Matthew Manning
Matthew Manning is known for his extraordinary psychic abilities. He maintains he’s not the one doing the healing. Instead, there’s a healing power moving through him. Placing a huge emphasis on the 9th house of higher knowledge and spirituality, his 5-planet stellium in Leo tells a fascinating story.
“Healing works beyond our understanding of time and space.” - Matthew Manning
Poltergeist Mars
When he was about 11 years old, strange events started happening in his environment. Matthew’s family witnessed objects moving and they all heard the sound of someone knocking on the walls and doors. They were never able to find the source. Matthew’s father even reported it to the police.
The Moon, which is the natural signifier of home and family, is forming an applying adherence to Mars. You’ll notice Mars is placed right in the heart of the Sun, a condition known as cazimi, which is said to protect a planet during its rebirth. It’s as if Mars is elevated through his special connection with the Sun. The noises, the knocking, things moving, are all typical significations of Mars. These are such basic significations that I’m inclined to think of them as raw expressions. The Sun has just transited Mars, so this is a newborn Mars, expressing himself uncorrupted by experience.
It was a 12th house profection year which activated Scorpio’s ruler Mars. Both the 9th and 12th houses were understood to represent a world-between-worlds by the ancient Greeks. It’s a mysterious place where nothing is quite what it seems.
The chart shows a Balsamic or Dark Moon, and this is a mysterious phase in itself, bringing a sense of other-worldliness, and an intuitive knowledge of what’s hidden behind the great veil of life.
The Poltergeist activity peaked when Matthew was sent to boarding school. His fellow students and the staff at his school all got to observe how beds, chairs, knives, nails and light bulbs started flying through the room. It was so disruptive he was asked to leave the school but the headmaster changed his mind to avoid bad publicity.
A Helping Hand from Mercury
One day, while Matthew was writing an essay, he suddenly felt his hand moving on its own. Having no control over the pen, he realized he was doing automatic writing, which appeared to slow down all the poltergeist activity. The chaotic activity in his environment appeared to be channeled through writing in many different languages.
God of communication, Mercury, is located in Virgo, the sign where he has his domicile and exaltation. Hermes is the only angular planet, at the top of the chart in the 10th house, which is a much more powerful and practical house than the 9th, which may be why his automatic writing brought more stability in his life. He also drew faces and animals. Venus in Leo speaks to this artistic side.
On the day Matthew turned 19 years old, writer Hermes was cazimi. Located very close to the ascendant of the Solar Return chart, his importance is magnified. Matthew’s book titled The Link was published and became a huge success.
He also participated in a long series of tests conducted by some of the world’s leading scientists. Academic, scientific research is a 9th house topic. The results were mind-blowing, from killing cancer cells to influencing another person’s brainwaves.
"I think we are on the verge of discoveries that may be extremely important for physics. We are dealing with a new kind of energy. This force must be subject to laws. I believe ordinary scientific investigations will tell us a lot about these psychic phenomena. They are mysterious, but no more mysterious than a lot of things in physics already. In times past, respectable scientists would have nothing to do with it. Many of them still won't. I think the respectable scientists may find they have missed the boat. " - Professor Josephson
At one point he was approached by two Catholic Archbishops, an event which can be associated with both Jupiter and the 9th house. After appearing on British TV doing a live demonstration of his abilities, he attracted the attention of the British Security services who then interviewed him.
A Personal Revolution
Long distance travel also falls under the spectrum of 9th house topics. Matthew set off on a world tour to promote his book. He astonished and scared a lot of people, as the department stores he visited on his tour had unusual blackouts. Matthew was producing poltergeist activity everywhere he went.
The success became too much for Matthew when he was still in his early twenties. Turning his back on all the hype, he headed out to the Himalayan mountains. There he had a powerful spiritual experience which led him to vow to use his powers in service to other people. Since then, he’s doing what he can to help others heal in a very modest way. Jupiter reappeared from the beams of the Sun 7 days after Matthew’s birth, and that emphasizes his role in this chart as a natural significator of spirituality, healing, and long distance traveling.
Both of the malefic planets, Mars and Saturn, are in exceptional condition in Matthew’s chart. Mars, on the King’s throne, receives Saturn as his guest in Scorpio. The fact that Saturn is ruled by a cazimi Mars is already significant, but on top of that, benefic planets Venus and Jupiter are overcoming Saturn. They dominate Saturn through a superior square. Venus casts an aspect ray to 19° Scorpio while Jupiter casts a ray to 14° Scorpio, effectively enclosing Saturn with all the good things that both of the benefics have to offer.
May the benefic planets offer lovely things to you too! Please check out my video version of this chart exlporation and leave comments or questions below.