Charles Dickens & A Tale of Two Women.

(This article first appeared in the A.A Journal, May/June 2012)

Charles Dickens had been married for twenty one years, with nine surviving children, when he first met actress Ellen Lawless Ternan in 1857. The great novelist was then aged forty five and ‘Nelly’ eighteen, in what for him seems to have been a classic midlife crisis. Nelly, with Sun-Uranus in Pisces was the perfect hook for his natal Moon-Venus projections, and somebody who gave him longed-for romance and excitement. Even her middle name was Uranian.

Charles Dickens: 7^th February 1812, 19:50 LMT, Portsmouth, England.

In the backwash of both his Saturn and Uranus half-returns, Dickens was in a long process of growing apart from his wife, Catherine. She was an attractive, easy-going Venusian Taurus-Libra character, but lacked his intellect and vitality, and by 1857, he simply tolerated her. The couple had only known each other for six months when they were married on 2^nd April 1835. His Mars in Aries in the seventh house was romantically impulsive, yet he repented at leisure and came to regard his marriage as his worst-ever mistake. By the time he met Nelly Ternan, he was restless for change.

Catherine Dickens

Dickens was as decisive in his split with Catherine as he had been in marrying her. He paid her an income for life and set her up in a house in Camden Town, while all their children, apart from one son, remained with him. Venus conjunct Pluto likes to maintain control. By August 1857, Dickens’s secondary progressed Saturn had come to 7 Capricorn, perfecting its natal square to Mars. This is a clash between initiative and deliberation, and the fourth and seventh house placements clearly show domestic friction and frustration. His eldest daughter Kate described the frenzied atmosphere at the time of the separation and reported that her father had almost lost his reason. Dickens sublimated much of his Mars-Saturn energy into his prodigious workload, but these two powerfully placed, antagonistic planets were a defining influence on his life.

Despite his personal warmth and geniality, Dickens was a forceful character who liked to have his own way. At worst, his chart reveals something of a domestic bully. Combative Mars-Saturn contacts demand great resilience from a marriage partner. This energy doesn’t hold with quiet unspoken rapport, but enjoys argument and conquest, and expects the other party to stand up and make a challenge. Likewise, in classic Aquarian fashion, he was more at ease with larger humanitarian issues than emotions closer to home. And when frustrated, Saturn-Mars can also play the victim. During his marital split, Dickens wrote a self-serving article that appeared in The London Times and his own Household Worlds magazine, portraying himself as the injured party. It also publicly insulted his wife, claiming, quite callously, that she had never loved their children.

Even before his separation, Dickens had moved out of his marital bedroom, partly to avoid enlarging his family still further. He was an attentive father, and wealthy, receiving book advances of a million pounds in today’s money. Yet he despaired of the financial demands his children made on him, and at some level blamed his wife for this too. This irrational, not to say deeply self-centred, attitude stems from his otherworldly Moon, square Venus-Pluto. This aspect may also have been susceptible to a kind of mother-versus-lover syndrome. Catherine’s Saturn in Aquarius conjunct his fifth house Sun would easily leave him feeling trapped, though ironically, this contact comes with built-in longevity. As the law then stood, he had no grounds for divorce and the Dickenses remained married until he died in 1870.

In the early stages of his new love affair, Dickens suffered agonies, acutely conscious of his reputation as a socially aware family man. He was a world famous figure, identified in the public mind with the idealised domestic life depicted in his books. Nelly was an actress, a disreputable vocation in high Victorian England, seen as virtually synonymous with prostitution. Yet there is no doubt of his infatuation and his Mars, again, would find a romantic conquest hard to resist.

He wrote to a female friend:

‘I wish an ogre with seven heads… had taken the Princess whom I adore – you have no idea how much I love her! – to his stronghold on a high series of mountains, and there tied her up by the hair. Nothing would suit me half so well this day as climbing after her, sword in hand, and either winning her or being killed’.

