who was the Roman goddess of grains, the harvest, fertility, and motherhood.

She was the mother of Proserpine who was abducted by Pluto - another link to the dwarf planet Pluto.

Many of Ceres' attributes were later taken over by the Virgin Mary.

So my contention is that Ceres should be the modern ruler of Virgo.

This leaves Taurus, which is currently ruled by Venus, as is Libra.

Libra - as ruler of relationships, love, and marriage - seems the logical home for Venus.

Taurus the Bull is an earthy fertility sign arriving as it does at the height of Spring.

In ancient times the Spring Equinox was located in Taurus.

One possibility is that Taurus is ruled by the Earth itself as represented by the ancient Greek goddess Gaia who was the wife of the sky god Uranus.

Together they were called the grandparents of the gods because they gave birth to the Titans who preceded the Olympian gods.

This relates to the mythology of mother earth - fertility and abundance, flowers and fruit - all of which are very Taurean.

So there you have it.

The picture is complete.

Virgo is ruled by Ceres.

Taurus is ruled by the Earth.
  

Photo Credit: sjrankin Flickr via Compfight cc