Arty Farty Friday ~ Vale Rob Gonsalves

When I wrote about Rob Gonsalves, one Arty Farty Friday in December 2010, I could find no information on his date of birth. Mr Gonsalves died in June last year. I was shocked and saddened to recently come across news of his death, more so when I gleaned that he had committed suicide. An obituary stated that

"Rob left this Earth on his own terms when he took his own life, calmly and deliberately on a beautiful day in June." A Facebook note: "Rob Gonsalves battled the dark but succumbed June 14th. Rob's window into the magic of the universe was closed by his death."

Rest in Peace.

Date of birth of Rob Gonsalves is now available at Wikipedia. He was born on 10 July 1959.
I'm re-posting my earlier blog with his natal chart following, noting how close, or otherwise, my speculations about his astrology had been.

FROM 2010

Rob Gonsalves is a Canadian painter, born in Toronto, Ontario in 1959. I can find no more birth data than that. If a passing reader knows his date of birth I'd be very happy to hear from them via comment. [See below]

It's tricky to categorise Rob Gonsalves' art precisely. It's surrealistic, yet it isn't truly surrealism, because it arises, reportedly, through a process of conscious thought rather than from dreams or from the subconscious.

Magic Realism is another art label we might attach, but that doesn't quite fit either. His subject matter is mainly everyday scenes and situations turned ...well...surreal. Personally (maybe not accurately) I see Magical Realism as dealing more with mythological figures and situations, as depicted in the art of Michael Parkes (here).

As architecture is seen in many of Rob Gonsalves' paintings I'd expect Saturn to feature prominently in his natal chart, as well as Venus (art) and Uranus (the unexpected and eccentric). I notice how the Moon features often in his work - as it did in Paul Delvaux' paintings, shown in last Friday's post - I'm pretty sure that the Moon or its sign Cancer will be to the fore in his natal chart too.

Anyway, a few more facts about Rob Gonsalves from either Wikipedia or a Facebook page available via Google:

During his childhood, Gonsalves developed an interest in drawing from imagination using various media. By age twelve, his awareness of architecture grew as he leaned perspective techniques and began to do his first paintings and renderings of imagined buildings.

After an introduction to artists Dalí and Tanguy, Gonsalves began his first surrealist paintings. The "Magic Realism" approach of Magritte along with the precise perspective illusions of Escher came to be influences in his future work.

In his post college years, Gonsalves worked full time as an architect, also painting trompe-l'œil murals and theatre sets. After an enthusiastic response in 1990 at the Toronto Outdoor Art Exhibition, Gonsalves devoted himself to painting full time.

Numerous individuals around the world, corporations, embassies, and a United States Senator collect Gonsalves' original work, and limited edition prints. Rob Gonsalves has exhibited at Art Expo New York and Los Angeles, Decor Atlanta and Las Vegas, Fine Art Forum, as well as one-man shows at Discovery Galleries, Ltd., Hudson River Art Gallery, and Kaleidoscope Gallery.

He won the 2005 Governor General's Award in the Children's Literature - Illustration category for Imagine a Day.
He is also an accomplished guitarist.

A few examples of his painting follow. These especially appealed to me. Note the presence of the Moon - surrealist-types do seem to like their Moons, don't they!?

I wrote, in 2010, without benefit of knowing his date of birth:

As architecture is seen in many of Rob Gonsalves' paintings I'd expect Saturn to feature prominently in his natal chart, as well as Venus (art) and Uranus (the unexpected and eccentric). I notice how the Moon features often in his work - as it did in Paul Delvaux' paintings, shown in last Friday's post - I'm pretty sure that the Moon or its sign Cancer will be to the fore in his natal chart too.

I guessed correctly about the
Moon - he had Sun in Cancer, sign ruled by the Moon.
Saturn was in its home sign of Earthy Capricorn and in harmonious trine to Venus and Pluto in Virgo - another Earthy sign...and Saturn sextiles Neptune (imagination, dreams) too
Uranus was conjunct his natal Mercury in Leo.

I'm giving myself a gentle pat on the back for that.

Dang, though - it is just so, so sad to have lost such an artist so soon!

Wondering about an astro-culprit...

During the past few weeks I've been struggling, with assistance of our doctor, to get my high blood pressure back in check. It started to spike for no particular reason towards the end of April. New medication has taken its time to become effective, so the intermediate weeks became a wee bit stressful. Things eventually took a turn for the better. I'm hoping that the additional meds have begun to kick-in - the process takes time, it seems.

