Halloweeny Beasties

It's not clear whether that litany originated long ago in the churches of Scotland... or was it Cornwall? A prayer to be recited on 31 October, the vigil, or eve, of All Hallows (All Saints Day), the eve now popularly known as Halloween. Most writers in the USA have dropped the apostrophe (Hallowe'en), I'll follow suit.

Scotland or Cornwall? Opinions vary. Scotland is the extreme north of the UK, Cornwall the extreme south-west, both areas tend to retain traditions for the longest time, the sweeping brush of modernity taking longer to reach there to clear cobwebs than other, more accessible parts of Britain. Scotland or Cornwall - either could be correct....or neither. The saying could just as easily have been dreamed up by some Victorian entrepreneur to help sell Halloween to The Great Unwashed.

Halloween: a special night during the time our Sun is traversing zodiac sign Scorpio, whose ruler is Pluto, planet of darkness, power and transformation. How better to represent all of this, cheerily and safely within the real world, than to do dress-up - a very easy way to transform ourselves - then use October's crop of pumpkins for the carving of frightening faces to be lit by candle, so to dispel the darkness?

At Common Dreams - an inspired piece by New York poet Phil Rockstroh appeared this week, using the vocabulary and images of Halloween to good effect, especially considering that in the USA, in a few days' time, the population will be voting in mid-term elections. From some of those log-leggedy beasties running for office, I return to that old litany and say "Good Lord deliver us!"

Phil Rockstroh's full article can be read HERE, a sample follows.

Every Day Is Halloween in Empire: The Zombie Apocalypse of Duopoly.

by Phil Rockstroh.

The US mass media is rife with imagery of vampires, werewolves, zombies and other symbols of suppressed rage, insatiable craving and submerged terror. These narratives, resonate with the warnings implicit in nightmares, reveal the culture's tormented soul. By foisting imagery so arresting that it cannot be ignored, nightmares break through the ego's wall of denial; their disturbing imagery can be read as a wakeup call from the psyche that augurs warning and insists upon change............................................................

On a cultural level, a profusion of nightmare imagery warns: paradigm shift or perish. Accordingly, the hack-scripted B-movie of the current political system could be titled: Duopoly Of The Dead: The Democratic/Republican Zombie Apocalypse. By their almost exclusive devotion to maintaining the status quo, these hulking, putrefying parties of the undead shamble through public life … risen from the mouldering grave to tear the flesh from the present and eat the brains of the living. Neither party questions the zombie values of empire. Hence, in a soul-defying attempt to reanimate, by imperial might, the decomposing corpse of US power and influence, both parties are culpable for the senseless deaths of multitudes worldwide.

This zombie empire and its planet-decimating, neo-liberal death cult are marching toward the boneyard of history. What an empire contributes to the world is equivalent to the carnage an army of zombies inflicts upon the scenery of B-movies. Zombies (neither living nor dead creatures that create exponentially larger numbers of themselves) are an apt metaphor for the entropy inherent to closed systems -- the exponentially destructive force of The Second Law of Thermodynamics.

Still an' all it's fun for the kids, and for us, as we open the door, bowl of candies in hand, and see the faces of the tiniest ones filled with excitement and puzzlement, wondering what the heck this is all about....but loving the sweeties involved.



Spotted in yards this afternoon

Arty Farty Friday ~ Niki de Saint Phalle

Today would have been the birthday of Niki de Saint Phalle, who died in 2001. Her name might not be immediately recognisable to some passing readers; it was new to me, but led to an interesting wander around the net.

This artist and sculptor was born on 29 October 1930 in Neuilly-sur-Seine, near Paris, France. Her parents suffered losses in the Great Depression and the family moved to the USA, when Niki was 3 years old. She grew into a beautiful woman, started out during her teen years modelling for Vogue and other magazines - made the covers of Life and Vogue before age 20.


She married young, (and older, and divorced) had two children but typical family values of her time - a pattern of male domination, domestication of women and separation of races seriously irked her. Forced into this pattern she suffered a nervous breakdown and was encouraged to paint as therapy.

Niki's art was largely self-taught, though as time went on and she had moved back to Paris, she mixed with some of the art world's best known names, and was clearly influenced and assisted by studying their work. Her artwork followed a rather strange evolution - from naive style oils and collages featuring violence, guns or knives, she went on to present what have become known as her (probably satirical)"Shooting Paintings" - with parcels of paint hidden under a plaster surface of the picture and exploded by being shot at with a 2.2 rifle.

