Dorothy Parker - Bittersweet Virgo cynic ?

DOROTHY PARKER Born 22 August 1893, West End, New Jersey, at 9.50 PM.

This is the only female among my 'Super Six'. There were other female writers among the Pluto in Gemini generation, of course, but none who displayed the wit of Dorothy Parker.

What seems significant in Dorothy's natal chart?

According to a couple of sources on-line Ms Parker's birth time was 9.50 pm, which puts her ascendant in Taurus. It's said that the ascendant can give clues as to personal appearance. In this case it doesn't. Dorothy Parker is described as fragile looking, doll-like, almost elfin, none of which calls Taurus to mind ! From what I've read about her personality, Taurus seems to have been well-eclipsed by Virgo and Gemini.

The Sun had just passed into Virgo when Dorothy Parker was born - if the stated birth time is accurate. Sun 00* Virgo, in addition there are 2 other planets at 00*. Venus at 00* Libra, and Jupiter at 00* Gemini. Some astrologers consider that the first and last degrees of a sign add emphasis. I'm not convinced about that, but do feel there may be some significance here, especially in the case of Virgo and Gemini which I feel make up her "signature". It was as though the Sun and Jupiter had struggled to get into their proper places just in time for the birth!

Pluto and Neptune are both found in Gemini along with Jupiter, in 1st house. These 3 Gemini planets, plus Sun and Mars in Virgo - all 5 ruled by Mercury, must surely account for Dorothy's writing skills ! Added to this, the Sun and Mercury are in mutual reception (they each lie in the sign of the other's rulership), adding further emphasis.

Saturn lies in Libra with Venus, Mars in Virgo, with the Sun. Mercury in Leo. Moon in Capricorn. Uranus in Scorpio.

Here's a coincidence - Sinclair Lewis had Sun conjunct Mars, two writers who were not averse to expressing views which might not endear them to all. Writers with a fighting spirit!

Venus, Saturn and Uranus all lie within 6th house (Virgo's natural house) - I suspect these placements, allied to her Sun/Mars in Virgo are responsible for Dorothy's naturally critical and acidic attitudes. She definitely had a sharp tongue!

There are two Yods in Dorothy's chart, one pointing to Pluto in Gemini (of course) the other to Moon in Capricorn. I wish I were more expert in the art of interpretation - I just know that there is a lot of significance here . The two Yods seem to complement one another somehow. The Moon is part of the sextile in one and at the apex of the other. This has got to relate to her emotional traumas being released through writing, perhaps?

Dorothy Parker is remembered most for her poems. She was not particularly proud of them, but they have survived in public memory long after her short stories and other writing has been forgotten. Her screenplays have survived. I was not aware until recently that the screenplay of "A Star is Born" was her work, and nominated for an academy award. Three different versions of the story have been made, and have entertained three different generations. It's a bittersweet tale, the kind she knew well from experience.

Dorothy's poems are mainly reflections of her own disappointments and frustrations. She had a sad childhood, losing both parents at an early age. This shadow seems to have followed her throughout her life. Her lovers and spouses only seemed to add to her distress. Dorothy attempted suicide 3 times, eventually took to alcohol, and like Sinclair Lewis died alone in a New York hotel, aged 73. The New York Times printed one of its longest ever obituaries as a tribute. She left her estate to Martin Luther King Jnr, though she had never met him, and he had never heard of her! She supported many left-wing causes, civil rights campaigns and at one point joined the communist party, and found herself on the US government's blacklist.

I don't pretend to understand Dorothy Parker. I probably would not even have liked her in person, yet her poetry and wit have always appealed to me.

Coda
There's little in taking or giving,
There's little in water or wine;
This living, this living, this living
Was never a project of mine.
Oh, hard is the struggle, and sparse is
The gain of the one at the top,
For art is a form of catharsis,
And love is a permanent flop,
And work is the province of cattle,
And rest's for a clam in a shell,
So I'm thinking of throwing the battle ---
Would you kindly direct me to hell?

Second Love
"So surely is she mine," you say, and turn
Your quick and steady mind to harder things ---
To bills and bonds and talk of what men earn ---
And whistle up the stair, of evenings.
And do you see a dream behind my eyes,
Or ask a simple question twice of me ---
"Thus women are," you say; for men are wise
And tolerant, in their security.
How shall I count the midnights I have known
When calm you turn to me, nor feel me start,
To find my easy lips upon your own
And know my breast beneath your rhythmic heart.
Your god defer the day I tell you this:
My lad, my lad, it is not you I kiss!

She said: "That would be a good thing for them to cut on my tombstone: Wherever she went, including here, it was against her better judgment."

In fact, the epitaph she later chose was "Excuse my dust". According to Marion Meade, in an article at bookforum.com , Dorothy Parker's ashes remained in a cabinet in a Wall Street office for 15 years after her death before they were eventually laid to rest in Baltimore near her parents' grave.

So two of my "Super Six" had sad, lonely and probably alcoholic-soaked endings. Does it go with the territory ?