It's a little spooky to me (though likely not to any proper astrologer) that these problems were happening as transiting Uranus (ruler of my Aquarius Sun) has been conjunct my natal Moon at around 24/25 Aries for a while, and was joined for a spell by transiting Mercury. That "double-dose" might have been the astro-culprit. Mercury has been moving away for a while now, as things have improved. Coincidence? Maybe - maybe not. Uranus will hang around natal Moon for some time yet, including a retrograde phase, prolonging potential for change.

Evidence of equilibrium returning, in the circulation of blood department, inspired a re-hash of a brief piece from a few years ago:-

Something to ponder upon from Ralph Waldo Emerson, poet, essayist, and founder of the Trancendentalist movement in the USA.

He was born on 25 May 1803 at 3:15PM in Boston, Ma. His natal chart is available at Astrodatabank HERE. It's a nicely balanced natal chart element, mode and polarity-wise; it's appropriate that he sensed the equilibrium in nature, as expressed in the following extract.

From CONDUCT OF LIFE by Ralph Waldo Emerson, a collection of lectures first delivered between 1851 and 1852 reiterating Emerson's beliefs about fate, power, wealth, and worship, among other topics.

Beautiful as is the symmetry of any form, if the form can move we seek a more excellent symmetry. The interruption of equilibrium stimulates the eye to desire the restoration of symmetry, and to watch the steps through which it is attained. This is the charm of running water, sea waves, the flight of birds and the locomotion of animals. This is the theory of dancing, to recover continually in changes the lost equilibrium, not by abrupt and angular but by gradual and curving movements....This fact suggests the reason of all mistakes and offence in our own modes. It is necessary in music, when you strike a discord, to let down the ear by an intermediate note or two to the accord again: and many a good experiment, born of good sense and destined to succeed, fails only because it is offensively sudden....To this streaming or flowing belongs the beauty that all circular movement has; as the circulation of waters, the circulation of the blood, the periodical motion of planets, the annual wave of vegetation, the action and reaction of nature; and if we follow it out, this demand in our thought for an ever onward action is the argument for the immortality.

Music Monday ~ Sadly

We've lost two more genius song-writers/artists. They have left us with so many never-to-be forgotten wonderful songs, several have been featured here in the past, as well as a birthday post in Leonard Cohen's honour last year (see here.) There's an old post about Leon Russell, "Master of Space and Time" HERE. We saw Leon on stage in our town's theatre some years ago, he was an Okie by the way. I thought I'd blogged specifically about that, but so far have not found such a post, just a mention that we did see him perform in town.

Message to the Great Reaper: Enough now!! Go away for a while. Thanks.


This song by Leonard Cohen includes a valuable piece advice I often find myself remembering :

“Ring the bells that still can ring
Forget your perfect offering
There is a crack in everything
That's how the light gets in.”



And this by Leon Russell will always be a favourite of mine:

Supermoon - November 14 - the full moon will appear larger than it has since the 1940s, 14 percent bigger in fact, and 30 percent brighter compared with the smallest full moons. She deserves a song in tribute.

Here's a lesser-known Moon song, it comes from Mike Batt's musical version of Lewis Carroll's The Hunting of the Snark:
As Long as the Moon Can Shine, sung by Art Garfunkel.

Ecliptically

There's a penumbral lunar eclipse today.
Explanation HERE.

Here are Astrology King's astrological thoughts on the eclipse.

I like the Yod the astrologer points out (I have a thing for Yods!) This one links Aquarius Moon to Aquarius' ruler, Uranus with the Yod's apex at the Jupiter/Mercury conjunction in Virgo. The astrologer talks about a karmic mission - not sure about that - but if it floats your boat, fine!

And: another astrologer's take on this eclipse: Kate Rose at Elephant Journal.

