The Mexican poet-philosopher Juana Ines de La Cruz was utterly unique in her era. It was the 17th Century, the country was controlled by the ruthless Catholic Spanish conquerors and she was the extremely gifted child of a single, indigenous mother.
The education of women was seen as an abomination and the Mexican Inquisition was in full swing. Somehow De La Cruz managed to become a globally celebrated thinker. She was a Scorpio with a four-planet stellium in Sagittarius – Mercury conjunct Venus, Uranus and Neptune. You can see it in her passion, courage and determined outspoken audacity.
Scorpios don’t flinch at confrontation and she had Mars in bold Leo squaring her Sun so to fight was her first instinct. Venus conjunct Mercury is a lover of words and ideas – the outer planet involvement ensures that these concepts were visionary, innovative enough to shock the status-quo.
Having failed to enter university disguised as a boy, she became a nun or – at least – moved into a convent. There she entertained visitors, wrote and studied Latin, Spanish plus Nahuatl – the original Aztec language. Prolific beyond belief, she churned out genius poetry with pagan themes, mathematical proposals, plays, musical lyrics and incendiary-for-their-time essays denouncing Church hypocrisy and sexism.
For example, of proposals to more brutally punish prostitutes, she wrote and distributed pamphlets – think zines – that asked “Who sins more – she who sins for pay or he who pays for sin?”
It’s a miracle she didn’t end up as one of the many inquisition victims but sadly, this woman they called the Mexican Phoenix was denounced by a Bishop and ended up penniless, without supporters. He didn’t dare kill her but essentially othered her out of society.
First Dream
Pyramidal, funereal and Earthen
Born like shadow and aimed in vain
Like the raised point of an obelisk
Set towards the sky.
Climbing and striving in vain for the stars
Which, though beautiful ,
Sparkle and are exempt,
Far from the vapour of war,
From it’s fugitive shade
They mock at a distance.
The frowning bronze of their rays
Failing to touch the convex surface of this globe.
Property of the of the Goddess,
Who is thrice beautiful,
And Boasts three beautiful faces
And who owns the air that she blots and soaks
With the denseness of her breath.
So that in this quiet and contentment
In this imperial silence,
Even the voices of the night birds,
So dark and grave
That even the silence won’t interrupt them,
Consent.
Juana Inés de la Cruz
(sorry forgot to log in for the last post reply)
Spot on…which is no surprise…we share the same birthday.
She was so brave! It is also said that she wanted to attend University , but since women were not allowed to, she tried to convince her mother to let her go dressed as a man.
Did you know that she wrote an essay in 1691 defending her desire to pursue her education to the bishop of her diocese, and that in it she said:
“…so intense was my concern that, though among women, (especially a woman in the flower of her youth) the natural adornment of one’s hair is held in such high esteem, I cut off mine to the breadth of some four to six fingers, measuring the place it had reached, and imposing upon myself the condition that if by the time it had again grown to that length I had not learned such and such a thing I had set for myself to learn …I would again cut it off as punishment for being so slow-witted.”
I think only a Scorpio would threaten themselves in such a way for not reaching the goals they set for themselves. I’m not sure I could do the same, but I certainly envy her dedication!
Brilliant, where the heck do you dig up such fantastic info, from MM? It never ceases to amaze me.
Oh ME oh MY – with the exception of her dark hair – I could be her evil twin or what!
Have always had this freaky nun/monk fascination/obsession ( WTF? – a scorpio with an obsession? – well I never…) and even trained to become a Taoist monk at one stage, till I realized it was hypocritical of me. (ooh and there was that whole having an EPIC love affair with one of the young monks thang…)
The Universe shall and does not limit itself in any Way , shape or form – so why should I…
Sun, Moon, Mercury and Neptune in Scorpio, Scorp
Good lord…
Awesome, my Scorpio Moon is all a-tremble. I relate so much to her (er, minus the storming intellect of course!). I misspent my childhood reading Shakespeare and writing poetry, wanted to be a nun/mystic and yearned to learn a language (I ended up learning a smattering of languages but mostly Japanese and Spanish and now a bit of French). Gotta read her work! She sounds so brave and dedicated, I love it.
I think I’ve fallen in love with this one. She sounds simply amazing. Gotta love a woman with such strong opinions, and who isn’t afraid to let the world know about them.
So glad to learn about her! Thanks! With Sun conjunct Pluto I kind of relate in a strange way. She was much braver of course. But I kinda get her
Incredible. I say she’s she born in the debated yr of 1651 – would make her a much more potent Scorp with lucky Jupiter in the higher mental realms of Sag. Think I’ll put this pic up for inspiration by study desk..
She is amazing. God I love astrology sometimes how it rings true through the ages and via a painting, she has the most perfectly Scorpio eyes.
I was thinking the same re her eyes. So Scopio — she could have been my twin.
* speaking of eyes — think I need glasses….. ScoRpio
She looks like she has lines of red butterflies in her hair– red is Scorpio and butterflies are all about transformation–which very Pluto-Scorpio. The lines of her sleeves and gown, the lines on the drapes, and the lines of the chair are all curving and flowing–which are apt for a Water sign.
So funny. I have my own little intuitive signs I look for (like a game) one is red butterflies near a head. Yeah it’s weird. But there it is
Ooh, I’m going to have to do more research on her! She sounds amazing!
omg, I love her! Mexican pride! I’ve always wondered how she could have been such an amazing ballsy girl back in the day, yet still live. She was smart enough to have the church behind her back. They wouldn’t dare touch a nun.
Thoughts:
Amazing.
I’m feeling that (as would most intelligent rational types but then again intelligence and reason have a lot to answer for).
She looks a lot like my sister who is very un-Scorp.
Both practical, independent stubborn-as-shit thinkers though.
Thank you Mystic I’m going to share it on a social media outlet somewhere.
happy Sun in Pisces
x
Scorpios can be such wonderful torchbearers with their focus and sensitivity to deep truths.
What a brave woman.
Caught up with a scorpio friend yesterday who is about to get mildly famous over her ( early childhood) research into babies as social and emotional independent beings who already fundamentally have it all together . Exploding the common belief that under 3 “they’re just a baby” and the underlying assumption is they don’t know nothin and thus the gaga goo goo way of subordinating their intelligence .
As well as her academic research She has on her phone millions of photos of kids under 3 with crazy wonderchild expressions and interactions with eachother, just cos.
Passionate and charming and deadly political. So how is it that Tom Cruise has Scorpio rising? Just plain insecure?
I’m so gladthats fantastic – its too weird to think that people would think babies are not emotional, social, independent beings, let alone are such open energy conduits of pure love. Scorpio are great at research from my understanding with their fascination of the unseen. I don’t know about cruise, but far from charming.