GEMINI

The Sun is now in zodiac sign Gemini, depicted as "the twins". I'm going to quote from from a tattered old book I have, written by British astrologer Llewellyn George, published in 1934: Student Chart Reader...sometimes these old books throw up something different and long-forgotten. The author lists personality traits under Sun, Moon, Ascending Sign, and other planets in each sign.

My own preference is to define the zodiac sign itself, as an "atmosphere" to be applied to whatever is going on planet-wise or otherwise in a particular sign, but this time I'm going along with Mr. George's style.

It's easy to recognise, when reading the following, that Gemini is the sign of Mutable Air, translating as mental in orientation, flexible in attitude. The sign is one of a pair ruled by Mercury, planet of all types of communication (the other sign so-ruled is Virgo). As I typed these extracts it struck me that some of the traits mentioned are more usually applied to adjacent sign, Cancer. Anyone with natal Sun in Gemini is quite likely to have either Mercury or Venus in Cancer, though it's far from inevitable. I'm curious to know from where some of the traits Mr George attributes to Gemini were derived. I shall investigate further!

SUN IN GEMINI (21 May to 21 June - give or take a day)

In Gemini the Sun makes the native sympathetic, kind-hearted, affectionate, fond of home and children and easily influenced by kindness, at times to his detriment. Is sensitive, intuitional, idealistic. fond of science and as a rule studious and usually endowed with great imaginative ability. Possesses an active mind and can be relied upon to act quickly in an emergency. Is an experimenter and investigator, quick reasoner, generally a good writer; likes to be busy and can engage in two or more occupations at once but must be allowed to work in his own way. changeful, inquiring, doubtful nature, hard to understand, but versatile, alert, dextrous and skillful. Is ambitious, aspiring and loves change and diversity.

MOON IN GEMINI

This location of the Moon gives an agreeable, warm-hearted, sympathetic, humane, progressive and ingenious nature, with the capacity of being very reserved in some matters, such as personal or domestic matters, but fluent concerning local or national affairs. Strengthens and enlivens the intellect, inclines to literature and gains pleasure from books or scientific pursuits. Gives an active body and a versatile, receptive mind, responsive to new ideas and capable of following artistic, literary or professional occupations.

Dislikes quarreling and warfare. Subject to many changes and some journeys. Through lack of caution or prudence apt to be drawn into embarrassing or difficult positions.


GEMINI ASCENDING is much the same - mix and match from the above.

Physical appearance: Tall, slender, erect but lithe figure; quick, active walk, long arms and fingers; thin features, long face, nose and chin.....

It has to be added that these traits of appearance must be modified by inherited features from family, as well as ethnic background and other factors. Still, I think that anyone with Gemini prominent in their natal chart will have lots of nervous energy which leads to high metabolism and that slender frame which so often marks them out.

I've known quite a few Sun Geminis in my time: my maternal grandfather, an old boyfriend, several female friends, my husband's son-in-law, to name a few. All have matched most of what's written above.

There's more about this zodiac sign in past posts, accessible by clicking on Gemini the Label Cloud in the sidebar (see below right).

Arty Farty Friday ~ Cindy Sherman, photographer.

It was tricky finding a photograph of the real Cindy Sherman, which is odd really, because almost all her best-known photographs feature just....herself. Having studied many pages of her photographs, on-line, I'm left with an impression of her as the Tracy Ullman of photography - or maybe it should be the other way around....Tracy is the Cindy Sherman of comedy? Either way, they both present themselves as caricatures or satirical images of cultural archetypes or stereotypes.

Cindy Sherman, in costume and makeup, portrays images of the female sex in all their glory or ignominy, spotlighting their foibles, conceits and human frailties. A series of black and white photographs in the style of film stills from the 1950s was a feature of her early work. More recently she concentrates on American female stereotypes. Some of her photo-portraits seem, on first sight, overly harsh, bitchy and unnecessarily cruel - but then life's like that! There is underlying social comment here I guess - but without much trace of compassion or empathy.

