Alexander Von Humboldt and his brother William Von Humboldt were born to a wealthy Prussian family. Their beloved father died when Alexander was 9 (progressed Sun to Mercury Mars) leaving their upbringing to a cold mother who gave them the best education available at the time. Both brothers were tutored by a string of Enlightenment thinkers who instilled in them a love of truth, liberty and knowledge. (The Invention of Nature by Andrea Wulf)
William went on to found a University and become a philosopher and linguist, associated with the crowd of intellectuals in Jena, Germany in the late 1700's. Alexander became a world traveler who was one of the first to recognize the destruction wreathed upon nature by man, rejecting the perspective put forth by Aristotle that "nature has made all things specifically for the sake of man". (Id at 67).
"Nature everywhere speaks to man in a voice that is familiar to his soul" said Humboldt. In June of 1799, at the age of 29, he set off for South America with a partner and a collection of telescopes, microscopes, clocks, and boxes and vials for collecting seeds and soil, along with scales and countless other tools. He was to spend the next three years risking his life, but collecting thousands of plants and having taken countless measurements. He left with the understanding that nature was a living whole.
He has the perfect chart for an explorer. To start, he has Sagittarius rising. This is a love of nature and travel. His Sun is in Virgo (detail needed for a scientist) but in the house of Sagittarius. Sagittarians see the big picture and nowhere was this more true than in Humboldt. He also had a Mercury Mars conjunction in Libra in the 9th house of travel abroad. A very quick mind. He wrote up his findings in a number of books, and was world famous in his time.
When he took off for his first transatlantic trip to South America Pluto was conjunct his moon in Pisces in the second house, and Uranus was approaching his Sun in the 9th house of international travel. His progressed Moon was in early Aries, starting off an entirely new life cycle.
The author of The Invention of Nature noted the following about Humboldt:
"Unlike most Europeans, Humboldt did not regard the indigenous people as barbaric but instead was captivated by their culture, beliefs and languages. In fact, he talked about the 'barbarism of civilised man' when he saw how the local people were treated by colonists and missionaries." (Id page 81)
On June 1 of 1804 Humboldt met another enlightenment thinker and plant collector, Thomas Jefferson, the third President of the United States. Jefferson was interested in all sciences, including horticulture, math, meteorology and geography. Humboldt was able, due to his travels, to tell the President all about Mexico, a country on which there was little information.
The year Humboldt celebrated his 60th birthday he traveled to to explore the Volga and the Caspian Sea along with the parts of the Russian empire. When writing about his Russian expedition, he noted the destruction of forests and mankind's long term changes to the environment. He named deforestation, ruthless irrigation and great masses of steam and gas produced in the industrial centers ad the cause. This was in 1829. He was ahead of the curve, and somewhat prophetic, which can be a Sagittarian trait.
He was completely opposed to slavery and managed to get a law passed that freed slaves the moment they set foot on the Prussian soil. (Id. p. 327) Meanwhile in France Napoleon had put in laws allowing slavery in a nation that had once been free. (See The Black Count by Tom Reiss).
The 9th house also rules publishing and the many books written by Humboldt were widely read, by Darwin and Thoreau, amongst others. See Cosmos, Views of Nature and Personal Narrative. Please note that birth time is not verified. Source Astrodienst.
Excellent piece about an historically important person. His Neptune Ceres opposite Moon in Pisces echoes his vision of Nature as a whole. He's a Mother Earth visionary. I wonder if his feelings of emotional abandonment by his mother led him to a search for the greatest Mother of all. Did Nature fill that void? Thanks for reminding us about this uplifting man.