MOON STUFF

20 July, Monday, will be an anniversary:

Apollo 11 was the spaceflight that landed the first humans on the Moon, Americans Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin, on July 20, 1969, at 20:18 UTC. Armstrong became the first to step onto the lunar surface six hours later on July 21 at 02:56 UTC. Armstrong spent about two and a half hours outside the spacecraft, Aldrin slightly less, and together they collected 47.5 pounds (21.5 kg) of lunar material for return to Earth. The third member of the mission, Michael Collins, piloted the command spacecraft alone in lunar orbit until Armstrong and Aldrin returned to it just under a day later for the trip back to Earth. (Wikipedia)

So, in remembering that iconic event, a couple of items relating to the Moon would be apt. First, from BBC website, 13 July 2015, by Richard Hollingham:

The new head of the European Space Agency has a plan – for humanity to build a ‘village on the Moon’. Richard Hollingham asks him why.

.....When I ask him about his intentions for Esa [European Space Agency], I expect a predictable and politically nuanced answer about the economic and social benefits of space or maybe the importance for science of exploring the unknown Universe. Instead, [Professor Johann-Dietrich] Woerner surprises me with a vision for a future of space exploration that is both ambitious and audacious.

“We should look to the future beyond the International Space Station,” he tells me. “We should look for a smaller spacecraft in low-Earth orbit for microgravity research and I propose a Moon village on the far side of the Moon.”

Yes, a village on the Moon.

Just the sort of daring vision that took Nasa from a standing start to the Moon in the 1960s, but today – possibly constrained by its political masters – the US space agency appears to be lacking ambition.

“A Moon village shouldn’t just mean some houses, a church and a town hall,” says Woerner. “This Moon village should mean partners from all over the world contributing to this community with robotic and astronaut missions and support communication satellites.....” Full article at link above.

Next a bit about a movie I've mentioned before:

MOON - the movie

The 2009 indie sci-fi film Moon was co-written and directed by Duncan Jones (son of David Bowie).

The movie has echoes of 2001 A Space Odyssey, and a few other science fiction movies of the 1970s and '80s. It's difficult to describe the storyline without giving too much away. The general scenario is this:

At an undisclosed period in the future the world's energy problems have been solved. Sufficient energy is being produced by fusion reactors using helium-3 as fuel. Helium-3 is plentiful on the surface of the Moon. A corporation has set up shop on the far side of the Moon, collecting helium-3 from surface dust, using automated harvesters, then sending it back to Earth.

A lone human operative is necessary to collect the containers of helium-3, to put them in transit. Sam Bell, played with consummate skill by Sam Rockwell, is such an operative. As the movie opens he is working the last few weeks of a 3-year stint. He will have needed similar character traits to those of old-time lighthouse-keepers to withstand the lonely years.

In the base station, all-white environment, very reminiscent of the backdrops in 2001, Sam's only companion is a robot called GERTY, with the voice of Kevin Spacey. More echoes of 2001 and HAL. GERTY is a deal more friendly-seeming than HAL ever was, but it's left to the audience to decide whether this is simply another tool of manipulation used by the corporation. Sam receives regular video messages from his wife and young daughter, who wait for his return to Earth.

On one of his trips onto the Moon's surface to collect a filled cannister, while feeling unwell, he accidentally crashes his buggy into the harvester and passes out. When he recovers consciousness he's back at the base with GERTY tending him, telling him he has sustained a head injury.

To take the storyline beyond this point would involve giving away too much. Should a passing reader wish to know the rest it's available elsewhere on line via a click of the fingers on Google search box.

Sufficient to say that the movie becomes far more thought-provoking than one could possibly imagine from what I've revealed. The ending is satisfying. But you need to be quick to catch (what we heard as) the most subtle element of it.

What I got from Moon, along with an enjoyable evening's viewing, isn't mentioned in any review I've seen: the frightening level of power held by "the corporation" at that point in the future. Perhaps Duncan Jones didn't have this particular point in mind when writing the story, back in the UK some years ago. Here in the USA, now, warning signals were flashing, for me. Give a corporation an inch and they'll take a yard. They already have taken several yards and miles here in the USA! Life sometimes imitates art.

Correlation does not always imply causation - sometimes it might...

Astrologers these days tend to reject the idea that the planets exert direct "energy" upon humans on Earth. Cause-and-effect astrology has become terribly unfashionable. In books written around a century ago though, it was common to see descriptions of "planetary rays" affecting life on Earth. I suppose vitriolic criticism from the skeptical brigade put paid to that. Modern astrologers use other explanations, less open to ridicule, to try to explain why astrology works. Resonance with, or reflection of planetary movements and cycles; synchronicity; or plain "don't know" are now the responses most astrologers favour. I retain, from personal experience, suspicion that movement of certain celestial bodies, or the area of celestial "atmosphere" they mark and travel in, might have some direct physical effect on humans - on this human anyway.

