Born in 1821, widowed twice, Mrs. Eddy had been ill a long time by 1866 when she had an "inspiring experience." I do not have a description of her experience. I do know it was credited as the birth in her understanding of the concepts which became the health and religious practices known as Christian Science. It also initiated her long life of essentially vigorous health.

Twain had a low opinion of religion, especially the oft-occurring seldom grasped contradictions and hypocrisies of religious people. He had an even lower opinion of spiritualism, widely practiced in the United States in his day. Both, he thought, thrive and grow rich on the gullibility of people. Naturally irreverent (and ultimately embittered by the emotional pain suffered from the loss of loved ones), he writes to debunk Mrs. Eddy, her science, and her religion. How, he wondered, can any one set out to establish her own church?

Twain's pot shots at Eddy and Christian Science are not entirely successful. He disliked doctors as much as he disliked the medicine of "religious zealots." His distaste for the former forced him to sympathize with the aims, at least, of the latter. Moreover, some people he cared about--including his surviving daughter--were Christian Scientists.

Failing in his main goal, he was funny, at least, in his description of his imaginary visit to a Christian Scientist healer. She kept telling him he had no disease, no illness--that it was all imaginary. When she presented him with the bill, he wrote her an imaginary check.

Twain, like others objecting to Mrs. Eddy, hints that her ideas about healing were not original. He and other detractors claimed that her ideas came from Dr. Phineas Quimby, an older contemporary of Eddy's. She knew him and even studied with him. But, she states, the concepts that identify the main ideas in Christian Science did not come from Quimby. Moreover, I say, even if they had, Quimby did not start a Church. Eddy did. Eddy was the one who understood the moral responsibility that followed from her inspiring experience plus her continuous study of the Bible. Judging from her astrology, discussed below, Mrs. Eddy was quite capable of experiencing her own spiritual profundity. She did not need to borrow it from others.

Twain's continual reference to Quimby amounts to him accusing, "her concepts are not original" so do not pay any attention to what she did with them. If the same standards were applied to the creations of men, we would be living in a far poorer--and vastly simpler--world.

As it turned out, even through Twain did not actually jump on the Christian Science bandwagon, he ended with a hefty respect for its concepts as well as for the stature of its founder, Mary Baker Eddy.

It is not my place to confirm or deny the validity of Christian Science. Here I demonstrate--using selected aspects of her chart--that Mrs. Eddy did not manufacture her interest in religion and health "out of thin air." Specifically, I intend to show the astrological basis for:

Two noteworthy events in her life are worth showing:

(g)	The astrology of her inspiring experience.
(h)	The astrology of her elevation, posthumously, to the National Hall of Fame

In the drawing above, I show only part of her chart. This part is germane. For people not used to this form of astrology, the whole chart is confusing. Conception planets and their harmonics are outside the circle. Birth planets and their harmonics are inside the circle. House cusps are just below the drawing. This system has two sets of houses interacting. Neither is dominant.

For a full explanation of the astrology used on this site, consult the links immediately below. For those who do not want to do that, there is these notes: this system uses sidereal astrology and Egyptian harmonics. It recognizes only conjunctions, applying and separating squares, and oppositions. Orbs with lights is 5°; without lights, about 2°. Birth planets (including their harmonics) rule only birth houses. Conception planets (including their harmonics) rule only conception houses.

In the partial charts shown above and below, birth planets and their harmonics are inside the circle. Conception planets and their harmonics are outside the circle. Conception sidereal planets are red; conception harmonic ones, black. Birth sidereal planets are blue; birth harmonic ones, green. Occasionally, because of space limitations, I have had to violate this inside/outside arrangement, but the color coding remains constant.

Abbreviations used below are b = birth, c = conception, and t = transiting. Even though the harmonic used for each chart is always two more than the chart’s number, in these papers—for ease of reading—I write the harmonic number the same as the chart number. For example, the 5th chart uses the 7th harmonic, but I have established the convention of writing harmonic planets for the 5th chart as, e.g., c5 mars, which reads, “the harmonic for the 5th chart for conception mars.”

