You Can Heal Your Life

An Astrological Look at The Life of Louise Hay

You might be noticing a trend. Most of the individuals I've written about have faced significant struggles, difficulties, and challenges. Helen Vera Lunney is no different. Born in Los Angeles on October 8, 1926, she had a difficult childhood filled with hardship, including giving up a child for adoption at age 16. These were not insignificant experiences; Helen's mother married a man who physically abused both Helen and her mother, she was raped by a neighbor, and she became pregnant at 15. At one point, she moved to Chicago, taking on a series of low-paying jobs before eventually relocating to New York City for a fresh start in 1950. It was then that she changed her name to "Louise" and began pursuing a career in fashion modeling.

Now going by the name Louise, she quickly found success as a fashion model, working for prominent designers like Bill Blass, Pauline Trigère, and Oleg Cassini. This period of her life represented a breakthrough and a time to release the painful beginnings she had experienced. Her modeling success lasted from 1950 until 1954 and provided much needed financial stability. She left modeling to get married to business Andrew Hay in 1954 for what became a period during which she experienced emotional pain and upheaval. Ultimately, and after 15 years of marriage, Andrew left Louise for another woman, socialite Sharman Douglas. This was another devastating blow to Louise's existing struggles with self-worth. Sources say she felt worthless and filled with resentment.

This set-back led Louise to search out the meaning of it all. In deep pain and seeking healing, one day Louise stumbled upon a church on 48th street in New York City. The name of the church was First Church of Religious Science and the minister, Dr. Raymond Charles Barker. What intrigued Louise the most were the teachings on the transformative power of positive thought. In short order, Louise became deeply committed to the church regularly attending services and classes in Science of Mind, eventually becoming a minister there herself. It was also here that she began to led affirmations workshops, counseled others on healing illnesses through mindset shifts, and developed her foundational ideas for books like You Can Heal Your Life.

It was from this foundation that she ultimately launched her popular workshops, started a publishing company, Hay House, and in 1984 she published You Can Heal Your Life, which sold over 50 million copies worldwide. This book is what Louise Hay became most known for due to it linking specific diseases to emotional causes and corresponding affirmations.

Here is Louise Hay's birth chart:

Strikingly, the first thing that jumps out on Louise's chart is that Chiron, the wounded healer sits at the top of her chart in the 10th house. And adding further to the narrative is its tight opposition to a Scorpio Moon in the 4th house. As I have mentioned before concerning the incredible accuracy that shows up in birth charts, if an astrologer was given the task of creating a chart that best represented who Louise Hay became, this placement of Chiron would probably be the first thing they did. Chiron not only represents where we are wounded but the place, we are also a master. Louise had Chiron in her career house, the place we make our contribution to the world, where we have goals and ambitions, it's our public image and status. This sits in opposition, an aspect that represents a challenge, and a place we are striving to find balance, to Louise's natal Scorpio Moon.

The Moon in Scorpio couldn't tell the story of Louise's family experience any more clearly. Scorpio is the intense, transformative energy of the zodiac. It also is associated with sexuality, resentment, manipulation, buried and hidden things, and control. As Louise spoke of her childhood, she openly discussed it being traumatic and marked by abuse, poverty, and emotional neglect. She described being raped at age 5 by a neighbor, physical beatings from her stepfather, and a family environment of alcoholism and instability, which fostered deep-seated resentment and low self-worth. And paving the way for the best-selling book she wrote and for which she became famous, she linked her later cancer diagnosis to "deep resentment" from childhood, emphasizing emotional suppression over physical self-perception problems.

Also, of note from an astrological standpoint these planets are placed in angular (Cardinal) positions in the chart which speaks to exceptional strength and prominence due to their proximity to the chart's foundational angles. Additionally, this is a powerful placement for the moon as it is the house that it rules in the natural zodiac.

Working through this challenge is what ultimately led to Louise's success. It's noteworthy that Chiron in Taurus is also related to being wounded in feeling a sense of solidness in life. That security in Taurus relates to the material realm such as finances, property, and possessions as well as the other things we value like intelligence, faith, and even the self. Taurus is the 2nd house of the natural zodiac and as such represents early childhood and the period during which separation from one's mother is occurring.

As you ponder that, think of the childhood experiences of Louise, they are exactly in resonance with such an experience that resulted in a feeling of lack of self-worth and struggling to value oneself. But the correlation of Chiron that speaks loudest to what Louise Hay actually became known for is the tendency of this placement's need to heal through learning to work with one's body in a healthy manner. Rather than being pulled around by negative thought patterns, there is a re-education needed. This is what her bestselling book addressed. It emphasizes the mind's power over the body through positive affirmations, self-love, and releasing negative thought patterns.

Could including a few asteroids that focus on the topic of healing bring further insight and confirmation to what Chiron has already highlighted? In order to explore this, I decided to include the asteroids Asclepius and Hygia. What is the significance of these two asteroids? Asclepius was the Greek god of medicine and healing. He was further associated with prophetic dreams. Hygia is the goddess of health, and maintaining health, daughter of medicine and alternative healing methods.

