Let’s talk about Asteroid Circe (asteroid number 34). I really do like Circe, just like I like all of the “witchy” asteroids (Hecate, Cybele, etc.), which means I want to give her a fair shake. Due to patriarchal bullshit (and that kind of nonsense), over the years she has seemed to devolve into some kind of seductress, temptress, or man-hater – and none of the above is entirely accurate in my opinion. I also think that she represents more than just magical abilities and gifting in a natal chart, though I do think that this is obviously a big part of what she represents.
**if you are more of a watcher than a reader, here is a video I did on Circe

Before we get into the mythology, here is what I think she can represent in an astrology chart:
-Isolation and exile (this can be the self-imposed kind, the kind that is forced upon a person, or both).
-Feelings of being intruded upon (this can be real or imagined, but I do think defense of the feeling of being intruded upon comes into play with Circe).
-Feelings of loneliness – this is actually a major theme that I didn’t touch on in the YouTube video, but I do think it exists and I also think that this could be some of the reason why she turned humans into animals and kept them on her island.
-Where you need to “meet your match,” both within yourself and in relationships with other people (say, via synastry, etc.).
-Magical types of gifting and other things of that nature.
-Falling in love too quickly
-Feral and animalistic energy
-Feeling scorned
-Feeling tricked (or doing the tricking)

**Just as a quick side note, I want to mention that I am not a mythology expert. There is more to her mythology than I am going to mention here (the parts of her mythology that I mention here exhibit the way that I read her in chart).

In her mythology, she was the daughter of Helios, the Sun God, and an Ocean Nymph named Perse (she seemed like she was pretty magical herself, and I think this might be why some versions of Circe’s mythology have her as the daughter of Hecate). She has some siblings – two brothers and a sister. Since Circe wasn’t considered as beautiful as her sister (and not partnered off as quickly), and she didn’t have the advantages of being a man like her brothers, it seems like she occupied a rather lonely position in her family (kind of an outsider of sorts). From what I can ascertain, it seems like she spent a lot of time in a self-imposed kind of isolation where she focused on honing her magical abilities (getting good with potions, spells, herbs, transmutation, etc.). This is a place where the loneliness and the isolation/exile (at least of the self-imposed variety) come into play. The idea that she seemed to really keep to herself quite a bit, and that no one really seemed to fuck around with her much, gives her a feral kind of feel to me (it kind of seems like she did a lot of raising and teaching herself – or that’s what I’ve gathered anyway).

As time goes on, she gets really fucking good at her magical abilities. Glaucus, a fishman or some shit, comes to her because he’s in love with Scylla and wants a potion or something that will make Scylla fall in love with him. Instead, Circe falls in love with Glaucus (from what I understand she didn’t even know this fucking guy before he came to her) and got pissed off when he didn’t return her love. Instead of just walking away from the situation, she decided to put a potion in the waters where Scylla bathed, and this potion turned Scylla into a sea beast. After this happened, Circe was exiled/isolated to the island of Aeaea (and this form of isolation/exile was forced on her…though I’m honestly not sure she minded too much). It seemed like for a lot of her life she was left to her own devices, so this may not have been much different.  
**The interaction with Glaucus and Scylla points towards the scorned archetype – she felt scorned when Glaucus didn’t respond to her love and took revenge. There really wasn’t anything to take revenge on (this feels like a very feral and animalistic response). This also ties into the falling in love very quick archetype, too.

Now we have Circe living on this fucking island being able to do whatever magical shit she wants. It also seems that when people from the sea would happen upon her island, she would turn them into wolves, lions, and other animals (essentially keeping them with her). Part of me thinks that she did this because they were intruders on her island (this is where the part of Circe that feels like it’s being intruded on comes into play). Also though, I feel like there may have been some loneliness involved in her decision to turn the people who came upon her island into animals – it does seem that for a lot of her life she is lonely (or in a lonely position), and while I’m not sure she totally minds this all of the time (she does seem to like being left to her own devices), she does seem like a place in the chart where we both fear being intruded upon and where we feel incredibly lonely. Perhaps, even a place where we have to come to terms with that in order to NOT feel so lonely, a certain amount of “intrusion” has to occur.
**I also think it’s important that Circe in a natal chart knows how to decipher actual intrusion from other people who mean to intrude v people who might seem intrusive but might not mean to be that way. Wrath obviously doesn’t need to be unleashed on both of these groups (only on the former, really). I think the Circe person might need to come to terms with the fact that some intrusion is necessary to get rid of the lonely feeling this asteroid might bring. The Circe person just needs to be able to figure out what kind of intrusion they actually can handle (and the kind that they might actually need).

Odysseus and his men washed up on the shores of Aeaea, and a lot of the men went exploring the island and came up on Circe’s palace. Circe, probably feeling intruded upon, ended up giving the men something to eat and drink that was filled with a potion. One of the guys had his spidey senses go off (sensing something was wrong) and hung back while everyone else ate and drank what Circe gave them. Then all the men turned into swine, and the other guy (who’s fucking name I can’t remember) went to Odysseus and told him what happened. Odysseus was prepared for this (he has been prepared for something like this by Hermes who told him to eat the plant Moly to ward off any magical attacks). When Odysseus confronted Circe, she gave him something to eat and drink too (that was also laced with the potion). When he didn’t change into swine, she was shocked…and it actually seemed like she LIKED this about him. On the spot she pledged her love and devotion to him along with turning his swine men back into real men– it almost seemed like she thought that she had met her match.
–But did she really meet her match? No. Think about it – if Odysseus hadn’t been warned about a magical attack, and hadn’t known to eat the Moly plant, he would’ve turned into swine just like the rest of them. They all would’ve remained weeping pigs on her fucking island. He also didn’t stay around for the long haul which doesn’t surprise me. If she had really met her match, that actual match probably would have stayed around longer. It’s important that Circe in natal chart actually meets it’s true match (both within oneself and in relationships with other people). I also think, when the Circe person really loves themselves, they are more able to know what and who their true match actually is.
**I bring this up because patriarchal bullshit would like to paint Circe as a trickster who used her magic to attack men. Clearly, she didn’t just go after men (lol she turned Scylla, who was female, into a sea beast). Also though, it seems that Odysseus tricked Circe, too. For this reason, I think Circe in a natal chart can be where we can do some tricking, but also where we ourselves can be tricked as well. Depending on where Circe falls in the chart, how she functions by sign, and the aspects that she makes, this might involve being tricked by others, being tricked by ourselves, or maybe a little from both columns.  

There is more to her mythology, but I am going to stop here because this is enough to illustrate how I read her in a natal chart (for now, anyway). When I mention a “strong Circe” in a natal chart, I’m thinking people who have asteroid Circe conjunct a natal planet, an angle, the Nodes, etc. within 2-degrees. You can probably extend this orb out further for the Sun, the Moon, the chart ruler, etc. (I would think 4-degrees max for these big players in a chart).  Obviously though, the closer that Circe is to being exactly conjunct a planet in the chart, the more impact the asteroid will have (infusing it’s energy into the planet in question). If you want to include other aspects beyond just the conjunction, feel free to do so (I just bring the conjunction up because it is the one that I work with the most in regard to asteroids).

Want me to read some asteroids like Circe in your own astrology chart (or any astrology chart)? Feel free to reach out for a reading ^_^ I definitely do include asteroids by request (they aren’t always something that I pull in general chart readings, but if you want me to pull some, I definitely can include them).