The serious drama unfolding in Iran was pushed to the back of the shelf for a while on Thursday when news of two deaths took the headlines. First came news of Farrah Fawcett (I'll always think of her as Farrah Fawcett-Majors) having succumbed at last to cancer, then the shocking report of Michael Jackson's untimely death.
Farrah was a fellow Aquarius Sun - possibly one of the best looking and most luminous Aquarian women ever. My husband rates this famous poster of Farrah alongside that other famous iconic image: Marilyn Monroe standing over a grating with skirt blowing up in the breeze.
RIP Aquarian beauty.
Michael Jackson's death has sparked another bout of communal grieving which looks like becoming comparable to that for John Lennon and Princess Di. I feel sad for Michael's family, and for his legion of fans. I wasn't a fan. I'm not of the generation who grew up listening to him. His music barely touched my consciousness.
Astrologically, his Virgo Sun probably(depending on time of birth) opposed his Pisces Moon and reflected the conflict within him, evidenced by his troubled life. His Virgo Sun and Pisces Moon were under stress, too, around a year ago, from transiting Saturn - could events triggered by that transit have been at the root of what, eventually, occurred on Thursday?
A verified time of birth isn't available, but over the years rectification of Michael's natal chart has been attempted by astrologers. Results have put the most likely times of birth at either around noon or very late at night, close to midnight giving ascendant in either Scorpio or Gemini. Astrologer Paul Newman points out, in his article HERE,(both charts are shown), that Gemini and Scorpio influences are already heavy in the chart, even discounting the rising sign. Sun conjunct Pluto = Scorpio influence as Pluto is Scorpio's ruler. Sun in Virgo, and Virgo is ruled by Gemini. So neither estimate of Michael's birth time is conclusive, the truth remains a mystery. RIP Michael Jackson.
One of the best articles I've seen about last week's celebrity deaths is by Ted Anthony who covers American culture for the Associated Press
"Two lost icons: For Generation X, a really bad day".
Mr Anthony points out that Farrah and Michael were icons for a generation - Generation X. As I see it, for many of that generation's members this loss could be the first they've felt quite so keenly, almost a rite of passage, one might say.
Ted Anthony's article ends thus:
UPDATE
For MJ fans, there are some photographs you might not have seen before on my husband's blog for 29 June SEE HERE
Farrah was a fellow Aquarius Sun - possibly one of the best looking and most luminous Aquarian women ever. My husband rates this famous poster of Farrah alongside that other famous iconic image: Marilyn Monroe standing over a grating with skirt blowing up in the breeze.
RIP Aquarian beauty.
Michael Jackson's death has sparked another bout of communal grieving which looks like becoming comparable to that for John Lennon and Princess Di. I feel sad for Michael's family, and for his legion of fans. I wasn't a fan. I'm not of the generation who grew up listening to him. His music barely touched my consciousness.Astrologically, his Virgo Sun probably(depending on time of birth) opposed his Pisces Moon and reflected the conflict within him, evidenced by his troubled life. His Virgo Sun and Pisces Moon were under stress, too, around a year ago, from transiting Saturn - could events triggered by that transit have been at the root of what, eventually, occurred on Thursday?
A verified time of birth isn't available, but over the years rectification of Michael's natal chart has been attempted by astrologers. Results have put the most likely times of birth at either around noon or very late at night, close to midnight giving ascendant in either Scorpio or Gemini. Astrologer Paul Newman points out, in his article HERE,(both charts are shown), that Gemini and Scorpio influences are already heavy in the chart, even discounting the rising sign. Sun conjunct Pluto = Scorpio influence as Pluto is Scorpio's ruler. Sun in Virgo, and Virgo is ruled by Gemini. So neither estimate of Michael's birth time is conclusive, the truth remains a mystery. RIP Michael Jackson.
One of the best articles I've seen about last week's celebrity deaths is by Ted Anthony who covers American culture for the Associated Press
"Two lost icons: For Generation X, a really bad day".
Mr Anthony points out that Farrah and Michael were icons for a generation - Generation X. As I see it, for many of that generation's members this loss could be the first they've felt quite so keenly, almost a rite of passage, one might say.
Ted Anthony's article ends thus:
In the 1990s, members of Generation X would often laugh in bars about how the time of the Boomers was passing -- about how the quaintness and naivete that made up the 1960s was, finally, a grave being danced on by Kurt Cobain. Today, members of that same generation sit upon the ground and tell sad stories of the death of kings of pop.
A sexy poster upon a boy's wall in which a young woman grins wholesomely. A record album called "Thriller" and its attendant music videos, built upon the notion that sexiness came in the frisson of hints and suggestions rather than in cutting directly to the big reveal.
In the end, finally, they stand as the relics of a generation -- one that struggled to find its place and now, suddenly, while still young, one that must wonder if it is as passe as the paper and vinyl that its icons' most memorable moments were etched upon. We don't need another hero? After this week, are we sure?
