A SHORT SUMMARY OF KING OLAV’S LIFE
Olav the 5th, also known as »Folkekongen« or The People’s King was a very popular and influential King of Norway, voted a Norwegian of a century. He was crowned King on September 21st, 1957 . During the World War II he was appointed Norwegian Chief of Defense. He was a very capable military leader, a very good athlete and he was very fond of art and literature. He died of a heart attack on January 17th, 1991.
KING OLAV’S HOROSCOPE
I suggest to you, the reader that you save the chart images, so it will be easier for you to look at them as we proceed.
The following is my interpretation of his horoscope using traditional Hellenistic astrological techniques and concepts.
King Olav’s chart (rated AA) is a textbook example of fame, power, royalty and military. His ascendant is in Sagittarius, a sign associated with royalty, battlefield and knowledge. It is in Jupiter’s bound, thus Jupiter has a lot of rulership over the ascendant. Jupiter is in his own sign Pisces, in an angular house, with the Lot of Fortune (marked by blue circle with an X). He falls in bound of Mars which is proper for someone who is a military advisor when it comes to defending his own country.
Importantly, Jupiter is also the bound ruler of the Moon who is Epikratetor (predominator) of the chart since the Sun is in the 8th place and Moon is in a much better 11th, visible and eastern. By this Jupiter becomes the chart ruler or Oikodespotes (note that there are different approaches to selecting Oikodespotes and I adhere to Oikodespotes being the bound ruler of Epikratetor).
Jupiter is overcoming Mercury by a square aspect. Mercury is in the 7th house in his own sign Gemini and bounds of Mars again. Jupiter and Mercury are in a configuration called »spear bearing« or Doryphory, because we have an angular Jupiter in his own sign aspected by another planet in its own sign, Mercury.
For a doryphory It is required that the planet who bears a spear is hurling its ray to degrees that rise before the planet that is guarded. This means that the spear-bearer is the planet that is placed later in the Zodiac, as hurling of ray is done from the position later in the Zodiac circle. It is also important to consider that the planet that is being guarded must be earlier in the Zodiac so that it overcomes the spear-bearer and in the case of King Olav, Jupiter is dominating Mercury, having it in an appropriate subordinate position for a spear-bearer.
To make this configuration even stronger, Mercury is advancing towards the descendant, making him prominent and loudly expressed. Mercury is thus a very capable body-guard or spear-bearer to Jupiter. This is very relevant because the birth was during the day and Jupiter is the benefic of the day sect.
Rhetorius writes: “Doryphory is when an angular star in its own sign or exaltation is aspected by another star in its domicile or exaltation.” (Chapter23)
King Olav (prince at that time) was known both for his military capabilities and his advisory skills (Jupiter), as well as his sportsmanship (Mercury). He liked skiing and ski jumping. Mercury in Gemini is of course indicative of sports and games, especially in bounds of Mars. He was also very interested in arts and literature indicated by sextiles between Mercury, Venus and Moon.
Picture no. 1: King Olav’s radix chart with bounds and 12th parts outside the wheel.
Having Mars ruling the bounds of two important factors we notice him conjunct the MC, with North Node which is highly proper for a leader and a man with great military skills.
The waxing Moon is in the 11th house of good spirit, Libra in the bounds of Jupiter, strongly advancing towards the MC, giving him a gentleness, diplomacy and concern for the welfare of others. Moon’s ruler and MC ruler Venus is in the 9th house, Leo, with the Lot of Spirit (marked by orange S) in the bounds of Mars. 9th house is the house of royalty, higher knowledge, ethics and religion. We already know that he was an expert in military and politics, for which Venus in royal Leo in bounds of Mars speaks quite loudly, but Venus in Leo is also associated with wearing a crown, albeit not necessarily as a king, but was usually associated with crowns of priests. While we can’t find any information about his religious life on Wikipedia, there is indeed an article on Norwegian Royal Court web page which gives quite a lot of information. It is of no surprise that King Olav was actively involved in shaping the consecration ritual in Nidaros cathedral. He even considered the consecration ritual to be the highlight of his life.