She said:
“I was ready to kill. As victims I chose my own paintings....The paintings were shedding blood. The white surface was covered with splashes of colour. The paintings came alive.”


Next came her "Nanas", representation of womanhood, brightly-coloured, archetypal female forms, life-size to larger than life - to gargantuan : brides, motherhood, decorated with mirrors and mosaics.

(Above: Three Graces)




Then came The Tarot Garden. After visiting Gaudi's Parc Güell in Barcelona she decided to construct a similar sculpture park, but this time created by a woman. In 1979, she acquired some land in Tuscany, north-west of Rome, and along the coast. The garden, Giardino dei Tarocchi, contains sculptures of the symbols from the major arcana of a Tarot deck.

(Sculpture representing The Empress Tarot card.)

Work on the garden began in 1979, it was officially opened to the public in May 1998 after some 20 years of work. During construction the sculptor lived inside the massive sphinx-like Empress sculpture, fitted out appropriately with bed, bath etc.
There is also a deck of Tarot cards designed by Niki. (Link)




As well as her marriages Niki maintained a 30-year relationship with Swiss-born sculptor Jean Tinguely. They were originally inspired by love, later by shared artistic sensibilities. They came from very different backgrounds - he from pure working-class, she from an aristocratic family. It was said of them that they were strikingly good-looking as well as rebellious, and that both had oversized egos.





A smidgin of astrology



I say "a smidgin" because I'm not going to get bogged down in detail, I'll comment only on what stands out, to me, in the context of her art and what we know about her personality. For a passing reader who is deeply into all the astrological nooks and crannies - there's this: by highly respected astrologer Liz Greene at astro.com
Psychological Horoscope Analysis for Niki De Saint Phalle

One indication of the oversized ego mentioned above: Scorpio Sun slap bang on a Scorpio ascendant - if time of birth, 6:42 AM, given by astro.com is accurate.

Moon at 3 degrees Aquarius - first decan of Aquarius - the Uranian (rebellious) decan. Sun/Moon/rising sign all in Fixed signs - a determined and stubborn nature for sure! Uranus (Aquarius's ruler) in helpful sextile to Aquarius Moon.....pinpointing her rebellious side, her refusal to comply with the "typical family values" of her younger days, when men were men and women were in the kitchen.

Jupiter exactly conjunct Pluto is a good fit. Jupiter represents anything oversized and exaggerated, and combined with a sense of power via Pluto this represents, rather well, the best-known works of this artist - their gargantuan proportions, demanding attention. As this Jup/Plu conjunction is in Cancer, a very feminine, maternal, fecund-type sign, it fits especially well her "Nana" sculptures.

One more thing - a Grand Trine in Fire signs links Uranus in Aries/Mars in Leo/ Venus in Sagittarius, forming a dynamic circuit blending art, energy, determination, and the unexpected. It could hardly have worked out better!



Other large sulptures by Niki de Saint Phalle are exhibited in public places in Europe and the United States. This one is in San Diego, California at the Convention Center


(Link)

"The sculpture I have proposed to the Convention Center is the image of one person in all his or her magnificence and joy, which is represented by its brightly colored glass flickering in the sunlight. I also show the darker image of the self in the gray and black tones. There is the feminine side with the longer hair and the masculine side. It is the coming together, the integration of the self. It is a Western interpretation of Ying Yang. The windows in the head allow us to see Nature and the sea, representing an awareness of our surroundings. The mirrors will give, like the wheel of life, a sense of perpetual movement. Each time of day will be reflected in the mirrors. The sunset, the sunrise. This sculpture also represents my personal struggle to integrate the different sides of my personality. This is a challenge we all face."

Next 2 from Grotte (Grotto) de Niki de Saint Phalle in Hanover, Germany











Gwendolyn





Nana Upsidedown



Guardian Angel




Sungod



A lithograph "Le Couple"




There's a Niki de Saint Phalle perfume - discussed in a blog HERE - a version of it is still available.
There is also a set of perfumes, one for each zodiac sign, under her name - though whether she was involved with this set personally isn't clear.

HORSE CHAT

I was beginning to suspect that 2010 must be the Year of the Horse in Chinese astrology, about which I know little to nothing. As it happens, it isn't - it's the Year of the Tiger. Never mind!

