By Alan Annand
Introduction
As astrologers, we’re often cast in the role of oddballs, out on the fringe of society’s “healing
arts” professions. Unconsciously or not, this has given some of us a collective insecurity
complex, such that we’re frequently found clinging to the hem of the Establishment’s skirts,
pleading for recognition like some little kid in need of a hug.
Little wonder that, when the least evidence of our legitimacy comes to light, we embrace it
with all the fervor of a re-born Christian who hears the Messiah is coming to town. The last
time this happened was in the 70s, when the research of French statisticians Michel and
Francoise Gauquelin turned up “significant” evidence that the angular positions of planets
had a bearing on professions. Since then, however, we’ve wandered in the wilderness with
little more than faith to keep us going.
James Hillman
Today there is, if not a Messiah, at least a kindred voice on the scene, in the person of
James Hillman – Jungian psychologist, scholar, and author of twenty-plus books, one of
which should be required reading for all astrologers. The Soul’s Code: In Search of
Character and Calling was first published in 1996, and since reprinted in a trade paperback
version. On the copyright page, its catalogue headings are listed as: (1) Individuality, (2)
Individuality in children, (3) Fate and fatalism, and (4) Gifted persons.
Hillman’s central thesis, illustrated by several fine biographical sketches, is that “remarkable” people, ranging from serial killers to renowned artists, are born, not made.
This flies in the face of conventional psychological wisdom which says that early childhood
conditioning is the greatest determinant of what a person will make of themselves years
down the road. To the contrary, Hillman asserts that it is “neither nature nor nurture” (neither
genetics nor environment) that dictates the outcome of a life. Rather, it is an innate quality
possessed by each person, the spark of individuality that, like a master code for a person’s
life, determines the direction in which he will pursue his destiny.
Hillman favors the Greek term daimon as a substitute for the complementary notions of “guardian angel”, spirit, or soul, all of which imply an over-arching intelligence that provides a
road map for the life. This is the “soul’s code”. Thanks to the daimon, the adult’s true fate is
already known to the child, and it is this knowledge that guides the child unerringly, despite
all the obstacles imposed by parental and societal norms, in the inevitable direction of its
fate.
Hillman calls this his “acorn theory”, which proposes that each life is animated by a
particular image that calls it to its destiny. Plant an acorn in a corn field, it produces an oak,
not a corn stalk. Let mother encourage or discourage, it makes no matter, the little child-soul
knows where it’s going and will have its way in time. The daimon is in the driver’s seat.
Readers with an appreciation for astrology might well wonder whether the “soul’s code”, this
animating image conferred by fate, could be an academic euphemism for the astrological
birth chart. Although Hillman never gives his readers an explicit nod in this direction, his
occasional references to astrology encourage us to believe that he is familiar with its basic
principles and practices. He is perhaps even sympathetic when he says, “There is in each of
us a longing to see beyond what our usual sight tells us. A revelation of the invisible in an
intelligible form leads us to the astrologer.”
Adolf Hitler
Hillman devotes a whole chapter to a discussion of Hitler, and how the major themes of the
dictator’s personal life epitomize the key features of a soul driven by its internal code to meet
its fate. Hillman’s exposure of Hitler’s character, in a chapter called The Bad Seed, focuses
upon several psychological elements that symbolize typical descriptions of evil, death and
destruction – manifestations of the demonic.
Each of these themes are briefly summarized in the following sections. By standing on the
shoulders of Hillman’s thesis, I’ve attempted to link each of Hitler’s demonic traits to its
astrological correlate, thus demonstrating what all astrologers implicitly believe – that the
soul’s code is indeed locked in the chakra of the birth chart. In Hitler’s case, his particular
daimon manifested via these vital signs:
The Cold Heart
In the paradigm of the demonic, the cold heart beats … slow but sure. According to Dante,
the pit of hell is a realm of ice inhabited by the arch-criminals of mankind. The Devil has an
icy penis and cold semen. Hitler greatly admired Goering, who even in the toughest of times,
remained ice-cold. In one of his last speeches, Hitler proclaimed that: “Come what may, my
heart remains ice cold.” Psychologically, an icy heart manifests as rigidity, an inability to
change. Throughout his life, Hitler was obstinate in his opinions, tastes, behaviors, and
habits. He wore the same clothes until they disintegrated, watched the same movies over
and over again, and followed his daily routines with a slavish consistency that bordered on
the obsessive.
