ASTROLOGICAL COMBINATIONS FOR WRITERS
Proficiency in any Art, Skill or Vocation is mainly attributable to the presence of key planets in certain houses in the natal chart. To become a writer, journalist, poet or an author, one needs certain specific planetary dispositions. What those astrological rules are, we are going to discuss in the course of this dissertation.
Generally, Journalism comes under the purview of Mercury and the 3rd house. We will now see a few astrological combinations for poets.
- Mercury in 2
- Mars in a trinal house
- Venus in own house
- Jupiter in 9
- Lord of 11 in the Ascendant
- Lord of 10 in the Ascendant
In general, Venus rules poetry. “Writings†come under the purview of the 9th house. When we use the term writer it can mean any one of the following a) Journalist b) Story writer c) Dialogue writer d) Novelist e) Dramatist f) Author g) Lyricist h) Cartoonist i) Meme creators on visual media j) writer of book reviews k) Editor l) Translators of classics. The above list is illustrative and not exhaustive .For novelists, who in general, require, high level of imagination, the Moon should not only be strong but also unafflicted .At the same time cogency in thinking is an invaluable attribute for a budding writer. This requires strong and unafflicted Mercury.
The Sun and the Moon, being strong, render strength to the chart. It is said that if the Sun and the Moon are weak, the chart is rendered powerless, however strong the remaining planets be. The conjunction of the Sun with Mercury, which goes by the term, “Budha-Adithya Yoga†or “Nipuna Yoga†is an invaluable asset for any writer. Similarly, the Moon-Mercury combination is also a good yoga for writers. While the strength of Mercury decides the writing skills of a person, the planet which influences Mercury decides which topic, the person is going to write. One becomes a poet when Mercury is in conjunction with Venus. A strong Moon, pre-eminence of the sign Cancer in a chart or both become strong indicators of literary pursuits. At the level of Navamsa, the Mercury in Taurus or Libra or Venus in Gemini, strongly indicate flavor for literary pursuits.
There are some people who are called humorists. They keep everyone around them happy through their wit or humour. The combination which gives rise to such people’s the Mars-Mercury combination. This is especially true if the combination occurs in Aquarius or Capricorn. Even the Moon-Mercury yoga is one that makes one a humorist. For comic writers and humorists, the favourable disposition of Moon and Mercury is an extremely critical factor.
The conjunction of Venus with Saturn makes one a writer. The Sun-Moon-Mercury combination makes one a lover of poetry. The Sun-Mercury-Jupiter yoga is also a combination which makes one proficient in writing. One born with a Mars-Mercury-Jupiter combination is proficient in Music, Drama and Poetry. The Sun-Mercury-Venus combination makes a person learned. One born with Sun-Moon-Mars-Mercury combination becomes a writer.
Mercury governs powers of writing. Moon has everything to do with imagination. Venus governs artistic skills. In those charts where Mercury is not so well placed one has to see if the Moon or Uranus is well placed so that they compensate for the shortcomings of Mercury and add literary flavor to the horoscope. Research shows that many successful writers in the world have a strong Uranus.. There is a saying, “Pen is mightier than the swordâ€. During India’s freedom struggle, we had many writers who through their writings, created the patriotic fervor required for the nation to obtain liberation from colonial rule. It is worth mentioning here that Uranus governs “Power of expressionâ€
I will now explain the difference between houses 3,5 and 9 with reference to literary skills. The 3rd house relates to journalism – so any writer should have a strong 3rd house. To know what should be expressed, a strong 5th house is needed, since it is mainly the power of the intellect which governs power of discrimination. So, the editor of a newspaper or periodical should necessarily be invested with a strong 5th house. The publication of an article involves an element of luck and therefore the publisher should have a strong 9th house. So, the 3rd house rules over writers, 5th house rules over editors and the 9th house governs publishers. The 2nd house rules over education and it is also a strong causative factor for literary skills. Apart from the 5th house which gives fertile powers of imagination, a strong 2nd house is also needed for good writers.
If we say that someone is a very good fiction writer, we are mentioning two faculties over here – the faculty of imagination and the faculty of writing; the former is concerned with the 5th house while the latter is connected to the 2nd house. Sometimes a person, who has a dream, will be unable to recollect what was seen in the dream. There are many people who have good powers of imagination. But do they all become good writers? No. Then, the question that needs to be asked is, Why? The answer is not all people who have a strong 5th house are blessed with an equally powerful 2nd house. A conjunction between the lords of 2 and 5, with both planets rendered strong simultaneously is also a good yoga for authorship.
Generally, Mars in Lagna is supposed to be strong. To be a forceful writer, one who is blessed with Mars in Lagna will have a distinct advantage. Both Mercury and Jupiter are indicative of scholarship. These two planets either alone or in conjunction in Lagna also favours writers. While Jupiter is in 10, it aspects the 2nd house. Therefore, Jupiter in 10 favours literary skills. Similarly, the presence of 10th lord in Lagna is also favourable for writing skills. There are certain yogas which go by specific names. We shall now look at such yogas which favour poets, writers and Journalists.