When Mars transits through Aquarius, and within around 5 or 6 degrees of my natal Sun, it has seemed to affect my sleeping pattern. I'll go to bed tired, fall asleep quickly but wake again after about 90 minutes, only to toss and turn, wide awake for most of the early hours. It's something for which I've found no other explanation. More than once I've noticed the pattern, looked up position of Mars and found it close to natal Sun. What happens, in my case, is not just a random bad night or two, the effect continues with peculiar regularity for at least a week, keeping the same pattern for several days, then gradually wears off. Hand on heart - I do not keep regular check on planetary positions in relation to my own chart, that's not my way of using astrology. I haven't ever been waiting for, or expecting this pattern to recur.

I've also noticed that when the Moon is full...yes, I can already hear husband chuckling, I have been known to become over-emotional. My natal ascendant is in Cancer, ruled by the Moon, which could be significant. I don't actually keep tabs on where the Moon is day by day, so this effect is no self-fulfilling prophecy. It's not noticeable at every single Full Moon, but enough times for me to suspect a pattern.

So, if these two instances mean anything, it could be indicating some kind of physical effect exerted upon humans, or on some of us, at certain times, related to movement/position of some celestial body. Note that I did write "could" and "some"!

Blinded by Starlight by Frank McGillion sits in a prominent place on my bookshelves. There's a post about the book from my early blogging days HERE.
From that post, an extract from Garry Phillipson's review:

"The book's central thesis is as follows -

The pineal gland is an important factor in the way we perceive the world and act in it; the pineal produces its effects by secreting melatonin; it has been demonstrated in laboratory conditions that magnetic fields and exposure to light affect the production of melatonin; therefore anything which affects light levels or changes magnetic fields on Earth (which of course includes some celestial phenomena) may be linked to human character and behaviour; if scientists were less blinkered they would pursue research into correlations between celestial and terrestrial influences; the pineal gland is a promising place to start such research, because by examining responses in the pineal to celestial phenomena we could, so to speak, cut out the middleman - avoiding the need to isolate significant behaviour patterns in large groups by going directly to (some of the) causes of that behaviour - light and magnetic fields, and their effects on the pineal..........................."

Using the book's index, searching under "Mars", a few interesting points emerge. In alchemy, Mars traditionally links to iron, silver to the Moon. In chemical experiments, when solutions of silver salts are mixed with solutions of iron salts, iron displaces the silver from solution because it is more active chemically. However, when Moon and Mars come into certain degrees of angular contact the reaction appears to slow down.......the author writes:

"...so what are we to make of this. If these experiments are accurate, and the planets are in some way altering the chemistry of metals in 'sympathetic' manner, it would quite literally transform our view of things.......Many have reported positive results that appear to justify the claim that there's some mechanism whereby planets can seemingly influence the chemical activity of metals in solution, be it subtle planetary rays, an unconventional, or hitherto unknown form of electromagnetism, some sort of symbolic correspondence, or wishful thinking."

So ... could there perhaps be some kind of knock-on effect on the pineal gland function, connected to the Mars/Moon position - a slight reduction in melatonin production for a time ?

Then.... from Wikipedia's page on the subject of melatonin, it appears that this is a significant ingredient in the regulation of sleep cycles.

Treatment of circadian rhythm disorders

Exogenous melatonin taken in the evening is, together with light therapy upon awakening, the standard treatment for delayed sleep phase syndrome and non-24-hour sleep-wake syndrome. It appears to have some use against other circadian rhythm sleep disorders as well, such as jet lag and the problems of people who work rotating or night shifts.
Taken 30 to 90 minutes before bedtime, melatonin is put into the blood earlier than the brain's own production and acts as a mild hypnotic.
A very small dose taken several hours before bedtime in accordance with the phase response curve for melatonin in humans (PRC) doesn't cause sleepiness but, acting as a chronobiotic, does advance the phase slightly and is additive to the effect of using light therapy upon awakening."

There are diverse pieces of a puzzle here which could be capable of being put together in such a way as to give a reason for my wakefulness when Mars (or the area of atmosphere/time/space marked by planet Mars) is close to astrological position of my natal Sun. These thoughts would leave me open to ridicule among skeptics, I guess. Never mind. A bit of ridicule never did anyone any harm!

