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Angela Lansbury

I was sad to hear of Angela Lansbury’s passing yesterday at the age of 96. I had written to her in 1990 and she provided her birth data – true Libra responsiveness (and she had beautiful handwriting, too). Below is the astro-bio I wrote about her and her chart at the time. It’s a little dated, but I collected a number of her quotes that reflected the chart nicely. I see so few in-depth chart interpretations these days – I miss them!

We may know her best as Jessica Fletcher, the teacher tuned mystery writer of TV’s “Murder, She Wrote.” She’s reached millions of viewers every Sunday night for the past six years on CBS. She’s Angela Lansbury, and she’ll turn 65 on October 16. Much of her earlier work in films and on stage is not as well known across the country as her television work. Lansbury has, however, had an amazingly successful and versatile career, and also a most unusual one. In nearly half a century in show business, she has been nominated for three Oscars and has won four Tony Awards. With Leo rising, Lansbury is a natural actress, with the ability to express herself with strength, ardor, and dynamism.

She also has Neptune in the first house, giving her portrayals emotional depth and sensitivity. Neptune sextiles the Sun and Mercury in Libra in the third house, gracing the actress with a talent for mimicry, strong imagination, exquisite taste, and the need to express herself. It’s a flowing aspect, and has helped the actress through difficult times. As she’s said, “The only thing I’ve ever had confidence in is my ability to perform. That is the one area…. where I have never had any doubt that I could deliver the goods. That has been the grace note in my sonata of life, the thing that has absolutely seen me through thick and thin, and even saved my sanity on a number of occasions.

Neptune sextile Angela’s Sun and Mercury also gives her the ability to project what her imagination wants her to be. It has become part of her acting technique: “If you visualize yourself as graceful or beautiful or dynamic, it will affect how others see you.” The Sun-Neptune connection also contributes to her most obvious physical asset: her enormous clear blue eyes.

Angela has four planets in Libra in the third house: the Moon (actually in the second but near the cusp of the third house), Mars, the Sun and Mercury. Her need for communication is expressed emotionally (Moon) in action (Mars) and speech (Mercury) and serves as the basis for her career (Sun). The third house also imparts great versatility and talent in motor skills and speech. She’s said about her stage roles, “With each audience I feel I am communicating, telling them something I want them to know.”

Libra’s influence gives taste, delicacy, decorum, and the knack for instinctively
feeling the appropriateness of behavior, all good traits for an actress. Because of four personal planets in the sign, Libra’s influence would be very strong. Lansbury herself has said, “I’m a true Libran. I wait, I weigh, I see both points of view. I’m thankful that while I waited for a [great] part…. I kept my hand in as an actress without settling for substandard material anywhere along the line.” Producers have said “Angela is a class act” and “any project where Angela is involved, everyone seems to class up. She brings her great taste to any project.”

Libra is always aware of other people and their feelings. When Women’s
Day asked about her reputation for being the nicest actress in Hollywood, Lansbury responded, “Sure I’m nice. I bend over backwards to be. I can’t afford to hurt anybody’s feelings because they might not like me, and I can’t bear not to be liked.”

Ms. Lansbury, born in London, has Saturn in Scorpio in the fourth house, accompanied by Venus in Sagittarius. Her childhood, home, and mother (also an actress) are all very significant in her life, indicated by both her Moon in Libra and Venus in the fourth house. Saturn’s placement indicates someone who had great responsibility at an early age, and also suggests the early loss of the father. Lansbury says, “I was an old lady at ten. When my father died, I became the partner with my mother in bringing up my brothers. I had to grow up fast.”

When Angie was just twelve, she left school to study singing, dancing, and acting. By the time she was fourteen, however, Great Britain was at war with Germany and was a dangerous place to be. InAugust,1940, Mrs. Lansbury wisely evacuated her family and boarded a ship bound for New York. The young actress continued studying drama in her new home, and at the early age of 16 was booked into a Montreal cabaret act, earning $60 a week.

Her mother continued her own acting career, and soon Angela joined the rest of her family in Hollywood, where she and her mom worked in a department store while they waited for acting jobs. An acting friend tested for The Picture of Dorian Gray and thought Angie would be perfect for the part of the dance hall singer that Gray loves and casts aside. He arranged for a screen test and, miraculously, Angela not only got the part, but also a seven year contract at MGM for $500 a week! She was just 17.

The next few years continued to be exciting. Angela first filmed Gaslight with Ingrid Bergman and Charles Boyer, playing a sneaky maid with designs on the man of the house. Then she played Elizabeth Taylor’s sister in National Velvet, and sang her heart out in The Picture of Dorian Gray. Amazingly, she was nominated for supporting actress awards for both Gaslight and The Picture of Dorian Gray.

From 1942 to 1944, Neptune remained in the early degrees of Libra, conjunct her Moon. Transiting Uranus was in the early degrees of Gemini in Angela’s eleventh house and trined her Moon and Mars. Her progressed Sun was just conjunct her fourth house cusp. In 1945, Angela married the actor David Cromwell, about 15 years her senior. The marriage lasted only nine months, and the actress now says, “I missed my entire adolescence. I was married before I was out of my teens. It was a shattering experience. It was my first crush and 1never should’ve gotten into it.” With so much Libra in her chart, however, Lansbury had a real need for a partner to share her life with. She soon met and I ell in love with actor Peter Shaw, also originally from England. On August 12, 1949, they returned to their native country for a wedding ceremony. They recently celebrated 40 years of happily married life.

Throughout the forties, Angela continued to act in many films for MGM, but the studio clearly did not know how to utilize this actress’s talents . Even as a young woman, she was repeatedly cast in roles for which she was hidden behind a mask of makeup to age her 15 or 25 years. She did get to sing on occasion, but she was primarily cast in supporting roles.

