Thursday, February 18, 2010

Another Radical ~ Abbie Hoffman

More coincidence/synchronicity emerges! First, I'm Alright Jack, next, Reds, then, on Tuesday evening HBO presented us with Steal This Movie. It's a biopic with another American rebel and political activist as its central character: Abbie Hoffman. My attention keeps being drawn to left-wing rebels! Hmmm - I shall not resist!

I'll have a peek at Abbie Hoffman's chart to discover whether there's anything in common with John Reed's which appeared in yesterday's post.

Described as flamboyant and colorful, Abbie Hoffman emerged from 1960s counterculture, prominent in demonstarations against the war in Vietnam, founded the "Yippies" (Youth International Party). His trademark sharp satirical humour and a flair for organisation was effectively used on behalf of many causes, including civil rights, anti-war and ecology.


See here

At the end of the 1960s Abbot Howard "Abbie" Hoffman became an American celebrity and the wild-and-woolly face of youth activists protesting U.S. involvement in Vietnam. A graduate of Brandeis University with a Master's degree in psychology from the University of California at Berkeley, Hoffman was a co-founder of New York's "Yippie" movement, a loosely-organized anti-war group called the Youth International Party. Their 1967 anti-establishment pranks included dumping dollar bills (mostly fake) onto the floor of the New York Stock Exchange and surrounding the Pentagon in an attempt to levitate it.

After a street fight with police during the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago, Hoffman and his cohorts were arrested and charged with conspiracy to incite a riot. The trial was a media sensation, and the so-called Chicago Seven (originally there were eight, including Black Panther Bobby Seale) spent more than a year mocking the court of Judge Julius J. Hoffman with shenanigans that resulted in more than 150 contempt citations. In the end it all amounted to acquittals and convictions overturned, and Hoffman became known more as the guy who wrote Steal This Book (1971) or the guy who was arrested for wearing a shirt that looked like the American flag (1968).

Hoffman was arrested in 1973 on drug charges, but he skipped bail and spent the next seven years on the lam, going by the name of Barry Freed. In the early 1980s he resurfaced and, after a little jail time, embarked on a career as an organizer, activist, author and lecturer. At the age of 52 he was found dead of what a Pennsylvania coroner called a "massive overdose" of phenobarbital. His books include Revolution for the Hell of It (1968), Woodstock Nation (1969), Soon to be a Major Motion Picture (1980) and Preserving Disorder: The Faking of the President (1988, with Jonathan Silvers).

The coroner ruled Hoffman's death a suicide, saying the amount of the overdose suggested that an accident was unlikely.



Abbie Hoffman was born in Worcester Massachusetts on 30 November 1936 at 1:30 AM (Astrodatabank).



Sun, Mercury and Jupiter in Sagittarius (Jupiter's rulership). Jupiterian emphasis is a link between the charts of John Reed and Abbie Hoffman. Jupiter, planet of excess and philosophy - I guess one could say that political activism consists of expanding philosophical ideas to their limit - to excess.

Two tight oppositions: Jupiter/Moon and Saturn/Neptune reflect inner on-going conflict which may eventually have contributed to his bi-polar disorder.

Uranus, the rebel planet has a clearer part to play here than in John Reed's chart. There's a Yod (Finger of Fate) configuration linking the sextile between Sun and Mars (Mars in a strong position, close to the ascendant) via two quincunx aspects of 150 degrees to Uranus. Astrologers consider that the sextiled planets' attributes are channelled through the planet at the apex of the Yod - and in this case what could be more appropriate? Sun(self) & Mars(energy and aggression) chanelled through Uranus (rebellion/revolution).

The charts of Reed and Hoffman bring the realisation that Uranus is not necessarily the astrological key player in such activists' life stories, it can be...but Jupiter is one to watch!


I believe in compulsory cannibalism. If people were forced to eat what they killed, there would be no more wars.
Abbie Hoffman


4 comments:

Cindy Rutgers said...

Its so interesting to hear that his innner ongoing conflict may have contributed to his bi-polar disorder. This subject really is so fascinating.

Twilight said...

Cindy Rutgers ~~ I'm surmising though. But I do recall noticing more than a single opposition in charts of others who've suffered from bi-polar disorder/depression.
There probably need to be other factors in play too -unstable lifestyle, difficult background etc. - for astrological stuff to manifest in any particular way.
It is fascinating to watch for these things in charts though. :-)

Wisewebwoman said...

It makes one wonder alright, T. He was a man with extraordinary vision I always thought, but "the world was too much with him."
he gave up.
XO
WWW

Twilight said...

WWW ~~~ Yes. Very sad. He had amazing drive and organising talents.
Imagine what he'd make of what has gone on in US politics in the years since his death!!