‘Cinderella’ By Valentine Cameron Prinsep c1880 {{PD}}
Refresh yourself here if you’re unclear on the Cinderella Point and the correspondences it draws from. See the forecast here–
The Cinderella Point is really nothing more than finding a course, role, or identity in life that both fulfills the main needs of the Soul and allows the individual expression to soar—and as we know from previous descriptions, there’s no set formula by which to delineate this. To make it even tougher, it’s nearly impossible to describe much in a definitive way before the life is in progress; there are so many potentials for any given combination of placements, and so much added through experience that shapes personal tastes and inclinations, not to mention the variety of possible preferences (for instance, choosing to see oneself through the Sun, and so possibly more directly aligned with the Soul’s intents, perhaps, than one who chooses a primary identification through the role and experiences as a woman—Venus, or man–Mars). In real life we have to be satisfied with potentials, with seeing possibilities—so it’s almost cheating to use someone as an example whose life has already been lived, laid before us with outcomes already available—but it’s what we must do, just so we can see how it works.
We start with scientist Marie Curie (7 November 1867 12 PM LMT Warsaw Poland—her daughter Eve is quoted as giving her mother’s birth time as “soon after sunrise”, but noon is on the baptismal certificate—and since angles and Houses aren’t crucial to this process—because we are talking about an inner view, the orientation of the individual toward the energies, rather than an external view (as seen by others) or externals that act upon the individual to prompt–or force–choices–we won’t worry about angles or Houses—on their own, the planets speak loudly!) Ms. Curie had a Scorpio Sun, suggesting a Soul-deep interest in research, what isn’t readily apparent on the surface, on the way things change at a fundamental level. Her Venus is in Scorpio as well, implying that her identity as a woman may have been inextricably bound with the Soul purpose, likely to find the same things exciting, attractive, and worthy. And then we reach an interesting directional signal: her 29 degree Mars in Scorpio, considered a secondary ruler of the sign and indicator of the individual ‘I Am’, the impetus forward, the Will, the assertive energies. At such a late and very tense degree, this placement may indicate drive that permeates the Beingness—and through connection to Scorpio’s rulership, pushed that drive out through actions expressive of the Soul needs. This all suits her work, the painstaking discovery of radium and polonium, achieved by sifting through mounds of pitchblende, a uranium ore, to distill small quantities of the highly radioactive substance.
Her Pisces Moon is trine her Sun, is loosely conjoined her South Node, and is part of a Water Grand Trine, the third leg of which is her Uranus-Vesta conjunction in Cancer. This suggests her past supports her identity—she wasn’t just allowed to study as a girl, she was encouraged—that the emotional perceptions are in harmony with the Soul’s needs, and that Uranus, as the individuality, the uniqueness and inventive/ innovative spirit, is aligned with her God-concept or those things she finds sacred, that she honors (Vesta). All together this implies a highly focused outlook, one that has emotional impetus behind the drive to express the Soul’s intents, and by so doing to honor life itself (Sun-Moon-Vesta).
Do we find this in Curie’s chart using the (very loose) ‘Cinderella formula’? Yes, as the entire Cinderella concept is about the Soul (Sun) finding optimal expression, with all the other placements helping or hindering—and in this case, that Scorpio Sun is very much aided by the other energies, even when they might have less positive applications in other areas, such as the Self-generated stress, tension, and compulsion that likely accompanies the 29 degree Mars that as well drives efforts such as research (Scorpio) forward—and that may also speak of a close but sometimes strained spousal relationship with Pierre (as the Mars/ man in her life), as she had to juggle family and societal expectations while he did what men have always done, putting himself and his work first. It also may point to the stress of a later affair, the impact of which I’ll explain in a moment.