Lansbury has Jupiter in Capricorn in the fifth house of self-expression and creativity, indicating a seriousness in pursuing these areas of experience. Jupiter is also part of a T-square with Pluto in Cancer in the eleventh and Mars in Libra in the third, which should give her a tremendous amount of creative energy, but also potential difficulty with channeling it properly. Her hopes and wishes (eleventh) may be at odds with her artistic environment (Libra in the third house) and her own creative urges. The square between Pluto and Mars might put her own desires in conflict with the powers that be.

Angela has Aquarius on the seventh house, indicating that she could have a unique and unusual impact on the public. But the ruler of this house, Uranus, is hidden in the house, giving it greater inward power but more of an eccentric character. Uranus is in an out-of-sign opposition to her Moon, and is inconjunct both Neptune and the Sun. Angela’s image was unique, unusual, and individualistic; she did not fit easily into the existing order. She was not a glamourous starlet, but a real actress looking for a unique challenge. Uranus is probably also responsible for the sudden changes Lansbury has had in her career and the erratic quality of her great successes.

Jupiter in the fifth house, however, does have a flowing aspect – it tightly sextiles Saturn in the fourth house, inspiring Angela to be very responsible and hard-working; the sextile provides an easy outlet for her creative impulses. Because Saturn and Capricorn rule time, specifically old age, the studio’s easy solution to the problem of casting Angela was to give her parts of older characters to play. Over the years she has appeared as the mother of Elvis Presley, Warren Beauty, I.aurence Harvey, and Sandra Dee, to name a few; in many cases she was not much older than the actors who were playing her children. Angela has said, “Hollywood made me old before my time,” and she is not surprised when fans today consequently take her to be much older than she really is. The tendency to “age” Ms. Lansbury for a part continued throughout her career, including her role in Disney’s Bedknobs and Broomsticks and when playing Agatha Christie’s Miss Marple in 1980. Even the Broadway show Dear World, for which Lansbury won a Tony award, had her cast as an elderly woman.

Angela Lansbury did get other types of roles: salome girls, torch singers, loose
women, malicious and calculating women, and even murderesses. This is all clear from her horoscope. With all her Libra planets, she no doubt has a very pleasant personality. But her creative life is ruled by Jupiter and the T-square with Pluto and Mars, so She has often played vicious and dangerous women when she wasn’t playing middle-aged ladies; sometimes it would be both! One reviewer, for the New York Post  wrote of her “glacial composure, delicate and ruthless reality that has managed to get into certain of her characterizations.” The actress has said, “From an artistic point of view I love these parts – you see, I lack guts in my own life. I lack fire and meanness. So I love playing it in screen roles.”

One outstanding film of her career was The Manchurian Candidate. At the age of 36 Angela played another older, ruthless woman: she was in league with the Chinese to brainwash her son, turning him into a presidential assassin. The role would earn her a third Oscar nomination. Lansbury followed the MGM years with various roles in film as well as television.

It is somewhat unsettling to realize that this lady’s career began in films because her reputation as a stage actress is so far reaching. Since her cabaret act in 1941, however, Angela had not performed on stage until she appeared in a Feydeau farce on Broadway at the age of 31. Her next New York stage role was in a sad British drama called A Taste of Honey, again playing a mother, but close to her own age of 35. Eventually, the legitimate stage seemed better able to use Angela’s talents: her enormous energy, true craftsmanship, and, later on, her singing. But her real success in this area came rather late in life, which can be explained once again by the strength of Saturn in her chart, angularly placed on the fourth-house cusp, in close trine to Pluto and sextile to Jupiter.

Lansbury also has Taurus on the tenth-house cusp, indicating a career in the arts. The ruler of this house, Venus, is in her fourth house and so rules beginnings and endings. Her early career was significant and, as she reached middle age and the later part of her life, her career began to develop and grow as never before. It is almost as if Hollywood had just been an apprenticeship before her real career.

In April of 1964, Angela appeared on Broadway in the short-lived Stephen Sondheim musical Anyone Can Whistle. At that time, transiting Neptune was at 17° Scorpio, conjoining her Saturn, and transiting Pluto was at 12 Virgo, sextiling both planets. She was beginning a complete transformation in both her career and artistic life, and described the show as “a real second wind for me, because it was my emergence into the musical environment as a performer and as a person, too. It really changed my life a lot. I’d proven myself to producers. I could sing. “The show had enhanced my musical talents. I was ready to go to battle again.” Although the show itself was a failure, it led to Angela’s greatest success ever: the starring role in the new Broadway musical Mame.

Rosalind Russell, Mary Martin, and Ethel Merman had all turned down the role,
and the show’s producers rejected many prior actresses before selecting the relatively inexperienced Lansbury. After auditioning, however, the producers refused to give her a definite yes or no for almost a year. At that point, this polite Libran with the strength Of Mars square Pluto and Jupiter took decisive action: “1 was exasperated and hurt – by that time I was absolutely hurt – because I felt I had extended myself, that I’d done my bit, and they couldn’t have the decency to make up their minds. So I said, `Either tell me now, or I’m going to go home, and I’ll forget about it. But don’t keep me hanging around any longer. It’s not fair.”

When Mame opened on Broadway on May 24, 1966, Angela Lansbury, at the age of 41, was instantaneously a star as the glamorous and eccentric NY socialite who adopts her nephew. Saturn was then at 27° Pisces, just past conjoining her natal Uranus. Transiting Uranus was almost exactly conjunct transiting Pluto at 15 Virgo in Angela’s second house, sextiling natal Saturn and Pluto and trining natal Jupiter. And transiting Neptune at 21 Scorpio was still in range of her natal Saturn, closely trining Uranus in the eighth house and going on to square Neptune in the first. With this once-in-a-lifetime combination of planets it’s no wonder she had a huge success and complete life change.

These transits must’ve given the actress even more energy than she normally had. She’s said, “The one thing God gave me is energy. Playing Mame is like being a track star. People out front have no idea of the endurance .you need.” She starred in the show for nearly two years, and was awarded her first Tony in June.

