Rock hunting with Naomi at the Sedona Vedic Astrology Conference
Sedona Vedic Astrology Conference
January 10, 2019
couple eating popcorn together
OPA: Another fabulous review
April 8, 2019
Rock hunting with Naomi at the Sedona Vedic Astrology Conference
Sedona Vedic Astrology Conference
January 10, 2019
couple eating popcorn together
OPA: Another fabulous review
April 8, 2019

The Astrology of “Gone With the Wind”

Astrology and "Gone with the wind"

Scarlett is an Aries but Vivien Leigh was a Scorpio. Both are ruled by Mars.

The Missing Notes!

The Astrology of “Gone With the Wind” was not only my first published astrology article, it was also the topic of my first presentation at UAC in 2008. I was no particular fan of the movie or the book–until I found out the main characters were based on the signs of the zodiac. Since the article came out, I’ve heard all sorts of other guesses about what sign a character might be but I used what Margret Mitchell tenuously said they were.

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Back to Gone With the Wind!

“Tenuously” needs a bit of explaining.

The astrology of “Gone with the Wind” first caught my attention in Neil Spencer’s fine book “True as the Stars Above”. Spencer described “Gone With the Wind” as “a thinly disguised astrological allegory. Margaret Mitchell based the characters of her torrid epic onthe zodiac, leaving a blatant trail of clues which were only picked up in 1978 when US astrologer Darrell Martinie was shown photocopies of notes from Mitchell’s library.”

Excited by the thought of “proving” one of the best selling books of the 20th century had links to astrology, Neil and I did our best to get our hands on those original photocopied notes from Mitchell’s library. Unfortunately, as both Martinie (aka “The Cosmic Muffin”) and Mitchell are deceased, our quest came to nothing.

I even went to the Margaret Mitchell house in Atlanta Georgia in 2014 and asked if there was anything on “Gone With the Wind” and its astrology connections. They cited Neil Spencer and gave me a copy of my own article (which was kinda cool but not what I needed)!

The character descriptions in this article are based on what Neil had scribbled down for his book. And Mitchell is far from blatant with her use of astrology! You have to be an astrologer to get it. For example, the novel says leading character Scarlett O’Hara was 16 years old at the outbreak of the American Civil War on 12 April 1861. Is this sentence enough to imply that it was her 16th birthday at the outbreak of the American Civil War thus making her an Aries? We’re just never going to know! But according to the notes Spencer had on Scarlett, Mitchell did have her as an Aries: feisty, independent, impulsive and sexy (in the novel, she had three children by three different men–scandalous in the 19th century!).

In the film “Gone With the Wind”, Scarlett was famously played by Scorpio Vivien Leigh. Mars rules the Sun of both the character and the actress. As far as I know, Mitchell never acknowledged this BUT she did sigh happily at the film’s premiere and said that Vivien Leigh was Scarlett O’Hara.

Once you see the astrology, you can’t unsee it! 

If you like literature, you have something in common with me!

I have a few other articles on astrology and literature that may interest you:

The Search for Scarlett: less about the book and more about the movie “Gone With the Wind”

Is JK Rowling an astrologer(as featured on astro.com)

Truman Capote: In Cold Blood

Mary Shelley and Frankenstein (also featured on astro.com)

And now. . .here’s the original article. Don’t ask me why I gave it such a dumb title!

The Zodiacal Parade

On 4 July 1776, the United States declared its independence and freedom from British rule. One complete Uranus cycle later, on 12 April 1861 at 4:30 am, the first shots of what would be a long and bloody battle rang out in the spring air at Fort Sumter, North Carolina. The Civil War–and the ugliest chapter of American history– had begun. Standing as one of the central issues of this terrible war was slavery. By the time the war had ended, Abraham Lincoln and some 630,000 American soldiers were dead, the highest number of casualties killed in any war in US History.

As an aside, it is a fascinating “coincidence” that D Day took place one Uranus cycle after Fort Sumter.

