William Chaney - Horoscope

Born January 13, 1821 near Chesterville, Maine (71W 52' | 42N 14'), 11.30 p.m. Capricorn - Ascendancy Libra - Moon in Gemini

"Although his mother said it was after midnight", the monograph claims that the information was gathered from various autobiographical accounts including Chaney's "Primer of Astrology and Urania"
(Tarnel Abbott 17.11.1999).

The astrologer didn´t know anything about the owner of the horoscope.

With Saturn in Capricorn and the Sun in the 4th house, even though she´s in conjunction with Mars, I´d say that he was a rather inhibited and introverted person. But it would be compensated by the Moon in Gemini, which would result in a desire to communicate.
This is increased by the strong occupation of the 3rd house. The Libra-ascendancy indicates a personality tending to reconcilitation. The strong occupation of the 6th house is a hint that the owner wanted to go into a profession that challenged him. The projecting of topics into his surroundings might have been important. Maybe in science, in reporting. I see for example a journalist or someone who´s writing in some way (3rd house, Moon in Gemini).

I could very well imagine that he dealt with his experiences by writing them down, but the spirit of the age might have had a certain role in this. He could have tried something new, in spite of the conservativeness in his nature. He´s a mixture of a conservative personality, integrated strongly in the middle class values. But at the same time there´s [compared to the horoscope of JL; but he doesn´t know that he´s JL´s father] the revolutionary who tries to set off, who recognizes that old ways of thinking are very limiting. It is possible that he participated in the forming of the age of the middle class but could also have been concerned with the victims of this new social development.
I see a strong collective time horizon. The most important task is overcoming the inner barriers with the Mercury/Saturn quadrant: You are writing something very fundamental which is also part of you, else you would be on the brink of a mental handicap.
Aspects of Mercury/Saturn could be an indication of a mental handicap, because of a blockage (Saturn) of the Mercury-principle (intellect). But when this is not the case, Saturn could be great for his memory and via his quadrant-aspect, for "producing lines". He could have been a writer who wrote lots and lots, virtually dozens of books. All this depends on the complete personality. He´s quite a dynamic person: the horoscope is formed by two "learning triangles". Watching and learning, absorbing information and processing it. That´s one of the most important topics.

JLG: The owner of the horoscope really was a writer. He was known for being able to write hour after hour, up to 16 hours a day. He was also a representative of the positive case of a Mercury/Saturn quadrant.

Yes.

JLG: He also edited a magazine.

That fits in with the conjunction of Mercury, Neptune and Uranus in the 3rd house.

JLG: And what is the main topic that you see?

If he became someome out of the ordinary, then because his concept of middle class life failed. His predisposition is absolutely traditional, conservative. With the Mars/Sun conjunction in Capricorn in the 4th house he´d act the lord and master, who maybe continued the business from his father, found a nice middle class women and trudged to work every day. That´s his destiny in his horoscrope.

[Comment by Stefan Etzel: I see something different here: the Mars-conjunction with sextile to Jupiter/Pluto rather makes him someone who would have managed his father´s business with energy and skill, turning it into a prosperous company.]

The position of Pluto in the 4th house and the position of Uranus/Neptun in the 3rd house implies that he might have been more curious that was good for him. He stuck his nose into issues that broadened his horizon, which made it difficult for him to remain in his confined middle class surroundings. And Pluto with Jupiter in the 6th house [in that he´s similar to Jack London] indicates his fascination with everything out there, with life.

JLG: But in Jack London´s case, Pluto was in opposition to Jupiter.

Yes, but they were on the same axis! That´s the similarity. In both cases the topic is the intense, fateful contemplation of existential questions. I could even see him in Existentialism, as a precursor to the Existentialists. With the Moon in Gemini comes the pleasure in communicating and the desire to be popular. Isn´t that the typical indication of somebody who uses the telephone all the time? Yes, if there´d been telephones in his age, it would have been hard to get him away from it, especially since he also has Mercury/Neptune and Moon/Neptune-aspects pointing in the same direction. One could call him a "communicator", the medium is not important. Libra-Ascendancy is in my opinion more the search for harmony and balance. Usually, the owner of the horoscope is a coward, except when other factors counterbalance this. Here I´d say it was Venus in Sagittarius...

I think he was someone who loved to be seduced. Also very interesting is that you can see two aspect figures here, namely Venus-Sun/Mars-Jupiter/Pluto: the vitality and erotic structure makes him a man with a strong sexual drive, always living in an erotic tension. But sometimes also not interested when it became too much. [could refer to Flora Wellman!] Generally, he gets the girls he wants on the first attempt. There will always have been dramas with women, sincle he probably tended to experience relationships in a very intense way. He gets a kick out of intensity, and usually you have the highest intensity in a fight. Something like ´When you threaten each other with a knife, that means it´s just right´.
But he is also the lord and master in his house, someone who wants to be great, splendid, a man-about-town. With a tendency to spend more money than he had.

JLG: That´s also an aspect of Pluto/Jupiter which is also evident in Jack London. But in his horoscope it´s an opposition.

Yes, but the main thing is that there´s some kind of relation between the two planets. Something completely separate from this is the aspect of Saturn-Mercury-Uranus and Moon. This implies that there´s a part of his personality that always observes, very detached, and in a way writes it down chronologically and reports it. Maybe this characterizes his life, that he swings to and fro - at one moment savouring his life, enjoying, initiating action and drama, full of vitality. At another time, he´s the pale writer, who kind of wakes up stone cold sober when the vital part of his personality has exhausted its energy, who jots down what happened to find out more about himself, but also as a witness of his generation. What do you think the calling of this person was? By disposition and heredity, I´d say merchant. A store in a small or medium-sized town. That would be the place where he started, maybe the surroundings he grew up in.

But as a vital person who tends to maneuvre himself into extreme situations - existentially, but also in relationships, since he has the Moon in the 6th house - he could be a kind of war reporter, similar to Jack London. The question is, what kind of war? Maybe real ones, but with Pisces - in London´s case Scorpio was the Sign, meaning real soldiers - it´s more probable that they were social and psychological wars. Maybe poverty. After all, it was the begin of industrialization. It´s not very far from from there to socialism.

JLG: Okay, now we can give you some information: He really was a writer and active in the life reform movement, which was traditionally very strong in the USA. And he was one of America´s most important astrologers !

Oh, well.

JLG: And he was the father of Jack London. (laughing).

Then, of course, one see the hereditary aspects. You know, you can also do a genealogy; usually the connections between planets - but often in different aspects - are passed on to the offspring. But I wouldn´t have guessed that he was an astrologer.

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This reading of a horoscope was done free of charge by the astrologer Hans-Peter Sauerwein, who offers a wide variety of astrological services.