Why do we connect with particular ancestors? Of course it’s astrological. Gayle Jessup White’s oral history assured her that she was a descendant of Thomas Jefferson. White’s book, Reclamation, chronicles her lifelong journey to trace her roots, and astrology shows an extraordinary connection between the ancestor and his descendant, with eleven conjunctions between the two charts.
The author gives us her birth date, and with at least five planets in Leo, White writes candidly and with love and pride. Her Moon may be in Cancer or Leo (if she was born after 6:15 p.m.). Cancer seems more likely since her writing also shows warmth and sensitivity.
At thirteen she overheard her older sister mention that the family was descended from the president. After some research, they also believed they were descended from Sally Hemings, the enslaved half-sister of Jefferson’s wife Martha, who had six of the president’s children. But their father had lost his mother at five to tuberculosis, so knew little about her life. Though he identified as black, he remembered uncles who had “shed their black identities.”
Gayle Jessup White’s Leo Sun disposits all the planets in her horoscope (except for the Moon if it’s in Cancer), making it quite influential. The Sun conjunct Uranus and trine Saturn shows her connection with her father and their unique heritage, as well as her interest in the past (Saturn). It was many years before Gayle was able to piece together more of her family history.
As an adult, White regularly visited Monticello, Jefferson’s estate, always sharing her story with the tour guides when they mentioned Hemings, but got no response. Finally, in May of 2010, with transiting Saturn conjoining her natal Jupiter and transiting Jupiter and Uranus in Pisces opposing her Jupiter, she visited again with her son, and her story found an audience. They received a private tour and a referral to a researcher interested in their history.
In late July, as Jupiter and Uranus, now in early Aries, both stationed closely in trine to her Sun, Gayle made contact with the researcher, who quickly found her grandmother in the 1900 Census, living as the servant of a white great-granddaughter of Jefferson (a remnant from the days of enslavement). After getting the news, Gayle had a psychic experience, hearing the voice of her grandmother saying, “It’s all I have, tell my story.”
She then continued her search with “relentless determination” (as we might imagine with Mercury, Mars and Pluto all conjunct in Leo), and was eventually able, through genealogy records and DNA testing, to confirm that she was indeed a direct descendant of Jefferson and that Sally Hemings was her four-times great-aunt.
Gayle’s astrological connections with her ancestor are remarkable. Isaac Starkman’s rectified chart for Jefferson and the noon chart for White both share a late Cancer Moon. Their Mars are conjunct in Leo, and Jefferson’s Saturn and Jupiter in late Leo and early Virgo conjoin White’s Mercury, Pluto and Venus. If this were not enough to motivate a search through the centuries, their Nodes are closely conjunct in opposing signs, with Jefferson’s Pluto falling exactly on White’s North Node. Their Saturn-Pluto conjunction is also near exact; both Pluto connections suggest their genetic bond.
What Gayle knew for so long was proved. She had received a research grant from the Jefferson foundation and became the PR and Community Engagement Officer at Monticello. She describes herself as “A woman who after a lifelong journey found her family, her home, her purpose.” A strong Leo Sun trine Saturn often promises success, even if Uranus made for many twists and turns before she got there.
Buy Reclamation on Amazon.com.