The road to hell is paved with good intentions (a proverb)

The most effective revolutionary politician of the XXth century, the founder of the Soviet state , Vladimir Lenin is still not well understood because of the rigidly narrow images of him that became permanently associated with his state persona. Lenin as a person was seldom allowed to emerge during the Cold War. Neither side wanted him to appear human since that did not fit with their respective ideological agendas. Black and white picturing of Lenin obviously contributed nothing to our understanding of this complex and contradictory personality.

Most intellectuals among Lenin’s contemporaries assumed him to be a gloomy dictator who brought on bloody mayhem. However those who met him in person were disappointed greatly. For instance, English writer H.G. Wells¹ wrote in 1920:

“I encountered a personality entirely different from anything I had expected to meet. I had come expecting to struggle with a doctrinaire Marxist. I found nothing of the sort. I had been told that Lenin lectured people; he certainly did not do so.”

Newly discovered evidence allows us to reconstruct and rectify Vladimir Lenin’s natal chart providing insights into his individuality and the driving motivations behind his actions.

In approaching the task of rectifying Lenin’s birth chart, I tried to discard all prejudice created by the cultural and social filters. Below is a brief account of the several years of thorough research into the character of Vladimir Lenin.

Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov (Lenin) was born on April 22 (April 10, old style), 1870, in Simbirsk, Russian Empire. As can be expected, I failed to find any birth certificate or any other document that contained the exact time of birth. I was lucky, however, to come across a comprehensive study »The Ulyanov Family» by a prominent Soviet author Marietta Shaginyan². M.Shaginyan is known for the thoroughness of her research. For instance, this particular study took about 30 years to complete. She gave a rather detailed description of Lenin’s birth.

According to Shaginyan, the delivery took place in the morning of April 10 (OS), just after Lenin’s father, Ilya Nikolaevich, left home for work. Given that Lenin’s father left for work quite early, usually at dawn, this would put Lenin’s time of birth approximately between 6 and 9 a.m. local time. This makes only two ascending signs probable — Gemini and Cancer. But it does not take much effort to see that Gemini matches the descriptions of Lenin’s appearance, behavior, and priorities much better than Cancer.

Ascendant in Gemini

A) Appearance and Behavior

The descriptions below are typical of Lenin and reveal the likelihood of his Gemini nature:

“He began talk with a twinkle in his amazingly alert eyes.” — M. Gorky³

“Lenin has a pleasant, quick-changing face, with a lively smile; he is not very like the photographs you see of him because he is one of those people whose change of expression is more important than their features; he gesticulated with his hands over the heaped papers as he talked, and he talked quickly, very keen on his subject, without any pose or pretenses or reservations, as a good type of scientific man will talk.” — H. Wells⁴

“He likes harmless gossip and will laugh mightily over some story about how Mr. Vanderlip fought with a Hungarian over a few sticks of wood on a cold day, or an incident which occurred on a train, or in the street. He himself loves to tell stories, and tells them very well.”- L. Bryant.

Those who met Lenin also noted his extraordinary communication skills and stressed that communication was the essence of Lenin’s character. It was impossible to present Lenin without describing how he interacted with his immediate environment.

“To depict Lenin is not easy a task — he is entirely in his words.” — M. Gorky.

Very characteristic of a Gemini Ascendant is an image of normality and simplicity. People who expected to meet an outstanding man were disappointed a great deal when they saw actual Lenin. He looked too fussy and superficial; he didn’t impress them at all.

“A man who was making history…yet simple, unaffected…I had pictured him differently.» recalled writer Maxim Gorky. «I missed something in him…He was too ordinary, there was nothing of ‘the leader’ in him.»

B) Inclinations and Priorities

Learning is one of the most important priorities for Gemini. Lenin displayed a voracious passion for reading and learning early on in life. He graduated from high school ranking first in his class. As the head of the Soviet state, Lenin repeated again and again, “Our indisputable priority is learning — we must learn how to run the business in a true socialist way.”

The most popular Lenin’s slogan, displayed in every school and education site throughout the former Soviet Union, read, “Study, study, and study again.” At several Party assemblies, he repeated, “Now we need only three things — the first is to study, the second is to study, and the third is to study.” Even on his deathbed, he lamented, “What we lack now are good manuals on labor organization.”

It is significant that throughout his life Lenin retained the keenest interest in mastering foreign languages. H. Wells noted that “he (Lenin) spoke excellent English.” In college he distinguished himself in Latin and Greek and seemed destined for the life of a classical scholar. His wife Nadezhda Krupskaja remarked that reading dictionaries was his hobby.

As we know, the sign on the Ascendant generally reveals how people start anything new.

