Arty Farty Friday ~ Tejal Patni's Photographs

In searching for something, or someone, not featured in Arty Farty posts in the past, I stumbled upon this piece:
Photographer Mixes High Fashion And Zodiac Signs In Stunning Calendar (Photos)
by Kaylin Pound at Elite News, in 2015. At left is a small image of his version of one zodiac sign - astro fans will easily guess which one it represents!

Photographer is Tejal Patni, Indian born in Mumbai [Bombay]. I haven't found any date of birth for him, but he appears to be a fairly young guy. There's little detail about him online at present, other than lots of his beautiful work. An interview at The Floating Magazine, by Payal Khandelwal provides some enlightenment, and some of his photographs. First paragraph :

Tejal was born and brought up in India and moved to Dubai in the 1980s. He graduated from Sir JJ School of Applied Arts in Mumbai, and later studied film making at the London Film Academy. Over the years, he has worked with some of the biggest fashion brands across the world including Harvey Nichols, Bloomingdale’s, Caprese, and magazines like GQ, Grazia, Harper’s Bazaar, etc. The annual calendar he creates for the Middle East’s premium fashion brand Splash has been highly instrumental in getting him a much deserved wider recognition. And that’s not surprising at all because his sharp instincts, his inspirations and his unique vision – all come together on the stage of Splash calendar every year to give a spellbinding performance.

The Splash calendar is featured in the first link above - the one relating to zodiac signs. Splash, by the way is (Wikipedia) India's largest fashion retailer[citation needed] and part of the Landmark Group,one of the biggest retail conglomerates in the Middle East and India.

Scrolling down the photographs in the first link above gives some idea of Patni's style - though I'm not convinced he had the best astrological advice about the signs, in some cases.

Do also take a look at some of Patni's other work - I enjoyed the zodiac-related photos, but prefer others :

http://www.tejalpatni.com/

https://adlmagazin.wordpress.com/2014/01/08/tejal-patni/



I'll borrow a single example. This photograph comes from his 2017 Splash calendar. Personally I, with Sun in Aquarius, think something along these lines would have better represented Aquarius than the Aquarius photograph in the zodiac-related calendar linked at the top of the post.

Arty Farty Friday - Michelangelo - A Question

The man considered by many to be the greatest sculptor and artist of all, Michelangelo, was born, according to AstroDatabank, while the Sun rolled through zodiac sign Pisces in the year 1475. Why, I'm wondering, have I never featured Michelangelo in these Arty Farty Friday posts before? Ah yes - the old Julian/Gregorian calendar question - as it relates to astrological calculations. I've questioned this in the past (here), but without finding clarification. I do understand the calendar change-over and reasons for it in general. In astrological matters the accurate translation of dates from one calendar to t'other is going to be of extra importance.

"Moses" by Michelangelo

For Michelangelo, born in Italy, on (Julian style) 6 March 1474 - which becomes 1475 Gregorian Calendar because 1 January, not 25 March was turn of year by Gregorian. Several sources for this date, and a time of birth, are quoted in AstroDatabank's page. The change to Gregorian calendar would also transfer 6 March (Julian) to 15 March 1475.
AstroDatabank confirms this, yet proceeds to calculate the natal chart using 6 March. The sources quoted mention that Michelangelo's birth was on a Monday (6 March was a Monday Julian-style), but that would not be the case using Gregorian calendar when 6 March becomes 15 March. I have to suppose that Gregorian calculations are used by today's astrology software, so to find out where the planets were situated on the zodiac at the time Michelangelo was born, wouldn't we have to look at a chart for 15 March ?
I'm puzzled! AstroDatabank's compilers are experts - I'm not arguing with them, but seeking explanation.

For comparison with the chart at AstroDatabank, and out of curiosity, here's a chart set for 15 March 1475, in Caprese, Italy at 1.45AM (data as at AstroDatabank, apart from the day.)

The charts for 6 March and 15 March 1475, throw up what some would consider a crucial difference - Sun in early Aries on 15th rather than Pisces on 6th. I don't see that as any great problem though - Michelangelo was everything Aries is cracked up to be wasn't he? His natal Moon would have been in Cancer rather than Pisces - I'm sure astrologers could live with that - the emotional sensitivity of Water is still there - and in a Cardinal rather than mutable sign. There are still Grand trines linking personal planets to Neptune and/or Uranus.

