Look Ma, What's that star? It's just a passing plane. Grandma sighs so sadly, The nights just aren't the same; I'm sure they used to be darker; Wonder filled the skies; Where have all the stars gone? Could it be my failing eyes? Too many of our children Haven't known a true dark night; Will they ever see the beauty We're losing to the light?
Poem: "Blinded by the Light" by Sarah Williams.
Around New Year (I think it was New Year's Eve or the day previous)we read that there'd be a good chance to watch the Moon and Venus close together, soon after sunset, with Jupiter and Mercury appearing shortly after. We drove westward out of town, so as not to "lose anything to the light" and parked in a deserted country road at around 5.30pm. We blinked into the rapidly setting Sun, then, as it grew dark the Moon appeared with Venus shining very brightly, a short distance below. Then, straining at first, we identified Mercury and Jupiter by following the line of the ecliptic. My husband tried to get some good shots of the lovely sight. It wasn't possible to get all in one frame, so he has here combined two photographs, click on it to enlarge.
Earth's lights
And.....a golden oldie touching on the same theme: from 1969 "Light Flight" - by Pentangle
My last two posts have featured famous sexpots (Tom Jones and Tamara de Lempicka), they say things come in threes. Today would have been Linda Lovelace's birthday - my sexpot #3. Linda's claim to fame came from her performance in the 1970s pornographic movie "Deep Throat", a few other porn movies and her three autobiographical books.
Sun and Jupiter in Capricorn = sexpot? Unlikely - there's more to it!
Linda, real surname Boreman, was born on 10 January 1949 in Bronxdale, NY, at (according to Astrotheme) 6.23 am. Her father was a policeman, her mother reputedly strict, the family Roman Catholic. Linda attended Roman Catholic schools, and earned the nickname "Miss Holy Holy" - so apparently not a sexpot from an early age! However she was pregnant by age 20. Her mother had the child adopted much to Linda's dismay. She later married a violent a controlling husband who, it seems, led her to make her film debut. Wikipedia states that:
"Boreman was soon performing as Linda Lovelace in hardcore short movies. She starred in a 1971 bestiality film (titled Dogarama), and later denied appearing in the film until several of the original 8 mm "loops" proved otherwise.
In 1972, Boreman starred in Deep Throat, the most financially successful pornographic movie ever made."
She divorced her first husband, married again, had two children, and became a prominent member of the anti-porn movement. In 2002 she died in an accident, after losing control of her car.
"As the first woman to become famous purely for having sex on film, Linda Lovelace was at once a sexual fantasy for millions of men and a social pariah to millions of burgeoning feminists—until she joined their ranks with the publication of her third autobiography, Ordeal, in which she claimed she had been beaten and coerced into a life of pornography and prostitution." (Link)
What I'm looking for in her chart is the trigger for her pornography success, which was quite probably unsought for by her. I doubt it was her chosen profession, but she must have displayed some natural ability to achieve the success she did.
Sun and Jupiter in Capricorn lay in first house, with Mars and Mercury conjoined in Aquarius. While Capricorn isn't overtly sexy, it has a nose for business, and after her movie success Linda showed her business acumen by making sure she capitalized on her expeeriences by pedalling three biographies, two pro-porn, and one ("Ordeal") anti-porn.
Mercury and Mars in unconventional Aquarius loosened her strait-laced Catholic background, but cool Aquarius isn't famous for eroticism. There has to be more. Moon in Taurus - ruled by Venus - getting warmer. Venus in Sagittarius at 26 degrees, close to the Galactic Center, with Uranus in opposition to Venus from Gemini. Venus isn't usually thought to relate to pornography, it connects to art and beauty, but with unconventional Uranus opposing, I guess what passes for art and beauty here could be radically different!
Saturn in Virgo is quincunx (irritable aspect) Mars and Mercury in Aquarius - putting something of a damper on her unconventional, though reportedly forced, lifestyle, so much so that once freed from her controlling husband she did a complete about-turn as regards pornography. This reflects Saturn in Virgo coming into his own!
Uranus at 27.40 Gemini is is conjunct two Fixed Stars with unfortunate reputations:
Polaris *
The Pole Star Sickness, trouble, loss, affliction, spiritual powers 28° Gemini 34 Unfortunate Saturn/ Venus Betelgeuse *
Orion's Right Shoulder Calamities, danger, violence 28° Gemini 45 Unfortunate Mars/ Mercury. (Link)
Millions of people were been born during the time Uranus conjoined these two stars, but not all would have the opposition to Venus and the Galactic Center which appears in Linda's chart. Her life, as recounted, contained violence, trouble and affliction, and, as we know, her relatively short life ended with a calamity.
