INDICATORS OF WRITING ABILITY IN THE HOROSCOPE

by

JOHN HAYES

Are desire and talent enough to turn a wannabe wordsmith into a wealthy one? Donna Cunningham makes the distinction between the chart as potential and life as reality. She gives an example of a person with a Gemini emphasis, a strong Mercury, or a strong Third House, but little Saturn or Pluto, who wants to be a writer; while the individual will undoubtedly have a gift for words they may lack saturnine discipline to stay still long enough to complete anything significant. Without a strong Saturn, the writer would be eager for immediate gratification, whereas the rewards of writing can be long in coming. And then there is Pluto. When emphasised, Pluto indicates the ability to spend time alone, needed for writing anything lengthy. Stephen King, Virgo Sun sign with Cancer rising, has both Saturn and Pluto his First House.

Elements and Angularity are Important

An emphasis in air indicates the importance of intellect and ideas, water gives imagination and fantasy, while a lack of earth may indicate the inability to bring forth anything tangible.

While a strong Moon or Cancer can give a person the ability to appeal to large groups of people, it isn’t surprising that Michel Gauquelin should find a Twelfth House Moon statistically significant in the charts of eminent writers. He also found Jupiter angular in the charts of eminent journalists and playwrights.

Charles Carter, writing in the 1920's, associated literary ability with a strong Mercury and Gemini influence. He found that in imaginative literature the creative power is often shown by planets in Cancer or a prominent Moon. Carter associates poetic ability with a strong Venus influence in addition to Mercury. He also has observed a strong connection between the Third and Tenth Houses in the horoscopes of authors.

The gift of humour is a highly esteemed quality amongst writers. Broadly speaking, the Moon, Neptune and their signs can be very whimsical while Venus and Jupiter can be very amusing; satire is associated with Sagittarius and wit with Virgo.

Take the Whole Chart into Account

The French poet Baudelaire had Mercury in Pisces trine the Moon in Cancer. However, his Mercury was also conjunct Pluto and Mars and square a Uranus-Neptune conjunction. He also had Sun-Saturn and Venus-Jupiter conjunct in Aries in the Eighth House of sex, death and other people's money. As Seymour-Smith points out, Baudelaire's writing was transmitted in chaotic, uneven, but often very powerful and imaginative poetry. He inherited his father's fortune at the age of twenty-one, and lived extravagantly until what was left of the capital was placed in trust by his family two years later, forcing him to earn a living as a writer and critic. His only volume of poetry, Les Fleurs du Mal (The Flowers of Evil) contained several erotic poems that led to his being convicted for obscenity. He died as a result of venereal disease.

Mercury Prominent in the Charts of Writers

Mercury can give a quick, inquiring mind and ready expression with tongue and pen. Mercury is not imaginative, which is more Neptunian and Lunar. Unless it is unusually subdued, which it sometimes is with Saturn, Mercury is volatile, restless and even merry. Mercury has no emotion and while it can be very shrewd, it is not of itself profound. As Robert Hand suggests, Mercury can never be found in pure form; it is always coloured by sign, house etc. Mercury in Libra in the 5^th would be very romantic whereas Mercury in Scorpio in the 5^th would be highly erotic. Sue Tompkins points out that hard aspects to a person's Mercury indicates that their opinions are likely to get tested and challenged, or that they expect them to, whereas soft aspects imply the reverse. Soft aspects indicate ease in expression and thereby skill in writing. Individuals are less likely to feel threatened if disagreed with and so can often express themselves more easily. As always, the soft aspects, especially the trine, can give rise to complacency, whereas the hard aspects offer the potential for growth.

As with other combinations, but especially those involving the outer planets, chart factors indicate potential that may lie dormant until a growing desire for greater self-expression, or a major transit, sets it off. J.K. Rowling has spoken about how she knew she wanted to be a writer from when she started at the age of six. Around that time Mercury conjoined her Venus by Solar Arc Direction.

Mercury Retrograde

Mercury retrograde is often associated with a mind turned inwards with a greater propensity for reflection and subjectivity. It also represents, symbolically, a turning away from, or a returning to. Since by progression Mercury can, and often does change direction in the writer's life, it should mark a significant date in terms of a change of style or a desire to pick up one's pen, or keyboard, in the first place.

Sun-Mercury

This combination indicates the ability to express thoughts and ideas easily. Words and ideas are conveyed with authority and decisiveness although it may be difficult for people to view their words and ideas impartially.

Moon-Mercury

With thinking often tied to the past, the Moon and Mercury can be quite a sentimental combination with a talent for writing about the home, family and domestic matters. There might also be an ability to write the popular trivialities and titbits that litter most mass-market magazines. This is a good combination for writers since, at its best, it indicates the ability to convey ideas simply, and express the writer's innermost feelings, linking the unconscious mind and the conscious reasoning mind.

Mercury-Venus

Since Venus bestows artistic tastes, Mercury-Venus can make a very idealistic combination giving a strong sense of beauty and desire to express one's emotions. Grace of expression in speech and writing produces literary talent, poetic and song writing ability. Money can be made through writing, especially concerning matters of love and romance rather than the harsher facts of life.

