A great man died on July 1. If you’ve heard of him, you may have seen the YouTube video that went viral last year when Sir Nicholas Winton found himself surrounded by the now-adult children he saved between December 1938 and March 1939, and those children made him a father, a grandfather and a great-grandfather some 6000 times over.
Nicholas Winton is Dead at 106; Saved Children from the Holocaust
The late Bob Simon of CBS-TV interviewed Sir Nicholas, as he came to be known, last year on “60 Minutes,” and the 15-minute story follows:
Sir Nicholas Winton “Saving the Children”
Although we don’t know his time of birth, we can still glean quite a bit from the chart of this Taurus Sun who worked as a stockbroker in London at the time.
The chart reveals a New Moon, but by the time I show you a second chart for comparison, I think you’ll agree it’s more likely Sir Nicholas was born to German Jewish parents–converts to Christianity–several hours before the New Moon.
Sir Nicholas’ natal Mercury sat in conjunction to Pluto, both of which made a lovely trine to natal Mars while Mercury simultaneously made a 47-minute partile quincunx to natal Uranus. Mercury plays a significant role in this chart, especially because of this quincunx.
In Lynda Hill‘s 360 Degrees of Wisdom: The Sabian Oracle (©2004 Lynda Hill), Sir Nicholas’ Mercury is beautifully described at Gemini 21 where she adds a brilliant and equally accurate quote by Frederick Douglass as well. (Thanks again, Lynda, for your generous permission to allow me to share these as I need to.):
“We are one, our cause is one, and we must help each other if we are to succeed.” Frederick Douglass
“GEMINI 21
“A TUMULTUOUS LABOR DEMONSTRATION
“Commentary: ‘A Tumultuous Labor Demonstration’ is shown. It seems there are many people who are unhappy and who feel that they are not getting their fair share. ‘Labor Demonstrations’ can cause work to come to a standstill as people make their point. There is an injustice that needs righting and a spontaneous group reaction may be what is needed to wake up those in charge. Sometimes there’s a need to lift one’s voice or make a huge fuss otherwise nothing will be done; things are not likely to change by themselves. Sometimes it is only by rallying many people together in a common cause that you can be heard, or be taken seriously. Indeed, grinding things to a halt may be the appropriate thing to do at this time.
“Oracle: This Symbol is suggesting that there are probably others who are involved or sympathetic to your situation. However, if there is a feeling of being alone and powerless, it is important to find out what level of support you actually have. Responses to this situation can cause emotions, and therefore actions, to get out of control. On the other hand, if you are the one trying to take advantage of someone else because you think they haven’t got the power to defy you, you may be unleashing a reaction that will involve many other people. Whatever the situation, never underestimate the power of the collective, whether the people be blue collar or corporate. Indeed, the level of one’s status plays a somewhat diminished role when it comes to the power and might of the majority. It is important to speak up for your rights and when the issues are important there is good reason to seek out support. You will be surprised how much support for the cause is out there. Stand up for what you want and see what happens.
“Keywords: Pushing for change to the status quo. Feeling hard done by or taken advantage of. Seeking a better share of the profits. Protest about having too much to do. Standing up for yourself. Issues being trivialized. Overreaction. Melodramatic approaches to serious issues. Voting for change. Periodic blowing up. The rights of democracy. People in the street. Peace rallies.
“The Caution: Using the group to accomplish a personal agenda. Asking for more than one’s share, or not being able to ask for one’s share. Protests that can lead to riots. Resisting change. Feeling that one’s vote or voice doesn’t count. Emotions that get completely out of hand. Refusing to cooperate or to be productive. Brutality and violence.'”
We often look at the quincunx as a negative stress point and perceive the need to adjust, as Marion D. March and Joan McEvers suggested, as always being against our interests or safety. But Sir Nicholas’ quincunx offers an invaluable lesson for us to understand the potential opportunities for growth present in quincunxes or even in yods. Sir Nicholas didn’t have a yod so don’t go hunting for one. I’m including a comment about the yod, however, because it’s formed from two quincunxes and a sextile at the widest end of the two. Similar stresses can often occur with yods, and taking the easy way out through the sextile can create the same situations demanding adjustment again and again. The sextile in this case prevents the opportunity for growth despite the obviously easier route. With a yod, by tackling both quincunxes simultaneously and avoiding the sextile, the growth can take place,
Sir Nicholas utilized his quincunx to motivate and propel him forward in achieving goals he might never have dreamed possible. When CBS TV’s Bob Simon, “60 Minutes,” asked him why he “did it,” why he canceled a holiday skiing trip in Switzerland and headed instead to Prague, Sir Nicholas answered, “I work on the motto that if something’s not impossible, there must be a way of doing it.”
The need to adjust, as I’ve noted above, doesn’t need to be viewed with fearful eyes causing resistance. The Sabian Symbol for Capricorn 21 pinpoints to the means through which Sir Nicholas used the quincunx to make the impossible possible. Although he possibly had intentions of bringing as many as 5000 children out of Czechoslovakia before World War II had begun, he saved 669 children.
“CAPRICORN 21
“A RELAY RACE
“Commentary: ‘A Relay Race’ is an image of people working together as a team. They are endeavoring to finish a ‘Race’ and to win a victory, often for some higher cause other than their own personal glory. This can be for their school, nation or ideals. As this is a ‘Relay Race’, they take turns running and pass the baton to another when the moment is right.
