INTRODUCTION
Principles are the same everywhere, but circumstances are always unique. In attempting to reach a deeper understanding of the astrology of the Swedish Royal Family, an understanding of the Kingdom of Sweden and monarchy as such must be included. If the Swedish Royal Family and the Bernadotte Dynasty is the content of my investigations, the context is monarchy itself. I do not refer to a general historical understanding, which may or may not be necessary, but to an understanding of perspective, specifically an astrological-symbolical perspective.
There are many charts relating to Sweden that could be used for astrological analysis, but which one should be chosen, and why? And what will the chosen chart speak of? I will seek to outline a conceptual apparatus with an eye to astrological interpretation.
I will roam over non-astrological aspects in the process, and I will go from abstract to concrete and back. I shall try to keep things short, but given the topic a certain elaboration will be necessary. Different charts belong to different dominions, and these dominions must be established before reasonable interpretations can be made.
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RULE OF LAW
My starting point is with the motto of the Swedish monarch, Charles XV (1859—1872):
With law shall the land be built.
This is a fundamental notion in Sweden, and Scandinavia, going back to ancient law, and also occurs in the Icelandic Njals Saga:: ”land shall be built by laws, but destroyed without them; with laws shall the land be build, and with bad laws destroyed.” The motto of Charles XV is well rooted in Scandinavian history. When I say that this is a fundamental notion, I want to imply that it should also be regarded as a foundational notion.
But where does the law come from? Partly it was religion, partly it originated in the joint decisions by the local ’parliament’. Neither religion nor people could be given a time and date of origin, however. From an astrological perspective, we must find a specific and meaningful initial event that can be connected with a discrete point in time and space, analogous with the birth chart of an individual.
Seeing the motto as axiomatic, as an astrologer I find it tells me what must be the first focus for this investigation; a constitution. A constitution constitutes the nation, and creates continuity. Fortunately, there exists a date connected with the laying down of a first constitution. (Remember the astrological requirement that the event be initial.)
The starting point is about primacy of the law.
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UNIFICATION OF LAW, UNIFICATION OF LAND
The first time we can say we have a Swedish constitution is from 1319, when there was a meeting with electors and a text (The Freedom Letter, something of a Swedish Magna Carta) agreed upon. There was a royal election at this time, underlining the importance of this point in time. The present representatives agreed to join on two things; king and constitution. As the various districts had had local laws and to a large extent been minding their own business, the unification of law would imply the unification of land. This, in turn, says that the Sweden before the unification would rightly rather be seen as an empire consisting of petty kingdoms, their unification by lord.
A common purpose having been recognized, a shared law has been accepted. A contract, or promise, can now be said to be in effect. The primary purpose of law is fulfilled; law has established order.
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THE BODY POLITIC
The effect of a joining together is something new coming into being. In this case, what is coming into being is a nation. I use the word to denote something more integrated and cohesive than people. The people that joined existed well before this date, but through entering into a common commitment a new existence could come into being. The nation, as I use the term here, is defined not by mere bodies, but by bodies united under a common purpose—a civilized society.
Note that the word nation is of the same origin as words like natal and nativity, meaning it refers to something that has been born. I contend that for something to be born, it must have been conceived, there must have been a joining, the joining blessed by God or circumstance. Births do not happen just like that. They have a history. And in generalized terms, this history requires conception and joining.
Yet, being united under a common polity is not the end of the process. The basic function of a constitution is to speak the law. This is a basic requirement, but for what purpose? What does civilized society mean? The answer to that question must include self-coordination, a prerequisite for autonomy, self-preservation and self-regulation.
A key concept for the nation is that it has body, or mass. It has weight and substance.
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THE HEART OF THE NATION
Continuing the corporeal metaphor, formation of the body is followed by the coming into being of a self. The constitution, the DNA of the body politic, needs more than a body to come true. It needs coordination.
Referring back to the defining event of 1319, luckily, for our purposes, the establishment of the constitution and the election of king coincide, making it possibly to use this as an example yet again. The King, only three years old, obviously was not chosen on merit or deed, but because of his relationships (he was related to most of Swedish nobility). At the center of the ”blood-lines”, he became the heart of the national body; its coordinating centre. The center of the nation is established through the choice of a king who embodies the agreement that has been made, which is the nexus of the nation. The king is king because of what he is.
Interestingly, being in the center of relationships is precisely the rôle that monarchs in present-day constitutional monarchies have, but today the ’blood-lines’ are abstract and not grounded on family relationships. The constitutional monarchs partake in all levels of civil society, from charity events to inaugurations to the giving of decorations to celebrations such as the Nobel Prize, are the première ambassadors of their nation internationally, and so on, and so forth. Obviously, given my line of reasoning, this is also the function they should have. This is the natural function of a monarch.
The purpose of this phase is to appoint, which elevates to dignity.[1]
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ASCENSION TO THE THRONE
A sovereign having been chosen is, however, still not the end of the process we are describing. Accession may happen in conjunction with the appointment, but natural reasons may delay it. For instance, when in 1523 Gustav Eriksson was elected king the office was his immediately. In contradistinction, when in 1319 Magnus Eriksson was created King of Sweden, he was only three years old and he would not become ruling king for many years yet.
