The workaholic of two worlds

Sergio Marchionne was an Italian-Canadian businessman, widely known for his turnaround of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, his business acumen and his outspoken and often frank approach, especially when dealing with unpalatable issues related to his companies and the automotive industry.

The geniture

The Temperament

Gemini is rising and the Sun, Venus and Mercury are in the first house. Sun and Venus are in Gemini and quite close to the horoscope but Venus, being combust is very weak; Mercury is close to the second house so not so strong as the presence in the first house let us suppose. The Moon is waning in Aries and she is moving away from the sestile of Venus and applying to the sextile of the Sun and the opposition of Mars. We note also that the lord of the horoscope, Mercury, which is also the lord of the Sun, is in trine with Mars. So Mars is the primary significator of body and Mercury the secondary. Therefore his temperament is choleric. Lets note that Aldebaran, the bull eye, the red star of nature of Mars is rising at the horoscope. The Anonymous says:

When Aldebaran rises at the birth time makes the natives prosperous and very wealthy […] they are by far the most glorious, famous and richest than any other man

The soul

Since the lord of the Moon is Mars and Mercury is in trine with Mars, Mars is also the lord of the soul. Mars is in sect since the geniture is nocturnal and so can be beneficial instead than harmful. Mars is in domicile in Scorpio and cadent on the cusp of the VI house. We see therefore that is attitude toward life is very well shown by the influence of Mars which gaves him frank, assertive, goal digger, sharp and sometimes a bit tough attitude.

The profession

Mercury is doing the heliacal rising since he is visible but was not seven day before the nativity. Therefore he is the lord of actions since the other fast planets, that are, Venus and Mars are unsuitable because the first one is combust and occidental the second one. Moreover Mars is in trine with Mercury and also in trine with the MC in mundo. So Mars contributes with Mercury as a secondary lord of activities. The lord of Mercury by exaltation, Jupiter, is in sextile and parallel in mundo to Mercury and also in antiparallel of declination with Mars so Jupiter testifies both of them. This configuration fits quite well with his profession as a businessman and manager.

Lets note that Mercury is doing a doryphoria to the Sun since he is the lord of the Sun in Gemini and also Mercury is doing the heliacal rising. Since the Sun is angular and in a masculine sign, that configuration is a sign of a distinguished nativity and great dignity, according to Ptolemy.

His death

The Sun and the Moon are both in aphetical places but the Sun in the first house close to the horoscope is going to rise and so he is strong and the he should be preferred as the apheta of the geniture. On the day of his death the Sun by direction reachs the opposition of Saturn. At the same time Mars by direction reachs the IC and so squares the horoscope. The Sun and the horoscope are in Gemini which rules the upper part of the torso and shoulders where the illness, which caused his death, showed up.

Tycho Brahe, the Danish Stargazer

Thycho Brahe was a Danish nobleman, astronomer, astrologer and alchimist. He is famous for his accurate and extensive stellar and planetary observations. His fascination with astronomical observation began when, as a boy, he saw an eclipse of the Sun which took place at exactly the time it was predicted. During his life’s work he measured the positions of celestial bodies every night it was possible to scry the sky, and carefully recording these measurements, year after year. His observations were some five times more accurate than the best available observations at the time. He reported also a new phenomenon on 11 November 1572: a bright star, never observed before, which had unexpectedly appeared in the constellation Cassiopeia. Since he noted that the new celestial object showed no daily parallax against the background of the fixed stars and it did not change its position relative to the fixed stars over several months he understood that it should have been a far distant star: a new star, a ‘stella nova’, called now a supernova in modern astronomy. This discovery was a milestone in breaking the aristotelian world-view which asserts the immutability and unchangeable nature of stars and celestial bodies.

The Geniture

From George Ludwig Frobenius, a german polymath versed in mathematic and astronomy who stayed with Tycho at his observatory in Hven island, we have two version of Tycho’s geniture.