Before I looked at her birth data and natal chart I was expecting to find evidence of a self-centered personality. After all, her main body of work depicts only herself, albeit in many guises. Perhaps there'll be some close alignment to Sun or Moon by Uranus, planet of the unexpected and weird, or of Neptune representing photography, creativity and illusion.

Cindy Sherman was born on 19 January 1954 in Glen Ridge, New Jersey at 4:27 AM (Astrodatabank).


Sun conjunct Venus in the last degrees of Capricorn conjunct Mercury in first degrees of Aquarius, with Uranus in opposition from Cancer. Here we have weird old Uranus's involvement! Moon in early Leo also opposes Sun/Venus/Mercury. Neptune, planet of photography and illusion is in square aspect to the Sun Capricorn/Aquarius cluster. Both opposition and square aspects are thought to be challenging rather than helpful. Initially this might be thought to be a poor fit here, yet these hard aspects and challenges could well account for the overly harsh treatment Sherman gives to her portraiture. Furthermore, Mars and Saturn in Scorpio (a harsh trio if ever I saw one)could well reflect a lack of compassion I see in her work.

Sun (essence of self)forming an axis with Moon (inner self) represents her seeming need to "use" herself in her work. I'd have expected either Sun or Moon to have been nearer to an angle though. Sun is in 2nd house, the house of earnings and possessions. Her work does command record prices - a Sherman "movie still" sold for $2.1 million (Christie's, 2007). Amazing!

Sagittarius was rising as Sherman was born - no planets close to the ascendant though, but Jupiter in Gemini is on the opposite angle, the descendant, giving it extra significance in her chart and her nature. Jupiter represents exaggeration, Gemini = communication of all types, so her urge to portray exaggerated portraits for public consumption fits this placement well.

“I feel I’m anonymous in my work. When I look at the pictures, I never see myself; they aren’t self-portraits. Sometimes I disappear.”

“I didn’t want to make ‘high’ art, I had no interest in using paint, I wanted to find something that anyone could relate to without knowing about contemporary art. I wasn’t thinking in terms of precious prints or archival quality; I didn’t want the work to seem like a commodity.”
— Cindy Sherman

Sarcasm, Irony, Being Sardonic.

Is it possible to identify a predisposition for using sarcasm, being sardonic, or the ability to appreciate irony, from a natal chart? Astrologers tend to point to Scorpio and Mars in particular when writing about this. Mercury has to be closely involved too, as we're considering styles of communication. I'm not a fan of sarcastic humour, it usually aims to hurt, mock or offend another person. "Sarcasm is the lowest form of wit" was a warning drummed into me from an early age. Even so, it's almost impossible to stifle a guffaw at some of the satire (based on sarcasm and irony) aimed at any political or celebrity figures I happen to dislike. I have to admit, too, that I have been known to make the odd sarcastic remark.

Irony, in general, is not as deliberately hurtful as sarcasm, it has no target, it just happens. A situation can be perceived as ironic without anyone saying a word. It occurs when the exact opposite of reality is conveyed by deed or situation, or sometimes by word.

Sarcasm, sardonicism and irony are not-so-distant cousins. I like the explanation of the differences from Spindle Works Here's a brief extract:

Irony and sarcasm are not the same. An ironic word is born; a sarcastic one is made. Irony is expressed spontaneously; sarcasm can reflect upon its words. Irony sees the caricature and expresses it simply. Sarcasm sees the caricature too, and passionately reinforces it........ One is gripped by irony, but one grasps at sarcasm........Irony is the strength of the weak; sarcasm is the weakness of the strong.

And from Alpha Dictionary

Sarcasm implies a derision explicitly intended to hurt or offend someone.
Sardonicism implies a cynical derision expressed either verbally or facially with no necessary intent to offend or cause emotional distress.
Irony comes from an amusingly provocative disparity between any two seemingly incompatible things, expressed to amuse rather than to offend.

Sardonic remarks often follow ambiguous statements: “Joe is an unusual wit,” said Fred. “That’s true,” Marge remarked sardonically.”
Sarcasm hurts: “Murray’s marriage proposal received a sarcastic, ‘Ask me again if you return from the dead’ from Eloise.”
Irony comes from odd coincidences we bump into in life: “I just love the irony of Lois, the daughter of an obstetrician, marrying Ferdie, whose father is a mortician!”

