St. Gemma Galgani

A look at St. Gemma's chart reveals things contrary to the skeptics.

NOTE AND UPDATE: This post is extremely green, astrologically. I have since expanded my knowledge, experience and techniques. This post is now being turned into a book. A few of my discoveries of Gemma’s astrology are articles on this site acting as first drafts of chapters in the book, and more may be posted. This article now serves as a cursory glance at what a novice astrologer can glean from Gemma’s chart.

This is the interpretation of Gemma Galgani’s Natal Chart. She was born on March 12th, 1878 at 18:30 in Lucca, Italy. The first thing I notice on her chart is the massive, expanded stellium in House 7. She then has another stellium in House 9. Both are unopposed, with barely even asteroids in the opposing houses. The House 9 stellium shows an obsession over spiritual things. House 7 is Pisces showing someone seeking a deep, spiritual connection with their lover who shares the same. This passion was all consuming and unopposed by any energy. Gemma was a spouse of Christ.

ASCENDANT: Virgo. The planetary ruler for Virgo is Mercury, making her chart ruler Mercury. Her core self is that of a methodical, intelligent girl. She looks to do the right thing. She is conservative and down-to-earth. As her Ascendant, Virgo determines her physical appearance. She is slim and delicate. Demure, cool, and has an understated elegance about her.

SUN: Pisces. House 7. She is a natural empath. She seeks deep spiritual connections. Her will is targeted toward love and relationships. The fish and swallow symbolism of Pisces means she is close to divinity (fish) and is a messenger between the living and the dead (swallow). She is self-sacrificing to a fault.

Her Saturn is conjunct with her Sun. This says two things: (1) Saturn is death. Saturn can be calculated for time of death based on how far it is from the sun. Here, it’s right on top of the Sun. Short life. Further, it’s a diurnal Saturn. This shows a blessed death. She died a saint and was honored as such at her death.

MOON: Gemini.10. She is a jack of all trades. And we see this in her life, she was a good student, writer, wrote poetry and played piano. The Gemini Moon is also prone to little, white lies. We get at least one explicit instance of this in Gemma’s letters where she confesses to Fr. Germanus deliberatly lying to some people to get away from them and their attention. Conjunct Siva and Medium Caeli. Moon and Sun square each other. Siva is conjunct with the moon, showing that Gemma was gifted with the Third Eye, and has potential to gain power and prestige in life. (You might remember that the Our Lady of Fatima chart had Siva in the Sun house which gives the same energy.)

LEAD PLANET: Jupiter.House 5. Benevolent and serves others. She becomes the center of attention and seeks for her life to mean something. However, Jupiter is fallen in Capricorn. Terrible luck. This holds up with someone who became an orphan and impoverished.

North Node: Aquarius. House 6. Seeks the greater good through service.

Grand Earth Trine. Ascendant, Jupiter, and Mars/Pluto. An earthy, gritty, yet sensual charm. She is practical, diligent, and a workaholic.Earth triplicity. Risk-averse. Industrious. Down to earth, grounded, “quite sane actually,” pensive, and thoughtful.Conservative. Enjoys stability. Makes careful, thoughtful decisions.

Medium Caeli. House 10. Gemini. This is St. Gemma. She became a saint by being spiritual, so, it’s clear the spiritual practices of Gemini are for her. Journaling are one of them. This is what Gemma did with her diary and autobiography and letter writing.

Black Moon Lillith: House 7. Pisces. Black Moon Lillith in House 7 is typically associated with promiscuous women. The Black Moon represents vices that need exorcised before attaining spirituality. This means Gemma had a uniquely harder time sins of the flesh than we may think. This bears out with Gemma saying temptations of the flesh were the worst, and eventually asking God to keep the devil from tempting her with them, entirely (and it being granted). She went to extreme measures to keep from such temptations, most notably her brutal custody of the eyes where she was not to look at anything, and the time she jumped into freezing water to flee the temptation and almost died save for an invisible hand pulling her out.

