BEFORE considering the effect of unfortunate influences shown in a horoscope and affecting the human mind, it may be helpful to study the map of a perfectly balanced mind by way of contrast. The remarkable and fortunate map, No. 1, has been chosen as an illustration, and can be borne out by my intimate knowledge of the woman thus happily endowed.
The heredity of a case is always an interesting factor, when it is known, and there is nothing more interesting than to study the maps of the parents at the same time as the child’s. In fact, we want a great deal more work done upon these lines in the case of children.
The horoscopes of my friend’s parents were never available, but there was nothing in the heredity that called for special remark. She was born in the terrible days when middle-class people thought that when a woman bore a child yearly and died of exhaustion in middle age she was in some inscrutable way fulfilling the will of God. In this case there were some thirteen children, most of whom died fairly early, and this one was the eldest.
The map is chiefly interesting as an extraordinary example of the Aries influence, as there are no less than six planets in the pioneer sign. This gives a remarkably strong character—much stronger than the physical health which was marred at the outset by the very critical birth position at the time of a new Moon. This is always dangerous, and many children die at such periods; but in this case the child—though delicate—was pulled through by the magnificent planetary aspects, both Jupiter and Venus being in conjunction with the Sun and Moon. The temperament is a blend of the fine ♒︎ Ascendant and the Aries planets, which, had they been badly aspected, might easily have shown the less lovable qualities of the sign—its hardness and selfishness; but the mutual aspects come as it were to the rescue. Saturn, though retrograde, is angular and in Sagittarius—a sign wherein the love of justice always seems to be added to his active gifts of sober industry, patience, and “grit.” He is trine to Mars, Jupiter, Neptune, Venus, Sun, and Moon. These are immense indications of mental stability, and the character is, in fact, exactly what we should expect. The native holds a high public position, and her life has been one long triumphant conquest over the occasional ill-health and losses indicated by the too close conjunction of the Sun and Moon and the square of these to Uranus. She is the incarnation of the philosopher in action. The steady judgment, the cool nerve, the unflinching moral courage which characterise her are all typical of the planetary positions. It is not the mind of the sage, still less of the mystic. No deep religious influences are thrown from the ninth house, and the problems of the Universe will never keep her awake at night. (An Aries temperament is generally concerned mainly with this world, and expressed in action.) But the horoscope is a great example of PRACTICAL brain force realising itself in perfect equilibrium. Note the effect of all those conjunctions in the second house. This house has probably more to do with mentality than is commonly recognised. We may often judge from it the prevailing habit. of thought, and from it also the inhibitions restraining the native’s liberty. Here, though the conjunction of Neptune with the Luminaries is a doubtful sign, it has been overbalanced by the fine influences of Venus and Jupiter. The prevailing “thoughts” have been equable, cheerful, and humane.
Note also that while the evil aspects of Uranus affect the Sun, Moon, and Venus, they escape the square of Mercury. The bad influences have materialised through the environment and health, but not through the mind. We shall have a case later where Uranus squaring Mercury from the ninth house has been the prevailing mental factor, so this point is worth noting. Any square of Uranus to Mercury produces eccentric and “advanced” ideas or conduct. There is nothing of this kind in the map before us. The semi-square of Mercury and Mars denotes some sharpness of temper, but that is all. The native would never run off the lines in any direction. She is too balanced, too faithful, too sane. The characteristic of the map is not GENIUS (though she is eminently artistic), but practical efficiency and strength.
To sum up. Good aspects between Saturn, Mercury, and Jupiter are the strongest indications of mental balance (provided, of course, that the Moon be not seriously afflicted). Uranus adds a powerful testimony if in the first, third, or ninth. The influence of Neptune is uncertain, but I have some strong testimony of his unfavourable influence when IN CONJUNCTION with an otherwise weak Moon, and especially in Gemini; but this may come up for discussion later.