In part one of this series, I looked at a broad psychological portrait of Joseph Smith through his birth chart, using the Jones Temperament Patterns. You can find that post here: Joseph Smith – Urban Shaman
For part two, I want to walk through what Joseph’s chart reveals in plainer language because a lot of astrology’s power gets lost behind its own vocabulary. So, before we dive in, here’s a quick translator’s note: a “house” in astrology is one of twelve life-areas a chart is divided into (career, home, money, and so on), a “sign” is the zodiac backdrop a planet sits in, and an “aspect” is the angle between two points in the chart, think of it as the kind of conversation two energies are having with each other (easy, tense, amplifying, etc.). I’ll explain each term as it comes up so you don’t need any prior astrology background to follow along.
A Capricorn Sun, Loaded with Meaning
Joseph Smith was born with his Sun in Capricorn, just 1 degree and 46 minutes into the sign and it wasn’t alone. It was part of a cluster of planets (astrologers call this a “stellium”) all crowded into Capricorn in his 6th house, joined by the North Node, Mars, Chiron, and Mercury. Jupiter was also nearby, sitting in Sagittarius, in this same house.
That 6th house matters here for two reasons. First, the sign on its doorway (its “cusp”) was Sagittarius, the sign most associated with religion, truth-seeking, churches, devotion, faith, prophets, publishing, and higher learning. Second, this meant Jupiter was sitting in the very sign it naturally rules, which in astrology is considered a position of extra strength. Hold onto that thought.
Capricorn itself is the sign of authority, leadership, organization, structure, commitment and, interestingly, stones. It doesn’t take much imagination to connect that to Joseph’s seer stones.
Here’s where it gets layered: every planet has a “ruler” the planet in charge of the sign it sits in and that ruling planet tells you something about the deeper machinery behind the surface trait. Joseph’s Capricorn Sun is ruled by his Saturn, which sits in Libra, right next to (or “conjunct”) his Uranus, also in Libra, in his 4th house (the house of home and family roots). And Saturn itself is influenced by Joseph’s Venus in Aquarius, in the 8th house the two planets essentially trading places in a mutual give-and-take called a “mutual reception.”
Put together in plain terms: Joseph’s core identity was built for relationships, structure, and cooperative partnership (that’s the Libra Saturn), but with Uranus sitting right next to it, that same drive for structure was going to come out unconventional, disruptive, and startling to the people around him. His notions of security and family were anything but traditional, there was a rebellious streak baked in. So, the “structure” he ultimately built a brand-new religion, with himself installed as its prophet was never going to look like anything that came before it. It was built to unsettle the status quo, not fit into it.
A Prophet Who Also Wanted to Regulate Your Diet
Because Joseph’s Capricorn Sun sits in the 6th house the house of health, hygiene, diet, work, and self-improvement it’s not surprising that on February 27, 1833, in Kirtland, Ohio, he announced a revelation he described, fairly, as “not by commandment or constraint.” It counseled early church members to avoid alcohol, tobacco, and “hot drinks” (later understood as coffee and tea), while encouraging wholesome eating. This became Section 89 of the Doctrine and Covenants, essentially, a prophet handing down a health code. It’s a striking, almost literal match for a 6th-house Capricorn Sun. (Brigham Young later turned Joseph’s gentle suggestion into a binding commandment, in 1851.)
There’s a lesser-known layer to the 6th house too: it’s also connected to ceremonial magic both the “white” and “black” varieties (a connection documented in Rex E. Bills’ The Rulership Book, p. 404). And we know from history that Joseph and his family were involved in early-19th-century folk magic and divination from a young age, most famously treasure-seeking with seer stones and divining rods. There’s also more speculative evidence tying him to structured occult rituals drawn from old grimoires like The Magnus.
One especially striking data point: Joseph is reported to have carried a Jupiter talisman engraved with astrological symbols and a dagger the day he was killed by a mob in Carthage, Illinois. Historians debate the details of this story, but I mention it because it fits neatly with what his chart already suggests about how that Capricorn Sun energy might express itself. (For the curious, the University of Utah’s Marriott Library holds a photograph of the object in its David J. Buerger collection.)
Bringing in the Asteroids: Prophecy Written into the Chart
To dig deeper into just how immersed Joseph may have been in mystical and prophetic practice, I added several asteroids tied to magic and prophecy into his chart. A few of the placements stood out as especially telling.
