Still More of Osensei's Astrology

This last blog of this series will focus on what Ueshiba Osensei had to overcome to fulfill his destiny as the founder of Aikido. He was born on the full moon, which is a time of large energy therefore big stress. A constant in his life was the tremendous amount of energy he had to deal with.

His sun in Sagitarius, moon in Gemini, and his Uranus in Virgo form what is called a T square to Uranus. These are 3 mutable signs. This means he had a tendency to weirdness and rebelliousness. He could be unpredictable. High strung. Too intense for ordinary life. People with this T square tend to be a law onto themselves. Self-willed. Others with this alignment are Emily Bronte, Thomas Beckett, Winston Churchill, the spiritual teacher Gurjieff, and Jim Jones. His nervous system was high wired. He could be restless. Possibly too unstable to cope with the mundane. In other words he was ready to do something off the charts. Or to be totally non-functional in the world.

His Sun in Sagitarius is oppositional to his Moon in Gemini. This means his head had a tendency to argue with his heart. This could lead to health problems, which he certainly had. Also this could lead to relationship problems and could make him a spotlight seeker. Again, these are energies that were present and to some degree acting on him. Whether they were outwardly manifest or not is another issue.

His Moon squared his Uranus. This can confer great ingenuity and talent, but can also mean one can be plagued with misfortune that occurs suddenly. While in Ayabe he lost 2 sons to illness. His father and mother also died during that period in the 1920’s. His son Kisshomaru said that that period was so painful to his father that he never spoke of it.

His Sun squared his Uranus. This means he was inventive and original, yet also that he had tendencies to be erratic and eccentric. He was a true Renaissance Man, literally one of a kind. Blessed with flashes of deep insight. But this alignment further delineated his tendency to be rebellious.

His Mars squared his Uranus. This means he had a strong urge to act out fantasies and dreams. On a positive note that means he could do things other people only dream about. This planetary alignment could have fueled a strong escapism or a strong spirituality. It also could bring about drug and or alcohol problems.

His Venus in Capricorn trined his Neptune in Taurus. This means he could have been brilliant in music and/or art. His chanting of the norito(or sacred Shinto prayers) could be heard for miles. And he was deeply into the study of kototama. So possibly his music found an outlet here. His mother was accomplished in letters and wrote poetry. Osensei himself wrote many doka or poems of the way. And he left a great legacy of calligraphy.

His Saturn in Gemini conjuncted his Pluto in Taurus. This alignment endows a person with the ability to perform work that has a far reaching effect. And this is very obvious. Less obvious is that this also confers a secret or very personal side.

His Mercury squared his Uranus, which gave him the tendancy to a very nervous disposition.

So we see there was a lot of activity around his Uranus, which is the planet of individuality. One of his most important precepts is “Masaka Agatsu” or true victory is victory over the “I”. So we can see he had a lot to overcome. A tendency toward rebellousness. Possible escapist tendencies. Potential drug and alcohol problems. A very nervous disposition. So off the charts intense that he could very easily have not coped with everyday reality. Self-willed to the extreme. We are fortunate that he was able to universalize his being and in the end became a servant of the universe, teaching people to let go and surrender to the more original nature of themselves and the universe. This could very easily have gone in other directions.

And his Sun and Moon being oppositional probably means that he was constantly being pulled in more than one direction. And this, coupled with all his Uranus activity, probably means that for him to have forged the path that he did was no easy task, to put it simply.

He passed away April 26, 1969. Saturn returns every 29 years to the house which it occupied at birth. So one’s final Saturn return comes between 86 and 88. According to Andrea Mallis, he died just on the cusp of his final Saturn return, meaning that he lived a full astrological life. This is also probably a sign that he completed his divine mission.

I found it fascinating to go over Ueshiba Osensei’s chart. Since I started aikido in October of 1969, I never personally met him or knew him. So just going over his planets and their positioning and interrelationships gives me a sense of the person, as opposed to simply the archetype.. I never could have done this without Andrea’s help. She has gone over my chart with me and guided me through many other charts, so I have possibly a rudimentary sense of all this. I hope you found this interesting.

I am including a re-working of the Cupertino video. I have re-formatted it. I would like to thank Andrew Le for sending me quotes of Osensei, Carl Jung, Albert Eintein, and Leo Tolstoy. I intentionally included them in the video because Osensei , while he is far less known than those others, deserves a place alongside or even ahead of those. And by seeing his quotes alongside of those of the more famous people, we are acknowledging this.