Skyscript Astrology Forum

Case study.

I thought it would be interesting to unpack some of that epitet of his as being the philosopher of pessimism. Feel free to contribute any insights from any school of astrology. Me myself focusing mainly on sidereal zodiac with whole sign houses, jyotish as well as western techniques.

https://www.astro.com/astro-databank/Sc ... er,_Arthur

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_Schopenhauer

His Sidereal Chart with whole sign houses:

(The degree of the ascendant is some minutes not in synch with astrodienst sidereal chart, as my program had some different calculation, but managed to get descent similar chart.)



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His Navamsha 9th divisional chart:

Just commenting randomly here as it is more fun.

Don't know much about his philosophy when first posting this, I thought that the pessisimism and serious of the obvious saturn placement in his 9th house and conjuncting his sun would be a simple explanation for the reputation as a pessimist. I had the belief that it would be a "boring" life denying philosophy of hopelessness.
But reading more about him finding a deep study of India's philosophy and Buddhism. The upanishads were lifelong company in his life.

The ascendant in Gemini gives Mercury as the ruling planet, placed in the 9th house, which become his arena of expression as a philosopher, author and university lecturer/teacher.
He was a loner and saturnian influenced figure...

Not much success in first part of his life....

His Raja yoga between ascendant 1st lord Mercury and saturn 9L
did not yield fruit until his 19 years saturn period started in 1847.

In 1851 Schopenhauer published Parerga and Paralipomena, which, as the title says, contains essays that are supplementary to his main work, and are mostly comprehensible to readers unfamiliar with his earlier philosophy. It was his first successful, widely read book, partly due to the work of his disciples who wrote praising reviews.[144

Note that 1851 he was actually running the Major period of Saturn and Mercury as subperiod, the two planets forming this raja yoga of success !
When he had his first evidence of some success, late in life. These yogas does work.

thanks for sharing stefan,

also - the yoga includes the 3rd house ruler - sun... is writing a 3rd house activity in indian astrology?

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Yes 3rd house is about writing and sharing information, so it's certainly relevant.

But perhaps more so is 5th house. This house is not only children, love and general creativity, it is also the house of intelligence (Buddhi). So it is common for people with placements here to being drawn to using intellect in career.

Schopenhauer have his 5th lord venus exalted in his 10th house showing great intellectual potential that can be expressed in career.

This is also true of Einstein who was an author as well, he had also gemini ascendant, with 5th lord venus exalted in pisces in 10th house.

Scott fitzgerald the author had venus 5th lord in 10th house with venus in own sign libra.

James Joyce had a 3rd house mercury, but his ascendant lord placed in 5th house.


I find it interesting that Einstein with a similar gemini ascendant and 5th house lord in same place did put Schopenhauer on a piedestal:

Einstein described Schopenhauer's thoughts as a "continual consolation" and called him a genius.[257] In his Berlin study three figures hung on the wall: Faraday, Maxwell, Schopenhauer.[258]:87 Konrad Wachsmann recalled: "He often sat with one of the well-worn Schopenhauer volumes, and as he sat there, he seemed so pleased, as if he were engaged with a serene and cheerful work."[258]:92

Seems like his creative intelligence did click with Schopenhauers.
Einstein also had aquarius 9th house placement as well, for added synastry.
Einstien had his MC and jupiter in aqua in his 9th house, where Schopenhauer had his ascendant lord mercury and sun.


Einsteins chart:

Great observations Stefan. Thanks for bringing them up. Your views and analysis are always refreshing and clear. I wish I had more time to comment but the Sudarshan Chakra stuff with James is consuming my time at the moment. Maybe once I get my head bolted back on from that I will be able to contribute, but my guess we will all be another topic.
Fickle me, and may you Be Well. Like James going to be busy for the rest of the week.
AJ

it is interesting to know what is meant by pessimism, in this case - philosophical pessimism...

the untrustworthy wikipedia to the rescue!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pessimism ... _pessimism

"Philosophical pessimism is not a state of mind or a psychological disposition, but rather it is a worldview or ethic that seeks to face up to the distasteful realities of the world and eliminate irrational hopes and expectations (such as the Idea of Progress and religious faith) which may lead to undesirable outcomes. Ideas which prefigure philosophical pessimism can be seen in ancient texts such as the Dialogue of Pessimism and Ecclesiastes (which maintains that everything is hevel, literally 'vapor' or 'breath', but could also mean 'senseless' and 'absurd'.)

