This post follows the previous one which discussed Morin’s method of assigning rulers to the 1st house in the chart of Francisco Gomez Cortez. In Book 15 Morin also reviews the birth chart of Felipe Bandeira de Melo, which James Holden’s translation renders as Felipe Bandeyra Mello.
Felipe Bandeira de Melo was born in the early 1600s in Pernambuco, Brazil, which was then under Dutch control as part of the Netherlands’ colony of Dutch Brazil. An adventurous explorer, he led expeditions into Brazil’s interior, claiming territory for the Portuguese crown. In 1645, he joined the Insurrection of Pernambuco – a revolt by Portuguese and native Brazilians against the Dutch occupation. He became a lieutenant field master, commanding rebel troops. His military leadership and terrain knowledge proved crucial in several key battles, including the Portuguese-Brazilian victory at the Battle of Guararapes in 1648-1649. Bandeira de Melo’s forces were instrumental in expelling the Dutch from Pernambuco and northeastern Brazil by 1654 after nearly a decade of conflict. Before this, in the early 1640s, he had served as the governor of the strategic Almeida fortress in Portugal during the Restoration War against Spain. At Almeida, he successfully defended against repeated Spanish sieges. Hailed as a hero of both the Insurrection of Pernambuco in Brazil and the Restoration War in Portugal, Bandeira de Melo played a vital role in reasserting Portuguese control over Brazil’s northeastern region and aiding Portugal’s independence from Spain through his military campaigns and governance in the mid-17th century.
Morin focuses on Bandeira de Melo’s dedication to a military career from an early age, being inclined to arms, quarrelsome nature and tendency to get into conflicts, travels involving danger at sea including several shipwrecks, being captured and imprisoned several times by the Dutch, killing a man in a brawl on a riotous evening in 1635, surviving a shipwreck in 1638 by swimming to safety, and his repeated exposure to the danger of death.
Morin writes that he obtained Bandeira de Melo’s birth data from Mr. Groenembergue, presumably a reliable source. Bandeira de Malo presumably was born on Palm Sunday, the 15th of April 1612, in Pernambuco, Brazil, an hour before sunrise, which gives an approximate time of birth as 5:05 AM. There is some uncertainty in the historical records about the year of birth. A record exists of the birth of a sister Jeronima on October 14, 1608, and another sister Maria was born before 1608, so Morin’s data of Felipe’s birth year as 1612 is consistent with other family records. If he were born in 1612, then he would have been 23 years old when he killed a man in a quarrel in 1635, and 26 years old when he swam to safety in a shipwreck. Assuming Morin’s data is correct, the birth chart with Regiomontanus houses and the Angles used by Morin looks like this:
calculated by modern computer
using the data and the same Angles given by Morin.
The chart in Astrologia Gallica was miscalculated because it was based on Regiomontanus tables for a northern latitude to generate the intermediate house cusps. For example, Morin’s original chart has the 12th cusp at 5 Pisces 50′ instead of 9 Pisces 23′ as in the accurate chart. In addition, the birth time of “an hour before sunrise” is likely an estimation rather than a precise time, so the Angles and house cusps may be off by a degree or two.
Using Morin’s data, I decided to calculate another chart based on modern calculations and principles. The site https://gml.noaa.gov/grad/solcalc/sunrise.html gives a fairly precise modern calculation of sunrise for any location on Earth. According to this site, the Sun rose in Pernambuco, Brazil, on April 15, 1612, at about 6:01:36 AM, so we would need to cast a birth chart for an hour earlier, that is, 5:01:36 AM. Here is the chart cast for an hour before sunrise (calculated by modern computer):
The ‘S’ next to Jupiter indicates that it has recently stationed direct.
The two charts are obviously very similar. The Angles and cusps of the second chart are about one degree earlier than the ones Morin would have calculated. As a quick check on this chart, we would expect a significant primary direction involving the 7th (conflict, open enemies) and 8th (risk of death) houses in 1635 when he killed a man in a quarrel. Both Placidus semi-arc and Regiomontanus circle of position primary directions show the Square of Jupiter (ruler of the 12th and dispositor of Asc-ruler Mars) at 16 Scorpio 12′ in the 8th house of death coming to the Moon at 23 Libra 11′ in the 7th house of disputes in 1635 when he is 23 years old.
