Chart Profile

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and the summer of 1788

Read up on Mozart's birth chart here.

Click to view to the chart. (If fuzzy click again to zoom.)

Astrology not only tells us what, it tells us when. Since we have two prominent planetary stations (Venus stationing direct on 2/3/06 at 16 Capricorn and Jupiter stationing retrograde on 3/4/06 at 18 Scorpio) I wanted to see if any stations were in play during Mozart's prominent successes.

The last three symphonies - #39, #40 and #41 the "Jupiter" - are some of Mozart's most popular and triumphant works. They were all written in the summer of 1788, a short period of time even for a musical genius. What was happening for Mozart astrologically?

Setting a chart for July 1 1788, one of the first things we see is Neptune at 18 Libra right on his Jupiter, also at 18 Libra. Neptune relates to all kinds of intangible experiences and it is often prominent in charts of artists and musicians. One of the fun things about astrology software is viewing the transits to a chart day by day, month by month, year by year. When we look through the summer of 1788, we see that Neptune was not only passing by Mozart's Jupiter but had stationed right on it! Neptune had turned direct on June 29 1788 at 18 Libra 21, just 10 minutes from Mozart's natal Jupiter at 18 Libra 31. This means from April 18 1788 to September 5 1788, Neptune was within 1 degree of Mozart's Jupiter. Since Neptune takes 165 years to circle the zodiac, this was a once in a lifetime event. Neptune relates to music, Jupiter improves & expands, and the last three symphonies were the result.

The wonders of astrology never cease. We'd expect to find a significant star event to correlate with what are arguably his 3 greatest symphonies, and this is clear as day. And note the title of his last symphony - dubbed Jupiter because it was so great, not because some astrologer had figured out the transit. Neptune hadn't even been discovered yet, but for those in the know today it's a nice touch.

Can we see something else going on with the traditional planets of art (Venus) and communication (Mercury)? Yes! On July 1, Mercury was at 5 Leo, moving towards Mozart's natal Neptune at 9 Leo, and Venus was at 19 Leo. Again we click through the summer at see the effects of planet movements at work. Venus stationed retrograde on July 18 at 24 Leo and moved backwards to station direct at on August 30 at 7 Leo, just 2 degrees from his natal Neptune. This is significant. At the same time transiting Neptune was within 1 degree of his natal Jupiter, transiting Venus was stationing within 2 degrees of natal Neptune! So the music of the time was not only prodigious in output (Jupiter), it was beautiful (Venus).

And why could Mozart write down all this transcendent music he was hearing in his head? Because Mercury was also in play. On July 1 we see Mercury at 5 Leo, just two degrees from natal Neptune. On July 20 Mercury goes retrograde at 17 Leo and spends the next 3 weeks traveling backwards along with Venus and passing over his natal Neptune again. Mercury stationed direct on August 13 at 6 Leo, again within proximity to natal Neptune. To put it simply, both planets of art - Venus that finds the beauty, and Mercury that writes it down - were hanging around his natal Neptune at the same time. Again this is likely  another once in a lifetime event to have them both happening at the same time.

In a future column, we'll look at the overview of his life with the traditional technique of firdaria.