In his first published article “Where to Begin?” Lenin wrote, “Our first step… should be the founding of an All-Russian political newspaper.” Notably, Lenin’s response to every event was an article or a pamphlet. He spent an enormous amount of time in libraries all over the Europe. If we are to pinpoint the secret of Lenin’s success, it would be communication. Throughout his political career in critical moments of struggle for power, he called for control over communication facilities. Lenin founded a number of newspapers, serving as both their editor and correspondent. When completing the questionnaires at the Communist party conventions, in the section for «occupation,» he always wrote “journalist.”

In approaching the task of rectifying Lenin’s birth chart, I tried to discard all prejudice created by the cultural and social filters.

Another extremely important Gemini issue is siblings. Vladimir Lenin was very fond of his elder brother Alexander. They shared many tastes and usually lived together in separate wings of the house.

Alexander was hanged for conspiring with a revolutionary terrorist group that plotted to assassinate Emperor Alexander III when Lenin was 15. The fate of his brother undeniably had a profound influence on Lenin. The decision to embark on the path of revolution definitely came from the tragedy of his beloved eldest brother.

It’s worth noting that every time ideology clashed with opportunism, Lenin invariably chose the tactical path above doctrinal purity. He could change his mind entirely if it advanced his goal. He was driven by ideology, but employed the most thorough and sophisticated calculation.

As we conclude this chapter we might remind that Gemini has traditionally played a very important role in the Russian reforms. Good example is Peter the Great with the Sun in Gemini. Nowadays, another Gemini is in the spotlight of Russian political life. This is A. Nawalny — the most consistent critic of Putin’s regime and the most forceful proponent of democratic reforms.

The Twelfth house

With the Ascendant in Gemini, the Taurus Sun and the planets in Aries could be placed either in the 12th or the 11th house, and we have every reason to believe that they should be placed in the 12^th (Placidus, Regiomontanus, Topocentric houses).

To demonstrate, let’s look at the characteristics traditionally associated with 12th house – isolation, prison, emigration, conspiracy, secret enemies, paranormal abilities, legacy, self-sacrifice, compassion, surrender, intuition, illusions, love of nature, special perception of art. Now, let’s group these by their core meaning and see if they apply to Lenin’s personality and life circumstances.

Isolation, prison, exile, emigration

Society tends to isolate its members when their activities contradict accepted principles and norms. In the fall of 1887, Lenin enrolled at the school of law at the Imperial Kazan University, but was expelled from the school within three months, having been accused of participating in an illegal student assembly. He was arrested and banished from Kazan to his grandfather’s estate in the village of Kokushkino.

In December 1895, Lenin was jailed for 15 months and thereafter sent into exile for a term of three years in Shushenskoye, Siberia. Upon completion of his Siberian exile in January 1900, Lenin left the country. This was his first emigration, and it continued until the beginning of the first Russian revolution in 1905. In 1907, after only two years at home, Lenin emigrated from Russia for the second time. The second emigration lasted for 10 years and ended when monarchy was overthrown in the spring of 1917.

Those who met Lenin noted his extraordinary communication skills and stressed that communication was the essence of his character.

Between April 1917 and December 1922, Lenin’s life was filled with episodes related to the 12th house. In the summer of 1917, Lenin, who was wanted by the Provisional Government, was forced to live in disguise in Razliv near Petrograd. In the fall of 1918 he was hospitalized after an assassination attempt. In the fall of 1921 he landed in a hospital after a stroke.

Lenin’s most severe isolation began in 1922 when his illness forced him to live under tight medical supervision in Gorki Village near Moscow. From the second half of 1923 until his death, Lenin experienced a total biological and social isolation, with all of his links to the outer world destroyed.

Conspiracy, plotting, secret activities

It is no wonder that a person whose entire focus was on undermining the existing social order had to keep much of his activities in secret. Indeed, Lenin was a recognized master of conspiracy and subversion. He wrote,”The only real organizing principle for us is the most strict conspiracy.”

His close friends observed that Lenin had tendency to conceal much of his business. He was very sensitive when it concerned his privacy and couldn’t tolerate when doors and windows of his home were open. His inclination toward secretiveness did not end even after he came to power: the majority of documents signed by Lenin were labeled as “strictly confidential”.

Paranormal abilities

Many of those who knew Lenin recalled the hypnotic effect he exerted on the people around him. Leon Trotsky noted that Lenin “had a magnetic quality that won the hearts and sympathies of the working people.” He possessed an ability to make others think along the same lines as him, and even in his own terms. Trotsky once confessed, “More and more the clear arguments of Lenin impressed themselves in my mind. I had never had such an experience with anyone before…”

N.Bukharin wondered if Lenin had “a 6th sense allowing him to hear what thoughts wandered about in the millions of heads of working people across the planet.” In fact, communist propaganda claimed that Lenin was blessed with a gift of clairvoyance. However, we found no proof for such claims.

