Jeanne Dixon: Washington Seeress
Zip Dobyns
After years of offering 1918 as her year of birth, Edwin Steinbrecher has revealed (through Lois Rodden’s Data News) that Jeanne Dixon was actually born on January 5, 1904. Her birth name was Lillie Pinkert; birth time 2 P.M. CST; birthplace Medford, WI, 45 N 9, 90 W 20.
As our readers know, I love to get the horoscopes of psychics, and have usually found an emphasis on water planets, houses and/or signs. Much of the time, the water planets and/or Uranus will be close to the angles of the chart and in aspect to each other. Aspects between water and air factors seem to facilitate contact between the conscious and unconscious aspects of the mind. Aspects to earth encourage actually using psychic talents as a profession, to make a living. Fire offers the confidence to put our personal insights into action. But water is the element of psychic receptivity.
Using that set of criteria, Jeanne Dixon’s chart does suggest some psychic ability but it also looks like a successful saleswoman and promoter. There are two water planets widely conjunct angles. Pluto is just over 10 degrees from the Ascendant, the Moon is just over 9 degrees from the IC, and they are sextile each other. But in her locality chart in Washington, DC, Jeanne has P. Pluto exactly on her Ascendant! Pluto is in an air sign, Moon in its own water house, and Neptune in a water sign in an octile to the Moon, so we have the air-water mixtures through the combinations of planet-sign-house as well as by aspects. Fire is connected to the water planets with the Mars in a close trine to Pluto, an opposition to Moon, and a trioctile to Neptune. Mars is in an air sign for conscious awareness and communication, including the courage to speak out. The Mars position in the tenth (earth) house shows the potential for turning the talents into a profession. The Sagittarius-Aquarius emphasis in and ruling the work houses (6 and 10) fits a profession of talking to people. Of course, the patterns could also attract one into teaching or sales, and real estate sales were Jeanne Dixon’s primary profession. Venus is in and ruling the sixth house and placed in Sagittarius. Uranus rules the MC and is also placed in Sagittarius. Saturn co-rules the MC and is in the Sagittarius house in the sign of Aquarius. Jupiter co-rules the Pisces in the tenth house and is in the Aquarian house.
In addition to the air-fire, transpersonal focus in the earth houses, there is also a clear water theme to bring in the potential for feelings and intuition as tools in the work. Vesta, our Virgo asteroid, is in the twelfth (water) house. Neptune in Cancer is in the second (earth) house which shows partly how we earn our own income as well as how we spend it and how we handle our pleasures and possessions. Pallas and Ceres are in Scorpio in the sixth house, with Ceres often associated with nurturing work while Pallas is often a consultant. Sales is a service profession and a good salesperson is a consultant giving information to the client. Jupiter, a co-ruler of the tenth house, is in Pisces. Capricorn in the eighth house also connects the career to the water principle. Some degree of intuition or empathy is important for a salesperson to be able to listen to more than the words of a prospective client. A person with too much air and fire is often too busy talking to listen even to the words, much less to the unspoken feelings.
The Sun’s placement in the eighth house brings the ego into the area of shared resources and power. Several other combinations also point to power as an important issue in the life, including the first house Pluto, the tenth house Mars, and Saturn conjunct the MC and moving into its own tenth house in the secondary progressions. With these combinations, we have mixtures of one/eight (Pluto/first house), five/eight (Sun/eighth house), one/ten (Mars/tenth house), five/ten (Sun/Capricorn), eight/ten (Capricorn/eighth house), and ten/ten (P Saturn/tenth house). Personal will and power (one and five) are meeting the will, power and rights of others (eight), and also meeting cultural and natural Law (ten). The Moon becomes a form of letter one since it rules a fraction of a degree of the first house. Also, in Washington, DC, the home and business area for most of Jeanne Dixon’s life, there are over nine degrees of Cancer in the first house. So the position of the Moon in Leo gives us a one/five combination, emphasizing the dramatic instincts and the inner drive for power and recognition.
