The Demon Star and St. Rita the Incorrupt
St. Rita of Cascia: Saint of the Impossible
St. Rita was a lay woman who lived in an abusive marriage. Her husband was infamous and would beat her. He was eventually murdered by bandits. Her sons then sought to avenge their father’s death. St. Rita prayed and implored for them not to.
After she found herself alone, she lived as a recluse in her home. One day she heard a voice talking to her. She discovered it to be St. John the Baptist and two other saints who guided her into the Augustinian monastery. There, she found herself inside the locked up monastery. The nuns discovered her apported into the monastery where she told them her story.
One day, St. Rita went out to hear a famous preacher. She returned convicted of the Lord’s suffering. She prostrated herself in prayer and begged Jesus to give her one of his thorns. Jesus granted this request and launched a thorn into the middle of her forehead. Rita felt intense pain and fainted from it. She recovered with the thorn still in her forehead. The wound it created survived to her death and never recovered. Rather, it festered and grew worse to the point that the other nuns did not wish to be around Rita. So, Rita would often confine herself to her cell.
A note: While I’ve created St. Rita’s birth chart about a year or two ago, I never started to write about her. This post I began on May 22nd, her feast day. I did not realize this until sometime in the process of writing this post. The transits show Mercury on her Venus and Moon (Writing about a girl), and of course the Solar Return.
Here is her chart:
Obviously, her hour of birth is unknown. However, this day has Venus and the Moon in the same sign. Rita was known for being a beautiful woman. So, I took the liberty of timing her chart for a Moon/Venus conjunct: Beautiful (Venus) Girl (Moon). I then made a Johndro birth locality chart to give her more accurate angles. The Johndro chart allows for useable angles and houses, even if the hour of birth is wrong. While the Venus/Moon conjunct is likely, Johndro’s rulership system allows for aspects up to 7 1/2 degrees. And many astrologers allow luminaries for conjuncts within 10 degrees. The Moon moves every two hours, so, we rely on a tight conjunct with an unknown birth hour. So, the birth locality chart is still needed to grant useable houses and angles. A basic natal chart gives her a Cancer ascendant, while the Birth Locality gives her a Libra ascendant, to give you an idea of the difference.
She has a stellium in the 8th House, Taurus. Venus, Moon, Saturn, Pluto, Mars. The 8th House is known as “The Gate of Hell.” These planets do not have major aspects to the Ascendant, and this is the House as the planets fall below the horizon. Thus, it is an “unfortunate” house. There is no worse place to have a stellium. Most infamously, House 8 is the House of death, thus, the planets energies are targeted toward death and loss. St. Rita was a widow and outlived her two sons. The manner this happened is interesting.
Her sons wanted to avenge their father’s death. St. Rita did all she could to dissuade them, finally praying before a crucifix asking Jesus to change her sons’ minds, or, if that fails, to have her sons die without committing the murder. They died that year.
Her Eris is conjunct her Juno. I hesitate to say much, because I do not understand Eris at all. But, I find the conjunct interesting. Juno, while having other Saturnian qualities, is certainly about marriage. Juno appears conjunct when I met my wife, aspects hers, and shows up in wedding anniversaries. Juno is marriage. Rita’s marriage was abusive and she stuck through it until death. So, Eris conjunct Juno might have something to do with that. One of the keywords I’ve found with Eris is a sense of the understanding of the sacredness of marriage, as well as vows. This fits.
The Mars placement can read: “ Girl (Venus) Suddenly (Uranus) Pierced (Mars) by Miraculous (Uranus) Thorn (Mars).” Mars is in a 4 degree conjunct with Pluto. Pluto is the planet of gross things. Rita’s thorn wound grew to be rancid, and it’s said, even maggot filled (she called them her “little angels.”) Both “fetid” and “maggot” belong to Pluto, among other offensive things. Mars is “injury.” So, the conjunct gives us “Fetid (Pluto) Injury (Mars).” The wound’s inability to heal is said to have been a permanent penance of Rita’s divinely given to her. Thus she bore it with patience and indifference.
