Marcus Aurelius (April 26, 121 AD – March 17, 180 AD)

By any ordinary standards, Marcus Aurelius lived a ‘good life’. The fact that he was a Roman emperor from 161 to 180 and a Stoic philosopher doesn’t do him any harm. He was the last of the rulers known as the Five Good Emperors, and the last emperor of the Pax Romana, an age of relative peace and stability for the Roman Empire.

But what was he really like?

I know I don’t need to keep repeating this, but his birth time is unknown, so I rectified his chart by focusing on the age (16) he came into the political spotlight (Moon in Capricorn), and the age (58) when he died (Pluto in Aries on the cusp of his 9th House).

The Moon and Venus form a Yod pointing at his Leo Rising @ 21 Leo 30′. According to the Encyclopedia of Astrology 20 degrees Leo is a ‘degree of Faith.’ I think we have a hit. The planet of ‘introspection’, Neptune is therefore in the same sign, but the 12th House, while the planet of ‘higher intelligence’, Uranus is in Virgo in the 1st House. I believe this is why Stoicism was so attractive to him. Uranus forms an inconjunct with Pluto, and that may have been the constant battle between his basic approach to life and his ‘job’ being ruler of the Roman Empire. Even now, he is better known for being a philosopher than an Emperor.

Do you see that slightly lopsided pentagram in the centre of his chart? Interesting, eh?

I’ll leave you with another quote: