Ted Hughes' 5th House of Romance

The Poet Ted Hughes was one of England's greatest poets. I'll have to take that for granted because I've never read any of his poems. I can believe it though because with a Leo Sun, a packed 5th house and Rising and Moon in Gemini he had a great chart for a poet. What I, as an illiterate American have read and am fascinated by is the sensational, tabloid stuff about Ted Hughes. He was married to Sylvia Plath, another great poet, who committed suicide because he had left her for his pregnant girlfriend, Assia Wevill. Six years later Assia Wevill also committed suicide taking their 4 year old daughter, Shura along with her. (Side note: Ted Hughes' chart has some similarities with Marie Antoinette's chart, a busy 5th house (romance, love) and a Capricorn influenced 8th house of death (Saturn both occupies and rules this house).)

Saturn is at the handle end of a Bucket Chart in Hughes' chart which attracts a whole lot of energy from the rest of his chart. Saturn equals Life Lessons, Hughes' Lessons were of a Monumental Scale. Some people can fudge with Life's Rules of right and wrong. Saturn people can't, it comes right back to them. As with Marie Antoinnette's chart looked at earlier this Saturn/8th house connection can indicate much concern over sexuality and compensation for feelings of inadequacy, or just plain old selfish and abuse of authoritarian principles through selfish ambitions. This is also great for a poet because it can show insights into the very deep parts of natural processes. In both Marie Antoinette and Ted Hughes' cases it brought catastrophie. Saturn can also bring great achievement and reknown as is obvious here. Saturn is conjunct Hughes' Sun right now so it seems a good time to discuss it's influences on his life.

Here are the charts:

Ted Hughes b. Aug. 17, 1930 23 h. 55 Mytholmroyd, West Yorkshire, England
18 Gemini Rising, Sun 25 Leo (H4), Moon 1 Gemini (H12)

Sylvia Plath b. Oct. 27, 1932 14 h. 10 Boston, MA, USA
30 Aquarius rising, Sun 5 Scorpio (H8), Moon 9 Libra (H7)
died: Feb. 11, 1963

Assia Wevill b. May 15, 1927 (no time) Berlin, Germany
Sun 24 Taurus, Moon either Later Libra or early Scorpio
died: Mar. 23, 1969

Shura Wevill (Assia and Ted's daughter) b. Mar. 3, 1965 London, England
died: Mar. 23, 1969

Mostly I wonder about Ted Hughes' relationships. Why did he end up in such awful relationships with women?

First of all, he was a Double Gemini. They have short attention spans in their relationships, especially considering Hughes' Mars (male libido) was in his 1st house in Gemini. He pretty much did as he wanted in relationships. Fueling this, he had a great Romantic energy. 3 planets natally in the 5th house with many of the slow moving planets passing through along with his progressed Sun during this entire time. Plus 12th house Moon in Gemini, not real grounded emotionally but quite an imagination. Great for Romance and making babies and writing poetry and creating all kinds of flamboyant drama in one's life.

At the time of Sylvia's death, his progressed ASC and progressed Mars were conjunct and passing over his natal Jupiter. Jupiter is conjunct Pluto natally and involved in a wide Grand square with 5th House Venus (women in one's life romance), Saturn (8th house, sex), and Uranus in Aries in 11th house (friends, wishes, need for freedom, sudden events). Jupiter also rules his 7th house of marriage. He had left Sylvia destitute with 2 kids for Assia and Assia had found out that she was pregnant. She aborted this child a few weeks later.

At the time of Assia's death, his progressed ASC and prog. Mars were still in conjunction but slightly separated and now conjunct his natal Pluto. Transiting Pluto was at the spot in the 5th house where his Progressed Sun had been at the time of Sylvia's death which is coincidentally semi-sextile to his natal Sun. Saturn was conjunct his Natal North Node in Aries. Transiting Jupiter, Uranus and South Node were conjunct his Prog. Sun which had just passed into Libra (still in 5th house). Libra is the sign of marriage. It's also the sign that his natal South Node is in and reflects the spiritual struggle from one's subconscious or past life tendencies. With North Node in Aries he had gone ahead and done what he had wanted with regards to his relationships and this had brought monumental tragedy in his life, especially with regards to marriage and children.