Appendix B
Friedrich Nietzsche, Rectification Examples and Other Details

I cannot now remember with which event I started to tentatively set Nietzsche’s time of birth. I can state for sure it was not his insanity.

Rectification is roughly to plus or minus two minutes, or the nearest half of a degree. This method has many more lights per chart than does traditional astrology. When lights are on Angles they increase orb for other planets-to-Angles. For that reason, more exact rectification is difficult.

I have listed six conditions which support the rectified time. To keep things as simple as possible, only major sets for each event are shown below.

(1) Nietzsche’s father died on July 30, 1849. While information regarding a father’s influence on his children is found in the 4th chart, his death, as is also the case for the mother’s, is found in the 10th chart, perhaps because a death in the family is a fairly public event.

Nietzsche’s progressed B MC is at 6 Virgo 36 opposing progressed c uranus (in b 4th/c2nd houses) at 6 Pisces 12.

(2) He was named a full professor at Basel on February 12, 1869. Again we look in the 10th chart, but the 7th is also important for such promotions.

(2-b’) At that time his progressed b jupiter was at 1 Pisces 39 R, still opposition his B MC at 1 Virgo 50 and conjunct pc10 moon at 1 Pisces 24.

The above mars in Pisces part of the b’ set indicates professional jealousy (or potshots) because of his unprecedented promotion.

For his unprecedented promotion Nietzsche, then, has moon, mercury, venus, and jupiter on Angles in his 10th chart.

The beneficence of these sets before progressions and their influence to 10th and 2nd houses show how Nietzsche, retiring to become a wanderer after 10 years at Basel, did so at two-thirds his regular salary.

(3) When he submitted his resignation, progressed C MC was at 10 Sagittarius 37, aspecting the same 4th house uranus which progressed B Asc hit when he went insane. Progressed Angles to his two uranuses in Pisces in his b 4th figure in several of his end points--his father’s death, his resignation, and his own insanity.

(4) In the Fall of 1867, Nietzsche was inducted into the military for one year of service during the Franco-Prussian war. I used September 15, 1867 in his 7th chart, the main chart of this method.

I have no military inductions to compare with Nietzsche’s. I thought, however, progressions of his Angles to mars and uranus good for an individual usually studious and sedentary suddenly becoming active, “military.”. Nietzsche served in the medical corps. His forefront (by progression) moon in Scorpio shown in (c’’) represents the blood, guts, and death he witnessed so much of. He did not serve his full year, but was released because of illness.

(5) His acquaintance with Salomé, a young, attractive, intellectual, and independent female (which lasted about six months--long enough for him to fail in his marriage proposal) showed up in his 7th chart as progressed Angle to saturn (non-harmonic) plus progressed Angle to venus, but the latter was late, months late. His 5th chart was stronger. Before progressions it has more benefic than malefic influence, but the latter includes a moon/mars/saturn conjunction in Aquarius, with mars ruling an Angle--an anti-sexual set. The really powerful benefic set it contains is shown below.

Nietzsche met Salomé in Rome in “late April,” 1882. She, Dr. Paul Rée, and Nietzsche were to become an intense threesome (though not a ménage-a-trois) on and off throughout the next six months. I used April 25 for the following 5th chart progression:

Look at what happened to his powerful benefic set, shown below in (d’):

Set (5-d’) is the only chart of Nietzsche’s in which c pluto picks up benefic influence. It has no Angular influence, however. On the date he met Lou, (d’) picked up progressed b5 mars at 25 Pisces 08, ruler of B Asc and b 5th house. He felt he had met a “twin brain.” His excitement must have been intense.

