Czar Nicholas II of Russia

[Jim Eshelman]

A figure of enormous historic and cultural importance was Nicholas II, last czar of imperial Russia. His birth data are usually rated DD (Dirty Data). I had cause to review the sources recently, and am rating it, in my files, as A data.

He was born May 6, 1868 OS, 2:30 PM LMT, Tsarskoya Selo, Russia (59N43. 30E25).

I base it on the following:

For a while, there was controversy about the day he was born - May 6 or 7. All of that traces (through different routes) back to one book, held in low esteem by Romanov scholars. Several trusted historic sources confirm May 6. (And, of course, the place is no mystery, though sometimes it is stated a little differently.)

As for the time: Both parents' diaries say he was born at 2:30, but neither of them bothered to mention whether that was AM or PM (sigh). There is a significant clue, though, in his mother's diary. She said that she woke at 4 o'clock with labor beginning. Though not definitive, it seems more likely that, even in an indulged imperial household, she woke at 4 AM rather than 4 PM the prior day, meaning that the birth was 2:30 PM. Finally, though it is a secondary source that could, itself, have been confused by more obscure reports, a French newspaper a couple of days later wrote that the birth was "at three o'clock in the afternoon," seeming to confirm a mid-afternoon birth.

For my personal files, I take this as sufficient basis to rate the 2:30 PM birth time as A data (relying on the diaries of both parents, which agree with each other, as 2:30, as a written birth record; using secondary sources to understand their diaries as meaning 2:30 PM; and stepping it from AA down to A because we only have these entries from secondary sources, not from seeing the diaries themselves.

[Jim Eshelman]

The chart is quite fitting. Jupiter is the most angular planet, setting in Pisces, conjunct Moon (a conjunction even closer mundanely) and square Venus and Uranus more widely. It bespeaks the elegance of the court.

Luminaries are in Taurus and Pisces. They are indulgent and kindly, traits he was known to have. They also show weakness, which surely contributed (along with the simple tide of the times) to his downfall. Despite the elegance of Jupiter etc., the presence of a Taurus Sun in the deep background(middle of the 8th house) opposite Saturn is consistent with the fall of the empire (or at least of the imperial office).

The Tropical astrologer friend who got me thinking about the chart said that surely there would be a strong Neptune influence, given any number of things in his life and especially his ill-founded reliance on Rasputin, drawn in by his draw to the mysterious and occult. Moon in Pisces is sufficient for this, but Moon is also conjunct Neptune 5° on one side, as it conjoins Jupiter at about the same distance on the other side (Mo = Ju/Ne 30').

For those interested, Chiron is the exact degree of Descendant.

The murder of Czar Nicholas and his family was discussed here as a mundane astrology event here (I haven't studied his personal chart for it):
viewtopic.php?f=30&t=1550
July 17, 1918, beginning 0:00, Yekaterinburg, Russia

[Jim Eshelman]

There is no mystery of when his wife was born. The German Princess who became Alexandra, Czarina of Russia, was born June 6, 1872 NS, 3:46 AM, Darmstadt, Germany (AA). Their children's charts are generally known and can be dug out by those interested. A double Taurus (like Queen Victoria), with Sun and Moon conjunct within 05' (it was a solar eclipse), three more planets and Ascendant joining the luminaries in Taurus), she, too, has a most interesting nativity.

Nichols and Alexandra shared a Sun sign, which (of course) also placed her Moon in his Sun-sign. Other than that, her luminaries don't touch his chart. Her Venus conjoins his Mercury widely and opposes his Saturn closely. (It is also square by Rasputin's Mars to the degree.) Her 06' Jupiter-Uranus conjunction squared Nicholas' Mars. Her Saturn doesn't touch his chart.

Grigori Rasputin was born January 9, 1869 OS, time unknown, in Pokrovskoje (the one in Tyuneskaya Oblst), Russia, famous for his Sagittarian Sun and Scorpio Moon. Comparing this date to Nicholas' chart, Rasputin's Sun squares the Czar's Neptune (he exercised power from the czar's vulnerable spot). Rasputin's Mars squared Nicholas' Saturn. Strangely, their Jupiters were conjunct by little more than a degree.

[Danica]

As for the time: Both parents' diaries say he was born at 2:30, but neither of them bothered to mention whether that was AM or PM (sigh). There is a significant clue, though, in his mother's diary. She said that she woke at 4 o'clock with labor beginning. Though not definitive, it seems more likely that, even in an indulged imperial household, she woke at 4 AM rather than 4 PM the prior day, meaning that the birth was 2:30 PM. Finally, though it is a secondary source that could, itself, have been confused by more obscure reports, a French newspaper a couple of days later wrote that the birth was "at three o'clock in the afternoon," seeming to confirm a mid-afternoon birth.

It's a question of: do their diaries have other time entries in 'military format' or not - i.e. how they used to denote the AM and PM - this would clarify it.

[Jim Eshelman]

No such thing reported, no. The scholars who studied them in person seemed to think there was nothing to tip what the entry meant other than secondary things such as those I mentioned.

You can read the lengthy, sometimes confusing discussion in the "Source Notes" here:
https://www.astro.com/astro-databank/Ni ... _of_Russia

[Soft Alpaca]

Also I remember reading through Jupiter it recognizes a clear rise but a not so steady hold on power once it runs out of ambition, they probably had shared goals (perhaps Nicholas he wasn't in the dark as much as folks thought)?

[Jim Eshelman]

Also I remember reading through Jupiter it recognizes a clear rise but a not so steady hold on power once it runs out of ambition, they probably had shared goals (perhaps Nicholas he wasn't in the dark as much as folks thought)?

Monarchs, including those with long, majestic reigns, characteristically have Jupiter foreground. In the British House of Windsor, almost the only monarch not to have it angular was Edward VIII, who abdicated.

The longest reigning British monarch in history, Queen Elizabeth II, has Jupiter on EP. Her namesake, Elizbeth I, had Jupiter partile square Moon. It's not hard to find examples like this up and down the British monarchy.

[Soft Alpaca]

Ok Jupiter isnt "ALWAYS' like this, the country wasn't doing well in the war as i understand that he was ultimately overthrown. I wish we had a way to make a great war chart. As for Rasputin my controlling him,
could it be his Jupiter energy at matched and his Scorpio overtook Romanov? Sounds simple but sometimes thats the answer.

[Jim Eshelman]

Ok Jupiter isnt "ALWAYS' like this, the country wasn't doing well in the war as i understand that he was ultimately overthrown.

This is what I attributed to his weakness. He wasn't a tough guy. It wasn't a time for an elite who really gave a shit to survive.

I wish we had a way to make a great war chart.

I don't know what you mean. Are you saying you'd like a chart for the start of World War I (i.e., "the Great War")?

[Soft Alpaca]

The start, the end, and all the key figures in it (like a super synastry with the end as the outer ring and the beginning as the center) , we could see how each interacts through the passing war (however that is a huge project, and thus a wish) [It would be fun to do this on a modified 360 Uranian wheel <using confirmed cel. bodies].