Dickens’s exact Moon-Neptune conjunction in the 3^rd house, as well as a classic writer’s signature, shows his great sentimentality towards women. Spiritual nostalgia for a long-lost or sacrificial mother figure, reflected in characters like Nancy in Oliver Twist, or his most famous heroine, the doomed Little Nell. He encountered London’s real-life street women and prostitutes dating from his career as a court reporter and was instrumental in schemes to help them. There are hints in his letters that his interest in so-called Fallen Women was not always wholly altruistic, though he set up a refuge in Shepherd’s Bush, called Urania Cottage, in his words, a ‘Home for Homeless Women’. This fascination with the sexual underworld is archetypal Venus-Pluto in Pisces.

Nelly Ternan

Nelly’s natal Saturn was closely conjunct his Moon-Neptune, a distinctly mixed blessing in synastry. There is a heaviness and lack of emotional spontaneity here, where day to day relating becomes awkward and overly literal. It also echoes the Sun-Saturn contact Dickens had with his wife. There are few more incompatible energies than hard Saturn and Neptune contacts, either natally, transiting, or in synastry, with the torment coming from a glimpse of heaven never quite attained. A close Saturn-Venus square in their composite chart also reflects their differing age and status. Love is surely possible with this aspect, but it implies two people kept apart by fate, and might be viewed as poetic justice for the way Dickens treated his wife. It was the best of relationships, it was the worst of relationships.

As if the Piscean projection wasn’t enough in their synastry, 1857 saw transiting Neptune at 22 Pisces, crossing Dickens’s descendant. In 1858 he wrote of Nelly:

‘There is not on this earth a more virtuous or spotless creature than this young lady’.

Still, an air of mystery surrounded their relationship and Dickens made every effort to ensure their liaisons remained secret. There is some evidence that he maintained her privately in a residence less than a mile away from the house where he moved his wife. He referred to Nelly only cryptically in his letters and even during his lifetime, burned quantities of their correspondence. Today, no communication between them survives, and all parties would be grateful the mobile phone had not yet been invented.

Some biographers have claimed Dickens and Nelly’s affair was purely platonic, though this does not fit the chart of someone with as passionate a chart as his. The wide Venus – Mars conjunction between them, in his seventh house, suggests a strong chemistry. There were other rumours that Nelly had a baby by him who died; we will never truly know. Whatever their actual status, it was a relationship that endured against the odds. The mutual contacts between Saturn and the Moon and Venus would make the relationship ‘challenging’, but also describe a sense of mutual duty or obligation. Despite society gossip, Nelly pursued her own career as an actress and remained a discreet, shadowy, Neptunian presence, Kate and Georgina, Dickens’s daughter and sister-in-law, recognized her place in his life and sent for her when Dickens lay dying at his house at Gad’s Hill.

Data:

Charles Dickens: 7^th February 1812, 19:50 LMT, Portsmouth, England.
Catherine Dickens: 19^th May 1815, noon chart.

Ellen Ternan: 3^rd March 1839, noon chart.

Reference: The Invisible Woman, by Claire Tomalin.

High Water Mark: Saturn in Scorpio.

"Privacy is dead", Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg famously said. Bold statement for a young Saturn in Scorpio guy, yet he may reflect on his words over the next couple of years. Saturn enters Scorpio on 5th October 2012 where it remains until September 18th 2015, all told. Transits of Saturn are tangible, in-your-face episodes, and the Scorpio house in your chart and planets within it will be severely road-tested. A significant ingress and passage in itself, it also lets us look ahead at a post-2012 world.

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Last time round, Saturn was in Scorpio from November 1982 until November 1985. Combined with Pluto in Scorpio, this period saw the isolation of the HIV/AIDS virus in 1984, with hopes of a possible vaccine. Today, AIDS need no longer be a death sentence and the Saturn return of its discovery may bring us closer to a definitive cure. The mid-80s was also the height of Thatcher-Reagan economics, just before the financial Big Bang, where many of our present troubles started (we will have to wait for Saturn in Sagittarius before the full casino capitalism postmortem). Michael Jackson's iconic Thriller video, break-dancing zombies and all, came out in December 1983, at a time when Goth rock ruled the roost in the UK.

