Spica in the birth chart: the fixed star of the ear of grain

Star data

sefstars catalogue, Swiss Ephemeris 2.10.03.

Spica is a star of the constellation Virgo and one of the most favourably described stars in the astrological tradition. Its Latin name means "ear of grain", and Ptolemy gave it the nature of Venus with a little Mars. In the tropical zodiac it now stands near the end of Libra, almost on the same degree as Arcturus.

In the sky

Spica lies close to the ecliptic, only about 2° south of it, so the Moon can pass in front of it and hide it for a while. Among the stars of this section, Regulus, Aldebaran and Antares also sit this near the path of the Sun, Moon and planets. For astrology this means a conjunction with Spica is close in the sky as well as in longitude.

Spica is a tight binary: two stars orbit each other so closely that to the eye they make a single point of light. They complete an orbit in about four days, and no telescope shows them apart; the second star was found in 1890 only through the shifting lines in the spectrum. The main star is a hot blue star of about ten solar masses. Pulled on by each other, both stars are stretched into egg shapes, and as the pair turns, the system brightens and fades slightly. Estimates of its distance range from about 250 to a little over 260 light-years.

Finding it from Ukraine

Spica is a star of spring evenings. The easiest route starts at the Big Dipper: follow the curve of its handle to bright orange Arcturus, then carry on about as far again to reach Spica. It never climbs high from Ukraine. In Kyiv its greatest altitude is about 28°, in Odesa about 32°, so look for it low in the south.

Name and history

"Spica" is Latin for an ear of grain. The image is agricultural: harvest, ripened work, something that has grown and can be gathered. Aratus, Hipparchus and Ptolemy use a Greek name with the same meaning, Stachys.

Arab astronomers called Spica al-Simak al-Azal, "the unarmed Simak". The other Simak is Arcturus, which has a "lance" made by neighbouring stars of Boötes, while Spica has no bright companions near it. So the Arabic tradition already treated the two stars as a pair. Latin astronomical tables turned the Arabic name into Asimec, and the form Azimech is still met occasionally.

Spica also stands behind the discovery of precession. In the second century BC Hipparchus compared his own observations of the star with those made about a century and a half earlier in Alexandria by Timochares, saw that it had shifted, and concluded that the stars move slowly against the equinox points. The modern name Spica was approved by the International Astronomical Union in 2016.

The myth of the Maiden

In his poem Phaenomena Aratus places the Maiden beneath the feet of Boötes, holding the gleaming ear of grain in her hands. He goes on to tell the story of Justice: she lived among people in the golden age, mixed with them less readily in the silver age, and when the bronze race came she left the earth and rose into the sky. The ear of grain in the hand of a just maiden sits close to how astrologers read the star: a harvest gathered by honest work.

Nature in the tradition

Ptolemy describes Spica as having the nature of Venus with a little Mars. Venus is the larger share: ease and the ability to be liked. The Mars component adds edge and drive, so the Venus quality does not stay passive.

Its reputation has changed over time. Allen notes that early astrology, which saw all of Virgo as barren, read Spica as a sign of unfruitfulness, and that only later did it become a star of eminence and renown. Modern tradition connects it with talent, craft and the arts.

Several bright stars in Ptolemy's list carry Venus as their main planet, and the second planet changes the picture. Fomalhaut and Vega are given Venus and Mercury: refinement in words, images and ideas, a lighter and more intellectual tone. Spica's second planet is Mars, and that makes it the most practical of the group, a Venus of skill put to work. This is why the harvest image suits it: a crop is what work brings in.

After Ptolemy

Agrippa's Occult Philosophy, printed in full in 1533, gives fifteen Behenian stars "according to Hermes", and Spica is tenth among them as "the Spike". The next entry is Arcturus, under the Arabic-derived name Alchameth, so the old pairing of the two Simaks survives in this list as well. Vega comes later as the Vulture. For a natal chart the list adds no new meaning: the star's nature is still described through Ptolemy.

Spica and Arcturus

Spica and Arcturus stand only about 0.4° apart in longitude, both near the end of Libra. In the sky they are far apart: Spica is next to the ecliptic, Arcturus around 31° north of it. In a chart, though, a planet in late Libra conjoins both at once.

Astrologers usually read such a planet through both stars. Spica brings the Venus theme of talent and refinement, Arcturus the Mars and Jupiter theme of enterprise. Because Spica is so close to the ecliptic, many give it more weight in a longitude conjunction, while Arcturus shows its strength more clearly in parans.

Conjunctions with planets and angles

The usual orb is about 1°. Two examples of how the tradition reads a conjunction with Spica:

• Spica with Venus. The star repeats the planet's own nature, so the reading is straightforward: taste, artistic ability and an easy way with people stand out.
• Spica on the MC. The star's theme moves into work and reputation. Tradition links this with recognition for skill, for something done well.

Precession and the sign

Through precession Spica moves along the zodiac by about 1.4° a century, so an astrology book from the middle of the last century places it noticeably earlier in Libra than it stands today. Spica is about six degrees short of Scorpio, which at this rate means roughly four more centuries in Libra.

In celebrity charts

Conjunctions within 1° to the planets from the Sun to Saturn and to the chart angles.

• Andriy Shevchenko: Mars, orb 0°07′
• Vladimir Putin: Mercury, orb 0°10′
• Zohran Mamdani: Sun, orb 0°19′

Find fixed stars in your chart