The simmering sense of unease in the world at large at the moment can partly be ascribed to the neurotic combination of Saturn Neptune criss-crossing over the Fixed star Scheat, known for misfortune and bad judgement; but also to Uranus sitting on the midpoint of Neptune and Pluto which tends to bring hyper-sensitive nerves and sometimes supernatural experiences.
It is timely therefore that a supernatural classic in Frankenstein has hit the cinemas and soon Netflix. Probably one of the best known works of English literature, it was written by young Mary Shelley as she travelled through Germany with her lover Percy Shelley and Lord Byron stopping near Frankenstein Castle, where a century earlier, an alchemist had conducted experiments. When she was 19, the travelling party had a competition to see who would write the best horror story. Neptune in Sagittarius was then square Pluto in Pisces infusing the atmosphere with magical, paranormal vibes. Tr Uranus in Sagittarius was rapidly catching up to produce much the same atmosphere as now.
Frankenstein is a large and grotesque humanoid creature, produced by an alchemist from human spare parts, who terrorises his inventor and escapes. He is associated with Prometheus, the mythological god, who brought the secret of fire to mankind and facilitated civilization and knowledge of science. Though Frankenstein in the novel leaves a trail of havoc behind him.
Mary Shelley’s novel published in 1818 when she was 20 was ‘infused with elements of the Gothic novel and the Romantic movement and had a considerable influence on literature and on popular culture, spawning a complete genre of horror stories, films, and plays.’
She was born 30 August 1797 11.20pm London with an anarchist philosopher father, and her mother dying at her birth. Her 4th house Virgo Sun sat midway between an adventurous and explosive Mars and Uranus, with Mercury also in writerly Virgo. Her Mars and Sun were also opposition Pluto on her Midheaven – so she would be attracted to dark, dangerous topics. Her Venus in Libra was square her Neptune/Pluto midpoint giving her a love of the supernatural.
When Frankenstein was published on 1 January 1818, anonymously at the start , Uranus Neptune Venus and Jupiter in Sagittarius were square Pluto giving it wings. At that point tr Pluto was moving through her 10th house giving her influence and Neptune through her 6th house of work. Tr Jupiter through her 5th would boost her confidence.
Guillermo del Toro, a Mexican filmmaker and writer/producer, with a love for fairy tales, gothicism and horror, known for pioneering dark fantasy in films, and auteur of this version, says he wanted a version of Frankenstein in which the creature had “a Miltonian quality, like Satan in Paradise Lost, of having the nerve to question his creator.”
Born 9 October 1964, Mexico, he is a Sun Libra but with three Virgo planets to match Mary Shelley’s and probably a Sagittarius Moon like her. His Sun tellingly sits midway between Neptune and Pluto on the midpoint which would attract him to the supernatural. His Saturn in Aquarius is also conjunct Mary Shelley’s Pluto Midheaven – so he could be the one to add gravitas to a creation which has been debased in popular culture.
Reading through Mary Shelley’s wiki entry, she has three children die early by the time she was twenty with only one surviving to adulthood out of five pregnancies. Percy Shelley died in a violent lake storm when she was 23, a month after she had a severe miscarriage. She died of a brain tumour aged 53.
Those were not days for the fainthearted and it would also reflect her afflicted Mars Pluto Uranus.
ADD ON: Percy Shelley, 4 August 1792 10 pm Horsham, England, was one of the major English Romantic poets, who did not become famous in his lifetime but recognition of his achievements in poetry grew steadily following his death, partly due to the devoted work of his widow Mary – which given the way he treated her shows remarkable loyalty on her part. He was an important influence on later poets, like Robert Browning, Algernon Charles Swinburne, Thomas Hardy, and W. B. Yeats.
He was bullied at boarding school and responded with violent rage, suffering from the nightmares, hallucinations and sleep walking that affected him throughout his life. He developed an interest in science and the occult, terrifying his sisters with his experiments with gunpowder, acids and electricity. His peculiarities earned him the nickname “Mad Shelley”. He developed radical and anti-Christian views, which were dangerous in the reactionary political climate prevailing.
At 19 he married a 16 year old and in the following 11 years before his death he had multiple affairs, a second marriage to Mary, produced seven children only one of whom survived to adulthood, and was constantly arguing with his father about his debts.