The trine between Uranus and Mars has alot of activity. Not the least being the conjunct with Pluto and Algol. Algol is at 17 Taurus on this chart, since St. Rita was born hundreds of years ago in the 1300s. The subrulerships for 17 Taurus, are different than the rulerships for the other stigmatists we’ve observed: Venus, Jupiter, Neptune, Saturn. Only the R4 rulership is a malefic. Today, Algol sits in Plutionian degrees, but the fact that stigmatists living in different centuries all have Algol aspects says the star has its own meaning, apart from what degree it is in, just as a planet or angle does. Just as the other stigmatists with an Algol conjunct suffered from onslaughts of demons, so did St. Rita. She bore them with patience and calmly exorcised the demons from herself and others using simple words of blessing.
I want to note the transneptunians on this Uranus/Mars/Pluto aspect. Hades is on her Uranus and aspecting Mars and Pluto. Hades is what it sounds like: Ghosts and Demons. But it is also of germs and disease. Then Zeus is conjunct Pluto. Zeus is fire and inflamation. Admetus is also conjunct the two. Admetus is “endure.”
BEES
Five days after Rita was born, there were found bees buzzing around her cradle and harmlessly flying in and out of her mouth. By this point, Venus has moved conjunct with Pluto in the Venus ruled half of Taurus. “Innocent (Venus) Honey (Venus) Insects (Pluto).” Transit Moon is at 23 Cancer sextiling Transit and Natal Mars in 21-24 Taurus. “Sees (Moon) Child (Venus) and Benevolent (Jupiter) Stinging (Mars) Bugs (Pluto). If we only use the Moon’s placement we get much the same thing: “Sees (Moon) Miraculous (Uranus) Swarm/Hovering (Neptune) of Stinging (Mars) Bugs (Pluto).”
Since then, St. Rita has been associated with bees, and some more miraculous events have occured regarding her and bees.
THE DEATH CHART
Numerous miraculous events surround her death, as they did her life. Her death was on her Solar Return. This does allow for some events witnessed, such as the miraculous light (Sun) that shone at her death. The more important aspects, though, are Transit Venus on her Uranus/Mars trine. Venus is “fragrance" and “youth” and “beauty.” Uranus is “miracle.” Immediatly at her death, St. Rita’s body shone with a light, her body became years younger and soft and supple, and emitted the odor of sanctity. Her head wound shone a bright red light and the worms became light, sparkled, and disappeared.
The Sun opposes her Saturn and squares her Juno. My investigations into Juno have shown it to be highly Saturnian. It shows up in hard aspects for death, arrests, and marriage, just as Saturn does. The Suns also trine her Neptune. Obviously, these are natal aspects for her, as well, but show, perhaps, why her death needed to happen on a Solar Return.
Ian Murphy took a look at the death chart. Due to lack of information, we do not know how St. Rita died, but his analysis gives some hints.
Plus mercury with pluto, mars & uranus describes the windpipe (mercury) struggling (uranus) from an unknown (pluto) injury (mars)
"Irritated (mars) by disruptive (uranus) sounds (mercury) that're unhealthy (pluto)"
"Harsh (mars) unexpected (uranus) coughs (mercury) that're bad (pluto)"
St. Rita’s body was found to be incorrupt at the moment of her death with her body appearing younger at her death along with the miraculous light and odor of sanctity. Jupiter is “incorrupt.” Her Jupiter aspects Moon and Venus (“Incorrupt Girl”) and also sextiles Saturn: “Incorrupt (Jupiter) Corpse (Saturn).” It also squares her Sun: “Eternally (Sun) Incorrupt (Jupiter).”
A final note: St. Rita is the patron saint of impossible causes. This means she makes the impossible happen. This can be seen with the Uranus/Mars aspect: "Miraculous actions.” But, also her Saturn/Moon/Venus conjunct: “Girl (Moon/Venus) of the Impossible (Saturn).”