The first challenge about doing the charts of people born in Europe before the war is to get the time zone correct assuming the time of birth is accurate.
An astrologer however has to still erect the chart and ensure its correctness to the extent possible. So, Picasso was born in pre WW1 Spain when summer time adjustment was not in practice and Spain followed GMT timezone before 1900 CE.
Picasso was born on 25-Oct-1881 in Malaga, Spain. I have also done fundamental time rectification from the commonly used time of 23:15 to 23:34 which doesn't change the ascendant in rashi chart (D1).
Picasso's sidereal chart gives Cancer ascendant and Scorpio moon. Apart from Moon, there are 3 more debilitated planets ie Sun, Saturn and Venus. So the first question is how can you have 4 debilitated planets including artistic Venus and yet become Picasso? Let's see.
Pablo Picasso - The artist, the genius, the man, the boy and the play boy
Although I have always maintained that exaltation/debilitation are overestimated concepts, they are still significant nevertheless. I consider the position of planet more effective feature than exaltation or debilitation.
To begin with, when he was born, he looked too frail and didn't move at all. The midwife thought he was stillborn ie dead as he showed no movement. His uncle, who was also a doctor and a smoker of cigar blew smoke at him and suddenly he came to moving life. This is peculiar, strange and unusual. Welcome to Picasso's chart with 4 planets in signs of debilitation.
Is there anything special in the chart?
I have done couple of videos to show the footprints of strong charts ie. how to identify a chart that holds a promise of high rise in life and possibly fame. This chart carries the footprint. Whenever we have two or more planets together in a sign aspected by a benefic and the sign lord (dispositor) either aspects them or itself placed in that sign, it adds lot of strength to the house and the planets therein. We can see that's true of 5th house in Picasso's chart.
Another feature of a special chart is recurrence of yogas from ascendant and Moon and/or Sun.
The X factor in this chart is exchange or parivartan yoga between Mars and Mercury as they occupy each other's sign. Due to this exchange, the 5th house of creativity and the planets placed therein ie Moon, Mercury and Rahu receive Mars energy who is their dispositor, making the house and planets strong.
Art and creativity
The Mercury-Mars exchange yoga strengthens the creative combination of Mercury + Moon + Rahu. It's a well known fact that Moon + Rahu expands one's imagination and visualization. It connects the unseen/invisible/unheard and unfelt energies to conscious mind. By itself, it's not exactly a positive nor negative combination which is decided by the influence any other planet has on this combination.
A natural benefic like Mercury is well suited for any creative expression and Venus gives creative idea. Mercury is already part of the combination in 5th house of creative expression. This strong and creative combination of Mercury + Moon + Rahu is further aspected by benefic Jupiter. Mercury is not only part of the obvious conjunction with Moon+Rahu but also influenced by Venus as Venus is placed in Mercury's sign Virgo. It's a basic Jyotish concept that when a planet sits in a sign, it influences the natural behaviour of the sign lord ie dispositor. So, his 5th house is not only strong for all the above reasons but also enjoys the energies of all the benefic planets. His Moon is ascendant lord whose placement in 5th house helps in configuring his brain with 5th house.
Creative Venus is placed in 3rd house of right arm/hand as most painters/sculptors use their hand in creative manner. This Venus is placed in Hasta nakshatra which literally translates to 'hand' or manual. Mercury as lord of 3rd house of hand is placed in 5th house of creative expression, a huge fact that configurs hand with creativity.
Venus is aspected by benefic Jupiter from 11th house (of left hand and gains). Venus is also aspected by Mars, who is dispositor of the creative combination of Mercury+Moon+Rahu. Mars aspects Venus from 12th house of foreign land/culture as Picasso arrived in the world of art in Paris, away from his birthplace Spain.
In our classics, it's mentioned at many places that the chart analysis as done from ascendant should get reinforced from Moon/Sun sign too. Sun and Moon are considered alternate lagna (ascendant). All the creative and artistic qualities discussed above should also show his monetary gains as he was professional artist.
