Game of Thrones Part: The Author
Game of Thrones is a fantasy drama television series that premiered on HBO in April 2011. It is an adaptation of the A Song of Ice and Fire fantasy novels by author George R. R. Martin. There are three main story arcs in the series. The first centres around the dynamic alliances and conflicts for the Iron Throne of the Seven Kingdoms on the island of Westeros. The second focuses on the last descendant of the deposed Emperor of Westeros and her quest to return in glory to her homeland while gathering support and strength in the lands of the island across the sea, Essos. The third story arc revolves around the brothers of the Night’s Watch, and their ongoing mission to defend Westeros from ancient and magical enemies from the far North, bringing to the world the long dread Winter along with them.
Being a fan of the series, and having read some of the books (up to the end of Book 3), it dawned on me last night that I could devote some time to feed my nerdish curiosity about everything astrological related to the books and the show. I’m surprised that I didn’t begin this earlier!
The natural starting point would be the author George R. R. Martin and his chart. Not to go into a lot of detail, but just to get a sense of his creative stream as pertains to the novels and characters which have connected with people all over the world. So I’ll be only looking at those factors which would describe the writing style and creativity, as well as the potential for global prominence through them (and also maybe some predictive methods that may coincide with it all). So let’s dive in.
George Raymond Richard Martin was born on 20 September 1948 at 21:25pm in Bayonne, New Jersey, USA. The Rodden Rating (accuracy rating) of the birth time is AA, coming from a birth certificate. He is an American novelist and short-story writer in the fantasy, horror, and science fiction genres. More recently, he has also been a screenwriter and television producer. (The chart graphic may be opened in a new window to view at full size).
The last Ptolemaic aspect of the Sun prior to birth was to Jupiter, therefore Jupiter will play a prominent role in the path of profession.
Jupiter is in its own sign, rules the 11th house of gains, and is connected to the Part of Fortune. It’s placement in the 8th house is therefore appropriate, and shows that fortune and gain will be indicated by Jupiter through the agency of others (8th house is joint ownership) or even two other people or two projects (Sagittarius is a dual sign). Jupiter is in the 3rd from the Part of Fortune, indicating that to take hold of this opportunity, he should put effort into writing, speaking, and media. Jupiter being out of Sect simply shows that he may come to it much later in life, or have a lot of personal resistance to manifesting and taking hold of the opportunity when it arrives – there are a lot of personal “terms and conditions” applied to it because the way it presents itself to him from outside is not aligned with how he sees it inside. This is my use of Sect, I don’t use it in any other way. It would be very inaccurate to say for example that because this Jupiter is out of sect it is more malefic for him, when in fact this Jupiter has given him immense wealth and fame (it is after all connected to the Sun its sect ruler, despite being out of sect). It is true that for a long time he resisted agreeing to anyone portraying his novels on screen, waiting rather for people who shared his own vision for it.
This is supported by Libra Mercury conjunct the Part of Fortune (showing a proclivity for speaking, contractual arrangements and partnership, media, writing), and Mercury rules the 2nd house indicating this will improve his personal financial means.
Neptune on the 6th house cusp Libra, indicates an interest to engage with or investigate or challenge people’s sense of what appropriate relating is (Libra), to dissolve or explore society’s assumptions about what relationship and social etiquette is. Especially in connection to Venus-Pluto, we get a sense here of purposeful challenging of societal norms of relating.
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Author George RR Martin[/caption]
Given the Venus (ruler of Libra) conjunct Pluto in Leo, these works, which challenge existing roles in society, are a strong statement of who he himself is, and describe his own path of relationship (especially as Venus is also ruler of the Ascendant). Further, Venus in the 4th house Leo with Pluto indicates that part of his work will be seeded from a strong identification at first with patriotism and homeland and family, and then the reversal of and exposition of how these can control and limit people.
This family reversal theme plays strongly into his books with the House of Lannister, which coincidentally has as its house sigil a Lion – and Venus-Pluto 4th house is in Leo which is the zodiac conceptual symbolism of the Lion in the sky. So we can say that to some extent the themes portrayed in the books by House Lannister are an expression of his natal Leo Venus-Pluto and related aspects. I would even say that since Venus is at the Bendings of the Nodes in his chart, this aspect of the novels and his life is a major input for him, one could even see the entire series as his personal commentary on family relationships, patriotic duty, and the associated assumptions and expectations – the “ties that bind”.
The rising order of Sun, Venus and Mercury in a chart will tell us a lot about the psychological makeup and formation of the individual. Here we see that Venus is the first to rise from the three, and hence all this family drama played an immensely important formative role in his childhood. Leo being 11th from the Part of Fortune shows that his future (financial) success really took root in his childhood where a lot of the themes in the familial relationships of the novels came from. Venus also ruling the 1st and 6th houses, and Venus in Leo, shows a child that is very self-aware (even to a fault) but this awareness is eventually to his gain (because of the beneficial placement from Part of Fortune).