A look at those societal expectations: Jupiter sits in Aquarius, suggesting a forward-thinking, group-oriented, intellectual, and Higher Mind approach to the social scene on her part (also suggesting that she may see the social sphere as one of intellectual testing, or a test of one’s ability to invent or engineer, or where one’s ability to fit in or lead the group or be original is assessed), but this is also square her Mars. This pairing to me suggests the struggle against a male establishment that Curie underwent at the Sorbonne (only receiving her husband’s chair after his death, almost as a consolation prize for her loss rather than recognition of her accomplishments), and in her application to the French Academy of Sciences—where she was turned down, in 1911, and this even after winning her first of two Nobel prizes in 1903, with the second, in Chemistry, coming in the same year she was rebuffed by the Academy. Transits at the time around awarding of the second prize include transiting Neptune (chemistry) trine natal Chiron in Pisces, with a Water Grand Trine filled in by her natal Venus-Saturn conjunction=suppression of herself as a woman (that is, presenting as a scientist first) has led to status and rewards (Venus-Saturn) but also injury by the Collective (Chiron in Pisces). Despite her accomplishments, Curie was suffering, as she was not only refused by the French Academy, but was asked not to attend the Nobel ceremony, as her affair with a married scientist, Paul Langevin (recall that 29 degree Mars and its squares), had become fodder for the gossip mill—and, likely as not, this was also instrumental in nixing her Academy bid, though accolades weren’t withheld from male scientists who engaged in similar behaviors.
In fact, the square of Mars to Jupiter is base to a Fist of God with Uranus in Cancer as apex, describing efforts (Mars) involving fact (Jupiter, with an emphasis on Higher Mind, Aquarius) resulting (the apex) in discovery and experimentation within the sciences (Uranus). And, Uranus seems to me to be the natural ruler of radiation itself, the bottom line to the discoveries all her efforts were pointed toward. But this configuration can also describe the conflict Curie’s action and choices (Mars) caused with society (Jupiter), resulting in the choice of rebellion (Uranus).
Eve Curie quotes her mother in a 1937 biography: “It isn’t necessary to lead such an anti-natural existence as mine. I have given a great deal of time to science because I wanted to, because I loved research. What I want for women and young girls is a simple family life and some work that will interest them.” Spoken like a true Venus-Saturn-Mars conjunction in Scorpio plus Scorpio Sun (and Juno, at 11 Scorpio, hinting at a need in this lifetime to find the limits of both status and empowerment, what’s possible through association and what must be earned and exercised by the Self)—and this statement is especially applicable to one who also has Ceres square Chiron, perpetually pitting personal power as a woman and an authority in her field against the wounding attitude she feels from the Collective (Chiron in Pisces).
We see a worst-case scenario for the Cinderella Point in the chart of miraculous cancer survivor and now disgraced cycling phenom Lance Armstrong (18 September 1971 ntk—I used a noon chart–Plano Texas USA). Once again we have no angles, but the planets speak eloquently. Armstrong has Sun in Virgo, conjoined both Hygeia and Pluto, suggesting a Soul-centered desire to be an example of both disciplined, healthful expression and Power with a capital ‘P’—and it’s likely that Power drive that allowed him to overcome an extreme and extended bout with cancer and that drove him to common athletic doping practices year after year—always denying any malfeasance, in fact indignant and insulted when his integrity was questioned—and yet eventually the evidence proved that for all his holding himself up as an example of ‘purity’ (a prime symbol of Virgo ‘the Virgin’) he was discovered to be highly flawed, indeed. Pluto-Sun is a crucible within which the individual must live up to the sign’s highest forms, or plunge to their lowest; it’s easy to see the course Armstrong took. Pluto-Sun might also suggest that the extremely tough cancer scenario was also Soul-testing, perhaps meant to shape him in that same crucible as one who could rise like a phoenix from the devastation of the disease—and so be an example for others. This also places his Earth in Pisces, suggesting a potential for escapism from the material plane, drugs being a prime facilitator for that, a need to excel within the Collective, a desire for the material reality to reflect the ideal—no matter the Self’s actual make-up.
Armstrong also definitely has a Virgo Moon—so the emotional nature supports (and justifies) actions and choices inspired by the Sun, and ‘doubles up’ on primary energies in the sign, making it that much more prominent in the Beingness (and that much more likely to help rationalize the negative expressions, as well as the positive ones). The compulsion toward Self-justification also shows with his Black Moon Lilith and Uranus closely conjoined in Libra, opposed Chiron. This suggests that every unacknowledged anger, resentment, or sense of injustice is indistinguishable from the sense of the Self as unique, and so likely powers radical, rebellious, or outside-the-norm behaviors—and all of it justified by a sense of a wounded ‘I Am” (Chiron in Aries), as if he alone has been martyred—and now we look to Neptune, for information on both potential actual martyrdom in some form, and drugs, fulfillment of dreams and the capacity to lie (which, remember, can also be the capacity to tell a story or spin a vision, not just deceive).
