Diving deep, biding your time, secret treasures: Henri Cosquer's nativity
In which we take a look at the birth chart of the man who discovered a prehistoric cave underwater
I recently had the opportunity to visit Cosquer Méditerranée, a place where one is wheeled around a replica of the Cosquer cave and its prehistoric rock art engravings and paintings. I wondered what would show up in the nativity of Henri Cosquer, the French professional diver who discovered the cave now bearing his name — a discovery that is no small feat, since the entrance is located underwater.
What is Cosquer cave?
The Cosquer Cave is a decorated Paleolithic cave located in the Calanque de la Triperie, in Marseille. Calanques are narrow, steep-walled inlets found in the Mediterranean coast — and they are quite beautiful if I do say so myself!
Cosquer cave is, to this day, the only decorated cave whose entrance is located underwater: the only entry point for humans is an underwater siphon, located 37 meters (over 120 ft) below sea level. When the cave was frequented several tens of thousands of years ago, this entrance was not submerged; sea levels have risen since then.
First of all, isn’t this pretty cool? An ancient cave with an underwater secret entrance! Right? But it doesn’t stop there: Cosquer cave is truly remarkable in the variety of art it contains. While it is estimated that four-fifths of the cave’s wall art have been lost to rising waters, the remaining amount is stunning to say the least. Cosquer cave seems to have been frequented over a very long period of time, and over 500 instances of cave art can still be seen, dating back to two periods during the Upper Paleolithic, from around 27,000 years BP and 19,000 years BP. There are numerous hand stencils, and 177 animal drawings have been counted, with impressive variety; horses, ibex, deer, bison, aurochs, seals, great auks, jellyfish among others.
I found myself very moved during my visit of Cosquer Méditerranée. Despite not being in the presence of the actual prehistoric engravings, I felt the ancient gravity of the place quite strongly. How humbling, and how beautiful. I can barely imagine the solemnity of gazing upon these paintings, knowing they haven’t been seen by any humans in tens of thousands of years.
Perhaps take a few seconds, or even a minute, to let that sink in?
And if any astrological signature comes to mind, note it down for later!
The man behind the name, Henri Cosquer, was born in 1950 in Martigues, a French city also known as “Venise provençale”, the youngest of seven children. Henri starts swimming when four, and diving when twelve (fellow astronerds might like to note that for the latter, this means the year of his first Jupiter return, as well as a first House profection year from the Ascendant!).
Discovering the cave
A professional diver, Cosquer hears about the entrance to the cave in 1985, at 34 years old. It took many more years to get to the actual cave and its paintings; indeed, to get there, one needs to get through the underwater entrance tunnel, over 150 meters (492 ft) long. This is very dangerous diving, even for a well-trained professional.
In 1985, Cosquer progressively explores the underwater tunnel alone, and in the company of a friend, using an Ariadne’s thread; they reach a part of the tunnel where it gets narrower and takes a turn that leads to the subterranean lake. Cosquer goes back to explore the tunnel alone in 1985, enough to see from below that there is a lake, but his light gives out and he has to go back — how terrifying the experience must have been, to have to make his way back to the shore without light by himself!
I should stress again how dangerous this whole enterprise was. Diving alone in general is unadvised by specialists, moreso in unknown places where there is little visibility. I would go as far to say that to be a trail-blazer when it comes to diving means moving in extreme proximity to your own death.
In this specific case, even with trustworthy equipment, a single bad move in the underwater tunnel could be very consequential; kicking the ground slightly would make sediment rise and clout visibility for several hours. It’s easy to underestimate how difficult it is to find one’s way underwater in the dark. Now add to that the stress of having limited oxygen, knowing you don’t have all the time in the world to somehow find your way to the surface… Deploying an Ariadne’s thread is absolutely crucial, truly life-saving!
In 1990, Cosquer takes two diver-speleologists, Bernard and Marc Van Espen, to the entrance. They go up the tunnel, reach the subterranean lake Cosquer saw, but their Ariadne’s thread is too short for them to emerge within the air bubble, and they have to go back.
In June 1991, Marc Van Espen comes back to dive with Cosquer, and on July 9th 1991, a small expedition is constituted to reach the cave and explore it in more depth: Henri Cosquer takes his niece Cendrine Cosquer, Yann Gogan and Pascale Oriol. During this dive, they spot a hand stencil for the first time. Within the next few weeks, they continue exploring the cave, uncovering more rock art.
The discovery of the cave is only signaled to competent authorities following a tragic incident — three divers die trying to explore the tunnel, presumably having heard about it. Henri Cosquer and Yann Gogan help recover the bodies. Two days later, on September 3rd 1991, Henri Cosquer declares the discovery (without informing the rest of the small diving team, but that’s a story for another day). Experts debate the authenticity of the prehistoric art, and eventually acknowledge it as legitimate: on September 2nd 1992, the cave is classified as a historical monument.
The natal promise
We’re immensely lucky to have reliable birth data for Henri Cosquer, collected by De Jabrun, rated AA! He was born on October 4th, 1950 at 22h00 in Martigues, France.
Here’s a visual of his birth chart, generated using LUNA software.
Right off the bat: this is a night chart, the Sun has already set. The doctrine of sect tells us the Moon takes on particular importance in this case, which I’ll get back to.