His rising sign using 15 March would have been Capricorn rather than Sagittarius. I don't see this as a stumbling block, especially as in this chart Moon was very close to Saturn, Capricorn's ruler. I've always considered Capricorn and Saturn emphasis to be very relevant to artists who are drawn towards sculpture, first and foremost - the solidity, strength and hard work involved - as against simply wielding a brush full of paint. Michelangelo shone brightly in paintbrush wielding mode too, of course (Sistine Chapel ceiling etc), but sculpture does seem to have been his true love, and a far rarer skill - to his high standard anyway.

I'd still be interested to know the thinking behind AstroDatabank's choice of dates from which to calculate position of planets in Michelangelo's natal chart. The celestial bodies would surely have been situated in the positions known to us, in later centuries with Gregorian calendar, as 15 March - aren't those the planetary positions we need to be looking at?

I haven't yet come across any astrology-driven blog or website with interpretation of a Michelangelo's natal chart for 15 March (Gregorian). There's mention of Michelangelo's natal chart in an article in a book I have (Best of National Astrological Journal 1933-35). I've mentioned the article before, in different context (see HERE.) What's stated doesn't tie in completely with AstroDatabank's version, or the 15 March chart.

"Michelangelo had Capricorn on the ascendant with the Moon three degrees away. His heavy stone-work, massive sculpture, his diligence in his work and the great length of life all show the influence of Saturn. It is true that he had the Sun and Mars in Pisces in the second house. Manly Hall says that Pisces rules Catholicism, and the Roman Catholic church was certainly Michelangelo's strong outlet."

For me, the plot thickens!

Wandering through some comments/reviews of a Michelangelo biography by Miles J. Unger, published last year, Michelangelo: A Life in Six Masterpieces, I noticed this comment by David Wineberg who had read the biography (I trust he will not mind my using his comment/review here), it might help to throw light on the comparative accuracy of charts for 6 and 15 March...or not.

His life was a constant controversy. He made enemies, he dodged (metaphorical) bullets, and he made art. He was an unpleasant misogynist who ironically adored nothing more than portraying the human body. He was universally recognized as the greatest, within his own lifetime. He lied and embellished, but his art speaks for itself. It all makes for a great read.

He was doubly cursed; he lived in interesting times, and was an interesting character. Michelangelo's greatest achievement was to fuse the artist and his work. That is a huge transition point, centered on Michelangelo in this warts and all biography. Because in addition to taking art in a whole new direction, complementing rather than being subservient to religion, Michelangelo turns out to be arrogant, obnoxious, self-centered, narcissistic, antisocial, overbearing and uncaring about any of it. Despite it all, he was the first superstar of art.

He never married, and there were of course questions about his sexual preferences, what with all those nude males he clearly preferred. He deflected them all by saying his art was all the wife he could handle. Later in life, he risked having close relationships with younger men. He was a drama queen; his favorite tactic was to threaten to quit unless he got everything he wanted. And he quit often anyway. He was a notorious abandoner, starting projects and never completing them. There are far more of them than completed works.

Despite abusing his body with little food, minimal rest, and zero care, he lived into his eighties. He outlived nine popes, and worked with five of them. They were often personal friends of his from childhood, which allowed him to be even more arrogant and petulant than he would otherwise. He seemed to have written it all down in letters and poems, and it is juicily reproduced here. This biography is as flesh and blood as Michelangelo's sculptures and paintings, a fitting framework if ever there was one. (David Wineberg)

I guess it matters not a jot, really, which natal chart is more accurate, as far as Michelangelo's genius is concerned, that's a given. Astrologers (and annoyances like me) are the only set of people who will care about position of the planets as this seminal artistic genius was released into the world.

 Rachel and Leah by Michelangelo

Arty Farty Friday ~ George Widener, Gifted "Outsider"

Stumbling upon a couple of articles discussing what's known as "Outsider Art" (see Wikipedia), I discovered George Widener, self-taught artist and calendar savant, whose Asperger/Autism Spectrum Disorder syndrome developed into a passion for mathematical computation, statistics, data, and especially calendars. An obsessive habit to translate every number that he encountered into a calendar date led to his transforming his findings into artwork.

