ASTROLOGY for the Professional and the Aspiring Professional WITH
NANCY R. FENN
The Eulogy
by the Archbishop of Canterbury
The Younger Sister
a poem by England's Poet Laureate -- the poem is also being hailed as
the new generation of realistic Royal Verse
last posted 9.26.07
Recommended Books:
Healing Pluto Problems by Donna Cunningham is a book that will
help you understand this woman and her sister and family better. When
someone has lots of Plutonic energy in their chart, you need to have an
understanding of psychological forces in the personality for your interpretation.
The Astrology
of Fate: This is the strongest book on the market for understanding
the effects of Pluto in a natal chart and in transits.
The
Astrology of Family Dynamics: This book may not have all the answers
but it sure does ask all the right questions. It's a lot easier to understand
someone within a context after you've developed the skill to read several
charts at a time.
"We remember before Thee this day, Thy Servant, Margaret ... " - The Eulogy by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr. George Carey
"And yet the thought -- Of how no privilege on earth can keep -- A life from suffering in love and loss ..." The Younger Sister by Andrew Motion, Poet Laureate of England [a Sonnet is a Love Poem]Princess Margaret Rose of England died February 8, 2002. Regardless of what you may think about the Royals, this is a good opportunity to look at some medical astrology and stick out Big Toe into some family astrology. In this regard, I have been influenced lately by Erin Sullivan's book, The Astrology of Family Dynamics.
Let's begin.
"By an incredible quirk of fate," [so says the BBC Online report], Margaret was buried exactly 50 years after her father King George VI, making it an especially hard day for Queen Elizabeth.
One of the things we will do is to look very closely for this "quirk of fate", which is a lay person's description of a Jungian synchronicity or an outworking of character as seen in an astrology chart. We're going to be looking for patterns and this will be the biggest one of all.
Every astrology chart, every life is a puzzle to solve. It is a conundrum. I like the saying, "Life is lived forward but understood backward." We are going to try to understand the patterns in this life.
Princess Margaret was described in newspaper eulogies and obituaries as "less healthy than her sister," "plagued by a life of ill health," and "an unhappy person." She is characterized as "unlucky in love". Apparently she drank heavily. It was well known that she chain smoked (60 cigarettes a day). A look at her chart will give us a different Margaret. In some ways it answers the questions raised by these characterizations but also, as is so often the case, it raises more.
Let's compare the charts of Margaret with those of her sister, Queen Elizabeth, and their Mother, the "Queen Mum". We will also take a quick look at the chart of the husband and father, King George VI, that very same monarch buried on February 6, 1952. We won't cover the next generation (Charles, William, etc. and mercifully you will not read a word here about Princess Diana.)
Here is a chronicle of Margaret's serious illnesses as reported on BCC online, together with some of the major events in the family around the time of the illnesses:
1960 - suspected nervous breakdown 2 years before her divorce from Lord Snowdon
1977 Queen's Silver Jubilee
May 1978 - gastroenteritis, mild hepatitis
April 1981 - bronchitis
1981 Charles married Diana
1982 William was born, the Heir
1984 Harry was born, the Spare
January 1985 - nonmalignant lung tissue removed -- after this she stopped smoking briefly but was unable to persevere -- she did drop back from 60 to 30 a day
What happened? Stay tuned for later installments
November 1992 - feverish respiratory infection
Annus Horribilis (uncharacteristically frank) ... Windsor Palace caught fire; Charles and Diana separated; Queen will pay taxes
January 1993 - suspected pneumonia
1996 Charles and Diana's marriage was dissolved
1997(August) Diane died in a car accident
1997 (November) Elizabeth's Golden Wedding Anniversary
Elizabeth was cold at Diana's funeral and refused to fly the flag at half-mast; alltime low in popularity; AND she introduced the Royal Webpage (it's a beauty!)
F ebruary 1998 - mild stroke
March 1999 - scalding to feet on vacation
December 2000 - possible second stroke
March 2001 - minor stroke
"Margaret had said she wanted to be cremated in a simple, private service, at which no friends or family would be present." from the BBC Online
+ - + - + - +
That's probably what she would have wished her whole life to be!