(Note: The above is an edited and re-hashed combination of two archived posts from 2009)

Supermoon from Kitchen Window

Cancer the sign, the ascendant; Moons - but no Junes...or Ferris Wheels.....

A person could fill several pages, a couple of books even, with thoughts, quotes, pictures featuring the Moon, "ruler" of zodiac sign Cancer. I shall severely limit myself to one or two less-used bits and pieces.

“It was lunar symbolism that enabled man to relate and connect such heterogeneous things as: birth, becoming, death, and ressurection; the waters, plants, woman, fecundity, and immortality; the cosmic darkness, prenatal existence, and life after death, followed by the rebirth of the lunar type ("light coming out of darkness"); weaving, the symbol of the "thread of life," fate, temporality, and death; and yet others. In general most of the ideas of cycle, dualism, polarity, opposition, conflict, but also of reconciliation of contraries, of coincidentia oppositorum, were either discovered or clarified by virtue of lunar symbolism. We may even speak of a metaphysics of the moon, in the sense of a consistent system of "truths" relating to the mode of being peculiar to living creatures, to everything in the cosmos that shares in life, that is, in becoming, growth and waning, death and ressurrection.”
― Mircea Eliade, The Sacred and the Profane: The Nature of Religion

The Cruel Moon
by Robert Graves

The cruel Moon hangs out of reach
Up above the shadowy beech.
Her face is stupid, but her eye
Is small and sharp and very sly.
Nurse says the Moon can drive you mad?
No, that’s a silly story, lad!
Though she be angry, though she would
Destroy all England if she could,
Yet think, what damage can she do
Hanging there so far from you?
Don’t heed what frightened nurses say:
Moons hang much too far away.

“Maybe there's a whole other universe where a square moon rises in the sky, and the stars laugh in cold voices, and some of the triangles have four sides, and some have five, and some have five raised to the fifth power of sides. In this universe there might grow roses which sing. Everything leads to everything.”
― Stephen King

Here's an alternative take on Moon's gender by Michael Cheval: Sunset Tango with a male Moon and female Sun. (More on this artist and his gorgeous work in an archived post HERE).

The Moon is a Painter
by Vachel Lindsay

He coveted her portrait.
He toiled as she grew gay.
She loved to see him labor
In that devoted way.

And in the end it pleased her,
But bowed him more with care.
Her rose-smile showed so plainly,
Her soul-smile was not there.

That night he groped without a lamp
To find a cloak, a book,
And on the vexing portrait
By moonrise chanced to look.

The color-scheme was out of key,
The maiden rose-smile faint,
But through the blessed darkness
She gleamed, his friendly saint.

The comrade, white, immortal,
His bride, and more than bride—
The citizen, the sage of mind,
For whom he lived and died.

Speaking of painters...an archived post featuring a Cancer-ish painter Paul Delvaux, his nudes and moons can be accessed HERE.

20th century British Astrologer C.E.O. Carter's piece on Cancer, the zodiac sign, is a good read. He isn't much impressed with Cancer rising though (my own natal rising sign). A few snips on that strange tid-bit, and a couple of others I'd not been aware of before:

I should say that Sun in Cancer is better than Cancer rising, and of course the Moon in Cancer is good. Not only kindly, but shrewd. It is not difficult to understand why it is not a very good ascending sign. Of course, as I am never tired of pointing out, it all depends on what means by "good." But the ascendant and midheaven are the most exposed parts of the figure, and it seems on the whole desirable to have strong signs in these latitudes Cancer rising usually brings Pisces on to the meridian and so one gets an unusually sensitive personality.

TRUE ENOUGH .

..........................Cancer is the quincunx to Sagittarius, and so one would expect them to be unlike, but they are both travellers. At least, tradition call the 9th sign the sign of travel abroad. Actually I should say it is more explorative than Cancer; it has an urge to find what lies beyond the ranges but Cancer is perhaps rather the tourist, or commercial traveller.................

NOT EXACTLY - I can be both explorer and tourist...but never commercial traveller!

Cancer is not easily thwarted and put down. Unlike the quincunx sign Sagittarius with its sudden enthusiasms and changes of interest, Cancer holds on. Even if its claw is torn off, it grows another. When it succeeds it is usually due to this doggedness, a word not inappropriate actually, since both Sirius and Procyon fall in the longitude of the 4th sign!