George Widener was born in Covington, Kentucky, USA. His childhood was scarred by his father's death when George was 9 years old, followed by his mother's alcoholism and confinement in an institution. By age of twelve he was living with grandparents, later with with an aunt. He attended a specialised school where he showed definite aptitudes for mental arithmetic and drawing, and exceptional memory capacity.

In 1979 he joined the US Air Force as a technician. He spent his free time drawing, and collecting ideas for future artwork. Subsequently, unstable psychological episodes led to stays in psychiatric institutions.

"While George Widener suffers from a certain form of autism, he also possesses outstanding computational skills and extraordinary memory for names, facts and dates. His artistic work deals with complex inventories, diagrams, charts, codes and ciphers, which he inscribes in ink upon paper napkins, pasted together in multiple layers. Widener’s accumulations of calendar dates appear as an attempt at finding some sort of regulating principle, an occult formula of universal causality, his own answer to the enigma of Infinity and Eternity."
From Art Brut

In 1994 Widener began studying liberal arts at the University of Tennessee. He now lives in Asheville, North Carolina. As an introverted young adult he could hardly have predicted a career for himself in the elitist world of contemporary art, but his casual doodles on napkins and scraps of paper in libraries and restaurants – scribbles which, at times, seemed to explain and/or predict a plane crash or other event - eventually drew attention.

Widener has stated (see HERE):

"[In my art] I am using the dates as the medium. I wondered if I could create a pattern of [dates of] disasters or of weather, and start predicting. Hypothetically, if everything adds up but there is one [date] missing and a future date fits in, does that mean there will be storms? That fascinated me.

I began to get a bit obsessed with things like numbers as a child. They calmed me down in my times of stress. I sort of regressed. I started to retreat. I was filling my notebooks up with the dates. I had dozens of notebooks in a backpack.

Eventually, I was put in hospital and diagnosed with Asperger/Autism Syndrome, after which I became more able to accept myself and control my obsession with dates. I consider certain 'runs' of numbers in dates to be telling a undiscovered story. These runs will eventually say something to future machine life forms, and I am always looking"

ASTROLOGY

Most sources give George Widener's year of birth only: 1962. Wikipedia states his date of birth as 8 February 1962, with a reference to source as follows:

Darold A. Treffert, Islands of Genius: The Bountiful Mind of the Autistic, Acquired, and Sudden Savant (Jessica Kingsley Publishers, 2010) p179.

How reliable that information is I can't tell, but if correct it's certainly significant, falling slap-bang in the midst of 1962's famous Aquarius mega-conjunction. Below is his natal chart using that date, at 12 noon, in Covington, Kentucky. Some sources state place of birth as Ohio - perhaps the discrepancy arises due to his enforced moves during childhood. His natal Moon's degree will not be as shown, and rising sign remains unknown without a birth time.

"A date", George Widener says, "has four variables: day, month, year, day of the week. Feeling the symmetry of these numbers, he says, is a beautiful experience, almost like a drug. Those who want that experience must pay the price". (HERE)

Words seem superfluous! All personal planets except Moon lie from mid- to late Aquarius, the Air sign astrology links to analytical skills, logic and general mental acuity. Moon would be in Aries, whatever time of day George Widener was born - that, along with Uranus, Aquarius' modern ruler in Leo adds a dynamic thrust to all that mental energy.

A thought occurs - if George Widener were to study astrology, then cast his amazing mind towards astrology research ...what might be revealed?

ARTWORK

George Widener's artwork must really require close-up viewing, but to give some idea, a few images chosen at random from Google Image

Widener notes that certain types of incidents have occurred on the same day of the week, and so that very day may engender similar incidents in the future. When Widener was a teenager, he came across a passenger list of the Titanic and discovered that one of the victims coincidentally shared his name. This large drawing translates his fascination for this history. Even though the ship sank on a Monday, here he emphasizes that it was “mourned on Tuesday.” Every Tuesday for seven hundred years, starting on April 16, 1912, is included by date; the number of Tuesdays approximately corresponds to the number of people rescued from the sinking ship. (See HERE)

Lady Day, Hilaria, SCOTUS .....and stuff

Today, March 25th is Lady Day. The name is a reminder that March 25th was honored as the date and festival of The Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary - the date of conception of Jesus Christ, 9 months from the supposed date of His birth, 25 December. It's now widely accepted that 25 December was not Christ's birthday, so Christian festival dates are treated as symbolic.

