Yes, Virginia, There Is a Santa Asteroid!

This post was originally published on Astrology News Service

Alex Miller

Whizzing about the sun in its nearly five-year cycle, asteroid Santa hasn’t yet been imaged closely, so we can’t be sure it isn’t being pulled in its orbit by eight tiny reindeer.  But the odds are against it.  However, what we do know about this rock chunk’s relationship to the jolly old elf is truly magical.  Named after the Italian feminine form of “saint,” by the person who computed its orbit, asteroid Santa nevertheless shows descriptively in the charts of the individuals who were instrumental in creating the modern image of Santa Claus.  First among these is Washington Irving, who adapted and Americanized old Dutch folklore about their gift-giving Sinterklaas into the forerunner of the yuletide icon we know today.

In 1809, Irving introduced his countrymen to the earliest version of the American Santa, in his “A History of New-York from the Beginning of the World to the End of the Dutch Dynasty,” written under the pen-name of Diedrich Knickerbocker.  Irving’s Santa appears as a rotund Dutch sailor in baggy breeches and a broad-brimmed hat, smoking a long-stemmed clay pipe and driving a horse-drawn wagon above the treetops, from where he would drop gifts down the chimneys of those who pleased him.  A far cry from today’s Santa, it’s true, but we see several of the critical elements of the Santa mythos forming:  the pipe, the aerial means of transport, and an association with presents and chimneys (though this Santa doesn’t navigate them himself).

Born 3 April 1783, Washington Irving’s natal asteroid Santa at 23 Gemini conjoins asteroid Washingtonia at 18 Gemini (for his first name), and both square (90 degrees) Mercury at 17 Pisces, appropriate for Irving (Washingtonia) as the writer (Mercury) who first popularized Santa (Santa).  The Washingtonia/Santa connection also gave Irving a direct personal link to his creation, a pattern which repeats with other Santa boosters.  (Incidentally, asteroid Yule at 17 Pisces also conjoins Mercury and squares Washingtonia, and this wasn’t Irving’s only literary foray into Christmas content, which also features prominently in his 1822 work, “Bracebridge Hall.”)

Clement Clarke Moore was the next writer to take a whack at the Santa theme, albeit he still called him St Nicholas (perhaps based in Moore’s background as a Biblical scholar).  Moore’s classic poem, “A Visit from St. Nicholas,” known more popularly by its first line of “Twas the night before Christmas,” remains a perennial favorite of holiday celebrations.  Moore’s nocturnal yuletide gift-giver was rotund like Irving’s (whereas his sainted namesake had been noted for his austerity and was always depicted in rather emaciated form), but diminutive, “a right jolly old elf.” He used chimneys for personal access to the homes of his beneficiaries, not merely as delivery devices, and the long-stemmed pipe had now shrunk to a “stump … held tight in his teeth.” Moore added to the legend by converting Irving’s horse-drawn wagon into a “miniature sleigh, with eight tiny reindeer,” and also gave us their names, faithfully retained for two centuries. The poem made a sensation when it was introduced at Christmas 1823, but it was several decades before Moore could bring himself to admit authorship (the poem was published anonymously, for fear of reprisals at his job at New York’s General Theological Seminary, for introducing such secularism into so sacred an occasion as Christmas).

Born 15 August 1779, Clement Clarke Moore’s birth chart also features a connection between Mercury and Santa, here an exact semisquare (45 degrees), from 0 Leo to 15 Virgo.  With Mercury are asteroid Clarke at 1 Leo, and Moore at 5 Leo, again providing that personal link.  The connection to a Leo Mercury is especially apt here, since Moore originally composed the poem as a Christmas treat for his children, ruled by both Mercury and Leo!  Asteroid Santa is conjoined by Jupiter at 22 Virgo, ruling publication, and Moore’s determination to keep the poem’s authorship a secret for decades is explained by the presence of asteroid Sphinx in this mix, at 17 Virgo, a point noted for riddles, enigmas and mysteries.