Version I

Version II

The second version, which seems more accurate, reports his birth in Knutstorp on 13th December 22:47 PM, which, counting the days from noon, is 14th December 10:47.

The temperament

We firstly note that Jupiter and Venus are rising in the Tycho’s geniture. The ascendent is in Aquarius, domicile and triplicity of Saturn and bounds of Venus. Moreover Saturn is in sextile with the horoscope. The Moon in Virgo is applying  to Saturn and then Mercury.  Saturn is combust so he’s quite weak. So Venus and Jupiter are the Lord of Temperament and Saturn participates. Tycho’s temperament is sanguine because of Jupiter and Venus. Venus is moist and warm because she is occidental. Jupiter is occidental and he is warm. Saturn adds a melancholic tone to the mainly sanguine complexion. The conjunction of Saturn and Mercury is a sign of stutterers but Mars squares in mundo Saturn and so he loose the tongue. Lets note tha Mars is in the first house but considerebly distant from the horoscope, so he is not directly partecipant in Tycho’s temperament. Anyway Mars is still in the first house, in his domicile in Aries and in aspect with Saturn. Since Mars is out-of-sect he adds impulsivness and impetuosity to his attidute and he caused him much troubles as we will see.
Sir David Brewster writes in his book “The Martyrs of Science: The Lives of Galieo, Tycho Brahe, and Kepler”:

Tycho was a little above the middle size, and in the last years of his life he was slightly corpulent. He had reddish yellow hair and a ruddy complexion. He was of a sanguine temperament, and is said to have been sometimes irritable, and even obstinate. This failing, however, if he did posses it, was not exhibited towards his pupils or his scientific friends, who ever entertained for him the warmest affection and esteem.

The Lord of the Soul

Mercury is in Capricorn, oriental, combust. Mercury is in conjunction with Saturn at the end of Sagittarius. The Moon in Virgo, as we have already seen, is applying to Saturn and Mercury by a square. Moreover the Moon is in trine in mundo with Mercury. So Mercury and Saturn are the Lord of the Soul.

Valens says:

Saturn and Mercury are allies and productive of activities/employment. They do, however, bring slanders about religion, lawsuits, and debts, as well as disturbances about written matters and money. On the other hand, these stars make men who are not without resources and not unintelligent, with much experience and awareness, and who are curious, far-seeing scholars, seekers after mystic lore, revering the gods, but with much on their consciences.

Liber Hermetis says:

Saturn joined with Mercury makes prudent, informed, magicians knowing celestial things, knowledgeable of bad or of hidden things.

The Profession

Mercury is oriental in a diunal geniture and so is a candidate for the Lord of action. Mercury is also combust but the nearness to the Sun is not a real impediment for Mercury as it is for the other planets. The Moon in Virgo is angular and applaying to Saturn and Mercury. So Mercury is receiving the Moon. This is a further indication for Mercury to be the lord of Action.

Rhetorius the Egyptian says:

If Mercury changes to be in a good house, and expecially in a domicile of Saturn, not under the Sunbeams and expected by Jupiter, Saturn and Mars, it makes astrologer, diviner and priest.

In Tycho’s geniture Mercury is in Capricorn, a domicile of Saturn, and in conjuction with Saturn but Mercury is combust. Nevetherless the conjunction of Saturn and Mercury is an indicator of mathematicians and astronomers.

Venus is occidental but she has already the mean motion. She is with Jupiter, the Lord of the MC, both configurated with MC sicne they are at the horoscope. They for sure add fame and notoriety and success to Tycho’s actions. Even more so both Jupiter and Venus are in trine with Tyche and Tyche is with the star Arcturus.

Pezel says that, when Arcturus is in conjunction with the significators of wealth as the Lot of Fortune and the second house cusp or the Luminaries and their dispositors means incrising in wealth and very high honors.