Tamara de Lempicka was an artist and celebrity of the Art Deco era, the 1920s and 30s, well-known for her wild and decadent lifestyle. Reviewing a biography of Lempicka by Laura Claridge "A Life of Deco and Decadence" writer Glyn Vincent reveals that
"In the Paris salon of the poet Natalie Barney, she sniffed cocaine and drank sloe gin fizzes laced with hashish among the likes of Andre Gide. On the banks of the Seine, she picked up sailors and female prostitutes. After her nocturnal debauches, she painted until dawn. Her life style (and her "affair" with the Italian poet Gabriele D'Annunzio) sent her first husband, Tadeusz Lempicki, packing into the arms of a plump heiress." And "Lempicka's success allowed her to mingle with avant-gardists like Jean Cocteau, Salvador Dali and Filippo Marinetti, but she remained disengaged from the progressive, leftist artistic climate of her time. Aloof and wild, she was fundamentally anti-intellectual. At home, too, she remained at sea. An absent wife, she used her artistic life to excuse her infidelities. A rigid perfectionist, she abused her daughter, Kizette. After her first marriage fell apart she suffered from severe bouts of depression that were to plague her for the rest of her life."
She is quoted as saying: "I live life in the margins of society, and the rules of normal society don't apply to those who live on the fringe."
Tamara de Lempicka was born into a wealthy Polish family, married a Russian lawyer after moving to live with an aunt in Russia. The couple fled from the Bolsheviks to Paris where her reputation as a sought-after portrait painter was established. She had beauty and poise, described as rather aloof and Garbo-esque, but gathered a colorful reputation on the French social scene after several love affairs - with both sexes. When World War 2 seemed inevitable she moved to the USA with her second husband, a wealthy baron. Her popularity declined slowly after the war, before enjoying a renaissance in the 1970s.
As an artist Lempicka flirted with cubism and eventually settled on her own version of it, which some sources have called "soft cubism". She was, in the main, a portrait painter, to the rich and famous. Her highly stylized portraits are immediately recognisable as hers - though whether they resemble the sitters, I can't say.
Astrology here is tricky, for it's said that the lady frequently lied about her age as well as her place of birth, for reasons of vanity or safety, perhaps both at different times. She was born in either Warsaw or Moscow on 16 May (the day and month seem fixed) in either 1898 (as she preferred it known) or 1896 or even 1895. I'll take Warsaw as her place of birth, as her parents were from well to do Polish families. She went to live with her aunt in Russia sometime in late childhood.
Natal Sun was at 25 degrees of Taurus whatever the year of birth, so is conjunct Fixed Star Algol, the star with the most malefic reputation of all. When researching for a piece about Algol I found that modern astrologers have sought to attach a less drastic meaning to this Fixed Star. Some connect it to energies of "the feminine" (presumably a link to Medusa's powers), others prefer a much diluted version of the traditional interpretation. The latter group surmises that anyone with Algol conjunct natal Sun or other personal planet is likely to be intense, perhaps prone to violence if provoked, and passionate in all enterprises (similar to Scorpio traits). (See my post here) .
Pluto and Neptune remained in Gemini in 1895 to 1898, but the personal planet close to them in Lempicka's chart changes : Mercury in 1895 or 1896 ; Venus, between the two outer planets in 1898. That's not sufficient to be able to pinpoint which year is most likely her true birth year.
In the 1895 chart there's a Cancer stellium including Venus/Jupiter/Mars which doesn't fit her personality as described in her biography. She seems to have been a less than Cancerian motherly mother, and a less than sensitive character all round, with no hint of Cancerian shyness. The 1896 chart though has Moon in Cancer, so the sign is difficult to discount. Perhaps her reputation for aloofness links to Cancer.
In the 1896 chart Venus was in Taurus, with the Sun, Taurus is ruled by Venus planet of the arts, which is appropriate for her. The 1898 chart is reasonable too, but if she was inclined to lie about her age, as is suggested, then the 1896 would be the better bet.
It's a mystery, and a pity that her birth data is so unclear. She'd have been a fascinating character to investigate. The only definite factor I can pull out of what's available is the Sun/Algol conjunction, which is interesting in itself.
An article by Tony Sachs at Huffington Post a couple of weeks ago jogged my thoughts about Sir Tom, so I took a look at his chart. He's of my generation, and still going strong - I'm a little curious.
