Arty Farty Friday ~ David Lynch

A couple more days will take us into what I sometimes think of as astro-wierdo country....aka Sun in Aquarius. On Sunday we'll be at the Capricorn/Aquarius cusp, it will also be the birthday of a guy who I see as displaying clear Aquarian tendencies: David Lynch. He was, though, born around 5 hours too soon to qualify as a true Sun Aquarian, and has no planets in that sign. I've always believed that the signs, at their cusps, can bleed into one another (most astrologers don't agree). David Lynch offers a good manifestation of this possibility, in my opinion..

An interviewer HERE described Lynch like this: "In conversation Lynch proves to be a living, breathing analog to his art: a beguiling combination of the cosmic and the mundane, the surreal and an abnormally normal-seeming normal."

As well as being a maker of films with a distinctly surreal edge and dreamlike qualities, occasionally dipping into the macabre, David Lynch is also an internationally acclaimed painter, photographer and sculptor, he designs furniture, composes music and lyrics, and writes books too - in his spare time, you understand.

His films include an adaptation of Frank Herbert's Dune, (didn't do the book justice); The Elephant Man, Blue Velvet and a peculiar TV mini-series, Twin Peaks. We have the DVD set of Twin Peaks and declared it to be a kind of hybrid of Psycho, Monty Python and The Three Stooges. To be fair, I think Lynch was attempting to parody some of the more hokey soap operas of the time. Here's a quote from the man himself:

"The whole Twin Peaks series wouldn't have been possible without the trust in the power of subconsciousness. I show in my movies thoughts and situations that preoccupy my mind. And I'm mainly interested in the dark side of life, the unknown, the frightening. That leads automatically to the controversy about violence. I'm tired of the perpetual arguing about the alleged brutality in my films. Violence exists in our world and you can't simply ignore it. You have to show it, especially if you want to tell powerful stories as I want to. Those who only want to tell about the joys of being and the art of picking cherries shouldn't start making films at all. Because good people are boring. Only the bad guys have style."

Hmmmm. Only bad guys have style? Can't agree with him there!

His rather unsettling artwork can be sampled at The City of Absurdity. There's more unsavoury detail at BBC News "David Lynch's Dark Side Laid Bare" ..." much of it resembles blackest nightmares or darkest hidden fears splattered onto canvas".

From the catalogue of a Tokyo exhibition of Lynch's artwork:

"When it comes to painting, it´s the darker things I find really beautiful. All my paintings are organic, violent comedies. They have to be violently done, and primitive and crude, and to achieve that I try to let nature paint more than I paint and stay out of the way as much as I can. In fact, I don´t paint with a brush too much any more - I prefer to use my fingers. I´d bite them if I could."

Four examples of David Lynch's artwork:

David Lynch was born 20 January 1946 in Missoula, Montana, at 3:00 AM

Scorpio ascendant definitely relates to the preoccupation Lynch seems to have with death and life's darker side.

Sun is right on the cusp of Capricorn/Aquarius, and conjoined to Venus planet of the arts, with Mercury also in Capricorn. In opposition there's an exact conjunction of Mars and Saturn, Capricorn's ruler, in Cancer. I'd guess that it's this opposition which is Lynch's driving force. The Capricorn planets reflect a capacity for hard work and a well-honed business-sense; a little bleeding over of Aquarian quirk allows for a less staid manifestation than unadulterated Capricorn would present. Opposition of Mars and Saturn drive the energetic work ethic feel of the chart, with a potential fascination with violence(Mars) thrown in.

The Capricorn/Cancer opposition already mentioned also forms part of a further configuration known as a T-square, linked as it is to Jupiter in Libra by two 90* square aspects. This configuration indicates stress, but manageable stress, once harnessed. In this case the configuration occurs in Cardinal signs - its owner is likely to thrive on crisis and excitement. It seems that David Lynch has successfully harnessed his T-square.

Yet another configuration occurs in Lynch's chart: I like Yods (Fingers of Fate) - there's one here linking Pluto(darkness) and Uranus(quirky/surreal) in sextile to Mercury via two 150* aspects, at the apex of the configuration. Being translated: elements of darkness and the surreal are blended and channelled through the planet of communication, Mercury. Exactly what Lynch is doing in his movies and paintings!

