Legends - Joan of Arc
National Saint ~ Universal Heroine

"Consider this unique and imposing distinction. Since the writing of human history began, Joan of Arc is the only person, of either sex, who has ever held supreme command of the military forces of a nation at the age of seventeen." -Louis Kossuth


Men and women will go to war for different reasons. Women will fight for home and family, and so are the best generals within the defense strategy pattern of thought. Men will take on an aggressive conflict for abstract-invisible ideas and principles, such as truth, justice, and the American way. Using this line of thought, most think it peculiar to discover a barren landscape in the department of defense when we look for feminine generals. There is a shining exception to that enigma on the stage of world history: The Maid of Orleans, known in exoteric terms as Saint Joan of Arc. While a teenager, she led the entire military might of France into battle carrying the standard of France. Many of her victories were clean and bloodless; since she so frequently outmaneuvered the English generals they could only read the situation as suicidal to engage her in any physical confrontation.

Saint Joan of Arc was not officially recognized as a saint by the Catholic Church until 1920. Military, political and religious misinformation about her took quite some time to straighten out. The backdrop of Joan’s life was superficially the long standing conflict between France and England known as the 100 Years War. But there’s more; as Paul Harvey would say, and now, here’s the rest of the story… There was also a battle raging for control of The Keys To The Kingdom, that is, the best location for the center of Christianity was then debated by Rome and those supporting the Vatican in France. Beyond political intrigue generated from camps invested in the policies of King Henry V of England and Charles VI of France (Treaty of Troyes), were two additional battlefields. These theaters were owned by the armored military and those who wore the ruby ring. When both kings passed on to other dimensions, the political intrigue went underground, and later, once Charles VII was crowned, these shadowy figures proved a major block to Saint Joan’s effectiveness.

She was still a mystery to most even in Shakespeare’s day, although by then people had a more enlightened view of her gifts and her mission generally. Modern students of psychology find her challenging, especially agnositcs, and frequently can find no other explanation for her extraordinary capability than the assumption that she must have been a schizo. Naturally then we would expect to find among our greatest generals the bulk of our most important contributing schizophrenics. For the student of metaphysics this incarnation is not so easily dismissed or labeled. Clearly Joan of Arc was in a class by herself ~~ not because she should be or had to be, but because of the times in which we live.

Many celebrated actresses have played the role of Saint Joan of Arc on stage and screen. Sarah Bernhardt (numerous occasions), Ingrid Bergman, and Jean Seberg successfully conveyed the power of the Maid, as she was known among her contemporaries, although their scripts may have been cosmetically altered to appeal to a patriarchal society. In order to picture the radiant beauty of Saint Joan of Arc, one has only to observe the timeless countenance of Loretta Young, who has in her nativity the precise position of Saturn in Taurus as the Maid. Her command of herself and as a military genius is today, conceded without question. Saint Joan was born very early AM, with her Sun in Capricorn trining Saturn, Moon and Mars. Evageline Adams offers this observation via her remarks on the planet Saturn in the earth sign of Taurus, The Bull:

"The nativities of great conquerors… Examples include the military genius of U. S. Grant that turned the fortunes of the Civil War in the United States and Alexander the Great with an ideal disposition (Saturn sextile Sun and trine to Moon and Mars). Only the most concentrated patience and steadiness of push could have carried him (Alexander) through into India; an expedition, by the way, which would appear hopeless for a modern army of any size, with all the advantages of railways… an example of Saturn in Taurus at his best. Nor must we forget the extraordinary case of Jeanne d’Arc, with her Saturn trined by Venus and Mars. Here we see a simple, ignorant peasant girl, in days when even a born queen was seldom more than a puppet, with the moral strength to shoulder the burdens of a great kingdom in the very hour of its collapse, and drive out the invader. And in her trial, how patiently and courteously she withstood the infamous Bishop of Meaux, battling long months with no armor but her virtue against every engine that the law of those tyrannous times could set in motion. This is a finer Saturn than even that of Alexander." {Other famous individuals with Saturn in Taurus: Douglas Fairbanks, Sr., Benjamin Franklin, Judy Garland (JFK inspired by her), Stonewall Jackson, Merle Oberon, Ginger Rogers, FDR, and Rosalind Russell.)

Evageline Adams has constructed the map for The Maid of Orleans, born in Domremy, France, with her Sun in Capricorn in conjunction with Venus. Through backtracking heavenly placements by way of standard mathematical formulae, we discover a powerful aspect exists that was clearly a gift for hyper-sensitive audio and visual faculty. The inner ear and inner eye were naturally open, without effort or ritual so she was often predisposed to "aura visions", and what is known today as clairaudience. Evangeline Adams did not calculate the TransNeptunian planet Poseidon, located between her Sun and Venus in the Sign of The Sea-Goat Capricorn because Poseidon was only recently discovered.