"According to friends and her official biographer Margaret was both emotionally and professionally unfulfilled ... the official court biographer said she was "never given anything to do and never found a man in her life ..."
Margaret was universally described as "deeply religious".
Is this true? Get a deeper look from the astrologer's perspective. Read on.
Part of the fun of being an astrologer, is to get what I call a God's eye view of a situation.
We know that all illness is mental illness. All illness is caused by stress. And all illness is spiritual in nature. But an astrology chart will reveal "fault lines" in a person or places where serious inroads can be made in a person's health due to stress.
The ancient Greeks believed, "Every man past 30 must be his own physician." This means that to maintain natural good health after the blush of youth passes, we must each know our own bodies and what works and doesn't work for them.
Frankly, after reading about Elizabeth Taylor, I could hardly call this woman plagued by ill health. She lived to 70, too, which is a privilege denied to many.
But everyone seems to sense the spiritual dis-ease of this woman even though it must be talked about in physical terms, due to the current state or consciousness and also a certain sense of decorum. We do not permit our Royals to be depressed, have down days, miss work due to malaise. That may very well be part of the problem here. This is what we will be taking a look at.
We know Margaret smoked and drank. But why did she smoke and drink? And more particularly, if she wanted to drown her pain or anesthetize herself, why did she smoke and drink rather than, for example, become obese or "run away to the convent."
I don't know about you, but human beings and human nature fascinate me. That's why I love what I do. There's nothing like astrology for answers.
I will present the charts. Please take a look at them, according to your own level of expertise. I will reproduce them again and again for purposes of discussion later in the page.*
*Please remember that these pages are meant to be an Internet Experience. They aren't designed to be downloaded and read. They are meant to be read sitting at your computer. If you try to download them, you won't get very good results.
Princess Margaret's Chart (data from Lois Rodden)
Data: August 21, 1930, Glamis, Scotland, at 9:22 pm
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[Chart from Astrolog Shareware]
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South
Node 25 Libra 7th Neptune and Mercury in Virgo are intercepted in the 6th house. SPECIAL
CONFIGURATIONS [6 planets involved in a Grand Cross] Margaret's Sun is less than one degree from Regulus, The Royal Star. |
Glamis, Scotland where Margaret Rose was born. Margaret's mother, the Queen Mum, is Scottish. She is an incredibly beloved figure in the UK.
Queen Elizabeth's Chart (from Lois Rodden)
Data: April 21, 1926, London, England at 4:40 am
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[Chart from Astrolog Shareware]
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South
Node 20 Capricorn 11th Mercury in Aries is intercepted in the first house. SPECIAL
CONFIGURATIONS |
"It seemed to me that in all kinds of ways this was a significant thing and should be written about."
Poet Laureate, Read the poem
First of all, because the Windsors are monarchs, these charts deserve to be read with the Fixed Stars. It is an excellent opportunity to hark back to a time when astrology was used just for royals or rulers -- all during the Middle Ages, for example. During former times in history, the fate of the nation and the fate of the king were interchangeable. Perhaps times have not changed as much as we think.
As befitting a royal, Margaret's Sun is less than 1 degree from the fixed star called Regulus, the Royal Star. Her sun is at 28 Leo.
Margaret's Chart
1st House 6 Aries
Uranus at 15 Aries Rx
North Node at 25 AriesThis is a very difficult and challenging first house; however, the North Node there is supported by Uranus. The jury is not in yet on exactly what retrograde natal planets mean. I say this not because I know so little but because I know so much.
However, common sense tells us that Uranus retrograde in Aries could not be very comfortable. The image comes to mind of backing an out of control car into a wall in a mistaken desire to liven things up a bit and then discovering that this has only complicated things because now you still have the same problems you had before but also, now no one likes you because you seem like a reckless and willful person.
It will be a challenging lifetime for little Margaret Rose. She has set the task of finding her self, making a whole new life for herself, building a personal ego and giving it strength, with that Aries north node in the 1st. Uranus is there supercharging the issue but also complicating it. The South Node in the 7th is making it a tense situation.