I guess that one needs to have particular mental wiring to appreciate the irony in a situation. That same mental wiring may also be capable of bringing forth sarcasm, and a tendency to be sardonic.

I can see why astrologers would suspect that aspects involving edgy Scorpio and belligerent Mars might be significant factors to look for if trying to identify a tendency towards sarcasm in a natal chart. I suspect that alignments of hard-nosed Saturn with Mercury could also be involved, or any emphasis in critical Virgo. Capricorn seems to match sardonicism in particular. People with heavy Capricorn in their charts do have that very dry sense of humour, akin to sardonicism. The whole chart must be considered of course, not forgetting that background and family also play an important part. The kind of role models and teachers a person had in youth, who he/she has tried to emulate, as well as social background - these should be borne in mind along with the astrology.

Humor does not include sarcasm, invalid irony, sardonicism, innuendo, or any other form of cruelty. When these things are raised to a high point they can become wit, but unlike the French and the English, we have not been much good at wit since the days of Benjamin Franklin.
(James Thurber, USA.)

(Edited/updated version of a post from 2007)

Astrologers' Words of Wisdom (NOT)

A reversal, today, of the usual Words of Wisdom series. This was inspired by a second-hand book I found on our recent trip: The Book of Predictions by David Wallechinsky, Amy Wallace & Irving Wallace (1981). It's a book of over 500 pages with lots of fun and interesting stuff, though material on astrologers' predictions is sparse. I shall no doubt return to it in future to find more grist for the bloggy mill.

Here's something astro-related to be going on with:

In June of 1523 a group of London astrologers concurred that the end of the world would begin with the destruction of London by a deluge on February 1524. Because so many astrologers agreed with this prediction people accepted it as fact. By the middle of January at least 20,000 had left their London homes for the higher ground of Kent and Essex. The prior of St. Bartholomew's even went so far as to build a fortress at Harrow-on-the-Hill and stock it with a two-month supply of food. February 1 arrived and nothing happened. The next day astrologers re-examined their figures and discovered a tiny error in their calculations. It was 1624 - not 1524 - that the world was to end.

What a difference a year didn't make!

Out of curiosity I looked up 1 February 1624 in the on-line ephemeris at Khaldea but didn't see anything world-shatteringly significant. Astrologers were not aware of the outer planets (Uranus, Neptune, Pluto) in those days, so it couldn't be related to the fact that Saturn and Uranus were conjoined in Leo, trining Mars in Aries and square to Pluto in Taurus. Hmmmm - perhaps they found something nasty using an ancient system such as Arabic Parts - Sun/Moon/Ascendant positions and mathematics are involved; or perhaps more likely, some close alignment of a malignant Fixed Star with certain planets.

Music Monday (& Tuesday) ~ Casey James + UPDATE

Music Monday is usually about already famous, or legendary but long-gone, singers and musicians. For a change I'm being self-indulgent and posting about my current American Idol favourite Casey James.

Casey has survived the Idol obstacle course of having to sing on some themes foreign to him, and now stands as one of the final 3 contestants. He can do no worse than being second runner-up, even if voted off this week. He can't lose. In some ways it could be more helpful for him not to win the competition. He'd be more free to follow his own course rather than being bound by an Idol winner's contract.

It would be surprising if Casey beat Crystal Bowersox, who has led the field from the start. He has been mauled by the judges, but survived, presumably due to his strong fan base. Those judges can be obtuse at times, for reasons best known to themselves. Casey could (and in my opinion should) quite easily beat the other finalist, Lee DeWyse, to become runner-up. It's not easy to pick the order of the final three from their astrology (see last Tuesday's post). All three charts contain at least one helpful factor when compared with the chart for the 26 May finale.