Mercury-Mars

When Mars and Mercury combine mental processes are apt to give a sharp, incisive tongue and pen. This is a good aspect for reporters and investigators, of whom action for gaining information is required. Critical essays or reviews are favoured and working as a sports or war correspondent may appeal. Since the writer is mentally aggressive, this can indicate an interest in politics and speechmaking. Hard aspects could indicate a tendency towards harsh words, coarseness and profanity, stirring up controversial issues and getting the writer in hot water.

Elizabeth Barrett Browning, like Baudelaire, had Virgo rising and Mercury in Pisces along with huge stellium incorporating close triple conjunctions of Mercury, Mars and Pluto. However, hers was in the Sixth House of health. Elizabeth, a reclusive poet, was a bedridden invalid prior to running off with poet Robert Browning. In later years she became involved in spiritualism, Italian politics and the abolition of slavery.

Mercury-Jupiter

When Mercury contacts Jupiter, one would expect the individual never to be short of an opinion (or of an opinion that is short). The Jupiter-Mercury combination broadens the mind, and can bestow intellectual integrity and an interest in philosophy, religion, law and higher education and skill in influencing others through their words.

Such a combination suggests an element of luck and good judgment in getting respect, recognition and one’s words into print. With the expansive influence of Jupiter at work, we might expect this to be the aspect of the seasoned hack or potboiler with a strong moral overtone. As Mencken has pointed out, nobody ever went broke underestimating the taste of the general public.

Hard aspects are not necessarily bad, though the person may have trouble coping with detail and deadlines.

Mercury-Saturn

Since Saturn bestows depth, constructive thinking and the ability to focus on a single task for long periods. As one might expect with Mercury-Saturn combinations, individuals may feel inhibited in expressing themselves, especially until the time of the Saturn return when finding one's voice may be the major issue. While not as fluent or as expressive as the Mercury-Jupiter combination, Mercury-Saturn is more painstaking with a mathematical and scientific bent. Writing books and articles offering practical advice, such as money management, would come to the fore and add a healthy dose of the Moon, Venus or Neptune and we could have the makings of an agony aunt.

Melancholy would be expected with such a combination, as would a certain cynicism. The saturnine cynic can be both wise and witty, and the traditional sadness of the clown saturnine.

 The Belgium novelist Georges Simenon, famous as the inventor of Inspector Maigret, had the conjunction. Although he set out to write popular novels, he found himself admired as a serious novelist by the majority of academic critics, one of whom has called him superior to Balzac. He was prolific; something one wouldn't necessarily associate with Mercury-Saturn, (but apt for his Sun-Jupiter conjunction). He wrote each of his novels—which are really long short stories—in a very short time, more or less locking himself up to do it. He gave up writing because of dizziness and bad nerves.

Mercury-Uranus

The Mercury-Uranus combination can confer intuition, originality and a good intellect, but also self-will. Uranus turns the mind to original things and has similar effects to that of Mars. When Mercury contacts Uranus we can expect the unexpected and bizarre humour may be part of the writing style. The person may write on subjects such as science fact, science fiction, occultism or astrology. This aspect bestows inventiveness, but may also indicate an erratic and unpredictable nature, qualities in short demand come deadline day.

Mercury-Neptune

Mercury-Neptune can confer vivid imagination, a gift for fantasy and an awareness of a person's unconscious. Since this combination can indicate clairvoyance and the ability to act as a channel for ideas emanating from the great beyond, automatic or prophetic writing are possible. While Neptune is more often associated with music and song writing, such a lively imagination can give poetic and literary talent. Along with Venus, poetry seems peculiarly Neptunian.

Stephen King, who has the conjunction, has been criticized for being long-winded and writing muddled syntax. Writing for film or espionage and mystery novels should appeal. Subjects such as mysticism, psychic phenomena, psychology and spirituality are appropriate or even scandal, gossip and salacious exposes of the gutter press. The Mercury-Neptune combination may tempt a person to copy the ideas of others, appropriating them as their own. With the soft aspects the individual may get away with calling it research, with the hard aspects they may find themselves in an embarrassing and costly situation.

Mercury-Pluto

The combination of Mercury and Pluto can give a penetrating and resourceful mind, with the ability to see through others and to ferret out secrets. Here truth is more important than comfort. Since mental work is associated with secret or hidden information, the individual may be drawn to investigative reporting, spy and detective stories. There is an interest in the occult and in power in all its manifestations. Writing could focus on sex, death, money, power, rebirth, and, of course, the underworld. This combination could indicate the critic, or the specialist writer. Ebertin gives the art of persuasion and suggestion to the realm of Mercury-Pluto, useful talents for politics, propaganda or advertising copywriting.

Speculative though my findings are in my research, I was surprised by the frequency of Mercury’s placement in Pisces, traditionally its fall. Nevertheless, it would appear that the extreme sensitivity and imagination of Mercury in Pisces can manifest poetic and artistic ability. I also found a preponderance of Virgo in the charts of authors. Virgo is traditionally the sign of the craftsperson but also, as Carter tells us, the critic. While Virgo can be very witty, we would not tend to associate Virgo with imagination or originality, whereas it often appears to make up the 99% perspiration that helps give form to the inspiration found elsewhere in the chart. J.K. Rowling, whose best-selling books are littered with astrological references may be a Leo, the sign traditionally associated with children, but she also has the Moon, Mercury, Venus, Uranus and Pluto in Virgo.

Summer 2005