What first comes to mind about Tom Jones is that he has always had the reputation of being "Sexy" with a capital S. So much so that gals in his audiences have been inspired to throw items of underwear at him during his performances on stage. He must be transmitting on a wavelength I'm not tuned in to, because I've never found him at all sexy. I do appreciate his powerful voice, and if he sings a good song, I enjoy it, and can partially appreciate what Tony Sachs has to say in his article, linked above.
Tom is one of an army of Welsh singers. As mentioned when writing about Duffy a while ago, almost everyone born in Wales can sing. It's in their DNA. Coal miners, who at one time made up a large proportion of Wales' population, would form themselves into male voice choirs, whose voices echoed around the Welsh hills and mountains - probably still do to this day, even after most mines have long been closed down. Tom avoided having to "go down the mines" to make a living. A bout of tuberculosis left him with a weakness in his lungs, so a life among the coal dust was out of the question. This could be said to have been his saving grace. Tom Jones might otherwise have been just one more powerful voice in a Welsh choir.
Tom Jones was born on 7 June 1940 in Pontypridd, Wales, at, according to Astrotheme, 12.10 am.
Sun and Moon were in sociable Airy Gemini, if time of birth is near enough accurate. Mercury, Mars and Venus were in sensitive home-loving Cancer. Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus in steadfast Taurus, ruled by Venus planet of music - a link to his natural vocal talent. Neptune in Virgo is in Earthy trine with Uranus - it's the same for many War Babies -but he lacks the third aspect to make up a Grand Trine in Earth which many of his contemporaries have. Instead he has extra Earth coming from his Capricorn ascendant. Pluto in the earliest degrees of Leo provides the only Fire in his chart - a little surprising, and could this be why I personally don't "get" his sexiness. I like a bit more Fire.
Without knowing to whom this chart belonged I'd have said it's "a fairly comfortable chart", its owner is grounded, friendly, but has not particularly wide-ranging interests - focused, sensible yet sensitive. I wouldn't have immediately tagged it as the chart of a person seen as a sexpot. That sexy reputation of his probably links to Mars and Venus closely conjoined at 13 Cancer, but in 6th house of service - ahem!! Oh, and if the time of birth is accurate, Pluto, known for its erotic connections, lies on the descendant, at one of the strongest positions in the chart, that'll be the culprit! Most planets are in the western area of the chart connected to relationships rather than self. His sociable and communicative Gemini Sun and Moon also reflect an innate ability to relate - which he does, very obviously and easily, from the stage. His Sun is in 4th house of home, but his Moon in 5th house of creativity and pleasures - symbolic of the seeming anomaly between his philanderings which always, eventually, end in his return home.
Tom has a home in Los Angeles, it's interesting that when his chart is appropriately relocated Pluto in Leo moves to midheaven, putting his sexyness on the public stage.
In an article in the UK's Daily Mail in November this year the author remarks in a couple of places on Tom's ability to recall exact dates of events -
"Jones has an incredible memory for dates. 'I recorded It's Not Unusual on November 11 1964, it came out on January 22, 1965, and it was number one by March 1, which was St David's Day. Tremendous!"
This is a Cancerian trait, an exceptionally retentive memory is often found in those with the sign emphasised natally.
His private-life philanderings are the stuff of legend, yet he has remained married to Linda, his wife for over 50 years - Taurean staying power and loyalty, Cancerian attachment to family. Tom's only son, Mark, has helped in his father's career, instrumental in keeping him up to date and in the public eye.
Tom's career spans four decades. He's still going strong, singing with the same power and looking not too bad for his age. He admits to some help on this front, a tuck here, a nick there, some color and a goatee beard all aid his attachment to a youthful appearance. It's said that Pluto in Leo people will not give up their youth easily - here's an example !
A few years ago Sir Tom's fortune was said to be in the region of 175 million pounds - in dollars nowadays, $250 million-ish. A story comes to mind here. My late partner had a good friend, a Welshman, who had been a national boxing champion in Britain, and later at the start of Tom's career, did a short stint as his bodyguard. My partner met Tom Jones casually on a couple of occasions, and once remarked on a huge diamond ring Tom wore. "That's my pension!" he responded. Now, he'll certainly not need to sell that ring to supplement his pension!
The video, from his appearance on Canadian Idol, includes a few words from him, a rapid rundown of his career and brief performances of an old song ("It's Not Unusual) and a new one, which I reckon is one of his best ever, "If Ever He Should Leave You".
