Friedrich Nietzsche (1844 – 1900) 

“Nietzsche…had a more penetrating knowledge of himself than any other man who ever lived or was likely to live”

~ Sigmund Freud

Time for the next in my zodiacal series of Philosophers, and we now come to Libra, for which I have chosen Friedrich Nietzsche, an influential thinker in modern times.   How far does a philosopher’s work reflect their Sunsign, and overall birthchart? 

Birth Chart

Nietzsche had Sun in Libra, with the Moon in the philosopher’s sign Sagittarius.  But the sign of Libra is not an inappropriate sign for a philosopher, whose science is very much about balance and opposites, e.g. light and dark.  And his Scorpio Ascendant is very much a characteristic of his work, too.  Venus, Mars and his Midheaven were all in Virgo.  So Nietzsche had strong elements of the signs either side of his Sun.  Rarely is a birth chart straightforward or simplistic. We see some of that struggle for balance, and sway of opposites in his writings which compare and contrast Apollonian and Dionysian ways of being, in his first major work “The Birth of Tragedy”.

Nietzsche had the Sun closely trine Neptune, so was very sensitive; and at the same time, he had the Sun exactly opposite Pluto, emphasizing that Scorpio Ascendant, and the contrasts between Light and Dark.  The Moon in Sagittarius contributed The Philosopher Archetype, but its square with Venus reflected his aggravated relationship with his sister (the female planets in a state of tension).  The Moon was also conjunct his North Node in Sagittarius, his karmic mission as a philosopher.

A prominent feature of his work was as a critic, and the Critic Archetype is shown in his conjunction of Mercury and Mars, and Venus in Virgo.

“And you tell me, my friends, that there is no disputing of taste and tasting? But all of life is a dispute over taste and tasting taste – that is at the same time weight and scales and weighed; and woe unto all the living that would live without disputes over weight and scales and weighted!”

~ Nietzsche, from Thus Spake Zarathustra

He was known especially as a critic of culture, and with a highly strung conjunction of Mercury and Chiron in Libra (Mercury was at the end of Virgo) he was especially keen on music (one of the provinces of Libra), even composing his own music, and he was especially keen on the music of Richard Wagner (until he fell out with him). 

Mercury exactly opposite Uranus made him controversial in his ideas, and often unpopular in his lifetime.  Michael Tanner writes about his “employment of words that shock, still, as much as he must have intended that they should”.

In addition Venus (his ruling planet) in Virgo made him very fussy, a trait which also got him into hot water.  His relationships did not tend to be successful, with in addition Venus squaring the Nodal Axis.

Life and Relationships

Friedrich Nietzsche was born in Rocken, near Leipzig.  His grandfather Gotthelf was a philosopher, his father a Luteran pastor.  He had a sister, Elisabeth.  He attended a private school, and at that time of his life was interested in Christian theology.  In his education he received a grounding in several languages.  Friedrich started out his working life as a philologist rather than a philosopher, studying and teaching language.

This was a formative time of his life, for he had spent a year of voluntary service with the Prussian artillery, and was deemed one of the finest riders.  But in March 1868 he had a riding accident which left him unable to walk for months, and he returned to his studies.   He also met Richard Wagner in that year.  Through his musical interests, he had been a fan of Richard Wagner.  Although Libra is a musical sign, in Nietzsche’s birth chart  Venus, the ruler of Libra, receives three squares, so his music may not have been harmonious. Certainly Wagner and other commentators criticized his compositions.  One of Nietzsche’s own comments about music was:  “the pleasure produced by the tragic myth has the same origin as the pleasurable perception of dissonance in music”.

At the very young age of 24, in 1868, Nietzsche took the Chair of Classical Philology at the University of Basel, and stayed in that post for a decade.

Wagner and Cosima

Nietzsche originally met Richard Wagner in Leipzig in 1868, and later met Cosima, Wagner’s wife.  They became close friends and this friendship endured for about ten years, before a falling-out.  It was said that Nietzsche was in love with Cosima.

Ree and Salome

The relationship however which did touch Nietzsche so deeply that completely broke his heart was that with Lou Salome, a psychoanalyst.  Together with Paul Ree, the trio became close friends and travelled together, planning to create an educational commune.  He asked Ree to propose to her on his behalf, and was rejected three times.  However, Ree was himself in love with Salome, and in 1882, the friendship(s) broke up.  On the rebound from this unrequited love, Nietzsche began to write “Thus Spoke Zarathustra”.  He wrote about his internal tensions: “It involves a tension between opposing passions which I cannot cope with”.  In this period, he also turned away from a long term admiration of the work of philosopher Schopenhauer, known to be one of the most negative philosophers.

