Nellie Bly

The Neptune-Pluto conjunction in the last half of the 19th Century seems to have done something really amazing for Women's Rights. Women were breaking out from seemingly nowhere and doing amazing things, they turned into flappers in the 1920s and then crawled back into the kitchen, apparently too hungover to do much else. Nellie Bly was one of the early heroine daredevils. She was a Feminist, Social Reformer, Inventor of investigative and undercover reporting, Industrialist.

Nellie Bly
b. May 5, 1864 Cochrans Mills, PA

Sun 16 Taurus; Moon maybe in Taurus conjunct Sun, Pluto, South Node. NN 19 Scorpio conjunct Jupiter.

The 19th century transiting conjunction of Neptune and Pluto started at the end of Taurus and became exact at the beginning of Gemini in the 1880's. Bly's Double Taurus hooked into it in that she was born with Sun and South Node conjunct her natal Pluto. In addition, Pluto was transiting at the same pace as her progressed Sun during pretty much her whole life. It stayed within a 3 or 4 degree orb of her progressed Sun and then hit transiting Neptune while both were conjunct her natal Mercury in Gemini. I suppose this explains her writing career, her social reforms, the fact that she is said to have invented investigative reporting and reporting under cover. Bly reported on sweat shops of women laborers; reported on the Mexican people until the Government threw her out; went undercover in a Madhouse to report on the inhumane conditions; traveled alone around the world in 72 days, 6 hours, 11 minutes, 14 seconds. Then she married a millionaire 44 years her senior, and worked in his company as a leading industrialist. She invented and patented a steel barrel which is still used today.

Her chart attracted me because it has 2 Yods and an opposition between Saturn 13 Libra and Neptune 8 Aries. Because of this I would expect her to be sort of weak. Instead she worked on behalf of the weak. I'd expect her to be deluged and overcome by difficult situations. Instead she reveled in the difficult situations and uncovered the ways that the "weaker sex" are taken advantage of and made weaker.

Jupiter c. NN adds an element of Luck and optimism to her life. It probably explains better than anything the Journalism, Investigative and undercover reporting (Scorpio). But with the Nodes being on the Taurus-Scorpio poles, Bly experienced a lot of strife and loss and fluctuations, especially with regards to financial resources. Her Father died when she was 6 and left the family in a difficult financial situation. Bly was often penniless. And later she declared Bankruptcy because her employees embezzled money from her company.

The daredevil side is pretty interesting to look for in this chart. I don't expect much of a Revolutionary streak from a Double Taurus but Taurus has been surprising me ever since I've started this blog. In the prenatal New Moon chart, Bly's Mars is conjunct her Midheaven, which is something I expect. In her natal chart, Mars is in Pisces conjunct Chiron. As I don't have birth time but assume it must be on an angle. Perhaps this is a sign of recklessness, the devil may care attitude. She could possible have had an Aries Rising, she was very beautiful as well, her Venus was in Aries.

Bly's Feminism is thought to have developed from the six years that her Mother was married to an abusive step-father. Her Mother divorced this man when she was 14 and Bly had to testify at the Hearing. When given "ladies" style articles to write, she suddenly left her job out of boredom and, at the age of 21, traveled to Mexico by herself. This would have been in 1885! Must be the Sun-Pluto-SN. And the two older brothers. An extra note on the Feminism: There is a Kite figure between Bly's Venus in Aries and the Goddess asteroids. Venus trines Lilith in Leo and Juno in Sagittarius and opposes a Vesta-Uranus conjunction in Libra.

Links to Bly's biography along with the article she wrote reporting on the 10 days that she faked Insanity in order to be institutionalized so that she could report on the "care" the women were receiving.

http://www.library.csi.cuny.edu/dept/history/lavender/386/nellie.html
digital.library.upenn.edu/women/bly/madhouse/madhouse.html