When Albert Einstein was a child, his father gave him a pocket compass. Young Einstein was fascinated by the compass and found it amazing that no matter how he turned, the needle always pointed in the same direction. Years later, he wrote: “That experience made a deep and lasting impression on me. Something deeper had to be hidden behind things.”
The Eclipse that Made Einstein a SuperStar
On May 29, 1919, a solar eclipse—”perhaps considered the most famous solar eclipse ever”—caused a revolution in science. Astronomer Frank Dyson and Sir Author Eddington organized an expedition to an island off the west coast of Africa to observe the eclipse and test Einstein’s theory of relativity.
After several months of analyzing the scientific measurements, Eddington and Dyson announced in November that their findings supported the theory of general relativity. Dyson said “there can be no doubt” that measurements made during the May 29, 1919, solar eclipse “confirm Einstein’s prediction.”
The media excitedly reported the news. The Times of London announced “Revolution in Science. New Theory of the Universe. Newtonian Ideas Overthrown.” “Lights All Askew in the Heavens,” trumpeted The New York Times. The announcement immediately skyrocketed Einstein, a somewhat well-known physicist, to rockstar fame… a fame that still endures.
Media coverage at the time dwelled on the recondite nature of Einstein’s work and emphasized that only a handful of people in the world could understand it. It could be said that 1919 was the year when Einstein’s name became synonymous with superhuman intellectual ability.
Albert Einstein’s Birth Chart
Einstein was born on March 14, 1879 at 11:30 am in Ulm, Germany (Rodden rating AA.) He has a Pisces Sun, Sagittarius Moon, and Cancer Rising.
The Big Three
With Cancer Rising, a Pisces Sun, and a Sagittarius Moon, we can see that Einstein came across as shy, reserved, and cautious. He was highly sensitive and intuitive, a wondered and wanderer, a visionary, and a seeker of knowledge, who was drawn to the big questions and the deeper meaning behind everything, including the workings of the universe.
Noel Tyl says of this Sun/Moon combination that the person
“…may take visionary powers into highly experimental…realms…there can be a cogent awareness of the world, even with a pervasive spiritual quality, that fulfills idealism.”
There’s a lot that could be written about Einstein’s Birth chart, but this article deliberately isolates two patterns and is not in any way a complete analysis.
Einstein’s Yod
Those with a Yod in their birth chart have often been gifted with a special calling and often seem driven by some mystical force beyond their control. You can read more about Yods in A Yod: The Finger of God.
Einstein’s Yod consists of Mercury Conjunct Saturn in Aries Sextile Aquarius North Node, both Quincunx (Inconjunct) Uranus in Virgo in the Third house. Mercury/Saturn and the North Node point the “Finger of God” (also referred to as the “Finger of Fate”) to Uranus in Virgo in the third house.
Mercury Conjunct Saturn in Aries
This indicates a well-structured and disciplined mind and sustained concentration. It’s well known that Einstein was speech-delayed. His slowness of speech even predisposed his parents to think him dull. However, Neuroscientist Steven Pinker postulates “that a certain form of language delay may be associated with exceptional and innate analytical prowess in some individuals, such as Albert Einstein.“
Aquarius North Aquarius
With his North Node in Aquarius, Einstien felt an inner urge to contribute, participate, and share his unconventional ideas.
Einstein’s Friendly Yod
What I find interesting about Einstine’s Yod is that Uranus in Virgo in the third disposits his Aquarius NN. Uranus in Virgo’s dispositer is Mercury in Aries. Mercury in Aries’ dispositer is Mars in Capricorn (conjunct NN). Mars and Saturn are in mutual reception.
This is a very friendly yod, as all the planets are connected in one way or another and seem to be on the same wavelength, but nonetheless, the Finger of God is pointing at Uranus in Virgo in the third house.
Einstein’s Bucket Pattern Chart
A bucket pattern chart is one in which all except one planet occupy half of the chart. The lone planet is significant because it becomes the handle, typically carries the others along, and becomes a lifelong theme. Said another way, the lone planet is very strong and dominates the rest of the chart. With this type of chart, the individual is often single-minded and focused on one theme throughout life. The planet that is the bucket handle can reveal a special talent that dominates the chart.
Einstein’s bucket handle is Uranus in Virgo in his third house.
Uranus in Virgo Third House
The essence of the third house is using our intelligence and sharing it with others. Uranus in Virgo in the third promotes curiosity, innovation, forward-thinking, and a break from the status quo… guided by Virgo’s analytical perfectionism and detail-oriented approach.
Einstein Writes About His Uranus in Virgo
Einstein’s 1945 letter below was written in response to French mathematician Jacques S. Hadamard’s survey of the mental processes of famous scientists. In the letter, he gives a good description of this very important placement. It was included in An Essay on the Psychology of Invention in the Mathematical Field.
My Dear Colleague:
In the following, I am trying to answer in brief your questions as well as I am able. I am not satisfied myself with those answers and I am willing to answer more questions if you believe this could be of any advantage for the very interesting and difficult work you have undertaken.
(A) The words or the language, as they are written or spoken, do not seem to play any role in my mechanism of thought. The psychical entities which seem to serve as elements in thought are certain signs and more or less clear images which can be “voluntarily” reproduced and combined.
There is, of course, a certain connection between those elements and relevant logical concepts. It is also clear that the desire to arrive finally at logically connected concepts is the emotional basis of this rather vague play with the above-mentioned elements. But taken from a psychological viewpoint, this combinatory play seems to be the essential feature in productive thought — before there is any connection with logical construction in words or other kinds of signs which can be communicated to others.
(B) The above-mentioned elements are, in my case, of visual and some of muscular type. Conventional words or other signs have to be sought for laboriously only in a secondary stage, when the mentioned associative play is sufficiently established and can be reproduced at will.
(C) According to what has been said, the play with the mentioned elements is aimed to be analogous to certain logical connections one is searching for.
(D) Visual and motor. In a stage when words intervene at all, they are, in my case, purely auditive, but they interfere only in a secondary stage, as already mentioned.
(E) It seems to me that what you call full consciousness is a limit case which can never be fully accomplished. This seems to me connected with the fact called the narrowness of consciousness (Enge des Bewusstseins).
I’m reminded of the often-repeated Einstein quote:
“Great spirits have always found violent opposition from mediocrities. The latter cannot understand it when a man does not thoughtlessly submit to hereditary prejudices, but honestly and courageously uses his intelligence and fulfills the duty to express the results of his thought in clear form.”
Albert Einstein Reflects on His Success
In his later yours, Enstien reflected on his success and wrote: “For the most part, I do the thing which my own nature drives me to do. It is embarrassing to earn so much respect and love for it.”