PETRAIOS

ASTRONOMY

Petraios (Roman name Petraeus) was discovered April 4, 2016 and was given the provisional designation 2016 GR206. When its orbit was known accurately it was given the minor planet number 696315.

At perihelion it is 18.623 AU, moving out to an aphelion of 22.020 AU, with an eccentricity of 0.083 and an inclination to the orbit of 14.23 degrees. One orbit of Petraios is 91.61 years.

THE NAMING

The following is taken from the Minor Planet Circular announcing the discovery of this body: The centaur Petraios took part in the battle at the wedding of Pirithous, a symbolic clash between primal chaos and social order. His name means rocky, evoking strength and stability. As Ovid tells, Petraios fell while grappling with the rooted Earth. Like this minor planet, he marks the edge between structure and upheaval.

MYTHOLOGY

I can find scant mention of Petraios. Hesiod wrote a Greek epoch around 8th or 7th year BC entitled Shield of Heracles included this: And there was the strife of the Lapithai (Lapith) spearmen gathered round the prince Kaineus (Caeneus) and Dryas and Peirithous (Pirithous), with Hopleus, Exadios, Phalereus, and Prolokhos (Prolochus), Mopsos the son of Ampykos (Ampycus) of Titaresia, a scion of Ares, and Theseus, the son of Aigeus (Aegeus), like unto the deathless gods. These were of silver, and had armour of gold upon their bodies. And the Kentauroi (Centaurs) were gathered against them on the other side with Petraios (Petraeus) and Asbolos the diviner, Arktos (Arctus), and Oureios (Ureus), and black-haired Mimas, and the two sons of Peukeus (Peuceus), Perimedes and Dryalos: these were of silver, and they had pinetrees of gold in their hands, and they were rushing together as though they were alive and striking at one another hand to hand with spears and with pines.

And Ovid, in his Metamorphosis, gives a specific mention: I saw [the centaur] Petraeus trying to uproot an acorn-laden oak and as his arms embraced it and he forced it to and fro, rocking its tottering trunk, Pirithous, hurling a lance that pierced Petraeus' ribs, pinned fast his writhing chest to the tough wood. .

One can only imagine the power of a Centaur who thought he could, with is bare hands, pull up an oak tree heavy with acorns to use as a weapon. I question whether something in its nature may have to do with putting a stop to uncontrolled power before it gets a chance to wreck havoc.

ASTROLOGY

Petraios was discovered at 26 Virgo 19 R. Rudhyar gives the Sabian Symbol for this degree: A GROUP OF ARISTOCRATIC LADIES MEET CEREMONIALLY AT A COURT'S FUNCTION and gives the keynote The ability to carry on a revered tradition in order to perpetuate cultural standards of excellence.

Here are some noted people born with Petraios closely conjunct points in their natal charts. All charts were from AA data:

The following people were born with close Sun conjunct Petraios.

Moon conjunct Petraios.

Mercury conjunct Petraios

Mercury & Mars conjunct Petraios

Mars conjunct Petraios

Venus conjunct Petraios

Jupiter conjunct Petraios

MC conjunct Petraios

Asc conjunct Petraios

Asc opposition Petraios

The first thing I did after getting an ephemeris for this body was, of course, to look it up in my chart and the charts of my family members. There were not a lot of charts with it holding a significant position. But my younger daughter (whose birth time I know precisely), was born with Petraios 0 Tau 01 conjunct her MC 0 Tau 19. I don't know what it means yet, but I would assume at least in part it influenced her career direction. She is a visiting nurse, going to the homes of her patients. And, fitting the fixed sign Taurus, she put herself through nursing school by working long hours at a restaurant, even though she was a single mother with full custody of her two sons.

Looking back to Petraios transiting over my Sun, I found the following:

My mentor, Al H Morrison, died, but I did not find out for several days later.
I was hired for a job at a newspaper, but it turned out that the newspaper owner turned out to be a bit of a crook and I did not get paid...I had to take him to court to get my money (yes, I won).
I tried my hand at working for a psychic hotline, for about a month, but had some unbelievably accurate 'visions' talking to the phone clients
I was given Reiki treatments and found that I was able to use it to help heal some people even across long distances.

Click here to go to an a PETRAIOS EPHEMERIS

Click here Petraios, to find out how to discover where your Petraios is.

Back to Chiron's Friends