There is magic and an epic quest and monsters. But that’s not what made the Lord of the Rings such an enduring classic. The astrology of the book is clear – the story has tapped into a seam in the collective subconscious.

But what can those of us who write and create learn from its success?

I’ve previously written about how writers can use astrology in their creative practice and how astrology can help us make sense of why we create.

In this series of posts I’m going to look at the astrological markers for why and how a book might become a best seller.

The Fellowship of the Ring, the first book in the trilogy, was published in 1954. The books have since become one of the most successful fantasy series ever. According to the Tolkien estate over 150 million copies of the trilogy have been sold worldwide (fewer than Harry Potter, but more than Twilight, Narnia and A song of Ice and Fire).

The books have been turned into a successful film trilogy and a series on Amazon. But they weren’t an instant hit and started to take off in the public imagination in the counter-cultural melting pot of the 1960s.

The author, J.R.R. Tolkien, was a tweed-clad professor of Anglo-Saxon at the University of Oxford and he had written about an idealised England, creating his own universe out of old myths.

So what can astrology tell us about what was going here?

This is the chart for the day when the book was published (I’ve chosen the start of the working day in London as the time). There is a stellium in Cancer in the 11th house – a story that speaks of home in a way which is nurturing to the collective. The chart ruler, the intellectual and inquisitive Mercury, is in this house too, conjunct Jupiter –the planet that can lift you up and bring fame, success and good luck.

There is also a square to Saturn in the second house, showing that success might take time or come late, but that there will be longevity to this project.

Pluto in the 12th allows the story to pick up themes around a submerged collective trauma – probably having something to do with home, the threat of losing ones home, country or way of life due to war or ideological differences (trine Mars in Sag in the 4th).

A longed for myth about England

The series took off in the US, but it’s a story that is rooted in Englishness. Tolkien was an expert on Anglo-Saxon who wanted to create his own founding myth for his beloved country. There is a general belief that he was working with his own trauma of living through two world wars. He served in WWI, fighting at the battle of the Somme where one of his childhood friends were killed.

Tolkien has always denied that the books were allegories of the wars, but there is clearly something in the books and the chart that speaks of defending ones home against foreign forces of darkness. And that home is the Shire, an idealised version a rural, pre-industrialised England.

A link between Lord of the Rings and Brexit?

So what happens to the chart if we look at the transits on the 23 of June 2016, when the collective psyche in England was gripped by a fantasy of this idealised long lost country and Britain voted to leave the EU? It’s fascinating.

The transiting North Node and Jupiter are almost exactly conjunct the natal Venus (and near the Ascendant). This myth, this dream of a perfect country (Venus in Virgo) is heightened and enlarged by Jupiter. Transiting Saturn is on the IC – almost a sense of a need to force home (the IC) to become something from the past (Saturn).

Pluto is on the natal North Node, a sense of destiny – as if this is the destiny of its people. Neptune is on the Descendant, so there is confusion around everyone else and everyone who isn’t “us” is seen through a foggy lens. It’s fascinating that this truly English fantasy was being activated at that point in time.

Which made me wonder if there are any astrological links between the book and the politicians involved in Brexit.

The prime minister who seems the most connected to this traditionalist and nostalgic view of a long lost England is the vicar’s daughter Theresa May who talked so fondly about running through fields of wheat (the naughtiest thing she’s ever done) and who talked disparagingly about “people of nowhere”, people who didn’t belong.

Interestingly there are connections between her chart and the Lord of the Rings chart. When she was born there was a Moon/Venus conjunction on the book’s 12th house Pluto in Leo, trining its Mars in Sagittarius in the 4th and sextiling the Neptune in Libra in the second.

That seems to be the pattern then, the compelling story that connects to a collective and subconscious urge to defend a home against a foreign invader, to save its beauty and its safe, peaceful way of life.

And would you believe it, Jupiter is on the book’s natal Venus again. The people’s dream of a perfect country.

What about the new King then? The one who talks to plants and goes to Romania once a year to live among wild flowers and cheese makers? The king who is passionate about a long lost rural civilisation and longs for a by-gone time. Are there any links to his chart?

Not really. Which is interesting too. His natal Moon is opposite the book’s Saturn, that’s about it. So he symbolises and stands for a different fantasy of England. In the Lord of the Rings there is no king in the Shire.

A deeper story about a long lost England

When looking at the success of Lord of the Rings from an astrological perspective it seems clear that the story became popular by speaking to a yearning in the collective subconscious.

Perhaps the story is linked to something uniquely English, perhaps it picked up a thread, a pattern that is part of this country and its story. But what is that story?

There are a few different birth charts for the United Kingdom. The one I feel inclined to use here is the 1066 chart, when William the conquerer was crowned King of England. It was the first coronation in Westminster Abbey (which has of course burned down and been rebuilt several times since). The coronation was the result of a conquest and England hasn’t been successfully invaded since.

There are again some interesting links between the charts.

The 1066 chart’s Saturn and North Node are on top of the book’s Venus. Uranus is separating from a conjunction with the book’s Mars (connecting to the same pattern as the previous charts). And that’s perhaps what conquest looks like. That mythical and archetypal idea of England that is woven through the trilogy was squashed and challenged in 1066.

The chart for the union of Great Britain and Ireland in 1801 (the chart that represents the launch of empire) has core wound Chiron close to the IC, the point of home and ancestry. But – Jupiter is conjunct the Sun and Moon, the ideal is wounded but the home is also enlarged and magnified.

An author able to tackle a profound and ambitious story

But part of the story of book’s success is of course also found in the chart of its author. So why Tolkien? How was this professor able to tap into this larger myth that spoke to so many people.

Well firstly Tolkien’s ambitious Sun in Capricorn in the 5th house of creativity is conjunct the book’s North Node – so the books are part of his destiny.

He has a beautiful grand trine in the air signs (the mind and intellect) between Saturn in the first house, Venus in the 6th house of work and Pluto/Neptune in the 9th house of publishing and higher learning. This is someone with an active mind and imagination who can tap into something profound.

Mercury, the planet of communication and how we think, has just entered ambitious and hard-working Capricorn. Retrograde, so slightly off-beat and eccentric. It’s in the fourth house of home – and he re-created a myth of his homeland.

Mercury is also supported by Moon conjunct the Descendant, so he is able to feel into the other, perhaps picking up the underlying need of the time. It’s also supported by Uranus, the genius and the maverick, in the second house of wealth. A potential sign of sudden windfalls and financial success, especially as it’s trining Jupiter.

When the book was published there was a Jupiter/Mercury conjunction opposite his Sun and the transiting North Node. A good sign. But Saturn was on Tolkien’s natal Uranus in his second house. Success would have to wait until the early 60s when Pluto crossed his Ascendant, a transit that changes how we’re seen.

Jupiter was back opposing Tolkien’s natal Sun when the first Lord of the Rings film came out in December 2001. But what’s really interesting is that Saturn is almost conjunct his career point the Midheaven and Pluto is on the other side of the chart conjunct his point of home, the IC. Saturn brings longevity to his career, but Pluto the planet of deep transformation sits on the point of home – the films changed the story.

Finally the book’s destiny point, its North Node, is in Capricorn in the 5th house. There are a couple of way to interpret that. Either this archetypal story of England (as seen through the book) has something to do with building a better future for the children of the country. Or the intention of the author was to write an ambitious story that was supposed to be a fun, exciting and escapist ride. Or perhaps it’s both.

Images via Unsplash: Oliver Spicer, Birmingham Museums Trust, Samuel Regan-Asante.