Role of Jupiter
Jupiter is lord of 9th house of luck from ascendant, placed in 11th house of income. As seen from Moon, the same Jupiter is lord of second house of wealth aspecting 11th house of income from Moon. Jupiter also aspects the 2nd house from Sun thereby getting strongly associated with money houses from all the 3 reference points - ascendant, Sun and Moon. The creative Venus is placed in 3rd house (of right hand) from ascendant and 11th house (of left hand) from Moon. Hand plays extremely important role in creation of art.
Apart from Venus getting involved with 3rd and 11th houses of the two hands (from ascendant and Moon), Jupiter is also helping in giving his hands the golden touch as it aspects both the 3rd and 11th houses from ascendant and Moon too.
We already saw how 5th house of creative faculties (from ascendant) is the strongest house in the chart. The 5th house from Moon is owned by Jupiter and aspected by venus and Rahu, who carries the creative energy of the Mercury+Moon+Rahu there.
Picasso was not just a genuis in art but he was an innovative trend setter which is where Rahu played an important role as part of the conjunction in 5th house.
Debilitation of 4 planets
When someone has 4 debilitations in chart, hardships and tragedies in life are foregone conclusion. His 4/10 axis has debilitated Sun and debilitated retro Saturn. He suffered emotional turmoil and hardships in earlier professional life.
He saw the death of his younger sister as Mars aspects 3rd house from ascendant and 3rd house from Moon. His 3rd house from Moon (ie. 7th from ascendant) receives the aspect from it's lord Saturn but natural malefics don't support the human significations even when they aspect own sign. When Picasso learned about the suicide of iconic artist Vincent van Gogh, it left a deep impact in his mind. Gogh died when Picasso was still a small child but he was very much connected with the world of professional art as his father was an art teacher in local art school.
Picasso was very close to his friend when they moved to Paris together and he was shaken when his friend committed suicide by shooting himself in a failed love affair. Lord of 4th house of friends (yes, not 11th but 4th is house of friends - please read this article on friends house in vedic Astrology) from ascendant i.e. Venus is debilitated and aspected by Mars from 12th house of being away from home. Every factor - debilitation, placement, aspect counts. Mars aspect on Venus - as tragic as it may have been unleashed the world class artist in him when he painted his pain, hardships and emotional turmoils in his blue era paintings when he used lot of blue and grey colours.
Picasso was years ahead of his peers and did his first professional painting when he was 9. His father realised at 13 years of age, he was far surpassed by his son in all artistic faculties. His chart clearly shows the influence of art on his father. His 9th house is getting aspected by Venus and Rahu who carries the energies of the artistic conjunction of Mer+Moon+Rahu to 9th house.
Father as an art teacher
Both the stakeholders of father, ie Jupiter as lord of 9th house and and Sun as significator of father occupy signs of Venus. His Sun is flanked by Venus on one side and Mer+Moon+Rahu conjunction from the other side thereby adding lot of positive energy to Sun. These are fundamentals of Jyotish and it's called shubh kartari in classics. The same debilitated Sun is lord of Picasso's 2nd house from ascendant indicating he faced hardships to make ends meet in earlier professional life. Given the level of his talent and genius, it should have been a lot easier but for the Sun-Saturn mutual aspect, it was not to be.
Debilitated Sun and Saturn mutual aspect in 4/10 axis
Since early childhood, he was formally educated in arts and trained by his father at home as Sun is in 4th house of education and home indicates this. I have done a detailed post on main house of formal education as 4th house while 5th house being house of memory and intelligence always supports it, being 2nd from 4th. This education from father wasn't enough for him and ended in 12 yrs as Sun is in debilitation.
Due to debilitation of Sun which indicates father/family identity and placement in 4th house of mother, another real life manifestaion of this fact was that he adopted his mother's surname/lastname. Here Saturn's aspect on Sun has also played it's role because Saturn is lord of 4th houses from Moon and Sun.