It is on the grim Civil war and its survivors that Margaret Mitchell based her best-selling, Pulitzer Prize winning novel, Gone With the Wind (published in 1936). Set in the pre-war Old South, Mitchell writes about the fictional life of one of literature’s and the silver screen’s most memorable heroines, Scarlett O’Hara. Scarlett was a sixteen year-old girl living on her father’s plantation when the war broke out. The 1000- page plus, doorstopper of a novel chronicles her life as she struggled not only for her own survival but also for that of her family and other household members (slaves) as they fought off Yankees. Running parallel to this storyline is Scarlett’s rather tumultuous love life (she was married three times) and most famously, the love triangle between Scarlett, Ashley Wilkes and the dashing Captain Rhett Butler.

“If the novel has a theme it is that of survival,” said Mitchell when Gone With the Wind was published. “What makes some people able to come through catastrophes and others, apparently just as able, strong and brave, go under? It happens in every upheaval. Some people survive; others don’t. What qualities are in those who fight their way through triumphantly that are lacking in those who go under…? I only know that the survivors used to call that quality ‘gumption.’ So I wrote about the people who had gumption and the people who didn’t.” (1)

It is interesting that Mitchell based her blockbuster on the losers of the Civil War, the Southern Confederates rather than the popular winners, the Northern Yankees. But then, as we shall see, Margaret Mitchell was no ordinary woman. Even more interesting is the divided opinion that the book and subsequent movie provokes: is Gone With the Wind one of the greatest love stories of all time or is it the most racist book–with its southern sympathies and portrayal of simple, happy slaves–ever published?

Perhaps for this reason, avid readers have failed to notice that Gone With the Wind is, as Neil Spencer describes: “a thinly disguised astrological allegory. Margaret Mitchell based the characters of her torrid epic on the zodiac, leaving a blatant trail of clues which were only picked up in 1978 when US astrologer Darrell Martinie was shown photocopies of notes from Mitchell’s library.” (2)

Mitchell, using the Civil War as a backdrop, displayed these strong, memorable characters in a potent zodiacal parade that is led, appropriately enough, by the feisty, fiercely independent heroine, Scarlett O’Hara whose determination and energy personifies the sign of Aries.

Mitchell is careful not to beat the reader over the head with astrology and, given the extremes of people’s reaction to astrology, perhaps this is wise. But one first becomes suspicious of her inspiration in the opening pages when one of the Tarleton twins blurts out the gossip, in what could only be true Gemini style, of the engagement of Melanie Hamilton to Ashley Wilkes. Of course, the twins could not possibly know that this news would devastate Scarlett and would affect the central characters almost as much as the war itself (Mitchell had Pluto in Gemini). One thereby can also appreciate the name of Ashley Wilkes’ plantation: Twelve Oaks.

Then there is Scarlett’s land-loving, farm owning, stubborn father, a rather obvious Taurean, who in perfect synastry (as far as star signs are concerned), is married to social do-gooder, Ellen, a very helpful and efficient Virgo. Cancerian Melanie, small of bust and who dies following a miscarriage, is the wife of Scarlett’s true love, Ashley Wilkes whose love of classics and preoccupation with promotion and honour could only be the stereotype of Capricorn. And the star of the show (as he would like to think) is a very dapper Rhett Butler who manages, as a Leo, to get everyone’s attention wherever he goes.

Rounding out the zodiac is Mammy, big, powerful, controlling and yes, black, representing the sign of Scorpio. Poor Sue Ellen, who waited patiently to be married to Mr Kennedy is the Libran who lost her man to her own sister, the scheming Scarlett. Frank Kennedy, Scarlett’s second husband, whose connections to dubious political organisations refer to Aquarian interests. Dr. Meade, a selfless doctor, Scarlett’s youngest sister, Carreen, as well as Scarlett’s first husband are self-sacrificing Piceans.

There were a few reckless, horse-loving folk but the most prominent was the progeny of Rhett and Scarlett, Bonnie Blue, who was thrown from a horse and died whilst attempting the stunt of jumping a fence on her steed. A true Sagittarian to the end, little Bonnie Blue, with her parents, completed the element of fire.

Spencer had stated that Aunt Pitty Pat and Prissy were “twittering Geminis”. Prissy, a slave who bragged she knew everything about birthing babies and then confessed she “don’t know nothing about birthing babies,“ when Melanie went into a difficult labour (leaving the young Scarlett to deliver the baby) displayed the duplicity of the heavenly twins. However, Aunt Pitty Pat whose watery eyes, little feet and fondness for drink–for medicinal purposes, of course–could only belong to an archetypal Pisces.

