Dharma Astroloji Temel ve Orta Seviye mezunu MoonStruck’ın kaleminden:

How many times have we not felt on the verge of despair, tired of struggling against injustice and pain, looking for a glimmer of hope for brighter days ahead? Regardless of the nature of the pain, I guess the answer will be “too many”. Yet as cliché as this might sound, it is through our journey away from these struggles that we truly grow, succeed in transforming our weaknesses into strengths and sometimes even set an example for many others. 

Who better than Simone Veil can illustrate this?  As a Holocaust survivor who has lived and witnessed the heinous atrocities committed against humanity during the Second World War, she succeeded in not only restarting a new life and rebuilding a family of her own but also leading an inspiring political career and leaving an enduring legacy. Looking at her life through the lens of her astrological chart, it clearly indicates how Simone Veil has managed to take properly her destiny into her hands and to build upon her traumatic past.

Horrors of the war crimes

As an adolescent, Simone Veil was deported with her family from France during the Second World War. While falling apart from her father and two siblings, she was sent with her mother and one of her sisters to the transit camp of Drancy, later deported to Auschwitz-Birkenau and then to Bergen-Belsen concentration camp. When talking about her past at the 60th anniversary of the liberation of the camps, Simone Veil revealed that “she was still haunted by the images, the smells, the cries, the humiliation, the shots and the smoke clouds rising from the crematoria”. The stellium in the 12th House (with the presence of three planets, namely Mars, Neptune and retrograde Mercury)  combined with Pluton in the 11th House reflect this deep suffering, the psychological fears and the forced isolation and imprisonment endured by Simone Veil. Chiron in the 9th House of Taurus reinforced with the presence of the fixed star Sharatan in the 9thHouse (with an orb of 2°00) indicates the horrors of war she has undergone abroad and her fight to survive the life in the camps. Surviving was an endless struggle, surrounded by death and fear, dealing with the harsh conditions of daily life (starvation, exhaustion, torture, disease, etc.) and enduring humiliation and degradation. Prior to the liberation of the camp, Simone Veil reached the point where she was questioning whether it was worth continuing living, as she was realizing how difficult it would be to lead a “normal” life again once the war will be over.  

Shield of protection

Amid the nightmare of the concentration camps, Simone Veil related that she was miraculously saved at different occasions, her beauty providing a shield of protection. As suggested with the Venus in her 1st House, Simone Veil drew attention to herself with her outstanding beauty and charms, particularly with “her dazzling eyes and blue as the sky”.  The trine formed between Venus and Chiron in the 9th House also reveals how her good looks served as an important shield of protection. When arriving to the camp, striking with her beauty, she was quickly advised to lie about her age and to tell the guards that she was 18 instead of 16, which immediately saved her then from the gas chamber. Later, she was also protected by a Polish Kapo woman, who thought she was too pretty to die, and thus arranged her transfer (along with her with her mother and her sister) to a neighbouring camp with less harsh conditions. With Chiron in the 9th House and Juno in the 11th House are in a sextile, both simultaneously creating a 150-degree quincunx with Retreograde Ceres in the 4th House, the presence of YOD (Finger of God) in her natal chart also echoes this miraculous protection which was critical for her survival in the camp throughout the war. As explained later in her autobiography, these turns of events made her realized that stroke of luck for women relied too much on odd coincidences and not enough from law. Needless to say that her determination to reverse this situation will constitute the driving motto in her life.  

Rebuilding a new life

As indicated by Retrograde Saturn in the 4th house and Pluton of cancer ascendant, Simone Veil’s childhood was marked by her traumatic experiences in the camp and the losses of family members. Not only her father and brother never came back from deportation, but she also witnessed her mother dying from typhus at the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp. In addition to these eternal scars, the 150-degree quincunx between the Moon (5th House) and the Retrograde Mercury (12th House) reflects well the social alienation felt by Simone Veil after the liberation.  Despite her desperate need to talk and share the atrocities of the war, she had to bury herself into silence, as nobody was ready yet to hear and face openly the crimes committed against humanity during the war.

