What do immigrants and refugees have in their horoscopes? Issues with the 4th house (home) and 9th (foreign countries)? Notable outer planet transits at the time of their travels and travails? My grandmother’s chart offered some clues.

Ida was born in Germany in 1907. She came to the U.S. at age 22 and was married the following year. The Moon in Leo in her 12th conjoins the Ascendant in Virgo (about 6 degrees away) and squares the Midheaven. The Moon is often connected with change, movement and travel as well as the home. The ruler of the Ascendant, Mercury in Scorpio, is placed in the 4th house and squares both the Ascendant and the Moon. So we see some potential issues with her home.

The Moon is also part of a T-square with Venus in Scorpio conjunct the IC and the Midheaven. Perhaps there was something of a toxic atmosphere at home with her six brothers and sisters, or maybe she was simply restless and craved some change. This pattern might also affect her status or standing (10th house). In addition, her North Node in Cancer also points toward important experiences surrounding the home and family, especially as it closely trines Venus conjunct the IC. (She later worked for many years as a housekeeper.)

Ida had another T-square made up of the Sun in Scorpio in the 3rd house, Mars, ruler of her 9th, and Jupiter. The blending of the 3rd house of local transit with expansive Jupiter and the ruler of the 9th of long distance travel also suggests life experiences involving travel, foreign cultures or languages. The Sun-Mars-Jupiter combination should give her initiative and courage, but placed in cadent houses (3rd, 6th and 12th), she didn’t always have the complete freedom of choice she may have wanted.

Ida’s Moon also closely sextiles Pluto in the 10th house, and her life did undergo a radical change, even after she had settled down in New York State. In 1938, missing her family, she returned to Germany for a long visit. But by the time she was set to return in 1939, Great Britain had declared war on Germany, her mother was ill and wanted her to stay, and she wasn’t eager to go back to her husband. She was soon unable to return, spending the duration of World War II in Europe. She was required to regularly check in with the local Nazi authorities: she’d been in the U.S. for so long that she was considered “stateless,” complicating her legal status. She experienced bombing raids, food shortages and other harsh realities of war. Many women in the area were raped by Russian soldiers.

Ida’s Moon, 4th and 9th houses weren’t the most difficult, and she did survive the long wartime ordeal. But with two T-squares involving planets in fixed signs, the challenges and losses persisted. She eventually became both a displaced person and a refugee. It took many harrowing years before she was able to return to the U.S. after the war – not until the middle of 1947. Her journey had lasted nearly nine years.

I take a look at Ida’s transits and progressions during her travels in another post.