Robert Todd Lincoln is a fascinating study in the fate versus freewill debate. Is a life pattern laid down at birth which attracts certain experiences, wished for or not?
Lincoln was the eldest son of President Abraham Lincoln, a business lawyer and company president, who served as US Secretary of War and the U.S. ambassador to GB. He was present or nearby when the assassination of three presidents occurred – his father, James Garfield and William McKinley.
He was born 1 August 1843 in Springfield, Illinois, no birth time and had a Leo Sun, with a Libra Moon almost certainly tied into a Cardinal Grand Cross opposition Pluto square Venus opposition Saturn. A Cardinal Grand Cross would give him a restless temperament, an over-abundance of initiative and a tendency to live a life of rolling crisis. With Saturn Pluto involved he would have grit and perseverance though also a tendency to experience the harsher side of life – and gave him an aptitude for a job such as Secretary for War.
But even given all that, three Presidential assassinations does seem a coincidence too far.
Looking deeper into his chart it becomes clearer. His Mars in Sagittarius and Saturn in Capricorn appear to have little connection. But their midpoint at zero degrees Capricorn is conjunct his North Node which ties him into the zeitgeist and both square his Uranus. Mars Saturn was the traditional astrological signature for assassination. The North Node tied him into the spirit of the age. And Uranus added an explosive and doubly violent overtone. His Uranus was also semi-square his destructive Mars/Pluto midpoint which would also make being a bystander at murders more likely.
On all three occasions his North Node either natal or by Solar Arc Directions was highlighted; as was his Cardinal Grand Cross with the natal or SA Pluto or Saturn being rattled.
Mars Saturn does have a connection with death in general, having military associations. In my own life it has been present by transit when significant family members died – not by violent means, in one case by old age.
ADD ON: Two others who were bystanders at several calamities – at sea – were stewardess Violet Jessop, 2 October 1887 who survived the Titanic and two other sea disasters; and ‘the unsinkable stoker’ Arthur Priest, 31 August 1887, who survived four including the Titanic.
Arthur Priest was a Sun Virgo with his Jupiter in Scorpio square a Mars Saturn conjunction in Leo. His Mars Saturn was emphasized being on the focal point of a mini-Grand Trine of Venus (Uranus) in Libra trine Pluto Neptune in Gemini. He’d certainly be tough and arguably his Jupiter square Mars/Saturn would bring luck to dangerous/life-threatening situations. At the Titanic sinking 14 April 1012, his Solar Arc Venus Uranus, the leading planets in the mini Grand Trine were conjunct his Jupiter; and tr Pluto was inconjunct his SA Jupiter.
Violet Jessop also had Jupiter in Scorpio which may have been on the focal point of a yod inconjunct Pluto sextile an Aries Moon. At the 20 September 1911 collision of HMS Hawke tr Jupiter was square her Mars/Saturn midpoint. At the Titanic sinking her Solar Arc Uranus was within a degree of being conjunct her Jupiter and tr Uranus was exactly square her SA Sun. At the 21 November 1916 HMS Britannic sinking her SA Sun was conjunct her Jupiter.
Not quite as clearcut as Lincoln but pointing to the blessings of a strong Jupiter. A chart axis from a birth time might also be significant.
Thanks Marjorie – Violet and Arthur’s astrology is fascinating. Also interesting to see Jupiter working as a protective or luck bringing influence. And perhaps boosting innate optimism – they both kept on going back to work on board ships. I can understand Arthur doing that more than Violet, who seems to have been a resourceful person (Sun sextile Saturn?) who might have found employment elsewhere.
Thank you, Jane & Marjorie
Jane, initially, I read your comment of “innate optimism” as ‘buoyant optimism’!
Beth – thanks, I’m laughing. You must be telepathic! I was so tempted to write ‘buoyant’, but battled my natural tendency to make truly terrible jokes and puns……
“Trump has Pluto conjunct his Mars/Saturn midpoint which Ebertin describes as destructive and the death of many. His life does not seem to have been unduly littered with coffins so the destructive side comes out in other ways.” This peer reviewed medical journal article estimates that 132,630 people died of Covid unnecessarily in the U.S. due to Trump’s early Trump’s anti-mask pronouncements alone.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7525014/. Other estimates are much higher.