There's more: Neptune (creativity, illusion, dreams) Uranus (quirky, surreal) and the Sun (self) form a slightly out of kilter Grand Trine = harmonious flow between imagination, illusion, the unexpected and quirky, and the inner self.

Without a single planet in Aquarius, David Lynch does leave one with the distinct feeling that Aquarius is there - somewhere, around the edges.

David Lynch & "Twin Peaks"

On several occasions The Husband had talked about an old TV series "Twin Peaks", said that he didn't watch it back in the 1990s but always thought it'd be interesting to see it, if only because it was one of David Lynch's babies. We aim to please, so I bought Himself the DVD set of the whole series for - can't remember if it was Christmas or birthday - but we've only now got around to watching it.

I remembered only that, in the UK, "Twin Peaks" started, I think, around the time that "Dallas" breathed its last, for which I grieved mightily and refused to watch any more American shows for some while, missing David Lynch's famous series.

"Twin Peaks" is turning out to be quite different from what I'd expected. We're only into the early stages, but already it's....well....weird. There can be heard, coming from our sofa, alternate loud guffaws and gasps of consternation. The series is a kind of hybrid of "Psycho" and "The Three Stooges", my husband commented. He's spot on with that. Personally, I'd add Monty Python into the mix. It seems that Lynch was attempting to lightly parody some of the more hokey soap operas of the time.




I took a look at the natal chart of David Lynch, the creator of this peculiarity. As well as being a film producer he is also an internationally acclaimed painter, photographer and sculptor, he designs furniture, composes music and lyrics, and works as an author too - in his spare time. All of that is weird enough in itself!

His artwork can be sampled at The City of Absurdity - and, you've guessed it - it's weird. There's more unsavoury detail at BBC News "David Lynch's Dark Side Laid Bare" ..." much of it resembles blackest nightmares or darkest hidden fears splattered onto canvas".

David Lynch was born 20 January 1946 in Missoula, Montana, at, according to Astrotheme 3am. I don't know how reliable that birth time is. Born later the same day Lynch would have had Sun at 00 degree of Aquarius.



Sun, Mercury and Venus are all positioned in Capricorn, opposing an exact conjunction of Mars and Saturn (Saturn is the ruler of Capricorn). If he was born at 3am Scorpio was rising and Virgo lay at midheaven with Virgo Moon just 2 degrees from the midheaven angle. Neptune Uranus and the Sun form a slighly out of kilter Grand Trine even though natal Sun is in the last few minutes of Capricorn - the three bodies are linked by trine aspect, allowing for harmonious flow between imagination, illusion, the unexpected and quirky, and the inner self.

Scorpio ascendant definitely relates to the preoccupation Lynch seems to have with death and life's darker side.

Here's a quote from the man himself:

"The whole Twin Peaks series wouldn't have been possible without the trust in the power of subconsciousness. I show in my movies thoughts and situations that preoccupy my mind. And I'm mainly interested in the dark side of life, the unknown, the frightening. That leads automatically to the controversy about violence. I'm tired of the perpetual arguing about the alleged brutality in my films. Violence exists in our world and you can't simply ignore it. You have to show it, especially if you want to tell powerful stories as I want to. Those who only want to tell about the joys of being and the art of picking cherries shouldn't start making films at all. Because good people are boring. Only the bad guys have style."

"Only the bad guys have style"? I would argue strongly against that, but what do I know?

In a nutshell, I'd guess that it's the opposition between Sun/Mercury/Venus and Mars/Saturn which provide his driving force. The Capricorn planets reflect a capacity for hard work and a well-developed business -sense. I saw this in Ryan Secrest's chart - he too has Sun/Mercury/Venus all in Capricorn. with Saturn opposing, and a multi-layered career. The opposition of Mars and Saturn add to the energetic work ethic feel of the chart, with some potential for aggression or fascination with violence(Mars) thrown in. Virgo Moon widely trines Mercury in Capricorn, so his communication style is bound to be emotional, as he hinted in the above quote.

I've kept this brief - a simple broad brush astro-portrait of a very complex individual. We're all very complex individuals, each in our own sweet way, astrology helps to define every sweet way in which we differ.