His Saturn is also in his own sign Aquarius in the 3rd house in bounds of Venus. Since this is a diurnal chart, Saturn is a favorable malefic, especially when he is in his own sign and is softened by being in the bounds of Venus. It is of no surprise that Olav was the only child as Saturn in the 3rd is not exactly disposed to giving siblings or if there are, there is a separation between them. Olav also seemed to be a learner throughout his life, the 3rd house being the house of receiving preliminary information. Saturn is in a sextile to the ascendant and a loose trine to Mercury, thus reinforcing Mercury’s power. This is a Saturn denoting responsibility, commitment, making him a servant of people. He preferred to drive his own car in normal lanes and took public transport when he went skiing. Saturn’s opposition to Venus can be indicative of him stepping down from royal position to the position of common people signified by Aquarius and Saturn. Saturn is also trine to MC.
Now, there are two more factors that should have been mentioned earlier, but I’ve left them for the end, as they are a bit more complex to delineate, the Sun and Mars.
The Sun in the 8th house is not something we’d expect in a chart of a King! It’s in the 5th from Fortune, which is proper, but still, it falls in the 8th house, which would be the position of the Sun when it comes to the height of our eyes, before it starts setting. It is difficult to look at the Sun in this position as it blinds us. A king is a visible person, so naturally the Sun, the symbol of a king in a place that makes things invisible and idle raises some questions. We’ve seen that there are many factors that show eminence quite vividly, so here it makes sense to look at the Sun closer by the use of the 12th parts and Antiscia.
To know more about the 12th parts see my article.
Picture no. 2: King Olav’s chart with 12th parts of planets outside the wheel.
We can see that the Sun has its 12th part in the 11th house, Libra in the bounds of Venus and is received by Venus which is in the sign of Leo, the domicile of the Sun. This for sure is a mitigating factor. Sun’s 12th part in Libra also speaks about him being People’s king and it is interesting to note that he was consecrated on the southern (autumn) Equinox when the Sun enters Libra!
The radix position of the Sun in the 8th house is indicative of his vitality. The ruler of the Sun, Moon is with Mars, the 12th lord and the Moon of course is the 8th lord, so we have lord of the house of death together with the lord of the house of bad spirit, loss. Mars is exactly conjunct the North Node, which classical astrologers warn against as they didn’t want to see malefics with the North Node as it amplifies their maleficence. Mars is also out of sect malefic, thus more troublesome. The Moon of course also signifies the body, while Mars, according to some rules the heart, because heart is, like other organs ruled by Mars contracting and expanding, pumping blood. He died of a heart attack, which is a sudden event and the North Node indicates sudden disruptions as does the 8th house.
Picture no. 3: King Olav’s chart with Antiscia points of planets outside the wheel.
It would be great if the Sun was strongly configured to either Jupiter or Mercury due to them being powerful. If we look at its Antiscia (mirror point across solstice axis) it is right there conjunct Mercury. Mercury and Sun are conjunct by Antiscia. Although at first glance they are in aversion due to 2/12 relationship, the signs Cancer and Gemini are Antiscia to each other, because 0 degrees Cancer marks the northern solstice point. In this way through the 12th parts and Antiscia the Sun is more capable than what appears at the first glance.
12th PARTS OF OTHER PLANETS
When we look at the 12th parts of other planets it’s interesting to note Jupiter in his own bounds in the 1st house, Mars in his own bounds in the 3rd house of skills and the Moon in the 7th in the bounds of Mercury all amplifying the previously noted significations.
LOT OF EXALTATION
Since we’re reading a chart of someone with a high rank in society we might look at the Lot of Exaltation. Since this is a day chart we calculate it by measuring the distance from the Sun to its exaltation degree at 19 Aries and add or subtract from the ascendant. Since in this case we measure from the Sun backwards in the Zodiac, taking the shortest distance to 19 Aries, we then subtract this distance from the degree of the ascendant and arrive at 17 degrees of Virgo.
