The Nativity of Dante Alighieri

The nativity of Dante Alighieri is arguably one of the most elusive in all horoscopy. It was an important matter to the poet himself and he refers to it or alludes to it at several places in his work. Like all intellectuals of the period he was steeped in astrological symbolism and regarded it as a noble art. Like all well-born children of his day it is very likely that his parents had his horoscope calculated at his birth, or that he or others later calculated it from the commonly available ephermides. For all of that, however, his actual horoscope has not survived, and indeed we cannot be sure even of his date of birth. He tells us very clearly in the Paradiso that he was born under the sign of Gemini, the Twins, and there is general agreement that this was in the year 1265 (although even that has been disputed.) But Gemini extends for over a month, from mid May through to mid June, and there is no agreement as to which day in that period he might have been born. Regarding the time of day – necessary information for an accurate horoscope – there is likewise no agreement.

A search through astrological texts and websites reveals a bewildering array of possibilities. The present author has been able to collect no less that six entirely different horoscopes for Dante with dates ranging from May 14 through to June 1st and times of birth ranging from sunset through to exactly 4.33am. In none of these six cases is the proposed date and time justified or even discussed, although in several cases there is the admission that the horoscope on offer has been “rectified”. Rectification is an astrological technique whereby the astrologer works backwards from known events to a speculative horoscope. In the case of Dante, this, alas, is all we can do.

Standard rectification procedures, however, are cumbersome and, frankly, wildly hit-or-miss in practice. It is surprising that astrologers put any store in them at all since they are so notoriously unreliable. It is far better to use other clues where they are available, and in Dante’s case some are. We must still “rectify” and tweak the result and it will be necessarily speculative, but there is no need to resort to the use of so-called “transits” and other astrological devices which compound an unknown with an imponderable. We can, in the case of Dante, piece together morsels of biographical and other evidence to arrive at a nativity that can at least be justified and deemed not wildly amiss. Dante himself gives us many clues, and other writers during or just after his life give us others. It requires some detective work, but it can be done.

As it happens, and as unlikely as it seems, the time of birth in this case is somewhat easier to determine than the day of birth. This is because there is a strong tradition, going back to early biographers of the poet (and possibly to his own lifetime), that he was born with “Saturn rising”. Such a determination suggests many things, but in astrological terms it suggests that Dante had a somewhat Saturnine appearance since the rising planets (on the ascendant) account for physical demeanor. By extension, it may also indicate a Saturnine, which is to say a melancholy, disposition. This certainly accords with what we know of Signor Alighieri, including the rather Saturnine (square, austere, stern) facial features of portraits made of him during his life and afterwards.

Saturn is, in any case, very important in his horoscope since it is conjunct the Sun throughout the period in which he was born. The planet – slow moving as it is - necessarily casts a shadow over his entire horoscope regardless of upon what date we decide he was born. The tradition that Saturn was rising tells us, therefore, that he was born with Saturn in the first house or, as they say, “on the angle” which, in this case, means around or just before sunrise. Sun and saturn are conjunct. If he is born with “Saturn rising” then it is rising with the Sun.

There is a way to confirm this. While the poet only supplies broad details of his nativity in the Paradiso, he gives fuller astrological details of another occasion in the poem beginning “Io son venuto al punto de la rota” (“I have reached that point of the circuit.”) Without going into the altogether elaborate details here, it has long been noted that the astrological data in that poem is sufficent for us to actually draw up a horoscope corresponding to the event. And the event, as the poet says (and as the title of the poem suggests) is a time at which the heavens have come full circle vis-à-vis the poet. It is a poem about the sullen obstacles of winter, and it strongly implies that the poet confronts astrological conditions that are inverse to those of his nativity (Gemini being in a summer month). The title “I have reached that point of the circuit” refers to the poet reaching a point opposite to his birth. If we do not have Dante’s horoscope, then – arguably – we have a horoscope that is opposite to it. The poem, in part, says:

I have reached that point of the circuit
where the horizon, when the sun sets,
gives birth to the twin-ruled heavens,
and Love’s planet is remote from us,
because of the bright rays crossing her
slantwise, making of themselves a veil:
while the planet that solaces the frost
shows itself fully from the great arch
in which the Seven cast little shadow:

This requires interpretation at every point, certainly, but for our immediate purposes let us note that it is sunset and that “the planet that solaces frost” is Saturn and it now “shows itself fully.” When Dante was born (May/June 1265), however, Saturn was conjunct the Sun and was therefore fully obscured by the Sun’s brightness and therefore not visible. In this poem Saturn is now fully visible. From this and other details (Love’s planet – Venus -“remote from us because of the bright rays crossing us slantwise” etc) the poem can be accurately dated to December 24th 1296, the only date in Dante’s lifetime matching the astrological conditions described. In any case, if the poem describes conditions inverse of those of the poet’s own, and Saturn is visible and it is sunset, then we may surmise that at the time Dante was born Saturn was not visible and it was sunrise. Ergo, Saturn rising with the Sun.