Margaret incarnates as the younger daughter of the brother of the future king of England. By a series of unexpected events, at 7 this father becomes king and then again, at 26, Margaret becomes the younger sister of the Queen of England.
Perhaps earlier in her life she had some normal freedom, but past the age of 11, as a major figure in the ruling family of Great Britain, she has virtually no avenue for personal self expression. The dialogue in the chart has begun.
We know as a child she was sportish and independent. Her interest in Brownies (UK version) and ballet, mark her as an Aries girl.
Her smoking marks her as prominent Libra and she does have a Libran South Node. NANCYism TEACHING MOMENT: THE BIG SMOKERS IN THE ZODIAC ARE LIBRA. THEY NEED THEIR SPACE. IF YOU CAN'T GET IT ANY OTHER WAY, PEOPLE WILL BACK OFF IF YOU HAVE A CIGARETTE HANGING OUT OF YOUR MOUTH. GEMINIS ARE A CLOSE SECOND ... DOESN'T IT MAKE SENSE IT IS THE AIR SIGNS? SUBCONSCIOUSLY, I AM CONVINCED, IT FEELS LIKE THEY ARE GETTING MORE AIR AND MORE SPACE, TOW OF THEIR FAVORITE THINGS.
Not only is her South Node in Libra, it is in the equivalent 7th house and it isn't all that far from Libra ruled Venus, also in one of its own signs, Libra.
This is the signature of someone who is a born doormat. Margaret Rose incarnates with a smile on her face whether someone is dancing on her toes or not. She is a pleaser. She capitulates. She deliberates. She is happiest one-on-one would probably do anything to please the person she loved. The trouble is that she has been doing that for so many important lifetimes that it will not work this time at all.
Yet she incarnates in a family where she is asked to give up the man she loves for a higher duty, for the sake of decorum, for religious reasons and to please her sister the Queen. Not only is she asked, she does it. Now the dialogue is raging.
Margaret's nervous breakdown before her divorce from Lord Snowdon in 1962 (the divorce; the breakdown was in 1960 and started the decline in her health at least time-wise) is a classic Libra South Node. It you recall your polarities -- there are really only 6 signs -- Aries gets the bad reputation for independence and Libra for co-dependence, but as always, it is actually the other way around. Watch your Aries invariably carry an entire relationship on their shoulders without even noticing it while the Librans are constantly complaining that they would just like to be alone.
My mother, the double Libra, had two favorite sayings for us four kids: "I'm going off to the woods," and "You're driving me crazy." Contrary to lore, it is awfully hard for Librans to be around other people and Margaret had a good does of the disease in many former lifetimes. This time, apparently, it became virulent.
Most Librans are secretly close to a nervous breakdown even in a so-called good marriage. It will come as no surprise to the Librans in the audience, that this happened to Margaret.
2nd House 25 Taurus
No planets
3rd House 16 Gemini
Mars at 25 GeminiMars in Gemini in the 3rd house is widely opposite Saturn in Capricorn in the 10th. Here is a heavy theme. Gemini and the 3rd house, of course, are siblings. Saturn in the 10th bars Margaret from prominence "out there" in the world. And why? Because of her sister.
Margaret's 3rd house is afflicted. Her Mars is afflicted. Her Ascendant is afflicted. Her Venus is afflicted and her Moon is afflicted. Margaret Rose has many of the characteristics of genius which are outlined in Barbara H. Watters marvelous book, Sex and the Outer Planets ( see chapter on "Pluto and Genius"). What she is lacking is the concentration of planets found in genius. Margaret's chart actually contains a Grand Cardinal Cross -- the configuration that by definition promises a wide spread of planets. This may have added considerably to her frustrations.
Margaret fully qualifies as a "Pluto person" for purposes of discussion in other books such as Liz Greene's The Astrology of Fate,and Donna Cunningham's book on Pluto and addiction.
Another way that Margaret is a 3rd house person is her ... smoking!
4th House 1 Cancer
Jupiter at 12 CancerI pretty much read the 4th house as father/heritage. At any rate, Margaret has many blessings here, including the fact that her father was "lucky enough" to wind up king. (Let's assume it's a lucky thing.)