UPDATE
For MJ fans, there are some photographs you might not have seen before on my husband's blog for 29 June SEE HERE
As an 11 or 12 yr old boy, i was fascinated by the Farrah poster which hung on my wall.
ReplyDeleteMichael Jackson's career caught fire during my high school years and his video, Thriller was played often at the disco that i used to frequent. Chicks dug Michael, and i dug chicks, therefore i was well aware of his success, but no, i never bought his records because i was a hardcore rock n roll dude!
Jackson was a true genius performer and artist who instinctively knew how to demand center stage. His song, Beat It even featured a guitar riff from rock guitar god, Eddie Van Halen that catapulted it to number one.
On the personal side, he has been depicted as a tortured soul who suffered abuses from his megalomaniac father, joe. May he rest in peace.
Interesting thought I had T was that these were 2 gorgeous icons who destroyed their faces. I wonder about that. 2 troubled souls.
ReplyDeleteXO
WWW
We'll always have such 'heroes', and we'll build them up into something they're not, defining a new generation that is just the same as the last, the only difference being culture deep.
ReplyDeleteShawn ~~~ A tortured soul indeed, and his story will live on. I'd guess that some movie producer is even now planning a bio-pic. Farrah will be long remembered too, with fondness, by men and women alike - I always looked on her as a beauty who females didn't resent.
ReplyDeleteWWW ~~~ Michael was troubled for sure, though Farrah didn't seem to be - I think she tried to retain her looks more for professional purposes than anything else, as do so many in show-biz. It's so sad that we demand that kind of perfection.
ReplyDeleteAN ~~~ You're right, of course.
ReplyDeleteIt's a pattern ingrained in our species, I guess. :-)
I'm always going to remember Michael as the beautiful little boy he was while a member of the Jackson 5. So sweet and innocent. I really can't reconcile the Michael of the last 10 years to that person.
ReplyDeleteLaura ~~~ I can appreciate your feelings. It seems that something within him was broken; what and why it was we'll probably never know. Just this morning I've read articles blaming both racial prejudice and homosexual prejudice.
ReplyDeleteCould be both or neither.
Yea! I was looking forward to a post from you on this.
ReplyDeleteTwilight, I will have to have another look at MJ's chart from the link you provided. When he passed the other day, I consulted the one at Astrotheme, which gives him a Libra Asc. and Jupiter conj. Neptune in the 1st H (among other placements).
What stood out for me were some possible astrological clues to the difficulty he had in achieving peace with himself and maturing 'normally' in his own skin and his work.
I was shocked to see the Sun conj Pluto in Virgo, opposed Moon. To me this Sun indicates a perfectionist father of enormous, overpowering will, probably threatening/violent/frightening in Michael's eyes. To me it also helps explain the obsession he had with his body, rejecting his physical form in favor of repeated resculpting and re-coloring of his skin and facial features. Virgo is already a nitpicker, the finder of flaws; combined with Pluto, I would think this could mean an overpowering fixation on what he (wrongly) perceived as physically wrong with his appearance, a ruthless self-judgment of how it fell short of perfection, and the compulsive attempts to correct it. He really did not want to be an African-American man; his plastic surgeon claims MJ wanted to look like Diana Ross.
In eulogy, many critics have referred to Jackson's greatest albums (Thriller and Off the Wall) as 'flawless' and 'perfect,' with later records failing to hit the same mark.
The Libra rising, if true, would only add to this desire to present the self as beautiful, symmetrical, harmonious and perfect -- and add to the torment if he were not.
In spite of the baby-ish way he had of speaking in later adult life, MJ was probably an incredibly powerful force with an extreme drive to become the outsized global pop star he eventually was. During some of the lengthy cable news coverage there was some mention of Michael's desire to be the biggest star ever seen. From tiny little 5-year-old Michael of the Jackson 5 (think Pluto again), the seed of super-mega-stardom is sown.
If you want to get super-creeped out, watch the Thriller video and pay attention to the zombie eye makeup he's wearing to really feel the Plutonic influence. I know it's just a music video but those eyes are terrifying. He already looks like a man possessed.
With the Sun/Pluto's opposition to Pisces Moon, we see a push-pull between intensely focused ambition, and extremely sensitive, tender emotion that taps into the collective consciousness, with its concern for all suffering, all children. What a polarity....
And with Merc and Venus in Leo, maybe that's where the crown 'King of Pop' comes from?
Wow...fascinating.
(Sorry this was so long! :)
Poet Girl ~~~ Hi! Thanks for your thoughts on this - you've put forward some convincing points with which I can easily agree.
ReplyDeletePersonally, I don't think his rising sign is too important in assessing why he was as he was - I think Sun/Pluto in Virgo and the almost certain opposition from Moon in Pisces covers most of it.
But that's my minimalist approach.
;-)
I've read so much about the topic over the past day or two that it has become a blur! Astrologers on message boards and in articles have looked at the situation from every whichway, using all kinds of tools, but I still come back to those two simple factors.
I saw part of the "Thriller" video on TV - yes, I agree: a man possessed!