In Western philosophy, philosophical pessimism is not a single coherent movement, but rather a loosely associated group of thinkers with similar ideas and a family resemblance to each other.[3] In Pessimism: Philosophy, Ethic, Spirit, Joshua Foa Dienstag outlines the main propositions shared by most philosophical pessimists as "that time is a burden; that the course of history is in some sense ironic; that freedom and happiness are incompatible; and that human existence is absurd."[4]

Philosophical pessimists see the self-consciousness of man as bound up with his consciousness of time and that this leads to greater suffering than mere physical pain. While many organisms live in the present, humans and certain species of animals can contemplate the past and future, and this is an important difference. Human beings have foreknowledge of their own eventual fate and this "terror" is present in every moment of our lives as a reminder of the impermanent nature of life and of our inability to control this change.[5]

The philosophical pessimistic view of the effect of historical progress tends to be more negative than positive. The philosophical pessimist does not deny that certain areas like science can "progress" but they deny that this has resulted in an overall improvement of the human condition. In this sense it could be said that the pessimist views history as ironic; while seemingly getting better, it is mostly in fact not improving at all, or getting worse.[6] This is most clearly seen in Rousseau's critique of enlightenment civil society and his preference for man in the primitive and natural state. For Rousseau, "our souls have become corrupted to the extent that our sciences and our arts have advanced towards perfection".[7] "

see the wiki link for more...

i am wondering, aside from the obvious strength of saturn here, how others view the ascendant surrounded by ketu and mars, with no benefic influencing the ascendant axis??

what is the role and influence of mars on this chart? it seems negative - rules the 11th and 6th houses and makes aspects to the 4th and 8th..

at the same time, saturn - ruler of the 8th and 9th seems like a mixed bag... as ruler of the 8th with no aspect to the 8th - that also seems negative... saturn also aspects the mars houses - that doesn't sound positive either....

at the same time - the philosophy seems like a fairly sound one, even if i am more of a cynic then your average person...

further along with the focus on profections and mars role in schopenhauers chart,

below is a chart for april 20th 1805 profection data... it turns out - no matter if the 12 noon birth time is as early as 1045am, or as late at 104pm - it remains gemini rising for this chart... so, bearing that in mind, the profection year is 6th house-sign scorpio with mars as ruler in the year his father died...




profection ascendant / mars makes an aspect to sun-saturn-9th house cusp. and to his natal ascendant.. the MD here is 6th house-sign - mars.. the AD - is capricorn-8th house - saturn lord... so, mars-saturn MD-AD dasa lords, as i understand the sudarshana chakra system... using lunar houses - MD-AD lords are 4th-6th house lords... using solar houses - 10th-12th lords...

the arabic system as i understand it partly is to dovetail the profection data with the solar return data with a focus on the profection lord - in 1805 year - mars... a focus is put on mars in the solar return... below is the solar return chart for 1805 for schopenhauer...

one notes the prominence of mars in its fall and ruling the 8th and 3rd house of the solar return chart...

Thanks for insights about mars in Schopenhauer's chart.

Yes in Jyotish Mars is the worst planet for a gemini ascendant as a natural malefic and temporal malefic as well. So this placement is troublesome for him, interesting with the profection.
Mars in this position with ketu also in his ascendant sign should generally make his lifepattern more challenging, maybe some illness as well. But the strong exalted venus I think serves as a antidote for that, as a powerful benefic in angle is protective. And I don't read much about illness in his life.

Antisocial and not very popular, not married. Ketu in ascendant is sometimes a bit unsocial, with the feeling of being unseen. He did not continue with university lecturing due to people not going on his lectures, and maybe other reasons as well ?

His personality was probably not so light going.

Interestingly he did go into the 7 year Mars period some time after his father's death. And it seems like this mars plays out in these years whith difficult personality traits and conflicts...he did sever his mother relationship.

