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Friday 20 October 2006

Emily Brontë's horoscope

by Maddalena De Leo


In June this year I made a wonderful discovery while surfing the net. I found an unusual web site written by a Dutch astrologist (1). In it she set forth a lengthy and detailed horoscope in Dutch for none other than Emily Brontë.

I had to share it with others. I happen to know Dutch since I studied it at the university I attended more than twenty years ago. With the help of my long-unused Dutch-Italian dictionary I was able to translate this discovery.

The author's name is Ms Iren Nooren, Dutch by birth but presently living in Curaçao. Only a few historical figures interested her enough to merit a personal horoscope.

She chose Thérese of Lisieux and Emily Brontë. As she explored Emily's personality Nooren quickly discovered that she had an exhaustive amount of character traits. Based on a very detailed astrological reading Nooren's discussion focuses especially on Emily's personality and the most meaningful parts of her novel. Her poems are never mentioned.

Very interested in everything Nooren had to say, I was curious to learn more about her actual knowledge of Brontë's work so I requested an e-mail interview. I asked her how much she knew about Emily Brontë and Wuthering Heights before charting her horoscope. She replied that she had read the book a very long time ago.

In Curaçao there is only one very small library which contains nothing about the book or the author. That is why during her analysis she searched the internet for information, finding contradictory material. Eventually she found one book with a short introduction by Daphne Merkin, a Dutch writer.

I then asked her why she chose to do a horoscope for Emily and when exactly she had read Wuthering Heights. She told me that most astrologists are interested in current movie stars and famous politicians, while she prefers long-deceased people. Her wish was to really understand Emily Brontë as a person since she admires her so much for her brooding, strange style.

Like most of us she was particularly attracted by the way Emily relates a story. Every line can be read again and again at any time when you read it in the original language as the selection of words is perfect.

Nooren actually read Wuthering Heights when she was twenty-five, having found it by chance in a library. At first she did not comprehend the violence and passion in the book and considered it boring compared to Jane Eyre. It was only many years later that she changed her opinion after reading it again. Only then could she see Catherine as a real person.

My next question was about what is known about Emily Brontë in Curaçao. She told me that the novel can be found in the public library but it is not yet possible to buy it in the bookshop. Whenever she can, Nooren speaks about Emily and her life to let people know who she was and what an amazing life she lived.



The horoscope


According to Iren Nooren, Emily’s personality is strongly reflected in her great novel, known in the Netherlands by the title Woeste Hoogten.


Woeste Hoogten reveals an incredible attraction of Venus in Scorpio. The basic data, that is to say the ascendant, the Sun and the Moon reveal a mysterious personality attributed to Emily. Pluto dominant in Pisces tells us that Emily was an astute observer who was very willing to abandon both her home and family. In the novel for example the recurring images of many open doors and windows underscore a desire to get away, and strongly contrast the power of the mind. In Woeste Hoogten all characters are unable to escape from beginning to end.


The Sun is not present in any aspect but the Moon represents the main energy: it is a sowing moon, telling us that in Emily’s time society was not ready to appreciate a novel such as hers, considering it too violent and passionate.


The dominant Moon can also explain why so little was written about Emily Brontë during the 19th century. The Moon is also in opposition to Jupiter and behind Capricorn enabling her subconscious emotions to surface in the talent zone. The presence of Mercury in Leo 9 reveals an aptitude to both talk and write about death. Mercury itself in triangle with Neptune and Uranus rather than in Sagittarius draws attention to inspiration, thus enabling Emily to open up a new method of creative writing.


A further proof of Moon in Cancer are the characters without a mother in Woeste Hoogten. Brontë may have invented them as a result of her own orphaned condition. The connection between Mars and Venus points to the extremes and opposing natures within the novel. It is essentially the story of two opposite natures, a man with an active role and a woman with a passive one, each being reciprocally dependent on the other.


It is still a Mars/Venus conjunction underlining a wish for communication and an expression of personal will. This makes Emily’s dependent energy (Mars in Venus) somehow passive (Venus).


The reference scheme reveals an off-balanced distribution of crosses. The mobile cross (with seven planets) points out an easily relaxed and suitable character while the main cross (with two planets and a personal Moon) draws attention to the great effort to start and take initiatives. The division of elements is also off-balance and a lack of Air in the planets is evident. It shows Emily’s unfulfilled need for human contact.


Mars/Venus conjunction is in opposition to Saturn. This indicates a misunderstood step to carry out initiatives and get in touch with someone. Emily’s close-knit, restricted home life prevented her from looking for outside relationships to help her nourish her fantasies. Although no known relationship with a man has been documented, Nooren seems to think Emily may have met people who stirred passionate feeling within her. Maybe among these relationships there was the one with her sisters and brother (Pisces). Saturn explains why Emily wished to escape from her family although her first duty was to her home. Maybe because Emily refused to run away from her problems at home she wavered between two poles (Mars/Venus and Saturn).


There is also a third element, Uranus in Sagittarius underscoring renewal and broadmindedness, two aspects unique to Emily that indicated she was ahead of her time.


The presence of Pisces reveals an escape from the real world into one of fantasy. Pluto dominant reveals Emily’s own fantasies and inspirations which were central to her life. But it was Neptune in Sagittarius that gave her a great artistic talent which was directed toward her subconscious mind.


The Northern node in Taurus in the 6th House and Venus in Virgo in the 9th House tell us that Emily had to learn how to be concrete in real life.


In conclusion, Iren Nooren tells us that the presence of Pluto in Neptune is a recurring theme in people born between 1810 and 1826 (the Romantics). In Emily’s horoscope we see the emergence of three major themes: Transformation, Family, and a Drive to frankly express her feelings.




I would like to thank my friend Frances Gerard for her revision of the text.




1. CHTA – Astrologie – Centre for humanistic & transpersonal astrology - www.astrologie.ws and www.astrologie.ws/bronte.htm


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