Nietzsche’s most productive period was roughly in the decade from 1879, when his written works included: The Gay Science (1882), Thus Spoke Zarathustra (1883), Beyond Good and Evil (1886), and Ecce Homo (1888).

In 1886, his sister married an anti-semite named Bernhard Forster, and founded a Germanic colony in Paraguay.  This was a further contention between them (she had tried to break up his relationship with Ree and Salome), because he was opposed to anti-semitism and nationalism.

Tragedy

Nietzsche had suffered from ill-health most of his life, e.g. in 1879 he suffered 118 days of severe migraines.  On 3rd January 1889 he suffered an acute physical and mental breakdown, losing his mental faculties – it has been speculated that he suffered from syphilis.  His life as a practising philosopher was effectively over.   Though Jupiter was trine his natal Pluto, it seemed his whole system blew a fuse.    Uranus (sudden events) was transiting his natal Sun, and Neptune (over-sensitivity) was opposite his Ascendant.

He was initially looked after by his mother, and after her death in 1897 by his sister Elisabeth, with whom as we have seen he had always had a stormy relationship: in their synastry her Jupiter was square his Venus, and her Saturn at 0 Pisces square his natal Ascendant, on 4th House cusp of home and family.  This difficult sibling relationship may be depicted by Saturn at the beginning of his 3rd House of Siblings in his natal chart.  Elisabeth had returned to England from Paraguay in 1893 after her husband’s suicide.  She allowed him visitors, such as Rudolph Steiner.

After Nietzsche’s death in 1900 following a series of strokes, she set about organizing his works for publication, but with her own anti-semitic spin. In her chart, she also had the Critic Archetype, in the shape of Mercury exactly conjunct Mars like him. The result of this anti-semitic tone for his work was that he was misrepresented for decades, until his work was re-translated by Walter Kauffman, born in 1921, a Professor at Princeton.  Michael Tanner writes: “To widespread surprise, and only slightly less widespread agreement, Nietzsche turned out to be a reasonable man, even a rationalist… Kauffman sought to establish comprehensively his remoteness from the Nazis, from all irrationalism movements that had claimed him as their forebear”.  His work experienced a resurgence of popularity from the 1960s.

Some Philosophical Themes

“The Birth of Tragedy”

This was the first of Nietzsche’s publications, dating from 1872, and deals with the theme of tragedy as it related to musical composition principally, and was not received well by Wagner.  He treats of the opposition between the Apollonion (order) and Dionysian (chaos) ways of being, and according to Nietzsche “These two different tendencies walk side by side, usually in violent opposition to one another, inciting one another to ever more powerful births”.

In this statement and dynamic can be seen the dilemma of the Libran who is heavily influenced by the Scorpio energies. Someone with a few planets in Libra can focus more easily on the process of keeping balance. As often happens, people with Sun in Libra have a few planets in neighbouring sign Scorpio, or as in Nietzsche’s case Sun opposite Pluto, a sign of excess, which constantly tips the balance of the scales to extremes. Balance (Libra) and Transformation (Pluto and Scorpio) are in constant calibration.

God is Dead

This statement, for which Nietzsche is famous, occurs in several of his writings.  It has given rise to the equally oft-quoted quip, “Nietzsche is dead – God”.  This has led to the assumption that Nietzsche was an atheist, which some have argued against.  He has also been seen as a Nihilist, for the same reason and with the same level of contention, although he did not admit to this label until 1887.

“Beyond Good and Evil”

Nietzsche’s work of this title treats of other Libran themes:  opposites, equality, values and morals.  It is in the search for the resolution of opposites, we find a position beyond it.  So much so, that he even questions the existence of opposites:

“He moves on to a wide range of issues, the most searching of which is the metaphysician’s ‘faith in opposite values’…By contrast Nietzsche doubts: ‘whether there are any opposites at all’.  He favours the idea that each value might contain its opposite.

He looks at the development of the notions of good and evil over history, such as the perceptions of masters and slaves, and what might be bad or good in their eyes.  And he concludes: “There are no moral phenomena at all, only a moral interpretation of phenomena.”

“Ecce Homo”

Ecce Homo is an autobiography of sorts.  He states: “Hear me! For I am such and such a person. Above all, do not mistake me for someone else.”  Perhaps it is this tome which led Freud to declare him foremost in self-awareness.  Freud was also well acquainted with Salome, who became a patient of his. He further developed his critique of moral systems in this work, recommending a new more naturalistic source of value.  In this “autobiography” he writes about the experience of writing Thus Spoke Zarathustra.  Ecce Homo is one of his last works, and in it he states: “Apart from the fact that I am decadent, I am also the reverse of such a creature”.