Saturn in general acts in defiance of Sun's rulings and in the chart, it's stronger than Sun due to it's retro motion. I am not getting into the other extreme of retro planet in debilitation gets exalted but retro motion gives strong motivational strength to put efforts (cheshta bal) in the significations/lordship of the planet in sign of debilitation.
Lord of 4th from ascendant ie Venus though debilitated, receives aspect from Jupiter. Adopting mother's surname around 19/20 years of age indicated a great positive shift of energy as his 4th lord Venus and Moon are part of his potent artistic combination and rise in life. Venus and Moon are representing mother.
Art was his work and he defied the dominant political power ie fascism that prevailed during his times using his work, which is seen from Sun-Saturn opposition on 4/10 axis where Saturn is placed at his 10th house.
Another dimension of his defiance of "Sun" was the tug-of-war between artists and dealers wherein he saw dealers as the evil "kings" who controlled the market and exploited the working class, the artists. He was at constant loggerheads with dealers in earlier stage of his professional career despite his artistic genius. Nothing short was expected of a retro Saturn in Bharani nakshatra that activates a strong energy in the embryonic stage waiting to see the light of the day in emphatic and compelling manner.
Another not-so-positive real life manifestation of mutual aspect between debilitated Sun - Saturn was the fact that his father took him to brothels at very early age of 13 yrs as his sexual hunger was very high. Saturn is lord of 7th from ascendant, debilitated in mutual aspect with Sun. His lord of 7th from Moon ie Venus is also debilitated. Debilitation of a planet doesn't reduce the energy of a planet in life but in many ways increases the unfavorable side of the energy. The debilitation of lords of 7th house of sexual desire made him have numerous short term relationships. More observations on his sexuality are shared in next section.
Picasso's relationships and sexuality
While Jupiter's placement in Venus's sign and its positive aspect on Venus gave it a world of positive traits but couldn't wash away the core issue of debilitation. Saturn, the lord of 7th from ascendant however is not as lucky as Venus as it enjoys no positive aspect. Saturn is retro and hence strong but debilitated hence misdirected more in absence of any benefic aspect/influence. Saturn and Venus are representing his 7th house of sexual desire and that is an area where the debilitation played unfavorable role.
In many Jyotish text including Phaladeepika, Saravali, Jataka desh marg etc. it is mentioned that when Venus is aspected by Mars or Saturn AND placed in navamsa of Mars or Saturn, i.e. Venus placed in Aries, Scorpio, Aquarius or Capricorn in D9 then a man has serious relationhips with many women, possibly extra marital. Picasso had Venus aspected by Mars from 12th house while Venus being placed in Aries navamsa (D9). A weak or debilitated Venus creates imbalance in sexual expression.
Funnily, this Venus is placed in his 3rd house which shows sexuality of father being 7th house from 9th house of father. It played it's role in his father's not-so-healthy relationships and brothel visits. I did not jump to this conclusion about his father just by debilitated Venus's placement in 3rd house but also by the fact that his 9th lord Jupiter and Sun, both indicators of father are placed in Capricorn navamsa, which maps to 7th house of sexuality. Not surprisingly, his father took him also to brothels when he was in teens and we can see why.
This misdirected sexuality in 7th house energy explains his dozen mistresses (documented) and innumerable fly-by-night encounters. His first wife, one mistress and another mistress's son committed suicide because of this nature. He was also not fair in personal life as far as financial matters were concerned. He left his first wife in 1935 to live with his mistress who was pregnant but didn't divorce her to avoid paying a good part of his wealth. She committed suicide 20 years later which is when he married a girl in her 20's when he was in his 70's.
Just to make a passing reference to another fact of his life that Picasso was detained by French police when Mona Lisa, the famous painting was stolen from Louvre as he was named by someone from his art fraternity.
We can see how debilitated planets gave him unusual characteristic traits that could not be called positive. There have been suicides of so many individuals who were directly connected with him.
Taking up similar profession as father
We saw the strong influence of art not only on Picasso but also on 9th house of father.
If Picasso as well as his father were both professional artists, can we see in the chart that he earned from his father's profession?