Lansbury continued in several stage musicals and plays over the next several years. Her next big hit was in the revival of Gypsy in London in 1973 and New York in 1974. Once again, critics and audiences alike were unanimous in their enthusiasm for the actress, this time cast as the ferocious stage mother who turned her daughter into Gypsy Rose Lee. In 1979 she earned her fourth Tony Award for her role as Mrs. Lovett in Sweeney Todd by Stephen Sondheim. This black comedy had her once again in a Pluto-like role: a woman who bakes her lover’s victims into meat pies. Lansbury has said “I have two audiences actually – the ones who love to see me play bitches and the ones who want to see me sing and dance . . . [when a] role has everything… it’s perfect for me.”

With both Saturn and Venus in the fourth house, Angela is also domestic. “I was raised in a kitchen and that’s where we gathered at`home,” she says. “This, is where Peter and I live, where we chat and cook and the children gather around.” Together they have a son born in 1952 and a daughter 18 months younger. Typically for a Libran, Angela adds, “Home is my counterweight to work, and it’s important for me to keep the balance.” True to her Saturn and Venus in Sagittarius, she says, “I worry constantly if I can’t reach out and touch my own children. I long to cook big family dinners – even though my family is
probably thinking; `Oh God, is she going to cook one of those dinners again and do we have to go?”

While Angela’s T-square has certainly given her creative challenges, and it has caused some real personal tragedies as well. Pluto rules her fourth house and Jupiter rules the fifth: home and children would be affected. Uranus in Pisces in the eighth house with its difficult aspects has also caused some suffering and turmoil. About the death of her father, Lansbury says, “I was shattered. As a child you recover quickly.` But as years went by, I realized there was a tremendous void in my life.”

During the success of Mame, the actress’s son Anthony was having a serious problem with drugs. Although many different therapies were tried, treatment didn’t seem to help. Anthony’s -sister also had a lesser problem. About her son almost dying from an overdose, Lansbury said, “I couldn’t rest, or work again, until drastic measures were taken.” Then, in the fall of 1970, a huge brush fire completely destroyed the family home in Malibu. In November, Uranus was at 11° Libra, conjunct her Mars and activating the T-square in a sudden and violent manner. The actress has said about this traumatic period: “You can’t rant and wail and weep and carry on. ‘You’re absolutely numbed by it. It’s like cutting off a branch, a big luscious branch of your life, and sealing it off with a sealer so it doesn’t bleed. That’s what you do. That’s how the human mind
deals with these tragedies.  Afterward you have to pick up the pieces and go on. Everything was telling me to take my family and get away, I so I did.”

Peter Shaw, now a successful agent, left his job, and the family bought a home in Ireland, where the kids got better and they all rested and recuperated. Angela did very little acting for two years: gardening and mothering were the order of the day. But slowly she got back into work, first with a Disney film, then an Edward Albee play in London, and finally Gypsy in 1973.

Lansbury contented herself with theater and film since that time, most notably Hamlet in London and Sweeney Todd. Significantly, in retrospect, she also appeared in a remake of the Alfred Hitchcock film The Lady Vanishes as Miss Froy, and The Mirror Cracked, an Agatha Christie thriller in which she played Miss Marple.

In 1982 Angela returned to television after a nearly 20-year hiatus to star in Little Gloria, Happy at Last. Several television movies followed, including “Lace” and “The Gift of Love.” Then came “A Talent for Murder,” in which she. played a disabled mystery writer. After a 1983 revival of Mame had closed, Lansbury received a script for the pilot of Murder, She Wrote and was immediately attracted to the role. The success of the two-hour pilot led the way for the series, which has already completed six seasons.

Jessica Fletcher’s life fits right into Angela’s natal chart. She’s a retired teacher (Leo rising; third and fifth-house emphasis), and had a personal tragedy when her husband died. The T-square and third-house planets could easily propel her into murder fiction. And she is the epitome of graciousness, attractiveness, and tact, although she has been known to be stubborn and firm.

Angela Lansbury is only one of a handful of women to make a success as the star of a one-hour Series, and probably the most successful. The show was rated one of the top ten of the eighties. Her grueling schedule (five days a week and up to 14 hours a day) would exhaust most people half her age. Most important for the star, her husband, who’s been managing her career for many years, and her son both work with her on the show.

Right now, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune are all transiting Lansbury’s fifth house in Capricorn, Saturn at 19° and Neptune 12°, both activating her T-square and forcing her to concentrate seriously on creative projects. She’s probably looking forward to some new challenges in the future: she recently signed a contract with Disney Studios to star in musicals and comedies. She probably won’t slow down yet, but we wish  her luck in her new role as senior citizen. After all, she’s been practicing for it in acting parts for years!

Thanks to Dell Horoscope and Ronnie Grishman for originally publishing this piece in October of 1990.

Dematerialized

A glance at the cover of the recent Marcia Moore biography and crime story tells us much about the publisher and authors’ bias.  The astrologer and yoga teacher is presented as a disturbed, evil child, looking like Madonna playing Baby Jane.  Apparently it’s still difficult to overcome the centuries-old feeling that occult and metaphysical practices are inherently immoral, and that practitioners are often unscrupulous con-artists or unstable drifters.

In Dematerialized: the Mysterious Disappearance of Marcia Moore, spouses Joseph and Marina DiSomma have capitalized on the current vogue for astrology and interest in the therapeutic use of psychedelic drugs.  While they do not overtly disparage Moore’s practice of astrology, yoga or past-life regression, they nevertheless seem to present a morality tale about the dangers of involvement in the metaphysical sphere.  Marcia’s disappearance and death in Washington state in 1979 at the age of 50 drives the book, which skews our understanding of Moore, her life and work.