Why are the generations suddenly squaring up against each other, blaming and being blamed? Two things bother me about frequent discussion on the generational characteristics of Baby Boomers, Generation X and Generation Y (also known as Millennials).
One: Both astrologically and in general terms almost every article I've read on the subject relates to America. I wonder whether astrological research has been conducted on generational differences in other countries and continents. Astrology happens worldwide, unlike political and environmental issues. If generational differences are led by the movement of outer planets they should be identifiable globally. Two: The old problem: which came first, the hen or the egg? Do generational planets (Uranus, Neptune, Pluto) mainly reflect/affect mundane matters? If so, over time, culture would change. There would be a knock-on effect for the young and impressionable during the years in question. Or do the outer planets, when prominent by position, conjunction or aspect in a natal chart, affect the individual? If so, a significant number (but not all) of kids born within a certain time-span would have similar traits, and would effect changes in culture as they matured.
There's a third question too: isn't this simply useful and convenient subject matter, ripe for exaggeration by journalists, astrologers and conversationalists? It seemed anomalous to me to read recently a writer proclaiming that his or her own generation is less likely to see race and sexual orientation as dividing factors. That writer then merrily proceeded to divide the population into sub-groups using different, but equally damaging divisors: the generations! Ironic!
"The Boomers left a mess - we must clear it up, or reap the consquences" is a popular cry of writers from later generations. But that is not an accurate assessment. "The Boomers" may have formed a part of the population who brought about the "mess". Logic dictates that all work forces, governments, corporations, think-tanks, committees are composed of a variety of age groups. That complaint doesn't hold water! In any case, if you do decide to accept that argument against Boomers, you have also to accept that they made possible much of the technology later generations now enjoy. And that in turn was made possible by progress in the previous generation. It's evolutionary!
Each generation of 20 to 30 years will encompass billions of people, worldwide. Each individual has a unique birth chart. Totally unique. The way each individual reacts to outside simuli is going to be subtly different. Within a generation the only true common denominator is the state of the outside world in any given country. The state of youth's environment will affect the way youth grows. Astrology will provide input in the way youth reacts. No two individuals will be alike, or react in the same way.
I fee uneasy about the way generations are being set one against another. It's unnecessary. We should be striving to overcome divisions.
Two things arrive on the scene at regular intervals, as if driven by clockwork - or astrology: trouble in the Middle East and controversy arising from something Ann Coulter has written or said.
Current trouble in the Middle East isn't something I feel qualified to write about. I've been aware of similar break-outs in the area since my early adulthood in the 1950s. Knowledgeable folk put forward their theories, blame is laid. As I see it there is fault on both sides, and it is not in the place of those of us uninvolved to judge. Memories in the Middle East are long, and wounds remain from previous outbreaks which probably fire much of the current one. My heart breaks for children caught in the crossfire on both sides. This should never, ever happen - anywhere.
I'll concentrate on the other recurring event: Ann Coulter. Current controversy stems from mocking remarks she makes about Michelle Obama in her recently published book. Kathlyn and Gay Hendricks comment on the situation in their article: "Four Reasons Why Ann Coulter Has No Business Mocking Michelle Obama"
Ann Coulter's natal chart is set for 12 noon as no time of birth is known.
Astrologers have interpreted Ms Coulter's chart in the past, at times of her previous tactless blunders. The consensus seemed to be that the main source of her poison pen is natal Sun, squished tightly between belligerent Mars and communicative Mercury, square to, and challenged by, intense and potentially poisonous Pluto.
Conservative Saturn is strong in its own sign, Capricorn, too, and manages to cancel out much of the philosophical and happy go lucky attitudes of her Sagittarius cluster. Sagittarius is also known for bluntness and excess of course, but not, I would have thought, outright nastiness.
This is another instance of "too much of a good thing". It's similar in some ways to the way Sarah Palin's Aquarius cluster manifests. When there's a lot of one sign present in a chart, things seem to become unbalanced and flip over into the negative. I'm sure this doesn't happen in all cases, other factors: background, circumstance and opportunity have their effects too.
I can find no time of birth for Ms Coulter. I wouldn't be surprised to see Saturn close to the ascendant or midheaven. She has the angular face and jaw I've often noticed in Capricorn men, and some women. If she were born after 9pm, Moon would have moved into Capricorn, still leaving a cluster of four planets in Sagittarius. Capricorn Moon would serve to underline Saturnian traits, one of which is looking after business, which she always does in seeking her place in the headlines. Whatever else Ann Coulter is, she's a hard-nosed businesswoman, with a thick skin.