RIGHT AGAIN...I've always put this down to Aquarius Sun being a Fixed sign, this "dogged" factor could further underline that, I guess.

......Socially Cancer has a valuable card in its powers of mimicry....... For example, they can render dialects excellently .........

NO, I'M NO MIMIC, but I usually am quick to recognise and identify accents/dialects, but perhaps those who can mimic with accuracy have Gemini, the adjacent sign to Cancer, emphasised in some way (I don't have any planet or point in Gemini).

......I do not think Cancer is a happy ascendant, but it is plain from what has been said that it can be a gifted one (a list of well-known and well-gifted people with Cancer rising preceded this remark of C.E.O. Carter.)

I'm not sure that astrologers ought to be declaring ascendant signs (or any signs) good, bad or indifferent - the rising sign is but a single strand in a multi-layered personality pattern. I'm wary of going along with the standard astrological lore that the ascendant is "how we are seen by the world and how we see the world"...or words to that effect. I know that's what astrologers tell us to think, but...I prefer to look on the rising sign as simply part of a whole; it can be, and is, modified or emphasised by other strands forming the pattern.

 Moonshine by Paul Klee

Moons and Junes and ferris wheels,
The dizzy dancing way you feel
As every fairy tale comes real;
I've looked at love that way.
(From "Both Sides Now" - Joni Mitchell)

ASTROLOGICAL MOON & Compatibility

Sun is wending its way through zodiac sign Cancer. Astrological doctrine tells us that the sign of Cancer is ruled by, or has affinity with the Moon. So... a look at what 20th century British astrologer Ingrid Lind had to say about the Moon's role in astrology. Extract taken from her out-of-print little book Astrology and Common Sense (1962)

MOON: Stands for the feminine principle. Rules or has affinity with zodiac sign Cancer. Keywords: Response. Fluctuation.

The Moon in any chart has a strong bearing on personality, emotional nature and outward behaviour. The native's general response to life is often suggestive of the sign containing the Moon. In marriage, there will be a very strong link when the respective Moons are found in the same degree of the zodiac, as this will mean similarity of emotional response; or when the Moon of one corresponds with some important degree in the other's chart.

It would seem, then, that an individual's tastes and traits are to some extent indicated by the Moon position; and these are tastes and traits he will recognise and find attractive or sympathetic in someone else.

Just as the minute-hand on a watch gives precision, so the quick-moving Moon gives personal indications. Everyone born in the same (zodiacal) month has the same Sun sign, but the Moon may be in any one of the twelve.

The Moon stands for the feminine principle throughout the life. It is especially important in childhood, when the child is, so to speak, part of the mother. Indeed, all the instinctive responses of babyhood to pleasure, pain, hunger and so forth, which continue in more controlled form, let us hope, throughout the life, are Moon attributes. It is easy to understand that too much Moon is a mixed blessing, as the native will be over-sensitive and make exaggerated responses.

Moon virtues are the best "mother" virtues, such as can manifest in man or woman as kindness, protectiveness and so on. When the Moon is prominent but inharmoniously aspected there is abuse of the feminine quality, in possessiveness, hyper-sensitivity, shyness, "introversion" and the like.

For no reason that I can think of I connect the Moon with the lessons that appear to have to be learned by the individual, or the difficulties which he must face. I have no statistics to back this up; but I have found that in as much as the main problems of a life can be reduced to keywords, these often correspond with the characteristics of the Moon sign. If your Moon is in Scorpio, whall we say, there would be advantage in your studying this sign. Scorpio matters - strong feelings, sex problems, violence or intensity of emotion - may be in need of control or understanding.

Hmmm - I have Moon in Aries, so my life's problems/lessons correspond with Aries characteristics? Trying to become more in tune with Aries characteristics, trying to overcome a natural shyness, timidity and introversion have been a life lesson, I guess. Don't know - not altogether convinced on this point.

Also, I tend to see astrological compatibility in a slightly "looser" way than that in Ms Lind's examples. Sure, it'd be nice if we found ourselves with a partner whose Moon's degree matched our own, but other, "looser" connections are good too. I like Sun/Moon sign compatibility in a relationship. E.g. My Moon in Aries, husband's Sun in Aries. His Moon is Leo and opposite my Aquarius Sun - some might consider that to be a bad thing, but Air and Fire mix and balance, so while it might not be ideal (what is?) - it works. We both have Moon in Fire signs, so have a basic "elemental" understanding of one another - in theory. I'd trust elemental compatibility over most other astro-doctrine.

