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FACTS
ABOUT RESPECTABLE
PEOPLE
by Laura Poggiani
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FACTS
ABOUT RESPECTABLE
PEOPLE
by Laura Poggiani
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Fatti di Gente Perbene (Facts about respectable people) this is the title of a famous film by the Pistoia-born director Mauro Bolognini, based on a thoroughly researched screenplay by his friend and fellow Pistoia native Sergio Bazzini, starring Giancarlo Giannini and Catherine Deneuve, and inspired by a case that actually occurred. For our purposes, this case is particularly interesting because it illustrates a number of fairly well-established astrological rules, such as the so-called “twenty-day rule.” According to this rule, during the twenty days before or after a birthday, major events may occur in a person’s life, whether positive or negative, including such events as the birth of children or marriage. In some cases, including the one we are about to examine, this rule appears to be particularly significant.
We are in the second half of the nineteenth century when Augusto Murri is born in Fermo on September 8, 1841. Although his parents do not seem to consider him particularly gifted for study, especially when dealing with more complex subjects, the young Augusto soon discovers his passion for medicine and embarks on a brilliant career that is highly innovative for its time. For example, he becomes an advocate of treating the person first and only then the disease, contrary to the prevailing beliefs of the period. He also studies the use of quinine in cases of malaria and makes many other innovative discoveries, soon becoming an important figure in the medical field. He also becomes involved in politics and is eventually elected to the Chamber of Deputies of the Kingdom of Italy. Then, on September 12, 1871, just four days after his birthday, his first child and favourite daughter, Linda, is born in Fermo. The girl grows up under Augusto’s guidance with a secular and liberal outlook, but initially falls in love with one of her father’s pupils, Carlo Secchi. In an attempt to distract her from this relationship, she is sent to stay with a family friend, who introduces her to Count Francesco Bonmartini. He was born in Padua on March 3, 1869, came from a family with clerical views, and was a landowner in the Veneto region. Although he appears very kind and affectionate during their courtship, after their engagement he proves, on the contrary, to be rather coarse and vulgar. Nevertheless, the two marry and Linda moves into his gloomy home in Padua. There she first gives birth to a daughter, whom her father rejects because he had wanted a son, and later to the long-awaited boy, who unfortunately proves to be in poor health. Count Bonmartini eventually graduates in Medicine, despite his father-in-law’s continued refusal to help him. Meanwhile, the marriage deteriorates to the point of separation, requested by Linda, who in the meantime has resumed a relationship with her former love, Carlo Secchi. Linda also has a brother, Tullio Murri, born on December 8, 1874. He is extremely close to his sister, almost obsessively so, and his own career is developing brilliantly, following in his father’s footsteps particularly in politics. He even defeats Giosuč Carducci in an election. Meanwhile, the families attempt to reconcile the Bonmartinis and eventually succeed, on the condition that each spouse will be free to lead his or her own life. But the Count, unable to obtain his father-in-law’s support in becoming his assistant, begins threatening his wife that he will return to Padua with the children, whom she would then never see again. Tullio challenges his brother-in-law to a fight, in which Bonmartini is supposed to be knocked down and killed with curare. Instead, things turn out very differently: it is Tullio who is knocked down. On September 2, 1902, however, Count Bonmartini is found dead by the maid in his apartment. He has been stabbed, although his death had actually occurred several days earlier. Trying to escape the scandal, Linda takes refuge in Switzerland with her family. Her father Augusto, however, brings her back to Bologna, where on September 11 he reports his son Tullio for the murder, presenting as evidence a letter in which Tullio himself had confessed. Together with Tullio, several of his alleged accomplices are also arrested, including his sister Linda. The trial is held in Turin, with no fewer than eighteen lawyers and, for the first time in Italy, expert assessments by distinguished psychiatrists. It ends with Tullio and one of his accomplices being sentenced to thirty years in prison, while Linda and her lover Carlo Secchi receive ten-year sentences for complicity. In 1906, in gratitude for having saved his daughter Mafalda from typhoid fever, King Victor Emmanuel III grants Linda Murri a pardon. She later marries Francesco Egidi, the tutor of her children, while Tullio serves seventeen years in prison, during which time he becomes a prolific writer whose work is also appreciated abroad. Returning for a moment to the “twenty-day rule” mentioned earlier, Linda will die on December 4, 1957, exactly four days before her brother’s birthday, although Tullio himself had already died in 1930. Furthermore, Linda’s husband dies close to the birthdays of both his father-in-law and Linda herself, while Augusto Murri reports his son to the authorities shortly after his own birthday and on the day before his daughter’s.
