Joseph Smith

Founder of Mormonism ~ Part One

Why analyze the natal chart of Joseph Smith, founder of the Mormon church? For me, the question is personal: I spent ages 12 to 29 as a member of that church. This is not intended as a critique of Mormon doctrine, but as an honest delineation of Smith’s natal chart to explore the energies that may have shaped his actions. It is also important to consider the historical context of his life, from December 23, 1805, to June 27, 1844, when he was killed at age 38 by a mob while jailed in Carthage, Illinois. During that period, the dominant religious backdrop was the Second Great Awakening, a broad Protestant revival movement centered on conversion, personal experiences of grace, energetic preaching, and the belief that both individuals and society could be morally reformed. Finally, because Smith’s birth time is estimated rather than verified, the chart receives a C rating under the Rodden Rating System:

Caution, no source. These data are also listed as “OSNK, Original Source Not Known”. They are undocumented data, often given in magazines or journals, with no source, or an ambiguous source such as “personal” or “archives.” When a magazine, journal, or astrologer, is quoted without the original source of the information, the quote is a reference, not a source. There is no way to know if the datum is valid. If the person making the quote was proven unreliable in the past, any future quote automatically falls in the C category unless attributed to a specific source. Rectified data from an approximate birth time have a valid place in astrology and fall in the C category unless there are contradictory rectified times, which nudges it into DD

~ Source: Astrodienst

So, with this backdrop let’s dive in and see what we can see. Below is the natal chart for Joseph Smith:

I like to begin with the big picture. In 1941, astrologer Marc Edmund Jones published The Guide to Horoscope Interpretation, where he introduced his work on temperament patterns. He identified seven planetary distribution patterns, now commonly known as the Jones patterns. In my own astrological practice, I have found these patterns to correlate strongly with observable personality traits. Joseph Smith’s birth chart shows the bowl pattern, led by Uranus in Libra, conjunct Saturn in Libra, in the 4^th natal house.

A bowl pattern suggests a self-contained area of life where a person feels driven to create meaning. This fits closely with what is known about Joseph Smith. Uranus represents rebellion, revolution, and the impulse to break from the status quo. Uranian individuals tend to follow their own inner rhythm, act independently, and define their own rules. Here, Uranus is conjunct Saturn, adding another layer of meaning. This combination suggests someone who initiates life experiences through a charged need to reform established systems and structures. Because these planets are in the 4^th house, that reforming impulse may focus on home, family, ancestry, and inner security.

Joseph Smith’s life history helps illuminate this part of the chart. Uranus’ disruptive, agenda-setting nature, combined with Saturn’s association with structure, rules, and limits, suggests emotional tension in the 4^th house, the symbolic seat of emotional security. In the natural zodiac, the 4^th house is ruled by the Moon, which signifies feelings, needs, and desires. One apparent expression of this tension was Smith’s practice of polygamy, which the historical record suggests began in the mid-1830s in Kirtland, Ohio, with early reports involving Fanny Alger. Smith’s stated rationale was not merely personal preference; he claimed it was a divine command. Commands are distinctly Saturnian, and in his chart, Saturn is in Libra, the sign associated with relationship and marriage.

Some accounts also describe Smith receiving angelic commands, including an angel bearing a sword who required him to introduce plural marriage. To me, this has a distinctly Uranian quality that echoes the lead planet of his bowl pattern. What emerged was a relational practice of plural marriage, strongly aligned with Libra, presented through a Uranian lens, giving it a disruptive, unsettling, and rebellious tone. Uranus is also associated with freedom and liberation, which in this case appears to have been extended primarily to male members of the Mormon religion. Joseph Smith had one legal wife, Emma Hale Smith, and historians generally estimate that he entered 30 to 40 plural marriages. Strikingly, and in a very Uranian departure from the norms of the time, the ages of these wives reportedly ranged from 14 to 56. What might normally be understood as family life was therefore radically different in Smith’s case.

Further insight comes from the ruler of Smith’s 4^th house of home, family, ancestry, and emotional foundation. With Libra on the cusp, Venus becomes its ruler; in Smith’s chart, Venus is in Aquarius and placed in the 8^th house where things are held jointly, intimately, and we learn about the sharing of resources as well as the hidden, secrets, and the occult. Notably, this links back to the Uranus-Saturn conjunction in the 4^th house through mutual reception: Venus rules Libra, while Uranus and Saturn are the co-rulers of Aquarius. This creates a strong circuit connecting family, emotions, communal possessions, legacy, and strikingly estates of marriage or business partners. More on this in a moment. Venus in Aquarius also suggests relational desires expressed broadly and communally rather than solely through one individual. In that sense, Smith related not only to a partner but to society as a whole.

His intimate relationships, those we make in the 8^th house, were therefore likely to be unusual, unconventional, and at times disruptive. A clear example is Emma Smith, his only legal wife, who reportedly experienced jealousy, grief, and anger in response to his polygamist practices.

It’s important to note that there was a dispute over Joseph Smith’s estate after his death in 1844 concerning who controlled his property, debts, church assets, and leadership succession. It became Joseph’s legal wife Emma vs. church trustees and later followers of Brigham Young. Also, the 8^th house is the place of sex and sexuality. Although there is not evidence of Joseph Smith having had sexual relations with all of his 30 -40 polygamy wives, he is purported have had sexual relationships with at least some of them. Examples include sworn testimony and firsthand or near-first hand recollections from the following women:

• Emily D. Partridge testified under oath in the Temple Lot litigation that she had slept in the same bed with Smith; later testimony explicitly characterized their relationship as sexual
• Malissa Lott was asked by Joseph Smith III whether she had been Smith’s “wife in very deed” and replied, “Yes,” wording understood in that context as affirming a fully marital relationship.
• Louisa Beaman’s brother-in-law, Joseph Bates Noble, testified that Smith and Beaman slept together at his house.
• Recollections concerning Eliza Partridge, Almera Johnson, and the Lawrence sisters also provide evidence of cohabitation or sexual relations.

