Astrological Profile – Galileo Galilei

‘And still it moves’ – Galileo

‘I do not feel obliged to believe that the same God who has endowed us with senses, reason, and intellect has intended us to forgo their use and by some other means to give us knowledge which we can attain by them.’

How quickly judgement is passed on others, simply because they are misunderstood, or hold a different opinion. Certainly, the Universe, the Infinite, God, Dog or whatever you choose to call it, made diversity for a reason, and gave us all thought and emotional processes quite unique for an equally important purpose. Any astrologer understands this diversity, and is simultaneously amazed and bewitched by its existence.

Galileo Galilei, born in Pisa, Tuscany, Italy on 16th February, 1564 was an astrologer, mathematician and scientist of the greatest magnitude. His birth chart portrays him as an immensely pious man. How then, could such ignorance exist to ever brand him a heretic? Ignorance and fear go hand in hand. In this case, the reason was obviously  a double dose of phobia of a massive paradigm shift and religious pride.

A Sun Sign Aquarian (surprise, surprise) with Leo rising, one of the most remarkable traits of Galileo’s birth chart is a harmonious angle from the Ascendant, Leo, to the Moon and Uranus, which are conjunct each other in Sagittarius. He was a strong spirit, confident, yet equally humble in his piety. His fifth house conjunction between the Moon and Uranus, created curious inspiration of a most adventurous nature. His Ascendant occupies the lunar mansion of Ashlesha, bearing forth the fruit of a mystic interest in probing Universal Enigmas. His Moon and Uranus were both placed in the lunar mansion of Jyeshtha, which manifests the ability to see things from a Higher Perspective. In addition, this is also likely the same quality of his astrology that made him fearless in putting forth his theories, which were in direct contradiction to the philosophies of the Church. Your regular Joe just did not do this in Galileo’s time.

Saturn conjunct Jupiter can exhibit intense devotion in the chart of an individual. But, if you add to this a conjunction of Venus and Pluto, it is definitively deepened. Galileo’s Jupiter is in Leo, whilst his Saturn is in Cancer, both in the deeply spiritual 12th house, according to the Placidus House System. Both planets are retrograde, which made him highly pensive. A benefit of this aspect, due to the respective signs of Saturn and Jupiter, is strength and security in Self. As both are placed in the lunar mansion of Pushya, the Sacred played a large role in his life. He was driven by a desire to understand the Universe’s mysteries.

This was his Ultimate Devotion for which he was willing to sacrifice. This was signified by his Venus-Pluto conjunction. If you look up the word devotion in the astrological dictionary, if there were one, the words Venus in Pisces define it. Add to this the intensity of Pluto……well……I think you can begin to see the picture. This conjunction was in Galileo’s 8th house of mystery and research. Both planets are placed in the lunar mansion of Purva Bhadrapada, which give the energy of elevation. To put it succinctly, when he had an itch, it simply had to be scratched, and scratched well.

With Mars in Taurus, and Krittika, forming a harmonious aspect with both Jupiter and Saturn in Galileo’s chart, he understood his work as a pursuit of the Truth. Quite stubborn and relentless when anyone tried to refute the obvious, even if that anyone happened to be the Church, he would take it upon himself to state what he new to be right, real and true. It is no wonder then, that upon being forced to recant his discovery of the Earth’s rotation around the Sun, or be branded a heretic and executed, he muttered, “And still it moves.”