He had the revolutionary Uranus opposition Pluto in Aquarius of the time with wayward Uranus in his 5th house conjunct Sun and Venus so would be a player where his romantic life was concerned. He also had his North Node as well as a Mars, Jupiter, Neptune conjunction in Libra in his 7th house of one-to-one relationships which would make him enthusiastic about finding partners but uncommitted Neptune meant none lasted. His sensitive Pisces Moon on the cusp of his 12th was inconjunct his Uranus – so emotionally on edge and hyper-reactive.
His 9th harmonic was his strongest which can be humanitarian, fitting in with his ‘enlightenment’ ideals, but can also be overly inclined towards pleasure.
Percy’s 7th house ‘partnership’ Mars Jupiter Neptune fell in Mary’s romantic 5th house where her head-in-the-clouds Neptune sat; and his charming, enthusiastic Sun Venus Uranus sat in her communicative 3rd so she would respond well to his views and writing.
But their relationship chart hinted at a union that would never be stable with a turbulent, needs-space and controlling composite Sun Uranus opposition Pluto. It would be a push-and-pull scenario. Plus a chilly Venus square Saturn – and a stressed, dominating Mars inconjunct Pluto.
His Saturn in Taurus opposed her Sun/Moon midpoint. And her Pluto Midheaven squared his Sun/Moon midpoint.
When he died in 1822 tr Saturn was opposition her romantic 5th house Neptune; and the tr Uranus Neptune conjunction in Capricorn was on her Descendant moving into her 7th house of close relationships. She spent the rest of her life raising her son and promoting Percy Shelley’s writings.
What an unhappy tangle. At one point Shelley wrote to friends that Mary was depressed, suicidal and hostile towards him. Hardly surprising. And so Frankenstein walked the face of the earth.
Thank you Marjorie. I’m really looking forward to this as a keen Del Toro fan. His style is very much romantic/gothic, as was the literary and artistic era from which ‘Frankenstein – A Modern Prometheus’ came into being. And somehow so fitting for an era where we are creating our own animated machine-beings with the potential for good or ill and the anxiety that exists around AI in general.
“I ought to be thy Adam, but I am rather the fallen angel” as said by the creature perhaps reflects our anxiety around the potential destructive power of our creations and technological advancement where we dare to imitate God the creator.
It’s a kind of synchronicity that the first ever science fiction novel, inspired partly by the new science of Galvanism was conceived in Geneva, Switzerland where on 21st October 2008, CERN’s Large Hadron Collider – the world’s largest and highest-energy particle accelerator – was opened. Then on 4th July 2012, the so-called ‘God particle’, the Higgs Boson discovery was announced. The Higgs Boson announcement has the 8 degree Uranus/Pluto in Aries/Capricorn square of that period, tied into a T Square on Uranus with the Sun at 12 Cancer as well as a tight Yod on Pluto in Capricorn, (which coincidentally conjuncts the Frankenstein publication date Sun) quincunx Mercury at 8 Leo sextile Venus at 8 Gemini.
One correction: Percy Shelley drowned in Italy, while sailing from Livorno to Lerici where he stayed for long periods in the early 1820’s. His body washed ashore in Viareggio, roughly half way between the towns. Italians truly love the memory of English romantic era poets, and the La Spezia bay which many of the grand villas faced is now commonly known as “Golfo dei Poeti”. I spent a couple of weeks in the area at a youth camp in 1994. While most teenage campers got bored visiting the villas a poet or another had stayed at, my NN/Venus/Uranus in the 3rd house Scorpio truly couldn’t get enough of the atmosphere. There had been a true insurgence of everything “Gothic” in pop culture due to, I suppose, Pluto in Scorpio, and I was reading the lush vampire novels by Anne Rice (BTW, an interesting figure astrologically given the recent critically acclaimed posthumous series adaptions of her books) at the time. I have returned a couple of times since, including during my now husband’s first trip to Italy and our honeymoon. Interestingly, he likes it better than more moneyed area close to Portofino.
Poor Mary didn’t have the best time in Italy, though. Percy was philandering around. She had an almost fatal miscarriage just weeks before Percy went his way to Livorno to meet Byron and Leigh Hunt. He apparently was infatuated by the wife of Edward Williams who accompanied him to Livorno, Jane. I have always thought that the story of two widows would be one to tell. Jane was born January 21st, 1798, and lived to 86.
Loved reading your post
The competition to write a horror story came about in part because they were forced inside during the famous “year without a summer” caused by the eruption of Tambora in Indonesia. The gloom of their holiday on the shores of Lake Geneva that year probably contributed to the gothic atmosphere of Frankenstein.