If not marriage, Nietzsche had been clinging to the hope the three of them--Salomé, Rée, and himself--would live together. In late October 1882 that hope, too, fizzled. The three drifted apart. Mandel quotes a Nietzsche biographer, Curt Paul Janz, “Nietzsche was to suffer appallingly for months under the impact of this parting; the ‘festive year’ was over and heavy shadows fell over his moods, shadows which he was never again able to escape.”(liv)

Note set (5-d’) influences his 4th and 9th houses. It is in his 5th chart. It brings to mind Mandel’s statement, “...when in the Jena mental asylum Nietzsche boasted that 24 whores had visited him at night.” (Salomé, xlii). A deluded boast of an insane man, of course. Of course? Venus and jupiter conjunct in Pisces is highly benefic. One way or another the universe will supply the individual with whatever it stands for. Since all the planets in a set must express together or alternately, one cannot cease to function. The literal interpretation for the set could be..."at the end of his life (4th) when his suffering (Pisces) was most intense (Pluto) Nietzsche’s sex life (5th chart) reached fulfillment (venus conjunct jupiter) through non-ordinary (9th) ways.

(6) Nietzsche’s death was strong in his 12th chart, but was most powerful in his 6th chart, an already seriously afflicted chart. Looking first in his 6th chart for sets for his death:

(6-e) shows an Angular/4th progression, identifying a possible end of life situation. His affliction came from:

Set (6-e’) shows the required lighted mars and saturn influence to an Angle and a 4th house. Only this chart provided a light for Nietzsche’s progressed non-harmonic mars square saturn. He had an additional Angle/saturn:

Nietzsche’s 6th chart starts out with three of his four mercuries afflicted by saturn. Considering all his progressed mercury/mars/saturn and 3rd house affliction in this, his 6th chart, it seems entirely possible something pathological (mars/saturn) happened to Nietzsche’s brain (mercury) resulting in his death. The question is, what exactly? Stroke? End-stage syphilis of the brain? I have no other charts of individuals who died of syphilis, so have nothing to compare his to.

Siegfried Mandel insists Nietzsche did not die of syphilis. The Brown website contains a professional opinion that he did. From the February 14, 1999 NY Times Book Review, it quotes Dr. Archinto P. Anzil, Professor Emeritus of Neuropathology at the State University of New York--Downstate Medical Center in Brooklyn:

Friedrich Nietzsche suffered from a tertiary form of neurosyphilis, namely from general paresis of the insane or dementia paralytica. This is an inflammation of the brain tissue, that is, an encephilitis caused by or etiologically-related to the microbial agent syphilis. A typical and early manifestation of dementia paralytica is the development of paranoid ideas, usually notions of grandeur: patients think of themselves as being one of the paramount historical figures of their time or of times past.

I wanted to show Nietzsche’s original (pre-progressed) 6th chart affliction. Here it is:

It is possible to live with mars conjunct saturn conjunct an Angle in charts correlated with life expectancy, but not pleasantly. Nietzsche was helped by c jupiter, at 4 Aquarius 32, also in this set (e’’’’). As well, it does not have 4th influence--meaning he could be very sick very often without dying. I am not sure if the conjunction in Scorpio is significant. The set falls in b 12th house.

Perhaps Nietzsche--he was going to be sick a lot anyway--was taking the bull by the horns. Mandel writes “as Lou Salomé notes from her association with Nietzsche and her reading of his works, he categorically took his sicknesses to be the means to knowledge...Nietzsche’s welcoming of such stimuli also show an astonishing capacity to bear, absorb, and conquer punishing illnesses and to transform them into lucid and impassioned thinking.” (xxxvvii)

I have finished setting out examples for rectification of Nietzsche’s chart. What concerns me most about this rectified time (10:03:30 am LMT) is it fails to show all the indications for death in his 7th chart. Birth for 10:00 a.m.,, and the more accepted 10:07 a.m. are no better, and they are worse in terms of other life events. I also experimented with a Libra C MC, which would make c mars ruler of c 4th house, but did not find anything satisfactory.

We should look at the set in his 10th chart that most characterizes Nietzsche’s experience of his mother.

This chart, his 10th, is the only one which provides a close harmonic mars to his mercury/saturn. Likely it indicates agitation, perhaps a form of hen-pecking. Truly, she gave him headaches (she represented mars agitating/opposing his mercury/saturn).

Nietzsche’s 10th chart did not produce malefics in Pisces or even a Pisces moon. His moon/pluto in Pisces in his 7th chart sufficiently portrays a certain attitude toward women. His 10th chart did, however, give him a second, harmonic moon in Scorpio conjunct his birth moon in Scorpio. Scorpio, along with Pisces, is one of the more difficult signs for the moon to be in.