One other tidbit gleaned from her chart: Pluto, at 10.08 Virgo conjoins a Fixed Star called Zosma at 11.17 Virgo. I don't know whether this is of any significance. Pluto lay in this position for quite some time, the conjunction will appear in charts of millions born during that period. Not all will have the Pluto/Zosma conjunction square to Mercury though. It's something to consider.
ZOSMA -- 11VIR17 -- #15438 -- mag2.6 Located on the back of the Nemean Lion. Zosma is the point where the great lion's back was broken by Hercules. The lion represented the ancient goddess worship and the act of Hercules breaking its back is symbolic of the end of this era or the persecution of the feminine - the burning of witches. Zosma may be a victim or a person who fights for the victim. Influence: A victim or a saviour. Medically, this is Venus/Saturn. May cause buildup in the body, resulting in disease. Seems to also influence depression.
On the surface she appears neither victim nor saviour - but perhaps we don't know the whole story.
A final observation: Ms Coulter will experience a Jupiter return soon, and a solar eclipse very close to her natal Jupiter on 26 January. Jupiter is ruler of that Sagittarius cluster. It'll be interesting to see whether any further events concerning this lady hit the headlines in the next few weeks. If nothing else the transit should be good for book sales!
In several hours Jupiter will be rolling into Aquarius. The last time Jupiter visited the sign and exactly conjoined my natal Sun was in February, 1997. He brought me luck then. It was the exact time when I found a new place to live. We'd spent over a year in an apartment which was uncomfortable and totally unsuitable for us, after having lost everything when our previous apartment and all possessions were destroyed by fire. I found a nice house to rent, and still clearly recall the helpful lift of spirits at that time.
During the same year though my mother was diagnosed with lung and brain cancer in June, in mid-August she died. She left me her small house on the coast. I hesitate to describe this as lucky, because my mother (and I watching her) suffered terribly, but the year brought me a house which later on became home for me and my late partner, after I retired.
Each Jupiter conjunction with one's Sun occurs amid a different set of planetary aspects to other parts of the chart. So these events can't be taken in isolation. It is of interest to note them though. My natal Jupiter is in Pisces, one of its traditional rulerships, and it lies exactly semi-sextile (30 degrees from), my natal Sun. I'm not sure whether this makes its once-a-decade visits more significant or not.
A previous Jupiter transit of Aquarius, in 1985, also brought both bad news and good news. Mid-year I was told I needed a hysterectomy. There was one exploratory hospital stay and another for the operation. The good news was that there was no cancer, only fibroids, and my operation and recovery was very easy. The surgeon called me his "star patient" due to my rapid recovery. At the time of the operation, in September Jupiter was retrograde, and within a degree of my natal Sun! Life and health improved dramatically during the rest of the year.
I can go back around another 10 years to the time when Jupiter conjoined my Sun in November 1973. I entered a national competition in the UK at that time, but cannot remember the exact date. It was one of those competitions, then so common, where the task was to make up reasons for buying such-and-such product. In this case the product was Yardley perfumes, the competiton appeared in a now defunct magazine called "Over 21" (which I'm clutching in the photograph). We received the good news that I was the winner in late January 1974, and took the prize at the end of April - two weeks' holiday, VIP accommodation with spending money, in Tangier, Morocco (North Africa). Later the same year I had a couple more, smaller, competition wins.
So..... this time around, as Jupiter pays me a visit once more, I'm keeping a very open mind. The conjunction with my Sun will be exact in the first week of February. One thing I'm feeling already is that my frozen shoulder is very slowly improving, though it's too early to say there's a Jupiter connection. I've been bothered by it for around 6 months, it ought to be due for improvement any time now.
An added attraction (?) this year is the solar eclipse on 26 January which will hit my natal Sun within 10 minutes of arc. It misses my birthday by a day. Last time this happened was in 1990, and I don't recall anything significant then, or during that year. No doubt there were some minor events which the eclipse could have triggered, but they can't have been important enough for me to commit them to memory.
I'll be keeping an astro eye open for several months on both the Jupiter and eclipse fronts, and report back, should anything remarkable occur.
I'm tired of reading about gloom and doom, but I'm also tired of reading about a variety of self-help measures to deal with the aforementioned doom and gloom. Modern purveyors of both attitudes get up my nose. The doom and gloom merchants have soured me to the point that I just don't care any more! But back a century or so ago, there was a poet, who, in her day acted much as the self-help gurus do today, but whose words I find far more acceptable: Ella Wheeler Wilcox.