This Jupiter, however, is part of a Grand Cross involving also Uranus, Moon, Pluto, Venus and Saturn. If this signature could speak just the way it stands, it might say: I may seem lucky, because by a fluke I am in the public eye, but I am denied power and pleasure and am actually an outcast.
5th House 17 Cancer
Pluto at 20 Cancer
Moon at 25 CancerHere we may see the pain of Margaret that she is apparently denied her specialness and it arises from her relationship with her mother.
This actually seems like strike 3 to me.
(1) Margaret has the Grand Cross with its irritating Uranus/Aries/1st House denying her much sympathy for her plight at the most important times, especially because of some UNwinning personal characteristics of her own;
(2) Margaret's space is crowded, her freedom is usurped and her very life is shadowed by the great and enormous light of her sister, Elizabeth, the Queen of England; and
(3) Margaret's relationship with her mother is intense and even frightening. We see here the enormous popularity of this woman, Queen Elizabeth II, the "Queen Mum" and as we see her from this daughter's eyes, she is not quite the benevolent, charitable and cheery little character she is portrayed to be. We would guess from this chart ... and we will be looking for anything similar in Elizabeth's ... that the Queen Mum does not like to be upstaged by ANYone.
It looks to me like this just about blocks all Margaret's avenues of self expression. She can't be special in the public eye because of that dreadful Saturn in Capricorn in the 10th and also because of her sister's good fortune in being born first. She can't shine as a woman with Saturn square Venus. My guess is at least not as the kind of woman she would like to have been -- a cabaret singer ?? A ballet dancer ?? That's a pretty heteira Venus. And she can't even, and most especially, be special with her own mother.
Look at the look on this little girl's face.
6th House 10 Leo
Sun at 28 Leo
Neptune at 3 Virgo
Mercury at 24 Virgo
To continue, around the chart, Margaret Rose had 3 planets in the 6th house, including her Sun at 28 degrees Leo and two planets in the sign that rules the 6th house, Virgo. Here we see that there may be health problems just as a way to grow. Or perhaps better put, "body issues".
NANCYism TEACHING MOMENT: I once read for a woman who had a little Stellium in the 6th and I speculated that she had had her share of health problems (she was 63). Nope. Well then, did you have them as a child and overCOME them? Nope.
It turned out much later I was to discover that she had fallen in a freak dance accident and broken her back which required several surgeries. She had also had an accident with a golf cart and had had several surgeries on her foot. She did not consider these health problems so now I qualify the body issues of the 6th house to include accidents and surgeries.
The Sun conjunct Neptune is always a mark of great beauty, particularly of an ethereal or "other world" nature. There is no denying the beauty of this woman. If you are too young to have known of her fame, she was considered the great beauty of her era.
This signature may also emphasize the true nature of her "religiousness" and her call to service, in strong contrast to her thwarted desire for temporal prominence in the 10th house Saturn in Capricorn.
Margaret's Neptune and Mercury are intercepted in the 6th in Virgo. Thereby Mercury becomes afflicted and then gives even greater weight to the picture of Gemini/3rd house/Gemini affliction in this chart. It is quite likely that Elizabeth drove Margaret crazy, by a very personal kind of manipulation and control not to mention the power of her position in the family, in the UK and in the world!
The most important thing about this configuration however, is that is happens to form part of a YOD with Elizabeth's Saturn as follows:
You will recognize this particular YOD as the Crucible of Self described by the late, great astrologer, Richard Idemon. (I recommend his tapes highly.)
Here's the astrological Sweet Deal: planets in Aries, Virgo and Scorpio making a YOD, the Finger of God, will work and rework a person like the little Mercury figure in the alchemist's crucible. With this configuration a person will do and undo themselves over and again. Aries is the ego, Persona, Mask or personality (archetypal 1st house), Scorpio is the psychological self and Virgo is the refining and integrating of these two aspects of a personality.
Elizabeth acted as a consistent powerful pressure and catalyst for Margaret's growth. You might say Margaret's emerging Persona was crafted on Elizabeth's pottery wheel. It is likely that Elizabeth was a controlling and inhibiting influence on Margaret even more than Margaret was on her self and even more than the mere nature of her public office demanded.
