Carrie, a book about a bullied telekinetic teenager who gets viciously pranked at prom, was Stephen King’s first Novel. King, a prolific writer (see list), has written nearly 100 novels and novellas since Carrie was published. Many of his novels have become award winning motion pictures, such as Carrie, The Shining, Misery, Stand by Me, The Shawshank Redemption, and The Green Mile. You could say that Stephen King, who has Saturn and Pluto conjunct in Leo in his 1st house, is “The King of Horrors.”
Stephen King’s Childhood
Stephen King was born on September 21, 1947 at 1:30 AM ET in Portland Maine. When King was two, his father abandoned the family, which included his mother and brother David. After they were abandoned, they traveled from place to place in the eastern US, living off his mother’s meager earnings and the generosity of relatives.
Little Stephen was just four years old when he went out to play with a friend and came back in such a state that his mother couldn’t get him to tell her what happened. Only later was it learned that his friend had been hit and killed by a train. Although King has said he has on conscious memory of his friend’s horrible death, he was there and saw it happen.
Stephen, his mother and brother returned to Maine when he was 11 and lived in the house where his mother cared for her dying parents. Stephen watched his grandparents’ decline and death.
As a child, King was obsessed with the dark side of life, especially the afterlife. Young Stephen didn’t think he had much of a future, and assumed he’d expire after a couple of decades on Earth.
You can read more about King’s childhood in the introduction to The Haunted Heart: The Life and Times of Stephen King
The King of Horror’s Birth Chart
“Monsters are real, and ghosts are real too. They live inside us, and sometimes, they win.” ~ Stephen King
From an astrological perspective I believe we can say that more than a few of King’s traumatic childhood feelings and experiences are revealed in his birth Chart. His early life experiences gave him a macabre turn of mind that touched something deep in his psyche. All the terrors young Stephen experienced that we see in his books were inside Stephen King. Perhaps the Universe decreed that he’d write stories to resolve his inner fears and demons.
Rare Kite Pattern
Take note of the Kite configuration, which takes a key place in his chart and seems to express both King’s work and path. King’s kite consists of:
- A Grand Fire Trine linking Saturn conjunct Pluto in Leo, Moon in Sagittarius and his Aries Midheaven.
- A Minor Grand Trine that consists of Saturn/Pluto Trine Sagittarius Moon and both sextile Mercury in Libra conjunct the IC
- The opposition of Mercury in Libra and his Aries MC
King Feared and was Fascinated with Evil
Usually considered a generational aspect, the Pluto/Saturn conjunction in Leo, plays a major role in King’s birth chart. It’s in his first house and part of the Kite Pattern. The two planets have notorious reputations. Add their blended energies and they translate into one word: fears.
Saturn indicates a feeling of being limited and stuck. Pluto, the lord of the underworld, adds a more diabolical touch … a fascination with evil.
However, although fear and fascination with evil are part of King’s basic identity, he was able to use these positively because they are harmoniously linked to the other planets and receive no harsh aspects.
His Kite Pattern links Saturn/Pluto in Leo to his storytelling Sagittarius Moon on the 5th House (the house of self-expression, creativity, and how we seek joy in life) and his Aries Midheaven – career.
Since the Sagittarius Moon also rules his Cancer Ascendant, I suppose you could say he’s a shy and introverted, but visionary storyteller.
Getting back to the Moon in Sagittarius and the Saturn/Pluto that link to his Midheaven (career.) The Moon’s position in the 5th House (the House of leisure, creation, and entertainment) suggests that King could easily use his fears and fascination with evil, and become immensely popular through his self-expressive creativity.
Mercury in Libra
The planet which dominates this Kite Pattern – as well as the whole chart – is Mercury – truly fitting for a writer. King’s Mercury is in Libra. (as an aside … Mercury also rules his Virgo Sun.)
Mercury is the focal planet which energizes the kite pattern with two sextiles, one to the Saturn/Pluto conjunction, and the other to the Sagittarius Moon. Highlighting King’s communication skills twice.
This is a striking example of a dominant Mercury, which can’t be interpreted without taking his Mercury/Neptune conjunction into consideration. This conjunction enhanced his imagination and creativity and also shows his interest in mystery and the supernatural.
King’s writing is based upon his own fears and fascination with evil. He imagines very realistic characters and depicts their ordinary routine lives before cleverly morphing them into frightening manifestations of the supernatural (Virgo Sun ruling Saturn/Pluto in Leo.)
His talent as a writer works so well, because he carries readers into two realms … commonplace life and demoniac phantasmagoria.
Mars in Cancer
Now let’s look at Mars, the ruler of his MC. Mars is in Cancer and in the 12th house which could be interpreted as repressed violence. Luckily, King was able to exorcize his demons in his writings.
South Node and Chiron in Scorpio
I think you’d expect “The King of Horror” to have a Scorpio placement or two. And King has a Scorpio South Node in the 5th house and Chiron in Scorpio in the 4th House.
South Node in Scorpio
The south node represents material left over from past lives, but if that doesn’t work for you, think early life.
Similar to how a ghost lingers around the place where life went wrong, and needs something to resolve their emotional torment so they can move on. This is doubly true with a Scorpio South Node.
With a Scorpio South Node in the 5th and a Taurus North node in the 11th, King needed to creatively express his story and find a way to channel these creative endeavors to the people in a long-lasting and consistent way. He did all that and gained financial security (Taurus) by becoming a bestselling author.
Chiron in Scorpio
Chiron is in Scorpio in the 4th house (the house of home, family, and the innermost self.) Chiron’s placement here suggests King’s formative years and his family environment played a significant role in shaping his fears and his fascination with death. With Chiron in Scorpio a person must confront the shadows and work through their deepest fears and pains. Read Chiron the Golden Key
“I was terrified and fascinated by death… in general and my own, in particular. I was absolutely convinced that I’d never live to reach 20. I envisioned myself walking home one night along a dark, deserted street, and somebody or something would jump out of the bushes, and that would be it.” ~ Stephen King
Stephen Kings 1999 Accident
King was in his early 50s (Chiron Return) when he was walking alone down a road and was hit by a van. He was in the hospital for three weeks and went through multiple surgeries. Many say this life-altering event had a profound effect on his approach to writing and the themes of his work.
Stephen King says:
“But here’s the thing: I’m on the inside and I’m not the best person to ask if my writing changed after that accident. I don’t really know the answer to that. I do know that … was close, that was really being close to stepping out. The accident, and a couple years later I had double pneumonia and that was close to stepping out of this life as well, and I think you have a couple of close brushes with death like that, it probably has [an effect]. Somebody said, ‘The prospect of imminent death has a wonderful clarifying effect on the mind,’ and I don’t know if that’s true, but I do think it causes some changes, some evolution in the way a person works, but on a day-by-day basis I just still enjoy doing what I’m doing.” – Stephen King on NPR
Note from Patricia: As I was reading and writing about King’s “close brushes with death” I couldn’t stop thinking about this quote from the end of The Shawshank Redemption …
“Get Busy Livin’ or get busy Dyin’”