When “A Visit from St. Nicholas” was first published on 23 December 1823, transit asteroid Santa at 8 Scorpio was tightly sextile (60 degrees) transit Mercury (author/writing/storytelling) at 7 Capricorn and Neptune (poesy/fantasy) at 6 Capricorn, while squared Moore’s natal Mercury (author) and semisquare his Jupiter (publication).

These writers laid out a path for others to follow, but they didn’t produce any visual output.  The dominant force which crafted the American Santa’s public image was cartoonist Thomas Nast.  Commissioned in 1863 to illustrate Moore’s tale for a book of children’s poems, Nast chose to further soften the remaining hard edges of St. Nicholas, making complete his conversion to the full-figured Santa Claus we recognize today.

Nast portrayed Santa Claus many times throughout his career, and oversaw the expansion of his proportions. Although he began as a diminutive figure, by the time Nast ended his visual transformations, Santa was life-size, perhaps even larger than life; and in jocund demeanor and bewhiskered, portly dimension he closely resembled the wealthy “robber baron” industrialists of the day. Nast also gave us the trademark red and white suit (though initially this resembled more of a “footie” pajama than the belted two-piece we are familiar with), and established Santa’s residence as the North Pole, from where he used an enchanted spy-glass to compile his “naughty or nice” list. Nast’s annual Christmas renderings of Santa’s world in Harper’s Weekly magazine were eagerly anticipated by Americans, and provided an artistic template and jumping-off point for future artists and story-tellers.

Asteroid Santa in Nast’s (born 27 September 1840) nativity appears at 26 Pisces retrograde, from where it broadly opposes his Sun/Mercury (identity/illustration, drawing) pairing at 4 and 5 Libra. As well, Santa is inconjunct natal Venus (creative expression, painting) at 22 Libra and semisquare natal Neptune (fantasy, the arts) at 12 Aquarius.  There is also a tight square to asteroid Thomas at 28 Gemini, helping Nast to personally identify with his subject.

Nast took Santa a long way, but the man who brought him home as America’s Patron Saint of Commerce was Haddon Sundblom, an artist and illustrator who set the final seal on the iconic Santa we know today. Beginning in 1931, Sundblom devised an aggressive ad campaign for Coca-Cola, featuring Santa as “the hardest working person on the planet,” relaxing and rejuvenating himself with a refreshing Coke after his annual gift-giving debauch. Sundblom’s exuberant Santa standardized the red and white suit, giving it a broad black belt and a bright gold buckle, and affirmed Santa’s essential, avuncular joviality by expanding his waistline still further and adding an engaging twinkle in his eyes, set in a ruddy-complexioned face. The image was complete.

Haddon Sundblom’s (born 22 June 1899) birth chart reflects asteroid Santa at 14 Aries in square to Mercury (illustration, advertising) at 10 Cancer and trine Saturn (career, corporate interests) at 19 Sagittarius.  Sundblom also sports an exact conjunction of Venus (artwork) with asteroid Yule (Christmas) at 7 Gemini, in the Sign of advertising!  There is no “Haddon” asteroid, but its nearest equivalent is asteroid Hadano, which opposes Santa from 11 Libra, perhaps once again grabbing that spark of personal connection.

These four individuals did more than anyone to craft and develop the image of the modern American Santa, in print and illustration, and all four share a bond of asteroid Santa connected to Mercury, in a collaboration over time on what may be viewed as their collective “brain child“ (Mercury).  On this St Nicholas Day, dedicated to Santa Claus’ progenitor, ANS wishes everyone a happy, healthy and safe holiday season!

Alex Miller is a professional writer and astrologer, author of The Black Hole Book, detailing deep space points in astrological interpretation, and the forthcoming Heaven on Earth, a comprehensive study of asteroids, both mythic and personal. Alex is a frequent contributor to “The Mountain Astrologer”, “Daykeeper Journal”, and NCGR’s Journals and “Enews Commentary”; his work has also appeared in “Aspects” magazine, “Dell Horoscope”, “Planetwaves”, “Neptune Café” and “Sasstrology.” He is a past president of Philadelphia Astrological Society, and former board member for the Philadelphia Chapter of NCGR.  His two decades of chronicling asteroid effects in human affairs can be found at his website, www.alexasteroidastrology.com.