The movie Secretariat - tale about a real-life wonder racehorse is doing the rounds in the USA just now. A couple of days after seeing that movie we noticed, on offer on TV, a 1979 movie The Black Stallion, adapted from a novel by Walter Farley. In this film, after many adventures the leading character takes part in a climactic scene, a horse race, very similar to that in Secretariat. Then, several days later we watched our weekly dose of Mentalist (Simon Baker - very drool-worthy) and we were presented with...well whaddya know....an episode about horses with a big race as its climax! Some coordination between the powers-that-be in movies and TV had gone on there I'd wager - a way of whetting appetites!

On a day trip a few weeks ago, before Secretariat and The Black Stallion and the Mentalist episode, I had spied, in an antique store, a large and lovely decorative horsehead, carved in wood and embellished in brass and copper. The store was having a discount sale (aren't stores always having discount sales?) This item had been marked down three times and was on sale at less than half its original price. I noticed he was looking at me with a mournful eye - that puppy-in-pet-shop look . I just had to have him. Later, after seeing Secretariat, I have decided to give my horse a name : Proletariat.

As I bought and named Proletariat when Sun was in Libra, that can act as his Sun sign. There's a fun article, Astrology for Horses by Kim Hann-Devries, HERE. I find that:

The Venusian influence upon the physique of the Libra-sun horse is evident in its natural beauty, balance and poise. (Well I think he's very beautiful!) This horse is also innately outgoing and charming. More than anything, this horse wants to be popular ....Your Libra-sun horse will go out of its way to please you and accommodate all your wishes (Really - really - like a magic lamp?) so it is important that you appreciate this, and treat it fairly and justly.....

Proletariat from both sides, as he guards our entrance.

Wish granted ~ Richard Grossinger ~ Words of Wisdom

A wish I once made, in passing, was granted the other day. In a June post from 2009 I wrote:

I'd love to know Dr Grossinger's birth date, but the internet, so far, has given up only that he was born in 1944 and in New York City. I feel sure he must have some Scorpio magic threading through his natal chart - or Pisces, perhaps.

The writer in question: Dr. Richard Grossinger who has been mentioned in three archived posts - my wish appeared in the second of these:

The Night Sky
Star Cult of the '50s and '60s
Scorpio to 2012 via William Lonsdale.

Seeking inspiration t'other day I picked up Dr Grossinger's The Night Sky once again, with a view to finding something for a new "Astrologers' Words of Wisdom" post....even though Dr Grossinger isn't a practicing astrologer. He certainly has studied the subject though, and its history, and in depth. I was struck once again by the writer's beautiful style, which I'd admired before. Wondering whether he has written anything recently I Googled for information.

Lo and behold ! - Dr Richard Grossinger now has a website. What's more, his birth date appears in the biography section:

"Welcome to my website. It was officially launched on March 18, 2010."

Born in New York City on 3 November 1944.

I was right about Scorpio then! I'd sensed a similarity in writing style to that of the late Carl Sagan who had Sun/Mercury/Venus/Jupiter in Scorpio at 16, 3, 14 & 6 degrees respectively. Dr. Grossinger has Sun Mars and Mercury at 11, 14 and 19 degrees of Scorpio.

Dr Grossinger's natal Moon would have been in Gemini (sign of the communictor) whatever time of day or night he was born .

So, licking my index finger, I mark up a point for myself in the air. Like the A-Team: "I love it when a plan comes together!"



A few more of Dr. Grossinger's words of wisdom, from The Night Sky:

Astrology represents a synchronicity between the ancient calendars of the farming communities of the Near East and a theory of cosmic or celestial influence. From our point of view, it may look like two systems, and it may well have been two systems at various times, even originally, but in practice astrology treats the two systems as one. As long as the heavens are divine and the planets are destiny-bearing gods, the units and "houses" they measure are identical to the archetypes they sow.

The measurement of time does not require a theory of celestial influence. Calendars became astronomical tools during the Stone Age quite separate from any system of astral cycles and rhythms.

But astrology maintains the measurement of time as sacred, or, in present-day parlance, psychic and archetypal, and it assumes that measurement as a basic harmonic linking microcosm and macrocosm. As civilization moved out of liturgical and ceremonial space into days, months and years that were purely political and scientific, the sacred sense of time was occultated.

The theory of celestial influence DOES require calendars and ephemerides, for they are the mathematical representation of the wholeness and interrelatedness of our cosmos. Without them the "idea" of celestial influence can be honored, but there is no rigorous method for recording its degrees and variations. So astrology evolves as the statement of the synchronous relationship of all events in creation and the means of predicting and understanding fragments and cycles by their relationship to the whole. The stars as the projective background of the creation, stand for the functional unity..................................