Astrologically, the heart is seen in the 4th house. Its lord is Saturn, a cold and distant planet.
From its vantage point in the 10th house, Saturn aspects the 4th house, the ascendant lord
Venus, and the Sun, karaka (significator) for the heart itself. In the navamsa (9th harmonic
chart) where Saturn occupies its own sign, the ascendant and seven out of nine planets are
in fixed signs. Hitler was also born on a Saturday.
Hellfire
Fire is a more common image of hell, one in which the demonic character revels. Hitler’s
career is backlit by flames – the Reichstag fire, the torch-lit night marches of the Brownshirts,
the ovens of the Holocaust, the firebombing of Dresden, even his own gasoline-charred body
at the end. Fire was unleashed in all its destructive fury through the agency of his destiny.
Astrologically, his chart glows with fire. In the rasi (birth) chart, seven out of nine planets
reside in fire signs. His ascendant lord Venus is in Aries, the epitome of fire, along with the
two warrior planets Sun and Mars, one exalted, the other in its own sign.
Along with Mercury,
all four planets in the 7th house aspect the ascendant. The Moon is also in fiery Sagittarius
in association with its lord Jupiter. The planetary war between Mars and Venus takes place
in Aries.
Wolf
If every spirit has its animal familiar, that of the demon is the wolf. In his early days, Hitler
called himself Herr Wolf. “Adolf” itself was derived from Athalwolf, or noble wolf. His favorite
pets were Alsatians, also known as wolfshunde. He referred to the SS as his pack of wolves,
and his U-boat wolf packs were the scourge of Allied shipping.
In astrology, the bestial signs are Aries, Taurus, Leo, the second half of Sagittarius and the
first half of Capricorn. In Hitler’s rasi chart, six out of nine planets are placed in these sign
zones. Both pets and military forces are seen in the sixth house, whose lord is Jupiter,
associated with Ketu, the karaka for dogs, in the bestial half of Sagittarius.
Anality
In the realm of the demonic, the anus is the center of the erogenous universe. The Marquis
de Sade relished anal eroticism. The devil’s face was often depicted on his rear end in
medieval woodcuts, and the interrogators of the Inquisition frequently coaxed confessions
from devil worshippers via “the back door”. As a vegetarian chocaholic, Hitler suffered from
meteorism, a severe form of flatulence. He also gave himself enemas and was rumored to
engage in coprophilia with his sexual partners.
In the rasi chart, the anus is signified by the 8th house. The ascendant and 8th lord Venus is,
as noted earlier, severely afflicted in the 7th house, including a planetary war with Mars and
aspect from Saturn, karaka for the anus. The 8th house is further hemmed by malefics.
From the Chandra lagna (moon = ascendant), karaka Saturn occupies the 8th, wherein it is
in mutual aspect with Mars.
Suicides of Women
Caution: exposure to the demonic can be hazardous to your health. Hitler had few intimate
relations with women, but almost every one of them paid a heavy price. Six of them either
killed themselves or made desperate attempts to do so. Mimi Reiter, a teenage girl, tried to
hang herself when the 37-year-old Hitler broke off their relationship. His niece Geli Raubal,
reputedly the love of his life, killed herself. Eva Braun shot herself unsuccessfully in 1932, but
recovered to die at his side in 1945. After loving the devil, was it all downhill after that?
In Hitler’s rasi chart, the 7th house is powerfully afflicted. Although the 7th lord Mars is strong,
it is afflicted by Sun and Saturn. It is also associated with dussthana (houses 6-8-12) lords
Mercury and Venus, and receives the aspect of the other dussthana lord Jupiter. Venus as karaka for relationships is hammered by a trio of malefics, including Mars, to whom it loses
the planetary war. Venus in the 7th house also constitutes a case of karako bhavo nashto (a
planet which is both karaka and occupant of the house that signifies a person – in this case,
spouse), thus spoiling relationships. From the Chandra lagna, the Rahu-Ketu axis occupies
the 1st and 7th houses, and the 7th lord Mercury comes under overpowering affliction from
three malefics.
