Around the Neighborhood with Marie & Pierre Curie

Great people are not known for success in household matters so it makes sense that Marie Curie wasn't real attentive as a Mother. She had bigger Fish to fry. Well, turns out frying the fish wasn't all she did. She was tracking radiation all over the house. She had no idea what the stuff really was.

Her daughter, Eve Curie recently passed away. Eve was known for writing a biography of her Mother. Her Obituary described how she felt guilty that she had somehow been spared an early death by radiation poisoning the way the rest of her family had. Boy, that's a Unique Experience. One wonders if she had Aquarius on the IC or Uranus stuck therein. Both her Mother and Sister, Irene, had died from exposure and it is thought that Pierre Curie would have also suffered from poisoning had he not been killed in a traffic accident. I apologize. This blog will be silly but I grew up in a community with a lot of scientists and many were my friend's parents. I never had a sense that things would be alright in people's personal lives because of it. The rules were always different, the conversations were always about odd but interesting subjects, and the expectations were always really really high. So this is why when I read that Obituary I wondered, Wow, is there an indicator for a Mom who will accidentally radiate her kids? As a kid growing up around these people, I know that these are the things that children of great people have to wonder these things on a day to day basis.

I know there are many intelligent presentations of the Curies' charts out there. (I found this one for Marie written by Michael D. Robbins: http://www.makara.us/04mdr/01writing/03tg/bios/Curie.htm.) It includes a copy of Marie Curie's chart which is visually astonishing because Uranus is conjunct her Descendant and is apex to a small triangle, a Kite, a Thor's Hammer. It's by no accident that this quadruple Scorpio would work tirelessly with her Husband to isolate Uranium.

But, back to the Domestic Situation. Marie Curie worked all the time. Eve said that she almost didn't know her mother until she had to care for her while she was dying. The Curies worked out in a shed with no protection from Uranium. Marie and Eve's older Sister, Irene, who also became a Nobel Prize winning Chemist, used x-ray machines in the first World War without protection. The whole house probably glowed. Have you ever seen that Kitchen by the artist Liza Lou? It's completely covered in little sparkling seed beads. That's how I imagine Marie Curie's kitchen to look. That makes for some nasty gingerbread, let me tell ya.

Marie Curie
b. Nov. 7, 1867 10:36 Varsonne, Poland

Sun 15 Scorpio; Moon 17 Pisces; 13 Capricorn Rising; MC 18 Scorpio; NN 11 Virgo

Marie Curie was born 4 planets in Scorpio. Her Sun in Scorpio was opposite Pluto in Taurus. This opposition was conjunct her MC-IC axis with Pluto conjunct the 4th House cusp. That right there shows a toxic household environment somehow related to the career. But this isn't just anybody's house. This is Marie Curie's house. And so what? All career women have to let the household go. This Sun-Pluto opposition was involved in a Mystic Rectangle and a house configuration that includes the Uranus-Descendant. I talked about Uranus's importance in her chart up above. Marie Curie's house was the, you guessed it, Outer Limits. Both of her daughters shared her Sun-Pluto aspect. Irene had a Square between the two planets. Eve shared the opposition.

Irene was born on her Mother's Saturn Return. She was a Scientist who won the Nobel Prize along with her husband, just like her Mother. She died from Radiation poisoning like her Mother.

Eve Curie was born on her Mother's Nodal Return when her Mother was 37. Her Father was killed in a traffic accident 2 years after she was born. Her Sun-Pluto opposition squared her Nodal Axis.

Both Marie and Pierre Curie were strong Fixed Sign people. Their Daughters both were Mutable Sign Suns. I'm listing some of this now just because it interests me. This would be a very interesting family to read after having read Erin Sullivan's book on Family Dynamics.

Pierre Curie died on Apr. 19, 1906. I'm sure the time of his death is listed somewhere but I don't have it. The whole day Pluto was unaspected at 22 Gemini. That gives off a bit of an "uh oh" sensation but alone it means nothing. Thing is, it was conjunct Pierre's natal Mars at 14 Gemini which was also unaspect. Mars, during most of the day, was also unaspected (except for a semi-square to Uranus) at 24 Taurus. This is conjunct Pierre's 25 Taurus Sun squaring his Nodes. Somebody really needs to reel these damn scientists back into an astrology practice. Unaspected planets become much more potent because they have no strong relationship with the other planets and can't share the energy. Pluto rules Death. Nodes rule Fate. Mars rules the Head. Sun rules the life force. Mars and Uranus in difficult aspect rule accidents. Curie was run over by a horse carriage and suffered fatal injuries to his head (Mars).

Pierre Curie
b. May 15, 1859 Paris, France

Sun 25 Taurus; Moon Libra or Scorpio; NN 26 Aquarius

Irene Joliot-Curie
b. Sept. 13, 1897 Paris, France

Sun 20 Virgo; Moon Pisces or Aries; NN 6 Aquarius

Eve Curie
b. December 6, 1904 Paris, France

Sun 15 Sagittarius; Moon Scorpio or Sagittarius; NN 14 Virgo