HP Blavatsky

[Jim Eshelman]

One of the most significant figures in the history of occultism, Blavatsky's aura of mystery included obscurity of her birth. Surely she would have known her own birth time if it were accessible. In the time and place she was born, such things were not always available.

She was born August 12, 1831, in Ekaterinoslav, Ukraine. What do we know of the time?

According to Lois Rodden's notes, she told Sepharial that she was born between midnight and sunrise of July 31 (OS). (This is August 12 NS. Russia was still on the Julian calendar)

The best known time is Sepharial's rectification from this. To be clear, though, sunrise was 4:53 AM, so the known time is 0:00 to 4:53. A period when the Moon moved less than 3°. The center of the known time range would be 2:27 AM, which is only a few minutes from Sepharial's proposed rectification.

The time has been popular perhaps because of the angular Neptune and rising Tropical Cancer which ("according to the books") looks much like her physique. From her temperament, though, I'd be hugely surprised if she didn't have a powerful Mars force in the chart (and this is a rare time that I'd be willing to take serious a chart based solely on a character descriptor; I'm generally against such things).

Mars (partile conjunct Saturn) anticulminated at 1:02 AM and rose after the Sun at 6:09 AM. Within the stated time, the only time Mars could have been angular was near 1:00 AM.

Various rectifications and spectification exist from the initial time. Sepharaial, as mentioned, gave 2:17. Ronald Davison gave 2:33 AM.

Dane Rudhyar wanted her to have Sirius rising, so picked "around 2 AM;" those, though, would have been the ecliptical conjunction of Sirius with her Ascendant, not it's actual rising. Something interesting about this is that, for a time around 1:00 AM, her Moon would be in exact paran to Sirius, the Moon rising at 99°36' RAMC and Sirius culminating at 99°25'.

Alan Leo wrote that, "Madame B. gave her time of birth to an astrologer in New York on her last visit there" (and it occurred to me that in saying "between midnight and sunrise" there was an unusual focus on sunrise as if it were important, as if it had been mentioned in discussions). However, I'm more willing to accept Sepharial's report of Blavatsky's statement to him than Leo's report of a second-hand statement. (Alan and Bessie Leo were dedicated and active Theosophists. Did he never ask Madame himself when she was born? Really?)

[Jim Eshelman]

Let's gather a few events...

Her mother died (very young and of TB) on July 6, 1842 in the Ukraine (presume HPB's birthplace). This began a phase of her life where she obtained a significant education.

She had a childhood marriage on July 7, 1848, to a governor in the Caucasus, then fled him a few weeks later. (I think this occurred in Yerevan.)

She gives her birthday in 1851 as when she met her teacher (in the flesh, rather than in dreams) for the first time, in London. (The SSR should be descriptive of so significant an event, if the date is correct and not mythic.)

Married April 3, 1875, New York, NY. (It lasted a few months.)

The TS was founded in November, 1875, NYC. (I'm amazed that an exact date isn't available.)

She wrote her largest, epochal works in 1877 and 1888.

She died May 8, 1891 in London (influenza).

[Jim Eshelman]

Mother's death: July 6, 1842, Ukraine (presume HPB's birthplace).

TRANSITS: Neptune exactly op. r. Sun. A Mars-Saturn opposition (Saturn 18°22' Sagittarius) would square her Moon if she were born closer to sunrise than midnight.

PROGRESSIONS: Progressed Venus-Uranus trine. Nothing all that interesting. Moon could not be early enough to oppose natal Sun, nor late enough to oppose progressed Sun.

SSR: Hard to tell without the birth time, but worth noting that for the middle starting point (around 2:27 AM), Saturn rises in the SSR and Pluto is near the IC. This could be coincidence, but is an awfully good one if it is! - The SLR for that time is dominated by the benefics, but the Demi-SLR has Sun opposite Saturn across the horizon. Again, this is not to be taken lightly IMHO.

However, for the 1:00 AM birth time, we get some of the same factors from a different direction. The SLR, for example, has a Moon-Saturn square near the angles. (Saturn and Mars are both < 5° from the horizon, Saturn squares Moon. Saturn rose 26 minutes later, and would have risen exactly for a birth time of about 1:30 AM.) Just slightly later than this would have had the transiting Mars-Saturn opposition exactly square the SSR MC.

Childhood marriage July 7, 1848, Yerevan, Armenia (?), then fled a few weeks later

TRANSITS: Neptune opposite natal Mars-Saturn. Mars conjunct her Sun and opposite her Jupiter. Venus square her Moon if she was born closer to sunrise than midnight (but was this really a Venus event?).

PROGRESSIONS: For the mid-period birth time, progressed Moon squared natal Jupiter, or natal Jupiter for a birth near sunrise. In any case, there was an exact progressed Sun-Saturn conjunction, which seems to describe the event in many ways.