While indicating these deep-rooted psychological traumas of her childhood, the opposition of the Moon with North Node also signals the need to move away from the trap build on past wounds towards a fight of a greater cause. Both the presence of South Node in the 5th house and the Retrograde Saturn in the 4th House support this thesis of becoming actively involved in the society and improving others’ living conditions (to reach North Node in the 11th House).

With the Moon being in the 5th House and Juno in the 11th House of Cancer, it is not surprising that Simone Veil succeeded to build quickly a new life, by marrying Antoine Veil at the age of 19 years and having three sons. With her aspiration to move towards the North Node in the 11th House, Simone Veil seems to have been drawn to him as he himself was also studying at Sciences Po, the elite school of political science in Paris and became a well-known civil servant.  

While being very fond of her family, Simone Veil turned out to be a very independent person, as she had to build on her own strength from her past (marked by the presence of Venus the 1th House and in 90 degrees with the Retrograde Saturn (4th House)). This personality trait is also reflected with two important planets, namely Jupiter and Retrograde Uranus being of Aries Ascendant.  As it can be understood from the Moon of Capricorn and 150-degree quincunx with the Retrograde Mercury, she had become an ambitious hard-working mother, sometimes torn between work and family responsibilities. Despite her husband’s initial opposition (as expected with Juno being of Cancer ascendant), she will manage to find a compromise to follow her own aspirations and pursue her professional career. 

Pioneer in politics

Becoming active in French politics as of 1950s, she assumed various functions in the Government and later in the Constitutional Council. She first became a magistrate and took on a senior position at the National Penitentiary Administration within the Ministry of Justice. She dedicated herself to improve the living conditions of prisoners, especially of Algerian female prisoners. This constituted a perfect example of her healing process with her Natal Chiron wound and 11th House for getting involved in politics, having herself endured concentration camp.

She was the first female nominated as minister in France as she served as Health Minister in several governments. She devoted herself to the promotion of gender equality and to the improvement of women’s rights. Despite the threats inflinged to her and her family, she fiercely fought to legalize the voluntary termination of pregnancy, thus passing the law on abortion (known also as Loi Veil) in 1975, which  clearly represented a milestone for the emancipation for women back then. With this important legacy, she has succeeded to become a pioneer figure in the feminist movement. She further contributed in reinforcing women’s living conditions by expanding health coverage and promoting childcare and maternity benefits, and by introducing measures to help people with H.I.V.  

Pluton in the 11th House and the Retrograde in the Mercury clearly reflect the challenges encountered by Simone Veil in her fight to reform existing system and to introduce new mindset shifts within the society. Nevertheless, her initiatives were sealed with victory as suggested by the positive angles formed between Retrograde Mercury and Jupiter, Saturn and Uranus (120 degree for the three respective planets). The presence of Mars in the 12th of Leon and of Pluton in the 11th House combined with the Arias nature of Jupiter and the Retrograde Uranus (both in 8th House) also show her strong determination as well as her spirit of leadership and reformist. 

Needless to say that her initiatives did not end there, she also contributed to the peace project initiated with the European integration process after the Second World War. Supported by the then French President, Valéry Giscard d’Estaing, she run as a candidate in the first direct-suffrage European parliamentary elections, thus becoming the first women elected President of the European Parliament in 1979.  As it would have been expected with the presence of Pluton in the 11th House and the 108 degree formed between Jupiter (8th House) and Sun (11th House), Simone Veil have enjoyed support from her surrounding throughout her life. 

The fixed stars Sirius in the 11th House and Alphard in the 12th House reflect well Simone Veil’s devotion, passion and endeavours to improve women’s rights and support the European integration process. Her outstanding and pioneering achievements can be also retraced from the 108-degree formed between Sun and Uranus in her natal chart.

As former Vice-President of the European Commission Maroš Šefčovič rightly put “Simone Veil was a symbol, legend and proof that nothing can beat the human spirit”. Looking at her past, Simone Veil was indeed a “woman of many first” and a true inspiration for many generations still to come…

Source: Notes from Dharma Astrology’s courses ;  Simone Veil : « Ma vie »

Written by Moonstruck