(Dark Moon Lillith is conjunct with Black Moon, in fact, right on top of it.)

Lillith, the asteroid, is in House 8. While Black Moon, in House 7 does point to promiscuity, Black Moon, is really about undeveloped areas of life, as well as the inner, dark secrets. However, Lillith does point to the problematic sinful areas in your life. And for Gemma, it shows lust and pride. House 8.

On the theme of Gemma’s sexuality, where I must tread carefully, Psyche is in Scorpio which can show a “repressed sexuality” However, House 3 (where Psyche is) is about childhood and siblings. Psyche points to where early childhood trauma is. And Gemma certainly had her share with parents and siblings dying when she was little.

White Moon Selena. House 11. Cancer. White Moon shows how you connect with God. White Moon in Cancer shows the family caretaker, and the nurturer. Gemma was the one who kept busy doing chores around the house and caring for the sick members of the household. So much so, the actual house servants felt useless.

House 11 is about the community which shows that Gemma spread that same energy to other through almsgiving.

Mercury. House 7. Pisces. Mecury is in detriment. She prefers to experience life through her physical, emotional, or spiritual senses, rather than be intellectual. She is not a communicator. She is a quiet person. Mercury in Pisces also points to a challenging childhood full of delays.

Venus. House 6. Aquarius. She is spiritual and mystic in her everyday life. She has compassion for others. Retrograde: She is insecure, intuitive, and fears not being accepted. These are the traits for a retrograde Venus.  This is all pointing toward her fear of not being accepted by people and Jesus. In daily life, she feared being a burden to her caretakers. Toward Jesus, she feared being too sinful to be accepted.

Venus squares Mars. This often points to a person who is lustful and lascivious. People with this aspect tend to toward promiscuity and other related sins. Again, I hestitate to indicate this of a saint. But, Gemma gives zero indication she ever fell in these matters. St. Gemma is a prime example of a person not being bound their natal chart. These planets are influences. Not fate. However, the Natal Chart is where the signs and planets imprint themselves onto your nature such that they are always with you (as opposed to the transits as you go through your life). St. Gemma overrode all these influences to sin in her nature.

Mars: House 9. Taurus. Mars is in detriment. Gemma is a pacifist. She does not like to fight, and would rather make peace, and avoids conflict. Mars in Taurus also points to a more spiritual minded person. In fact, Mars is in House 9 which is the house for expanding the mind. Her more competitive drive (if she has one) is toward spiritual things.

Mars is also in conjunct with Pluto, an unpredictable planet of power. It is often a malefic influence, but it has a lot of unchecked power that can be tapped into for success. Considering that Gemma had a lot of demons, death, and disease about about her, it’s safe to say she was getting much Plutonian influence.

Uranus. House 12. Leo. Retrograde. Reserved and conservative personality.

Neptune: House 9. Taurus. Neptune is a planet that brings psychic dreams, intuition, and clairvoyance. Combine that with House 9 and we got a planet bringing a lot of this visionary energy to her.

Chiron. House 9. Taurus. Conjunct Neptune. Chiron shows where the deepest wounds are, and how these wounds are transformed into an advantage. Taurus is an earth sign. Body. Gemma is being physically wounded. And isn’t this her life story? Physical suffering. But, she then turns this into a strength through the sacrifice of the cross. The House shows where the wounds become a strength. House 9 is, again, about spiritual matters and expanded consciousness. Chiron also points to your soul’s purpose. Gemma’s was to suffer.

Gemma’s chart reveals many things, and seems to keep bringing insights the more I look at it. I will be returning to it again and again. What is most important is that this chart reveals that her story is true. She is someone with spiritual and psychic connections, who was born to suffer. Perhaps, most importantly, it shows she was someone prone to fantasies, excitability, or “hysteria.” Again and again her planets and sensitive points show someone who is “down to earth.” This is line with how people who knew her described her. She was a quiet, conservative girl, who was always ready to help. She was not prone to emotional outbursts nor excitable.

When I next look at Gemma’s chart, it will be her Death Chart.