Here are those links:

Returning to the partial chart shown above, look at 3 o'clock. Sun, moon, mercury, venus, jupiter and neptune are in conjunction in Virgo. In this system we do not--without the sun and moon--consider venus and jupiter conjunct. However, those two lights increase orb, pulling this whole group into one that functions as one set.

Golden benefics are comprised of light/venus/jupiter, with venus and jupiter being conjunction or square but not opposition. When opposition they are still powerful, but they fight each other rather than cooperate. To be called a golden benefic, the set must either be on an Angle or influencing one. Golden benefics operate to produce luck, unusual comprehension, charisma, and success throughout life in the areas and charts they influence. Sometimes they do not start operating until certain events occur in the individual's life. This was the case with Mrs. Eddy.

With that many planets in Virgo and both benefics, she has a natural interest in health and service (Virgo influence). Note next where they are. They are in the her birth 9th house. They are also--simultaneously--in her conception 2nd house. The 9th house part gives her interest in religion; the 2nd, shows that interest will reflect itself in her personal income.

So far, we see indications of her interest in health, religion (actually, higher mind, which also takes forms other than religion), and a good income and her success with all three. Moreover, we can now see that doing one implies doing the other. Whatever she does with her income, Mrs. Eddy is not going to establish a church at the expense of her financial well-being. Each interest supports, and in this astrological sense only, is actually identical with the other. So, they are bundled together.

Let's establish just how powerful the above planetary set is. In this system, whatever is forefront--be it pleasant or painful--in the chart determines the type of consciousness the individual is dealing with. Planets on Angles--Midheavens and Ascendants and their opposition points--are always forefront in a chart. Lighted by a sun, moon, or node, they are even more powerful. The condition of planets that rule Angles are also forefront, especially and mostly if they include lights. So, when we want to establish how much a set like the one in Virgo, above, influences the chart, we have to determine how many of its planets rule Angles. Let us take a look at the planets as rulers in this set:

• b7 jupiter (green) rules B Asc
• c sun (red) rules C Asc
• c7 venus (light blue ink) rules C MC and c 3rd house
• c mercury (red) rules c 2nd house
• c7 mercury (light blue ink, in Sagittarius, and part of this set) rules c 2nd house.
• c7 neptune (light blue ink) rules c 8th house
• c moon (red) rules c 12th house

Therefore, Mrs. Eddy has lighted venus/jupiter (very benefic) influence to three of her four Angles. The likelihood religion and health would not be major forces in her life is nil.

C 2nd house is influenced twice through rulers. In addition, all the Virgo planets are in c 2nd house. The likelihood financial abundance would not result from her religious practices is nil. (Charts for the 2nd house must also be consulted in evaluating income. Mrs. Eddy's agrees about abundance.)

C 8th house is influenced. This 8th influence (venus and jupiter together and lighted) appears in the charts of famous religious teachers. It suggests the ability to have a powerful positive effect on the inner lives (8th house, shared values) of others.

The influence to c 3rd house gives the whole thing an additional, practical (3rd house) effect. It means her ordinary mind (3rd house) is involved in stating (3rd house) her religious understanding (9th house). (I do not know what to make of the 12th influence. The 12th house isn't always bad.)

What was going on in her astrology in 1866 when Mrs. Eddy became inspired? I do not have the month and day, only the year, so July 1 is used as a rough midpoint. In 1866, when Mrs. Eddy had her deep inspirational experience which culminated in the development of Christian Science, she had:

Mrs. Eddy's understanding (mercury) of the beneficent power (jupiter) of religion (9th house and jupiter) on health (Virgo) triumphed (venus plus jupiter) when the greater and lesser benefic were in close conjunction and influencing an Angle.

I did not thoroughly investigate the source of Mrs. Eddy's ill health... February, 2012: Recently while reading a biography of Eddy, I ran several times into the expression “spinal malady” or something to that effect with regard to a description of her illness. Angle/sun/mars/saturn implies life(sun)-threatening(mars/saturn) maladies or events. I know for sure that it shows up in heart attacks. I have seen it in the 12th chart for a woman stabbed to death by an ex-boyfriend. And I have seen it as the astrological significator in severe problems of the spine.