The Duel

While at university in Germany he had a duel with a fellow student over which one was the best mathematician. He was attending a wedding party at Professor Lucas Bachmeister’s house on 10 December 1566 where everybody, including Tycho, drunk too much. He soon got in a heated argument with Manderup Parsberg, another Danish student who was his third cousin. They quarreled again on the 27th and they decided to resolve the question challenging each other to a duel. On the 29 December 1566 during the duel Tycho lost part of his nose and gained a broad scar across his forehead. In order to disguise his terrible disfigurement he wore a prosthetic nose for the rest of his life.

Mars by direction arrives at the horoscope on 24th Dicember 1566. Mars in the geniture is in Aries in the first house and out-of-sect. Since Aries signifies the head and Mars gives wounds the direction is in agreement with the event.

The profected Moon is with Mars of Nativity.

Moreover Mars in the Solar Revolution is at 24° Sagittarius and squares the Moon of Nativity at 23° of Virgo.

The Observatory

On the 23rd May 1576 a document was signed by Friederick II, the King of Denmark,  in which  he offered Tycho the island of Hven and funding to set up an observatory.

Saturn reaches by mundane direction the Lot of Fortune which was in the giniture in the bounds of Saturn and was in sextile and parallel in mundo with Saturn.

The death

Brahe died from a bladder infection on 24 October 1601, after etiquette kept him from excusing himself to use the bathroom during a royal banquet in October 1601 in Prague, causing his bladder to rupture.

We see that the Sun, which is the apheta, reaches by mundane direction the opposition to the natal Mars.

It’s interesting to note that Vettius Valens says that the seventh place from Daimon rules the bladder. In Tycho’s geniture in that place we found Saturn, Mercury and the Sun.

Erasmus Roterodamus

The highest form of bliss is living with a certain degree of folly. Erasmus

Recently I visit Rotterdam, homeland of the famous Renaissance humanist Erasmus. He was a scholar in latin and ancient greek and he prepared important new Latin and Greek editions of the New Testament. He is mostly remembered for his witty and satirical work ‘In Praise of Folly’.
Although Erasmus referred several times in his writings to his age, there is no certainty about the year of his birth since those references point in many different directions, ranging from 1464 to 1472 or even later. Anyway I have found in the book “Astrologia Naturalis” written in 1645 by David Origanus, German mathematician, astronomer and astrologer, the geniture of Erasmus Roterodamus.

Erasmus’ geniture from Astrologia Naturalis

Probably the time of birth that Origanus reports in his book is not very reliable, since he wrote two centuries after the Erasmus’ birth, anyway I think it can be interesting to give a look the the chart and with a bit of folly, as Erasmus suggests, we will find Origanus even trustworthy .

About the birth date of Erasmus Origanus wrote in his ‘Astrologia Naturalis’: Anno 1467 Oct. Die 27 Hor. 16.30. In North Europe during the XVII century the hours were calculated as equal hours starting from the midnight according to the civilian mode or from the midday according to the astronomical mode. We can easily recognize that Origanus used the equals hours front the midday according to the astronomical computation since the Sun is in the second house in the fourth quadrant as it is between midnight and the dawn and not in the second quadrant as in the afternoon before sunset. So the Erasmus’ birth, according to Origanus, was on 28th October 1467, 4.30 a.m local time. Below we can see the geniture as calculated by Phasis. We see that some planetary and house positions in Origanus’ chart are not very correct but the differences consist at most in few degrees.

Erasmus’ geniture – domification Regiomontanus

Origanus uses the geniture to exemplify the influence of Venus and Mercury over the manners of the native. He writes:

About Venus. Venus gift is beauty. Therefore in good aspect with Mercury especially in the first house she makes promptly excel in neatness of manners and speeches. In this way Erasmus from Rotterdam has Venus.

