HUMANS : RISEN APES of PLANET EARTH

"But we were born of risen apes, not fallen angels, and the apes were armed killers besides. And so what shall we wonder at? Our murders and massacres and missiles, and our irreconcilable regiments? Or our treaties whatever they may be worth; our symphonies however seldom they may be played; our peaceful acres, however frequently they may be converted into battlefields; our dreams however rarely they may be accomplished. The miracle of man is not how far he has sunk but how magnificently he has risen. We are known among the stars by our poems, not our corpses."
~ Robert Ardrey, African Genesis

I'd have to argue strongly with the last sentence of that otherwise insightful quotation. I'd say that the human species of planet Earth is known among the stars, if at all, by the insanity of its headlong rush towards its own destruction.

During the past week we've watched a 3-DVD set of Holocaust. This was a TV mini-series first aired in 1978, and has been, without doubt, the most painful to watch of any film I've seen in my entire life. I knew I couldn't, and shouldn't, "chicken out" part-way through, though.

Watching Holocaust has reminded me (if I needed to be reminded) that the human race is rotten at its core. Should we need even more evidence, we can look to news items from Sudan, Congo, Tibet, or a long, long list of historical instances of horrific dealings, human against human, throughout our relatively short tenancy of planet Earth. And if, at some point, a particular group or "tribe" appears to be on the side wearing the white hats and fighting evil - it's part of the pattern to see that same "tribe" slickly ducking into the black hats of oppressors and finding them a nice snug fit - in no time at all.

Because of our shared rotten core, over the centuries a few rare individuals, a scant few who must carry a mutant, sane and peaceful gene, have tried to point out a better way for humans to live. What happened? Their followers formed "tribes", the "tribes" killed one another.

Humans, in spite of their common species, tend always to gravitate into groups, "tribes". This has to be in our genes, our DNA. The "tribe" effect even happens in astrology. Sun sign astrology retains its hold on fans because so many wish to categorise themselves and others by "star signs", and find it hard to get out of that rut. When they widen their knowledge of the subject, a broadening of perspective and better understanding of themselves and others usually follows. The same broadening of perspective would surely be available in all areas where a "tribal" mentality persists?

"Our true nationality is mankind", wrote H.G. Wells, long ago. He was well ahead of the curve! I've often thought that we - we as in the human race - will not fully realise and embrace our common humanity until we are faced with "other" - living beings not of planet Earth. That could happen tomorrow - or never. I hope we shall not ever be visited by "other" though, because, if humans' past record is anything to go by, "other" would not be welcomed - they would be destroyed.

There isn't a solution, nothing to be done but to do our best with what nature has given us. There never will be a solution. Our particular mix of stardust ingredients have formed, and will continue to form, the complexities of our human nature and our, probably complex, destiny. Our species was an unfortunate accident of Nature.

“This is the very worst wickedness, that we refuse to acknowledge the passionate evil that is in us. This makes us secret and rotten.”
~D.H. Lawrence

Blogging ~ Surprise "Hits"

Blogging, especially astrology blogging, can be, to use an expression beloved by British soccer fans, "a funny old game". Some posts, often those I've especially enjoyed researching, writing - and even reading and re-reading (narcissist!) cause little interest, while a few I've written with some reservation, thinking "Hmmm - nobody'll want to read THIS!" have proven to be constant "hit-getters" over a long period.

The four posts linked below, some posted as long ago as October 2008, still garner views, occasionally gluts of views, for a variety of reasons. Sometimes the person or topic featured may be in the news, or linked to someone in the news; or perhaps there have been links to an archived post on forum message boards, not necessarily astrology forums, resulting in a spike in the statistics.

Linda Lovelace - A Star Is Porn

Are We Human or Are We Dancer?

