Thursday, April 26, 2007

Is there more fun in the early degrees?


Things have been somewhat serious of late. I'd thought of adding a cartoon today, by way of a change, but sidetracked while looking for a suitable "funny", I started to look up the birthdates of a few old favourite cartoonists, then compared charts. There is a common astrological factor - details below. Cartooning also appears to be a predominantly male preserve. Why should I be surprised - they never do grow up!

From the British press of the 1950s and 60s Wally Fawkes aka Trog ("Flook") 21 June 1924, Vancouver, Canada.


The incomparable Carl Giles ("Giles"). 29 September 1916, Islington, London, England. Giles is the odd one out of this group of 5 because he didn't specialise in cartoon strips, he put everything into one big drawing. You had to study it carefully to see all the fun.This example is too small , but the best I could manage.
From the USA, the legendary Walt Kelly ("Pogo"), 25 Aug 1913, Philadelphia PA
Charles Schulz ("Peanuts") 26 Nov 1922, Minneapolis, Minnesota and
Bill Watterson ("Calvin and Hobbes") 5 July 1958 Washington DC
Berkeley Breathed ("Opus", "Bloom County", "Outland") 21 June 1957, Encino, California.
Do they have any astrological factor in common? No birth times are available, so scope is limited.
I noticed, and it's not necessarily astrologically significant - but it might be -they were all born with the Sun or Mercury on the edge of, or in early degrees of the zodiac sign, and often there are other planets in early degrees too.

Wally Fawkes: SUN 00* Cancer
Walt Kelly: SUN 1* Virgo. Pluto 00*Cancer, Uranus 4*Aquarius
Charles Schulz: SUN 3* Sagittarius. Venus 1*Sagittarius, Jupiter 6* Scorpio.
Carl Giles: SUN 5* Libra, Jupiter 3* Taurus, Pluto 4*Cancer
Bill Watterson: (a bit later) SUN 13*Cancer, but Mercury slipped into 1* Leo, Pluto 00*Virgo, Neptune 2* Scorpio.
Berkeley Breathed: SUN 00*Cancer, Mars 00*Leo, Uranus 5*Leo

All this proves nothing, of course, it could be pure coincidence. I chose the 6 cartoonists because I like them, and they are well known. I wonder, though, could the early degrees of all zodiac signs carry some qualities of Aries, first sign of the zodiac.....a childlike, fun-loving flavour, which might lead an artist towards cartooning ?

How could I forget "The Far Side" by Gary Larson, born 14 August 1950, Tacoma, Washington ?
The Sun and Mercury are not in early degrees here though. But Mars is at 2 Scorpio, Jupiter at 3 Pisces, Uranus at 7 Cancer,the Nodes at 00 Aries/Libra. The Moon is more than likely to be in early degrees - 5 Virgo at noon.

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