Special perception of art

Lenin was known to be deeply moved by music. His wife, Nadezhda Krupskaya, recalled that violin affected Lenin enormously, bringing him to tears.

M. Gorky wrote that after listening to Beethoven’s sonatas, Lenin once remarked:

«I know of nothing better than the Appassionata and could listen to it every day. What astonishing, superhuman music! It always makes me proud, perhaps naively so, to think that people can work such miracles!»

Wrinkling up his eyes, he smiled rather sadly, adding: «But I can’t listen to music very often, it affects my nerves. I want to say sweet, silly things and pat the heads of people who, living in a filthy hell, can create such beauty. One can’t pat anyone on the head nowadays; they might bite your hand off. They ought to be beaten on the head, beaten mercilessly, although ideally we are against doing any violence to people. What a hellishly difficult job!»

Love of Nature

Lenin loved mountains and forests, dawn and spring rain. He wrote lyrically about walking in the Alps and through open countryside. He loved fishing, hunting, loved to ride a boat, collect flowers. He could identify hundreds of species of plants. His nature notes and letters to his family show a part of Lenin which is so far from a distant and unfeeling figure.

Illusions

Communism in itself is clearly a utopian notion, or, more correctly, communism has a utopian goal – collectivist, absolutely cooperative society. As a political philosophy it cannot work within a modern society. Wrapped in the ideas of communism, Lenin succumbed to the illusions of tremendous power.

The Standard Rectification

After we’ve established correlation between the actual character and life circumstances on one hand and the main factors of natal chart on the other, we may pass to event rectification, which should reduce the cusps’ coordinates uncertainty up to the minutes of arc.

The whole rectification procedure, of course, didn’t fit the article’s size {astrological content exceeds the current essay’s limits } and what we present here is just a fragment of the really big labor.

There are quite a few indications that the 11 th degree of Gemini⁶ is of major importance for Lenin’s life and activities.Solar arc directions of Taurus and Aries planets to this point coincided with the crucial moments of Lenin’s life.

• SA Jupiter conjoined 11 GEM in December of 1884 (14 years old). Lenin for the first time came across illegal goings-on. In particular he read revolutionary (Marxist) literature, which may affect his world view (?). Next year (within 1 degree orb) he revised his attitude towards religion.
• SA Pluto conjoined 11 GEM — March 1894 (24).Around this time Lenin moved to Saint Petersburg and rose to a senior position in a Marxist revolutionary cell in the capital of the Russian Empire. The beginning of communist party build up.
• SA Mercury conjoined 11 GEM – March 1900 (30). Lenin finished “The Development of Capitalism in Russia” his longest book to date, which promoted a Marxist analysis of Russian economic development. He founded a newspaper Iskra (Spark) a new organ of the Russian Marxist party. The same year he left Russia for Western Europe where he met other Russian Marxists.
• The Progressed Sun conjoined 11 GEM – March 1910 (40). Lenin met the love of his life Inessa Armand. This period was marked by the surge of Lenin’s influence among the Russian Social Democrats. Also he gained popularity in the International Socialist movement.
• SA Mars conjoined 11 GEM – March 1919 (49). After October Revolution Lenin initiated Red Terror, which set the stage for the brutal Civil War (1918-1920). Within one degree orb Lenin survived two assassination attempts, being badly wounded in August of 1918.
• SA Neptune conjoined 11 GEM – October of 1922 (52). The beginning of the total isolation. Lenin suffered several strokes, losing ability to speak and being paralyzed. Pretty accurate symbolism, isn’t it? Thus, given there is a plenty of other supporting evidence on corresponding natal positions, we are to assume that this point – 10 Gem 14 — is in fact the Ascendant of Lenin’s natal chart.

Interpreting major factors

If we are to penetrate beyond the veil of behavior patterns and reveal the driving forces behind Lenin’s activity we should address his natal Venus and Mars — the most essentially dignified planets of his chart.

The Sun’s dispositor Venus exalted in Pisces is the most harmonious point of the whole horoscope. However, this very pleasant Venus can in fact become a treacherous trap. For quite often a strong Venus in 11th house creates such a vivid and attractive picture of the future that it enslaves the entire imagination of a person, becomes idee fixe of his mind.

Moreover, it creates an impression that this bright future of universal happiness is easily achievable, just take a step forward and it will come. That’s why a politician with this position is absolutely sincere when he/she promises people anything and offers quite simple solutions to incredibly complex problems.

