Wednesday, February 09, 2011

FIXED STAR ZOSMA ~ disgrace, egotism, melancholy....?

I'm inclined to ignore the fixed stars (as against wandering planets) in astrology, with the exception of Algol, traditionally thought to be "unfortunate". Algol has been known to live up to its reputation, and is worth noting if close to a personal planet or sensitive point in natal charts. There's one other fixed star that occasionally catches my eye in natal charts: Zosma. I have no clue as to why this one attracts my attention. It isn't close to anything in my own natal chart, but for some reason my eye is often drawn to its position.

The fixed star commonly known as Zosma (translates as "girdle" "loincloth" or "enzonement") is also known as Delta Leonis or Duhr. It is located in the constellation Leo, on the lion's rump, and lies about 58 light-years from Earth.

For our astrological purposes the position of Zosma is currently around 11.19 Virgo. In 1900 it was around 9 degrees of Virgo. Those positions fall roughly where I've managed to deposit red dot on the chart, see right.

Astrologically Zosma is said to be "of the nature of Saturn and Venus". Interpretations indicate a generally negative "vibe" - they range from: benefit by disgrace, selfishness, egotism, immorality, meanness, melancholy, fear of poison, a shameless and egotistical nature, to keen intellect, loss in childhood, and prophetic ability (the latter links also to another nearby star Coxa). Other interpretations indicate the concept of victim or saviour, stemming from the fact that Zosma lies on the lion's back - that part broken by Hercules in Greek mythology.





Ignoring all interpretation for the time being, I'll look at a few well-known people with Zosma linked closely to personal planets in their natal charts (not much more than a degree from exact conjunction).

During Pluto's transit through Virgo Zosma conjoined it at some points, in 1963 and 1964. There's whole age group born around that time with Pluto conjunct Zosma. I doubt it would have much astrological significance though, unless a personal planet or point links in by conjunction or close aspect in an individual natal chart.

In past investigations I've come across Zosma, conjoined with Pluto and Mars, in the chart of George Michael; and Zosma conjunct Pluto trine Mercury in the chart of Ralph Fiennes. (See HERE and HERE). A common factor of these two is their disgrace or embarrassment due to excessive indulgence of one sort or another. Interestingly Charlie Sheen, also known for his indulgences, has Sun conjunct Zosma (Sun @11.22 Virgo).






Piers Morgan, who has recently taken over a US TV chat show, has Mars and Uranus conjunct Zosma (see chart HERE.) I seem to remember there were hints of disgrace/embarrassment hanging around Mr. Morgan during his newspaper career in the UK (see Wikipedia). He was eventually fired from UK's Daily Mirror for publishing some faked photographs.


Well....so far it looks as though Zosma, linked into a natal chart, indicates a person to whom I'd personally like to give a dope slap up the side of the head for managing to blot their copybooks....especially George Michael who could have been one of the truly greats.

Jared Loughner, the man who ran amok with a firearm in Tuscon a few weeks ago, killing six and injuring many including Congresswoman Gabby Gifford could possibly have natal Moon conjunct Zosma. This isn't certain until his birth time is known, however. In a sunrise chart for his birth date (HERE) Moon was at 10.58 Virgo.

A rapid skim through data available at Astrotheme threw up a handful of others, well-known in the UK and USA who have Zosma attached to an important personal planet. There's no obvious commonality (from what we know of them), other than that they are or have been famous, and would therefore have had a goodly share of egotism - but that applies to just about anyone we could name who has become famous, Zosma or no Zosma. Shrinking violets seldom seek or achieve fame!

John Travolta (Moon 11.11 Virgo)
Madonna (Moon 11.33 Virgo)
Cass Elliot (Moon 11.56 Virgo)
Freddy Mercury Sun 11/55 Virgo
Astrologer Liz Greene Sun 11.33 Virgo (maybe here the "ability to prophesy" part of traditional interpretation kicks in ?)

I suspect that finding Zosma conjunct or closely aspecting a personal planet will not, alone, be a sufficient indicator for any of the traditional interpretations to "kick-in". There would need to be other supporting evidence in the chart. I'd guess that Zosma, properly positioned, might add weight to an otherwise uncertain potentiality. Planets at or close to 11 Virgo are worth noting!

17 comments:

Unknown said...

Where do you get natal charts that show Zosma T? I tried on Astrodienst without success. Any suggestions? R

Gian Paul said...