Freaks
The history of demonology depicts half-human figures, eg, gargoyles and the grotesque
creations of Hieronymous Bosch, as menacing figures that threaten our normal world. For
Hitler, however, they served as icons of a new world order. His two favorite movies were King
Kong and Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. His staff and entourage included a huge
number of freaks. Within the upper Nazi echelon, Goebbels had a club foot, Bormann was an
alcoholic, Hess was a paranoiac, Goering was a morphine addict, the commander of the
labor camps had a speech defect, and the Brownshirt leader who succeeded Roehm was
one-eyed. Further down the pecking order, his personal chauffeur was a midget, his press
manager was one-armed, his assistant press chief was deaf, and his official photographer
was an alcoholic with a deformed back. Meanwhile, the whole country was drilled to perform
weird goose-stepping and stiff-armed salutes.
Staff and subordinates are seen in the 6th house. Its lord Jupiter is in Sagittarius in the 3rd
house with Moon and Ketu. Sagittarius, as noted earlier, is one of the half-human, half-
bestial signs. Ketu represents the mleccha of society, the outcasts, the diseased and the
deformed. If we take the 6th house as ascendant for Hitler’s staff, we note four planets in
Aries occupy the 2nd with multiple malefic influences, which suggests substance abuse and
defective speech or vision, as exemplified by his coterie of drug addicts, alcoholics, the one-
eyed and the speech-impaired. From the 6th house, Venus becomes the severely damaged
lord of the relative 3rd, which suggests upper limb and hearing problems, as exemplified by
the one-armed and deaf.
Humorlessness
The Devil takes himself seriously, and damned be those who don’t accord him respect. As
Jagger sings in Sympathy for the Devil: “If you meet me, have a little courtesy, have a little
sympathy and a little taste. Use all your well-learned politesse, or I’ll lay your soul to waste.”
Under the sway of his own particular daimon, Hitler had absolutely no sense of humor, for it
was antithetical to his general bias for the grandiose. He scarcely ever enjoyed a hearty
laugh, and forebade risqué jokes in his presence.
Astrologically, humor or word-play is seen via Mercury, the 2nd house and the 5th house. In
Hitler’s chart, Mercury is severely afflicted in the 7th house. Among the malefics assaulting it
are Mars and Saturn, lords of the 2nd and 5th respectively, who are themselves involved in
mutual antagonism. From the Chandra lagna, Saturn and Mars are again the lords of the
relative 2nd and 5th, reinforcing the theme of suppression. On a more esoteric note, the
lords of all three lagnas are in fierce nakshatras (27 sub-signs of the zodiac) suggesting a
further bias towards (deadly) seriousness.
Conclusion
The Soul’s Code is about one’s calling, fate, character and innate image, notions
encapsulated in the term daimon. Hillman’s “acorn theory” suggests that “each person
bears a uniqueness that asks to be lived and that is already present before it can be lived.”
Doesn’t this sound remarkably like prarabdha karma, that portion of our total karma that has
ripened, and is ready for manifestation in this life?
In Sanskrit, the planets are called grahas, those which have the power to seize. In the birth
chart, the planets are forces for both the divine and the demonic, and their respective
conditions determine which way the balance tips. Hitler was seized by his daimon from an
early age. Indeed, his whole life appeared to have been mapped out for him to such an
extent that he himself commented: “I go the way Providence dictates for me with all the
assurance of a sleepwalker.”
As Hillman notes, the old Greeks said of their gods: “They ask for little, only that they not be
forgotten.” And in practice, this is why many Vedic astrologers, prior to an astrological
analysis or consultation, invoke the navagraha (the nine planets) via a brief mantra, thus
honoring the planetary deities in the birth chart, within whose chakra we read the soul’s
heart and purpose.
Alan is a Vedic astrologer and palmist with 24 years experience in consulting, teaching, lecturing, and media work. He regularly provides helpful insight and counsel to his clients regarding self-actualization, relationships, career, health, family, finances, relocation, travel, spirituality, sexuality, etc. His work encompasses birth chart analysis in either Vedic or western formats, compatibility analysis, question and answer scenarios, as well as short- and long-term predictions. Aside from consultations, he is available for individual tutoring, group classes, public lectures or media work on palmistry or any facet of astrology, both Vedic and western. More can be found on his website at www.navamsa.com