Eddy’s 1st chart contains a sun/mars/saturn. In the West, there cannot even now be more than a small percentage of medical doctors familiar with the concept of the rising of kundalini. In Eddy's time “spinal malady” may have been their intuitive understanding of the problems that can occur under such conditions. So, it is possible that rising kundalini was the cause of Mrs. Eddy’s long-term illness, and that it was not so much illness as spiritual purification preceding illumination. This is reasonable because her sun/mars/saturn influences her 9th house (spirituality). It was after her fall on the ice, diagnosed as likely to be fatal by her doctors, that she had her revelation and was cured. Even more reasonably, Mrs. Eddy never again complained of health problems after that.

I should add that I believe Mrs. Eddy, herself, would not accept any such explanation. For her ultimately sickness is unreal, the product of error (though she was never so crass as to tell such a thing to a patient. Instead, her kindness and presence itself was healing). I doubt she would have any belief at all in the concept of kundalini. It is even more unlikely she would have embraced astrological analysis as having merit. Yet it would not be possible to find an astrology that better describes her life and mission than that discussed above. In fact, since she was such gifted spiritual healer, her chart can be used as the model in research to identify the significator for spiritual healers in general. (The paper has not been published, but the research has been done. They are similar but there is in general a difference: while her astrology represents the health/healing part by the golden benefic all in Virgo, natural sign of the 6th house of health and service, charts of most spiritual healers do the same thing through the golden benefic having influence to a 6th house through a ruler in the set.) Almost all occur in the 7th chart. Again, the spiritual part of her healing mission is represented by the same set—the golden benefic in Virgo in b 9th house, the house of higher mind and spirituality.

Here is the set in question--the one that may identify the spiritual purification resulting in the rise of her kundalini--from her 1st chart:

The set above influences an Angle so it is “forefront,” that is it expresses in her life. Its influence to the 9th house could be an astrological allusion to the development of higher mind (9th), while that to the 8th says the development occurs through a true transformation (the kundalini continuing to rise). Interpretation of the 6th influence could be that during the period of her transformation she would experience health (6th) problems. Reference to the 12th house, then, would represent the experience as part of her (necessary) karma. I write "necessary" because it was her long-term health problems which so focused her on health and spirituality. Venus is the set serves more connect it to the 6th house than as a benefic.

I do not believe the set had to occur in the 1st chart. It could have occurred entirely reasonably in a number of charts, for instance. the 5th, the 7th, the 8th, the 9th, and the 12th.

Two other sets are intriguing vis-ŕ-vis her early experiences of health-related suffering. Her 1st chart also contains b1 South Node at 8 Pisces 34 conjunct b1 pluto at 7 Pisces 34 in her b 3rd house of that chart. It suggests psychic "pits" she could fall into during developing years. Pisces represents suffering and states of dissociation correlated with feelings of inability to do anything about it. Pluto represents intense focus that borders on obsession. When her consciousness was in this set it focused intensely and nearly exclusively on suffering.

Her emphasis on pluto in Pisces/3rd house continues in her 3rd chart. Our 3rd chart demonstrates qualities of our "ordinary," as opposed to "higher" mind (9th chart) as well as their pathologies, like schizophrenia and mental retardation. Eddy's 3rd chart contains b3 sun at 8 Pisces 29 conjunct b3 pluto at 7 Pisces 34, again in b 3rd house.<.p>

Lighted pluto in Pisces can sponsor some abysmal suffering. Friedrich Nietzsche had pluto in Pisces conjunct moon, ruler of b 9th house, in b 4th house in his 7th chart (see Woolf paper, here is the link: Paper on Insanity for Virginia Woolf, Vaslav Nijinsky, Vincent Van Gogh, and Friedrich Nietzsche. Nietzsche was famous for his tendency to seek and explore suffering. He finally went so far with it that he became permanently insane (4th influence). Rulership of 9th suggests "bankruptcy" of higher mind rather than its realization (which are correlated with light/venus/jupiter/9th, not pluto in Pisces). Some say Nietzsche’s insanity was caused by syphilis. We are interested here only in the fact that this set sponsored his insanity, regardless of the cause.