Casey James, born in a tiny Texas village called Cool, lives for his music. From numerous bits and pieces on line it seems that he's been singing from the time he was in the crib. One article tells that his mother, a singer herself, was worried about him being late learning to speak, yet he hummed when in the crib. A friend pointed out to her that he was humming the theme from MASH, a household favouriteTV series! Casey has said in interview that making music is all he has ever wanted to do. He was married for three years, 2005-2008. His ex-wife has said, in a National Enquirer interview, that single-mindedness about his music and his will to succeed put stress on their marriage. She had nothing worse to say, however, so National Enquirer had to make do with that as "gossip" instead of anything more salacious. Casey admits to his single-mindedness, though adds to his love of music, a love of all animals and especially his two dogs, Basset Hounds, with whom he shares the house he built himself. He freely admits, too, to rather wild teenage years when he spent time in jail following a series of driving offences. A serious accident later left him wheel-chair bound for 6 months, unsure whether he'd be able to play guitar again. This, he says, was the learning experience which set him straight.

Casey's musical style blends rock and blues. He writes songs, is an expert on guitar and mandolin, plays both electric and acoustic guitar with equal aplomb, and often seems uneasy when forced to sing without an instrument. With his band, which includes his brother, he has been playing in pubs, clubs and small venues in his current base, Fort Worth for many years, as well as in venues around Texas and Oklahoma. It's possibly because of his years performing on small stages that Casey seems reluctant to use the massive stage now available to him - or perhaps this is just who he is. Surprisingly, he had never seen a single episode of American Idol before his mother persuaded him to attend the auditions.

He's a good-looking guy, but he doesn't swagger like some other good-looking guys. If he was as intent and focused on his "job" in some other area I guess he'd be termed a geek! It's endearing to see such a good-looker so seemingly unaware of what he's got! When asked how he'd react when the Idol fashion sylists got hold of him he replied, "as long as I'm comfortable with whatever it is, I'm going to let it roll because I know nothing about style. That's kind of obvious." Is it an act? I doubt it. Let's look at his natal chart.

Chart shown is a 12 noon version. ascendant will not be accurate as a time of birth isn't available. The Moon was somewhere in Leo though, whatever time Casey was born.



Sun in Capricorn - not a particularly musical sign, it's a cardinal sign, sign of a doer, a practical go-getter, a sign that knows how many beans make five and how to get 'em. Casey knows what he's about: music, and he knows how to make it....but he also built his own house - remember?

Venus, planet of the arts including music is also in Capricorn, but in the last degrees of the sign and conjunct Mercury in neighbouring Aquarius, along with Mars. These two planets in Fixed sign Aquarius relate to his strong determination to succeed, even when this has meant the break-up of his marriage. Fixed signs can be ridiculously stubborn and single-minded. Airy Aquarius traits, though, do lighten that Earthy Sun and Venus of his. He'll be glad of that Earthy anchor if he is dragged into the great whirlpool of national and international show-biz, it'll tie his feet firmly to the ground.

Neptune, with Uranus and Jupiter conjoined, are all in Sagittarius, with Uranus/Jupiter in helpful, blending sextile to Mecury/Venus. Uranus, the rebel planet, hooked up to his personal planets clearly connects to Casey's wilder early years. His now maturer Sagittarian side helps counteract any overly serious traits from Capricorn/Aquarius. I recall a clip from an Idol episode when the contestants were asked to describe one another, and the thing they all mentioned about Casey was his very loud laugh - that's pure Sagittarius!

Saturn in the first degrees of Scorpio is conjunct Pluto in the last degrees of Libra. I'll guess that this conjunction, of Saturn's limitations and Pluto's dark and sometimes deathly reputation, reflects the road accident which almost cost Casey his life.

Moon in Leo is easy to translate for a person like Casey whose life's work is appearing in the spotlight - whether that spotlight is big or small matters not a lot - as long as it's shining for him, and he's making music.

UPDATE: A kind commenter has let me know that the date of birth I used, supplied by Wikipedia, might be incorrect. Apparently Casey said in interview recently that he's about to turn 28 on 31 May (which makes his d.o.b. 31 May 1982). That's quite a difference! I felt a bit wary of a Sun in Capricorn for him to be honest.

Here's the alternative chart which shows quite a lot more Air - Gemini and Libra, with Venus, planet of music in its own sign Taurus, which is a nice fit. His build and good looks do fit Gemini/Libra too.

