Coronavirus: Astrology of an Outbreak

On January 7, 2020, the Chinese government announced that it had isolated the cause of a new strain of flu-like contagion, which it named the novel (“new”) coronavirus. Part of a large class of viruses which include the common cold, MERS and SARS, the new disease had already claimed at least one life, in late December 2019, before it was identified. By early February, at least 259 people had succumbed to the virus, which has now spread to more than a dozen countries, with upwards of 83,000 known to be infected. Over 60 million people have been put on lock-down in China, and international researchers are racing to develop a vaccine before the contagion becomes a worldwide pandemic. The US government announced that as of February 2^nd, all foreign nationals who had visited China in the past 14 days would be barred from entering the country, and all Americans returning from China would be placed in quarantine.

In this analysis we’ll be using asteroids China, Hubei and Wuhan, for the country, province and city where the coronavirus was first encountered; Apollo, Asclepius, Panacea and Chiron as health-related; and Koronis, as closest to “corona”.

When China identified the virus on January 7, the Sun and Neptune were exactly sextile each other from 16 Capricorn and Pisces, at the base of a Yod, or Finger of Destiny, with inconjuncts to Panacea and Lachesis at the apex, at 18 and 19 Leo respectively. The Sun brings illumination and awareness (thus identification, as it were); Neptune rules hospitals, wasting and obscure or hard-to-diagnose illnesses (with Pisces ruling diseases with mucous discharge); Panacea rules medications and cures; and Lachesis is named for the mythic Greek Fate who determines the span of life, bringing possible mortality into the equation.

Within orb of the Sun is Mercury at 14 Capricorn, making headline news, and the Saturn/Pluto conjunction at 22 Cap, uniting the ancient and modern lords of death, with Saturn also identified with official government actions and quarantines, while Pluto rules contamination. Traveling with Neptune is asteroid Hubei at 20 Pisces, named for the province where the outbreak occurred. Neptune also suggests the “invisible” nature of the infection, which can incubate for up to two weeks without visible signs, but is contagious throughout.

Opposing the Yod’s apex points, at 15 Aquarius, is asteroid Koronis, which that day made its exact conjunction with asteroid Apollo. Apollo is named for the Greek god of healing, plague and disease, and he has a mythic resonance with Koronis, named for one of his lovers who bore him Asclepius, a minor deity also identified with healing.

Their current reunion birthed our awareness of the virus which most closely resonates phonetically to Koronis herself. Also opposing Koronis/Apollo is asteroid China at 8 Leo, the country where the new coronavirus first emerged; squaring China is Uranus at 2 Taurus, ruling the panic the virus may provoke and the technology that will be employed to defeat it. Quarantining 60 million people might be a wise precaution, but it’s also one that smacks of a panicked response by the Chinese government, which locked down the city of Wuhan on January 23, as the country was celebrating its Lunar New Year.

Asteroid Wuhan is in an especially vulnerable positon; at 29 Sagittarius, Wuhan conjoins centaur Pholus at 2 Capricorn, with Jupiter also within orb from 8 Cap. Pholus relates to mass casualties, by whatever cause (be that mass shootings, bombings, natural disasters such as typhoons and earthquakes, or epidemics), and Jupiter acts to inflate or increase whatever it touches, intimating that this contagion may well become difficult to manage or contain, resulting in many thousands of victims globally.

Wuhan/Pholus in the virus’ “birth chart” is a stark indicator that, at least for the city of Wuhan, the death toll is likely to be extreme. Having the Saturn/Pluto conjunction also in that chart suggests this may become something deeply entrenched with a high mortality rate, difficult, if not impossible, to eradicate.

A Grand Cross from Wuhan/Pholus to asteroid Nemesis at 26 Virgo, TNO Chaos at 25 Gemini, and centaur Chiron at 1 Aries indicates the potential for a major health crisis (Chiron, also with its undertones of “incurable”) causing major confusion and turmoil (Chaos), resulting in ruin or downfall (Nemesis). Nemesis is also stationary, about to turn retrograde at this degree ten days later, making it an embedded factor in the chart and highlighting its propensity to act as a spoiler, antagonist or archenemy.

Also stationary is asteroid Hygiea at 27 Taurus, exactly conjoined TNO Sedna. Together, these may be providing the best medical advice we have at this stage for preventing the virus’ spread. Hygiea relates to sanitation, and frequent handwashing, carrying and discarding of soiled tissues from sneezes and nose blowing, etc, is crude but effective defense.

Sedna relates to isolation, and quarantine of the infected, which, allied with the avoidance of public spaces and the use of a face mask when exposure is unavoidable, will also help to limit the contagion. Hygiea/Sedna combines in a Grand Trine with Nemesis and Saturn/Pluto, defining the stakes if we disregard this practical guidance.

In exact sextile to Wuhan is asteroid Asclepius at 29 Aquarius, traveling with Achilles at 27 Aquarius and Damocles at 24. This identifies the health crisis (Asclepius) as an inherent weakness or vulnerability (Achilles), which represents a potential doom hanging overhead (Damocles).

Koronis of course continues its passage of the heavens. On February 2, as the US travel ban and quarantine kicked in, it exactly conjoined Damocles at 25 Aquarius, an overt recognition by the government of the looming danger. The Sun conjoins Koronis on February 23 at 3 Pisces, perhaps providing news of a vaccine or a better understanding of how to combat the virus. Koronis will go on to conjoin Achilles at 9 Pisces on March 9, which we may hope flips the script and exposes the virus’ own vulnerability to modern medicine, but contrariwise, may confirm our weakened position.

Koronis comes to square Pholus on May 9; if an effective vaccine has not been developed and widely distributed by that time, we may be looking at a pandemic with mass casualties.

Alex Miller

Alex Miller is a professional writer and astrologer, whose website AlexAsteroidAstrology.com offers a trove of info on the role of asteroids in personal and mundane astrology. He is the author of The Black Hole Book (available on Amazon.com) and The Urban Wicca, former editor of “The Galactic Calendar,” and past president of The Philadelphia Astrological Society. His pioneering work with Black Holes in astrological interpretation began in 1991, when his progressed Sun unwittingly fell into one. Alex’s books and writings are available on his website. Alex can also be reached for comment or services at .