In Hinduism Saturn is called God of Death Yama and Mars is Mangal which God of War..such people like Robert r labelled as cursed n society ostracises them…v need to also c that such labels make the human as if he brings death which isn’t true cz not everyone he meets dies n that needs to b highlighted..those who died were anyhow going to die so as my granny scorned a astrologer n indian astrologers know this,”u should know what not to reveal. Ever..cz using such examples people whom family wants to ostracise n throw out r targetted..rumours r spread which r not true n lives get destroyed
Thanks for posting. He’s got an interesting chart. Aside from the Grand Cross he also has a fire Grand Trine with Sun/Mercury in Leo trine Uranus in Aries trine Mars in Sag. He was the only one of Abraham Lincoln’s 4 children to survive into adulthood.
After reading this I had a look at my own chart and discovered that my Mars/Saturn midpoint is tightly conjunct my North Node. However I don’t seem to have any out of the ordinary connection with death.
All planetary placings and aspects have a spectrum of meaning and your Mars Saturn connection to the North Node will work out somehow in your life. In Lincoln’s case the Uranus square may have been a significant additional factor.
In posts below Terry Waite, the Anglican envoy to the Middle East has a hair raising Mars Saturn in his chart and he opted for danger zones as did Terry Anderson.
Trump has Pluto conjunct his Mars/Saturn midpoint which Ebertin describes as destructive and the death of many. His life does not seem to have been unduly littered with coffins so the destructive side comes out in other ways.
Yousaf who has just resigned as Scottish First Minister has tr Uranus square his Mars/Saturn at the moment – as he self-destructed.
Trump did cause “the death of many” through his criminally anti-scientific mishandling of the Covid 19 pandemic in the US. So many unnecessary deaths, mostly from his Base, who slavishly followed him and paid with their lives.
Trump is certainly destructive and there may be more bodies than we know about.
Yes, the story about Edwin Booth saving his life is an even greater coincidence. That happened during the Civil War, before the assassination. Booth was the most famous actor in America and instantly recognized. He was a staunch Unionist while his brother …
Thanks Marjorie – a coincidence too far as you say. Got me thinking about Jung’s work on synchronicity, and other attempts to research coincidences. I came across Violet Jessop, 2 October 1887:
“A nurse named Violet Jessop was a stewardess for White Star Line and lived through three crashes of its ill-fated fleet of ocean liners. She was on the Olympic when it collided with the HMS Hawke in 1911. In 1912, she was there for the big one: the Titanic. And four years later, when White Star’s Britannic, reportedly improved after its sister ship’s disaster, also sank, Jessop was there. And she survived.” theatlantic.com, 23 February 2016
Violet Jessop had Sun in Libra conjunct Uranus. She also had a Leo Mars conjunct the NN, with the Nodes sextile Uranus – which is interesting in light of what you write about Robert Todd Lincoln. The Neptune conjunct Pluto of her era seems quite descriptive of someone involved in three dramatic tragedies at sea. I was curious about why, when she’d survived two major accidents on board ship, including the Titanic, she returned for a third job!
I also remembered the story of Mason Wells, a young Mormon missionary, who was present at terrorist attacks in Paris, Boston USA, and Brussels, where he was injured in 2016. I didn’t find a date of birth for him.
There are some wild coincidence tales out there, some explicable – yet others really don’t fit into current knowledge or thinking. Research with separated twins is also fascinating, many ‘coincidences’ crop up in the lives of twin siblings raised apart, right down to the name of a partner, pet, or child. A different ascendant degree, but otherwise the same planetary patterns.
Thanks Jane. Fascinating. There is also Arthur Priest, the unsinkable stoker, who was on four sinkings, three with V Jessop . Born 31 August 1887. Will look tomorrow when I have time.
My father wrote the definitive biography of Robert Todd Lincoln. Here’s another coincidence — RTL was at a train station, lost his balance and almost tumbled into the path of an oncoming train. A man reached out, grabbed RTL and saved his life. That man was Edwin Booth, the brother of John Wilkes Booth. True story. Thanks for doing Robert Todd Lincoln’s chart, Marjorie.
Presidents must have dreaded him coming to visit.
‘Whatever you do, don’t invite the jinx to the next inauguration”
I think he himself, recognising the coincidence/patterns, avoided being around any sitting President.
The only time he was voluntarily near a sitting President towards the end of his life was at the inauguration of the Lincoln Memorial.
Thanks, Marjorie! So it was Mars-Saturn after all.
Midpoints are very useful especially without a birth time and can throw up a good deal of enlightening info. Thanks for suggesting it – I had never come across it before.