Hudson Valley Astrologer

Leonardo da Vinci has always been an intriguing figure in my mind.

He was born in the sign of Taurus, a little over two hours before midnight. The Moon was racing toward Jupiter, the grand benefic dignified in Pisces, near the end of the sign and feeling the tug of Aquarius no doubt. The Moon, also in Pisces, is conjunct Jupiter in his chart and together they form a beautiful sextile with the Sun. Jupiter rules the Ascendant but what stands out both by its elevation and because it is conjunct his Midheaven is the planet Neptune. He’d be an artist, and one of the most creative and imaginative souls to ever walk this earth.

When the Midheaven moved by Solar Arc to Neptune, at age 4, his life changed. Within a year he was living in his father’s household and raised mainly by his paternal grandparents. Both his birth parents remarried, so young Leonardo suffered a profound loss that he would carry the rest of his days. He was born an illegitimate child because his father Ser Piero da Vince had an affair with Leonardo’s mother, Caterina, who was likely a slave. She gave birth, cared for the baby for the first five years of his life and then had to become much more discreet about mothering him. There is evidence that the Madonna images in some of his paintings were idealized version of his mother, and that they had kept in touch.

What a fascinating individual and historical figure, an artist, engineer, and extraordinary intellect. He was a true polymath in every sense of the word.

If we are ever dissatisfied with ourselves, unfulfilled in relationship and feel trapped because we have settled, maybe we are lying to ourselves not because our partner is somehow less than what we hoped for, but instead because we are in fact not expressing the best version of ourselves, which if we did, which might change everything.

HVA

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