Pisces is the sign representing the loss of ego and the will that goes with it. Once in the Pluto/Pisces experience, it is difficult, indeed, for some one to extract himself through an "act of will" aimed at a change in state of consciousness. "Will" and "Pisces" linked together form an oxymoron.

In her 1st chart Mrs. Eddy’s pluto/Pisces reached the end of its expression following her spiritual revelation. In her 3rd chart it does not dominate her life because it is not forefront (not on or ruling an Angle). Nonetheless, throughout her earlier years (even after her revelation) she complained of a few individuals who “were going to kill her with their thoughts.” Sun/pluto in Pisces in 3rd house in 3rd chart could represent such an extraordinary sensitivity.

Just in case all of the above had not been enough to effect Mrs. Eddy's interest in religion, we see more signs of religious orientation in another part of her chart. Her birth Ascendant is in the 1 p.m. position above. Sagittarius has natural rulership over 9th house matters, one of which is religion. Neptune also turns the mind toward spiritual matters because it represents thirst. At a lower level it works out through drugs and our various addictions. At its highest level it works out as spiritual. This set includes Angle/moon/mercury/uranus/neptune, with mercury ruling B MC and much of b 9th house, so this condition influences two Angles. Mrs. Eddy will appear voluble (moon plus mercury) and brilliant (mercury/uranus) in general (Angle influence). She will also be innovative (uranus) in religious matters (9th house).

In regard to her rather formidable energies, I point (above chart) to Mrs. Eddy's conception Midheaven (C MC) near 8 o'clock. It forms Angle/node/venus/mars, with mars ruling b 5th house. With the node acting as a light, this gives her light/venus/mars forefront and influencing a 5th house of sexuality. Venus and mars are both sexual planets, venus usually being considered feminine, and mars, masculine. A man whose mars conjuncts a woman's moon and venus will have a powerful erotic effect on her, and vice versa. Whether or not Mrs. Eddy used or sublimated her sexuality, this condition shows it to be powerful. Since it is the stuff which makes sublimation possible, it was a blessing. Since all of Creation at this physical level has a "sexual" foundation, bounteous it makes possible "hitching one's wagon to a star."

C MC also shows south node in Taurus conjunct it. South nodes on Midheavens or Ascendants bring social disapproval. She had a "bad reputation" about matters correlated with Taurus--money, values, aesthetics, or sensuality. Mark Twain obliged this affliction (helped fulfill it) in her chart when he wrote critically about the way she handled Church income. All the money she took in--which she put in the name of her Church--ended up, in fact, in her hands since she was sole owner of the Church. (I do not know what happened to her estate. My impression is that most of it went to the continuation of the Church.)

Conditions in her chart in 1995, almost one hundred seventy-four years after her birth, when Mary Baker Eddy was inducted into the National Hall of Fame are interesting. Once again, we used July 1 as the rough midpoint. On July 1, 1995, Mrs. Eddy had progressed b jupiter (also ruler of her B Asc.) at 28 Pisces 51, opposition (which we see as aspecting rather than opposing) her birth Midheaven. Since jupiter and venus are usually involved in great honor, we look for venus. She had progressed conception venus at 3 Pisces 53, square (which, again, we see as aspecting) her birth Ascendant at 3 Sagittarius 11. Our charts, creating our identity as so-and-so, continue to yield information about that identity long after our life has left it.

Discussion
I have demonstrated above the astrological foundation for the identity we know as Mary Baker. Eddy--spiritual healer, founder of a church, and wealthy woman (though she always lived modestly).

As for the validity of Christian Science, especially as a healing aid, I suspect it works. Likely it works best for those who, like Mrs. Eddy, have charts showing prominence to Angles of benefic influences through 9th houses in correlation with a 6th house or 6th chart influence. The former shows the prominence of higher mind in the individual's life, while the latter shows higher mind's influence on health. Together they enable successful acts of "Mind-over-body," that is, Spirit over the material. For that reason, many Christian Scientists become healers, called practitioners. In respect to the consciousness demonstrated by Jesus of Nazareth, they are, then, "his sheep." Too, Mary Baker Eddy's chart becomes an archetype for "spiritual healer," that is, it tells us what the significators are for healers in general--the successful ones.