The Sun, ruler of Venus, is ruled by Mercury, which is in turned ruled by Venus. So it is a mark of inherent creativity to have this sort of connection. The Sun, being the second to rise, is at the centre of his personality and the aspect of himself that everyone recognizes. The Sun is in the 5th house Virgo, and he is known for his detailed exposition of the craft and his attention to intricate plot lines. His style of writing while largely conversational (Libra Mercury) is still very detailed (Virgo 5th house). The Sun has a natural affinity to the 5th house as it impels the creative urge. This is a person who feels immensely personally satisfied surrounded by detailed maps and carvings and mental fancies in the work he is creating – the almost sentimental approach to the detail is what gets him going (Virgo).
The Mercury is the last to rise, and hence shows he isn’t very big on communication and may take his time when having to share his views with others (Libra Mercury), and actually may only do it as part of his job (Mercury in 6th house). Also, it shows that he may take a long time to finish what he begins to write (cardinal sign) and that things sort of formulate at the last effort. This is someone who shouldn’t be rushed with his writings (well, fans know that he definitely does take his time!). This is supported by Saturn ruler of the MC on the 5th house cusp – a work coming from a slow and steady manifestation of his creativity (he works better when working on his own schedule).
As an aside, Sagittarius is source of much activation for him despite being the 8th sign, as it is both the 4th from the Sun and 9th from the Moon in this chart. This totally transforms the 8th house energy and shows that the fortune indicated by Jupiter is strongly connected to a global audience which will sustain it for him.
The Mars in Joy in the 6th house in own sign connected to Venus-Pluto in a night chart shows the penchant for or strong presence of violent or otherwise taboo themes in the novels. This includes the presence of magic (Scorpio the natural 8th house of occult, Pluto, and Jupiter in the 8th house – all show occult themes as well as themes of power, dominance, and control over others which play out strongly in the books).
Algol rising would normally be an issue but here we have strong resonance with both primary rulers of the Ascendant showing support of Algol themes: Venus with Pluto, and a 12th house Moon – both in fire signs. So despite there being a melancholic tone over the chart (Earth AC trine Earth Sun in Autumn), there is a result from that melancholia and reserve which is choleric, which is full of purpose. Naturally, being in fire signs, this would strongly colour his creative expressions.
The strong Algol/Pluto/Mars themes also play out in the presence of Dragons on the show (especially Algol). Algol or Al Ghul in Arabic means the Evil Eye, referring mythologically to the gorgon Medusa who's head was covered in snakes and who's gaze turned men to stone. In the story, well at least in the books, there is the Dragon fear, a phenomenon that physically affects men with fear when facing a Dragon - the gaze of a Dragon turns them to "stone".
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Daenerys Targaryen, played by Emilia Clarke[/caption]
I’ve explained how the theme of Family Legacy and Bonds is produced through the Venus. We can further see the manifestation of the strong female leaders throughout the novels via the other Ascendant ruler, the Aries Moon, in exile in the 12th house.
This shows up in the storyline of Daenerys Targaryen who is most of the time in exile (and also Aries even comes up phonetically in her name!). It also manifests through Cersei Lannister, who through hardship growing up from the rage of having lost a mother (and hating her dwarf brother for it), fights against the patriarchy in her own way to claim power from behind the throne. The Aries 12th house Moon also comes up through the storyline of Jon Snow, who was raised as a bastard, with the reader and everyone in the show not knowing who his mother really was. And the answer itself to that question comes very close to the Daenerys storyline eventually too.
So I see the manifestation of the Venus and Moon as both rulers of the AC playing very functional roles in this chart as well as in the novels.
The Moon in the 12th house and 7th from Part of Fortune (with Moon ruling the 3rd house of siblings) also reflects in the stories of Cersei (having a clandestine relationship with her brother) and Daenerys (having a controlling brother who treated her like something to barter with).
The Feminine archetype shows up very strongly in this chart from multiple points of view, including the fact that he was born on a Moon day, in a Moon hour, and the Moon is the main sect light. This further supports the prominence of 4th house themes (Moon rules the natural 4th house) and also the Moon itself in the chart.
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Cersei Lannister, played by Lena Headey[/caption]
There is more topical emphasis when we look at the 9th house. The 9th house is Capricorn, which shows a change of view from the traditional hardline approach since it is a cardinal sign, so there is likely to be an attitude resistant to the “established organized religion” in which he was born. With the ruler Saturn in Virgo, the traditional views wont be altogether thrown out, but there is some adjustment that is possible, finding a go-between approach to religion, or at least a quest to understand it from a functional utilitarian point of view. With Saturn ruler of the 9th house on the 5th house cusp, and Mercury ruler of the 9th from Part of Fortune with the Part of Fortune and ruling Saturn, I would expect the novels to have very strong themes of religion in it. The Virgo and Libra emphasis here would seek to showcase how each religion’s approach is fit for purpose for its cultural reference and there would be unique distinguishing characterstics of each religion which the author could devote a lot of time to as far as rituals or special customs or other small details are concerned.
Of course, the strong influence of 9th house on creativity and fortune here indicated shows that the creative work plays both a significant role in how he himself views life, and also shows the potential wide or broad audience of the work itself – because it has a diverse appeal (9th house being the house of travel, publishing, and the explorative mind).
In this way, by looking at the natal chart quite superficially, we can glean a lot of information about this person and how they choose to create and what factors important in their life could find expression in their craft. This has been a fairly simple approach to interpreting the chart of the author of the A Song of Ice and Fire novels, the inspiration for the television series A Game of Thrones.
