After looking at Dolley Madison’s chart a few weeks ago, I decided to take a look at the charts of other first ladies. So why not start with the first of the first….Martha Washington? This first lady, born June 2, 1731 at Chestnut Grove, Virginia at 10:29 AM, is known mostly for her quiet, regal reserve, her generosity especially to the Revolutionary war soldiers and her devotion to her husband.
First glance at her chart shows a domination of planets and asteroids in her 10th house, the house of society and government and the 9th house, the house of “searching” – reaching beyond ourselves and our borders. (I know that is a nutshell description but hang on.) She has the Sun in Gemini in conjunction with Mars and Neptune in the 10th. So her life force energy, her Sun, was in the house that generally rules social structure and government – gee, think that would account for an attraction to a outrageously ambitious man involved in government building? To that, she has Mars -raw energetic power – but that is influenced by the spirituality and compassion of Neptune. It was that Neptune, with its influence from Pisces compassion and caring for others, that lead her spend many a frigid winter and boiling summer caring for her husband’s soldiers. Mars gave her the fortitude, Neptune the desire.
Martha Washington was a very wealthy woman – mostly from her first marriage. Ah yes, first marriage – look at Pisces on the cusp of her 7th house. That usually portends karmic marriages – people we have gone around with before. (One of these days I will get around to doing a synastry chart on George and Martha. Ah so many charts so little time!) Pisces on the 7th also shows the possibility of more than one marriage in a lifetime. Martha’s first husband died leaving her very wealthy and socially positioned.
With her Moon in Taurus it was a good thing she was left wealthy. Taureans love possessions – they love comfort – just think of the Bull in the pasture lying in the sweet grass. They are very happy when they have “things” around them. Taurus resonates to the 2nd house – the house of self worth and possessions – so they have a natural affinity toward that connection – comfort and goods. (Of course, it didn’t hurt that she had Jupiter, the planet of expansion in her first house – the house of personality.)
Uranus in the 4th house indicates a unique home life that will change suddenly. With her husband off fighting wars and then retiring only to come out again to be President – I guess you can say her home life was unique. Sadly, Martha Washington buried several children -and that ability for Uranus to pull the rug out from you suddenly can manifest with this kind of loss as well.
While she deplored the hardships, all of those planets in the 9th house, the house of expansion, of learning other religions and cultures. She reveled in the opportunity to meet other people and explore their cultures. Stories of the stream of visitors at Mount Vernon are legendary. Had there been a White House in her day, she would have imprinted a legend of gracious hospitality.
Shortly before her death, Mrs. Washington burned the private letters between her and her husband much to the chagrin of historians. We will never know the Washington’s as we do the Adams. Well, blame that on Leo. Her Leo ascendancy gave her the regal gentility for which she was famous but it also gives a sense that there is a piece that the “king and queen” can’t share with the populace. Leo is the Lion – the king of the jungle remember. While the shadow of Leo can be haughtiness and snobbery – even the most elevated of Leo’s have that sense of class difference, if you will. So while she was able to share her husband, share her home and share a great deal of herself there was still that sense that you can’t have it all.
As a freak for history I can lament her decision, as an astrology I totally see where she was coming from.