The Astrology of St. Teresa of Avila

With an anoretic ascendant at 29 degrees of Pisces conjunct an exalted Venus in retrograde, Teresa was born to walk the labyrinth of spiritual beauty. Venus can't reach for higher love than when she is in crises at the last degrees of noble, spiritual and breathless Pisces. Venus here is a ballerina poised en pointe on the edge of the stage in perpetuity. Teresa would have been made of a distillation of rose scented thinking that strove for perfection.  With a Pisces Ascendant and Jupiter ruling her chart she would have had an ethereal glow, with eyes like church windows, emanating holy light from within. Her Moon, in Blessed Mother Virgo in the 6th house of service in the sign of service, would encode Teresa with the emotional stamina to work long hours as a servant of the Church to which we know she devoted her life. This same Moon in a Yod formation with Neptune in humanitarian Aquarius and Uranus in crusading Aries would give Teresa the feeling that she had no choice in the matter of her work and devotion. She would feel captured by her life and work as though there was no way out. The confinement from this aspect to make spiritual progress on behalf of humanity would give rise to her long hours of prayer and longing to leave the earthy world because she felt imprisoned by it. Yods are notorious for feeling like straight-jackets. At the same time, her Sun, Mercury and Uranus in Aries in the first house would have compelled the devoted nun to take brave and determined action. She had a passionate fire burning inside her made from determination and force. She was a kind of weapon loaded with prayers and miracles. With all that Aries, she was here for a fight and wearing the armor of God.

With Saturn retrograde in Sagittarius in Teresa's 9th house of religion and higher thinking opposite to a Mars/Jupiter conjunction in her 3rd house of writing and speaking we look no further to understand the holy-rollers drive to write about her faith, her belief and her religious fortitude. Here we see her enormous capacity for communication with Jupiter in Gemini, linking mind, body and soul with action, goal oriented Mars, also in Gemini. She would have felt a relentless push to write at all hours of the night and to express herself with the great fortune of happiness in doing so. Yet, with Saturn badly dressed in the sign of its fall Aries, looming over Teresas chart, she would have lived under a seething and watchful eye. A mother superior or a father of the church who was crooked, crippled, someone vicious, spiteful and deadly. She would have felt pitted against this person in a seemingly insuperable confrontation. Both within and without the confines of her famous Interior Castle. Teresas own father may have been the culprit of this severity in her early life. Saturn, so malformed and angry, would have hammered the rules and regulations of religious piety calling for perfection. A force of this kind would be felt as a face to face adversary, intimate and designed to be immovable. She would have to prevail against this inner and outer assailant to prove her moral character and justify her passion for wisdom.

With Pluto, Lord of the Underworld placed void of course in the sign of Sagittarius at a degree of total peril and conjunct the Midheaven, Teresa's every breath would have been measured by the commanding presence of hell itself. This had the ability to crumble the sensitive Teresa were it not for the power of her Sun fighting back with courage and aplomb. Teresa's Sun is exalted in the sign of Aries and aspected with beauty and grace towards the other planets in her chart. She literally shone like a diamond (Aries rules diamonds) and broke the evil spell that darkness bade upon her. Given that Pluto was in the sign of Sagittarius ruling religion, she would have held within, an unparalleled vision of religions’ healing motive. Pluto on the top of her chart forged her character into a healing balm, showered her in relentless truths and refused to let her escape this life before making an example of her for humanity to follow. Her words and devotion are now our most prized treasures and we can thank Pluto for that. Pluto at the top of her chart, buried her in the dark night and prompted her soulful cries so she could show humanity how to overcome the absence of love with the presence of love.  We who follow in her footsteps are assured by her natal chart that Teresa’s character is truly worthy of a Saint. We should have no question in our minds about her sanctity, importance and spiritual leadership.

Lastly Teresa had a North Node in Leo in her 5th house of matters of the heart. It seems so fitting here, for this placement would have served as a direct line to the sacred heart of Jesus, the King of love, peace and protection. Her life direction would have grown ever closer to the sacred heart of Jesus. She, like the Sun itself, would dance in the light refracting from within her like many facets of a rare and beautifully cut gem. Perhaps Teresa of Avila's astrology chart is a most perfect example of someone built to shine. 

 Follow this link for Teresas Astrology chart.

https://www.astro.com/cgi/chart.cgi?wgid=wgeJxtT00LgkAQ_TVBwSS7q5K17EE6R...

Thank you for reading about the astrology of Teresa of Avila. If you like this article, I invite you to contact me for a reading of your chart. 

Have a beautiful day!

Rebecca Wilder