In calling astrology a "science", we do not mean that it is a science in the same sense that chemistry and physics are. It is a science in the old etymological sense of "a system of knowledge".......Modern physics might take issue with the cause-and-effect postulates behind the measurements, but it could not challenge the basic algebra of chart-making and planetary relationships.

(And the author's beautiful last words in the section on Astrology)

Astrology is our rune on the hollow surface of infinity, or we are the shadow play of astrology upon the dream of cosmic night.

A list of all Dr Grossinger's books can be found HERE, including his latest:
2013 - Raising the Earth to the Next Vibration
Gotta get me one of those!

The Social Network, Zuckerberg, Savarin, the Movie, the Astrology.

We saw The Social Network at the weekend. We'd intended to see Red, but changed our minds at the last minute after reading reviews of The Social Network praising it to the hilt and mentioning the word "Oscar". Now that should have been a red flag. Some years ago, in the UK, we paid a visit to the cinema to see Cold Mountain, also praised to the hilt by critics - and we hated it.

We didn't hate Social Network, but certainly didn't see it as Oscar material. It was reasonably engaging and informative on the history of Facebook in a fact/fiction (which-was-which?) sort of way. The acting was decent to good, especially as most of the cast were practically unknown. Armie Hammer (right -playing dual role of twin brothers Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss) fascinated my eye due to an uncanny resemblance to UK's Prince William, when he was a tad younger than he is now.

How much the personalities of the leading characters actually match those of their real-life counterparts is what bugs me a bit. Was it all embroidered, embellished and exaggerated for the sake of selling tickets? I suspect it was, and that young Zuckerberg in real life was/is not nearly as much of an a/hole as portrayed, and Savarin not nearly as oddly inept in getting into the situation he did.

Below, scene from movie. Left: Andrew Garfield playing Eduardo Savarin. Right: Jesse
Eisenberg as Mark Zuckerberg)



I'm not a Facebook fan at all, quite the opposite in fact, so the subject matter of the movie wasn't much of a draw. I was more interested in the personalities of computer prodigy Mark Zuckerberg and his original business partner Eduardo Savarin. Zukkerberg came over as someone with a lightning fast mind with speech delivery to match, technologically gifted but decidedly unpleasant. Savarin was presented as far more humane, human, easy-going, generous natured and likeable.

Other astrologers and astrology bloggers have investigated Zuckerberg's natal chart already, their findings are easily accessed via Google.....that by Mary Plumb in Mountain Astrologer (with natal chart) is HERE.

Zuckerberg was born on 14 May 1984, Sun in Taurus, Moon somewhere in Scorpio (birth time isn't known), ascendant remains a mystery. His natal Mercury is in Aries, and his habit of rapid-fire speech, as portrayed in the movie, is a nice reflection of an impatient Aries mind.

Perhaps it was his social awkwardness that propelled him to use his innate gift for technology to develop a system by which the socially awkward could become socially involved, albeit remotely. What would be his likely rising sign I wonder? Saturn - which would give Scorpio rising? Uranus on the ascendant? Uranus was in Sagittarius though, he just didn't seem like a Sagittarius rising to me - quite the opposite in fact. Aquarius rising, with no planet nearby? That's a possibility.....could fit and would add some Air to his chart - an element mysterious in its absence in one so tightly bound to his intellect.

Eduardo Savarin doesn't seem to have attracted much attention from astrologers so far - this is his natal chart, set for noon.

He was born in Brazil, in Sao Paulo, on 19 March 1982.



Here's a gentler character altogether, Sun and Mercury in Pisces, with at least one planet in each sign from Pisces to Libra, rather well-balanced. Moon was somewhere in business oriented Capricorn.

Savarin was the young best friend and university colleague who first believed in Zuckerberg, and in their friendship, enough to provide initial finance needed to launch a version of Facebook. His natal chart has plenty of Airy input from Aquarius and Libra. Savarin wasn't into the techology of Facebook at all, he was keen to promote it, find backers, advertisers etc. Zuckerberg, however, initially held back on such promotion.

I'll resist going further into the plot of the movie, so as not to spoil it for anyone who intends to see it.

For a young guy as brilliant, as early, as Mark Zuckerberg I was rather surprised to see his natal chart lacking Air, and presenting little of what I'd have expected to see. He's young yet (youngest billionaire ever), his life hasn't unrolled properly, and early success isn't everything. His natal chart covers far more than teens and twenties. Astrologers should take another look at in in 20 or 30 years' time - perhaps then it might seem like a better fit. Once the Facebook phenomenon begins to fade, Mr. Zuckerberg's life story might perhaps take a different turn.