As in the previous post, let’s look at the rulers of the 1st house in Morin’s system. Aries rises, so Mars is the principal 1st house ruler. Mars at the bendings conjoins the 12th house cusp, making a stressful partile square to the Moon’s Nodes, which span the 2nd and 8th houses with Ketu in Sagittarius in the Scorpio 8th house of death, whose cusp is ruled by Mars. Furthermore, Mars rules the 10th house by its exaltation in Capricorn and sextiles the 10th house cusp (the MC). Thus, both malefics, Saturn and Mars, rule the 10th house of profession and actions in the world, with Mars ruling his 1st house of character and temperament. Mars is also sextile Pluto, which lies in Taurus in the 1st house. Clearly, Mars plays a dominant role in this chart.
In addition, although Morin did not use midpoints, Mars = Sun/Midheaven almost exactly, and within one degree Mars = Sun/MC = Sun/Asc = Moon/Asc = Jupiter/Uranus. These midpoints indicate an active, competitive, impatient, assertive, and dynamic person who welcomes challenges and a good fight, someone who takes risks and energetically pursues his ambitions.
A segment of Taurus lies in the 1st house, so Venus is also a 1st house ruler. Venus occupies and rules the 2nd and also rules the 7th house. Because Venus is in domicile in Taurus in the 2nd, she casts a powerful and damaging opposition into Scorpio, the sign of her exile or detriment in the 8th house.
Jupiter is the dispositor of Mars, so Jupiter, which has recently stationed and turned direct, becomes the “secondary ruler” of the Ascendant. Jupiter in Leo occupies the 5th (creative activities) and rules the 9th (travel) and 12th (confinement) houses. Jupiter in Leo is deposited by the Sun, one of the rulers and occupants of the 1st house.
Finally, the Sun rules the Aries Ascendant by exaltation, occupies the 1st house, and is disposited by the principal 1st house ruler Mars, giving his personality a strongly solar and martial character.
Morin attributed Bandeira de Melo’s military career, many disputes, and commission of a homicide to Mars ruling his character, as indicated by Mars ruling both the Ascendant and the Sun, which is exalted in the 1st house, and Mars also ruling the 7th and 8th houses (quarrels, open enemies, wars, situations that endanger one’s life) because part of Scorpio lies in the 7th and Scorpio in on the 8th cusp. In addition, the exaltation of Mars in Capricorn on the MC links his 10th-house actions and profession to his 1st-house basic character. An ominous and unlucky factor is the rulership of the MC (profession and actions in the world) by both the malefics, Saturn and Mars, which conjoin the 12th cusp of confinement and undoing, with Mars applying to conjoin Saturn in the 12th.
Why did he experience so many shipwrecks and imprisonments? Morin explains that the Asc-ruler Mars also rules the 8th cusp in Scorpio, a WATER sign, and both Mars and Saturn, rulers of the 10th (his actions) lie in Pisces, another WATER sign, where they will conjoin in the 12th house of misfortune and captivity. Why did he not die in the shipwrecks or remain an imprisoned captive? Fortunately, Jupiter disposits both Mars and Saturn, occupies the 5th house of Good Fortune, rules the 9th of long-distance travel, and trines both the Asendant degree and the 1st-house Sun which rules Leo which Jupiter occupies. (Note: in Holden’s translation, he apparently misunderstood Morin’s Latin, reading it as Mars and Saturn trine the Asc but what Morin wrote is that Jupiter rules both Mars and Saturn, and Jupiter trines the Asc, allowing the native to escape from 12-th house harm.)
Nonetheless, Morin viewed this strong 12-th house influence as indicating a life of misfortune, despite the helpful trine from Jupiter, dispositor of the malefics Mars and Saturn. Even though Jupiter is well-placed in the 5th and rules the 9th, Jupiter is an accidental malefic through its rulership of the 12th. However, Morin is most impressed by the Moon in the 7th (wars, conflicts, open enemies) opposing the Sun (ruler of the Asc by exaltation) in the 1st, indicating life-long risk of being killed by an enemy. What makes this risk even more threatening is that the Moon is besieged between the antiscions of Mars and Saturn in the 7th. Here is the natal chart with its ANTISCIONS superimposed:
Outside (superimposed): Antiscions of Natal Planets & Points
Note that the antiscions of Mars and Saturn lie in Libra in the 7th house where they are determined toward 7th house issues (partnerships, wars, conflicts, death caused by open enemies). The natal Moon, which rules the 4th of final endings and the grave, occupies the 7th and conjoins the antiscions of both Mars and Saturn, which the Moon lies between.
In turn, the antiscion of the natal Moon lies close the the 12th cusp where it is conjoined by Mars and Saturn, which conjoin the 12th cusp and are determined to 12th house issues: misfortune, undoing, imprisonment, secret enemies, etc.
Anthony Louis - Astrology & Tarot Blog 