Remember, throughout Joan’s brief life in the early 1400s, Europe’s mainstream collective consciousness lacked intellectual appreciation for TransNeptunian influences. Even with volumes in print out now by the noted prophet Edgar Cayce (natural seer who viewed the human aura), studies by Rhine University, and documented research into ultra sensitive instruments capable of pick up/recording subtle frequencies, the neophyte remains unconvinced. Today our collective consciousness settles with Quantum Physics, barely absorbing the significance of subtle energies as the raw materials required for shaping the New Era, The Age of Philosophy. Some exceptions existed naturally, within the chivalric orders of her time; yet in general the higher octave sensorium evolutionary process was unknown to peasants of Joan’s day. It is known by her many titles, including, ‘The Holy Maid of Vancouleurs’, Joan of Arc was not like other girls.

Additionally, Mark Twain reveals his personal dedication to the Maid in his Translator’s Preface to, ‘PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS OF JOAN OF ARC’: "…When we reflect that her century was the brutalest, the wickedest, the rottenest in history since the darkest ages, we are lost in wonder at the miracle of such a product from such a soil The contrast between her and her century is the contrast between day and night. She was truthful when lying was the common speech of men; she was honest when honesty was become a lost virtue; she was a keeper of promises when the keeping of a promise was expected of no one; she gave her great mind to great thoughts and great purposes when other great minds wasted themselves upon pretty fancies or upon poor ambitions; she was modest, and fine, and delicate when to be loud and coarse might be said to be universal; she was full of pity when a merciless cruelty was the rule; she was steadfast when stability was unknown, and honorable in an age which had forgotten what honor was; she was a rock of convictions in a time when men believed in nothing and scoffed at all things; she was unfailingly true in an age that was false to the core; she maintained her personal dignity unimpaired in an age of fawnings and servilities; she was of a dauntless courage when hope and courage had perished in the hearts of her nation; she was spotlessly pure in mind and body when society in the highest places was foul in both ~~ she was all these things in an age when crime was the common business of lords and princes, and when the highest personages in Christendom were able to astonish even that infamous era and make it stand aghast at the spectacle of their atrocious lives black with unimaginable treacheries, butcheries, and beastialities. She was perhaps the only entirely unselfish person whose name has a place in profane history."

Among the ardent supporters who have rallied to the Maid’s defense, Twain and Bernhardt stand out as compelling because their maps are so similar to the nativity of Saint Joan, revealing an intimate knowledge of chemistry resulting from integrity and the highest standards for truth. Sarah Bernhardt proved the feminine position may endure as long as Twain’s written word, perhaps longer, through infusion of perceptive cognition into the mainstream of humanity from the stage.

It is also important to note another gift indicated within this captivating nativity, so that full acknowledgment of her unique contribution may be recognized by the masses. What was the resonance about Saint Joan that was felt by Twain and Bernhardt?

For one thing, both understood the Maid’s immense capacity for self sacrifice as highlighted by Neptune and Pluto in the sign of the Moon, Cancer (sign of clan and nation). In Twain’s own nativity, his Jupiter in Cancer is found over the Maid’s Neptune in Cancer, and at the time of her 5/30/1431 "trial" and execution in Rouen’s marketplace, Neptune in her chart was joined with her progressed Moon and Pluto. The resulting combination formed a stellium in Cancer within eight degrees of perfect, spelling out the ugly plot required to instigate the public murder of a saint and execution of a national heroine. The normal course of action after the Maid’s capture should have been to offer ransom, and by the laws of war she could not be denied the privilege of ransom. She was accused and convicted of communicating with a non-existent entity (created by a slip of the pen; Baphomet is a fictitious name resulting from a transcription error, but used against Saint Joan at her trial in an effort to prove the superior intellect of the Burgundian bishops, and to blot out the power of the one name in France they truly feared.) Twain’s Jupiter exalted in the Moon’s sign is firm in defense against such an injustice as was done to Saint Joan. Perhaps just as troubling to Twain’s conscience and character was how easily he might visualize himself in her situation, having the same capacity to move outside his own karma and speak to the character building karma of a nation.

Bernhardt, on the other hand, had her Jupiter and Moon conjunct in Libra, exactly the same as the Maid. The practical idealism, kindness, and humanitarian traits typical of this Jupiter to Moon conjunction in the sign of The Balance, Libra, were shared in abundance by both women. Bernhardt deeply empathized with the civilized quality she felt in her part as The Maid of Orleans and returned to it often.

