Children and the Fifth House
When Uranus occupies the fifth house, children are a difficult matter. Typically, there are none; if there are, the first-born may be lost through complications of gestation or non-viability, or the child may prove highly eccentric. Such children tend to be fiercely independent and hard to govern, requiring a different approach. They may possess genius or something akin to it, and drawing out their best qualities demands reasoning with them—far more than with ordinary children. Simply saying “because I say so” will not suffice. This is not a call for indulgence; the child would likely see it as an insult. What is needed is mutual respect and affection. These children should be treated as responsible individuals and appealed to on their better side.
Pleasures, Sexuality, and Rebellion
Regarding life's pleasures, especially those involving sex, Uranus exerts a powerful influence. The temperament indicated can be extremely violent. It is less capricious and fantastic than when Neptune is in this house, but more passionate and violent, and more prone to violate conventionality—sometimes amounting to crime. The affections are subject to sudden and constant changes; a spirit of revolt against convention and even against the bonds of love itself will be very strong. It does not follow that irregular sexual behavior implies adherence to unusual theories. The native's mind may be perfectly conventional, and his rule-breaking may cause him extreme mental disturbance and regret. Whether this is so depends mainly on the first, third, and ninth houses, their rulers, and aspects.
Other Pleasures and Gambling
Other pleasures show the same tendency to caprice and extravagance, often taking undesirable forms. The fifth house is connected with gambling when it is pursued for excitement and dissipation rather than clear gain; with Uranus there, the native's inclination toward this is accentuated. He may well be a somewhat desperate and violent gambler, fortunate or not depending on aspects to Uranus, as usual.
In milder form, this position may imply a taste for low company, and the native will never find pleasure in the ordinary amusements of his own class. Dinners and dances will bore him; he will prefer wandering through congested city districts, exchanging views on life with loafers or policemen.
Addiction to drugs or drink is not shown as strongly as with Neptune in this house. It is only to be expected when Uranus is in a watery sign or afflicted by the Moon. When it does occur, it is likely to be more violent and fatal than with Neptune, for Uranus has a continuity of purpose and a desperation Neptune lacks; where he turns to evil, he is far more to be feared.
Mystical Longings and Historical Examples
In the best condition, the unusual nature of the heart's love shows itself in mystic longings. This differs from the preoccupation with mystical subjects given by Uranus in the first, third, or ninth houses, just as the mind differs from the heart. Coleridge, Dickens, Swami Vivekananda, Savonarola, and Luther all had this predisposition; it contrasts with the mystical speculation of Goethe, who had Uranus in the third house, and with the mystical aspirations of Blake, who had it in the ninth. In one case, the mind is interested; in the other, the soul. But with the five people mentioned, the affections of the heart are involved. The very peculiar form this took in Savonarola is explained elsewhere by the aspect of Venus, but Luther's sexual irregularity is fully explained by this position itself, if the reader refers to the general remarks above. The ordinary irreligious reader today can hardly realize how startling it must have been in the Middle Ages for a monk to marry a nun; he will find a better example in the career of Madame Steinheil, which is extremely characteristic of Uranus in this house at its most efficient.
Temperament and the Scientific or Philosophical Native
It should be understood that where the native's temperament is scientific or philosophical, some of these forces will either not operate at all or their operation will not become manifest. Consider Sir William Hamilton, who has the purely intellectual sign of Gemini rising, with its lord Mercury on the cusp of Virgo not far from the fifth-house cusp, and squared for greater coldness by the Moon. Saturn is also in the fifth house, only 6 degrees from a conjunction with Uranus. It would be absurd to suppose that such a man's pleasures could resemble those of Savonarola, with Aries rising and Saturn and Venus in conjunction squaring him. Neglecting such details is a constant pitfall for the unwary student of this science.
Returning to the matter of children, it will be noted that only two of the seven people named had any children.
Public Appearances and Entertainers
The fifth house has a special connection with public appearances related to amusements; many people with this position of Uranus become public entertainers and often achieve the greatest distinction in this line. Their careers, however, are likely to be even more checkered than is usual, even in this profession.
The native should always be ready for shocks in the matter of pleasures. Great good fortune may come his way in this respect, but on the other hand, he must not take it too much to heart if the things and people he has set his affections on suddenly turn against him.