Sounds, in fact, like Neptune may play the role of Fairy Godmother in this chart, not necessarily a helpful one, but one that equips the individual to fully meet their fate, with their response purely up to them. We find Lance’s Jupiter-Neptune very closely (only 18 minutes apart) conjoined, and opposed Pallas and Saturn, the latter body stationary direct at the chosen noon birth time but poised to retrograde at the same degree and minute—but, not having a birth time brings the status of Saturn as technically direct or retrograde into question, though here I should point out, it really doesn’t matter, as the planet’s actual status in either case is ‘stationary’—so imparting a ‘most stubborn, most grounded’ status to Saturn.
Back to Neptune: closely wed Jupiter, both in 00 degrees in Sagittarius, suggests that conventional establishments (such as the sport world) embraced Armstrong because he was able to project exactly the image they found ideal. In a way it’s a bit of a trap, this ability to appear in ways the social order admires or finds worthy of words like ‘miraculous’ or ‘perfect’: does the expectation for the ideal come first from the individual, or does the individual quickly realize (and then exploit) the fact that he is a screen upon which the social order projects its expectations? This is the scenario that Armstrong’s Fairy Godmother, in the form of Neptune, offered.
And, aside from the oppositions to Pallas and Saturn, Jupiter-Neptune is also sextile Venus, forming the base to a Finger of God with apex Sedna. The scenario suggests resistance to what’s wise, to the boundaries and restrictions the real world requires/ asks for, with money and Love (Venus) taking what otherwise might’ve been minor transgressions or moral impasses and turning the Saturn-Pallas avoidance toward blind spot material (Sedna)—in effect, completely hiding his own pandering (and so Truth-avoiding) behaviors and reasoning (Jupiter-Neptune) from himself! He was so convincing for so many years with his avowals of never-transgressing precisely because he hid it so well from himself.
Juno-Mercury, closely conjoined and also in Virgo=status is a big thing in the mind, and to admit one’s status was not as claimed could’ve felt like disempowerment—so, to tell the Truth may have been highly threatening, while hiding the Truth may have seemed justified, after reality had been so hard on him (the experience of such a virulent cancer so young). Thinking may have always been employed to empower the Self, with the Virgoan critical faculties deployed to examine and pick apart what he doesn’t agree with or want to admit—again, we see a trigger for adamant denial, and an inability (or maybe just unwillingness) to confront his own darkest corners of the psyche. A sextile between Mars and Chiron acts as base to a Finger with apex Zeus=ambition and desire fulfillment, driven by a combination of hurt and skills, were the goals
As in any case, we could go on, but we see the essence of the Cinderella Point here. It’s merely a way of classifying the particular combinations in the chart that either facilitate one’s highest expression, or that lead one toward one’s weaknesses. They seem to set up circumstances and reactions within the individual that entirely leave expression up to the individual; one must choose one’s frequency, so to speak, and pour the Soul/ identity out from there. When seeking the complex of Cinderella energies, always start with the Sun or other major identity energies.
Remember too, one’s internal response is vital in pinpointing (or at least finding the neighborhood of) your Cinderella point. Be careful to distinguish this gut feeling, this flutter of recognition or knowing, from the lens through which we may be tempted to look: that’s a mental image we would like to fit, and is itself a response to that inner ‘not good enough as we are’ belief. If we’re not looking for the genuine, Soul-oriented information the chart can disclose, it won’t matter what picture we cobble together from placements—they’ll be hollow, likely prompting a string of failures as we doggedly pursue something, an image or role, that doesn’t ‘belong’ to us.
The composer’s Capricorn Venus is in an out-of-sign conjunction with her Aquarian Mercury –this suggests to me that there may have been a feeling of appreciating the same things, when in fact they did not–and his Venus snuggles in to her Grand Square/ Cross which involves her Merc-his Venus, her Jupiter-Neptune (plus his Vesta) opposed her Pallas, plus her Vesta in Leo as final point in the configuration. This may have felt to her as if his Venusian need, his appetites, were intruding on her ideal social role, her highest values, her communications, and what she considers wise–he may have felt to her just a wee bit like a social climber–and we’ve already seen how much he thought his social standing would benefit from an alliance.