Without going further into the chart for now (I will if he survives this week) I'll just say that the planet he has near an angle in the Finale chart is Uranus in the first degrees of Sagittarius. So he does still have a helpful indication.






Here he is, during the Lennon/McCartney theme week singing "Jealous Guy".



This Tuesday the final 3 will each sing a song chosen for them by the judges, then one of their own choice. The song judges have chosen for Casey to sing is Daughters by John Mayer. Crystal's song is Maybe I'm Amazed (Paul McCartney), and Lee's is Hallelujah (Leonard Cohen). I suspect Casey drew the short straw there with the least-known song of the three, but I reckon he's good enough to overcome that!

Fingers crossed !

Sunday Supplement ~ Contacting New Mexico

Back in Oklahoma again - somewhat reluctantly I might add! We love to wander in New Mexico, well-named Land of Enchantment. There's no end to the delights of that state, whether in the northern section among the arty communities of Santa Fe & Taos, and among ancient Anasazi dwellings; or in the south (as we were this trip) with its Carlsbad Caverns, White Sands, Roswell, Alamogordo, Ruidoso, Cloudcroft and beautiful scenery around every bend. It's easy to understand why artist Georgia O'Keeffe was so taken with the state - her words on arriving there:...
"Well! Well! Well!... This is wonderful. No one told me it was like this!"

An unexpected treat this trip was a visit to The Very Large Array (VLA) - a radio astronomy observatory located on the Plains of San Agustin, which lie very much in the middle of nowhere. This is the site featured in the movie Contact. I accidentally discovered that it's around 100 miles from Alamogordo, where we spent 2 nights. We decided this was a side trip too good to miss, so a night in Socorro, 50 miles from the VLA followed.

Our minds were boggled by details offered in a video presentation available at the visitors' center. We were told that weak radio waves from celestial objects are collected by the 27 antennas of the array. The antennas can track an object across the sky with an accuracy of 10 seconds of arc, which is 1/180 of the diameter of the full Moon. Total weight of each antenna is 230 tons, 100 tons of which is in the movable reflector.

Each unit can be set on tracks - like railway tracks - so can be differently configured to suit any specific purpose.

(Click on image to enlarge)




From a leaflet for visitors:

If our eyes could see radio waves instead of light, the sky would look strangely different. A bright Sun would be visible, but the daytime sky would seem dark like the night. The familiar bright stars would be gone. Instead the heavens would be full of glowing nebulous patterns of emission that arise from clouds of hot interstellar gas or from super high energy cosmic rays that swarm along the magnetic pathways of our galaxy.

Wikipedia has details of the observatory and related tid-bits, including:

The VLA featured prominently in Carl Sagan's 1980 documentary Cosmos: A Personal Voyage, and is the setting for the beginning of the 1984 film 2010—with the same scene in the novel 2010: Odyssey Two, from which the film was adapted, being set at the radio telescope at the Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico......The 1985 novel Contact features a fictionalized version of the VLA, expanding the number of dishes to 131 and renaming it to the "Argus Array." For the 1997 film Contact, much of the outdoor footage was shot at the VLA site with the number of dishes visible on screen artificially increased by CGI, and the canyon depicted as being in the vicinity of the VLA is actually Canyon de Chelly in neighboring Arizona. It is also seen in the final scene of the alien-invasion film The Arrival, and the beginning of Independence Day, when the alien invaders were initially detected by SETI at the VLA. In the 2009 science-fiction film Terminator Salvation, the VLA is the location of a Skynet facility.

We dodged severe weather until our last overnighter in Clovis, on the border of New Mexico and Texas. There, on Friday, a series of thunder storms and torrential, almost tropical-type rain quickly set the highways inches deep in water. Driving around town became similar to one of those funfair water-splash rides - but not as much fun!

TRAVELS

I'm half-way through John Steinbeck's "Travels with Charley. In Search of America". Charley was his French poodle by the way. John Steinbeck is a blend of Pisces/Aquarius/Capricorn with Moon in Scorpio, Leo rising. His love of travel, I'd say, connects to Jupiter (the travelers' planet) very close to the descendant angle. His chart is at an archived post of mine : Angry Writers.