Pythia: named for the Oracle of Delphi, and associated with prophecy, trance states, and clairvoyance sits at 20°15′ of Pisces in Joseph’s 9th house (the house of religion, higher learning, and worldview). On its own, that’s already a strong marker for prophetic ability. But Pythia also makes two important connections elsewhere in the chart:
First, a “sextile” (an easy, flowing connection much like a friend passing you exactly the tool you need) to his natal Mercury, which governs mind, speech, and thought. So, the gifts of prophecy and clairvoyance have a smooth, open channel straight into how Joseph thought, spoke, and communicated.
Second, a “square” (a tenser, more pressured connection that pushes a person into action) to his Jupiter in Sagittarius, the placement of the preacher and the prophet. A square creates friction, so here we get real inner pressure: a drive to preach, teach, publish, and give shape to a prophetic worldview, rather than just experience it privately.
Two Goddesses of the Night: Asteria and Hekate
Two more asteroids stand out, a mother and daughter pair from Greek mythology.
Asteria, sitting at 2°7′ in Taurus in Joseph’s 10th house (the house of public reputation and life’s work), was a Titan goddess linked to falling stars and nocturnal divination, prophecy through dreams and astrology. Her name literally means “starry one.”
Hekate, Asteria’s daughter, the goddess tied to ghostly rites, the dead, crossroads, and magical practice resides in Leo in Joseph’s 2nd house (the house of money, possessions, and personal resources). Remarkably, she’s in a very tight “parallel” with her mother Asteria, meaning the two sit at nearly the same distance from the celestial equator. A parallel works much like a conjunction: it fuses two energies together, so they operate as one.
So, what does this pairing suggest? A blend of dreamwork and divination (Asteria) combined with the ability to give that intuition ritual form and structure (Hekate) plus a real pull toward ancient mystery traditions and ancestor-based spirituality.
Asteria also forms a “trine” to Joseph’s Sun, a trine being the easiest, most naturally flowing aspect there is. With Asteria (stars, dreams, prophecy) sitting in his 10th house of public identity, and flowing smoothly into his Sun, it’s a striking match for a man whose public role became defined by visions and signs. And because Asteria sits in earthy, practical Taurus, those visionary impulses weren’t abstract they were tied to land, valuables, security, and physical objects. If you know the stories of Joseph and his family digging for buried treasure, that connection practically writes itself.
Because his Sun also rules his 2nd house (money and personal resources, Leo is on that house’s cusp), we get a second thread tying prophetic gifts to material and financial life. Which brings us to something genuinely remarkable: in 1836, Joseph founded the Kirtland Safety Society Bank in Kirtland, Ohio, meant to serve the church’s financial needs. It struggled and folded by 1837, but notably, it issued its own currency. The 2nd house, remember, is the house of money and banks. That’s about as direct a hit as astrology gets.
To be clear, I don’t think this points to greed. It reads more like someone experiencing genuinely powerful visionary moments and trying, repeatedly, to translate them into workable systems he could teach and share while inevitably raising real questions about money, property, and the blending of spiritual authority with material gain.
Hekate, sitting in showy, charismatic Leo in that same 2nd house, adds a layer of magnetism and confidence to the mix and lines up well with the historical record of Joseph’s personal charm and his ability to draw people in and keep them close. It also points to someone who feels specially chosen to hold sacred knowledge and lead others but with a shadow side, too: the risk of an inflated sense of self, or of using perceived special access for status or material gain.
Hekate also forms a “trine” to his Sagittarius Jupiter another easy, flowing connection pointing to a natural pull toward organized religion and institution-building. Combine that with his structured Capricorn Sun, and you get exactly what happened historically: a brand-new, highly rules-based religion.
Pulling It All Together
Here’s the shorthand version of everything this chart seems to be pointing toward:
- Seership, dreams, omens, and revelation
- A pull toward hidden treasure and material pursuits
- Special objects used as tools for accessing hidden knowledge
- Religious authority paired with public leadership
- Folk-magic practices that supporters and critics would read very differently
- A blurred line between prophecy and magic, sacred calling and material need
That wraps up part two. What I’m aiming for with this series is a candid, even-handed look at how Joseph Smith’s actual (and rumored) life events line up with what his birth chart seems to promise. So far, the overlap has been remarkable to me. As a shaman and astrologer, my own path to the divine leans toward direct experience rather than institutions or intermediaries but I hold no judgment for anyone who finds truth or peace through them. We’re all just souls finding our way through this experience, each for reasons well above my pay grade to explain.
Part three is coming soon, where we’ll dig into more of what Joseph Smith’s chart has to tell us.