In researching yesterday's post on Moebius, I read some pieces about a movie director with whom he collaborated on several occasions: Alejandro Jodorowsky. I mentioned him to my husband, who reminded me that we have a DVD set of movies directed by this guy, "And don't you remember you refused to watch them?"
"Aaaah! Those? The ones you call "art films"? Far too arty farty for my simple tastes. But maybe now I'll have to sample them. I'll look on it as climbing my learning curve on a slightly steeper gradient. Don't bank on it though!"
Alejandro Jodorowsky is something of an oddity, not yer everyday man in the street - a good, meaty astro-subject. He's a kind of psychedelic surrealistic renaissance man.
Best known to the masses for his comic book stories in collaboration with such illustrators as Moebius (Jean Giraud) featured in yesterday's post, and for directing some rather odd cult movies such as El Topo, and The Holy Mountain.
Another of his achievements, possibly known only to those with a serious interest in the occult, is his work, with Phillipe Camoin on restoring lost details and symbolism to the Tarot de Marseille. He is a longtime student of Tarot. (LINK)
The unexpected and the unlikely have always been Jodorowsky's stock-in-trade. Born 1929 in Chile, in either Iquique or Tocopilla (sources vary), his career has ranged from staging Samuel Beckett for Mexican peasants to mounting radical theatre happenings in the streets of Paris; creating mime routines for Marcel Marceau, writing poetry; and stories of fantasy and sci-fi in collaboration with some legendary illustrators of comic strips and graphic novels.
The films, upon which Jodorowsky's legend rests, are, I understand, grotesque and full of references to religion, the occult, philosophy, psychology, art history and other movies. Some people (probably myself included) might describe them as pretentious. As one reviewer at Amazon writes of The Holy Mountain, which was, by the way, financed by John Lennon and Yoko Ono "... if someone tried to make a film like this today, they'd probably be arrested."
I think I have a general idea of what this guy is made of, let's see if it is reflected in his natal chart. Uranus prominent?
Alejandro Jodorowsky was born on 9 February 1929 in Chile - in either Iquique or Tocopilla. There are just one or two degrees difference in some planetary positions in the two location charts: 2 degrees for Sun, Mercury, Venus and 1 degree for Mars' position. For my general, broad-brush purpose I'll use Tocopilla, it's easier to spell! No time of birth is known so in the 12 noon chart below rising sign will not be accurate. Moon would have been in Capricorn until around 10PM, later than that, in Aquarius.
Sun and Mercury in Aquarius, with Mars in harmonious trine from Gemini. Now, Aquarius alone would not account for the weird and wonderful offerings of Jodorowski. The Aquarius/Gemini input relates more to his mental acuity, and his very obvious versatility, than to the interest in occult matters and general weirdness. Uranus, however, is well to the fore, being conjoined with Venus, planet of the arts, in go-getting Aries. Venus conjunct Uranus couldn't be a better trademark for Jodorowski!
Neptune, planet of dreams and creativity and all that's mysterious is in Earthy Virgo in helpful trine to Jupiter in Taurus.... and, though out of sign, with Saturn in last degrees of Sagittarius, about to move into Capricorn. That little lot forms a Grand Trine in Earth, a circuit of earthiness, not exactly what one would expect to find here - except that we do need to remember that for all his weird offerings, Mr. Jodorowski has kept his earthy feet on the ground and has conducted a successful career via several different routes. That reflects his earthy, grounded personality -about which I'd bet he'd argue and not wish to acknowledge. He's weird but weird all the way to the bank! I wonder what he thinks of astrology?
Sources
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alejandro_Jodorowsky
http://www.brightlightsfilm.com/61/61jodorowskyiv.php
http://www.shanatinglipton.com/jodo1.html
"Aaaah! Those? The ones you call "art films"? Far too arty farty for my simple tastes. But maybe now I'll have to sample them. I'll look on it as climbing my learning curve on a slightly steeper gradient. Don't bank on it though!"Alejandro Jodorowsky is something of an oddity, not yer everyday man in the street - a good, meaty astro-subject. He's a kind of psychedelic surrealistic renaissance man.
"I am famous in different countries for different things. In Spain I'm well known as a novelist; in South Korea I'm better known as the writer of comic strips; I'm known in New York for my films and elsewhere for my poetry."