And yet it is Margaret who is often remarked upon as demanding absolute decorum even among her closest friends. This bespeaks her 10th house Saturn. What she cannot earn, she demands.
Elizabeth's Saturn in Margaret's 7th bespeaks a heavy karmic debt and a heaviness, unpleasantness or even dread to her association with Margaret (from Margaret's perspective anyway). Of course there are many other aspects as well.
7th House 6 Libra
Venus at 12 LibraMargaret's 7th house Venus in Libra is on the one hand, one of her softer features. Especially when coupled with her Sun/Neptune in the 6th, it bespeaks a refined and even elegant individual. It also explains Margaret's love of ballet, for example, and other cultural activities. But especially in the 7th house, it is a very weak Venus. It is a pleaser at any cost.
Since this Venus is part of a Grand Cross at the angles of the chart, it is a very complicated Venus, thwarted at every turn -- by the oddities and eccentricities of the first house Uranus in Aries, by the cold, bleak and unpromising Saturn at the Midheaven, by the Jupiter in the 4th which, in this context, probably just adds to the misery by promising more than it can deliver and by the honestly rather horrifying configuration of Moon, Pluto in the 5th.
Venus/Saturn is a signature of very low self esteem, sometimes even self loathing or self hatred. Certainly there is a lack of compassion with self and others. It is a bleak, cold couple, though intrepid. There is a certain unforgivingness to this placement. The British are noted for their lack of compassion and Margaret's lack of compassion toward herself was probably a large deterrent to her working out a sense of fulfillment and happiness in her life -- as we all must do.
8th House 25 Scorpio
No planets
9th House 16 Sagittarius
No planets
10th House 1 Capricorn
Saturn at 5 Capricorn RxThis is a very prominent Saturn in its own sign and its own house. Simply in opposition to Jupiter in the 4th, it would have given Margaret a certain stoic acceptance of her fate in life and the ability to earn the respect and good will of those around her as she quietly proceeded to discover her own legitimate talents and interests.
It is, however, the constant interference of the 1st house Uranus, the 7th house Venus and the Moon/Pluto in the 5th (the other 6 planets in the Grand Cross on the angels) that, I feel, robbed her of the popularity she may very well have otherwise had and also the personal happiness that could have been possible -- and furthermore (Moon/Pluto) in a very, very painful way.
A p part of what Margaret Rose was here to learn was that popularity is the boobyprize and that being liked and pleasing others is a weak and inherently untenable position spiritually because it lacks integrity.
Margaret's Uranus in the 1st gave her the ability to thumb her nose at the expense of the public from time to time -- and ultimately we will see in her choices about her funeral -- also to forge a path of her own, cigarette in hand, that was neither delicate nor passive. Charles described his happiest memories of her as his "Darling Aunt" sitting at the piano with a big cigarette in a cigarette holder dangling from her mouth. (Music and pianos are ruled by Uranus.)
11th House 17 Capricorn
No planet
12th House 10 Aquarius
No planetsSouth Node 25 Libra 7th
North Node 25 Aries 1stNeptune and Mercury in Virgo are intercepted in the 6th house.
SPECIAL CONFIGURATIONS
Grand Cross:
Uranus Aries 1st
Mars | Jupiter | Pluto Cancer 3rd
Venus| Libra 7th
Saturn Capricorn 10th[6 planets involved in a Grand Cross]
Margaret's Sun is less than one degree from Regulus, The Royal Star.
Elizabeth's Chart
1st House 14 Pisces
Uranus at 27 Pisces
Mercury at 4 Aries
Sun at 0 TaurusElizabeth has Venus exalted in Pisces sitting right on her Pisces Ascendant and a rather full 1st house which includes Uranus in Pisces (not retrograde), Mercury in Aries and the Sun in Taurus. It is very unusual to have 3 planets in one house, all three in different signs.
You can imagine that this would give a person a certain amount of versatility in the way they express themselves.
Elizabeth's Mercury is afflicted, like her sisters, as it is square Pluto in the 5th house. But her 3rd house is not inhabited.