Another expression of this Uranus-Saturn placement in the 4^th house appears in Joseph Smith’s distinctive teachings about family, the domain traditionally associated with that house. He taught that marriages could be eternal and continue beyond death. He also introduced proxy ordinances for what he called “sealing,” which he described as binding families together across generations. This, too, aligns with a possible manifestation of these astrological energies through Smith’s life and work. This is directly correlative with what might be expected with an Aquarius Venus in the 8^th house. Here we see the fusing of death (an 8^th house topic) with a unique and unusual view (Aquarius) about the nature of relationships, especially families (Aquarius Venus rules the 4^th house of families).

Joseph Smith’s life also included treasure hunting. He grew up in a folk-religious environment where seer stones, divining rods, dreams, protective rituals, and treasure seeking were common. Historical evidence shows that he participated in the treasure-seeking culture of 19^th century New England and upstate New York, along with several members of his family. By 1825, he reportedly had a local reputation in the Palmyra-Manchester area as a treasure seer, using a stone placed in a hat to “see” buried coins and other hidden objects. One notable example was his work with Josiah Stowell in 1825–26 on an expedition in Pennsylvania to locate a rumored Spanish silver mine or treasure.

Here is a list of what some might consider unusual relationships that Joseph Smith had:

These activities also connect strongly with Venus in Aquarius in the 8^th house, especially through its mutual reception with the Uranus-Saturn conjunction in Libra in the 4^th house. Venus signifies desire, valuables, alliances, financial gain, and, notably, treasure. When combined with Aquarius, a sign associated with exploration, the unusual, and the unconventional, and placed in the 8^th house, the symbolism becomes especially clear. The 8^th house concerns hidden things, death, inheritance, and the possessions of those who have died. Treasure, after all, is often imagined as something concealed and left behind by the dead. This house is also linked with psychic perception and occult experience. By dispositorship, all this returns to Uranus and Saturn, which in this context may suggest unusual discovery through excavation: Uranus as the unconventional or unexpected, and Saturn as earth, structure, and digging.

These early practices in Joseph Smith’s life, along with their strong indications in his birth chart, cannot be separated from the later stone-in-hat method he reportedly used during parts of the Book of Mormon dictation, as attested by eyewitnesses. These methods became woven into the religion he founded.

At the opposite edge of the bowl pattern is Pluto in Pisces in the 9^th house. Pluto in Pisces suggests spiritual transformation: a drive to search beneath appearances and examine what lies beyond the visible world. Because Pluto moves slowly, its placement by sign is generational. The most recent Pluto-in-Pisces period lasted from 1797/1798 to 1823. This does not mean everyone born during that span was destined to become a spiritual or religious reformer. Rather, it points to a collective impulse toward spiritual questioning and renewal, an impulse that, depending on the rest of a person’s chart, could become especially pronounced. In Smith’s case, this symbolism connects naturally with the Second Great Awakening, which extended from roughly the 1790s into the mid-19^th century and was marked by camp meetings, mass conversions, revival preaching, and the rapid growth of new denominations and restoration movements.

In a bowl pattern, the planet opposite the leading planet is the trailing, closing, or leeward planet. In the Jones method, it shows where a person consolidates, completes, and applies the experiences initiated by the lead planet which in this case is Joseph Smith’s Uranus in Libra. Because I was once a member of the Mormon church and am familiar with its teachings and doctrine, this placement immediately stood out to me. One relevant example is the influence of Sidney Rigdon, an early Mormon leader and former preacher with an established Ohio congregation associated with the Restorationist/Campbellite movement. Rigdon, who later converted to Mormonism, advocated a practice of holding “all things in common,” essentially a form of early Christian communalism. Smith later claimed revelations that formalized this idea as the “Law of Consecration,” or the “United Order.” Under this system, church members deeded their property to a local bishop, received an assigned stewardship in return, and contributed any surplus to a common storehouse for welfare and communal needs. The stated purpose of the practice was to promote economic equality, mutual responsibility, and the reduction of poverty.

Pluto’s placement adds an intriguing layer because, although it is in the 9^th house, it may also activate 8^th house themes through the 5-degree rule. In this reading, both houses are engaged: the 8^th house speaks to shared resources, intimacy, and jointly held possessions, while the 9^th house concerns philosophy, belief, and the moral codes we choose to live by. In this context, Pluto in Pisces fits the historical events strikingly well. At its simplest, Pluto in Pisces suggests spiritual transformation: releasing what no longer serves and making space for renewal. Pisces also carries themes of sacrifice, empathy, and compassion. This may suggest that Joseph felt empowered by promoting a 9^th house philosophy around the United Order and the sharing of resources, an 8^th house concern, as an expression of care for those with less. And this was reportedly done in cooperation with Sidney Rigdon who could be represented by Venus in Aquarius in the 8^th house of intimate sharing.

This is only the beginning of my broad analysis of Joseph Smith’s birth chart. The discussion so far has focused specifically on his life through the lens of the Jones temperament patterns. In a future installment, I will examine his character and life more traditionally, including the Sun and Moon, major aspects, his Capricorn stellium, the nodal axis, elemental and modal strengths and weaknesses, significant fixed stars and asteroid placements, and Chiron, the wounded healer. Although this chart carries a Rodden C rating, the work so far suggests that the analysis is on target. More to follow.