My love of travel, I think, connects to my natal Venus in Sagittarius (the travelers' sign). The husband has Mars in Sagittarius and North node conjunct my natal Venus in Sag.....consequence is... we've decided to wander off again for a few days (late celebration of our wedding anniversary on 30 April.)

Plan as little as possible should be my motto (it's already the motto of Himself!) First thoughts were directed to a trip to Iowa to see the covered bridges in Madison County (and play at being Mr. Eastwood and Ms. Streep). The weather forecast in those parts doesn't look encouraging though - rainy. Sights moved towards Pueblo, Colorado and the surrounding mountains, Garden of the Gods etc. Forecast looked okay one day, then it all changed to some rain and storms. Third choice lucky? I've always wanted to go back to Alamogordo, New Mexico. We stayed there for a night in 2006. There was something about the "feel" of Alamogordo that attracted me, I felt strangely at home there. I've never forgotten that feeling - very odd! Weather forecast there and en route looks good. We'll investigate Alamogordo, then two little towns in the mountains close-by, and the Lincoln National Forest. Before heading back we'll probably tootle down to Las Cruces, not far from the Mexican border. That should keep us out of mischief for a few days.


A couple of quotes from Steinbeck's book, which I highly recommend to lovers of travel - and good writing:

When the virus of restlessness begins to take possession of a wayward man, and the road away from Here seems broad and straight and sweet, the victim must first find himself a good and sufficient reason for going.

A journey is a person itself; no two are alike. And all plans, safeguards, policing, and coercion are fruitless. We find after years of struggle that we do not take a trip; a trip takes us.

BACK IN A FEW....

Esoteric Al ~ Alejandro Jodorowsky

In researching yesterday's post on Moebius, I read some pieces about a movie director with whom he collaborated on several occasions: Alejandro Jodorowsky. I mentioned him to my husband, who reminded me that we have a DVD set of movies directed by this guy, "And don't you remember you refused to watch them?"



"Aaaah! Those? The ones you call "art films"? Far too arty farty for my simple tastes. But maybe now I'll have to sample them. I'll look on it as climbing my learning curve on a slightly steeper gradient. Don't bank on it though!"

Alejandro Jodorowsky is something of an oddity, not yer everyday man in the street - a good, meaty astro-subject. He's a kind of psychedelic surrealistic renaissance man.

"I am famous in different countries for different things. In Spain I'm well known as a novelist; in South Korea I'm better known as the writer of comic strips; I'm known in New York for my films and elsewhere for my poetry."

Best known to the masses for his comic book stories in collaboration with such illustrators as Moebius (Jean Giraud) featured in yesterday's post, and for directing some rather odd cult movies such as El Topo, and The Holy Mountain.

Another of his achievements, possibly known only to those with a serious interest in the occult, is his work, with Phillipe Camoin on restoring lost details and symbolism to the Tarot de Marseille. He is a longtime student of Tarot. (LINK)

"In Paris people know me also for reading Tarot cards. Every Wednesday when I'm in Paris I read Tarot cards in a bar opposite my house."

The unexpected and the unlikely have always been Jodorowsky's stock-in-trade. Born 1929 in Chile, in either Iquique or Tocopilla (sources vary), his career has ranged from staging Samuel Beckett for Mexican peasants to mounting radical theatre happenings in the streets of Paris; creating mime routines for Marcel Marceau, writing poetry; and stories of fantasy and sci-fi in collaboration with some legendary illustrators of comic strips and graphic novels.

The films, upon which Jodorowsky's legend rests, are, I understand, grotesque and full of references to religion, the occult, philosophy, psychology, art history and other movies. Some people (probably myself included) might describe them as pretentious. As one reviewer at Amazon writes of The Holy Mountain, which was, by the way, financed by John Lennon and Yoko Ono "... if someone tried to make a film like this today, they'd probably be arrested."

I think I have a general idea of what this guy is made of, let's see if it is reflected in his natal chart. Uranus prominent?