A Libran Exception - Irma Grese

Black Moon Lilith

A post this week racked up more hits than I've ever seen before:
Monday's post with just a simple mention of Adam Lambert brought lots of visitors from a Fan Forum. Evidence of Adam's burgeoning popularity, and on that score, if little else, I can now say "Told ya so!"
(Other Adam Lambert posts can be accessed by clicking on his name in the Label Cloud in the sidebar).

The posts which spark most interest do not do so, in the main, due to their astrological content. Astrology is still a fringe interest, even though its popularity has increased over decades since the 1960s. I always hope that readers landing, via a link, without any interest in astrology might notice its relevance and leave with the thought at the back of their mind - "well, perhaps astrology isn't as far fatched as I'd thought". This may be a forlorn hope on my part, but it's partly what keeps me inspired enough to spend time blogging.

Neptunian Songs

Most well-known songs have lyrics with an immediately obvious, non-adaptable meaning, but there are a few oddities which act in a similar way to abstract art, leaving interpretation open to the observer/listener. It's the second kind I'm concentrating on here, calling them Neptunian songs. Neptune is traditionally accepted as planet of mist, fog, imagination, dreams and visions.

Three such songs spring to mind: "Come Together" written by John Lennon; "One" by Bono; and Procol Harum's "Whiter Shade of Pale". The lyrics of each are open to several interpretations, shrouded in Neptunian mist, with strange, seemingly out of place references, using words almost as musical notes or vessels of rhythm (which is, I guess, the secondary purpose of words in art).

John Lennon had Neptune conjunct Mars trining Moon and Uranus in his natal chart, which means that Neptune was well-harnessed within his nature; Uranus added a touch (often more than a touch) of obtuseness and intentional nonsense to his lyrics. There have been dozens of theories about the meaning of the peculiar picture painted by his lyrics in "Come Together": drug-related; Jesus-related; Paul was dead; pen- portraits of each of the Beatles; John's dream of seeing himself in a coffin as people filed by to look at him. I prefer the last of those. John said, in interview, that the song is simply "gobbledy-gook". I'm sure it was, up to a point, but I'd guess that it contains some in-jokes and reference known only to the Beatles - "toe jam football", "walrus gum boots", "mojo filter", for instance. Anyway it's a catchy tune with hypnotic rhythm, lyrics are secondary in this abstract painting of a song, "colors" are everything.

Here come old flattop he come grooving up slowly
He got joo-joo eyeball he one holy roller
He got hair down to his knee
Got to be a joker he just do what he please

He wear no shoeshine he got toe-jam football
He got monkey finger he shoot coca-cola
He say "I know you, you know me"
One thing I can tell you is you got to be free
Come together right now over me

He bag production he got walrus gumboot
He got Ono sideboard he one spinal cracker
He got feet down below his knee
Hold you in his armchair you can feel his disease
Come together right now over me

He roller-coaster he got early warning
He got muddy water he one mojo filter
He say "One and one and one is three"
Got to be good-looking 'cause he's so hard to see
Come together right now over me

Bono penned the lyrics of "One". There are a few conflicting ideas about its meaning. In Bono's natal chart foggy Neptune is conjunct Moon and exactly opposite Venus (planet of music and art) and Mercury (planet of writing and communication). Again, as with Lennon, the foggy planet is harnessed to personal planets. It's not surprising that Bono managed to write an abstract painting of a song, whether intentionally or not. Theories about the song's meaning range from: it's a song about the break-up of a relationship (lovers, friends, partners, parents); a conflict between a gay person and their parent; a song about Jesus (why do all lyrics have to be about Jesus for some listeners?) Others assume it's a song about one-ness in the world - a wider view of one-ness than just a self-centered whinge about relationship breaking up. I'd go along with the latter, if it weren't for some references to the contrary.

Is it getting better
Or do you feel the same
Will it make it easier on you now
You got someone to blame
You say...

One love
One life
When it's one need
In the night
One love
We get to share it
Leaves you baby if you
Don't care for it

Did I disappoint you
Or leave a bad taste in your mouth
You act like you never had love
And you want me to go without
Well it's...