PS: A few weeks ago Guest Blogger Gian Paul wrote a post which involved Facebook - it can be accessed HERE

Gian Paul has been adrift from the blog for a while due to Blogger suddenly becoming inaccessible from his particular location in Brazil, for reasons unknown. He is trying to hook up via another route, and I'm hoping he'll be back before too long.

Music Monday ~ Ravel and his Boléro

Sun has recently arrived in sexy Scorpio - we ought to have a look at something with the reputation of being musically erotic. French composer Maurice Ravel's best known work, his Boléro springs immediately to mind! It's one of those love/hate pieces though, hypnotically erotic, yet annoyingly repetitive. Some critics suspect that at the time Ravel composed Boléro he was in the early stages of some form of dementia, which could account for the repetition over some 17 minutes: a constant 3/4 time with a prominent triplet on the second beat of every bar, rhythmically building to a climax. It was originally called Fandango, written as a ballet score but now usually played as a concert piece. (Photograph left:Sylvie Guillem, Akram Khan & a boléro)



The eroticism and sexual tension of Ravel's Boléro hasn't been lost on movie makers. Since its debut in 1928 it has been used in a 1934 film, Boléro starring George Raft and Carole Lombard, later, a 1976 Italian animated film, Allegro Non Troppo, directed by Bruno Bozzetto includes the piece (see HERE) during a parody of the Rite of Spring sequence from Disney's Fantasia.

Possibly best known of all, to today's audiences, an excerpt of around 5 minutes from Boléro was used in the soundtrack of the movie "10" in which Bo Derek insisted on playing the piece while making love to Dudley Moore. (Trailer here) After this Boléro was to become a pop hit !

Olympic Ice Dance Champions from the UK, Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean gave a now legendary free dance performance at the 1984 Winter Olympics in Sarajevo skating to Ravel's Boléro and received nine perfect 6.0 scores.

Rock artists, too, have used Boléro and/or its rhythms see here for examples by Jeff Beck, Jefferson Airplane, Led Zeppelin, Alice Cooper and others.



Born in Ciboure, France of Swiss-Basque ancestry, MauriceRavel is said to have been a refined and private man who stood barely 5'3", known for his elegant dress (he was one of the first men in France to wear pastel-colored shirts - now there's a bit of trivia for ya!)- He died in 1937, following a brain operation.

Data from Astrodatabank.



With Sun, Moon and Mercury in Pisces, Scorpio rising and Jupiter in Scorpio Ravel had to be highly sensitive, deeply emotional. There's a dash of the intellectual from Venus and Saturn in Aquarius, and a smidgin of energetic fun from Mars in Sagittarius.....but the essence of Ravel is his sensitivity and emotionality.


There's an opposition between Jupiter and Neptune, linking to one of those "inset T-squares" similar to the configuration I noticed in Gauguin's chart (see post for Friday 15 October). Other than ongoing inner conflicts I'm not sure how to interpret this for Ravel, but will try:

After reading about his five attempts to secure the Grand Prix de Rome (a state-subsidised prize with a 4-year stipend) I suspect that he could have been a wee bit rebellious or anti-establishment (echo of Venus and Saturn in Aquarius?) It was reported that his applictions seemed to be flippant or scornful -or both, and that his teachers found him lacking in discipline despite his natural talent. In later life Ravel twice refused the Légion d'Honneur, highest decoration in France. He was still smarting from the way he had been treated with regard to the Grand Prix de Rome.

It could well be that his highly sensitive side clashing with the more obtuse-minded Aquarius input caused problems. The challenging opposition, squares and semi-square aspects forming the inset T-square link to his music and creativity(Venus & Neptune), aggression and excess (Mars and Jupiter) Sun and Moon (outer & inner self).


There are hints in several sources that Ravel may have been gay. For a guy in the early 20th century this alone would have been a source of conflict and challenge. Later in life he suffered an automobile accident, the head injuries from which almost certainly contributed to his decline and later death.


Here's a nice, and not too long, version of Ravel's Boléro by Pink Martini -
a 12-member "little orchestra" from Portland, Oregon. The video includes photographs of some of the 20th century's beautiful women of the silver screen.

SCORPIO TYPES

If you were born between 24 October and 23 November, give or take a day, some would call you "a Scorpio", "a Scorpio man" or "a Scorpio woman". To a minor extent I guess you are, just as I can be called "a Brit", "an Englishwoman" , "a Yorkshire woman" or "a naturalised American". But how much do those descriptions really tell anyone about the real me? Not a lot. Likewise, being labelled "a Scorpio" tells us little that is reliable beyond the span of days during which you were born.