Interesting, T, that you bring up fixed stars. I never paid much attention to them but know that one should. It's partly because of lack of available (easy) information, even in this computer age. Or is it that astrologers (including myself) are becoming more superficial these days, giving in to expedience and easy acces?

Henri Gouchon, one of the luminaries among French astrologers, now deceased, reported an increased frequency (far beyond statistical probability) of close conjunctions in their horoscopes between the 7 personal planets, AC and MC of around 50 celebrities of random choice with major fixed stars (size 1 to 3). His findings are compelling.

Interesting observation with Algol (26 degr. Taurus) which despite it's small size (5) but being known for it's "violent" influence, gave 72 close conjunctions (statistically 50 would be expected) in 300 violent deaths which Gouchon analysed.

PS. There is no doubt that "out there" there is "another order" intertwined with what we usually consider as the "astrological day-to-day universe". It's all connected. The trick is to find out more about how and in what time dimension.

Twilight said...

Rossa ~~~ The only thing I can find online is free software showing fixed stars, but I haven't tried it and don't know whether Zosma is included.Link:

http://www.handyarchive.com/free/astrological-fixed-stars/


I've become wary of free software in case there are "nasties" of various kind involved.

With the information that Zosma would be somewhere between 9 and 11.33 when you were born you could add it to the info on a standard chart to see whether it conjoins a planet or point.

Maybe a passing reader will see your question and might enlighten us both further.
:-)

My own software will give me a list of fixed stars close to planets in a chart, but doesn't add them to the chart.

Twilight said...

Gian Paul ~~~ Yes there's a whole other story to be told via fixed stars, but how much weight we can put on it is another matter.
It definitely bears investigation though.

Algol's bad reputation doesn't "work" all the time though - that's something ripe for investigation, to establish what might trigger it.

RafaelVR said...

I have new moon in Cancer at 10 degrees.
That was intersting Twilight!

Twilight said...

Hello Rafael IVR ~~~

Moon @ 10 Cancer would be sextile Zosma - not sure if that would have significance or not - sextile is helpful but not as strong as a trine.

But there's a Fixed Star at between 9 and 10 Cancer conjunct your natal Moon:

Alhena /Almeisan, the shining one =
Acute sensitivity, creative imagination, artistic skills, writing, injuries to feet

:-)

Rafael VR said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
RafaelVR said...

@Twilight – Thanks! Well, I really prefer those 2 then ; )

@Rossa - I remember once I was trying trial version of Janus 4.3 Astrology Software and it had a lot of fixed stars, you should try it!

RafaelVR said...

I found out that Alhena /Almeisan (I thought they were 2 haha) its part of Gemini constellation, interesting!

Twilight said...

Rafael VR ~~~ You probably have a personal planet in Gemini too, maybe Mercury or Venus?

Rafael VR said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
RafaelVR said...

@Twilight- Yes, correct: Venus ; )

Twilight said...

Rafael VR --- Good! :-)

Unknown said...

I found a list of the fixed stars on astrology.com

http://www.astrologycom.com/fixedstars.html

Zosma was at 11 Virgo 16 in 2000. It is nearly conjunct my natal Pluto at 3 Virgo 26 if I take the orb as being 8 degrees.

I have Pluto opposing Venus which is interesting as the list at the link says Zosma has Saturn/Venus characteristics.

Keywords are: keen intellect, depression, fearful, unhappy, feels restricted, loss in childhood; egotism; prophetic ability (with Coxa: "Kua, the Oracle")

None of those I would say apply though I like to think I have a reasonable intellect. Maybe being in opposition to my natal Venus I have the opposite...oh dear does that mean I have no intellect at all ;-)

Twilight said...

Rossa ~~~~ Astrologers usually say that for Fixed Stars the orb is only around 1 degree, so Zosma really doesn't touch your chart in a meaningful way at all.

There'd be millions with Zosma conjunct Pluto too, as both are so slow moving - so the link to a personal star would need to be pretty tight to make it significent.

Your "reasonable" intellect, at a guess is more to do with Aquarius Sun. ;-) .

Anonymous said...

I have natal moon conjunct zosma and have often been disgraced by what I consider harmless antics. I am often victimized,however I consider its the shyness that goes with the placement of a Virgo moon.Depression is not uncommon.Saturn is also near my moon.

Twilight said...

Anonymous ~~ Hi and thanks for commenting on this. Those placements have their difficult side, for sure - but I think there will be benefits also. Because you are aware of the potential downside, armed with that knowledge you can better deal with whatever crops up, sometimes even turn it to your advantage.