Mitchell was born at 2:12 am on 8 November 1900 in a segregated Atlanta. Her fascination with the American Civil War can be seen with her moon’s close conjunction with Mars (6 degrees of Gemini) in the war chart. That she grew up surrounded by war veterans all willing to tell their tales is demonstrated by this conjunction occurring in the third house of the war chart, in the sign of Gemini. Mitchell’s sun at 15 degrees Scorpio opposite to the war’s moon at 15 degrees Taurus gives an indication she might find it difficult to identify with the common feelings of the war and take to the opinion of the other side. She had grown up with the glorious stories of the Old South and was stunned when she eventually learned the south had lost the war. Chiron conjunct the IC shows how she may have used the energy of the wounded healer to write about her defeated Atlanta. Perhaps most telling is the war’s Uranus opposing Mitchell’s Jupiter-Uranus conjunction. Also noticeable are the squared Neptunes, perhaps further captivating Mitchell’s imagination as well as the public‘s, whose interest and buying-power would eventually boost the book’s sales to the stratosphere in post-war gloom.

Mitchell’s desire to write can be seen with a concentration of planets in the third-ninth house axis. With a third house Mercury, Jupiter and Uranus stellium in Sagittarius it seems a little talking went a long way–or perhaps a lot of talking went a little way: “. . .she (Mitchell) would get up in the middle of the night and write things. She was always obsessed with expressing herself.”

However one looks at it, the presence of a Uranus and Jupiter conjunction would make none of her manner of communicating boring or predictable (and it’s easy to see how Mitchell would have been interested in Astrology). This conjunction created a veritable hot spot in her chart and its activation by transiting and progressed planets featured in many events in her life. By her first Jupiter return, Mitchell had begun dressing as a boy and demanding that people call her “Jimmy.” By her second Jupiter return, the stage was set for her to begin writing her epic novel. And by it’s third return the book had been accepted for publication.

The third house stellium is opposed by Mitchell’s ninth house moon in Gemini (the Gauquelins found a correlation between ninth house moons and writing as a profession). The Moon opposite Mercury shows an argumentative nature, a fact certainly confirmed by members of Atlanta’s Debutante society who were scandalised by Mitchell’s suggestions for the distribution of money raised for charity and then outraged as Mitchell performed a provocative Apache war dance with a male student at one of their social balls. Far too free spirited for the likes of Atlanta’s debutantes, Mitchell abandoned this scene and became a chain-smoking, whiskey-chugging, jazz-loving flapper and danced “the Charleston” wherever, whenever and with whomever she liked.

Mitchell’s Moon also opposed Uranus, again showing emotional stress but this stress manifests through complicated or unusual romances. In her late teens, Mitchell became engaged to a man who was almost certainly homosexual and would have married him had he not been killed in the First World War. This would be the man on whom Mitchell loosely based the character of Ashley Wilkes.

In 1922 as both Saturn and the progressed ASC passed over her natal Venus, Mitchell became involved in a love triangle not unlike the one she would eventually write so memorably about. She eventually married the wrong man, divorced him, and went on to marry the other man all within the space of a few years. And at a time when divorce was not only discouraged but positively frowned upon. Her progressed Sun passed over her Mercury (opposite the moon natally) and her progressed Moon had been visited by a transiting Uranus in the seventh house. As an aside, it is interesting to note that although Mitchell dedicated her novel to JRM, the initials of her second husband, the initials RKB appear on Rhett Butler’s handkerchief and they are the transposed initials of her first husband, Red Berrien Kinnard Upshaw.

During her first marriage, Mitchell began working as a reporter at the Atlanta Journal Magazine, becoming one of the first women to cover hard news for that magazine. But shortly after her second marriage, she had to leave this job because of arthritis in her ankles and feet. Forced to spend most of her time in bed, she used this time to read, leading her husband to joke by saying she would have to write the kind of book she would like to read.