In the mid-80s it was the Scorpio Soviet Union (1917 chart), not the Western powers, bogged down in an unwinnable Afghanistan campaign. Still, Mikhail Gorbachev became Soviet leader in March 1985, ironically bringing Glasnost ('openness') into Cold War politics. Ronald Reagan's mantra 'trust, but verify' also had a Scorpio Saturn ring. Perhaps a Gorbachev figure will emerge in Russia today, as Vladimir Putin becomes the last 20th Century style despot to leave power. 

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Reflecting on present-day Saturn in Libra, the highlights have been the Arab Spring, not so much a triumph of diplomacy as the spontaneous collapse of dictatorships whose time had expired. The initial wave: Tunisia, Egypt, Libya and Yemen were partly orchestrated by the unstoppable rise of social media. This was the second standout feature of an exalted transiting Saturn: Facebook and Twitter are ubiquitous as TV and radio, forming the background noise of the early 21st century. 

Pretty remarkable, when you think about it. We're still too close to see its significance, but who'd have thought only a decade or so ago that we'd all be linked like a world office space, sharing news, gags and inspirational quotes? The technology is only one side of it: collective consciousness has brought the boundaries down and made the whole thing possible. 

Sharing has become everything. Likes, LOLS, Smileys, kisses... all very airy and Libran. Saturn sits well in the sign of balance, since its skillful handling requires steering a course between extremes. We have to face up to our challenges and fears, while not becoming workaholic control freaks. Despite concerns over invasion of privacy, millions of people have found that middle way and feel okay about sharing information.

Saturn in Scorpio will change all that, or at least refine it considerably. Discreet, secretive Scorpio doesn't share until it is good and ready, and Saturn has an innate issue with boundaries. This will apply particularly given the 'mutual reception'* with Pluto in Capricorn. The shutters WILL come down. Expect more horror stories of the excesses of intrusive advertising and cyber-bullying, and the resulting over-compensation will see people withdrawing into their own circles. Already, those people without online friendships are seen as outsiders, but interaction will become increasingly a matter of personal taste, rather than just a from technological novelty.

Saturn marks its Scorpio ingress in October with a week-long trine to Neptune at 0 degrees Pisces. This will be significant for both planets, with Neptune still at the threshold of its own sign. Saturn-Neptune aspects go to extremes, either building the dream or living the nightmare. The trine has rich possibilities and we may see Internet technology being grounded, developments in farming and fishing, or new movements in art, particularly movies, photography and music. A major Pre-Raphaelite exhibition in at the Tate Britain in Autumn 2012 channels the original Neptune in Pisces movement of the 1860s. Vampires could hardly be any bigger today, but this aspect could see new heights (or lows, depending on your view). Return of Buffy, anyone? Dallas is back already, and perhaps we'll see the full shoulder pad look. Be afraid...

Jupiter enters Cancer in June 2013 and by July 14th, it will make a perfect Grand Trine with Saturn and Neptune at 4 degrees. This will be the high water mark, so to speak, which, to take an optimistic view, could spark the economic recovery. It will be a slow recovery in any event. The waning Jupiter-Saturn trine from their 2000 Taurus cycle culminates on December 21 2020 with the Grand Conjunction in Aquarius. We have seen the archetypal boom and bust, peaking in 2010 with the Jupiter-Saturn opposition, which brought us to the brink. Our present Jupiter-Saturn cycle is the last in Earth for another 600 years, and the present economic tumult is the world saying goodbye to the Industrial Revolution and dog-eat-dog capitalism.

The Nodes are also on the Scorpio-Taurus axis until February 2014, bringing:

• Solar eclipse 21 Scorpio, 13th November 2012, 
• Lunar eclipse 5 Scorpio, 25th April 2013
• Solar eclipse 19 Taurus, 10th May 2013
• Solar eclipse 11 Scorpio, 3rd November 2013.

December-January 2013-14 may be significant as Saturn crosses the eclipse degrees 19-21 Scorpio/Taurus. Particularly for those with natal planets at those points.