There are lots of ways compatibility can be found between two charts, but nothing beats that instinctive "knowing feeling" about another person in real life, whether in relation to romantic, professional or platonic friendship. Our inner antennae can be powerful indicators if we allow them to be.

Music Monday ~ The Song Not the Singer ~ It Was a Very Good Year ~ 7-year Cycles

Frank Sinatra fans (like me) will easily recall this song. It was written by Ervin Drake in 1961 , not for Sinatra but for Bob Shane of The Kingston Trio whose more stripped down folksy version is said to be more in line with the writer's original intention. Sinatra's Grammy-winning version from 1966 has lush orchestral arrangement, not at all folksy but equally attractive in the hands of The Guv'nor and Gordon Jenkins.


From the opening paragraph of a New York times article on the occasion of Ervin Drake's 90th birthday in 2009:

“STORY of a guy’s life, told in wine vintage terms.”
As Ervin Drake tells it, that was the note to himself that led to his writing a song, back in 1961, that earned a Grammy for Frank Sinatra.

Whenever I hear the song astrology springs to mind. There are 7 year cycles in life, thanks to certain celestial rhythms. Our Moon's cycle of 28 days (4 x 7)provides a backing and, possibly more significantly, Saturn's cycles and aspects coming around every 7 or 8 years provide the "beat". See article at Matrix Software website Saturn: The "Cosmic Chiropractor" by Bernie Ashman.


Although the first verse of It Was A Very Good Year (describing life at age 17) doesn't fall within the 7 year pattern, following verses do:

When I was seventeen......
When I was twenty-one It was a very good year.....
When I was thirty-five It was a very good year....etc

YouTube has lots of versions of the song on video, as well as Sinatra's.
Some links:

The original by Bob Shane, Kingston Trio.
http://youtu.be/yjW9WVfkVfU

Nice jazz instrumental by Ira Sullivan.
http://youtu.be/BJYbFfbbKS4

An interesting piano version by Josh Charles in the style of Chopin+New Orleans
"inspired by James Booker, Ray Charles and Chopin-- it's musical GUMBO"
http://youtu.be/jCwbyT41XAw

SCI-FI FRI ~ Moon & Duncan Jones, Son of Bowie

The 2009 indie sci-fi movie Moon was co-written and directed by Duncan Jones, who, I found out after watching the DVD, is none other than son of David Bowie. (Notes on astrology later in the post.)

This movie has echoes of 2001 A Space Odyssey, and a few other sci fi movies of the 1970s and 80s. It's difficult to describe the storyline without giving too much away, but the general scenario is this:

At an undisclosed period in the future the world's energy problems have been solved. Sufficient energy is being produced by fusion reactors using helium-3 as fuel. Helium-3 is plentiful on the surface of the Moon. A corporation has set up shop on the far side of the Moon, collecting helium-3 from surface dust, using automated harvesters, then sending it back to Earth.

A lone human operative is necessary to collect the containers of helium-3, to put them in transit. Sam Bell, played with consummate skill by Sam Rockwell, is such an operative. As the movie opens he is working the last few weeks of a 3-year stint. He will have needed similar character traits to those of old-time lighthouse-keepers to withstand the lonely years.

In the base station, all-white environment, very reminiscent of the backdrops in 2001, Sam's only companion is a robot called GERTY, with the voice of Kevin Spacey. More echoes of 2001 and HAL. GERTY is a deal more friendly-seeming than HAL ever was, but it's left to the audience to decide whether this is simply another tool of manipulation used by the corporation. Sam receives regular video messages from his wife and young daughter, who wait for his return to Earth.




On one of his trips onto the Moon's surface to collect a filled cannister, while feeling unwell, he accidentally crashes his buggy into the harvester and passes out. When he recovers consciousness he's back at the base with GERTY tending him, telling him he has sustained a head injury.

To take the storyline beyond this point would involve giving away too much. Should a passing reader wish to know the rest it's available elsewhere on line via a click of the fingers on Google search box.

Sufficient to say that the movie becomes far more thought-provoking than one could possibly imagine from what I've revealed. The ending is satisfying. But you need to be quick to catch (what we heard as) the most subtle element of it.