Too late
Tonight
To drag the past out into the light
We're one, but we're not the same
We get to
Carry each other
Carry each other
One...
Have you come here for forgiveness
Have you come to raise the dead
Have you come here to play Jesus
To the lepers in your head

Did I ask too much
More than a lot
You gave me nothing
Now it's all I got
We're one
But we're not the same
Well we
Hurt each other
Then we do it again
You say
Love is a temple
Love a higher law
Love is a temple
Love the higher law
You ask me to enter
But then you make me crawl
And I can't be holding on
To what you got
When all you got is hurt
One love
One blood
One life
You got to do what you should
One life
With each other
Sisters
Brothers
One life
But we're not the same
We get to
Carry each other
Carry each other

One...life

One

"Whiter Shade of Pale" is so beyond interpretation that it's amazing anyone has even attempted to make sense of it. It is the classic Neptunian song. Unfortunately I'm not aware of its writers' astrology. Literary and historical motifs abound here, suggesting dreamy visions with no hint of logic. Truly, truly Neptunian. I've always loved it.

We skipped the light fandango
Turned cartwheels 'cross the floor
I was feeling kind of seasick
The crowd called out for more
And the room was hummin' harder
As the ceiling flew away
And when we called outfor another drink
But the waiter brought a tray

And so it was later
As the miller told his tale
That her face at first just ghostly
Turned a whiter shade of pale.

You said: "There is no reason,
And the truth is plain to see."
But I wander through my playin' cards
Would not let him be
One of sixteen vestal virgins
Who were leaving for the coast
And although my eyes were open
They might just as well been closed

And so it was later
As the miller told his tale
That her face at first just ghostly
Turned a whiter shade of pale.
A whiter shade of pale
Turned a whiter shade of pale
A whiter shade of pale

By the way, there's a good example of another Neptunian song already discussed on this blog - "Human" written by Brandon Flowers of The Killers. Chat about possible meanings has continued for some time, here and elsewhere.

Morrissey, Paris & Love.

Sometimes I feel I'm led to topics for the blog in mysterious ways. I'm not sure whether these stem from intuition, chance, or simple serendipity. Who knows?

As I mentioned on 28 January, my post about a pop song "Human" has generated more hits than any other on this blog. Another song has been tapping on my subconscious for a couple of weeks now. It's being played every day on morning BBC record shows to which I regularly listen on-line. The Song? Morrissey's "I'm Throwing My Arms Around Paris". Initially, I decided the song is about a guy whose lover rejected him, so he hopped over Paris as a treat, to get over the pain of loss. Simple enough. But there's more.....or is there?

Morrissey isn't a singer to whose work I've ever felt drawn, though his name is familiar from my days in the UK. He was part of the British group The Smiths, back in the day. When I look at photographs of Morrissey I don't see a singer or a pop artist, I see someone who might sell me a new fridge, or who might man the reception desk when we take our car in for service. That seems like a daft thing to say, but it hits me every time I see his image.

Stephen Patrick Morrissey was born May 22, 1959, in Manchester, England. I do wish I had a time of birth, but I don't, so the chart below is set for 12 noon.


We can't know his rising sign or exact position of natal Moon. If Morrissey was born 1pm onward his Moon would be in Sagittarius, an earlier birth time puts it in the later degrees of Scorpio. I'd go for the latter.
I'll not spend too much time on the chart. A few salient points: Sun is in the first degree of Gemini - the sign of writers. That doesn't lie. He started writing at an early age, a fanzine, letters and many articles. Later he turned to songwriting. Natal Mercury in Taurus (ruled by Venus planet of the arts and music) possibly propelled him in that direction.