Arthur spent two years as a merchant in honor of his dead father, and because of his own doubts about being too old to start a life of a scholar.[43] Most of his prior education was practical merchant training and he had some trouble with learning Latin which was a prerequisite for any academic career.[44] His mother moved, with her daughter Adele, to Weimar—then the centre of German literature—to enjoy social life among writers and artists. Arthur and his mother were not on good terms. In one letter to him she wrote, "You are unbearable and burdensome, and very hard to live with; all your good qualities are overshadowed by your conceit, and made useless to the world simply because you cannot restrain your propensity to pick holes in other people."[45] Arthur left his mother, and though she died 24 years later, they never met again. Some of negative opinions of the later philosopher about women may be rooted in his troubled relationship with his mother.[46] Arthur lived in Hamburg with his friend Jean Anthime who was also studying to become a merchant.

His mother, while professing her love to him, criticized him sharply for being moody, tactless, and argumentative—and urged him to improve his behavior so he would not alienate people

Mars aspects the 4th house with it's 4 sign aspect.

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Mars is also placed in the fierce and sharp nakshatra Arda, which is one of the more challenging lunar mansions. It is a stormy nakshatra. His ascendant is also placed in Ardra.

Ardra's symbol is a teardrop and is frequently associated with deep emotions and also sorrow sometimes, as Shopenhauer did loose both parents in this time this would naturally produce grief and painful emotions.

A link from Joni Patry's site about lunar mansions, and Ardra here..

There is sadness as the symbol of the teardrop suggests. There is a very destructive quality here, but the destruction is necessary to save grace for the future. They create destruction and havoc wherever they go, sometimes even destroying themselves. This is the place of the dark night of the soul, for there is a new dawn or new beginning after the seeming tragedy. After the worse storms comes the beautiful sunny day, for the following nakshatra (Purnarvasu) means “return of the light.??? The rain the storm clouds produce brings growth and fertileness. These individuals are good at creating things out of destruction. They like to renovate old discarded things. This can refer to fixing up old houses or cars. They do have a lust for power and material things, and can appear cold and calculating. Their violent temperament causes many tears and depression, which can lead to their early destruction and death. They need to develop a sense of gratitude and appreciation for this will heal many wounds. Their real satisfaction comes as they overcome their hardships, and the truth and realization that comes through their suffering.

Seems to fit somewhat ?

Ardra “the moist one??? 6.40 to 20.00 Gemini

Symbol teardrop, diamond, a human head
Deity Rudra the storm god, “the howler??? and god of destruction, another form of Shiva.

Schopenhauer's Moons North Node's antiscion is conjunct his Descendant.

I have noticed a lot that celebrities and famous people have the Moons Nodes aspecting their chart angles (I use aspects one degree and under, and only conjunctions, squares, oppositions, and semi squares, and their antiscia).

I have often wondered who were the "celebrities" of other centuries, which is difficult to study as to get the chart angles we need an accurate birth time; the Astrodatabank chart of Schopenhauer that you link to gives an AA birth certificate birth time.

Schopenhauer's Mars is also extremely strong, I think Mars is really interesting and could be part of what is regarded as "pessimism", and also what gives great art and especially music its depth, its Duende.

His Uranus' antiscion is 3 degrees Gemini 13 minutes, which squares his Sun. In my opinion the Saturn Sun conjunction is a bit wide orbed, though it may have some effect especially with Uranus' antiscion enhancing the aspect. The wide orbed Sun Saturn conjunction suggests early childhood experience, with effect from when the Solar Arc is within one degree of exact, of the father being cold, remote and strict, maybe a lot older than most fathers, and the Uranus square could make the father quirky, and interesting. (I don't know anything much about Schopenhauer, and nothing about his family background and upbringing).

His Mercury is 135 degrees sesquiquadrate to his Uranus, which would probably give intelligence, and also sesquiquadrate to the antiscia of his Sun and Saturn, maybe giving the transmission of light which strengthens the wide Sun Saturn conjunction. His thought was maybe heavily influenced by his father?