So insensible is humanity at large to the facts of life that the most desperate of all adventures, marriage, is usually undertaken by them with the idea of settling down to quietude. Occasionally, success is obtained, exemplifying the fertility of nature in producing miracles to order. But this miracle is not likely to take place when Uranus is in the seventh house. It is only good for the adventurer, who may very likely obtain a partner very much above his or her social position. For there is always something big about Uranus. The person indicated by it is likely to be greatly superior to the native in one way or another. Such marriages are, of course, notoriously unhappy, because the suddenness of Uranus and the generally disturbing atmosphere which he creates wherever he goes, are unfavourable to peace and happiness in the conventional sense. There may, of course, be exceptions to this generalisation. Where the native has the lord of the seventh house well-dignified and Uranus is well-aspected, his presence there might merely indicate that the Uranus element in the partner, was, for example, science. A quiet little girl with no particular qualifications might marry a man famous in some department of knowledge or the President of a wealthy corporation or a government official and keep house very well for him. But such cases may be regarded as exceptional. As a general rule trouble is bound to ensue, of course, in many cases, he will prevent marriage altogether, causing the break-up of engagements, or the appearance of some other obstacle.
The obvious case, and one which needs no comment, is that of Queen Elizabeth; she was the last heir of the Tudors and marriage was more important to her than for almost any other person on the planet, yet the history of her reign is but the history of broken marriage negotiations.
An example of an unfortunate marriage is that of Louis XVI to Marie Antoinette Here the partner is indicated by Uranus, and as is stated elsewhere in this volume, it was the great eccentricity of her character which determined at least one set of causes of the French Revolution. Another example is the great Napoleon. His first marriage “ended in divorce. In his second, the influence of Uranus is even more emphatically brought out, for ~Marie Louise was one of the greatest princesses in Europe and he was only a Corsican adventurer. The social again was consequently enormous, but there was, as the memoirs of lime sufficiently prove, never even a glimpse of happiness in this ill-assorted union and the political gain expected from it did not materialise. Even as an alliance it rather hampered than helped. While the question of an heir was answered in none too friendly a sense, as is familiar to readers of history or of Rostand’s L’Aiglon.
A further example of unsuitability is afforded by Madame Blayatsky. She again made an admirable match from the conventional point of view but there was no real marriage; and it soon broke up to free her for the career which we know.
Where the native is an artist and thus by nature ready to sympathise with the unusual, the effect of Uranus will not take this malignant form. In the case of Maurice Maeterlinck, who married a distinguished actress, the unusual nature of the profession does not come as a shock and consequently there was no reason for any upset. Only from the point of view of French Society could there be any scandal in such an affair, and this of course must operate to a certain extent. The reader will remember the trials of Marcel Schwob caused by his marriage to one of the most charming and talented women in Paris, merely on account of her profession.
It will be objected to all this that there is no Sign of any trouble in connection with the marriage of T.H. Huxley, who had Uranus right on the cusp of the house. But the lord of his seventh is admirably dignified by the conjunction of Venus and the sextile of Jupiter. And further, it may be said that in the case of a man so exclusively devoted to science, the effect of Uranus will not be so manifestly upon marriage as upon that other indication afforded by the house, i.e. public affairs.
With regard to this latter matter, the influence of Uranus will be tempestuous. He will cause the native to rise to great heights III all such matters, but the career will never be smooth. Huxley and Blavatsky spent most of their lives in controversies which literally shook the earth. The same remark applies to J.P. Morgan, while Maurice Maeterlinck, though not himself particularly controversial, has again and again been attacked from the days of Max Nordau until now. The foreign policy of both Queen Elizabeth and Napoleon was war; there was never a period in the lives of either when they were not engaged in some desperate adventure. Queen Elizabeth, it must be remembered, was to all intents and purposes, a prisoner, during the reign of her sister.
It sometimes occurs that the presence of Uranus in the seventh house causes the sudden death of the marriage partner, or possibly the partner in business. With regard to the latter, all that has been said before with the necessary emendations will apply generally. He is likely to be the dominant figure in the partnership which is likely to break up after various vicissitudes. But an affliction of Uranus by the Moon in the case of a man or by the Sun in the case of a woman or any other trouble arising through aspects or transits of an unfortunate nature, of the partner’s activities by sudden or violent death.
It is further to be remarked that Uranus often causes the native to marry in response to a sudden inexplicable impulse. Engagements to marry are also entered upon without sufficient thought. Such temptation should be watched and resisted. At the same time, it will be nugatory to seek for a mate of a conventional and inactive type; in fact to a person with Uranus in this position, there are no such people. In all men and women mere is something extraordinary and incalculable, which would be brought out by the fact of marriage with any person having Uranus in the seventh house.