Marcia Moore had natal Neptune squaring her Sun and Venus, and Neptune was closely trine her 10th house Jupiter.  So it’s not surprising that Neptune would figure prominently in both her life story and the mystery of her death.  When she disappeared, her progressed Midheaven was sextile her Ascendant and square natal Neptune, while transiting Neptune conjoined her singleton Saturn and opposed natal Mercury, ruler of her 3rd and 12th houses.  It must have been a challenging and confusing time.  Moore suffered from arthritis in a hip for several months before her death, and the previous year brought her experiential work with her husband on the dissociative drug ketamine, which has some hallucinogenic effects.  (More on her chart here.)

The DiSommas did an enormous amount of research, had the full cooperation of the investigating detective and access to sheriff’s case files, a close friend’s diary and Moore’s letters.  Marcia’s daughter, second husband Louis S. Acker and many other friends and family members also assisted the amateur sleuths with documents and information.

However the authors remain outsiders to the world of astrology, and, perhaps also due to their inexperience as writers, do not convey much empathy for their subject or understanding of her studies and expertise.  While they acknowledge Marcia’s generosity and idealism, she’s often portrayed as a willful New Age zealot without a center.  The true crime genre is dependent on its villains, and sometimes black-and-white judgments are also made on others in Moore’s life.  While her horoscope shows she might expect notable relationship issues, her first husband is depicted as an alcoholic failure; her third as a sycophantic sponge, abuser and embezzler; and her fourth as a sexual abuse survivor turned drug addict who manipulated his wife and others for his own ends.  As an M.D. he probably should have taken more responsibility for Marcia’s health while injecting her with the anesthetic ketamine regularly for six months while they worked on their book about it together.

And indeed, in August of 2022, a Moore family member said in an Amazon review that “descriptions of some individuals borders on libel,” and that the writers “filled their knowledge gaps with unfounded assumptions.”  The fact that all of the principals are now dead may have added to the impulse to judge or fictionalize.  As first-time authors, their prose is not the slickest.  Much testimony is quoted verbatim, and the decision to leave misspellings “as is” often makes for an annoying read.  The book is excessively annotated but there is unfortunately no index.

Astrologers and psychics who offered tips to the sheriff’s office are shown as complicating their efforts.  Someone suggested Moore’s death was an assisted suicide, another that she simply dematerialized into another plane (hence the title).  Some may have come close to indicating where the astrologer’s remains would later be found, but we still don’t know exactly what happened.  The book suggests a solution to the crime and the authors make a somewhat plausible case for it, but their final witness and certain details are not the most compelling.

However the DiSommas fill in the background on Marcia’s family in Concord, Massachusetts, and their long-standing interest in Theosophy, astrology and meditation.  They share the alleged perpetrator’s chart and provide some information on the horary asked of Seattle astrologer Dorothy B. Hughes as to Marcia’s disappearance (though the exact time is only given on Astrodatabank).  There are lots of photos and we get a look at the New Age wave of the 1960s and 1970s.  So if you can swallow the undercurrent of disapproval of Marcia Moore’s ideas and lifestyle, Dematerialized has something to offer.

Buy Dematerialized on Amazon.

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Marcia Moore, Mars and Uranus

Sometimes a planetary pattern is so prominent that it dominates the chart and has an enormous influence on a person’s life.  Yoga teacher and astrologer Marcia Moore’s horoscope is a good example.  Her Mars closely conjunct Uranus on the Midheaven explains her celebrity, attraction to New Age topics, multiple marriages and even her tragic death.  A new biography, Dematerialized, reveals much about her life and claims to have solved the mystery behind her sudden disappearance in 1979.

The 10th house relates to reputation and position in life, our status or standing.  This may indicate career, fame or notoriety, parents and even marriage (I’ve often seen significant life developments like the birth of children, marriage or divorce when the 10th house is activated).  Marcia Moore had her Mars, Uranus and MC in the sign of Aries, a dynamic and powerful combination that brings out the forcefulness of the planets and also suggests changing fortunes and the potential for controversy.

As second husband Louis S. Acker later said of Mars conjunct Uranus in The Astrologer’s Handbook, the combination can be challenging and may include:

“… impulsiveness and precipitate action… The natives cannot bear a dull life and constantly seek excitement through danger and unusual action.  Courage and decisiveness are prominent, but unless factors in the horoscope indicate otherwise, prudence is lacking.”

Many of these statements could be said about Marcia Moore.  She also had a charismatic personality, attracted attention, and brought innovative ideas to many lives as she rode the New Age wave of the ‘60s and ‘70s.  Since the 4th-10th house axis also represents the home and parents, she came from an unusually prominent family.  Her father was a successful hotel magnate, and Marcia was supported by trust funds, giving her great independence.  Moore’s father was also keenly interested in Theosophy and astrology and donated millions to support the work of Alice Bailey and others.

With the Sun in Gemini sextile Mars and Uranus, Moore had quite an eventful life.  She was led by intellectual and inspirational, rather than practical or realistic goals.  Each of her four husbands shared her interest in astrology or metaphysical subjects, and she married again each time shortly after her divorces were final.  Marcia moved to India for a year with her family in 1955 and studied languages and yoga, never staying in one place for very long.  After they returned to the U.S. she studied yoga intensively with Swami Vishnudevananda in the summer of 1960 near Montreal and returned to Concord, Massachusetts to teach yoga.

Marcia became somewhat famous after she was featured in Jess Stearn’s best-selling 1965 book, Yoga, Youth and Reincarnation.  Stearn recounted his experiences studying yoga with Moore, and featured photos of her perfectly executing many difficult yoga poses.

Marcia learned more about astrology after her short-lived marriage to Louis S. Acker, who was 12 years younger and still in college when they married.  Moore went on to write several basic yoga and astrology books with third husband Mark Douglas.  (Most are out of print as they were self-published, but some can be found second-hand or online as PDFs.)

When she left Douglas, Moore landed in Ojai, California.  She continued teaching yoga and began lecturing on astrology and past-life regression, which she’d been practicing.  Youthful and communicative, she traveled widely to speak with local groups and appeared in television interviews.  Her 1976 book Hypersentience recounted her experiences regressing herself and others.