Having discussed Saint Joan’s moral fiber, consider next her skillful leadership on the field of battle symbolically portrayed by her Mars in Virgo conjunct two TransNeptunian planets, Vulcanus and Cupid trine to her Sun in Capricorn. From the translation by Twain, history has recorded her words through those of her faithful page and secretary, "…there is that in her heart that raises her above men ~~ high above all men that breathe in France today ~~ for in her is that mysterious something that puts heart into soldiers, and turns mobs of cowards into armies of fighters that forget what fear is when they are in that presence ~~ fighters who go into battle with joy in their eyes and songs on their lips, and sweep over the field like a storm ~~ that is the spirit that can save France, and that alone, come it whence it may! It is in her I truly do believe, for what else could have borne up that child on that great march, and made her despise its dangers and fatigues? The King must see her face to face ~~ and shall!"

The important thing about this aspect within the nativity is its clear directive for her to either take command of those forces that could control her, or submit and be controlled by those very same forces. It is clear that the destiny of France and the destiny of The Maid of Orleans were, for a short stretch of road, one and the same destiny. Her Mars in Virgo is summed up in the story about her acquisition of The Dwarf, who always rode ahead of the Maid, to clear a pathway for her. They met while he was en route to his execution (Vestal Virgins in Rome also had the power to pardon condemned prisoners). Saint Joan cut his bindings and this exchange ensued:

"… You shall live ~~ and you shall serve France ~~"
"I will serve you!"
" ~~ You shall fight for France ~~"
"I will fight for you!"
"You shall be France’s soldier ~~"
"I will be your soldier!"
" ~~ You shall give all your heart to France ~~"
"I will give all my heart to you ~~ and all my soul, if I have one ~~ and all my strength, which is great ~~ for I was dead and am alive again; I had nothing to live for, but now I have! You are France for me. You are my France, and I will have no other."

MYSTICAL EVENTS IN HER LIFE
In the province of France where Saint Joan was born the children played in a magical meadow with a beech tree and cool spring, frequently hanging garlands of wild flowers from the branches of the Tree for the fairies. That was where Saint Joan first experienced the ‘manifestation’ or ‘voices’. In today’s terminology we would probably discover various ley lines and other natural forces in the physical plane but in those days it was known as a fairy haunt. The location is off the road to Vancouleurs, near the village of Domremy. Celebrations in Saint Joan’s name take place now in the second week-end in May. By different accounts her first clairaudient experience happened there when she was either age twelve (during her spiritual rebirth as Jupiter returned to his home position in her map) or age thirteen and a half (age when the astral vehicle becomes accessible during the waking conscious state).

Her progressed map for the Summer Solstice during Saint Joan’s thirteenth year in 1425 provides some clue as to the intensity of those early experiences. Her progressed Sun, Venus, Uranus, and The Asteroids Pallas Athena and Juno were joined in an Aquarian stellium opening up not only her astral vehicles, sensorium, and higher soul power, but her potential as a transmedium as well. This exceptionally brilliant flash of clarity echoes the visions many saints describe when they watch the heavens open and golden powers of The Absolute unfold dramatically as though an olio before their naked eyes. Even so, this was kept silently within her heart (Capricorns will do this).

Although Saint Joan was outwardly a poor peasant girl, unable to read or write, she knew enough to know when to keep things to herself (frequently attributed to Jupiter in Libra, the gift of ‘common sense’ or ‘good horse sense’.) As Sieur Louis De Conte explains, these were times riddled by unusual events, "… and when the split came, when I was fourteen, and we had three Popes at once (in the West), nobody in Domremy was worried about how to choose among them ~~ the Pope of Rome was the right one, a Pope outside of Rome was no Pope at all. Every human creature in the village was an Armagnac ~~ a patriot ~~ and if we children hotly hated nothing else in the world, we did certainly hate the English and Burgundian name and polity in that way."

The Fairy site on the road to Vancouleurs had been revered for five hundred years - some say a thousand – with the Tree for hanging garlands in summertime. The priest performed a rite there a hundred years prior to Saint Joan’s birth warning all fairies to stay away. But all the children pleaded for the fairies and promised among themselves to continue to hang flower-wreaths from the Tree’s branches as a sign to fairies they were still loved and remembered. This innocent act of loyalty on the part of the Domremy children would later add to the Maid’s misfortune after her capture and sale to the English.

Louis De Conte also remarks about the national prophecies, "… a prophecy of Merlin’s more than eight hundred years old, was called to mind, which said that in a far future time France would be lost by a woman and restored by a woman. France was now, for the first time, lost ~~ and by a woman, Isabel of Bavaria, her base Queen; doubtless this fair and pure young girl was commissioned of Heaven to complete the prophecy."

