Tuesday, December 08, 2015

Algol, Master of Oz, and Master of Space & Time - Oh my!

The Wiz Live! was aired on NBC last week - we watched and enjoyed. Performances, costumes and scenery were excellent - a wonderfully colourful and artistic production of a new adaptation of the 1975 Broadway musical The Wiz, a soul/R&B reinterpretation of L. Frank Baum's The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.

The show reminded me that years ago I'd looked at L.Frank Baum's natal chart, read a little about his life and discovered a coincidence with another natal chart I'd been preparing, a coincidence involving Fixed Star Algol.

L. Frank Baum was born 15 May 1856 in Chittengo, New York. Chart (below) is set for 12 noon - no time of birth known.

In 1856 Algol would have been at 24.05 Taurus, conjunct Baum's natal Sun.

From a bio of Baum at Biography.com

Baum's education began with tutors at home in his early years. At the age of 12, he went to the Peekskill Military Academy. Baum left the school after a health crisis two years later, apparently suffering from some type of heart condition. Never earning a high school degree, he spent his early adulthood exploring his interest in acting and writing for the stage.
 L. Frank Baum chart

And here, at Literary Traveler
A rather sickly child who was both timid and shy, he kept to himself and made up imaginary places and playmates since he had to refrain from any kind of strenuous exercise due to his faulty, weak heart. Throughout Frank”s life, his health was a constant impediment, which became a looming presence and a major controlling factor. Although, it never impeded his creativity, drive and talent.






While preparing a 2007 post about Leon Russell, it emerged that he suffered a birth injury, causing a physical disability. Natally he has Saturn conjunct Algol.

Born on 2 April 1942 in Lawton, Oklahoma at, according to Astrodienst 1.22 AM.




 Leon Russell chart


Russell credits his artistic development to a birth injury that damaged his upper vertebrae and left him slightly paralyzed on the right side of his body. “It gave me a very strong sense of duality,” he says. “It gave me an outlook into this plane that we live on and if I hadn’t had that, I’d probably be selling cars in Paris, Texas.” Russell became one of the most sought after session musicians in Los Angeles during the 1960s, working with everyone from Frank Sinatra to Phil Spector and from Glen Campbell to the Byrds.
From PRI.org here

So, it appears that both the Master of Oz and the Master of Space & Time had something in common. Hardly conclusive evidence of Algol's potential, but it does make one pause and think. There are probably other combinations of factors which need to be in place in any astrological chart for Algol's influence to come to the fore. No doubt many people live all their lives in Algol's shadow without as much as a headache.

7 comments:

mike said...

Ah, what can I say?! Maybe yes, maybe no. Dark Star Astrology gives many examples of famous individuals with Algol involvement in their charts (scroll to bottom of page):
https://darkstarastrology.com/algol-medusas-head/

The typical astrology of illness is 6th house involvement...restriction and confinement as 12th house (opposite 6th). I wouldn't be surprised if Baum didn't have his Sun-Uranus conjunction in his 12th, placing his Saturn (planet of restriction) in the 1st. The Sun rules heart-related issues. This would have his Jupiter and Neptune near his MC, which would be indicative of his success and acclaim with fantasy writing.

As for Russell, his Saturn-Uranus conjunction on the cusp of the 6th house (Placidus house system) may be a factor. Other systems of house calculation may place these two planets in the 6th...whole-house certainly has Saturn-Uranus in the 6th.

Both Baum and Russell have Uranus conjunctions. Uranus is not the planet one would immediately ascribe to health concerns, but it rules higher-order, electrical processes within the body, primarily the neurological, endocrine, and immune systems.
http://shamanic-homoeopathy.com/content/planets-medical-astrology-uranus

Lynn Koiner wrote an interesting essay about Uranus' domain on the physical body and her experiences:
http://www.lynnkoiner.com/astrology-articles/the-transit-of-uranus-to-the-natal-planets

Perhaps some aspects may imply possible health concerns, but with Algol nearby, failure is ensured. In most practical considerations, we are all born with inherent expiration dates due to health issues...just a matter of time and with the right conditions. We were all born to die...LOL.

mike (again) said...

P.S. - Maybe without Algol's presence these individuals would have died during birth or soon after. Algol's malefic influence may allow life, but with affliction.

mike (again) said...

I just viewed Helen Keller's natal chart. Algol is right on her descendant at 25*22' Taurus, conjunct Pluto. Her Neptune is in the 6th house, exactly at the midpoint of Saturn-Pluto. Uranus is conjunct her midheaven.

http://www.astrotheme.com/astrology/Helen_Keller

Twilight said...

mike and (again + again) ~ The question of yay or nay as regarding Algol's mythical nastiness has often intrigued me. There's evidence for and against, it's the evidence supporting that grasps attention due to the drama of it, especially when it involves well-known personalities. There's another list of blighted "celebs" at Skyscript: scroll down to the section "Vivid Algol-types" -

http://www.skyscript.co.uk/algol.html

Thanks for your links. That's an interesting idea you have about Algol perhaps being responsible for saving an otherwise "marked for death" life but endowing affliction.

I've been wondering and searching (found nothing) for the time way, way, way back when Algol would have been in Aries instead of Taurus. It was at 19 Taurus in 1500, so whenever it was in Aries, in the deep past, there'll be no record of its doings.
It won't leave Taurus for Gemini until 2300. I'd wondered if Taurus, being Venus-ruled and involved in the arts generally had put Algol's mythically dastardly spotlight on people in those spheres of life - the arts - music, theatre, film, painting, dance etc. Just a thought. It's not possible to tell, because those are the people we hear and read about anyway, and there's nothing to compare.

mike (again) said...

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

Longitude Table for Caput Algol
1500 AD 19Tau11
1600 AD 20Tau26
1700 AD 21Tau59
1750 AD 22Tau41
1800 AD 23Tau23
1850 AD 24Tau04
1900 AD 24Tau47
1925 AD 25Tau07

1950 AD 25Tau28
1975 AD 25Tau49
2000 AD 26Tau10
2005 AD 26Tau14
2010 AD 26Tau19
2015 AD 26Tau23
2020 AD 26Tau27
2025 AD 26Tau31

2030 AD 26Tau36
2040 AD 26Tau44
2050 AD 26Tau52
2075 AD 27Tau13
2100 AD 27Tau34
2150 AD 28Tau16
2200 AD 28Tau58
2300 AD 00Gem21

mike (again) said...

Algol ephemeris for year 0 to 2201:

http://www.librarising.com/astrology/tables/startables/algol.html

Twilight said...

mike (again) - Yes, thanks - that's where I found the info. I mentioned. :-)