Rising from the depths: the Ascendant and its ruler
My starting point with any chart which has a decent birth time is to look at the Ascendant; which sign is rising and what’s the ruler doing, is there a particular fixed star rising, which decan is it, etc. There is so much to get into just with the Ascendant, and it is a very significant part of any chart. In the approach that forms the foundation of my practice (neo-Hellenistic astrology), the Ascendant is not just appearances or any kind of mask we might wear, it is a place of life, vitality, representing the person whose nativity it is — the Hour-Marker, telling us what time it is, bridging sky and earth. Hence, in Henri Cosquer’s birth chart, the Ascendant and the planet ruling the sign of the Ascendant particularly represent Henri Cosquer as a person.
However, before I get into that, I have to point out one of the first things that struck me when looking at the Ascendant: its degree, 27° Gemini, was the projected degree of Polaris, Alpha Ursae Minoris at the time. While I tend to focus more on the method of parans when it comes to fixed stars, I’m not one to neglect projected degrees either, and in this case, I find there’s something really beautiful about this conjunction.
Polaris has a pretty special role in the sky, as the North Pole star: it is the axis around which the sky turns. This makes Polaris a prime navigation star, incredibly helpful to orient oneself.
Bernadette Brady says of Polaris that it gives a flavour of path-finder. And isn’t this incredibly literal for Henri Cosquer? He discovered a prehistoric cave: I don’t think it a stretch to say he contributed to guide humanity to a part of our heritage in doing so, and how incredibly poetic that his Ascendant degree is connected to Thee Guiding Star!
Now, let’s turn to the Rising sign, Gemini. It is the planet Mercury which is considered to rule over Gemini, so we’ll look to Mercury as representing Henri Cosquer.
Mercury is located in its other domicile, which is also the sign of its exaltation: Virgo. Whether looking to Whole Sign Houses or Placidus, Mercury sits in the 4th House, cozied up with the Lot of Fortune, Saturn, and the South Node (as well as Venus, going by Placidus). That’s a loaded 4th House!
One of the ancient names for the 4th House is hupogeion, "Subterranean": it is the place of anti-culmination, the most buried part of the chart. The cusp of the 4th House is the IC, which represents the place most contrary to visibility within the sky at that moment, opposite the Midheaven.
The significations given to the 4th House are linked to this notion of invisibility; place of origin, family and family of origin, home, real estate, buildings, earth, ancestors and tombs, buried treasures, mines, natal country, private life, secrets, emotional foundations.
This could hardly get more literal for Henri Cosquer regarding buried treasure, natal land and ancestors! Real estate also seems relevant to me; where the 2nd House indicates money and resources that can be moved, the 4th indicates what we consider non-moveable possessions, including land and buildings. While the Cosquer cave doesn’t belong to Henri Cosquer per se, it still is a huge resource for him — in terms of renown, of course, but also in a more tangible manner, financially. He was compensated for his discovery, he trademarked the name “grotte Cosquer” which the Provence Alpes Côte d’Azur region then bought for 25 000 euros, and he gets 10 cents per entry in the replica during twenty years.
Back to the Ascendant ruler, Mercury, and its neighbours ; Mercury is a planet of communication, closely associated to breath. Right next to Mercury is Saturn, the slowest moving planet visible to the naked eye, linked to (among many other things) slowing down, patience, and what is old, aging and desolate. The South Node is also associated to what we inherit from the past, to old things, ancestral things. I find it fascinating to see this combination in the nativity of a diver — a profession which requires great mastery of one’s breath! — who made his way with much patience and perseverance within a secret, extremely ancient cave. Truly very, very on the nose! Looking to the decan where Mercury, Saturn, the North Node and the Lot of Fortune are located, it gets funnier: Virgo III is called “The Sarcophagus” by Austin Coppock. This place in the zodiac, from 19° to 29° Virgo, is associated to decline, decay, and long-term consequences beyond death. Thus we have quite a number of indicators for the importance of ancient things, hidden things, secret things, that require patience and slowness.
When it comes to the themes of exploration, discovery and eminence, Henri Cosquer’s nativity speaks loudly too; Jupiter having just culminated, Uranus in the 1st Placidus House, the Lot of Spirit in Aries I supported by a trine from its ruler Mars in Sagittarius which is applying to conjoin Antares, Mercury in paran to Orion and Taurus stars as well as Sirius… In the interest of not making this post overly long, I have chosen not to expand on these, but there is one last thing I do want to touch on because I find it really cute.
Remember the bit about the Ariadne’s thread being a absolute necessity to get through the tunnel? I looked up asteroid Ariadne (43) in Cosquer’s birth chart.
At 12°57’ Cancer, it is conjunct his natal Moon in the 2nd House, and spot on the projected degree of Sirius — the brightest fixed star in the sky. And speaking of asteroids, there is one named Cosquer (45027), which is conjunct his natal Pluto in the third! In my own chart, Cosquer is closely conjunct a natal placement in the 9th House of astrology — clearly, the Universe has jokes.
Sources & references
Hellenistic Astrology: The Study of Fate and Fortune, Chris Brennan
Ancient Astrology in Theory and Practice, Demetra George
Brady's Book of Fixed Stars, Bernadette Brady
Star and Planet Combinations, Bernadette Brady
36 Faces, Austin Coppock
Exploring the Decans, Austin Coppock
The Archetypal Universe, Renn Butler
Grotte Cosquer, Wikipédia
Henri Cosquer, Wikipédia
L'incroyable destin de la grotte Cosquer, Pedro Lima
Thank you for reading thus far, and do feel free to leave a comment with any remarks or questions; I’d be most curious to hear what grabs your eye in Henri Cosquer’s chart!
Until the next time with more starry nerdiness, hopefully soon ✨
"Yes, I have Gemini placements." 😂
What an interesting biography. I love how you connected Mercury/breath + Saturn/slowness to the profession of diving, that' so poetic. Thank you for such a thorough article!