25 March in ancient Rome also had connection to things female, a celebration called Hilaria. As a general term, Hilaria covered several types of anniversary or joyous personal occasions. There was also a more general Hilaria celebrated on 25 March "the eighth day before the Kalends of April, in honor of Cybele, the mother of the gods. The day of its celebration was the first after the vernal equinox, or the first day of the year which was longer than the night. The winter with its gloom had died, and the first day of a better season was spent in rejoicings."

Coincidentally, this year, 25 March is the date when the Supreme Court of the United States will be hearing argument on a case relating to female matters: (see here)

Sebelius v. Hobby Lobby Stores, Inc. and Conestoga Wood Specialties Corp. v. Sebelius, two highly anticipated cases that deal with the Affordable Care Act, religious freedom and women's access to contraception. The case won't be decided Tuesday, but we could get a clear indication of which way the justices are leaning.

My own thoughts on the Hobby Lobby case are in a 2012 post, HERE.

Back to Lady Day...
Lady Day was adopted in Britain and Ireland as one of four Quarter Days. These were days when servants were hired, and rents and rates were due. They fell on four religious festivals roughly three months apart and close to the two solstices and two equinoxes.
Lady Day (25 March); Midsummer Day (24 June); Michaelmas (29 September); Christmas (25 December). In the UK, the tax year still begins around Lady Day (actually 6 April to 5 April) a relic of the traditional Quarter Days.

Lady Day, 25 March, was also New Year's Day in England until 1752 when a crossover from the Julian to Gregorian calendar took place, moving New Year's Day to first of January. When I worked with a County Archivist long ago, I had to carefully remember, when dealing with documents from before 1752, which were dated January, February or March(up to 25), to catalogue them as, for example, 16 March 1714/5.

(See here - for further detail on the history of calendars).

"Calendar is a word that comes from Latin calendarium, or account book, and is derived from calendae or the calends, the first day of all of the old Roman months. This was the day on which accounts were due and on which the priests of Rome called the people together to proclaim (calare) that the new moon had been sighted.

Calendars generally have been based on some combination of celestial observation and observance of the pattern of human activities and rituals. Despite all of the astronomical dilemmas (lunar, solar, seasonal, etc.), we have arrived at our present Gregorian calendar because of the astronomical and political skills of many generations."

Also, it has to be said that religion has always played a major part in defining calendars throughout the world.

Sidelight: "Lady Day" was also the nickname of legendary jazz singer Billie Holiday, who, though not born on this day, was born with Sun in Aries (7 April 1915.....chart and biography at Astrodatabank's Wiki, here. )

IS IT REALLY 2012?

"Jesus was born years earlier than thought".......I understand that this was, actually, relatively old news, but brought back to light by none other than The Pope in a new book.

"The assertion that the Christian calendar is based on a false premise is not new – many historians believe that Christ was born sometime between 7BC and 2BC."

I read the above linked article from The Telegraph, along with part of the 90 page comment thread. What kept buzzing around in my mind, and what I've still not established to my satisfaction is: what about astrology? What about the dates used in astrological ephemerides since... for ever? Is the year astrologers think of as 2012 really 2019 or 2014, 2016?

I know that the dating style of BC (Before Christ) and AD (Year of Our Lord) are now mostly replaced by BCE and CE (Before/Common Era/Christian Era), but the dates themselves do not change. Calendar changes resulting from Julian to Gregorian calculation encountered by astrologers when dealing with natal charts of persons born before certain points in the 16th/17th/18th centuries necessitate adjustment of the information contained in astro-ephemerides in common use. Properly, such dates when quoted are noted as being OS or NS (Old Style or New Style).

I've Google searched this. I can find only astrological material discussing any possible conjunction which might have accounted for the brightness of that exceptionally brilliant star allegedly seen by shepherds and The Wise Men; but could find nothing pertaining to my particular query.

So where do we stand as regards this current conundrum? For instance, what about the now famous Mayan end-of-cycle date falling on 21 December 2012 - has that actual time been and gone when we weren't even looking? Was The Year 2000 really the millennium? Does it matter?