Marcia married for the fourth time at 50 after meeting Dr. Howard Alltounian, an anesthesiologist, at one of her lectures in Washington state.  The couple quickly began collaborating on a book about Moore’s transcendental experiences using the anesthetic drug ketamine, a controlled substance that the doctor could obtain.  Marcia’s letters from the time express her attraction to the Uranian controversy that the project might generate, but the regularly injected doses of ketamine seemed to undermine her physical and emotional health.

A little over a year after their marriage, Howard returned from the movies one night to find Marcia missing.  Her life had ended with typical Mars-Uranus suddenness and perhaps even violence as well.  Two years later, a portion of her skull was found on overgrown private property and later identified from dental records.

No one has ever solved the mystery, but over 40 years after Moore’s death, the authors of Dematerialized piece together a theory.  Their focus is on the “true crime” angle, but they have also collected a wealth of information that illuminates Marcia Moore’s horoscope.

I hope to write a review of Dematerialized in a future post.

Marcia Moore’ birth data is rated A on Astrodatabank, Lois Rodden quoted Moore, who was her birthday twin.

Yoga, Youth and Reincarnation has gone through numerous printings in the 50 years since it was published, and is still available.

Moore’s Hypersentience is also available second-hand.

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The U.S. vs. Trump

When I looked at Donald Trump’s chances of winning the presidency in 2020, I noticed an unusual aspect in synastry:  his progressed Mars was approaching a conjunction with the U.S. progressed Mars.  At over 6 degrees apart, I didn’t consider it.  But time has passed and I was reminded of this combination when Trump announced on August 8th that the FBI had raided his Mar-a-Lago home.  It looked to me like a fight. 

Astrologers are familiar with Trump’s rising Mars in Leo, which perfectly describes his bold, assertive, bombastic personality.  It rules his 9th house, making him expansive and litigious, as well as his 4th house, often focusing him on family matters and real estate.  Trump’s Mars has helped him enthuse followers and push through his agenda.

In the U.S. Gemini rising chart I use (favored by Evangeline Adams), Mars is also rising.  In Gemini, a mutable sign, it has less force and consistency.  But it does describe a multiplicity of voices and America’s sense of independence and self-reliance.  Trump’s natal Mars is roughly sextile the U.S. Mars.  But relationships grow and change and we can get a better idea of their status at any moment by looking at progressed to progressed aspects.

The U.S. progressed Mars, like Trump’s, is now in the middle degrees of Libra, the sign of its detriment (opposite its ruling sign of Aries), making it more malefic.  We might potentially say that Trump and the country are joining forces, but the U.S. also has natal Saturn at 14 Libra 47, the sign of its exaltation, giving government authority figures the edge in any encounters.  Saturn rules the 8th, 9th and 10th houses in the U.S. chart, and closely squares the U.S. Sun in Cancer.  We can see the resources (8th) of the government (10th) and its legal system (9th) brought to bear in an authoritative move against the former president.  Both the U.S. and Trump’s progressed Mars conjoin one another, but also conjoin U.S. natal Saturn and square its Sun.  The country may be at a crossroads, and all are experiencing a challenging period of time.

The progressed to progressed combinations are unusual and continue for several years.  Trump has been actively flirting with running again in 2024, but at the time of the election, his progressed Mars will nearly exactly conjoin U.S. Saturn (less than half a degree – it will be roughly exact in the summer of 2025).  Meanwhile, the U.S. progressed Mars moving slowly retrograde and Trump’s progressed Mars moving more quickly direct in Libra are in a double-approaching conjunction with one another, less than 2½ degrees apart at the time of the 2024 election.  They will continue their close conjunction until around 2027, when the aspect will perfect.

One commentator has suggested that the more aggressive the government’s actions against Trump, the likelier he will be to run for president again in 2024. Contention motivates him.  This fits the astrological picture, which suggests a long legal battle over what justice (Libra) actually means.  The malefics involved show quite a contentious relationship in the coming years, but the strength of the U.S. Saturn implies that the country will win in the end.  (Unless, of course, Trump once again becomes its authority figure.)

Still, the malefic Mars-Saturn combination does not bode well for Donald Trump’s candidacy in 2024.  But the election is over two years away, much will change in the intervening years, and these progressed aspects, though notable, are just one small piece of a much larger picture.

 

1953 Wedding

It was August of 1953:  my parents were married with the Sun in Leo conjunct Pluto in their wedding chart.  Not something an astrologer would have chosen or the most auspicious of placements.  But they had already both lived through the Depression and World War II in Europe (and both had Sun-Pluto aspects in their birth charts).  The Sun and Pluto conjoined her Midheaven and his Ascendant, and formed a grand trine with his seventh house Jupiter and her Uranus.  They were very different people but were both warm-hearted and agreed on the basics:  finances and the kids.

The reception was at my grandparents’ home in Flatbush.  In the photo:  Uncle Nick Cosentino from next door, and Aunts Millie and Josephine to the right.

My parents both had Libra Moons, and the Moon was in Libra in their wedding chart too.  They were married for 58 years.  My dad passed with an exact Saturn return to the wedding chart! 

P.L. Travers Consults Johndro

Mary Poppins’ creator P.L. Travers had been successful in her career, but at age 40, when she was offered a set of twins to adopt, she felt she could only take one.  Should she do it?  And which child to take?  Who could answer this kind of question but an astrologer?  She consulted L. Edward Johndro half a world away and listened to his advice.

The Poppins books contain many magical elements, and these grew out of Travers’ world view.  She had worked as a Shakespearean actress and newspaper columnist in her native Australia before moving to London in 1924 at the age of 25.  There she met George William Russell (also known as AE), the editor of the Irish Statesman.  Through him, Travers explored Celtic mythology and Eastern religions, and met Yeats and other metaphysical thinkers.  She became interested in Theosophy and followed Krishnamurti, studied with Jung in Switzerland and was even a disciple of Gurdjieff, whose consciousness-raising program included fasting, labor and dances.  Travers loved Romantic poet William Blake, another original thinker who was also interested in astrology.