As usually the case with 12^th house people, they serve as the vehicles of some transpersonal energy patterns. To clarify the nature of this pattern we should consider the most powerful planet of 12^th house. Evidently, Mars in Aries determines the essence of power Lenin was a channel of.

The Taurus Sun’s dispositor — Venus, exalted in Pisces — is the most harmonious point of Lenin’s horoscope.

As we know Mars is associated with the most primordial biological, erotic — naturalistic aspects of human existence. In terms of collective unconscious theory Mars represents the energies, which were subjected to age-old repression by the Civilization, especially Orthodox Christian culture.

From the point of view of transpersonal psychology we may suggest that Lenin (perhaps, unconsciously) was the initiator and active participant of the Grand Mystery of collective psychotherapy⁷ — the release of the most primitive instinctual energies of the human subconscious. Thus, Lenin’s mission as a kind of psychotherapist of the collective unconscious⁸ was to open an abscess and to purify the Collective Soul from accumulated repressed «natural» energies of potentially enormous destructive power.

Leninism may well be regarded as the political manifestation of the massive channeling of most primitive contents of collective unconscious. Leninists and communists represent, therefore, the mouthpiece of unconscious contents. And generally speaking, the whole Communist endeavor is to a great extent an attempt to rehabilitate, restore naturalistic, primordial values at a new stage of Humanity development.

Lenin’s Legacy

The phenomenon of Lenin primarily was that his fanaticism and maniacal adherence to the idea (12th house) were combined tightly with pragmatism, ingenuity and flexibility (Gemini Ascendant). It is this paradoxical mixture of obsession and tactical elasticity that most likely made Lenin a triumphant political leader of his time.

Though, the Communist world he formed may have gone in a dustbin of history, Lenin is highly relevant today. He matters now because he was asking the same questions as we are today about similar problems. Millions of people as well as populist leaders are doubting whether liberal democracy has been successful in creating a fair society and can deal with growing inequality and injustice. It is unlikely that Lenin’s solutions will be adopted anywhere again but his questions are constantly being asked today and may be answered by equally bloody methods.

Remarkably, Lenin didn’t operate entirely through terror. In many ways he was a modern politician, a kind of demagogue familiar to us in some Western democracies.

With Gemini rising, Mercury conjunct Pluto and the third house Uranus Lenin realized quite early the importance of mass media as an indispensable instrument of propaganda. And he was the first who managed to build up an incredibly effective propaganda machine.

Lenin justified himself on the basis that the ends excuse the means and might be “considered the godfather of what we call now “post truth” politics”⁹.

However, contrary to many modern politicians, he acted not for the sake of his own selfish interests, but for the sake of the Idea. Moreover, he evidently sacrificed his personal life to the big task of building a new fair society. This is apparently indicated by the dominating house of Lenin’s chart. In the 12^th house we are to deny ourselves on behalf of a higher Ideal. There take place a sort of personal ego liquidation and it’s submission to a greater whole.

Indeed, people were impressed by Lenin’s lack of vanity and conceit. The remarkable thing about Lenin was the complete subordination of Self. The shared feeling was that Lenin, the individual, tended to dissipate, giving space to his ideas.

And the Court of History should take this into account.

© Boris Izraitel

First published in The Mountain Astrologer October/November 2018

References and Notes

1. H.G. Wells, “Russia in the Shadows” (New York, 1921)

2. M. Shaginian »The Ulyanov Family» (Moscow, 1957).

3. M.Gorky “Recollections. Stories. Notes.” (Berlin, 1927)

4. H.G. Wells, “Russia in the Shadows” (New York, 1921)

5. L.Bryant “Mirrors of Moscow” (New York, 1923)

6. The noteworthy sensitive points can be found within 2 degree orb of proposed Lenin’s Ascendant — 10 Gem 14: a) Uranus’ North Node and b) PlutoNeptune conjunction of 1893.

Also, transiting Jupiter conjoined this point at the very moment of Lenin’s political triumph – the seizure of power in November 1917.

7. R. Tacker in his book «Philosophy and Myth in Karl Marx» proves that Marxism is an objectified psychology. Marx’s image of society is the image of a collective dual personality. What Marx presented as a social system in conflict actually had the characteristics of a Self-system in conflict. Conflicting forces of the Self were conceived as external social forces. Thus the class conflict between the bourgeoisie and the proletariat is a political metaphor that reflects the struggle of the Ego with the Subconscious.

8. In «Psychology and Alchemy» K. Jung wrote that the «left» in politics correlates with unconscious content, and the “right” represent the resistance of the Ego to the «healing action of the Unconscious.»

9. V. Sebestyen, “Lenin the Dictator: An Intimate Portrait” (London, 2017)