“Will to Power”

Another concept associated with Nietzsche is the will to power, which he sees as fundamental to human existence – the expression of competing wills.  In Thus Spoke Zarathustra he wrote the following poem:

The world is deep,

Deeper than day had been aware. Deep is it’s woe;

Joy -deeper yet than agony:

Wow implores: go!

But all joy wills eternity –

Wills deep, wills deep eternity.

The will to power is the third of Zarathustra’s teachings.

Thus Spoke Zarathustra

This work was written over a long period of years, 1883 to 1892.  In this story, the figure Zarathustra is a lonely figure wandering in foreign lands.  Zarathustra is a poet and oracle, but also based on Zoroaster and Nietzsche himself.  He raises many of his recurring themes in this work, including the idea of “Eternal Recurrance” which came to him in August 1881 when he was in Switzerland: “I stopped beside a mighty pyramidal block of stone. Then the idea came to me”  Pluto was exactly opposite his Ascendant at the time – very Scorpionic (birth, death and rebirth) and very transformational.  Eternal recurrence “stresses the significance of our present actions: whatever we do now will return to us, again and again” (Laurenc Gane, from the Graphic Guide).

Concluding Thoughts

“At moments of stress in his writing, he sometimes resorts to formulations which are oxymoronic or in the deepest sense sentimental, because he knows that one element in the combination is too deeply embedded in us to be withdrawn, while the other is what would redeem  it, despite its manifest incompatibility”

and

“A faithful disciple of Nietzsche, manages a nimble dialectic between lightness and heaviness, meaning or value and futility”

~ Michael Tanner

Hubby, whose downstairs library now has a sign hanging above it “Philosophy Room” argues “Nietzsche wasn’t very Libran!”  I argue that he was trying to resolve opposites, as per the Libran scales.  And his Scorpio side constantly tipped the scales over. The debate continues!  Perhaps the next philosopher will be a pure-bred Scorpio!

Bibliography:

Michael Tanner. Nietzsche, A Very Short Introduction. Oxford University Press 1995

Laurence Gane & Piero. Nietzsche, A Graphic Guide.  Icon Books Ltd. 2013

Aspects

The position of the Sun today, at the beginning of the week, is at the South Node in Libra, which may mean past karmic glory coming home to roost; for the most part that can be a positive gain.  The South Node in Sagittarius relates to past lives in connection with religion, pioneering, adventure, exploration, academia and publishing.  This can also refer to earlier phases in this lifetime.

Later on in the day Mercury also transits this point and we have a conjunction of Mercury to the South Node.  This favours the exercise of the mind in relation to karma.  Review the teachers and teachings of your life prior to this moment, and review how you receive and process information currently: that will help you evaluate karmic factors.  Also under scrutiny is where you may play the role of teacher and student in  your life.

Tomorrow (Monday 30th) Mars trines Saturn in the early hours of the morning, probably while you still sleep (in the U.K.).  This favours practical action, and works that are deliberately planned and executed.  Hard work can pay off.

In the evening, there is a conjunction between the Sun and Mercury at 7 degrees Libra.  More mental clarity is possible under this aspect.  That brings a touch of sparkle to your consciousness.  It is a good day to apply your mind with concentration and focus,  make important statements, and look to the future.  You may write or speak some memorable lines.  This mental outlook can be applied successfully in relationships and dealings with others.

Wednesday (2nd October) provides us with a Solar Eclipse/New Moon at 10 degrees Libra, a renewal of relationships.  Artistic, musical and relationship issues may receive a boost, so any seeds sown in those areas may bear fruit.  Balance and harmony can emerge from your efforts.  As an eclipse, these new moon opportunities are heightened, and the consequences can prove a turning point (with effects possible up to six months).

On Friday (4th) the week’s aspects conclude on a serious but positive note: that of a trine between Venus and Saturn, which may consolidate any progress made on the New Moon in Libra.  This can bring hope, of people coming together with more commitment and loyalty.  Venus can provide a softening role to a hard line stance.  It is conciliatory, which may be just what is needed.  Relationships may need serious resolving, and this aspect can help, whether on a personal level, or between nations.

The week in bullet points:

  • Today – karmic power and information
  • Tomorrow – constructive practical action
  • Wednesday – turning point and new beginning in relationships
  • Friday – commitment and loyalty
Date: Sep 29th, 2024 · Comments RSS · Tags: Philosophy