Anais Nin Birth Chart Interpretation
Anais Nin
21 February 1903
8:25 pm
Paris, France
Rodden Rating: AA
http://www.astro.com/astro-databank/Nin,_Anais
Anais Nin (February 21, 1903 – January 14, 1977) was best known as a writer of erotic literature and for publishing her many diaries. Her bohemian lifestyle, multiple marriages and erotic writings pushed the boundaries of propriety for the period of time in which she lived.
In Anais' chart, we see Virgo rising in the nakshatra Hasta, making Mercury the lagna lord (lord of the ascendant.) Mercury as the indicator of speech and communication is an important planet for those in the field of writing, and the ascendant in Hasta specifically shows work with the hands, so we see clearly the start of Anais Nin's tendencies to take pen in hand and begin writing.
Lagna lord, Mercury, is located in the 5th house with Saturn in his own sign of Capricorn. Mercury is also the lord of the 10th house of career for a Virgo rising, which makes Mercury a raja yoga karaka. Located in the 5th house of fortune, entertainment and romance, we see a very strong position for a very strong planet.
Mercury is tightly conjunct Saturn, lord of the 5th and 6th houses, in the sign of Capricorn and in the nakshatra of Shravana. Shravana nakshatra carries the power of connection, samhanana shakti, and allows the native to link people together through receptivity and listening. Saturn as 5th lord in his own sign will influence Mercury very heavily, due to Mercury's tendency to pick up and mimic the qualities of planets that he conjuncts. Saturn in Capricorn in the 5th house shows an innate ability to work hard and accomplish what one wants, with the extra added 5th house bonus of luck and fortune behind that sense of unwavering determination. These positions gave Anais Nin the good fortune and people skills to become a noted writer.
Mercury does have the tendency to play both sides of a game, and can grant someone the ability to “talk from both sides of the mouth.” We will see in further investigation of Nin's life that she may have availed herself of this ability to act as more than one character in the play of her life.
Saturn is also the lord of the 6th house of health/disease and friendship/enmity, which does slightly taint the ability of Saturn to always act in the highest regard. The 6th house is both an artha house, an upachaya house and a dushthana house. Artha houses (2, 6 and 10) are the houses of material manifestation. Strong artha houses show a native who is concerned with material success and generation of wealth. Dusthana houses are places of difficulty and challenge which generally harm the indications of benefic planets. Upachaya houses are places where planets grow in strength and quality over time. In general, the 6th house is a good place for natural malefics but difficult for natural benefic planets.
Anais Nin has three planets placed in the 6th house, which is filled with Saturn's air sign, Aquarius. The Sun, a natural malefic, is closely conjoined with Jupiter, the greatest benefic, in the nakshatra Shatabishak. Also in Aquarius in the 6th house is Venus, ruler of beauty, charm, love and relationships. Venus is the atmakaraka of the chart, also, showing the true soul nature of Anais Nin.
This is an extremely active 6th house. The Sun, significator of the soul as well as the ego, is well placed as a malefic in the 6th house. It does show that the ego could act as an enemy, in a sense, that putting one's own desires above others' could create strife. Jupiter is only two degrees from the Sun, so is considered combust, which somewhat lessens Jupiter's ability to confer good results. Jupiter is the lord of two angles in the chart, the 4th house of home and mental contentedness and the 7th house of relationship with others. We therefore see the solidity and groundedness that is available through the home and relationships somewhat threatened by the ego's desires, which could cause drama and strife.
Venus is lord of the 2nd house of personal resources and the 9th house of grace and spiritual expansion. We therefore see a connection between personal resources, relationship and the enmity that can be shown through the 6th house. Anais Nin's success as a writer showed all of these things; her self-expression, creativity, femininity, relationships and personal development were the subjects of her writing, all of which she shared openly with her readers.
The Sun-Jupiter combination in Aquarius is located in the nakshatra Shatabishak, ruled by Rahu. Shatabishak means “100 Healers” and holds the power of healing, bheshaja shakti. Through Shatabishak, we also receive the blessing of Varuna, lord of the waters and deity of this nakshatra. Varuna can both bestow and remove the karma surrounding injury, disease, sin and debt. Nin had reportedly transformational therapy with psychoanalyst Otto Rank during the late 1920's (during her Sun major period) in Paris, allowing her to find a voice for her deep emotions through art, writing and expression of femininity.