Christian Science probably does not work for individual's with afflicted 9th houses, because they are lacking or disturbed (saturn, mars, respectively) in just the area they should be blessed in (venus/jupiter/6th or Virgo/9th or Sagittarius)/ Although birth data is available for numerous psychic and faith healers, their biographies do not tell us how good they were. Were they aspiring or actual healers? Mary Baker Eddy, we know, was actual--she was healing people who just came to listen to her guest sermons long before she was became the mother of Christian Science.

It is noteworthy, however, that just being spiritually elevated does not preclude problems with health or even very difficult deaths. A primary example within Christianity and Christian Science is the painful death of Jesus of Nazareth. In other religions, Osho experienced considerable problems with asthma, Vivekananda with his stomach, and Ramakrishna died of cancer of the throat after a long life of loyalty to his Maker. All three of their charts show these problems at the end of life (actually, I don’t know that Vivekananda’s actually shows stomach trouble because I do not know what the astrology of stomach trouble looks like. He has astrology in his 6th chart of health that shows health problems.). The paper on Catholic saints points out they, too, had their physical crosses to bear. If Eddy did not it was because her gift, her supremely good link to the All, existed precisely in that area combining health and spirituality. For those whose link occurred in different areas, like Jesus of Nazareth (we guess) and Ramakrishna (we have the astrology), their response to that suffering was "not my will, but Thine." Did their spiritual elevation help with the suffering? I do not know about Jesus, but in the Gospel According to Ramakrishna recorded by his devotee "M," we are given to understand that Ramakrishna's ability to exist in Spirit, as opposed to his being totally identified with his physical identity, definitely helped. I didn’t get the impression it totally wiped out his suffering. The same is true of Ramana Maharshi who also died of cancer. His ill health shows in his chart. His attitude to such suffering was to tell his devotees "you make too much of the physical body."

I have added Footnotes 2 and 3 to show more of Mrs. Eddy’s astrology. Footnote 2 shows her astrology for her marriage to George Glover (the only husband we have the exact date of marriage for). Footnote 3 shows her astrology for her mother’s death. Both use progressions for the 7th chart.

More can be found on Mrs. Eddy's astrology at the bottom of the paper about Osho, the Indian guru who sponsored so much controversy in the United States as the "sex guru." Here is the link: Paper About Osho. It presents her 10th chart astrology for being sued (and usually winning) compared to his 10th chart for hitting hot water with the U.S. government, and, basically, losing.

Other papers on this site about the astrology of spiritual elevation are available through the following links:

Here is the link to the official Christian Science website: Christian Science Website. It includes the capacity to do a key word search in the bible (King James version) as well as in her seminal work, Science and Health: With Key to the Scriptures.

Footnotes
(1) Christian Science, by Mark Twain. NY: Oxford University Press, 1996. (This is a re-published, edited version of the original.)

• progressed c venus, ruler of C MC, at 29 Leo 37
• progressed C Asc at 29 Leo 46
• progressed c7 moon at 29 Leo 51
• progressed c SN at 29 Leo 48 (coming from 0 Virgo 40 at conception)
• return moon at 29 Leo 13
• return7 venus at 29 Aquarius 26

The above set influences two Angles and shows love and conviviality.

• pc7 jupiter at 11 Leo 39 R
• C Asc at 10 Leo 52

The set above is a little early, but is compensated for by her return which shows return Asc at 22 Leo 30 in the same set with her c jupiter at 22 Aquarius 52.

References to her 7th house of partners is shown by c7 uranus, ruler of c 7th house, at 27 Leo 49 a little late in the set with pC MC at 28 Taurus 16. She also had pB MC at 19 Libra 40 in the same set with b7 neptune at 19 Libra 24. Libra is the sign naturally associated with the 7th house and neptune in Libra represents a “must do it psychologically.”