SLR: A Lunar Return occurred late on the wedding day, probably was in force, and in any case covered the period of her flight soon after. For the ~2:30 time, in addition to a foreground Moon-Venus square, it has Uranus rising, Moon setting, Venus and Saturn distantly angular. (Ecliptically it looks like Pluto is rising, but it isn't.) For a ~1:00 AM time, it has Neptune closely rising and Saturn and Mars trying to sneak their way into the foreground (Saturn just entering, Mars just leaving). The 1:30 time puts Saturn rising.

Unfortunately, I don't know the real significance of the event for her. We do know she fled the region almost immediately after.

August 12, 1851, London: met her teacher for the first time

There are no simple transits for this event (so far as we can tell without a birth time), which alerts us to be skeptical about the report. The only progression of note is Venus trine Jupiter. The 1:02 AM birth time would put Mercury near (not tightly near) the IC and Mars on the EP - not as good. I'm not overly impressed with either, though ~2:30 looks better than ~1:00.

SSR for the 2:27 AM middle time: Of greatest interest in the SSR (without a known time) is that it occurred at a Full Moon. Sun and Moon are closely opposed. For the 2:27 AM time, her natal Moon-Pluto opposition is along the meridian, and transiting Venus rises - not insignificant.

SLR: For the 2:27 AM time-center, Mars rises and Sun is broadly on the IC. The exact Saturn-Uranus conjunction in space would (with just a little tweaking of the time) square the MC. But the 1:00 AM birth time puts Saturn-Uranus within a couple of degrees of Ascendant (mundanely opposite Moon-Jupiter).

I remain skeptical of the event happening when and in the fashion described.

The TS was founded in November, 1875, NYC.

TRANSITS: Uranus conjoined her Sun. Saturn exactly opposed them both. (Curiously, this was a few weeks after Aleister Crowley's birth - he had the same Saturn-Uranus prominent and aspecting his Sun. He would later make a big deal out of the timing of the TS founding concurrent with his birth <g>.) This marks a very significant time of life. Transiting Jupiter squared her Uranus early in November, being exact November 9 - this would have been the most personally significant date for her process of creating this.

PROGRESSIONS: She had a many-year progressed Sun-Mars conjunction that remained very close (two-tenths of a degree). Progressed Moon was close to square natal and progressed Jupiters (depending on exact birth time). Something big was definitely happening!

SSR: The one clear thing about her London SSR is that it was martial: A partile Moon-Mars conjunction existed for most possible times in the range.

For the 2:27 AM time, the SSR only fetures natal Mercury rising - not much happening. The 1:02 AM time, though, gives her Sun close to the Ascendant, Pluto square the Ascendant (but with Saturn setting: it is an exact Saturn-Pluto square). Uranus squares the MC. A lot of "shake things loose" happening! 1:30 AM birth puts the attention more on Uranus and Pluto, less on Saturn. the 1:00 AM birth time puts transiting Jupiter on the SSR IC when the action seems to be occurring.

She died May 8, 1891 in London (influenza).

The least ambiguous of all the events... as often is the case.

TRANSITS: Saturn conjunct natal Mercury. Sun square natal Jupiter (and just short of square natal Sun). Mercury square natal Sun. - A partile Mars-Jupiter square at 19° Taurus-Aquarius does catch my attention as relevant for death by influenza.

PROGRESSIONS: Ah, interesting! For the middle birth time (and, erally, for all of them), progressed Moon is... 19° Scorpio. The transiting Mars-Jupiter is right on top of it. Otherwise, the progressions are Mars-Uranus and Venus-Jupiter. For a late (nearly sunrise) birth, progressed Mars would be conjunct natal Moon, but only for a really late birth.

SLR: The SLR for the 2:27 AM mid-period time has Pluto exactly rising in mundo. The 1:02 AM time has Mars exactly rising in the SLR. Either is appropriate.

Her death occurred soon after a Demi-SLR, though. These aren't all that interesting, except for ~ 1:00 AM for which natal Pluto was near the setting (along with the two Moon-Venus pairs across the horizon).

[Jim Eshelman]

Having looked at all of this, I can hardly say I'm sure of anything. However, especially for her death, there are remarkable fits for a time of 1:40 AM LMT. This does not put Mars as close to an angle as I expected and, startlingly, it places Sirius in exact ecliptical conjunction with the Ascendant as Rudhyar proposed. (I am not claiming this means anything, it's just interesting.) The only foreground planet is Mercury, but it's not the only angular one: Pluto closely squares the Ascendant (and the Moon less exactly does so: the Moon-Pluto aspect is the most important, and is a great fit).

Relocate the chart to London and (something you'd never expect ecliptically) Pluto is in the rising foreground, but not closely. Relocate it to New York and Uranus is rising (pretty closely), part of a Sun-Jupiter-Uranus triplet near the horizon.

Here is the speculative / rectified / proposed chart: