Scott Thorson, Algolled by Liberace ?

At the weekend we watched HBO's presentation of their movie Behind the Candelabra - biopic of the relationship between Liberace and Scott Thorson, film adapted from Thorson's book of the same title.



The film kept me interested, was very well acted by Michael Douglas as Liberace and Matt Damon as Thorson, but left me with a rather sour taste. Things could have ended so much better for all concerned had there been more longterm loyalty from Liberace. Even though the relationship with Thorson had become stale, he could have finished it cleanly and fairly in the manner he had always promised.

Astrologers have interpreted Liberace's natal chart (several versions can be easily found via Google), the chart itself can be seen at Astrodatabank, HERE. I could find none who has taken a stab at Scott Thorson's chart. I found him the more interesting character of the pair. A young, attractive, rather naive teenage guy hoping to become a veterinarian was drawn, willingly, into the wildly extravagant lifestyle of an older, international entertainer, appeared to gradually develop deep feelings for him. The entertainer came over as egotistical in the extreme, self-serving, self indulgent, superficially "nice", with some dark underlying need to control everyone who came under his spell. To be fair, the book upon which the movie was based is written by Thorson, we can't know how Liberace would have described the same unfolding of events.

I didn't need to look far into Liberace's chart to see the potentially rotten core: Sun conjunct Algol. I said "potentially", because not everyone with Sun conjunct Algol is fated to be a nasty piece of work; other parts of the chart, individual experience, background and circumstance always strongly figure in the mix and could bring about a vastly different personalty from that of Liberace.

There's a very good article by Nick Kollerstrom at Skyscript: The Horror-Scope of Algol - in it he quotes another astrologer, Bernadette Brady:

Algol represents a strong consuming passion that may devour you with anger and rage. If one can contain an unconscious compulsion to take revenge, and from that passion return a more productive outcome, Algol is one of the most powerful stars in the sky. Whatever planet it affects in your chart will be charged with strong, intense sexual energy that has the potential to be wonderful, of if repressed, to lead to rage or violence.

Scott Thorson's date, or more accurately, year of birth has a question mark over it. Some sources give 1958, some 1959. I suspect (possibly wrongly, I have no proof) that the difference came about due to the fact that when Thorson and Liberace first met, in 1976, Thorson would have been only 17 if born in 1959, so word could have been put about that he was a year older, born 1958 to make him 18 - no longer the age of minority for statutory rape.

I've calculated Thorson's natal chart using 1959 then, and 12 noon as no time of birth is known. He was born on 23 January, in La Crosse, Wisconsin

If 1959 was indeed his year of birth, his natal Mars at 23 Taurus conjoins Liberace's Sun, and Algol - though is not as close to Algol by 2 degrees. His sensitive Cancer natal Moon (it would be in Cancer whatever his time of birth) in harmony with Liberace's Venus/Jupiter/Pluto in that sign. Thorson's Aquarius Sun and Venus in unconventional Aquarius reflect his ability to make the vast leap in lifestyle from ordinary guy who loved animals, wanted to be a vet, to become something of a "pet" himself - at least for a while.

There are some indications of trouble and challenge in his chart - three Grand Cross formations indicating ongoing tension throughout his life. Planets involved in these squares and oppositions: Uranus-Venus, Mars-Neptune; Mars-Jupiter; Pluto-Venus. So the tension hovers around Venus and Mars (love and aggression), excess (Jupiter), Uranus (eccentricity), Pluto (darkness/death).

I read that Thorson is currently in prison in Nevada, and suffering from cancer, so his challenges didn't end when Liberace died in 1987.