(3) Mrs. Glover’s mother died in November, 1849. I used a rough midpoint of the month, November 15, 1849, for my calculations. Death, for ourselves and for others, is shown by Angle/saturn and Angle/mars. (This just shows the hard times we experience when some one we love dies. It can occur for many other forms of “hard times.”

• progressed C MC at 4 Gemini 13
• progressed C Asc at 4 Virgo 46
• progressed c pluto at 4 Pisces 38
• progressed c uranus at 4 Sagittarius 13
• return moon at 4 Gemini 38

In the set above, the double Angle/pluto show shock and separation, and the Angle/uranus, shock again.

• return7 moon at 11 Pisces 38
• return saturn at 11 Pisces 08
• progressed c7 pluto at 11 Sagittarius 41

Moon/saturn/pluto, shown above, is a set of separation. In Pisces it shows sorrow and depression of feelings.

• progressed B MC at 25 Libra 22
• progressed b7 mars at 25 Aries 47

The above set shows her progressed Angle/mars.

• C Asc at 10 Leo 52
• pc mercury at 10 Scorpio (shows thoughts of death and other radical transformations)
• return7 saturn at 10 Aquarius 19
• return neptune at 9 Aquarius 45
• return SN at 9 Aquarius 34

The above set shows her then current Angle/saturn.

Mrs. Glover also had a return MC configured with moon and jupiter. It shows the sympathy received from others during the occasion of personal loss.

Her 10th chart of career and mother showed similar conditions with different placements. Her mars/Angle came from two places: pB MC at 25 Libra 22 in the same set with return10 mars at 25 Cancer 54 and the set above with pC MC and pC Asc around 4 Gemini/Virgo in the same set again with progressed uranus and pluto in Pisces and her c10 mars at 4 Sagittarius 11.

The saturn/Angle in her 10th once again came from her return saturn: return Asc at 13 Sagittarius 53 in the same set with return10 saturn at 13 Virgo 35.

She still had that progressed c mercury at 10 Scorpio 14 in the same set (but early) with C Asc at 10 Leo 52. In her 10th chart this set was joined by return10 mercury at 10 Scorpio 33.

At 102:12-13 in Science and Health: With Key to the Scriptures Mrs. Eddy writes that “the planets have no more power over man than over his Maker…” I am sure the planets have no power of man’s Maker. But, I do not like the use of the term “power over” with regard to astrology and mankind. It conveys the sense of helplessness, a clockwork mechanism, which is not the case. Our charts are blueprints of potential and actual consciousness. A number of gurus and enlightened individuals, who have apparently never investigated astrology and assuredly never investigated this form of it, have been prone to pronouncements declaring astrology invalid. As stated above, it would be hard to find a chart that better describes a spiritual healer than Mrs. Eddy's. Likewise, among gurus, it would be hard to find a chart that better exemplifies the huge spiritual potential and life beneficence, for instance, than Muktananda's (in the paper on gurus, link above). Of course, there is no guarantee that just because some one has such a chart, they will become a Muktananda. There are, after all, varying levels of consciousness at this Earthly level. But I have never seen the chart of a spiritually realized individual--East or West--who did not start with the astrological significators for same. As Shakespeare stated, (paraphrasing) we are all actors on the stage with our parts to play. It would be incorrect to state that spiritually elevated individuals have no part. If they had no part, we could not know them (some of those probably exist, too). The ones we know of have parts. "Parts," of necessity at this level, have specifications, and those specifications are astrological.

Starflower (cropped)
From Wildflowers of Michigan Field Guide, by Stan Tekiela

Data Acknowledgments
Mary Baker Eddy
Birth: 7/16/1821, 5:38 p.m. LMT, Bow, New Hampshire. In Profiles of Women, by Lois M. Rodden, page 120. From the Church of Light, Kiefer. Craswell writes 5:30 p.m. LMT.
Conception:10/7/1820, 2:37:16 a.m. LMT, Bow, NY.

Contact the author at: sleeweidner@yahoo.com