Erasmus’ geniture – domification Placidus

In Erasmus’ geniture Mercury is with Venus which is also his Lord since he is in Libra. Mercury is retrograde but he is doing the matutine heliacal rising. Actually the Lord of the Soul is Venus since she is the Lord of Mercury and in conjunction with him. According to Ptolemy the Lord of Action is Mercury since he is doing the matutine heliacal rising and so Mercury with his Lord Venus gives him the beauty of speech and writing.  Both Mercury and Venus are in trine with retrograde Jupiter exalted in Cancer in the XI house giving fame to him for his religious writings while trying to be impartial in the religious dispute between the Catholic Church and the rising Protestant Reformation.

 

 

The jester warrior

In my whole life I have never written anything only for fun. I always tried to put in my lyrics a crack able to break the certainties, to doubt the opinions, to arouse indignation, to open the minds. Everything else, the beauty for the beauty, I do not care. The World According to Fo, Dario Fo

The Man, the Actor

Dario Fo was born in Sangiano, near the Maggiore Lake, in Lombardy on the 3th of March 1926 at 12,25 according to the birth certificate. Since the birth registration was not very accurate in the first half of the twentieth century, I have opted to rectify the time by a method taught by ‘Cielo e Terra’. That method, called Isaritmia, is a sort of a more sophisticated version of the Ptolemaic animodar. The Isaritmia is defined as the mathematical correspondence between the  lord of the preceding syzygy and the rising angle or the culminating angle when the position of the planet, lord of the preceding syzygy, in the house where it is, measured in temporal hours, is equal to the position of the angle in the sign where is located, measured in ascensional times. I don’t want to go into details about this technique, which is not very easy to understand and calculate. Mars was the Lord of the syzygy preceding the Fo’s birth because in that syzygy Mars was rising at the horoscope and the luminaries where in Pisces in the triplicity and bounds of Mars. We can see more or less in the rectified chart above that Mars is away from the cusp of the VII house as the cusp of the MC from the beginning of Aries.

The Luminaries in his geniture are quite powerful. The Sun is exalted in Aries at the MC. The Moon is in Leo in the I house, an angular place. The Moon is moving away from the trine of the Sun and applying to Mercury in his bounds at the MC. Lets note that Mars is angular and squares the Sun both in mundo and the zodiac. Since Mars is oriental and lord of the Sun, Mars is doryphoros to the Sun. Those are sign of great dignity of the native and of a distinguished person as Ptolomy says in Tetrabiblos, Book IV, Ch.3, ‘Of the Fortune of Dignity’:

It will be needful to determine the questions of dignity and happiness resulting therefrom from the position of the luminaries and the familiarity to them of their attendant planets. For if both the luminaries are in masculine signs and either both of them, or even one of the two, angular, and particularly if the luminary of the sect is also attended by the five planets, matutine to the sun and vespertine to the moon, the children will be kings. And if the attendant planets are either themselves angular or bear an aspect to the superior angle, the children born will continue to be great, powerful, and world-rulers,and they will be even more fortunate if the attendant planets are in dexter aspect to the superior angles. But if, while the others are in this position, the sun alone is in a masculine sign, and the moon is in a feminine one, and one of the luminaries is angular, they will be merely generals, with power of life and death. If, however, besides this the attendant planets are neither angular nor witnessing to the angles, they will be merely great and will enjoy partial dignities, those which involve the wearing of chaplets, or those of superintendence or of military command, and not those of first rank. But if the luminaries are not angular, and most of the attendant planets are either angular or in aspect with the angles, they will not attain the more conspicuous honours but rather civil leadership and moderate advancement in their careers. If, however, the attendant planets are not associated with the angles, they are rendered obscure in their actions and without preferment, and they are entirely humble and miserable in their fortunes when neither of the luminaries is angular, or in a masculine sign, or attended by the beneficent planets.

Here both luminaries are angular, Mars is doryphoros to the light in sect, the Sun and moreover Mars is angular. Also Jupiter is doryphoros to the Sun. Lets note the the star Sirius, the brightest star in the sky, of nature of Jupiter and Mars, is with the Moon. Moreover Mars is also the Lord of the Lot of Fortune.
Dario Fo  won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1997. In his time he was “arguably the most widely performed contemporary playwright in world theatre” says Tony Mitchell in his book ‘Dario Fo: People’s Court Jester’.