Saint Joan’s own gift of prophecy marked in every sentence she spoke it seems, may not be narrowed down to one or another planetary aspect within her map. Her astrological placements display the most straightforward blueprint for the mystical search for truth I have ever seen. It is known that historians, theologians, and scholarly pilgrims have prayed for guidance from St. Catherine of Alexandria who, with St. Margaret and St. Michael, had been Joan's divinely appointed adviser. Her Sagittarian Mercury and Ceres, exactly conjunct at twenty-nine degrees, portray genuineness of spirit and lack of reflection characteristic of the simple and honest person with whom we would all wish to share friendship. Saint Joan’s right brain wisdom symbolized by Mercury/Ceres united in Sagittarius, suggests the mythological initiation trials suffered by Psyche, in the classical sense.

Excellent source about saints: http://www.unf.edu/classes/saints/saintsinmovies.htm See below
 Related texts about Joan of Arc - including Mark Twain volumes



 DITIÉ DE JEHANNE D'ARC,  31 July 1429                                                               
Tour of Vaucouleurs Museum            

Email questions asked about the corrected time of birth for Saint Joan are a regular subject of inquiry, so let me add a note for those composing papers about The Maid, her life, and her tragic trial and execution. Several credible opinions as to the technical time of birth are well known in astrology manuals. There is little debate about the power of her Mars, because the tendency of the red planet is to revert, and Joan's Mars never did. Note that in most cases, the influence of Mars is deposited at the Midheaven, regardless of math or rectification method. The following from Lois Rodden is posted for the purpose of identifying progressed placements at the time of highlighted life moments. She is a brilliant astrologer and her comments are well worth consideration, as are those of Evangeline Adams and others.

"For Joan of Arc's recorded birth time, Edwin Steinbrecher obtained the birth records from the Mahor of Domremy la Pucelle, for 6 January 1412. This type of reference is properly given as 1412/13, meaning that the year of 1413 began at Easter. By modern calculations, 1413 begins at January 1st, so we convert this date to 6 January 1413 Old Style which further converts from the Julian (Old Style) calendar to the Gregorian (New Style) calendar, giving us 15 January 1413 N.S. The Mayor added a note: "It is said that she was born at the hour when the roosters sang, that is, daybreak." This hearsay report would give her a birth time of approximately 7:50 AM LMT."   -Lois M. Rodden, Joan of Arc, the Maid of La Pucelle
 

The Life of The Maid -- Joan of Arc  

Joan of Arc, 1895, Georges Méliès, BW, Silent.

Jeanne d'Arc, 1899, Alfred Clark, BW, Silent.

Joan the Woman, 1916, Cecil B. Demille, BW, Silent, 100 mins.
With opera singer Geraldine Farrar as Joan.

The Passion of Joan of Arc, 1928, Carl Theodor Dreyer, BW, Silent, 114 mins
Dreyer's silent masterpiece, based directly on trial transcripts, is by far the best Joan of Arc movie. Bresson's later version is also quite good. In English, the best is probably the one with Ingrid Bergman as Joan. Dreyer's film is considered by a number of critics to be the single greatest silent movie. New York Times

Joan of Arc, 1948, Victor Flemming, 145 (100 in cut version)
Ingrid Bergman stars.

Giovanna d'Arco al rogo [aka  Joan of Arc at the Stake], 1954, Robert Rosselini, in Italian, 80 mins.
Ingrid Bergman's second go at the role -- this time in Rossellini's  film of Arthur Honegger's oratorio "Joan of Arc at the Stake."

St. Joan, 1957, Otto Preminger, BW, 110 mins.
Graham Greene's screenplay was an adaptation of George Bernard Shaw's play.

Procès de Jeanne d'Arc [aka Trial of Joan of Arc], 1962, Robert Bresson, in French, BW.
Bresson based his film, like Dreyer, entirely on the trial documents.

St. Joan (TV), 1967
TV version with Geneviève Bujold and Roddy McDowall.

Jeanne la Pucelle 1. Les batailles, 1994, Jacques Rivette, in French, 160 mins.
Jeanne la Pucelle 2. Les prisons, 1994, Jacques Rivette, in French, 176 mins.
The New Yorker (November 15th 1999) called this the most historically accurate version of Joan's story. [The US version issued with subtitles by Facet's Video both seem to be cut: Part I to 112 mins, Part II to 116 mins.]
See also Salon article:
http://www.salon.com/ent/movies/review/1999/11/12/messenger/print.html

Joan of Arc (TV Mini), 1999, Christain Duguay.

The Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc, 1999, Luc Besson, 160 mins
[See AHA Perspectives article]
[See Robert Maxwell, Review] BACK to Featured Stars

Joan of Arc: The Virgin Warrior, 2000, Robert Maxwell.                      Please sign our Guestbook!
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