Margaret has Moon/Pluto in the 5th. Elizabeth has Pluto/North Node in the 5th. Margaret is leaving far behind and not without pain and loss, something that Elizabeth is picking up for the first time in lifetimes. This would tend to be painful for both persons. It will involve areas of self-expression, creativity, specialness, drama, melodrama and children.
2nd House 8 Taurus
No planets
3rd House 4 Gemini
No planets
4th House 23 Gemini
No planets
5th House 11 Cancer
Pluto at 12 Cancer, North Node at 20 degrees CancerThis is a very important 5th house. Elizabeth is here to learn how to use her power as a woman and to create a personal world she is willing to nurture. Since she is her country, this will include her dominion. This is one of the more powerful charts I have seen.
Elizabeth is also very involved with the forces of creation and destruction. After a certain point (somewhere between ages 12 and 20), she would have seen the power of which women are capable -- she is actually clearly one of the people bring the goddess into the 22nd Century. She would be forced during that time period to move from her softer aspects ... there could hardly be something softer than Venus in Pisces in the 12th ... to become the hard-hitting, enduring and respectable woman we know as Queen Elizabeth, a queen virtually beyond approach.
It is the unseen forces of the Universe which Elizabeth fears, far more than the Irish, Algerians or Arabs. And quite possibly it is the unseen forces within Elizabeth. The Queen also has marked abilities as a psychic, psychologist and poet, clairvoyant and mind reader.
6th House 3 Leo
Moon at 13 Leo
Neptune at 22 Leo RxWhereas Margaret had grave, even morbid fears bout her specialness in the world, even her right to be here in the world, not so with Elizabeth. It could safely be said that she did not ever really doubt her birthright as the anointed and special Chosen One to rule the kingdom of King Arthur, the Knights of the Round Table and more recently, the Beatles.
We must consider the confusing element the not-coincidental 5th house Plutos. Margaret has Moon/Pluto in the 5th. Elizabeth has Pluto/North Node in the 5th.
Where there is the Sun, there is potential and growth. It is something to be aspired to. Where there is the Moon, there is something instinctual which may be regressed to from time to time, usually quite unconsciously, but basically which is to be outlived and moved beyond.
It is as if Elizabeth is here to bask in the ultimate power of the specialness of her role and her dramatic fulfillment of it. Margaret, on the other hand, is here to avoid specialness more or less like the plague in order to embrace and explore things of higher value for her at the present time in her incarnation -- aliveness and authenticity.
Both sisters have the potential for a great deal of staging, drama, manipulation and big, big power games (!) It is likely that Margaret Rose learned at some earlier time in her life the skill of manipulating other with health "problems".
Elizabeth with Moon/Neptune in Leo in the 6th, could possibly be reaching the point where she realizes that her physical health IS her mental health and to is possible that
Margaret has Neptune trine Saturn natally.
7th House 14 Virgo
No planets
8th House 8 Scorpio
Saturn at 24 Scorpio Rx
9th House 4 Sagittarius
No planets
10th House 23 Sagittarius
No planets
11th House 11 Capricorn
No planet
12th House 10 Aquarius
Mars at 20 Aquarius
Jupiter at 22 Aquarius
Venus at 14 PiscesSouth Node 20 Capricorn 11th
North Node 20 Cancer 5thMercury in Aries is intercepted in the first house.
SPECIAL CONFIGURATIONS
Elizabeth's Saturn is directly opposite Caput Algol or Medusa's Head, the "most evil star in the heavens".
Diagnosing with Oriental Ways
Physiognomy:
What's in a face ... ?? How to diagnose health in the face using an Oriental intuitive method I've found very helpful and accurate.
MOVE CURSOR over photo on RIGHT and CLICK.
Princess Margaret carefully crafted her own moving funeral service.
[Photo from BBC Online]
A large part of her family is shown here, her nieces, nephews, their spouses and children. Over 450 people attended this "very private service" which was not an official state funeral.
[Photo from BBC Online]
In death, finally?, she is alone.
Read coming installments of her chart interpretation to see the royal puzzle of Margaret's life unfold and become meaningful.