Lords of Activity are Mercury and Mars. Mercury is at the MC and Mars, the Lord of both the MC and Mercury, squares them from the occidental horizon. Lets note that Jupiter and Venus, conjuncted in Aquarius, are in sextile with Mercury. Mercury is significator of professions involving communication and writing. The benefic Jupiter and Venus produce a profession concerning art and show and give grace and success. Mars adds sharp comic and bitter satire to his plays and acting. His plays are famous for putting in the pillory the powerful and showing the real face, both brutal and absurd, of the power. The Swedish Academy awarded Fo as a writer “who emulates the jesters of the Middle Ages in scourging authority and upholding the dignity of the downtrodden”

Milestones in his life

Marriage

Dario Fo married Franca Rame, a theater actress, on 24 June 1954. Their professional and conjugal relationship lasted 59 years till she died in 2013.

Profection

Saturn which is the Lord of the VII house of nativity is at the horoscope of protection. Mars, which is the Lord of the year because he is the lord of the profected horoscope, is at the descendent of profection.

Solar Return

The Saturn of Solar Return in at the Descendent. Since Saturn is the Lord of the VII house of nativity the relationships and association are stressed.  Moreover the Moon of Solar Return is with Saturn of nativity and she squared by Venus and Jupiter of nativity.

Directions

Jupiter of direction in mundo is at the descendent. The Moon is squared by Saturn.

Nobel Prize Award

Profection

The Moon, Lord of the Year, is at the horoscope of nativity. Mercury of protection is with the Sun of nativity. The Moon of protection is in opposition to the Mars of nativity. The Moon of nativity is in opposition to Jupiter and Venus of nativity. Lets note that Mercury and Mars are Lords of Activity.

Solar Return

Mars, one of the lord of activity is at the horoscope in Virgo. Mercury the other Lord of Activity is in commutatio with Mars, being each one in the domicile of the other one. The Moon, the Lord of the Years, is in the I house close to the horoscope.

The Moon of nativity is in opposition to Jupiter of revolution. Nike, the Lot of Jupiter, which gives success, is with the Moon of nativity.

Directions

The Sun of direction in mundo is in opposition to the Moon. Mercury with Jupiter and Jupiter is in opposition to Nike of nativity.

Death

Profection

Saturn is the Lord of the year since the Ascendent is in Aquarius. Saturn of profection is in Cancer and squares the Sun of Nativity in Aries. Lets note that Sinos, the Lot of Illness, is at the IC in the profection, and the Moon of Nativity squares it. Also the  Sun of profection squared Sinos of nativity.

Solar Return

The Sun is in the XII, cadent and he is in opposition to the Moon. Venus the lord of the horoscope is in exaltation in Pisces but she is in opposition to the Moom and Jupiter in Virgo. Saturn, the Lord of the year, is with the malefic star Aculeus Scorpionis.

Directions

The Sun is the apheta since is the luminary of the time and he is at the MC in the nativity. Ptolemy in Tetrabiblos Book III, Chap. 10, On the length of life, says:

When the prorogator has been distinguished, we must still further adopt two methods of prorogation. The one, that which follows the order of the following signs, must be used only in the case of what is called the projection of rays, when the prorogator is in the orient, that is, between mid‑heaven and the horoscope. We must use not only the method that follows the order of following signs, but also that which follows the order of leading signs, in the so‑called horimaea, when the prorogator is in places that decline from mid‑heaven.
This being the case, the destructive degrees in the prorogation that follows the order of leading signs are only the degree of the western horizon, because it causes the lord of life to vanish

We see here that Sun, the apheta, arrives by direction to the occident, determining the end of his life.
Moreover Mars, the out-of-sect malefic, is with the Part of Fortune, but Mars is the lord of the Part of Fortune and therefore cannot really harm. The Lot of Sinos, or Illness, is with Saturn.