Uranus conjoined her Ascendant in Sagittarius, and Pamela was a seeker who identified with esoteric subjects.  Uranus trining her Venus in Leo in the 9th shows her love of writing and study, as well as her phenomenal worldwide success.  The Sun in Leo conjunct the Midheaven and Mercury in Virgo in the 10th house, both dignified, clearly signify her many achievements.  She had a formidable horoscope with an equally notable life and personality.

Despite her prominent Leo planets, Ascendant-ruler Jupiter is placed in the 12th house in Scorpio, turning her inward and attracting her to imaginative work and occult studies.  Her biographer, Valerie Lawson, shared that she had a reserved personality and “valued anonymity.”

Her early life had been difficult.  Saturn was rising and part of a tight T-square with her Moon in Virgo conjunct the 11th house cusp and Pluto in the 7th, showing a notable disruption and maybe even questions of survival.  Saturn traditionally rules the 4th house relating to home and family, and its modern ruler Uranus also comes to her 1st and  squares Mercury.  Travers’ father died when she was seven and she was raised by an older aunt.  While her mother had some family money, her uncle lost much of it through mismanagement.

Travers was concerned with finances as an adult, and Saturn-Pluto is quite security-oriented, especially with the T-square involving the Moon in Virgo.  She must have had anxieties but was probably a disciplined writer.  Her son’s oldest brother Joseph Hone, writing critically, said that she was “steely, self-centered and very controlling,” and added that she was “a contrary, divided, hypochondriac of ambiguous sexuality.”  The Moon in Virgo also shows her attraction to the discipline of Gurdjieff’s “work,” and Hone added that Guardjieff advised her to take an enema a day!

A friend was the grandfather of six children abandoned by their parents.  Pamela travelled to Ireland to visit the twins and consider adoption in October of 1939.  Camillus was better-looking but crying, and she wasn’t sure.

Travers’ mentor AE was later an adviser to Franklin D. Roosevelt, whose one-term Vice President Henry Agard Wallace also worked with L. Edward Johndro.  So AE may have recommended Johndro.  Pamela wrote to the astrologer, who did both charts to help her decide.  (She must have had their times of birth, which we do not.)  Johndro soon wrote back to recommend Camillus, saying that “All in all it would be a rare thing to find better cross rays between a child and its OWN mother.  So I would say, by all means, ADOPT HIM.”

Camillus was also a Leo, with his Sun conjunct Travers’ own.  Not only that, his Sun, Mercury, Venus and Pluto all in Leo fell at the top of his adoptive mother’s chart.  His Moon, whether in Leo or Virgo, did the same, so there was much common ground.  And they unfortunately also shared hard Saturn-Pluto aspects.  Camillus’ Saturn was almost exactly square Pluto, and Saturn also conjoined his South Node.  He had learned the lessons of survival in infancy, and was underweight, underdeveloped and in and out of hospitals for a few months after Travers brought him home.

Pamela was born on a first quarter Moon, and Camillus on a new Moon.  While they had issues (particularly the fact that she hadn’t told him the truth about his birth), they remained on “more or less friendly terms” throughout their lives.  But according to biographer Lawson, Travers gave Mary Poppins a dramatic full Moon at birth!

And while Camillus was fortunate in his adoption, he had drinking problems throughout his life as did his twin Anthony, who he didn’t meet until he was 17.  Anthony died an alcoholic at the age of 65 while Camillus lived six years longer.

Pamela became wealthy in the 1960s from the Mary Poppins Disney film.  Beginning in 1976, she was a consulting editor and contributor to the magazine Parabola, which addressed mythology.  She left over ₤2 million in trust for her son and grandchildren when she died in 1996 at the age of 96.

Mercury was one of her most notable planets and her fame came through her writing.  In 2018, a crater on Mercury was named for her!

Frances McEvoy obtained Travers’ birth data from her according to Astrodatabank.  Though it may be rounded-off to noon, her life does seem to resonate with this time.

Emma Thompson convincingly portrayed a curmudgeonly Saturn-rising Travers in Saving Mr. Banks.

Valerie Lawson did excellent research for her biography of Travers, Mary Poppins, She Wrote.

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Jupiter, Neptune and the Midterms

Many commentators are predicting a shift to the right in the November elections due to political cycles, Biden’s low approval ratings, and re-drawn Congressional districts.  But André Barbault shared that the Jupiter-Neptune conjunction “portends a swing to the left,” quoted by Lynn Koiner in her Predictions 2022.  Lynn also noted the conjunction’s influence near Barack Obama’s first presidential inauguration in 2009.  Will astrologers or the pundits be right?  Planetary cycles can be very telling and the astrology should prove correct. 

André Barbault focused on planetary cycles throughout his long career, and made remarkable forecasts that included foreseeing the 2020 pandemic in 2011 (Anthony Louis’ blog post has more).

After analyzing over 200 years of history (from 1792 to 1997) in his book Planetary Cycles, Barbault concluded that Jupiter-Neptune “aims for unity and peaceful exchange; in brief, it is humanitarian.  There is a general atmosphere of diplomatic and political détente and collective movements that have liberal democratic tendencies.  In effect, its ideology is socialist… a continuum with phenomena, which are undeniably of same order, being repeated every thirteen years:  the beginning, end or renewal of a historical process with the same tendency which is of a collective liberal order, democratic, socialist, or even more or less revolutionary.  There is a swing to the left, with international aims of an associative, peaceful or humanitarian nature.”  (pps. 52-56)

We’ve already seen this concept of collective, peaceful unity in the international support for the defense of Ukraine in early 2022.

Jupiter conjoins Neptune exactly on April 12, 2022 staying within orb from March through mid-May.  As Jupiter moves quickly, the return of the conjunction occurs with Jupiter stationing direct in November to early December, as Neptune also stations.