He has the reputation among his peers and fans of being something of an enigma (as far as his sexual orientation is concerned ), a tad difficult, scratchy, hard-edged. There have been accusations that there's racism in some of his lyrics, even though his politics would seem hard-left. I suspect his natal Moon was pretty close to being right opposite his Sun, which would account for a seeming polarity in his nature, but in any case Jupiter opposes his Sun and Pluto squares it, both these aspects smack of inner conflicts.

Back to those lyrics "I'm Throwing My Arms Around Paris". There's something of a debate going on among his fans as to their source and meaning. Some consider there's a connection to a rare syndrome where people (mostly women) turn their love and sexual feelings on to inanimate objects. Message board conversation on this subject HERE.

Apparently there is a woman who has fallen in love with the Eiffel Tower, another whose amorous attention is given to the Berlin Wall. An article in the UK's Independent refers to the syndrome.

Other fans see a link to Oscar Wilde in the lyrics. Wilde returned to Paris after a spell in prison as a result of his homosexuality. He died in Paris, his tomb, designed by Jacob Epstein, is shown in the photograph. Morrissey is known to be a fan of Wilde.

There are other, less likely theories as to the lyrics' meaning, too. How about a (somewhat contrived) astrological link ? Pluto (planet of, among other things, sex and the erotic)recently moved into Capricorn (sign of structure, institutions, rigidity). Yes, I know - it's stretching it a bit, but there is a link between sex and stone and steel there!

Once again, as in "Human", a clever songwriter/performer has hit upon lyrics which have a number of interpretations, depending on the experience and knowledge of the listener - rather like an abstract or surrealist painting. This is a very welcome trend: pop music for the thinking listener?

What first attracted me to the song is the rather dramatic melody direction at "Only stone and steel accept my love". I find that the addictive point.

In the absence of your love
And in the absence of human touch
I have decided I'm throwing my arms around
Around Paris because only stone and steel accept my love

In the absence of your smiling face
I traveled all over the place
and I have decided I'm throwing my arms around
Around Paris because only stone and steel accept my love
I'm throwing my arms around
Around Paris because only stone and steel accept my love

I'm throwing my arms around Paris because
Nobody wants my love
Nobody wants my love
Nobody needs my love
Nobody wants my love

Yes you made yourself plain
Yes you made yourself very plain

Looking Back, Being Human, Hoping to Dance.

Our departure has had to be postponed due to treacherous road conditions here and where we'd be heading. Maybe tomorrow ? We can but hope. It gives me an opportunity to look back back to a post dated 31 October 2008, featuring The Killers' song "Human": "Are We Human or Are We Dancer?" That post has attracted more hits than any other since the start of this blog in late 2006. 3 months after posting it still receives many hits every day.

The producer of a delightful video, shot on the day of president Obama's Inauguration, having seen my post, contacted me with a link to her video which uses "Human" as background music, and to great effect.

So, in classic Mercury Retrograde style, I reviewed 31 October's post, then looked back to 20 January, re-lived that day's events and emotions, prompted by Emily Troutman. Her wonderful video presentation puts the two together in a moving and very memorable way.

Emily's blog is Who We Are/How We Live.
Her video "President Obama: Words For How We Feel Now" is there, with her explanation of the concept and how she compiled the video.

I've embedded the version from YouTube here, but please do visit Emily's blog for further detail and a link to a slightly larger format of the video.





~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Something completely different:
My husband stood at the kitchen window with his pocket camera yesterday morning, then came up with this brief video which I liked enough to share.




PS: This should be my last posting for about a week - as long as road conditions have improved by tomorrow morning.

"Are We Human or Are We Dancer?"

It's many Moons since I was taken by a popular song. This one crept up on me. We first heard it earlier this month on "Saturday Night Live" - "Human", by The Killers, a band we'd never heard of. After listening for a while, we both commented on the silliness of the lyrics.
(See end of post for lyrics and YouTube recording).