“Oracle: You may sense that the end is in sight and the victory achievable, but you’ll probably realize that you are only one member of a team, with your own special task to perform. A level of trust is required when you work with a team. It is vital that everyone gives their best and doesn’t hold back. If someone endeavors to run the whole race by themself, even if they think it’s the right thing to do, it can be seen as a form of selfishness where everything is put at risk because of the inability to share or act cooperatively. The aim of each should be for the team to reach the finish line, or the goal, regardless of individual performances. In fact, it may almost be impossible to complete the course on your own. For the best results, people should work together in this situation, each taking their turn and their due rewards. Criticism should be kept to a minimum. As long as each member of the team has tried his or her best it is unwise to compare. You may not be the one who actually crosses the “finish line”, but you will, eventually, share in the glory of the group effort. However, if you don’t know where the “finish line” is, it can lead to confusion as you just keep running (or going for it), with no end in sight. The interconnectedness of people in a shared endeavor leads to the task being achieved. Just be watchful for when you should both take on and pass the responsibility.
“Keywords: Shared endeavor. Knowing when to hand on responsibilities. Teamwork. Knowing when to finish. Encouragement and trust. Sharing and cooperation. Inheritances. Timing. Being competitive. Taking turns. Handing on responsibilities. Split second timing. Hand eye coordination. Having an on/off switch.
“The Caution: Not letting go of control to another . Feeling defeated through feeling that you don’t have the necessary resources to win. Criticism and competitiveness. Acting only for one’s best interests. Competitiveness in inter-reactions and conversation. Butting in when others are talking. Expecting others to do all the work or carry responsibilities. Not sharing the glory or the rewards.”
Now most of us remember studying something in school about the Holocaust and the mass murders of Russians, Italians, Poles, Jews, Romas, homosexuals, mentally challenged, and highly educated professionals from specific racial and ethnic groups. The period in which Sir Nicholas had begun to save the children followed on the heels of Kristallnacht, the Night of Broken Glass. The Nazis followed him and knew what he was doing as he bribed and cajoled, forging papers wherever necessary to get the children out of the country and over to England. The children were brought out in March 1939. Tragically, one trainload of about 250 more children had left the station bound for the next destination just minutes before the announcement that the war had begun. All indications point to their having been slaughtered.
“The whole problem of the Jews exists only in nation states, for here their energy and higher intelligence, their accumulated capital of spirit and will, gathered from generation to generation through a long schooling in suffering, must become so preponderant as to arouse mass envy and hatred. In almost all contemporary nations, therefore – in direct proportion to the degree to which they act up nationalistially – the literal obscenity of leading the Jews to slaughter as scapegoats for every conceivable public and internal misfortune is spreading.” Friedrich Nietzsche, 1886 (Nietzsche der philosoph un Politiker, 8, 63, et passim. Ed. Alfred Baeumler, Reclam 1931)
I decided to look at Kristallnacht as a transiting chart against his natal, using 11:59 pm, November 9, 1938, since the onslaught didn’t stop until the wee hours of the next morning.
This view seems to offer a bit more insight in addition to my suspecting he was born closer to midnight on May 19 rather than 12 hours later, at noon. At midnight, his Moon would have been at 19 Taurus 44, forming an approaching conjunction from both transiting Uranus and the the South Node at the time Kristallnacht was taking place. Transiting Uranus again points to the quincunx and its critical importance in this story of Sir Nicholas who had grown up in posh surroundings in a 20-room mansion, being known for his work in the world of British finance as well as his being a champion fencer.
Perhaps the point at which his thoughts began to come together about the possibility of saving the children were almost immediately following the headlines in England just hours after the final damage of Kristallnacht had been done. By 7 am, the transiting Moon on November 10, 1938, would have been forming a transiting conjunction to his natal quincunx.
Now I realize this is speculation, but so are untimed charts. Nevertheless, we cannot rule out the likelihood of these factors being that evident.
Transiting Venus and Mercury in the Kristallnacht chart sit at the 3 Sagittarius 43 midpoint opposition to Sir Nicholas’ natal Venus while transiting Jupiter was making an approaching conjunction to his natal Mars. But we also can’t forget that this was the period in which he was having his first Saturn Return. Saturn had moved to retrograde motion on July 30/31, 1938 at 18 Aries 02 and made the direct motion perfected conjunction to natal Saturn on March 23/24, 1939, just nine or ten days after the children had been transported to England.
The Lunar Eclipse of November 7, 1938, fell at 14 Taurus 51, well within the conjunction to what I believe was his natal Moon. The transiting Sun and Uranus were still opposed on Kristallnacht, triggering both the Lunar Eclipse–and the likely conjunction to Sir Nicholas’ Moon.
In the years that followed, Sir Nicholas seemed to have kept his actions of that period quiet. Not even his wife knew until 50 years later when she accidentally discovered his “stash” in the attic in 1988. Imagine maintaining a silence about your efforts to raise funds, to find foster homes and even to arrange transportation–not to mention the bribes and so on that I noted above–for all that time! The children’s escape accomplished, it would seem he felt that was what was needed. Nevertheless, he was a hero of the Holocaust, but apparently a reluctant one at that.
“I didn’t really keep it secret,” said Sir Nicholas. ‘I just didn’t talk about it.”
BBC HARDtalk with Sir Nicholas Winton
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b_mG3JkJ8_8
Well, others did–thankfully! He was knighted in 2003 amidst countless accolades, and those he saved can move the hardest
of us to tears.
Child Survivor Dave Lux describes meeting Sir Nicholas Winton
NICKY’S FAMILY – THE STORY OF THE BRITISH SCHINDLER
Every time I have thought about Sir Nicholas Winton and the story his bravery and courageous actions created, I too am brought to tears from the awe welling inside me. Oh for the ability to find more Sir Nicholas Wintons in the world! We live in times when we certainly could use more of them, couldn’t we?
Namaste, I love you.
©2015 Michelle Young