Leo Tolstoy was born into a wealthy family, landowners integrated within the Russian nobility. This at first appears to conflict with Saturn as the significator of the 2nd House, especially because it is in poor essential condition, being in detriment in Leo. Saturn is cold, dry, melancholic and deadly. Leo is hot, dry, solar, vital and life-affirming. Leo does not favour its essence, making it more choleric and destructive, so it specifically targets the 2nd House with malice.
The cusp of the 2nd House is Cancer, just as the cusp of the 1st House is. The Moon is simultaneously the significator of the native, by ruling the rising sign, and of his subsistence, by ruling the 2nd House. The Moon is in the 4th House, in Virgo, angular, in the house of family, father and immovable property. This shows that Tolstoy’s life and nourishment are directly fed by the familial context and inherited patrimony.
The Moon is conjunct the Sun and a strong, albeit combust Mercury, all three in the 4th House. These three planets become significators of the family and patrimony. The Sun rules the cusp of the 4th House itself and is present in that house, which clearly indicates a family of status, authority and nobility. The chart confirms a solid, structured and economically supported familial base.
According to medieval astrology, a planet placed in a house has greater weight over its affairs than the ruler of that house’s cusp, unless the ruler is in the same house or in the same sign, which is not the case here. So, Saturn, despite not ruling the cusp of the 2nd House, becomes the principal operator of that house’s affairs by virtue of being placed there and being closer to the cusp than Venus. Being in detriment in Leo, it does not preserve wealth, does not stabilise resources, and does not promote accumulation. Its acts as an egoic, abrasive force of contraction, loss, wear, and conflict with the very idea of possession.
In the Alcabitius system, Saturn rules the cusps of the 7th, 8th, 9th and 10th Houses. This means that processes of dispersion, blockage or loss of wealth manifest through the topics of those houses: partners and marriage (7th), mourning, fears, crises and inheritances (8th), religion, philosophy and long journeys (9th), and career, social status and public destiny (10th).
The relationship with his wife Sofya Andreyevna Tolstaya was marked by conflicts around money, copyrights, inheritance, and the administration of his work. She fought to preserve the family estate and income, whilst he wanted to renounce everything. The 7th house is activated. The 8th house as well, because questions of inheritance, death, and legacy became a battleground. The 9th house is involved because his spiritual, religious, and philosophical stance is directly tied to the rejection of wealth. The 10th house is involved because his public status itself becomes a paradox. A count who denounces aristocracy, a famous writer who preaches moral anonymity.
Mars is in Capricorn in the 7th House, exalted and angular, extremely strong. Mars is the significator of his marriages and partnerships. Capricorn is a sign of work, effort, discipline and endurance. This Mars describes martial wives, hardworking, resilient and oriented towards duty and structure. Sofya Andreyevna Tolstaya was a tireless worker, copyist of his manuscripts, administrator, household manager, disciplined and pragmatic, and often placed in the position of “holding the house together” while he was becoming spiritually radicalised.
Just with this basic medieval delineation we can see how difficult money was for Tolstoy to deal with, plus the conflicts this flared up with his wife.
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