Lot of Exaltation is angular from the ascendant, in the 10th house and its lord Mercury is in the 10th from it in his own sign, advancing towards the angle and in a Doriphory. This is extremely clear.
Now, that we have delineated the chart, let’s look at how his consecration and his death can be seen through two simple, bread & butter timing techniques – annual profections and transits.
HIS CONSECRATION
ANNUAL PROFECTIONS:
Annual profections were a bread & butter predictive tool of many ancient astrologers. The principle is simple: move a planet or point one sign forward for each year of life.
King Olav was consecrated a King when his ascendant has profected to Gemini, which houses Mercury, who rules the Lot of Exaltation, 10th house and MC by bounds. As we have seen, Mercury is in a powerful square with Jupiter, the ascendant lord and lord of Fortune.
We can profect other points than the ascendant to get further confirmation.
Lot of Fortune has profected to Virgo, 10th house, which is the place of Exaltation and its ruler Mercury is as we have seen in a great condition, also in a trine to the Moon, the ruler of the chart. Note that both Gemini and Virgo are angular to Lot of Fortune.
Lot of Spirit (at 27 Leo) has profected to Aquarius, which holds Saturn, the malefic in favor, who is also in a trine to the Moon and to Mercury. Th 3rd house is often associated with sacred rituals, initiations and the like.
TRANSITS:
By transits, Jupiter was at 9 degrees Libra, transiting over MC and Mars, and waning Moon was transiting over Venus in the 9th. Since we don’t know the exact time of consecration we can’t say for sure if the Moon was exactly conjunct, but if we take the time around noon, which would be likely it is at around 24 degrees, conjucnt radix Venus.
Mercury at 11 degrees Virgo was transiting over the 10th house and was squaring the ascendant at 7 degrees Sagittarius. Mercury was also approaching the Lot of Exaltation it rules. Sun and Mars conjunct by transit at 28 degrees Virgo were in a trine to Venus’ 12th part at 29 degrees Taurus. Mercury was sextile to the Sun and square to the Sun’s antiscia.
HIS DEATH
ANNUAL PROFECTIONS:
By profecting the Sun as the vital force we get to Libra, which houses Mars conjunct North Node and the 8th lord Moon, square to the Sun in the 8th. The vital force gets suddenly cut off.
TRANSITS:
Moon was separating from radix Mars at aprox. 13 degrees Aquarius by a square aspect, and from radix Saturn, the natural significator of death by conjunction. Moon was also applying a square to her radix position. Mars was by transit in a critical 29th degree of the 6th house of illnesses in a trine aspect to transiting conjunction of Saturn, Sun and North Node which were conjunct at the last degrees of Capricorn which are ruled by Mars. This triple conjunction was separating in a square to the 12th part of the Sun, which is at 25 degrees Libra . Moon was applying a conjunction to Mars’ 12th part at 20 degrees Aquarius.
As we can see there were a lot of indications of great reversal regarding the body and its vitality.
CONCLUSION
In this article I wanted to illustrate ancient astrological practice that is quite profound, yet simple enough that it doesn’t overwhelm the mind. I outlined the procedure of reading a horoscope I more or less use in my regular practice, although I didn’t include Solar Returns as that would make the article too long.
Not many horoscopes feature such vivid eminence factors as King Olav’s. Let’s make a short overview:
1. Doriphory or “spear-bearing” of Mercury to Jupiter as ascendant ruler.
2. Lot of Exaltation is in the 10th place, ruled by Mercury who is in the 10th from it..
3. He also has a strongly placed Predominator (Moon) and the ruler of the chart Jupiter has Doriphory.
4. Lot of Fortune is with Jupiter, its ruler who is extremely fortified being in own sign, angular and has Doriphory.
After reading King Olav’s horoscope I have to say that I’d like to meet the man and there is no wonder people liked him.
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Beautiful analysis Rok. I am surprised that we never spoke about spear bearing. New topic to talk about!
Thank you Ashwin, we’ll talk about it one day 😉
Slight correction in article. Saturn is in his own sign of Aquarius, not Capricorn. 😉
Yikes, thank you! 🙂