Can anyone straighten out the multiple kinks in my brain on this, please? Am I missing something crucial? Is this something akin to searching for one's spectacles when already wearing 'em? I must be missing something really basic, or astrologers would be talking about this issue non-stop, and they're not - as far as I have been able to determine.

Old Style/New Style Calendars - Help Wanted!

I set out to write a post on Thomas Paine and his natal chart but hit a stumbling block on his birth date. One thing led to another and now my brain is suffering from what they call in the USA a "Charley horse".

Can anyone well-versed in both calendrical history and how it applies to astrology give me a hint or two please?

I understand the difference between Julian and Gregorian calendars and how & why the change was made. I spent around six years in my early working life working as assistant to our County's archivist, often assisting in the documentation of ancient records, where cross-overs of the calendar systems were involved. I'd have to remember how the start of the year changed from 25 March to 1 January in 1752 in Britain, and document any piece dated, say, January 29 1730 as January 29 1730/1.
I do "get" that part of the conundrum.

There's also the matter of 11 days difference between the two calendars for dates in the 1700s, which is a crucial piece of information when it comes to setting up a natal chart.

When looking at Thomas Paine's date of birth, January or February 1737 even Astrodatabank isn't certain whether the 29 January (Old Style) or 9 February (New Style) is correct because they are not certain whether the difference had already been accounted for when some biography or other quoted 29 January 1737. But.....here's where my brain cramps - shouldn't January 1737 be 1738 New Style? Or had it been adjusted from 1736 Old Style? And if 9 February is the adjusted date shouldn't that also be 1738 New Style....or.......?

And where were the Sun, Moon and planets really ? (Knocks head on desktop).

From source notes at Astrodatabank's page for Thomas Paine

Original entry gave January 29, 1737 at 11:30 AM, citing Dane Rudhyar with an added note of "PC gives February 9, 1737, 11:00 AM, spec." On Rodden's original typed file, she asks "is the date OS [Old Style] or NS [New Style] and notes that she "asked Blackwell 3/88." This seems not to have been resolved by Rodden. In December 2011 PT adds that England observed Old Style dates at the time of Paine's birth. However, reference works vary with both dates used (January 29 and February 9), depending on the source, often with no notation as to the calendar used. The date remains unresolved.

Any ideas, anyone, either about Thomas Paine's birth date/year or general advice for anyone interested in astrology when birth or event dates are affected by Julian/Gregorian calendar differences?

End Of.....Something?

In case a passing reader hasn't yet stumbled on the fact, not every researcher of the ancient Mayan culture agrees on the date 21 December 2012 as an end-of-calendar date of significance. A light Googling of the name Carl Calleman will bring up something of interest - or fascination.

I try to feature other Blogger blogspot-type bloggers when I can, and found Roadside Mystic has a couple or more posts covering Calleman's calculation: that tomorrow,
28 October 2011 is a far more significant date than 21 December 2012.

These posts at the above blog offer further information:

Mayan Time Ends in 7 Days

More from Carl Calleman on Mayan End Date 28 Oct.2011

I remain undecided about the whole enchilada. Important stumbling block for me is the question of a start-date from which any point on the Mayan, or any other ancient calendar, was calculated. In one of the linked posts Roadside Mystic does a good job of taking us back through time, stage by stage to the Mayan calendar starting point. I still need to know why or how they knew to use THAT date, because it is the key to everything - all the cycles, waves etc. etc.

It's all a source of fascination though, something to keep at the back of one's mind. Maybe the dates are not exact or anywhere near, but most of us would have to admit that round about now "something is happening - but we don't know what it is......"
It's best to stay as open-minded as our individual natal charts will allow.

NOTE:

(Image, above, is titled "Conjuring the Serpent". According to an ancient Maya seer, it is not prohibited to know the future it is just reserved to be revealed in small pieces to those that ask.
“The future was ordained to be by the gods. The people can know this future, it is not prohibited; it is just reserved to be revealed in small pieces to those that ask. For to reveal the future in its entirety all at once would surely put the fate of even the gods themselves in jeopardy”, so goes the sayings of Tizimin a Maya seer who looked into the future as described in the Katun 5 Ahau of the ancient Maya.
To understand the words of the gods, it is necessary to request the aid of someone with a direct link between the spirit kingdom of the gods and the physical world of men. For the ancient Maya such a link was the Vision Serpent.
http://www.canteramaya.com/cantera_codex/

In the beginning.......when?