Much news time was spent in April considering the French Presidential race between Emmanuel Macron and his far-right challenger Marine Le Pen.  But if we believe André Barbault, the outcome was clearly foreshadowed astrologically.  (See Michael O’Reilly’s analysis of their birth charts and the race; I personally feel that Le Pen would have a tough time winning any election with her Saturn in Aries in the 7th house square Mars in her 10th.)

What does Barbault’s work suggest for the November midterm elections?  Former President Trump is endorsing a number of far-right candidates.  But the Neptune station squares his Sun exactly on November 1, 2022 and January 5, ‘23 while also squaring his Nodes and Moon, very close to both the elections and the beginning of the new congressional term.  These aspects prevailed when Trump lost the White House in 2020-’21, and continue to suggest deflated hopes.  I’ll wager that few of his candidates will win, and that under the conjunction’s influence this spring, liberal-leaning folks may also do better in primaries.

Six months before the midterm elections, many commentators are projecting a Republican take-over of the House and maybe even the Senate.  But the  Jupiter-Neptune conjunction’s history points toward a chance that Democrats will keep their majorities.  If not, then I expect more moderate Republicans, or those who share some of what Barbault described as “liberal democratic tendencies” to be elected instead.

Read Lynn Koiner’s Predictions for 2022 (scroll down) for an excellent, thorough look at this year and beyond, with nods to many astrologers of the past.

Find more of André Barbault’s incredible research in Mundane Planetary Cycles (English translation by Kate Johnston).

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Astro-Genealogy: Reclamation

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.

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Cornerstones of Astrology

Cornerstones of Astrology is an unusual book with a curious history that was inspired by the work of Jean-Baptiste Morin de Villefranche (1583-1656).

Morin’s magnum opus, Astrologia Gallica was published in Latin in 1661, five years after his death, and not many took notice.  The book was rescued from obscurity by French astrologer Henri Selva (b. 1861), who translated its most important section (Book 21) on synthesizing the horoscope in 1897, and wrote a commentary a few years later, making turn of the century French readers aware of the depth of Morin’s thinking.

Viennese astrologers Friedrich “Sinbad” Schwickert (1837-1930 – a frigate captain) and Adolf Weiss, M.D. (1888-1956) digested Selva’s books and together wrote a 5-volume work, Bausteine der Astrologie (Leipzig 1925-1927) based on Morin’s techniques.  Weiss later relocated to Argentina (a wise move since at least one of Sinbad’s other astrology students was killed by the Nazis), and published a Spanish version of the work in 1945.

Cornerstones of Astrology is a 1972 English translation by an unidentified astrologer based on the Schwickert and Weiss Spanish translation.  It seems to me that it covers only the first two original German volumes, on the elements and synthesis (the latter once again following Morin’s crucial Book 21).

Quotes from Selva’s work are some of the most compelling parts of the text, along with those from Morin himself.  The authors nevertheless state that Selva was “not very successful on his enterprise.”  Were they more familiar with Morin’s original work?  Only somewhat, it appears, as they admit it was written in “an almost incomprehensible Latin.”  Nevertheless, Cornerstones effectively communicates Morin’s techniques and shows how charts can be judged using it.

The first half of the book describes the Primary Characteristics (hot, cold, wet, dry and fire, earth, air and water) and Essential Nature of the planets, signs and houses.  These include lists with more modern esoteric discussions that reference Ptolemy and 19th to early 20th texts as sources, with much having little to do with traditional astrology.  Uranus and Neptune are addressed, and Pluto mentioned but not included, due to a lack of research.  I don’t feel the first part of the book works particularly well.

With the chapter on Cosmic State and Local Determination, we finally begin to get into Morin’s techniques.  Cosmic State relates to each planet’s strength from its sign, malefic or benefic nature and aspects.  Local (or Accidental) Determination or Terrestrial State takes a planet’s house placement and rulerships into consideration; in other words, where the planets fall, come from and lead to at a particular time and place.  Do they have analogous meanings with the houses they’re in and planets they combine with?  Do they facilitate or hinder the affairs of the houses they’re involved with, and how?  All of these considerations will inform our judgment.

The book goes on to describe how the techniques work in example horoscopes.  While at times the astrologers digress, their analysis is thorough and focused ( I sensed a Virgo approach and indeed, both were Virgo).  Schwickert and Weiss communicate Morin’s ideas and show how the facets of the horoscope are inter-related in charts.  I don’t know of another text that goes into such great depth of systematic analysis.  (Patti Tobin Brittain’s Planetary Powers presents isolated elements of similar considerations without real chart examples.)

The criteria used range in importance from planetary position and essential dignity to house associations and rulerships, then finally aspects.  General significators (the Moon for the mother, Saturn for the father) are too general, but may be helpful when they coincide with more specific determinations found in the birth chart (like Saturn in the 4th or the Sun ruling the 10th house).

The steps are challenging enough in themselves, but there are additional hurdles.  Schwickert and Weiss use abbreviations:  “M” represents malefics and “m” accidental malefics, for example, and houses are given in Roman numerals, both of which I found unwieldly.  In addition, aspect symbols are used but sometimes the characters aren’t printed completely.  (The authors share Saturn in detriment in the 7th house – perhaps creating a barrier to access?)  There are typos in some of the charts (one has no date listed and there are other errors and omissions).  The three charts from Morin don’t include the modern planets, while the others do, and most of the authors’ collection of charts give times to the second, with no indication of how they were rectified.  The 1972 English translation is not the best overall, and has made no attempt to update original comments on sexuality and lifestyle, which some today may find objectionable.

Finally, Schwickert and Weiss only present the steps of their judgment that are necessary to see how the combinations of planets, houses and aspects work together.  But all charts are in the appendix, so the reader must continually flip back and forth between charts and text, often with little reminder of who the people are.  No charts are completely delineated in one place.