Now - if a person were to describe you as "a Scorpio-type" - then we'd be getting somewhere!

Whenever a person was born, it's possible for them to clearly display many of the traits traditionally allocated to the zodiac sign Scorpio. Astrologically these need not come via the Sun, though they do in many cases. They could just as easily come from Moon, rising sign, a cluster of personal planets in Scorpio, or from having Scorpio placed on one of the powerful angles - the already mentioned ascendant (rising sign), midheaven, or their opposite points: descendant and nadir. There are other possibilities too, for instance, if a person has a personal planet or sensitive point pretty close to Fixed Star Antares we might expect to see Scorpio traits fairly prominent in their makeup.

Passing readers will likely be familiar with Scorpio characteristics and keywords already, but it'll do no harm to add them - for completeness sake.

Scorpio, has dual rulers Mars (traditional) and Pluto (modern). It is the sign of Fixed Water, and different from its Watery cousins Cancer (Cardinal Water) and Pisces (Mutable Water) as can be seen from the characteristics listed below.
Astrologer C.E.O. Carter described differences among Watery cousins here :

CardinalWater...the flowing tears of Cancer...find free
expression; and sometimes one feels that this sympathetic
sign is not happy unless it has some aspect of the human
tragedy with which to condole....
Mutable Water, Pisces seeks refuge from the roughness of life either in art or poetry or in retreats.
But Fixed Water Scorpio is too Martian to retreat. It has to fight
out its difficulties. And being fixed, it retains its scars
and does not forget injuries received. Let us not forget
the other side; it does not forget benefits either and can
repay kindness with lifelong and doglike devotion.

Scorpio Keywords:
intense, emotional, passionate, erotic, determined, obstinate, powerful, strong-willed, forceful, bold, courageous, enduring, competitive, resourceful, researcher, investigator, secretive, mysterious, intuitive, penetrating, psychic, self-reliant, and somewhat introverted or closed, secretive, jealous, obsessive.......and one I associate with the negative side of the sign: paranoia.

Scopio has two symbols as well as two rulers: the Scorpion and the Eagle (or Phoenix).


Accentuating the positive for Scorpio-types, and concentrating on the Eagle motif, John Denver's song "The Eagle and the Hawk" can get my blood racing (must be my Mars in Scorpio & natal Sun in 8th house).

(PS: Several posts on Scorpio from the archives can be easily accessed by clicking on "Scorpio" in the Label Cloud at sidebar - to the right.)

For Scorpio-types:

Arty Farty Friday ~ Jenny Holzer

I found Jenny Holzer in a list of 21st century artists and investigated further. Aha! I thought, if this lady doesn't have Uranus - or Aquarius - or both strongly emphasised, I'll eat my hat!

Her art style is classed as "conceptualist", though it's a close cousin to Dadaism. Much of her work wouldn't have been technologically possible for the original early 20th century proponents of Dada, but I'd take a bet that they'd have followed her example had the means been available.

Ms Holzer links text and image in works composed of what she calls "truisms" - short aphorisms or longer declarations. These are contained in printed or engraved signs, LED (light emitting diode) word sculptures, a massive electronic billboard in Times Square, metal plaques, carved granite benches, and more mundanely on headgear, tee-shirts and bumper stickers. Holzer's artistic slogans have addressed sexism, environmental questions, AIDS, and other political and social issues. A couple of her popular truisms: 'Abuse of power comes as no surprise' and 'There is a fine line between information and propaganda'.

As part of her ‘For The City’ programme, Ms Holzer has travelled around cities (eg London, New York, Washington) projecting lines from well-loved poets onto the urban canvasses of each city’s buildings and monuments.


Jenny Holzer was born on 29 July 1950 in Gallipolis, Ohio. A 12 noon chart must suffice as no time of birth is available. Will there be, as I strongly suspect, some emphasis on Aquarius/Uranus?

Let's see.



No need to go into great detail - it's clear as crystal! Moon in socially conscious Aquarius, somewhere between 5 and 19 degrees, depending on time of birth; also Venus (the arts) conjunct Uranus (avant garde, technology, electricity). Ms Holzer's natal Leo Sun and Mercury connect to her need for a huge platform or stage upon which to display her works.....underlined by Jupiter (the expansive) in harmonious trine to the Venus/Uranus conjunction.

Done, and done!!


Some examples of Jenny Holzer's artwork


















IN LONDON (more from that city HERE)