Wikipedia states that 11th or 13th August 3114 BC, was the date from which the Mayan Long Count calendar started (rectified to the way we presently count time). It's from this date that their now famous cycle began - the one that ends on 21 December 2012.

In the words of The Bard, "aye, there's the rub".

I've gathered that the date in mid-August was selected by Mayan astrologers, astrononmers and calendar constructors due to the position of the Milky Way in the skies over their part of the world at that point on their calendar.

August 13, 3114 BC is as precise and accurate as one can get for a beginning of history: the first Egyptian dynasty is dated to ca 3100 BC; the first 'city,' Uruk, in Mesopotamia, also ca 3100 BC; the Hindu Kali Yuga, 3102 BC; and most interestingly, the division of time into 24 hours of 60 minutes each and each minute into 60 seconds [and the division of the circle into 360 degrees], also around 3100 BC, in Sumeria.
If the beginning of history was so accurately placed, then must not the end of history, December 21, 2012 also be as accurate? See here.

But that surely refers to the start of some level of human civilisation. The Earth and solar system are estimated to have formed some 4.6 billion years ago. That was "creation" proper.

If we are talking about the start of history, or civilisation, as a date from which to begin making a count based on the positions and cycles of the stars and planets, any date settled upon is nebulous at best. Why would cycles, based on the position of celestial bodies, start from some arbitrary point when humans had become sufficiently sophisticated to set themselves into some semblance of organisation? Cycles began at the time the Earth and our solar system began. 2012, or any other date calculated from any calendar of any ancient civilisation, simply form a part of their civilisation's myth and legend, nothing more.

I'm a mere lay-person, and have probably either missed the point, or grabbed a hold of the wrong end of the ancient stick. Still, it's something worth considering. Think, also, how much money has been accumulated by authors and TV presentations, and movies, based on this (probable) myth involving 2012.

LADY DAY

Calendars are an essential part of astrology. DUH!! Astrologers, when dealing with very early dates, must be careful to take into consideration changes of calendar calculation in both western and eastern civilisations over the centuries.

Leading from which deep and meaningful observation: Today, March 25th is Lady Day. The name is a reminder that March 25th was honored as the date and festival of The Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary - the date of conception of Jesus Christ, just 9 months from the supposed date of His birth, 25 December. It's now widely accepted that 25 December was not Christ's birthday, however, so Christian festival dates have become symbolic.


(The Annunciation by J.W. Waterhouse)

Lady Day was adopted in Britain and Ireland as one of four Quarter Days. These were days when servants were hired, and rents and rates were due. They fell on four religious festivals roughly three months apart and close to the two solstices and two equinoxes.

Lady Day (25 March)
Midsummer Day (24 June)
Michaelmas (29 September)
Christmas (25 December)

In the UK, the tax year still begins around Lady Day (actually 6 April to 5 April) a relic of those traditional Quarter Days.

Lady Day, 25 March, was also New Year's Day in England until 1752 when a crossover from the Julian to Gregorian calendar took place, moving New Year's Day to first of January. When I worked with a County Archivist long ago, I had to carefully remember, when dealing with documents from before 1752, which were dated January, February or March(up to 25), to catalogue them as, for example, 16 March 1714/5.

(See here - for further detail on the history of calendars).

"Calendar is a word that comes from Latin calendarium, or account book, and is derived from calendae or the calends, the first day of all of the old Roman months. This was the day on which accounts were due and on which the priests of Rome called the people together to proclaim (calare) that the new moon had been sighted.

Calendars generally have been based on some combination of celestial observation and observance of the pattern of human activities and rituals.
Despite all of the astronomical dilemmas (lunar, solar, seasonal, etc.), we have arrived at our present Gregorian calendar because of the astronomical and political skills of many generations. "

To which I'll just add that religion has played a major part in defining calendars throughout the world.




Sidelight: Lady Day is also the nickname of legendary jazz singer Billie Holiday, who, though not born on this day, was born with Sun in Aries (7 April 1915.....chart and biography at Astrodatabank's Wiki, here.)