Celebrating Casanova’s 300th Birthday

By Sue Kientz

Part of the fun of astrology is looking at the birth charts of historical figures from long ago and peering into their secrets. With someone like Giacomo Casanova, the notorious Venetian lover, writer, adventurer, conman, astrologer, alchemist, and pseudo-magician who traveled all over Europe in the 18^th Century, you must be an astrologer versed in new, 21^st century celestial discoveries, the Dwarf Planets, to see beyond his façade to the fascinating and complicated character beneath. These important additions to our Sun’s family best reveal the person you encounter in History of My Life,(1) Casanova’s autobiography, which voluminously describes how he dared to live life to the full and on the edge, experiencing every pleasure and many disappointments, unafraid to bend social norms and often suffering the repercussions. Casanova was a man who pulled the wool over many eyes, from women to his adoptive father, from peasants to kings, but he was also someone who had many other talents needed when one is an outsider in society, trying to get in and make something of oneself. If your astrology analysis lacks dwarf planets, you only see smoke and mirrors, only Neptune – literally, as you will see. But add in the largest dwarf planets discovered lurking in Pluto’s realm and you witness the excitement, the daring, the risk taking – you see Casanova alive.

Looking at Casanova’s Sun (12 Aries), for example, with just classical and modern planets, you find it unaspected of major relationships except for a semisquare to Neptune (29 Taurus).(2) Granted, that gives one accurate, succinct description of his life (which the Sun represents), as Casanova’s most beloved activities were behind closed doors or involved lying or misleading those around him, all very Neptunian. Even after writing his lengthy, frank, and explicit autobiography, hoping relatives would have it published, the manuscript was drastically cut to less than a quarter of the original, due to its (then) inflammatory political and religious views as much as its candid description of his sexual escapades, and so his real story languished, hidden, for over 200 years.

Other areas of his life are marked by Neptune, as his Mercury, Venus, and Mars all lie in Pisces. Mercury (27 Pisces) is sextile Neptune (and opposite Pluto), making it effortless for Casanova to deceive, mislead, and even escape prison, the latter feat his favorite two-hour tale that made him a minor celebrity in his lifetime. His Moon (1 Sagittarius) opposes Neptune, representing his long banishments from his beloved home Venice as well as how many women he loved and left, all Moon symbols. Despite his wandering, he cherished the memory of his Venetian years and his many liaisons, the proof being that they live on in his magnum opus, now honorably residing in France’s national library, the Bibliothèque Nationale de France.(3) Why France? He wrote in French, which in his time was the language of literature, science, and social interaction, very much like English is today.

What are we missing that is seen clearly if one ventures past Neptune? His lightning-fast instincts and charmed impulsiveness, represented by Sun opposite dwarf planet Makemake (12 Libra), that led him as a young man to spot someone in a gondola in need of a doctor. His quick actions and solicitous attentions not only saved the man’s life, but resulted in the man adopting and financially supporting Casanova until the grateful man’s death.(4) Casanova’s Sun is also opposite dwarf planet Haumea (10 Libra) which symbolizes his uncanny ability to change others’ lives, for the better or, other times, to even the score. An assignation with Casanova could lead to needed financial help, or personal intervention in other troubles. But cross him, and he might pull a vengeful prank, like when he crawled under the bed of a sleeping man who insulted him at a hotel. Casanova brought along an arm he dug out of someone’s grave, and with it he reached up to awaken and scare the man, who only saw a decaying arm clawing his chest. That man’s life was changed in the worst way – he died of fright! Casanova had gone too far and fled, alarmed that he might be caught and his accidental role in the death discovered. Witness the crazy and profound tumult that someone with Sun opposite Haumea and Makemake can bring to the world!

Casanova’s diverse literary output(5) and storytelling genius is certainly apparent with his Mercury sextile Neptune and opposed Pluto (both planets unknown to him), but as narrative became a major career activity, his Sun square Varuna (11 Cancer) properly highlights its importance, since dwarf planet Varuna identifies those who can change the world with words alone, whether by writing stories, telling lies or, like Casanova, liberally doing both. He wrote perhaps the first sci-fi novel(6) and may have contributed to the libretto of Mozart’s opera Don Giovanni. His ability to take risks and succeed (or accept failure well) is reflected by his Sun trine dwarf planet Quaoar (17 Sagittarius), named after the Native American Tongva god who sang and danced the world into existence, and represents those who act, sing, dance, pull pranks, and take risks. No one ever escaped from the Venetian prison “The Leads” until Casanova dared to try on Halloween night 1756, and afterwards, no one escaped there again.