Power can be great as long as it is used constructively with full respect for the rights of others and voluntary compliance with the Laws which are bigger than personal will. One hazard of psychic ability is the danger that it can be used to take advantage of other people. I have heard very mixed stories of Jeanne Dixon’s personal life, ranging from statements that she was truly spiritual and gave help to others even when it was at considerable personal cost, to statements that she was the most egocentric publicity hound the author had ever met. Since projection is an ever-present part of life, such statements might also tell us something about what the speakers are partly denying in themselves and therefore projecting into Jeanne. She does seem to make an ostentatious display of her Catholicism, but the horoscope does not tell us whether a person with a Sagittarius emphasis is a devout believer or a con-artist. We have to see what the person does with the life, and it is quite possible to function at both extremes at different times in the life. Jeanne’s chart does suggest a high value placed on money and/or possessions and/or pleasures since she has Neptune in the second house, Sagittarius in the eighth house, Saturn ruling the eighth in the ninth house, and Taurus in the twelfth house. Letter two is our own money-possessions-pleasures while letter eight is our ability to give, receive and/or share money etc. Letters nine and twelve are keys to our search for the Absolute, whether we put our trust in things, or in knowledge, or in power, or in love, etc.
To sum up our impressions from the traditional astrological factors plus the first four asteroids, Jeanne Dixon’s horoscope shows a person with high verbal ability. Mercury rules the Gemini rising and is in Aquarius in the Sagittarius house. The need to be in control of her own life and to have variety in her work is shown in several astrological combinations which were described above. And aspects involving the water planets suggest the probability of above-average psychic ability. Lessons are connected to power in some way with Capricorn in the eighth house, Mars in the tenth house, and the south lunar node in Aries. Perhaps with Saturn in Aquarius, Aquarius in the tenth house, and the south node in the Aquarius house, the lesson involves learning when to use power and when to let others have their turn. One form of that issue involves knowing when to be silent. Psychic talent can be a real test of the ability to use power wisely. Too much information can be destructive if it encourages others to give up personal responsibility. Of course, if the “information” is wrong, it can be harmful to the recipient or it can throw doubt on the claims of psi, on paranormal phenomena in general. From what I have seen of predictions that have supposedly come from Jeanne Dixon in recent years, I would agree with Lois Rodden’s comment that Jeanne’s level of accuracy is somewhat less than chance.
Then there are the asteroids. The minor planets which were named for famous psychics or for psychic shrines include Pythia which was the generic name for Priestesses at Delphi. Dodona was another famous shrine in Greece. Siwa, a shrine in what is now Libya, was famous enough in its day to attract Alexander the Great. Kassandra was cursed by Apollo so that she could only predict negatives, was always accurate, but was never believed. There may be other asteroids which are connected to psychic ability, but these are the ones with the strongest associations.
Another collection of asteroids are sun gods including Apollo, Helio, Aten, and Amun. We can associate the Sun with ego, creativity, passion, and a drive for fame and power.
Another asteroid group suggests the danger of some kind of overreach. Phaethon tried to drive the chariot of the Sun, couldn’t handle the horses, and was shot down in flames when Gaea screamed that she was being burned. Icarus flew too close to the Sun and fell to his death when his wax wings melted. Arachne boasted of her weaving skill and was turned into a spider. Hybris (hubris) was defined as the pride that goes before a fall. Pandora opened the box and was blamed for the troubles of the world. Atlantis is a classic prototype myth of the abuse of power and subsequent destruction. Fama might be included as fame achieved by false rumor and report. Others could undoubtedly be included. The Greeks had lots of stories about punishments meted out to presumptuous mortals like Sisyphus and Tantalus, but we will start with this many.
What kind of patterns can we see in Jeanne’s chart with these asteroids, and where is her namesake asteroid? Looking only at our usual one-degree orbs, Jeanne is conjunct Ceres and Aten in Scorpio in the sixth house. The combination could imply that the nurturing work is partly motivated by the desire for money (Scorpio) and fame and power (Aten) but those are pretty normal human motivations.
