The spectacular rise and fall of Anne Boleyn has fascinated us for close to five hundred years. She was one of King Henry VIII’s courtiers, his mistress and eventually his wife. She also became intoxicated with power and decided she was raised so high she could test the patience of the King who held within him a warrior moon in the house of death, his Aries moon in the 8th house.
Henry granted Anne a patent of nobility. She was created The Marquess of Pembroke and given manors for her upkeep. This is an ominous moment for Anne. She is represented by Pluto in the 2nd and there is a triumphant feel to the chart. As Pluto, she is square to Venus. The manipulation of love has brought her manors but the King represented by the retrograde Aquarius Ceres is alienated from Rome, from other countries and from his subjects. The investiture is occurring in the 10th house with its Virgo north node, Sun, Mercury and Mars and it is clear that all present are expecting perfection and there is no softness present. The entire event’s character is Scorpio. The King is not becoming common as seen in the Libran wedding horoscope of Charles and Diana but, in Scorpio, is raising Anne’s status toward his own. Certainly the king is not lifting Anne higher because of love although she may believe her ploys have him controlled, he is expecting a perfect consort queen, wife and mother to a healthy male heir. As Ceres, he invokes the need for a child for his kingdom.
The final ominous note is the coming conjunction of Cancer Uranus and Saturn. This is the glyph (♅♄) of the castration of Uranus and the end of progress. This is ominous for Anne because she is only rising due to the wiping away of the previous order and religious revolution. The end of that revolution will cause her power to stagnant. Cancer is the zodiac sign of the family and home. While historians suppose that the religious reforms are about the King’s power this progressive change is about reform of the family and those reforms end is in sight.
Now that he had raised her rank, she had to give him an heir. This was the bargain and Scorpio is all about the consequences of the bargain made in Libra. Anne had to deliver a healthy son. As soon as she suspected an heir, they were secretly married on January 25, 1533 (Julian) just before dawn. Once it was clear she was pregnant, the King told his council they were married. These are not the acts of a man in love. This was a stage managed affair with ample risk reduction so that the King could obtain what he wanted out of the bargain, male heirs. A man in love does not keep his marriage secret for months especially when he would not want his children to be named bastards.
The wedding horoscope itself bears the hallmark of tradition, as it is in Capricorn, but the moment shows that the King as the Sun and his wife, the Moon, have the theme of fighting and a battle. The Sun and Moon are together on a battlefield. The partners of these two planets; Saturn and Uranus, represent the actual ceremony. Henry is Saturn the partner of the Moon and Anne is Uranus the partner of the Sun. The symbol associated with Henry is “a automobile wreaked by a train”. Anne’s symbol is a “tiny nude miss reaching in the water for a fish”. Henry is very single minded and Anne seems to be reaching for the reward of her ambition and work.
Anne’s real marriage to King Henry is her coronation horoscope. With great pomp, he paraded her with her pregnant belly for his realm to see. This is the day she truly became Queen of England and his wife. This also occurred in Scorpio. He was raising her status even higher equivalent to his rank if not his authority. She could go no further than his queen consort. She had reached the heights.
Through all of these horoscopes one degree is highlighted over and over again; 26° Virgo. The sabian symbol is “a boy with a censor.” The degree is Henry VIII’s Mars, the Investiture Mars, and the Coronation Moon. The secret marriage also has the asteroid Anna at 27° Virgo. Twice the Pisces Neptune opposes these points as well. Henry’s willfulness, his Virgo Mars, becomes embodied in Anne Boleyn. Henry is completing a type of Virgoan purification, represented by the censor incense, of the church using his will. Although he may have loved her, he did not throw his kingdom into an uproar for love but for his will and for purification of the church. This played out in the church’s stance on families.
The Astrology of Anne Boleyn
Modern historians like to think they know more now than those who were there. There is abundant primary source material that suggest that King Henry VIII and Queen Anne had a tumultuous marriage. Since Ambassador Chapuys hated Anne, he is now suspect. However, her friends would hardly record details that would show her in a poor light.
King Henry VIII had reasons not to kill Anne Boleyn. She had been pregnant four times in three years and delivered one healthy child. He had overturned the religion of his kingdom and alienated himself from Rome to marry her. Throwing his second wife over so soon after annulling his marriage to the first wife made him look bad. It still does. Even about a month before he killed her he had tried to force Spain to recognize her as queen. As a symbol of his will, he wanted her recognized before he destroyed her. An Aries moon is ruthless and a Cancer sun is very strategic. He had a swordsman cut Anne’s head off and eleven days later married Jane Seymour. Chapuys was on to something, Anne was so spoiled by Henry’s previous attention and completely taken in by his attachment to her. Her bad behavior was tolerated and she probably had no idea how close to the cliff’s edge she was walking. And her friends, her former supporters like Cromwell conspired to have her killed.
Anne Boleyn’s birth date is unknown. There are historical clues though. She lived a life that suggests she had Gemini zodiac sign placements but her marriage reveals a strong contact possibly in a square or opposition to Henry’s Mars. It is also likely that Pluto was also active in the marriage.
She was decapitated by sword stroke on May 19, 1536 (Julian) at 9 am. Here she is represented by the Gemini Sun. Appropriately the Gemini Moon is conjunct Icarus and also is conjunct Henry’s south node and Venus. Anne had choices. She could have retired permanently from the court, or returned to France, or consented to be Henry’s mistress until he tired of her but instead she had played for the royal rank of Queen. Like Icarus, she had flown too close to the Sun and her wax wings had melted causing her to plummet back to earth. From the depths to the heights and back to the depths. At any time, he could lower her as much as he had raised her. This is Scorpio, the power behind the throne, and the intimacy of dependence. The one who can rise and stand on the precipice and circle the sun. The one who can fall far.