Despite its limitations, Cornerstones of Astrology is written by expert astrologers, covers an amazing amount of ground and provides worked examples of how Morin may have looked at horoscopes.  As a result, this book is unique and valuable.

Check out my blog post on Morin and his Astrologia Gallica, which has additional links.

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Morin’s Book

Jean Baptiste Morin de Villefranche (1583-1656) was a leading astrologer in 17th century France, with patrons like Cardinal Richelieu, Pope Urban VIII, France’s Queen Marie de Medici and Queen Kristina of Sweden, but he never received quite the acclaim he felt entitled to. He fumed over contemporaries who used what he considered deficient methods but who nevertheless enjoyed greater success. For 30 years he toiled over his masterwork, The Astrologia Gallica, yet he was never able to publish it. Finally, five years after his death, his patron Queen Marie Louise Gonzaga of Poland brought it into print.

With Jupiter ruling the 9th of higher learning and publishing placed in its own sign of Pisces, Morin retained a college professorship for over 25 years. Jupiter trined his Mars and conjoined 3rd house ruler Mercury in Aquarius, and he could certainly write – Astrologia Gallica runs over 26 books and 800 pages! So what was the problem? Saturn.

By the time Morin practiced in the mid-17th century, his Latin was going out of style and the work of Copernicus and Newton attracted more attention as the west drew closer to the scientific reductionism of the “Enlightenment.” Morin was a man who suffered for an expertise that no longer seemed relevant to many.

Jupiter conjoined his Sun at about a half a degree, with both in orb of conjoining Saturn in Pisces in the 12th house. Morin’s Moon, also in Pisces, conjoins Saturn more closely. If Jupiter lacked dignity, we might describe the situation as “too little, too late.” Instead, we have a seminal work that is still being read and translated over 400 years after publication, but only in parts and with a limited audience.

All of the 12th house planets increased Morin’s sense of isolation and seclusion, but gave him the opportunity and motivation to capture his thoughts. With Aries rising, Mars in cranky Cancer conjoined the low-point 4th house, quintiled the Ascendant and trined the Sun, Jupiter and Saturn in the 12th. His attacks on Descartes, Galileo, Cardan and others didn’t help his popularity. Today we can also see that Mars squares Pluto in the 12th, heightening his anger and frustration. But the 4th house placement goaded him toward a solid foundation, and with Mars’ trine to Saturn, ruler of the 10th, he succeeded in transmitting an astrological tradition over several centuries. Unfortunately, though, in keeping with Jupiter, the Astrologia Gallica is also just a little too big, complex and comprehensive.

With Jupiter conjunct Saturn ruling Morin’s 8th through 12 houses, this notable combination also activated events after his life. Jupiter and Saturn at 1 Taurus 36, conjoined his Ascendant on April 18, 1881, and 20 years later, on November 28, 1901, the conjunction in Capricorn closely conjoined his Midheaven.

At the turn of the century, French astrologer Henri Selva translated an abridged version of Morin’s 21st book on determinations, and included a commentary. The next Jupiter conjunct Saturn in 1921 fell at 26 Virgo 36 in Morin’s 6th house of helpmates and squared his 3rd-9th house Nodes. Austrian astrologers Captain Frederich “Sinbad” Schwickert (1837-1930) and Adolf Weiss, M.D. (1888-1956) together wrote their own explanation of Morin’s methods, a 5-volume work based on Astrologia Gallica’s Books 21 and 22 (synthesis and directions) called Bausteine der Astrologie (Liepzig 1925-27). Weiss fled the Nazis in the 1930s, moving to Brazil and finally Argentina, where he published a Spanish version of their work in 1938.

The Jupiter-Saturn conjunction of 1961 at 25 Capricorn fell in Morin’s 10th house and squared his Ascendant, again setting the stage for what would follow. Hungarian immigrant Zoltan Mason (1906-2002) opened his astrology bookshop in New York City in 1950. As he was fluent in both French and German, he may have initially encountered Morin in Europe through the earlier 20th century works.

Mason’s Ascendant was opposite Morin’s, and his Moon at 28 Libra closely conjoined Morin’s 7th house cusp, making him a partner. In 1974, Mason published an English translation of Morin’s Book 21, Astrosynthesis, by his student Lucy Little (a pseudonym as the woman’s family disapproved of astrology). The same year, a translation by Richard S. Baldwin was released by the AFA.

Another teacher of Morin’s technique was Gerhard Angel Houwing (1923-2009). According to Dave Roell, he was from Argentina though he may have been Dutch. Houwing began studying astrology before he turned 20, and was introduced to Morin in the 1950s through the German Bausteine. He resettled in Dallas in 1963, and his students included James Herschel Holden and Patti Tobin Brittain. Brittain wrote the Morin primer, Planetary Powers (1980). (See my review of Planetary Powers.)

Cornerstones of Astrology is an English version of the Spanish translation of Schwickert and Weiss’ Bausteine, published by the Sangreal Foundation, Inc. from Dallas in 1972. There is no indication of who translated the book, but Brittain tells us that Houwing was “instrumental” to the work. The short preface is attributed to Jan Meursing, which Roell believed was a pseudonym for Houwing.

In the early 21st century, after the Jupiter-Saturn conjunction at about 23 Taurus on 5/28/00 in Morin’s first house, Holden translated several parts of the book into English. Morin’s Moon and Saturn closely straddled Holden’s Ascendant, so he was able to connect with and express the long-obscured work. The AFA published a number of English translations of Astrologia Gallica’s books, many by Holden.

I will write more about Cornerstones of Astrology in a later post.

Morin’s chart is based on his own statements, with research by Tony Louis and Zoltan Mason.

Robert Corre has much on Morin on his Forum on Astrology.

More on Morin from the late Dave Roell at Astroamerica.com.

Philip Graves appears to have a rather complete list of works by or about Morin at Astrolearn.com (scroll down).