Alejandro Jodorowsky was born on 9 February 1929 in Chile - in either Iquique or Tocopilla. There are just one or two degrees difference in some planetary positions in the two location charts: 2 degrees for Sun, Mercury, Venus and 1 degree for Mars' position. For my general, broad-brush purpose I'll use Tocopilla, it's easier to spell! No time of birth is known so in the 12 noon chart below rising sign will not be accurate. Moon would have been in Capricorn until around 10PM, later than that, in Aquarius.



Sun and Mercury in Aquarius, with Mars in harmonious trine from Gemini. Now, Aquarius alone would not account for the weird and wonderful offerings of Jodorowski. The Aquarius/Gemini input relates more to his mental acuity, and his very obvious versatility, than to the interest in occult matters and general weirdness. Uranus, however, is well to the fore, being conjoined with Venus, planet of the arts, in go-getting Aries. Venus conjunct Uranus couldn't be a better trademark for Jodorowski!

Neptune, planet of dreams and creativity and all that's mysterious is in Earthy Virgo in helpful trine to Jupiter in Taurus.... and, though out of sign, with Saturn in last degrees of Sagittarius, about to move into Capricorn. That little lot forms a Grand Trine in Earth, a circuit of earthiness, not exactly what one would expect to find here - except that we do need to remember that for all his weird offerings, Mr. Jodorowski has kept his earthy feet on the ground and has conducted a successful career via several different routes. That reflects his earthy, grounded personality -about which I'd bet he'd argue and not wish to acknowledge. He's weird but weird all the way to the bank! I wonder what he thinks of astrology?

"I don't have a nationality. My Country is my shoes."

"One day, someone showed me a glass of water that was half full. And he said, "Is it half full or half empty?" So I drank the water. No more problem."
— Alejandro Jodorowsky

Sources
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alejandro_Jodorowsky
http://www.brightlightsfilm.com/61/61jodorowskyiv.php
http://www.shanatinglipton.com/jodo1.html

Arty Farty Friday ~ Moebius (Jean Giraud) - another Sun/Uranus

France has a long tradition of embracing comic strip art, known there as bande dessinée ("BD" in French). The genre was influential and popular in France and Belgium long before crossing the Atlantic. One of France's best known illustrators of comic strips and graphic novels is Jean Giraud, also known as Moebius, and occasionally as Gir. His work was introduced to the USA in 1977 with the translation of a French comics magazine Heavy Metal.

Giraud was born in the Paris suburbs in 1938 (chart follows). After his parents divorced he was brought up by grandparents and introduced to the work of late 19th century illustrators such as Gustave Dore. He trained in Paris at the Arts Appliqués (Institute of Applied/Decorative Arts). Within 2 years, aged 18, he was producing his first comic strip, depicting a western adventure. He went on to produce a variety of commercial graphic art, later teaming up with comics writer Jean-Michel Charlier and producing Fort Navajo, a comic strip which brought Giraud his first real success, and made his character Blueberry famous.

In 1963 he adopted the name Moebius for his contributions to a French anti-establishment magazine. Many collaborations with writers followed, and a variety of themes and styles emerged, including fantasy, sci-fi and eroticism. He has contributed work to movies such as Dune, El Topo, Alien and The Fifth Element, some of those in collaboration with cult movie director Alejandro Jodorowsky - more on him tomorrow.

Giraud/Moebius has two distinct styles: the Blueberry style, direct, bright, tough; and the finer, delicate pastel work in much of his sci-fi and fantasy work, which I much prefer.



Jean Henri Gaston Giraud (Moebius) was born on 8 May 1938 in Nogent sur Marne, France at
10:45 AM (Astrodatabank).





Sun conjunct Uranus! Another one! Two recent posts on investigators of unexplained phenomena, John Keel and Charles Fort, threw up charts with Uranus close to natal Sun. Here we find an artist drawn to illustrate fantasy and science fiction! Sun/Uranus in Taurus, ruled by the arts planet Venus. Venus itself is conjunct Mars nextdoor in versatile, communicative Gemini.

Neptune, planet of imagination and creativity in Virgo and in harmonious trine to Sun/Uranus completes a classic line-up for someone of artistic vision.

I see his Virgo Moon reflected in his softer style, the delicate lines and shades used, nothing brash or garish.