Lastly there’s Casanova’s ever present confidence that he would succeed in a world where one needed money, family or political influence, or sheer luck to survive. This trait is found in those with planets in supportive aspects to dwarf planet 2003 AZ₈₄, which in Casanova’s case is Sun sextile 2003 AZ₈₄ (11 Gemini). This yet-unnamed dwarf planet moves in roughly the same orbit as Pluto but is a third of Pluto’s size. Pluto’s power in many ways is its size: it’s the largest body in the Kuiper Belt with a huge moon, Charon, so big that they rotate tidally locked together. Pluto is something to be reckoned with, and those with powerful Pluto aspects have something to wield like money, beauty, charisma, connections, basically something of value. All AZ₈₄ offers is sheer audacity, nerve, and belief in oneself, but think how powerful that can be.(7)

Dwarf planets delineate so many of the talents, gifts, or resources dearly needed in the rough world that was the dangerous, chaotic, and revolutionary 18th century. While Casanova no longer needs these gifts, nevertheless on this milestone birthday, the dwarf planets of his birth are similarly arranged to mark his 300^th. Today the Sun is again opposite Makemake (10 Libra) and supportively trine 2003 AZ₈₄ (10 Leo). While trine at birth, Sun is square Quaoar (11 Capricorn). Mercury (27 Pisces) is even at the degree of his birth and conjunct Neptune (0 Aries). His work of writing complete, Casanova doesn’t need a prodding Sun square Varuna; rather Sun is trine Varuna (7 Leo), an encouraging signal that we can enjoy his travails, his complaints, and especially his many adventures by venturing to read his History of My Life. Be sure to get an uncensored version, which will be more than one or two volumes.

Title Image credit: Casanova image: Alessandro Longhi, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons; text added and “macaroni” birthday cake, assembled by the author. A steaming plate of “macaroni” was Casanova’s favorite dish and a key aid in effecting his escape from the notorious Venice prison “The Leads.”

Notes and References

1. Casanova, Giacomo, Chevalier de Seingalt. History of My Life, 6 vols., translated by William R. Trask, The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1997
2. Casanova, Giacomo, 2 April 1725, 3:51 a.m. (rectified by author), Venice, Italy, https://www.astro.com/astro-databank/Casanova,_Giacomo
3. “Casanova’s Memoir Given to French Library,” CBS News, 19 February 2010, https://www.cbsnews.com/news/casanovas-memoir-given-to-french-library/
4. Sun/Makemake, especially the opposition, is the mark of a polymath, an eccentric genius. Notable examples are Leonardo Da Vinci, Thomas Jefferson, and Stephen Hawking. Benjamin Franklin had Sun trine Makemake, and Mozart, Sun square Makemake.
5. Perrottet, Tony, “Who Was Casanova?” Smithsonian Magazine, April 2012, https://www.smithsonianmag.com/travel/who-was-casanova-160003650/
6. Casanova’s “Icosameron,” Or, the Story of Edward and Elizabeth: Who Spent Eighty-One Years in the Land of the Megamicres, Original Inhabitants of Prot, Jenna Press, 1986, https://www.publishersweekly.com/9780941752008
7. Notable 2003 AZ₈₄ examples of self-assuredness are Volodymir Zelenskyy and Alfred Hitchcock, both with Ascendant conjunct AZ₈₄ (Zelenskyy’s is complicated by Sun/Venus sesquiquadrate AZ₈₄) and Winston Churchill, Ascendant trine AZ₈₄.

For more details about the angles or relationships between planets, see Lynne Hyde’s “Astrology Basics,” ANS, 12 November 2024, https://astrologynewsservice.com/articles/astrology-basics/

For more details on Dwarf Planets, see “Dwarf Planet Basics,” ANS, 6 November 2024, https://astrologynewsservice.com/articles/dwarf-planet-basics/