These are the positions of the two asteroids in Louise's birth chart:

Immediately there is confirmation of the origin of Louise's ideas that healing occurs by changing beliefs and using mirror work or mantras to reprogram the subconscious. She proposed that the body acts as a "mirror" reflecting inner thoughts, but the directive force is mental. Looking at the chart above you will see that the asteroid Asclepius in Libra is in a tight conjunction with Louise's Libra Mercury which is further in conjunction with her Scorpio Moon that is further in a mutual reception with her Cancer Pluto. Got that? Let me explain...

This configuration is metaphor rich. Looking first at the moon in Scorpio we find that the cosmic body that is most known for its reflective quality, (it reflects sunlight) and known to represent our internal world, the hidden self, seems to be representative of the mirror Louise cites. The moon is our bodily memories. Generational stuff. Inhibitive emotions are held here. It is the place we experience mental instabilities. The moon represents the psychometrics of the body. Interestingly Louise uses the word "resentment" to describe the feeling (moon) she says led to her cancer (also associated with the moon) all in the sign of Scorpio, the place of cruelty, intensity, and transformation. "Resentment" derives its etymological roots from French ressentiment, formed as verbal noun from the verb ressentir, which is to feel again or to feel intensely.

Next to this telling moon we find Mercury in Libra attempting to bring reason, balance, and negotiate a better version of the experiences of childhood and family. Mercury in Libra pursues thoughts that can achieve peace, resolution, and cooperation. According to Louise, she thought that the mind could bring balance and resolution to what was occurring in the body. She took a Mercury approach, speaking positivity in order to remove the energies that were blocking or hindering healing. Further adding to the metaphor both the Moon and Mercury reside in the 4th house, the seat of one's emotions.

This is where our first asteroid adds context. Remarkably, and why I call this synchronistic configuration of Asclepius, Mercury, and Moon so metaphorically rich is the fact that Asclepius was rescued as an infant from his mother's funeral pyre by his father and raised by the centaur Chiron, who taught him herbalism, surgery, and the healing arts. Do you see it? Here is this infant who was raised and taught by Chiron, who sits at the top of Louise's chart, involved in a cooperative effort (Libra Asclepius conjunct Libra Mercury) to work with Louise's moon and help her write a book about healing.

What further insights can we gain by examining the placement of Hygia? Here we quickly find that we can also confirm actual events and developments in Louise's life. In her birth chart, Hygia is positioned in Virgo, a fitting placement. Virgo is the zodiac sign associated with health and service to others. Further, Hygia is located in the house of financial security and values. It was through her workshops and books that Louise served others, with a primary focus on healing. Hygia seems to be celebrating Louise's achievements. Depending on the source, Louise Hay's net worth was ultimately between $3 and $50 million. By focusing on healing others, she also transformed her poverty-stricken beginnings.

The chart above illustrates that Hygia was positively aligned with Pluto in Cancer, conjunct with the north node, all situated in the 12th house. Pluto in Cancer represents intense and transformative emotional experiences, where emotions serve as a pathway for the individual's rebirth. Cancer, being the sign associated with family, implies that Pluto's presence here indicates the possibility of extreme familial experiences. Pluto's conjunction with the north node suggests that Louise had a destiny involving transformative power, revealing secrets that emotionally benefited others. Furthermore, with the 12th house overlay, this empowerment is directly connected to bringing the unconscious into awareness, with Hygia facilitating this opportunity. Through a sextile, the goddess of alternative medicine connects the immaterial aspects of the 12th house with the material realm of the 2nd house.

Louise Hay passed away peacefully in her sleep at the age of 90 on August 30, 2017, at her residence in San Diego, California, due to natural causes. Her departure marked the end of an era for many who had been influenced by her teachings and philosophy. Louise was not only a remarkable individual but also a transformative figure in the realm of personal development and self-help.

She left a significant legacy as a pioneer of the self-help movement, a movement that gained momentum in the latter half of the 20th century and continues to thrive today. Through her work, she emphasized the importance of positive affirmations, which are positive statements that can help individuals overcome negative thoughts and beliefs. Louise taught that by repeating these affirmations, people could reprogram their minds, leading to profound changes in their lives. Her teachings encouraged individuals to take responsibility for their thoughts and actions, fostering a sense of empowerment that resonated deeply with her audience.

Moreover, Louise Hay founded the Hay House publishing empire, which has become a leading publisher of self-help and wellness literature. Under her guidance, Hay House has published works from a diverse range of authors, all of whom share a common goal of promoting personal growth and healing. The company has played a crucial role in bringing the ideas of various thought leaders to a broader audience, further solidifying Louise's impact on the self-help movement.

Louise Hay's passing was not just the loss of an individual; it was the loss of a beacon of hope and healing for countless individuals around the world. Her teachings on positive affirmations, mind-body healing, and self-love continue to inspire and empower people to this day, ensuring that her legacy lives on. Through her books, her publishing company, and her unwavering commitment to helping others, Louise Hay has left an indelible mark on the world, one that will continue to influence generations to come.