SARASWATHI YOGA:
For this yoga to occur, the following conditions should be satisfied
- Jupiter, Venus and Mercury should, occupy Lagna, 2,4,5,7,9 or 10 (The planets can occupy these houses either alone or together with another planet)
- Jupiter should be in Sagittarius, Pisces, Cancer or in the house of a friendly planet.
GANDHARVA YOGA:
For this yoga to occur, the following conditions should be present
- Lord of 10 should be in 3,7 or 11
- Lagna lord should be associated with Jupiter
- Sun should be in Aries
- Moon should occupy the 9th
In general, this yoga makes one an adept in Fine Arts. We can extend this argument to say that it will give proficiency in writing.
HAMSA YOGA:
Jupiter in Kendra and either exalted or in own house gives rise to Hamsa yoga. This is one of the Pancha Maha Purusha yogas, A person born in this yoga has tremendous knowledge. It can also confer good writing abilities.
BUDHA-SUKRA YOGA:
It is not uncommon to find this yoga. It makes a person well-versed, eloquent and makes one adept in music. This can also augment journalistic skills.
Mercury – Mars – Venus – Saturn
This combination makes one a wrestler, skilled in battle and very renowned. The person keeps dogs as pets. While applying this yoga to the chart of Ian Fleming, we find that Rahu, (who gives Saturn’s results) replaces Saturn in the 4-planet combination. Fleming used to work for Naval intelligence, had dogs as pets.So in his chart we do not find the same Yoga but a slight variant of this Yoga with Rahu participating in the Yoga in lieu of Saturn.
CASE STUDIES
Ian Fleming
Due to the strength of Mercury in Gemini and due to the influence of the 4-planet combination discussed above, Ian Fleming became a writer on espionage; he created the fictional character “James Bond†the British secret service agent. During his lifetime, his books had sold more than thirty million copies. The presence of Hamsa Yoga also enhanced his literary skills. A strong 3rd house is a sine qua non for a journalist or an author. In the case of Ian Fleming, this occurs in the 3rd from Moon. The celebrated Budha-Sukra yoga occurs in the 3rd from and gets merged into the 4-planet combination which catapulted Ian Fleming to the pinnacle of glory. Another notable feature of the chart is that the Lagna lord occupies the 3rd, not only from the Ascendant but also from the Moon. If we take the Sun as Karaka for Lagna, there also an exalted Jupiter fortifies the 3rd from the Lagna Karaka (Sun). In conclusion, we can say that Ian Fleming’s chart highlights all the astrological features of a great author.
Samuel Johnson
In the chart of Samuel Johnson, we find a Guru-Mangal Yoga in the 10th, which propels the chart to dizzy heights, Jupiter being the lord of 3 in 10. As discussed, the Sun -Mercury-Venus combination makes a person learned as in Johnson’s case, Mercury is exalted. By aspecting the 2nd house, Jupiter links the crucial houses of writers viz., 2,3 and 10. Samuel Johnson was a poet, essayist, literary critic, biographer, Editor and lexicographer. In the year 1755, he wrote the “Dictionary of English language†which is acclaimed as “One of the greatest single achievements of scholarshipâ€. Similarly, the work “The Life of Samuel Johnson†written by James Boswell is rated as “the most famous single work of biographical art in the whole of literatureâ€. Samuel Johnson passed away on 13th December 1784 at the age of 75.
J K Rowling
In the chart of J.K Rowling Jupiter as lord of 3 occupies the 5th thereby aspecting the 9th house, as well as Lagna. Thus, the key houses of a great author viz., 1,3,5 and 9 all come under Jupiter’s aspect. Mercury in 8 is an indicator of profound learning more so as in Rowling’s case it gets merged into a Budha-Sukra Yoga. The Sasi-Mangala Yoga in the 9th ensured that all her writings got published and later on became bestsellers. The presence of the lord of 2 in own house (simultaneously assuming the role of Lagna lord) made J.K Rowling a worldwide celebrity in fiction writing. She is best known as the creator of the fictional character Harry Potter, which so far has sold more than 500 million copies worldwide. Her life story is one of “Rags to Riches†where she progressed as one living on state benefits to a “billionaire authorâ€.
It is just a matter of coincidence, that the charts of the three eminent personalities taken up for discussion, all have their Ascendant as Capricorn. The second coincidence is that all of them are from the same country viz., England. But even more overwhelming are the similarities in their birth chart with the planet Mercury and the mercurial signs Gemini and Virgo playing a pivotal role in their success.
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https://bearskin.org/2015/08/10/j-k-rowling-is-the-worlds-most-influential-person/
https://ebooks.adelaide.edu.au/j/johnson/samuel/
https://timpanogos.wordpress.com/2008/07/30/typewriter-of-the-moment-ian-fleming-the-man-with-the-golden-typewriter/