So, being appointed does not always immediately translate into being invested with authority, meaning this is an independent stage in the differentiation we are describing. In a hereditary monarchy the moment of appointment will remain the same—the appointment of the dynast—, but the time of accession will differ for each monarch. One may assume office when coming of age, another at high age. In Sweden as a hereditary monarchy, ascension to the throne for one monarch often coincides with the death of the previous monarch. Under the Bernadotte Dynasty, there have been no exceptions to this.
The astrological function of this part in the sequence relates to judgement and the setting of limits, which is structure, the basis for integrity. Anatomically, we speak of skin and skeleton, incidentally the parts of the body most resistant to decay after death. In terms of national development, the court of justice reflects this stage, as do territorial borders and customs. The astrological chart for this would be the (non-existent) chart for the mid-fourteenth century National Law Code of Magnus IV, the king chosen in 1319.
The purpose here is to invest the chosen one with authority.
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THE ACTS OF THE MONARCH
So, the law has united the people, who appointed a sovereign to rule them, whom acceded the throne. Next we have to define the actual actions of the monarch. The purpose of a rule is to rule. There is no point in having agreed upon a shared constitution unless it is also enacted. In constitutional monarchies, this rule has become formal. The monarch of today does not wield power more than in a symbolic sense.
The government, putting the laws into motion, so to speak, is located at this level. The law enforcement would also belong to this domain. In the organic parallel the executive powers are located in the brain, whose function it is to carry out the commands of the self. The brain is the ’state’ of the self and perhaps the concept of nation-state belongs here.
Astrological charts under this heading would be the charts of specific governments.
The purpose connected with this stage is enactment.
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VOX POPULI—THE VOICE OF THE PEOPLE
Here the process is about exchange, in a broad sense, including commerce as well as communication.
This stage, in anatomical terms, is about the hands and the lungs. To shake hands or to write a signature to confirm a contract makes use of the hand, to talk of the lungs, and these are typical examples of the symbolism at this level. Included in the symbolism of hands is also that of tools. Hands and tools let us interact with reality, speech lets us discuss it with others. Both are important factors in forming rationality, which arises with the use of speech and tools. Rationality cannot come into being until we interact with an external world, which hands and lungs let us do.
Astrologically, the defining moment for step in the evolution would be defined by The Freedom of Press Act of 1766. This step is about exchange.
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THE TRUE BEGINNING
With regards to anatomy, we may also note that breath signifies the post-natal state and belongs there exclusively. As, for that matter, does the use of hands. The regulation of the body cannot be all automatic. That would make of it a machine. If automatic, a rational human being it can not be. And breath is how the body regulates itself. The unborn do not breathe and the body is not a living, breathing being before its first breath, nor is a people truly united unless it self-regulates. Breath is self-regulation, as is communication and the exchange of goods. The previous step established the organs for exchange, but they cannot be used until after birth.
In the anatomical metaphor, what has been described is really the formation of the physical body. But formation is not enough. Body is not enough. For a person to come into being, in astrological terms (and according to the Biblical book of Genesis as well, where God breathes life into man), the body must breathe to have come to life.
The astrological chart corresponding to ’first breath’ logically must be later in time than the ones described above, meaning it must be later than 1766. The years 1772 until 1809 was a period of absolute monarchy and war, and in this scheme this period might correspond with the ’birth pangs’, but it offers no reasonable option for what could be described as a first breath of the nation. The period started with a coup d’état and ended with a forced abdication on the 29th of March in 1809. So the date we are looking for should be later than that.
It may be helpful to pause here and narrow down what might be a reasonable parallel to the first breath of a newly born baby. It seems to me that it would be something similar to the breathing reflex, which makes a person gasp for air even if under water. The breathing reflex does not involve the executive powers of the brain, which are simply disconnected when the need for air becomes acute. To me, this implies an event that is not on a formal level, or that carries any note of discord or hesitation, and that engages the whole body politic. The first event matching this description is the Parliament’s unanimous election of Bernadotte to be Crown Prince of Sweden. Consequently, the birth chart for Sweden as a nation would be the 21st of August, 1810.
Here, at last, after almost five centuries, are the tangible results of the previous phases. Freed from ’the rule of man’ and living in a society guided by justice, interdependence can blossom. People can trust one another, knowing the law is there to guarantee safety and harmony, punishing transgressors. What has been achieved on the basis of constitution, nationhood, ruler and law enforcement creates a society where men are free and autonomous, dealing with one another fairly, settling arguments through words, not violence. Speech is free and the press independent.
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CONCLUSION
The Kingdom of Sweden is ruled by invitation only. It seems fitting to conclude with these words from Crown Prince Bernadotte, in an address to the people of Stockholm, after an event that had the people worried about the safety of the Crown Prince.
When I came among you, I brought nothing beyond my sword and my actions as my title and guarantees. If I could have brought you a succession of ancestors from Charles Martel downwards, I should have valued the distinction for your sakes only. For my part, I am satisfied with the remembrance of the services I have performed, and with the glory which has exalted me. My claims in other respects rest on my adoption by the king, and on the unanimous choice of a free people. On these I found my rightful pretensions; and so long as honour and justice are esteemed on earth, my rights will be accounted more legitimate, more sacred, than if I were descended from Odin. History informs us that no prince ever mounted a foreign throne but by election or by conquest. I have not opened my way to the Swedish throne by the latter; I have been invited to it by the former; and this is my best, my proudest claim.
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NOTES
1. This connects with the idea connected with the monarch for the United Kingdom as the fountain of honor.