What I got from Moon, along with an enjoyable evening's viewing, isn't mentioned in any review I've seen: the frightening level of power held by "the corporation" at that point in the future. Perhaps Duncan Jones didn't have this particular point in mind when writing the story, back in the UK some years ago. Here in the USA, watching the movie in 2011, warning signals were flashing, for me. Give a corporation an inch and they'll take a yard. They already have taken several yards here in the USA! Life often tends to imitate art.

Duncan Jones' latest movie, a big budget affair, Source Code has been a quite different experience for him from the experience of making his indie movie Moon. He is reported to have said that making Moon and Source Code was "like the difference between driving a speedboat and captaining a oil rig". He has another sci-fi movie in mind for his next project - something along the lines of the classic Blade Runner.

Duncan Jones then - son of David Bowie and first wife Mary Angela (Angie) Barnett. Does his natal chart reflect his draw to sci-fi, and making movies?




He was born on 30 May 1971 in Beckenham Hospital, South London, according to Wikipedia.














Chart set for 12 noon as time of birth isn't known. Moon would be in mid to late Leo whatever time of birth, but ascendant remains completely unknown.

The best reflection of Duncan Jones' draw to science fiction lies in the lovely Grand Trine in Air, shown in the diagram above. It links, by a circuit of harmonious trines, his Gemini Sun (communication)/Mars in Aquarius (drive, energy, futuristic)/Uranus in Libra (invention, futuristic, art, balance).

Film in astrology connects to Neptune. In Jones' natal chart Neptune is tightly conjunct Jupiter, and Jupiter represents publication and expansion. The conjoined planets are in Sagittarius, sign ruled by Jupiter, endowing an extra boost to its meaning. The conjoined pair lay in opposition to Gemini Sun, providing balance between Jones' obvious writing skills (Moon's storyline was his idea), his imagination, and his draw to film and publication.

Arty Farty Friday ~ Paul Delvaux ~ Nudes & Moons & Trains & Skeletons.....

I enjoy surrealism in art, the combination of meticulously detailed realistic subject matter with unreal, highly imaginative or dreamlike situations satisfies both sides of my taste.

Paul Delvaux was one of the 20th century's Belgian surrealists. His work was somewhat overshadowed by that of René Magritte, though it is reported that Delvaux did not consider himself of the same ilk, and was not in tune with any political aims espoused by the the Belgian surrealists. He saw his own style as following the carefully detailed realism of earlier Flemish artists such as Jan Van Eyck.

Delvaux was said to be a quiet and rather reclusive person. The subject matter of most of his paintings tends to be repetitive. Nude or almost nude statuesque females in suspended animation, classical architecture, and, oddly, skeletons and trains. There's an underlying ironic eroticism there, with some allusion to the double standards of Victorian sexual morality.

Looking through his paintings at Google Image I noticed that the Moon appears in many of them (a few examples follow). That, along with his obsession with the female nude figure had me wondering whether there'd be an emphasis on Cancer in his natal chart.

LES ASTRONOMES



LES PHASES DE LA LUNE III



MOONPHASES



THE GREAT SIRENS



THE SLEEPING VENUS



SOLITUDE






Paul Delvaux was born on 23 September 1897 in Antheit, near Huy, Belgium at, according to Astrodatabank, 10:00PM













Initially I worked with a 12 noon chart, didn't check Astrotheme or Astrodatabank until quite late in the proceedings, then was happy to find that Delvaux had Cancer rising! Cancer connects to all things feminine, and to its ruler...the Moon. The Moon itself lay in Leo as Delvaux was born, and - wouldn't ya know it.....conjunct Venus, planet of the arts! I love it when a plan comes together!

Delvaux's Sun at 00 degree Libra is conjoined with Mercury and Jupiter in the late degrees of Virgo. Libra is ruled by Venus, planet of the arts, Mercury and Jupiter in Virgo link nicely to this artist's meticulous, realistic depiction of both architecture and the human female body.

As for his gravitation to the surreal and/or erotic: Saturn and Uranus (the traditional and the unexpected)are conjoined in Scorpio (sign of eroticism).

No more need be said!

LA CIUDAD DORMIDA (The Sleeping City)




LA RUE DU TRAMWAY



THE AWAKENING OF THE FOREST



THE CONVERSATION



LE VIADUC




HOMMAGE à JULES VERNE