Best known to the masses for his comic book stories in collaboration with such illustrators as Moebius (Jean Giraud) featured in yesterday's post, and for directing some rather odd cult movies such as El Topo, and The Holy Mountain.
Another of his achievements, possibly known only to those with a serious interest in the occult, is his work, with Phillipe Camoin on restoring lost details and symbolism to the Tarot de Marseille. He is a longtime student of Tarot. (LINK)
"In Paris people know me also for reading Tarot cards. Every Wednesday when I'm in Paris I read Tarot cards in a bar opposite my house."
The unexpected and the unlikely have always been Jodorowsky's stock-in-trade. Born 1929 in Chile, in either Iquique or Tocopilla (sources vary), his career has ranged from staging Samuel Beckett for Mexican peasants to mounting radical theatre happenings in the streets of Paris; creating mime routines for Marcel Marceau, writing poetry; and stories of fantasy and sci-fi in collaboration with some legendary illustrators of comic strips and graphic novels.
The films, upon which Jodorowsky's legend rests, are, I understand, grotesque and full of references to religion, the occult, philosophy, psychology, art history and other movies. Some people (probably myself included) might describe them as pretentious. As one reviewer at Amazon writes of The Holy Mountain, which was, by the way, financed by John Lennon and Yoko Ono "... if someone tried to make a film like this today, they'd probably be arrested." I think I have a general idea of what this guy is made of, let's see if it is reflected in his natal chart. Uranus prominent?
Alejandro Jodorowsky was born on 9 February 1929 in Chile - in either Iquique or Tocopilla. There are just one or two degrees difference in some planetary positions in the two location charts: 2 degrees for Sun, Mercury, Venus and 1 degree for Mars' position. For my general, broad-brush purpose I'll use Tocopilla, it's easier to spell! No time of birth is known so in the 12 noon chart below rising sign will not be accurate. Moon would have been in Capricorn until around 10PM, later than that, in Aquarius.
Sun and Mercury in Aquarius, with Mars in harmonious trine from Gemini. Now, Aquarius alone would not account for the weird and wonderful offerings of Jodorowski. The Aquarius/Gemini input relates more to his mental acuity, and his very obvious versatility, than to the interest in occult matters and general weirdness. Uranus, however, is well to the fore, being conjoined with Venus, planet of the arts, in go-getting Aries. Venus conjunct Uranus couldn't be a better trademark for Jodorowski!Neptune, planet of dreams and creativity and all that's mysterious is in Earthy Virgo in helpful trine to Jupiter in Taurus.... and, though out of sign, with Saturn in last degrees of Sagittarius, about to move into Capricorn. That little lot forms a Grand Trine in Earth, a circuit of earthiness, not exactly what one would expect to find here - except that we do need to remember that for all his weird offerings, Mr. Jodorowski has kept his earthy feet on the ground and has conducted a successful career via several different routes. That reflects his earthy, grounded personality -about which I'd bet he'd argue and not wish to acknowledge. He's weird but weird all the way to the bank! I wonder what he thinks of astrology?
"I don't have a nationality. My Country is my shoes."
"One day, someone showed me a glass of water that was half full. And he said, "Is it half full or half empty?" So I drank the water. No more problem."
— Alejandro Jodorowsky
Sources
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alejandro_Jodorowsky
http://www.brightlightsfilm.com/61/61jodorowskyiv.php
http://www.shanatinglipton.com/jodo1.html
I remember that great film of his entitled “La Montana Sagrada”, “The Holy Mountain”
ReplyDeleteWell, now that you have actually seem Holy Mountain all the way through, you can see you were right. We can watch El Topo any time you want.
ReplyDeleteAnonymous ~ It sounds as though you have a higher opinion of the film than I do. ;-)
ReplyDeleteWe watched it yesterday evening.
I'll probably do a post about it when we retuen home. Away at prez.
anyjazz ~~~ Holy Mountain was all I feared it would be and more!
ReplyDeleteEsoteric symbolism my arse! I consider myself intelligent and informed enough to recognise drug-induced BS when I see it, and to be able to tell when an emperor has no clothes.
I stand by my comment in the post above: "Weird all the way to the bank".