All Souls’ Eve Fantasy Horoscope
Cotton Mather and The Return For Witches
America’s Witch Hunter
By Dikki-Jo Mullen
The magical lives and exceptional talents of various celebrities who have added to the rich heritage of witchcraft have been honored over the years in featured horoscopes. Anne Rice, Dan Brown, Sybil Leek, Nicholas Culpepper and Charles Godfrey Leland are among those whose birth charts have provided a wealth of information and inspiration to encourage and inform those who embrace The Old Ways. However traveling the path of the mystic does involve honoring the balance of light and dark, of good and evil. “Within all evil is good and within all good is evil”, a traditional saying reminds us.
It’s the gloom time of year, as this feature flows from my quill pen, the days are growing colder and shorter and the atmosphere of shadows calls to mind the notable nativity of a villain. Cotton Mather, the Puritan minister who formulated The Return, the infamous reply in 1692 which encouraged the persecution of witches in Salem and throughout New England, following a query sent by the Governor and Counsel of Massachusetts to the Boston clergy. Reverend Cotton Mather is an unforgettable example of how much pure evil can be generated by a brilliant, sincere and religious person who succumbed to fanaticism when facing the eternal battle between right and wrong. He earned the dubious distinction of being as the most active witch hunter in America.
Born on February 12, 1663 in Dorchester, Massachusetts, Cotton Mather was just 29 years old in 1692 when he wrote;
“So horrid and hellish is the crime of witchcraft, that were Gods thoughts as our thoughts, or Gods way as our ways, it could be no other but unpardonable.”
These inflammatory words are credited with fanning the witchcraft hysteria which led to the loss of so many lives in 17th Century New England.
Cotton Mather had his Sun, Venus and Mercury exactly conjunct at 24 degrees Aquarius. His Chiron, Uranus and Mars are also in Aquarius, forming a six planet stellium in that sign. Tremendously charismatic and eloquent, he had unusual energy and originality. The strong Mercury aspects, in Mercury’s sign of exaltation (Aquatius), indicates great persuasive skills. At the execution of accused witch Reverend George Burrows spectators in the crowd in Wells, Maine sought an acquittal. However Judge Samuel Sewells account tells that Mather spoke out and persuaded them of Burrows’ guilt. (It was Sewell who, realizing that his own participation in the trials was a mistake, eventually used his influence to discredit Mather for initiating the witchcraft allegations.)
The six Aquarius placements in Cotton Mather’s horoscope are strengthened by a trine to Pluto in Gemini. This shows his ability to have a far reaching impact upon masses of people throughout the ages. The potent air sign emphasis reveals illustrious scholarship. Young Cotton (named for his maternal grandfather, John Cotton) entered Harvard at age 12. By age 25 he replaced his father, Reverend Increase Mather, as pastor of Boston’s North Church when Increase went to England to represent colonial interests. Cotton’s leadership seemed natural, for he had already authored popular religious treatises, including Memorable Providences Related To Witchcrafts And Possessions (1689) in which he hoped to guide readers to work out salvation in fear and trembling, showing that witchcraft had both a God and devil.
His Moon was in Aries, waxing in the crescent phase. This promises an extroverted self confidence and further underscores a competitive spirit of leadership as well as a family background which encouraged standing up for one’s beliefs. The well aspected Moon describes the childhood of privilege he enjoyed as the oldest son of an influential family. The Aries Moon is trine both Saturn and Jupiter, which are conjunct in Sagittarius. The Saturn-Jupiter conjunction is often present in the charts of those who are pillars in the community and who are politically inclined, upholding law and order. In Sagittarius, this important conjunction draws a focus on international contacts, philosophy, religion and higher education. The Sagittarius planets oppose Pluto, showing great conflict and intensity involving masses of people. Also subterfuge and ulterior motives are hinted at with the Pluto negative influence. During The Salem Trials, the accused witches were often those who were considered odd or difficult, or who had assets others wished to confiscate.
The horoscope shows an Aries Moon square Neptune in Capricorn. This suggests emotionally induced frenzy, fantasy and confusion. Since cardinal signs are involved, there is a tendency to act immediately, without taking time to weigh all of the facts and consequences involved. The North Moon Node in Virgo shows a desire for precision and a natural grasp of detail. Cotton Mather meticulously investigated numerous claims of sorcery, using his network of contacts to extract information.
By 1693, when the witchcraft hysteria was beginning to run its course, Cotton was called upon to justify his role in the trials. He wrote Wonders Of The Invisible World. This volume reveals the steadfast fixed sign influence in Reverend Mather’s natal chart. His writings continued to support his claims, even in the face of overwhelming public opinion and hard evidence to the contrary.
“Witchcraft is the most nefarious high treason against the Majesty on high. A witch is not to be endured in heaven or on earth”, he penned.
It’s worth considering that, except for the weak South Node placement in Pisces, Cotton Mather had no water signs in his birth chart. An absence of water signs leaves a void. It can point to a real lack of concern, emotion, empathy and genuine compassion for others.
Some might justify the atrocities committed by Cotton Mather as reflecting the prejudices and limitations of the times in which he lived. However, that’s really not an excuse. History shows him to be less of a leader than those who spoke out against the delusions he perpetrated. As religious tolerance and reason grew, and liberal tendencies mounted, he was passed over numerous times for a position he coveted, the Presidency of Harvard University.
Embittered, ignored and repudiated by many, Cotton’s cleverness and connections continued to impress a few. He did persuade a London merchant named Elijah Yale to found a Calvinist University in New Haven, Connecticut of which he became the first President. Mather’s later years, before his death in 1728, were marked by a variety of personal tragedies and misfortunes. His diaries hint at a growing paranoia which we might recognize as mental illness today. It appears that the persecuted witches were vindicated in the end.
Birth Data Table
Reverend Cotton Mather
Born February 12, 1663, NS, in Dorchester, Massachusetts
(No birth time is recorded, so a Noon style chart was erected using Local Mean Time. There is some conflicting data that his year of birth was 1662, but most historians support the date in early 1663. The chart is presented in the NS (New Style) calendar format using Tropical Placidus houses.)
Sun – 24 Aquarius 04 (10th house)
Moon – 21 Aries 47 (11th house) – waxing Moon in the crescent phase
Mercury – 24 Aquarius 56 (10th house)
Venus – 24 Aquarius 21 (10th house)
Mars – 14 Aquarius 39 (9th house)
Jupiter – 11 Sagittarius 41 (6th house)
Saturn – 15 Sagittarius 07 (6th house)
Uranus – 9 Aquarius 04 (9th house)
Neptune – 14 Capricorn 32 (9th house)
Pluto – 22 Gemini 22 (1st house) – retrograde
N. Moon Node 10 Virgo 41 (4th house) – mean node position used
Chiron – 6 Aquarius 05 (9th house)
Ascendant or Rising Sign is 16 Gemini 18
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