Jupiter, as we saw is most important stakeholder of his money houses 2nd and 11th from all the three reference points ie ascendant, Sun and Moon. In all charts, 6th house shows profession of father because it's 10th from 9th house of father.
His Jupiter is lord of his 6th house from ascendant, which is house of father's profession. Jupiter is also lord of 6th house from Sun. His breadwinner conjunction in 5th house ie Mercury+Moon+Rahu is aspecting this Jupiter.
His Sun aspects his 10th house of profession. This Sun is lord of 10th house from the Moon sign too. Moon is lord of 10th house from Sun which is again part of that conjunction. There is a confluence of many indications in the chart showing a clear connection between his profession and that of his father's.
Long life
Picasso died in 1973 at the age of 92. His long life is indicated by retro strength of Saturn, lord of 8th house and Mercury, who is lord of 3rd house. Mercury is also lord of 8th house from Moon. Mercury is strong because it's involved in exchange yoga, well placed from ascendant and Moon and receives the aspect from Jupiter. His ascendant lord Moon is well placed and receives benefic aspect from Jupiter and Mercury despite being in sign of debilitation which indeed presented challenges right when he was born.
Fundamental raj yogas
Looking at the simplest signs of raj yogas in the chart ie combination of kendra (quadrant) and trikona (trine) lords, The mutual aspect between Moon and Jupiter is very auspicious as Moon is ascendant lord and Jupiter is 9th lord. More so, this yoga is part of that all powerful 5-11 axis that defined Picasso.
Another auspicious yoga is conjunction between Moon and Mercury as they are respectively lords of 10th and 9th houses from Sun sign and placed at 2nd from Sun, very auspicious for earnings. All the action is happening at the perfect houses for the artist.
Four debilitations revisited
Debilitation of Venus was covered up for artist faculties but not in matters related to women in his life whom he treated with least care/respect, Saturn's debilitation was manifested in misdirected personal desires and together with Sun's debilitation, his earlier professional struggles and peculiar father-son relationship whereas Moon's debilitation gave him emotional setbacks and grief at one time and later, deprived him of general kindness particularly towards women. When we look at the influence of male planets on the two debilitated female planets Moon and Venus, it looks obvious he could not be sensitive to the plight of women in his life.
Having looked at his life's major aspects I now wish to draw a clear distinction between a usual case of 4 debilitations and this chart of Picasso. Whenever we see a planet however weak or strong in chart, one very practical condition for it to deliver the results (good or bad) is the strength of it's dispositor. When a planet is debilitated or otherwise weak, it will still give good results if it's dispositor is strong. Conversely, if exalted planet's dispositor is say debilitated, the exalted planet will not deliver the goods.
Staying with exaltation/debilitation, let's say we have a planet (a natural benefic to keep things easy) that is in it's sign of exaltation BUT in 8th house. Let's call this scenario A. Let's now think of an opposite scenario i.e. if the planet is in it's sign of debilitation BUT in 5th house. Let's call this scenarion B. Now in principle, which among the two scenarions is better?
Jyotish text Jataka desh marga in chap 10 verse 37 gives a clear answer to this question that among the two scenarions A and B, B is always better. In other words, house placement plays bigger role in comparison to sign. Needless to say, it becomes even better when it receives aspect from a benefic planet. This applies to debilitated Venus, Moon and Mercury very well in Picasso's sidereal chart.
In conclusion, Picasso was lucky that out of 4 debilitated planets, there is no planet placed in signs owned by Sun, Saturn and Moon. Regarding Venus, it receives aspect from Jupiter as well as Mars, who is in exchange yoga with Mercury. So there were no "collateral damage" in this chart due to the debilitations which normally would be very unlikely. Sun in this chart is an exception which is anyway debilitated whose dispositor Venus is debilitated too. This makes Sun really weak planet. Jupiter however has retro strength, receives the aspect from Moon and Mercury and throws it's benefic aspect on it's dispositor Venus.
Author : Partho Banerjee