And so, in 1926 and through to 1929, as her progressed sun made its connections to her natal Jupiter and Uranus, Mitchell worked on Gone With the Wind. In between bouts of illness and injury, Mitchell had completed the bulk of, what she was describing to only two of her friends, as “the Great American novel”.

In 1926, the progressed lunar phase was Gibbous, indicating any hard work she invested into her novel would soon bear fruit. By 1929, when the bulk of her novel was completed, the progressed lunar phase was full and this progressed moon was approaching her natal Pluto and MC. Mitchell was truly seeing the fruits of her labour and her progressed sun on lucky Jupiter would have stoked the fire of her writing aspirations. Pluto’s presence showed how much the novel would change her life. To top it all off, it was her Saturn return.

The novel bubbled and brewed. In 1935, Harold Latham of Macmillan Publishing was in search of new writers. A friend asked Mitchell to show Latham around Atlanta and during his visit she mentioned her novel—but she refused to let him see it. After, an acquaintance cattily remarked to her that she is “not serious enough” to be a writer, a furious Mitchell gave in, gathered up her tattered manuscript and drove it to Latham and said: “take the damn thing before I change my mind”. The manuscript spellbound Latham and on 1 August 1935, Mitchell signed the contract with MacMillen publishers as a transiting Jupiter passed her natal sun.

As transiting Jupiter again activated her natal Mercury, Mitchell was putting the finishing touches on her novel. She completed the final revision on 22 January 1936, just in time for her Jupiter return. The book was published on 15 May 1936 and two days later–before the book was made available for sale to the general public–Hollywood producer David O. Selznick bought the film rights for the manuscript for $50,000, top dollar at the time. The book hit the shops on 30 June 1936 and by October that year had sold one million copies. The book had so changed her life that not only was Mitchell besieged by letters but she was unable to use public changing rooms because people kept opening the curtains to see what the now famous author looked like. In 1937, Mitchell won the Pulitzer Prize for her best selling book, just as the P. Sun contacted her IC. Mitchell had matured and quieted much by then and had long since left her flapper days behind. But whether she liked it or not, she was catapulted into fame.

With her progressed Lunar phase approaching Balsamic, Mitchell’s energy was winding down but her progressed Sun connected to Chiron in 1939. Mitchell, who had not actively sought fame, was about to have her private pain, her feelings and reflections for the Old South in the spotlight. The film would become the biggest selling movie of all time and it would defeat movies of that year such as The Wizard of Oz, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington and Good-bye Mr Chips at the Academy Awards.

Gone With the Wind premiere

With Neptune hovering over her ASC, Mitchell could hear the theme tune from Gone With the Wind for the first time along with the cast and other influential people on 15 December 1939. Atlanta rolled out the red carpet for the movie’s premiere at Loew’s Grand Theatre–for the white actors and actresses only. The Black actors, who included the Jazz singer Hattie McDaniel (“Mammy”) and Butterfly McQueen (“Prissy”) were subjected to the ludicrous segregation laws of the time.

Two different programs for the premiere. Note Hattie McDaniel is missing from the program on the left (bottom right of program)
Two different programs for the premiere. Note Hattie McDaniel is missing from the program on the left (bottom right of program)
If there is a small consolation then it must be that a young Martin Luther King sang in the boys choir as part of the evening’s entertainment–and Hattie McDaniel went on to win Best Supporting Actress at the Academy Awards, defeating the popular Olivia DeHavilland (“Melanie Wilkes”).

With Neptune hovering over her ASC, Mitchell could hear the theme tune from Gone With the Wind for the first time along with the cast and other influential people on 15 December 1939. Atlanta rolled out the red carpet for the movie’s premiere at Loew’s Grand Theatre–for the white actors and actresses only. The Black actors, who included the Jazz singer Hattie McDaniel (“Mammy”) and Butterfly McQueen (“Prissy”) were subjected to the ludicrous segregation laws of the time.

“. . .Selznick learned that southerners were second to none in their affection of Negroes ‘in what they regard as their proper place‘. Atlantans would warmly receive Hattie McDaniel and Oscar Polk (“Pork”) and the other actors–but they would not dine with them, invite them to their Junior League Ball in honour of the other Hollywood visitors or sit with them in an auditorium. And since the Grande Theatre was a white’s only theatre, McDaniel and the other black “guests” would have no dressing rooms, no proper place to enter and exit the theatre and no proper place to use the bathroom.”