A generation of politicians and power brokers are approaching their second Saturn returns, traditionally the peak of a professional career: Angela Merkel, Francois Hollande, Bill Gates. Hillary Clinton, too, with Saturn rising and the Sun at 1 Scorpio will be making her calculations on a Presidential campaign in 2016. Prince Charles, also with a 4th House Scorpio Sun, may be feeling the hand of fate. His mother Queen Elizabeth approaches her third Saturn return, where Saturn in Scorpio in itself brings the sense of a oath given unto death. Given her dutiful outlook and the long-living Windsor genes, it seems less likely she will abdicate than Charles will renounce the succession (in favour of William). Margaret Thatcher and Fidel Castro are the last of a political old guard, also facing their third Saturn cycles.

In a nutshell, Saturn in Scorpio is about boundaries and taboo, particularly with its reception with Pluto. Times of change bring tension and many people today feel a nameless sense of anxiety. Still, our collective memory for how bad things get tends to be short and, looking back, are we better or worse off than the mid-80s, with its complacent, endemic corruption, not to mention the threat of nuclear Armageddon?  The Iraq War is over and we will soon withdraw from Afghanistan. Sensationalizing bad news is knee-jerk, lazy journalism, and despite upheavals, I believe we have lots to look forward to.

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*Reception with modern rulers is debatable, but there is an affinity between the signs.

AA Conference 2012, Wyboston Lakes, Cambridge UK.

This was my first Conference since 2008 and it's a quite different experience speaking to being just a punter. I gave two talks, one on Saturday, one on Sunday, which gives you a lot to think about beforehand, in-between and afterwards. 

Seeing a group of astrologers all together makes it clear that our art is a study for mature people. There are very few aspiring astrologers in their twenties or even thirties. The rise of academic studies may change this demographic, but still, astrology seems to be a perspective that people find after a certain amount of life experience.

I attended talks by Ben Dykes, Kim Farnell, Sonal Sachdeva, Frank Clifford, and Geoffrey Cornelius. There is a general movement towards academia in astrology, looking at divination from an historical and sociological angle. Between the Sophia Trust in the UK and Kepler College in the US, we have a new generation of very erudite astrologers, who are leading us back to the future. The humanistic approach of the 70s and 80s that held sway when I came into astrology is giving way slowly to a more rigorous traditional model. Hopefully, the two attitudes can be integrated.

On this theme, I conducted an interview with the Medieval astrology specialist Ben Dykes. Dr Dykes is engaged in translating Latin and Arabic astrology texts, as well as being a consultant, teacher, and practicing occultist. He offered a perspective on astrology's place in religious and mystical thinking, and gave his views as to where it is heading today. Most of the arguments in modern astrology, whether internal or with skeptics, have been thrashed out over the centuries, by authorities for whom astrology was an integral part of their worldview. In many respects this is a reassuring thought. Whether ancient philosophy is your thing, an understanding of astrology's history steadies the judgement. I recommend Ben Dykes's work to anyone interested in a fuller understanding of traditional astrology and Western esoteric thought.

My own Jupiter talk 'Great Benefic or Great Pretender?' was inspired by people's differing experiences of the Planet of Good Luck. Some people claim Jupiter is overrated, or even a malefic in disguise. The reasoning goes that if it expands whatever it hits, then Jupiter also expands bad luck, which to me is a rather perverse way of thinking. This is the same logic that argues all lottery winners are bound to be miserable.

Still, I presented charts of a number of Jupiterian individuals, some of whom have lead happy and successful lives, others not so much. Some people's Jupiters have difficulty in keeping the faith and trusting in providence, while others take the insouciant attitude too far. Success and happiness are not necessarily the same thing, and this made for an interesting discussion. 

I also presented on Astrology and Healing, looking at remedial measures in the Western and Vedic horoscopes. We have a rich tradition of herbs, gemstones and talismans in the West, but their use seems to have fallen into disrepute. Still, without them, can our astrology handle the implications of what it predicts, other than saying 'best of luck to you'?