Augusto Murri’s natal chart first of all reveals a predisposition towards medicine, as is often the case with Virgo natives. In his case, this is reinforced by the conjunction of the Sun and Mercury in the sign. Significant university studies are also indicated by the strong Sagittarius influence, with Mars, Jupiter and Saturn all present in that sign, together with Uranus in Pisces. His son-in-law, Count Bonmartini, on the other hand, is a Pisces, the sign opposite Virgo. In his case, however, there is also a difficult opposition between Mars and the Venus-Mercury conjunction, as well as a negative square to Pluto in Taurus. Women are regarded as inferior beings, useful only for bearing children. In his case, however, because of the Mars-Mercury opposition, those children are destined to disappoint him. Indeed, his firstborn, being a girl, receives little consideration from him, while the son he so desperately desired proves sickly and therefore very far from his ideal of strength and of someone capable of carrying on the family line. These aspects, which clearly explain the subject’s coarseness, also seem to conceal a lack of genuine masculine potential, which he attempts to compensate for by somewhat imitating his father-in-law’s brilliant career. He graduates in Medicine from the same university as Augusto, namely Camerino, and repeatedly insists on being accepted as his assistant. Like her father, Linda has the Sun and Mercury in Virgo, giving her an immediate affinity with Augusto, while Pluto in Taurus favours her marriage to the classic wealthy landowner. It is also interesting to note that Linda has a negative aspect between Pluto and Mars, in this case an opposition. She also has Saturn in Capricorn, indicating a clear and lucid mind in every situation and one perfectly capable of pursuing her own objectives. Let us now turn to the man who was considered the Count’s murderer: Tullio. We know very well that the sign of Sagittarius can also be extremely ruthless and very far removed from the image of the “likeable, gullible fellow” presented in many astrology manuals. Stalin, himself a Sagittarius, is one example. And yet, looking at Tullio’s natal chart, one does not immediately receive the impression of a brutal murderer. Mars is indeed opposite Neptune, indicating a certain ideological fanaticism, particularly when combined with the Sagittarius influence. Like his father, in addition to his Sagittarius traits, Tullio has a Mars-Jupiter conjunction, in his case in Libra. This also expresses very well his legal studies and his skill in political speeches. It also indicates a certain sensitivity towards what he regards as “questions of justice,” increasing his reactivity in such matters. In Scorpio, however, he has Mercury, which could symbolise his sister, whose Mars is also in Scorpio. Mercury is decidedly “Scorpio-like” because of its opposition to Pluto in Taurus, but this seems to indicate a life marked by imprisonment — as indeed will happen — rather than the planning of a murder with a bladed weapon. On the contrary, it seems to describe rather well the thoughts of many Scorpios who, while never becoming murderers, may say that they would gladly tear their neighbour to pieces or strangle them. Indeed, in the only confirmed attempt to harm his brother-in-law, Tullio paid a compulsive gambler — represented by Mercury — so that, after Tullio had defeated his brother-in-law in a physical confrontation, the other man would inject him with curare. Things, however, turned out very differently.
Tullio Murri’s signature offers many interesting clues. First of all, we find right-slanting handwriting, a very elongated crossbar on the letter “t” which becomes finer towards its tip, and finally a flourish that turns straight back, almost as though underlining the end of the surname. All these features suggest a person who is very lively and dynamic, but also extremely talkative and inclined to act instinctively. He is also somewhat resentful, keeping a mental record of everything that, in his view, appears to be a wrong committed against him. Particularly interesting is the lowercase letter L, written without a loop, indicating on the one hand a character inclined towards materialism and, on the other, a susceptibility to influence by women — in this case, his sister. The handwriting displays many typically Scorpio-like characteristics, such as the tendency to harbour resentment and contemplate revenge for wrongs suffered. But it also visibly reproduces the glyph of Scorpio itself, clearly drawn in the “M” of the surname, whose final stroke extends, like the famous arrow-shaped sting of the Scorpio glyph, towards the following “u” and incorporates it.
Once again, handwriting helps us to gain a better understanding of certain aspects of personality that might otherwise remain in the background when considering the natal chart alone. Comparing events involving members of the same family also helps us to understand more clearly both how certain astrological factors may recur in the natal charts of children and how an entire family — with the birthdays of father and daughter so close together — may experience major events precisely around the birthdays of both of them.
by Laura Poggiani - All rights reserved
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