This influence of Rahu as ruler of Shatabishak can be found in her birth chart in the ascendant. Rahu is located within one degree of retrograde Mars in Virgo, in the nakshatra Chitra. Chitra is ruled by Twashtar, the Cosmic Architect and by the planet Mars, so we see the ability to create and build forms.
Mars for Virgo ascendant rules difficult houses, the 3rd and 8th. The 3rd house is a kama house and an upachaya house. The kama houses are those that rule desire and passion, and Mars is already full of those two qualities. With Rahu, we're seeing an amplification of that Mars energy, very much drawing the personality and body of Anais Nin toward seeking and enacting her desires in the world. The 8th house is a house of moksha as well as a dusthana house. Through the energy of the 8th house we can see difficulty that leads us toward liberation.
Anais Nin was an embodiment of this very intense lagna, wearing her passion and desire on her sleeve for all the world to see, bringing the taboo subjects of sex, incest and infidelity that are indications of the 8th house into her writings. Virgo is the feminine sign of Mercury containing a very masculine influence from the Mars and Rahu combination. Here we are seeing what could be described as an aggressive expression of femininity from a neutral standpoint.
Nin's Moon is positioned in the 4th house, which is associated as stated above with home, mother and the level of peace reflected in the mind of the native. The Moon is waning and located in a masculine sign, Sagittarius. Jupiter, ruler of Sagittarius is also placed in a masculine sign, Aquarius, tightly aspected by the Sun, a masculine planet. Therefore we see a Moon that is struggling to express its natural capacity for nurture.
This Moon, along with Saturn as ruler of the 5th house of children located in the 5th house and the karaka of children, Jupiter, located in the 6th house and tightly combined with the Sun reflects the fact that Nin did not become a mother. Whether by choice or health, the path of motherhood is not indicated by this chart.
The other planet of femininity, Venus, is also located in Saturn's masculine sign, Aquarius. We're seeing many indications of feminine planets in masculine signs and vice versa, which can show interest or curiosity about sexuality involving same gender. Nin denied that she was bisexual, but admitted that she did have erotic attraction to women but not to the sexual act with another woman. This could show her internal struggle to connect to the feminine in general, which was present but deeply buried within her own psyche.
The dual nature of Mercury as lagna lord was manifested in Nin's life by her very bohemian and somewhat dishonest approach to relationship and marriage. Nin first married at age 20 (during Venus/Mercury period) to Hugh Parker Guiller, to whom she remained married until her death. She had an affair with the author Henry Miller during her time in Paris in the late 1920's, and was rumored to have many other affairs.
Mercury also acts as the lord of the 7th house from the Moon, indicating the tendency to have many lovers or relationships.
In 1947 during Mars/Venus period, Anais Nin met lover and future husband Rupert Pole, who she married in 1955. She lived as a wife with Pole in California while remaining married to Guiller, who lived in New York. This dual life ran through the remainder of her Rahu major period, which ran through the end of 1966. She had her marriage to Pole annulled in 1966 because of legal issues concerning both men claiming her as a dependent on tax returns. They continued to live together as husband and wife until her death in 1977.
From the Wikipedia article about Anais Nin:
Nin referred to her simultaneous marriages as her "bicoastal trapeze".[10] According to Deidre Bair:
[Anaïs] would set up these elaborate façades in Los Angeles and in New York, but it became so complicated that she had to create something she called the lie box. She had this absolutely enormous purse and in the purse she had two sets of checkbooks. One said Anaïs Guiler for New York and another said Anaïs Pole for Los Angeles. She had prescription bottles from California doctors and New York doctors with the two different names. And she had a collection of file cards. And she said, "I tell so many lies I have to write them down and keep them in the lie box so I can keep them straight."[10]
Anais Nin passed away in January 1977, at the end of her Jupiter/Venus period after a three year bout with Cancer. Jupiter and Venus are both located in the 6th house of health and disease.