Reed, Reds & Radicals

In one of last week's posts I mentioned we'd watched the old British movie I'm Alright Jack, a satirically funny film about trades unions' power, a mild dose of comedic communism from Peter Sellers, and highlighting corruptness of the "boss" classes. Coincidentally, or synchronistically - on Saturday evening TCM, running a series of Oscar winning movies, showed one I'd never seen, or even heard of: Reds, co-written and directed by Warren Beatty in 1981. Beatty also plays the leading role of journalist, poet and radical John (Jack) Reed. It's the story of Reed, his wife Louise Bryant and their activities in radical left-wing politics and involvement in the Bolshevik Revolution in Russia in 1917. It's over 3 hours long. I thoroughly enjoyed it, felt quite amazed that back then there were people in the USA who dared to call themselves socialists, radicals and even - shock-horror - communists! All of these have since become dirty words, bandied about as insults. (Below: John Reed & Louise Bryant)




I was curious about Jack Reed's astrology. Warren Beatty's portrayal might owe a lot to his imagination, but the bare bones of the story are factual, so Reed had to have been an unusual character. He had a short life, but an exceptionally active and adventurous one, died of Typhus in Moscow- a few days before his 33rd birthday. He was buried, as a hero, beside the Kremlin wall - the only American ever to have been honored in this way.

The late Howard Zinn wrote about Reds and Jack Reed: - Discovering John Reed

It was bad enough that they (Reed & Bryant) and their remarkable friends-Max Eastman, Emma Goldman, Lincoln Steffens, Margaret Sanger- spoke out for sexual freedom in a country dominated by Christian righteousness, or opposed militarization in a time of jingoism and war, or advocated socialism when business and government were clubbing and shooting strikers, or welcomed what seemed to them the first proletarian revolution in history.

What was worse was that they refused to remain mere writers and intellectuals, assailing the system with words; they walked picket lines, loved freely, defied government committees, went to jail. They declared for revolution in their actions as well as their art, ignoring those cautions against commitment offered, in any generation, by the voyeurs of social movements.

John Reed could not be forgiven by the Establishment (nor even by some of its critics, like Walter Lippmann and Eugene O'Neill) for refusing to separate art and insurgency, for being not only rebellious in his prose but imaginative in his activism. He saw revolt as not mere fulmination, but fun, not just analysis but adventure. This caused some of his liberal friends to take him less seriously (Lippmann spoke of his "inordinate desire to be arrested"), not understanding that, to the power elite of the country, protest joined to imagination was dangerous, courage combined with wit was no joke. Grim rebels can be jailed, but the highest treason, for which there is no adequate punishment, is to make rebellion attractive.

Born in Portland, Oregon on 22 October 1887 (time of birth unknown so 12 noon chart is used.)

At first glance, it's not exactly what I expected to see. Sun in Libra, Moon in Capricorn (whatever the birth time) doesn't immediately seem like the kind of guy who'd want to put his life at risk in a bloody revolution on foreign soil. Sure, there's a challenging square aspect between natal Mars and Pluto, but this isn't nearly enough to translate into the kind of lifestyle Jack Reed led. Mercury and Jupiter in intense Scorpio fit the passionate and determined pursuit of his ideals - but still not enough to describe this extraordinary character. Uranus, the rebel planet, the planet I'd have expected to be prominent, lay in the same sign as his natal Sun, but not close enough to be considered conjoined - though it is in semi-sextile to Jupiter - more on Jupiter coming up......

Let's take a magnifying glass to his Sun and Jupiter. At 29 degrees of Libra, Sun is in the third decan, ruled by Mercury according to one method. That's appropriate for a journalist, one who has two personal planets in Virgo, also ruled by Mercury the writers' planet. By the Chaldean system, third decan of Libra is ruled by Jupiter, planet of excess, travel and expansion. Given his involvement in foreign affairs this also could be seen as appropriate. Natal Jupiter, in 1887, lay smack-dab on fixed star Zuben Elgenubi (Southern Scale or Southern Claw of the scorpion). This star had a bad press from ancient astrologers, considered unfortunate whatever planet it conjoined. However, I found one interpretation of Zuben Elgenubi which does fit the present case well(see here)

ZUBEN ELGENUB -- 15SCO03I -- #19975 -- mag2.9
The alpha star of Libra and the southern scale. Both stars of the scales of Libra can be considered twins and, therefore, represent the polarity of a concept. The concept is of social reform and this star, although traditionally seen as the shadowy, more difficult star, is actually the one linked to the positive side of social awareness. When this star is strongly emphasised, the individual has a desire to be constructively involved in social reform.
Influence: Positive social reform
Ptolemy - the Southern Scale Jupiter & Mercury Medically, this double star has Mars/Sat characteristics. If conj a malefic, it may present health problems.

I still feel this chart doesn't adequately describe its owner. Maybe I'm missing something.

Sun and Jupiter lay within the area of the zodiac known to ancient astrologers as Via Combusta (The Burning Road): mid-Libra to mid-Scorpio. Reasons for the name of this stretch of the zodiac have been put forward by modern astrologers. Some think it was so called because the Sun and Moon are at their weakest here, others assume it was the presence of "malefic" fixed stars in the area. Jack Reed's lifepath led to a "burning road", sure enough, terminating in an untimely death.