SYLVIA PLATH (1932 - 1963)
Sylvia Plath was born on October 27, 1932 in
Boston, Massachusetts. She was a brilliant student, poet and author, who
contemplated life and death with passionate intensity,
so typical of an individual with an eighth house Sun in Scorpio. The death of
Sylvia's father at eight years old was a traumatic blow that cast a shadow on
her for the rest of her short life. Her talent in writing became obvious from
an early age and she won several prizes for her poems. She later had a
nervous breakdown at Smith College and attempted suicide, for which she was
given shock treatments. In 1956, Sylvia met and married Ted Hughes
and later had two children. Sylvia's most infamous
book, The Bell Jar (1963), is an autobiographical account of her mental
breakdown. She succeeded in her final suicide attempt only one month after
its publication.
The first thing we note in Sylvia's natal
birthchart is a northwest hemisphere planetary emphasis (directions are
reversed in astrology), suggesting that she would be either be victimized or
swept up by circumstances in her early life development. The Western emphasis
is the signature of an individual who somehow gives herself away and projects
her ego onto others.
Her Moon in Libra and Sun in Scorpio blend suggests
her need to please and be appreciated is fueled by intensity and strong
personal convictions. Libra-Scorpio is cardinal air and fixed water,
fostering a love of debate, shrewd and passionate instincts, an analytical
mind and a sensual intellect. Sylvia's devotion to her ideals will be
expressed through the intellectual and progressive guise of Aquarius (Aquarius
rising on first house of public persona), as well as through the poetic,
dreamy and martyristic lens of Pisces (intercepted in her first house).
Neptune, the co-ruler of her first house, opposes her ascendant, linking the
ethereal dreamer and poet archetype to her identity and relationship dynamics.
Her fierce independence is powerfully suggested and
publicly expressed with her natal Uranus =Sun/Moon and Uranus = ascendant/midheaven.
These midpoint pictures alone are the signature of intense independence in
relationships, uniqueness and sudden new developments. When we add her Aries
Point = Uranus/Neptune (AP suggests accentuated public projection in terms of
the planet, point or midpoint configured with it), we know immediately that
Sylvia's marked independence will be linked publicly to great imagination,
creativity, and spirituality OR instability, amorphous states and loss of ego
focus (or all of the above)!
Looking further, note that Sylvia's Uranus (her
chart ruler) makes a quindecile aspect to her Sun in the eighth house (house
of ego death and rebirth, crises, psychology, joint resources and healing).
This intensely erratic aspect links being driven, obsession and upheaval to
individuation needs, as well as sudden breaks with males during her
lifetime (father, relationships). Perhaps the early
loss of her father fueled her need to express her pain and anger through her
poetry. Certainly, her desire to obtain solace and comfort through her
writing was also poignantly evident. Ricki Reeves, in her book called The
Quindecile, states the following about this aspect..."...may be driven by a
need for constant excitement and stimulation. May be a rebel. May have a
sense of mission in needing to be different. May live on the edge. May take
up a cause and work for humankind in some significant way."
Sylvia's Uranus is also in challenging aspect to
her natal Pluto and Mercury. In addition, it is found in her second house of
self worth, suggesting intensification of the nervous system is linked to
identity and self worth concerns. Uranus square Pluto is a generational
aspect of revolutionary and irrevocable change, often through sudden and
drastic means. Sylvia's natal Pluto rules her ninth house of the higher mind,
education and publishing. It is found in the fifth house of
creative actualization, love affairs and children, and trines her Scorpio
Mercury in the ninth house. Mercury in Scorpio is suggestive of a deep and
penetrating mindset...a mind that will plumb the depths and reach the
heights. This mindset is linked to teaching, publishing and travel (ninth
house). Sylvia needs a public projection of her literary talents (natal Moon
in seventh house).
Sylvia's Libran Moon is peregrine in the seventh
house of the public and partnerships (a peregrine planet makes no traditional
aspects...has no recourse or tie-in...makes a lot of noise to attract
attention). When you combine the Libran need to please and gain appreciation
with the seventh house need to meet public expectations, there is the strong
suggestion of overcompensation in the partnership arena. In addition, a
peregrine moon indicates a powerful maternal influence, as well as unfinished
business from early homelife (Moon) becoming linked to a partner (seventh
house). Significant partnerships may bring a parental dimension into the
relationship dynamic.
It has been documented that Sylvia Plath was
extremely hard on herself and lived in constant fear that others (seventh
house) would find out that she wasn't the perfectly happy person she tried to
project herself as. For example, in the summer of 1953, she desperately
wanted to be accepted to a creative writing course at Harvard. When she
wasn't accepted, she put on a brave front. However, weeks later, very
distraught and suffering from insomnia, Sylvia attempted suicide. This was
just the beginning of her periodic bouts of depression. Even though Sylvia
was a talented and successful writer, those periodic rejection slips would
send her spiraling down into her own private hell. Her thoughts of suicide
are evidenced in her journals...."To annihilate the world by annihilation of
one's self is the deluded height of desperate egoism. The simple way out of
all the brick dead ends we scratch our nails against...I want to kill myself,
to escape from responsibility, to crawl back abjectly into the womb."