So far so good. But on what day? There are bits and pieces of tradition regarding this but otherwise a great deal of confusion. Boccacio, for example, suggests “the latter part of May, from the notes of a peer” which is a reasonably solid reference and at least one source from Ravenna, a contemporary source, confirms that Dante told him “late May.” This is also the opinion of the reliable modern biographer Giovanni Papini (Dante Vivo) who, investigating the matter in Italian sources, says “he was born, it seems certain, at the end of May 1265 having been conceived in August 1264.” The English scholar, Edward Moore, who also addressed the question in some detail, came up with the date May 30th, or at most two or three days earlier. But there are, as already noted, a range of alternate dates backwards and forwards in time. The famous astrologer ‘Sepharial’, who was generally thorough about birth dates, writing in the British Astrology Journal in February 1919, supplies May 14th, and many other astrologers have followed this date. A. T. Mann, in the popular and influential work The Round Art, for example, gives the date of May 14, probably following Sepharial. Indeed, the Sepharial date has been the favored date among Anglo-American astrologers in modern times. However, Ellen McCaffrey, an astrologer who specialised in the horoscopes of poets, dissented and settled on May 23rd. Still others move the date into early June for whatever reasons.

Can any of these dates be confirmed in the manner of the time of birth? Turning again to the tell-tale poem Io son venuto al punto de la rota Durling & Martinez, in their study Time and the Crystal: Studies in Dante's Rime Petrose, suggest that the date that is most completely inverse to the conditions described in the poem is May 27th 1265. That is, the poem lends further weight to a date in late May which, on that basis, and for that reason, tends to firm as a likelihood.

What difference does it make? Actually, the answer to this is: surprisingly little. This is because the faster moving planets, Venus, Mercury and Mars, moved in and out of retrogradation during the period the Sun was in Gemini in 1265 and so they tended to dally around the same part of the sky. A few days, or even a week or two, in May/June 1265 will not, in fact, make a substantial difference to the positions of these bodies. The real question, therefore, comes down to Luna, the Moon, since it is the only planet that will change position in a significant way depending upon the chosen date. Luna traverses some 13 deg. or so of the sky every day and is the fastest moving body in the heavens. A difference of days in Dante’s horoscope will see the Moon move into different signs of the zodiac. By extension, the Moon’s relationship with the other bodies will change too, and so too will the all-important calculation of the Pars Fortuna (Part of Fortune) which is calculated upon the positions of Sun, Moon and Ascendant.

All things considered, this becomes a reasonable basis for rectification. Everything else is more or less settled. The question becomes: What Moon-sign best fits this person? Dante’s horoscope, finally, comes down to this. A reasonable way to proceed is to calculate the Moon’s position for the range of possible dates. The results are:

May 14h = Capricornus
May 20th = Aries
May 23rd = Gemini
May 27th = Cancer
May 30th = Virgo
June 1 = Libra

At this point, we then try to make a case for each of these positions and then try to determine which of them seems the most likely according to those arguments. Never mind about ‘transits’ and so on. A far more reasonable procedure is simply to test different dates by casting charts for those dates. As in most questions in astrology it is entirely debateable. There are questions of symbolism involved. It is a matter of judgment, not a matter of scientific calculation. In this present case, of course, we must remember that we are not dealing with a grocer or a fisherman, we are dealing with the soul who wrote the Divine Comedy and who, in that capacity, fathered the Italian language. Dante was no ordinary man and was, least of all, his own man. Rather, he was and is a man of the ages, an archetypal figure, the author of the greatest work of Christian cosmology in the European tradition. We are therefore not concerned with such questions as his day-to-day temperament as we are his place in a much larger and providential order. This requires a corresponding astrological judgment.

A strong case, it seems to the present writer, might be made for the Moon being in 1. Capricornus, 2. Gemini or 3. Cancer, and accordingly a good case can be made for eliminating the other possibilities. If in Capricornus, the Moon is then in an interesting relationship with Saturn which, as already noted, is conjunct the Sun (and Saturn rules Capricornus). If in Gemini, then the Moon joins a constellation of planets in that sign (and would have Dante born at New Moon). If in Cancer, then the Moon would be especially powerful because she rules Cancer. In all cases, though, the Moon-Saturn relationship becomes especially important here and must be a prime consideration. As far as that relationship is concerned, all manner of questions arise such as, for example, the poet’s early loss of his parents, his famous encounter with Beatrice and her role in the Divine Comedy, as well as the poet’s relationship with his homeland and patrimony, since all such matters might conceivably be under the auspices of a Luna-Saturn configuration. Which best fits the case?

Others might disagree, but it is the judgment of the present writer – given the available evidence and the nature of the case – that the Luna position that seems most likely is Moon in Cancer. It seems likely, for a start – to offer an argument from omission – that had the Moon been in Gemini and therefore conjunct both Saturn and the Sun that the poet might have alluded to this in ‘Io son venuto al punto de la rota’ or made something of it elsewhere. As a point of positive evidence, though, Moon in Cancer seems to answer better to the man’s poetic powers. The fact that he was orphaned and other biographical considerations are adequately answered by the Sun/Saturn configuration in itself. Is the Moon also swallowed up by the Sun (in Gemini) or overshadowed by Saturn (in Capricornus)? It seems more the case in such a man that the Moon is fully endowed (in Cancer) rather than muted and compromised. The tradition that Dante was born in late May is already strong; this would put the Moon in Cancer, her ruling sign, and make this one of the features of his horoscope. On the weight of evidence, this seems most likely. We opt, therefore, for a horoscope calculated for May 27th with Moon in Cancer and Saturn in the First House (on the Angle) noting again the astrological clues in 'Io son venuto al punto de la rota'. 

Yours,

Harper McAlpine Black