ALAN ALDA

Alan Alda was born this day in 1936. I've just finished reading Alan's autobiography, Never Have Your Dog Stuffed. His second book, Things I Overheard While Talking To Myself awaits on the shelf. He comes over as a thoroughly nice guy, and an engaging writer. His role as Hawkeye Pierce in the long-running TV series M*A*S*H thrust him to international fame, but he has also presented TV science programmes, written screenplays and acted & directed in stage and movie productions. He writes that before he began his stint in M*A*S*H he was excited but very nervous to begin portraying Hawkeye, a character so very different from himself: "He drinks, he chases women, he's a smart alek."In spite of his misgivings though, he managed to create something of a legend. He tells that on his very first entrance in the show he had to cross the compound, with several nurses around. He feared that if he hadn't "transformed" by the time he arrived at the other side he'd fail. He grabbed one nurse by the waist as he passed her, et voila! He was Hawkeye!



Born 28 January 1936 in New York at 5.07 AM (Astrodatabank).



In the chapter of Never Have Your Dog Stuffed headed "Conversations With the Dead", Alan tells of a passing interest in spiritualism and ESP, and writes:

At one point I could cast a horoscope using a sidereal ephemeris which is a kind of bus schedule of the planets. I was studiously exploring what I later came to think of as highly improbably stuff, but it headed me unexpectedly toward an interest in science.

Dang! You know, had he been born sometime earlier or later in the day, we might have had a brilliant astrologer here, instead of a brilliant actor. Capricorn rising, and Saturn semi-sextile Sun probably propelled him science-ward.

Some of his own words are woven into the following to help interpret his natal chart.

I'm most at home on the stage. I was carried onstage for the first time when I was six months old.

I'd have expected some Leo emphasis in Alan's chart, but there is none. His father was an actor, so being born into that kind of environment was enough to propel him towards a career in the spotlight, without any of Leo's show-bizzy assistance. Astrology is only part of all our life stories, and weaves into them, entwined with several other influences.

I'm an angry person, angrier than most people would imagine, I get flashes of anger. What works for me is working out when it's useful to use that anger.

Saturn conjunct Mars, semi-sextile Aquarius Sun on one side and Aries Moon on the other more or less translates that that quote into astrologese, I reckon.

You can't get there by bus, only by hard work and risk and by not quite knowing what you're doing. What you'll discover will be wonderful. What you'll discover will be yourself.

That's Aries Moon flanked by semi-sextiles from Saturn/Mars and from Uranus, planet of the unexpected.

When people are laughing, they're generally not killing one another.

Laughter is key to Alan Alda's philosophy and personal success. Aquarius Sun/Mercury sextile Jupiter in it's own sign Sagittarius. Also Venus trine Uranus.

It's too bad I'm not as wonderful a person as people say I am, because the world could use a few people like that.

Jupiter (publication) squaring Neptune, planet of illusion. Or perhaps Mercury (communication) quincunx Neptune. Or is it Alan being self-deprecating - Saturn semi-sextile Sun? I think so!

"The Human Spark"....lit by....?

There's a three-part series starting tomorrow evening on PBS: The Human Spark hosted by the always engaging Alan Alda (Aquarius Sun/Aries Moon/Capricorn rising, Saturn semi-sextile Sun)....who has been involved in TV presentations involving science in the past: Scientific American Frontiers. Saturn connects to science and rules his ascendant sign, co-rules his natal Sun.

The programmes, to be aired on three consecutive Wednesday evenings, are to investigate "How are we different from the other animals, how did we get that way, and where is it in the brain that these things have taken root?” (Here).

We'll be watching, and I'll no doubt be thinking....yes, but how does astrology fit into this? I'm convinced it must fit in - somewhere. I'm sure the subject will not be mentioned in these programmes! I can only assume that astrology's part in this would have to do with the precession of the equinoxes. There's an article by Deborah Houlding at Skyscript: Heavenly Imprints
from whence comes this extract about precession:

"....the Sun does not cross the equator at exactly the same place on the ecliptic each year. It crosses at a point 50 seconds of arc to the east of the previous year. During a lifetime this shifting point of intersection between the ecliptic and equator is so small as to be negligible, but over several centuries it will be noticed that the backdrop of stars that once lay behind the crossing point is moving westwards. This is the phenomenon of precession, caused by the Earth's axis slowly rotating around the celestial poles. Whilst the background of the fixed stars remain more or less constant to each other, the ecliptic's intersection with the equator slides backwards through the zodiac, completing one circuit in approximately 26,000 years - the 'Great Astrological Age'. The movement of the Vernal Equinox from one zodiacal sign to the next - by which we are presently moving from the Age of Pisces to Aquarius - is a subdivision of this cycle that takes approximately 2,160 years. "

There's information scattered around the internet relating to the Astrological Ages and how they relate to the zodiac signs, but much of it needs to be read bearing in mind its author's main interest, which can give varying perspectives. Diagram below comes from Library of Halexandria website.



Most agree that The Age of Gemini brought forth more travel and movement, leading to wider communication; and that the Age of Taurus saw farming flourish using tools and the wheel which had come out of the previous age. The Age of Aries - the expansion of ancient empires through force. The Age of Pisces spanning a few centuries BC until the present brought the dominance of three main religions Buddhism, Christianity and Islam - for good or ill.

Another common theme is that ancient Egyptians looked upon the Age of Leo as the beginning of their own history; that was around 10,950 BC. However, they already had "the human spark", so we need to travel further back to seek the likely time of its illumination. Age of Virgo, Age of Libra, Age of Scorpio? Age of Saggitarius, Age of Capricorn, Age of Aquarius ? And would we find our own, reversed, counterparts at the gateway to Age of Pisces ?

26,000 years for one go around - one Great Age. Was our human spark lit somewhere during this go around, or was it lying dormant from the previous one, or the one before that? Or is there a point in each Great Age when that special spark is lit? I wouldn't dare to guess at which point that might occur.

There are probably even Greater Ages beyond that which we call The Great Age, outside of our meagre comprehension. Lines from a hymn we used to sing at school come to mind. They always fascinated me then - it's only now I completely comprehend their significance. In the Great Scheme of Things 26,000 years is the blink of an eye to the universe as a whole.

A thousand ages in Thy sight
Are like an evening gone;
Short as the watch that ends the night
Before the rising sun.