Share this
Mister Wong
Digg
Del.icio.us
Slashdot
Furl
Yahoo
Technorati
Newsvine
Googlize this
Blinklist
Facebook
Wikio
Export PDF
Print
E-mail
Tags
We look at the life of Josephine, empress, Cancer and true love of Napoleon Bonaparte.
Their love was separated only by her inability to have children. Can astrology help solve the riddle of why this mother of two could not provide an heir to Napoleon's empire? Spotlight: Cancer
Josephine, wife of Napoleon, Empress of France
Born: June 23, 1763
Were there any factors in Josephine's chart that could unlock the mystery of her infertility and doomed love for Napoleon? Could astrology offer the proof that her problems were a result of the conditions she suffered in prison and an early menopause?
Josephine was born Marie Josephe Rose Tascher de la Pagerie, in the Caribbean isle of Martinique. She was known as Rose until Napoleon chose to call her, for unknown reasons, Josephine. Josephine's young life was a hard one, her plantation-owner father was hounded by debts. Josephine's older sister had been promised in marriage to a French army officer, Alexandre, Vicomte de Beauhernais. When her sister died young, the family sent Josephine in her place.
This marriage saw the birth of two children. It was an unhappy marriage; Alexandre was a notorious ladie’s man. Alexandre and his lover later conspired to accuse Josephine of infidelity and had her confined to a convent. In a time when few women had any rights, Josephine took her husband to court and won; he had to admit his accusations were wrong. During the Reign of Terror, Alexandre and Josephine were imprisoned. Alexandre was guillotined, but Josephine was released 3 months later. The prison conditions were horrible, and it is believed that the stress and infections undergone during this time caused her to enter early menopause.
Broke and destitute, Josephine found refuge with her influential friends. Through these, Josephine was introduced to Napoleon. They were soon married, and in 1804, crowned Emperor and Empress of France. Josephine bought the charming Malmaison, outside Paris, as their home and haven.
While Napoleon madly loved Josephine from the beginning, Josephine did not return the sentiment. However, over time, she grew to love him with her whole heart. Her dying words were of Napoleon, and his of her.
Sadly their marriage ended in divorce, not due to lack of love, but due to being unable to produce an heir for Napoleon. Josephine stayed living in her beloved Malmaison until her death in 1814, and Napoleon chose to live here after Waterloo.
Let's now look at her charts...
Can Josephine's natal chart point to any conception problems that would result in a failed marriage? Unfortunately, we do not have Josephine's exact time of birth. Therefore lets look at house rulers. The 5th house represents children and fertility among other things. The ruler of the 5th house is the Sun. If we look at the Sun in Josephine's chart it is conjunct Mars and in close opposition to Pluto, which points to the fact that sudden transformations could occur later in life that would be able to change her whole sense of destiny, often as the outcome of violence, such as Josephine's imprisonment during the violent Reign of Terror.
Lets also look to the 8th house, the house of second marriages, which is ruled by both Mars and Pluto, again leading us to this Sun conjunct Mars opposite Pluto configuration. Her inability to have children did, in the long run, change her destiny by forcing her separation from her true love, Napoleon.
Other interesting factors are her Natal Venus, the planet of love, in Taurus conjunct Jupiter, forming a grand cross with the Moon, Chiron and Neptune. Although great luck and sudden betterment of her financial station in life was made through romantic liaisons, long-term emotional satisfaction did prove to be difficult to come by in love partnerships.
But what was the trigger of her infertility? Could it have been an early menopause caused through infection during her imprisonment? Now let's look at the transits of Josephine's arrest, and how they can serve as triggers to critical points to her birth chart.
Early Menopause?
At the time of her arrest, Josephine had just passed her first Saturn return. Losing Alexandre to the guillotine, having two young children to feed, being confined to prison: Josephine was indeed being forced to take the responsibility of her life into her own hands. The Sun in the first degree of Taurus is conjunct Josephine's natal Ceres-Saturn conjunction. Moreover, Ceres is an asteroid that regards matters of fetility and motherhood, and the Sun passing over this critical point of her birth chart serves as a trigger to Saturn, causing problems and illness in regards to fertility.
The Sun in the first house at the time of Josephine's arrest, forms a grand cross with Mars/Neptune, Ceres/Pallas and Chiron. Chiron in the 5th house of childbearing opposite Ceres, and square Natal Ceres, can indeed serve as the trigger for the onset of a gynecological infection which, when not properly treated, led to her early menopause and inability to bear children. Chiron is often referred to as representing the "wound that will not heal" in a horoscope. Moreover, Ceres conjunct Pallas, which can represent the government, points to the government having some kind of affect on fertility, in this case by arresting her.
We also see that transiting Pluto, the ruler of the 8th house of second marriages, is conjunct natal Chiron and opposite the North Node. The North Node represents one's Karma and destiny in this life. If indeed, Josephine did have any untreated gynecological infections this would affect the destiny of her life and her second marriage.
While we can never know for sure if the theory is true that infections suffered during her imprisonment led to her inability to have children, several astrological indicators do back up this hypothesis.
This author gives no new-age mumbo jumbo...just reliable astrology readings. Learn more at www.astrologydetective.com
TrackBack URI for this entry
Show/Hide comments
Show/Hide comment form
Click here for 
