Leonard Cohen was born with Virgo rising, which makes him a child of Hermes. In his chart, Mercury is in Libra. By Whole Signs it is in the 2nd house, but by Alcabitius it is still in the 1st, which is the joy of Mercruy, tied to wit, intellect, and reason. The 1st house in the body signifies the head and there is no better place for Mercury than to be allowed to operate inside our head.
In an Air sign like Libra, Mercury has the dignity of triplicity, together with the quick and outward quality of a cardinal masculine sign. This gives him a strong interest in ideas, communication, balance, justice, and proportion. Since Mercury also rules the Midheaven, with Gemini on the 10th, it connects the 1st house (which signifies the native himself) with the 10th house (which signifies his public role and vocation). The same Mercury joins who Leonard Cohen is with the role he came to play in the world. His career was tied to his presence in the world.
Mercury is also conjunct Jupiter in Libra, which gives his Mercurial nature a prophetic, priestly, and noble side, together with a gift for expressing ideas in a broad, generous, sometimes excessive way typical of Jupiter. This Jupiter also leans towards the 2nd house, the house of money and personal resources. Since Jupiter also rules Sagittarius on the IC and Pisces in the 7th, both family and partners are signified by this same Jupiter in the 2nd. It suggests that family, love relationships and partnerships in general brought him money and growth, and that these people had a Jovial and Libran flair about them. It matches the fact that Leonard Cohen came from an affluent family.
Nevertheless, by Whole Signs, the Moon falls in the 7th in Pisces, also being a key significator of his partners and of the psychic, receptive component of Leonard Cohen’s soul, strongly tied to his phlegmatic, oneiric, maternal and nurturing lovers. Nevertheless, they were disposed by Jupiter in Libra in the 2nd and were even tied by conjunction through antiscia, showing a profound yet hidden connection between his love/emotional life and his own resources. This is only intensified by the conjunction between the Part of Fortune and the Moon herself. Since the Moon falls to the 6th house by Alcabitius, we can say that some of his lovers came from his employees and friends (the Moon rules the 11th in Cancer).
In the chart of an artist, Venus is something to consider, and here she is interestingly in fall in Virgo, under the beams, placed in the 1st by Whole Signs and in the 12th by Alcabitius. By falling in the 1st, it also strongly shaped his artistic presence in the world, but in a very perfectionist, analytical, and detail-focused way. Venus is disposed by Mercury in mutual reception, the main significator of the native. In the end, more than a singer, Leonard Cohen became great through his poetry, writing, and literary world-building, and was even considered for the Nobel Prize in Literature. With Gemini in the 10th, it also shows the double-faced nature of his career in the world, both as a writer and a singer.
Even though he was a musician, the Mercurial side of writing, language, and logos rose above Venus, as the chart shows, since it is the planet more capable and apt to fulfill his primary motivation. And, since Mercury by quadrants is in the 1st, Leonard Cohen was born with a mind capable of achieving what he wanted. The 5th house, related to creative output, contains Saturn in Aquarius, very strong by domicile yet retrograde, adding more perfectionism and idealism concern on the top of an already very Air-dominated chart, with an applying trine between Saturn and Mercury, hence heasing any malediction coming from the former. It should also be said that Mercury is the almuten of the Ascendant (Almuten Ascendentis, having domicile and exaltation in Virgo), showing how powerfully he signified Leonard Cohen himself in the world.
Another striking detail, and perhaps the most obvious one at first, is the that the Sun is right on the Ascendant. This gave Leonard Cohen brilliance, fame, and strong visibility, as if he were born crowned by the main light of the sky. Since the Sun has no harmful aspects on the chart, this brilliance kept shining throughout his life. Still, because it opposes the Descendant, the Sun in this position overshadowed other people, especially partners, like a star whose light outshines everyone else.
It is also interesting that Mars, the malefic, is in Leo in the 11th house, the main house of friends and right next to the malefic South Node. By Whole Signs, Mars falls to the 12th, showing that his friends were also his hidden enemies, too. This suggests people who were proud, choleric, and always prone to conflict and sabotaging, although the sextile to Mercury softened this somewhat, which may be why this theme does not seem especially important in Cohen’s biography. Also, the fact that the almuten of the 12th house is the Sun himself, sitting on the Ascendant, clearly mitigate the negative impact of those signified my Mars.
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