A domineering, overwhelming, or over-protective mother also appears in the 10th chart as an Angle/pluto. Nietzsche had C MC at 4 Scorpio 41 and b10 pluto at 4 Taurus 33.

What sponsors Nietzsche’s philosophizing? His 7th chart has the following set. It shows reward and acceptance for 9th house matters--like philosophy, perhaps also higher education. :

His conjunction of North Node, venus, and jupiter in Sagittarius is highly favorable for 9th house matters--law, religion, philosophy.

What about Nietzsche’s “masks?” To Salomé he represented himself as an individual who constantly wore one mask or another--whatever he deemed appropriate for the setting. He hinted no one existed with whom he could be mask-less, that is, no one was worthy of it. Aside from his moon conjunct pluto in Pisces (covered in the main document), Nietzsche’s three other 7th chart moons are each in sets with venus. These make him warm and affectionate, desiring to please, even mild-mannered. They also show he was often appeasing. Venus likes harmony. It is mars that likes confrontation. Along with his moon conjunct pluto in Pisces, Nietzsche appears dominated (pluto, dominant, conjunct moon, women) to the point of personal erasure. Is it any wonder he espoused dissimulation, converting a weakness to a virtue? Is it any wonder that his writing was everything but pious?

One of Nietzsche’s moon/venus sets, mentioned above, also includes mars, with influence to both an Angle and a 5th house. It is, therefore, forefront and indicates a strong sexuality. It is backed up by his basically good 5th chart aspects (not shown).

For Nietzsche, not finding a mate was a disaster. He proposed marriage unsuccessfully at least two times. Those are the ones we know of. Mandel writes that one French critic of Nietzsche--who consistently mis-esteemed women--noted with irony that it was a woman [Salomé] who most intimately explained Nietzsche to posterity.(x) I find more ironic that the man who proclaimed women were made to serve men was served and dominated by them throughout his post-insanity years. His mother took care of him until her death, then his sister did. Ironic and chilling.

Nietzsche was conducting fierce battles on two fronts. The first front was created by his numerous and frequent health problems. The second front for this lusty man was created by the conflict generated by his powerful sex nature and the need to suppress it. He talked Dionysus, but he did not, could not, live it. At some level he really did buy into the values of his rigidly religious mother. As a philosopher, Nietzsche may have had genuinely original insights. I am not qualified to judge that. But a case can also be made that his books were the clever and disguised rebellions of a boy who, in his desperation to attain autonomy from a suffocating mother, compensitorily exaggerated his own powers. Just being an ordinary man was not enough for Nietzsche because Nietzsche was unable to be just an ordinary man.

Nietzsche had one of his two non-harmonic North Nodes (NN) in Scorpio. It was in a four degree conjunction with his birth moon in Scorpio. NN in Scorpio indicates the individual’s growth occurs through letting go of individual identity through merging into an identity with other(s). Some times the merging encouraged is not with others but the “merging” of actual death. It encourages the individual to experience the dissolution of “having” an individual identity. He is to let go of his solid identification with materiality, represented by his South Node in Taurus. Nietzsche’s conjunction sponsored early (two lights) and frequent experiments with death-like experiences. Through them he experienced growth (NN). Since moon ruled the 9th house, the set represents a kind of karmic (12th) drive (NN) to die (Scorpio) into higher mind (9th). This set plus his 7th chart moon conjunct pluto in Pisces represent similar things in different ways. Each, at least, encourages extreme loss of self.

It is hard to know what soul achieves. I suspect in a fight with the ego, its preferences take precedence. Looking at his life, Nietzsche achieved exactly the opposite of what he touted as superior in his books. At the individual level, at least, he was reduced to nothing, annihilated--a totally dependent being, an idiot. This humiliating experience of the difference between his ideas and his life may, however, have been exactly what his soul requested. If that is true, then his intense suffering suggests a soul ambitious to cut through as much as possible in just his "Nietzsche life time." And that takes us back to Nietzsche on Nietzsche--superior after all.