A quick study of Sylvia's natal midpoint pictures
is revealing...Pluto =Mercury/Venus... the sense of mission, highly focused
aesthetics, Venus =Moon/Neptune...highly romanticized feelings of love, art
and appreciation...being deceived through the emotions, Neptune
=Saturn/Uranus...break down under emotional pressure, Midheaven
=Jupiter/Neptune...KEEPING UP A GOOD FRONT, Midheaven =Sun/Pluto...striving
for power and control...vocational upset...powerful new perspectives, Midheaven
=Neptune/Node...taking a position off the mainstream of life,
Mars=Jupiter/Saturn...ambitious energies out of discontent...feeling
unrewarded and Mercury=Juptier/Saturn...studying very hard...studying one's
philosophy of life...(midpoint descriptions excerpted from Noel Tyl's book on
Solar Arc progressions). When we add her natal Uranus =Sun/Moon
and Ascendant/Midheaven and Aries point =Uranus/Neptune, we can confidently
assume that this individual will be daring, independent, avant-garde, seeking
validation through her philosophy or art, a philosophy with an unusual,
otherworldly or spiritual intensity. Her need to put up a good front will be
challenged, leading to a breakdown and powerful new perspective.
A deeper look at Sylvia's natal aspects reveals a
sharp, angry, relentless, probing and ingenious mind, seeking expression and
public acceptance through teaching, writing and publishing (ninth house
Mercury square Mars, inconjunct Uranus, and sextile Pluto). The creative,
otherworldly dimension is there (Mercury quintile Neptune), as well as the
critical, wounded mindset (Mercury oppose Chiron in 3rd house, with ruler
Venus, in Virgo) is also powerfully suggested. Chiron in the third house of
mindset in aspect to Mercury (reasoning mind) is suggestive of childhood
wounds and possible depression, as well as healing through the spoken or
written word. Author Melanie Reinhart describes Mercury-Chiron aspects in her
book called Chiron and the Healing Journey..."We can be powerful and sometimes
compulsive communicators either through nonverbal means such as music or mime,
or through the traditional Mercurial pursuits such as writing, speaking,
journalism or teaching. Perhaps we want to challenge people into awareness
and self reflection, or feel we have important things to say." With Mars in
Leo in her sixth house forming a challenging T square configuration to
this Mercury-Chiron aspect, her drive (Mars) to be recognized (Leo) for her
Mercurial work (sixth house) was fuel for her intensified self worth (Mars
rules second house of self worth).
Sylvia's writing and teaching career is echoed
throughout her natal birthchart. With Sylvia's natal Moon in oriental
position, the role of teacher, instructor or even prophet is linked to her
vocation. Sagittarius on her tenth house cusp (destiny, career, calling) is
the archetype of the teacher or heroine on a quest. Jupiter, ruler of
Sagittarius, conjoins dreamy or confused Neptune, the archetype of the mystic
and the poet. The more challenging polarity of an impressionable Neptunian
personality is hypersensitive, escapist, aimless and obscure.
Sylvia's natal Saturn in Capricorn (authority,
responsibility, prestige) is found in her twelfth house of self undoing,
sorrow, karma, past lives and seclusion. Furthermore, it is in challenging
aspect to her midheaven (career, parent), Sun (ego, identity) and Pluto
(personal empowerment), all suggesting that Sylvia had deeply rooted (past
lives)? and long-standing insecurities around social standing and public
recognition, which ultimately became the source of her undoing and
downfall. In fact, Sylvia had a marked fear of social judgment and failure.
Saturn in the twelfth house often brings tests of character through periodic
restrictions and denials. However, it is through these very restrictions that
the facilitation of spiritual knowledge and psychological awareness emerges
(twelfth house). Many individuals with this placement of Saturn feel driven
to understand the mysteries of consciousness itself.
Sylvia's North Node in Pisces in her first house of
identity (higher destiny), guided her to rise above the illusions of the
material plane and view her life from a higher perspective. Sylvia was
destined to pursue her creative ideals and inspirations (Pisces), as well as
nurture her own ego, personality, ambitions and independence. South Node in
the seventh house of partnerships suggest habitual patterns of losing herself
in others and giving herself away. In addition, South Node in Virgo is
suggestive of an innately critical and intelligent nature. Our North Node
calling is often difficult to achieve, as we are most comfortable falling back
into our past patterns (South Node).
Tragically, Sylvia Plath eventually succeeded at
committing suicide on February 11, 1963. Her dark and despondent mindset was
evident six months before she died, when she wrote the following
words..."...outcast on a cold star, unable to feel anything but an awful
helpless numbness. I look down into the warm, earthy world. Into a nest of
lovers' beds, baby cribs, meal tables, all the solid commerce of life in this
earth, and feel apart, enclosed in a wall of glass."
Ted Hughes, Sylvia's ex-husband, released Sylvia's
"Collected Poems" in 1981. In 1982, they won the Pulitzer Prize. It is
ironic that Sylvia became more famous after her death, but then again, she was
born during a Balsamic Moon phase. Those individuals born during the dark of
the Moon are often prophetic and way ahead of their time. The rest of
humanity takes a while to catch up and realize the significance of their
deeply inspired contributions to society.
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