Of the asteroids which theoretically are keys to psychic ability, all four have conflict aspects. Pythia is on the midpoint of MC/Mars and trioctile the north lunar node. Dodona is just out of orb of a conjunction with Vesta and is quincunx Uranus. Siwa is trioctile Saturn from Virgo in the fifth house. Kassandra is on the midpoint of Jeanne’s natal and local Ascendants as well as trioctile the Sun. The implication seems to be that Jeanne is identified with her psychic skills and would like to be a professional psychic but that there are challenges. Perhaps their development is a strain or there is a danger of misuse.
The sun gods are mostly strong in Jeanne’s chart. Aten, as mentioned above, is conjunct her personal name asteroid. Amun is conjunct Saturn and square Fama, Utopia and Washington. The last three are all in eight degrees of Scorpio. The combination could imply a search for fame as a utopian ideal in Washington, DC but also as a struggle with considerable danger of false reports. Are the problems in her psychic ability or in the accuracy of the media reports? Apollo is semisextile the MC, just over one degree past Arachne which is within orb of the MC aspect so they are connected by that shared aspect. Both Apollo and Arachne are in Pisces just inside the eleventh house, adding to the transpersonal emphasis in the chart—the attraction to a very public life. Helio trines Venus from its third house position in Leo. Media attention was certainly featured in Jeanne’s life, making her one of the most famous psychics in the world.
In the overreach group of asteroids, Icarus is conjunct Chiron in Capricorn in the ninth house. I see Chiron as very similar to Jupiter so the combination could repeat the Sagittarian career whether it involved shared knowledge or spiritual faith. Icarus warns against over-doing the claim of supreme knowledge (Sagittarius) or the use of power (Capricorn). I find the over-reach most often when Icarus is conjunct one of the fire planets: Mars, Sun, or Jupiter, and to a lesser degree when it is in a fire house or sign. Pandora is conjunct Mercury, offering a related warning about the need for discretion in handling information. Pandora and Mercury are also trioctile Jeanne’s local Ascendant in Washington, DC. Phaethon is conjunct Ops, the goddess of underground wealth. Traditionally, Ops is associated with material wealth such as gold and other precious metals, but metaphorically it could point to wealth through knowledge. Phaethon and Ops are in 14 degrees of Aries in the eleventh house which also puts them octile Jeanne’s Washington East Point. Hybris at 1 Scorpio is semisextile Venus and the north lunar node and quincunx the south node. It is just over one degree from a square to Pandora and Mercury. The involvement of these asteroids with the local house cusps suggests that Jeanne’s destiny and lessons did call for her presence in our nation’s capital. A couple of other relevant asteroids include America at 18 Sagittarius which puts it on Jeanne’s Descendant in Washington, DC with an opposition from P Pluto through most of her life. Vaticana in 26 Gemini is opposite Uranus, exemplifying Jeanne’s attempt to integrate her Catholic faith with her “new age” interests.
Other astrological features which reinforce the basic themes in astrology include the nodes of the planets. Considering only one-degree orbs, Jeanne has the north node of Ceres on the Ascendant, the south node of Mars on the Descendant and Atlantis, and the north node of Neptune on the IC. The heliocentric position of Saturn is on the MC. We have just recapitulated the message of her chart in those four angle conjunctions: nurturing with language (Ceres node in Gemini); psychic openness (Neptune node on the cusp of the water angle); a competitive life and power drive (Mars node and Atlantis connected to interpersonal relationships and Saturn on its own angle.) The verbal ability is repeated by the south node of Mercury on Uranus within five minutes of longitude. The ego ambition and focus on work is reinforced by the south node of Vesta on the Sun and the verbal or spiritual work by the south node of Saturn on Chiron and Icarus in Capricorn in the ninth house. The north node of Uranus at 11 Gemini is too wide to count as a conjunction with the Ascendant but it is trine the MC. The order in the sky is so pervasive, no matter what you look at, you still see the same order. My own reaction after seeing Jeanne Dixon’s chart is disappointment that what looks like genuine talent has produced the nonsense that appears under her name in such media oracles as the National Enquirer. From the chart, I would have expected more.