I noticed the song played a couple of times recently during my morning dose of the BBC. It's a catchy tune, better appreciated via radio than watched on TV. Yesterday, just as I finished my post featuring a tarot reading, I switched to the BBC and that song was playing. This time I really listened to the words. Two hours later I'd scoured the web, learned about Hunter S. Thompson, and encountered a wide variety of opinions on the meaning of those enigmatic lyrics.

It appears that Brandon Flowers, vocalist and keyboard player of the band has stated in an interview that the line "are we human, or are we dancer?" is a reference to a remark once made by the late Hunter S. Thompson, an ascerbic journalist famed for "telling it like it is", often in offensive terms. He had commented that America is nowadays raising a "generation of dancers". Thompson committed suicide in 2005.

Aside from The Killers' new song, Hunter S. Thompson is a fascinating subject, about whose astrology I'd have written, but found that it had already been done by D.K. Brainard at "Pure Plutonium: Hunter S. Thompson Says Goodbye".

Because that fabled "veil between worlds" is thin at Halloween, I fancifully imagine that perhaps Mr. Thompson's thoughts are being propelled to us clearly at this time for a reason. We are close an election in the USA, an election pivotal to the future of both this country, and by extension, the world. When considering whether to vote or not, it might behove us to ask ourselves, "Are we human or are we dancer?"

Concentrating on the lyrics of the song, I started to search for clues to their meaning. A long thread of comments at Popwatch Blog following "Does the Killers' 'Human' have the silliest lyrics of the week? by Simon Vozick-Levinson provided food for thought. Comments covered whether the song says "denser" or "dancer" (it's the latter); whether dancer should be plural (no - because the word is used as an adjective, as though it's a different species, as in "are we human or are we canine".)

There are analyses of the lyrics as a whole. One writer saw them as relating to the end of a love affair after a phone call. Another to the birth of a person's first offspring - a bit of a stretch, I thought! The meaning of "human" versus "dancer" is cloudy. Is it preferable (or wise) to be one or t'other? All depends on individual interpretation.

My own version of the tale the lyrics tell is this: as Brandon Flowers has said the inspiration came from Hunter S. Thompson's words, possibly the whole song is a dedication to him and the way he ended his own life (he shot himself in the head, suffering from several chronic illnesses). The "platform of surrender", cutting the cord (of life), "Wave goodbye, say farewell, you've gotta let me go".... reading the lyrics this way, the intention seems obvious to me.

Intertwined in the story told by the lyrics is that question we might benefit from asking ourselves: "are we human or are we dancer?" Personally I take it as asking whether we are taking notice of what's going on around us, or are we oblivious, wrapped up in our own fantasy world, allowing others to manipulate us, and the real world?

It's the first time for decades that I've thought as much about the lyrics of a pop (or any other) song. I guess Hunter S. Thompson would be pleased if he could see the thought and controversy seeded by a throw-away remark of his.

I did my best to notice, when the call came down the line
Up to the platform of surrender, I was brought but I was kind
But sometimes I get nervous when I see an open door
Close your eyes clear your heart, cut the cord

Are we human, or are we dancer
My sign is vital my hands are cold
And I'm on my knees looking for the answer
Are we human, or are we dancer

Pay my respects to grace and virture, send my condolences to good
Give my regards to soul and romance, they always did the best they could
And so long to devotion you taught me everything I know
Wave good bye wish me well, you've gotta let me go

Are we human, or are we dancer
My sign is vital my hands are cold
And I'm on my knees looking for the answer
Are we human, or are we dancer

Will your system be alright?
When you dream of home tonight
There is no message we're receiving
Let me know, is your heart still beating?

Are we human, or are we dancer
My sign is vital my hands are cold
And I'm on my knees looking for the answer
Are we human, or are we dancer
You've gotta let me know

Are we human, or are we dancer
My sign is vital my hands are cold
And I'm on my knees looking for the answer
Are we human, or are we dancer
You've gotta let me know

Are we human, or are we dancer
Are we human, or are we dancer