St. Nicholas' Birth Chart
The Chart and Death of a Miracle Worker
Today is St. Nicholas’ feast day. St. Nicholas is a historical figure. He was a bishop of the Catholic Church and a reputed miracle worker ressurecting the dead, miracle healings, exorcisms, and otherwise creating miracles whereever he went. His most famous story is dropping gold coins down a chimney for an impoverished man looking to sell his daughters into prostitution. This is where we get the Santa Claus giving gifts down a chimney, and the chocolate gold coins for Christmas.
St. Nicholas’ traditional birthdate is March 15 270. I wanted to confirm this. Ancient people simply were not concerned about recording birth dates. But, what they do have is death dates. Catholics especially are concerned about death dates and those are recorded and set in stone. So, I can astrologically confirm or deny his birth chart via his death chart. St. Nicholas’ death date is December 6 343.
St. Nicholas died a holy, good death. He was not martyred. He lived to an old age and died seeing angels to take him to Heaven (psychopomps) while he sang Psalm 31. This was a grace he asked God for.
On its own, the chart can show a death. Pluto is square the Sun and parallel Saturn. If you biwheel it with the traditonal birth date of St. Nicholas, it gets more interesting:
Transit Venus is conjunct Natal Pluto. And Jupiter opposes Pluto in transit. A blessed death. Transit Neptune (Heaven) is also squaring his Sun. Neptune can also represent angels. Jupiter also represents prayer. So, “A Loss (Pluto) prayed (Jupiter) for.” Or, “A Blessed (Jupiter) Ghost (Pluto).” Venus is showing a beautiful loss or a gift, essentially a good death.
If we progress the natal chart we get a bigger confirmation that this is the correct birth chart. Progressions to death dates are how you confirm natal charts. Here, we once again get a Venus/Pluto conjunct. This time it’s the progressed Pluto on natal Venus. We also have progressed Venus nearing a conjunct with Juno. We like tighter orbs with dwarf planets, but I note it because this is not the first time I’ve seen Juno show up like this on a saint’s death chart. There is an astrological theory that Juno shows the inevitable in events. It might also be showing a heavenly marriage (the Church is Christ’s bride). Juno for sure shows these religious marriage vows to Christ, but I’m saving that for publication in my book.
Now we can look at St. Nicholas’ birth chart:
The first thing I want to see is Uranus. Uranus governs miracles. Uranus is at 10 Gemini. Uranus is conjunct his Moon and Jupiter. It is also parallel Neptune, Mars, and Jupiter. “Great (Jupiter) Miracles (Uranus), Catholic/Angelic/Heavenly/Saintly (Neptune) Miracles (Uranus), Performing (Mars) Miracles (Uranus).” The placement is well positioned for miracles.
Further, Saint Nicholas seems to have been born in a chaotic moment where numerous planets had stationed around a month ago: Mercury (-10 days), Jupiter (-44 days), Uranus (-26 days), Neptune stationing in 5 days, and Pluto (-16 days). This would be a moment where the gas giants were all disrupting earth’s electromagnetic currents and thus the normal workings on earth. An appropriate time for a miracle worker to be born.
St. Nicholas’ Venus is peregrine. A peregrine planet is a planet with no aspects to it. These are planets that are unpredictable in a man’s life. Venus is the planet of blessings. Gemini is ruled by Venus and so we can look at this Aquarian Venus as showing a love of social work. Thus, Nicholas’ miracle-working Uranus is being applied to helping the poor and sick. Venus is also the planet associated with children. St. Nicholas is the patron saint of children, and his most notable resurrection was that of murdered children.
His Sun is in a tight trine with Pluto. This creates interesting wordplay in Johndro’s astrological dictionary. At its most basic we have “Mystical (Pluto) Life (Sun).” But, with the trine’s Mercurial and Uranian nature, things get better. “Mystic (Pluto) Preaching (Mercury) the Resurrection (Uranus) of God (Sun).” (Remember, St. Nicholas was a bishop.) Or, we can have it read for St. Nicholas’ miracles “Life (Sun) Preaching (Mercury) and Resurrecting (Uranus) the Lost (Pluto).” Or “Animating (Sun) the Departed (Pluto).”
This is sure to be an endlessly fascinating chart that I will revisit. This is all a cursory glance at what I found most interesting. This was a saint, a bishop said to have been influential in Church councils and history, and a miracle worker. There is alot to work with on this chart, and astrological techniques are sure to bring up alot. I will end with one final note:
With his Neptune parallel Mars we can read: Christmas (Neptune) Man (Mars).