Two different programs for the premiere. Note Hattie McDaniel is missing from the program on the left (bottom right of program)


Two different programs for the premiere. Note Hattie McDaniel is missing from the program on the left (bottom right of program)
If there is a small consolation then it must be that a young Martin Luther King sang in the boys choir as part of the evening’s entertainment–and Hattie McDaniel went on to win Best Supporting Actress at the Academy Awards, defeating the popular Olivia DeHavilland (“Melanie Wilkes”).

After the movie, with her progressed lunar phase now firmly Balsamic, Mitchell essentially rested on her laurels and wrote no more. She devoted her time to raising funds for the Red Cross and was also the anonymous benefactor of many college students. On 11 August 1949, Margaret Mitchell, who had been plagued by injury and illness throughout her life, was crossing a street near her home and was struck by a speeding taxi. She died of internal injuries several days later.

Update: “Gone with the Wind”

On the 9 June 2020, “Gone With the Wind” was removed from HBO Max following an op-ed that condemned the movie for depicting racial and ethnic prejudices. According to Wikipedia, the film then ‘rocketed’ to the top of Amazon’s best seller sales list and went to 5th place in Apple’s iTunes chart. HBO has said the film would be re-released with “a discussion of its historical context and a denouncement of those very depictions, but will be presented as it was originally created, because to do otherwise would be the same as claiming these prejudices never existed. If we are to create a more just, equitable and inclusive future, we must first acknowledge and understand our history.” (3)

As “Gone with the Wind” was created using astrological characters, it’s interesting to look at the astrology. Margaret Mitchell’s (posthumous) progressed Sun is currently at 17 degrees Pisces–which has been transited by both Mars and Neptune by conjunction the week the film was pulled out of circulation by HBO.

One go the film’s most enduring and pivotal scenes was the burning of Atlanta. Historically, Atlanta was burning on 1 September 1864 (I used 9pm but I am not certain of the time) after General Sherman set fire to 81 loaded ammunition cars. In the film, this was when Scarlett and Melanie (who had just given birth) escaped from Atlanta, aided by Rhett. As they leave the ruined Atlanta, Rhett tells Scarlet, “This will be a story you can tell your grandchildren. How you saw the Old South disappear one night”. He then leaves her to join the army and Scarlet is left to return to Tara to cope with what is left of the home she had loved.

The current transiting North Node is conjunct the Uranus of the fire as well as the natal Neptune of Mitchell and this week there are riots in Atlanta following the death of another black man (Rayshard Brooks, RIP). We are living in times when we are all dreaming of a better future but to re-build our world, we must incorporate the dreams of people who have been marginalised and abused for centuries. Essentially, we are burning our old ways of doing things.  “Gone with the Wind” stands as a record of appalling prejudice and a continual reminder of how far we have to go to be able to live together peacefully.

(1) Martin, Sarah Hines (2003), “More Than Petticoats: Remarkable Georgia Women” Guilford Connecticut, Two Dot, p. 193

(2) Spencer, Neil

(3)Tapp, Tom (June 9, 2020). “HBO Max Removes ‘Gone With the Wind’ From Streaming Platform, Says Film Will Return With “Discussion Of Its Historical Context””Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved June 10,2020.


Alex Trenoweth
Alex Trenoweth
Alex Trenoweth, MA, DFAstrolS is an astrologer, teacher and author of "Growing Pains", "The Wolf You Feed" and the soon-to-be-released "Mirror Mirror" by The Wessex Astrologer. She travels across the globe lecturing on the topic of Astrology and Education. In 2015, she was voted "Best International Astrologer" for her innovative research on astrology and adolescence. Her work has been published in major astrological magazines around the world such as Dell Horoscope, the International Society of Astrological Research, the Organization for Professional Astrologers and she is co-editor of "Constellation News", one of the largest astrological magazines on the planet.

2 Comments

  1. […] The astrology of “Gone With the Wind” can be found in this article: “Gone With the Wind” The Zodiacal Parade“. […]

  2. […] The Astrology of “Gone With the Wind” […]

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