Unsophisticated, sincere, clear and optimistic, those are characteristics which shine through the poems of Ella Wheeler Wilcox. Let the literary elite scoff, her poems have pleased many more people than those of gloomy, suicidal, self-obsessed poets. As well as a poet Ella was a mystic, and a Rosicrucian. She was born 5 Nov 1850 in Johnstown Wisconsin. Her Sun and Mars in Scorpio no doubt led her into mysticism, while Moon quite probably in Sagittarius with Venus led the optimistic attitude for which she became famous.
12 noon chart shown as no time of birth is known.
The writer's planet Mercury was in fair and balanced Libra, along with Jupiter. These two planets were opposed from Aries, Mercury by Uranus and Pluto, Jupiter by Saturn. The Mercury opposition was sweetened by harmonious sextile to Venus and trine from Venus to Uranus/Pluto, setting up a powerfully helpful configuration for her writing. The opposition between Saturn and Jupiter held Ella's exuberant hopeful spirit, which might otherwise have gone "over the top", in check and at a reasonably credible level.
"Ella Wheeler Wilcox is one of America’s great writers. Her prolific prose and poetry are a tour de force of optimism, of the triumph of hope over despair, of victory over failure, of good over evil, of kindness over selfishness. She gave no quarter to negativity. The harshness of life was but an opportunity to change lead into gold. She was a transcendental alchemist. She had a mastery of expressing with words the play of light and hope and creativity upon dreariness and hopelessness and destructiveness.
We have many good, more sophisticated writers. However, Ms. Wilcox’s strength is her simplicity. She had the knack of getting to the heart of the most complex of everyday human problems. Then, she’d come up with the most simply worded and highly potent answers. She’d do this in prose. She’d do it with a poem. For example, she appreciated the need for, and the beauty of, our diverse religious faiths. However, she recognized the danger of adherents of any one faith considering their faith the only true one for all humanity. Deftly, she steers her readers away from the dangers of divisiveness. She simply stressed the basic core of all faiths when she wrote,
So many Gods, so many creeds, So many paths that wind and wind, When just the art of being kind Is all this sad world needs."(See here)
A quote from one of her poems, "Solitude", is still heard nowadays:
Laugh, and the world laughs with you; Weep, and you weep alone. For the sad old earth must borrow it's mirth, But has trouble enough of its own. Sing, and the hills will answer; Sigh, it is lost on the air. The echoes bound to a joyful sound, But shrink from voicing care.
Rejoice, and men will seek you; Grieve, and they turn and go. They want full measure of all your pleasure, But they do not need your woe. Be glad, and your friends are many; Be sad, and you lose them all. There are none to decline your nectared wine, But alone you must drink life's gall.
Feast, and your halls are crowded; Fast, and the world goes by. Succeed and give, and it helps you live, But no man can help you die. There is room in the halls of pleasure For a long and lordly train, But one by one we must all file on Through the narrow aisles of pain.
And here's one of her less "jingly" poem "Preparation", much wisdom included! I detect a reflection of her Saturn/Jupiter opposition here.
We must not force events, but rather make The heart soil ready for their coming, as The earth spreads carpets for the feet of Spring, Or, with the strengthening tonic of the frost, Prepares for Winter. Should a July noon Burst suddenly upon a frozen world Small joy would follow, even tho' that world Were longing for the Summer. Should the sting Of sharp December pierce the heart of June, What death and devastation would ensue! All things are planned. The most majestic sphere That whirls through space is governed and controlled By supreme law, as is the blade of grass Which through the bursting bosom of the earth Creeps up to kiss the light. Poor puny man Alone doth strive and battle with the Force Which rules all lives and worlds, and he alone Demands effect before producing cause.
How vain the hope! We cannot harvest joy Until we sow the seed, and God alone Knows when that seed has ripened. Oft we stand And watch the ground with anxious brooding eyes Complaining of the slow unfruitful yield, Not knowing that the shadow of ourselves Keeps off the sunlight and delays result. Sometimes our fierce impatience of desire Doth like a sultry May force tender shoots Of half-formed pleasures and unshaped events To ripen prematurely, and we reap But disappointment; or we rot the germs With briny tears ere they have time to grow. While stars are born and mighty planets die And hissing comets scorch the brow of space The Universe keeps its eternal calm. Through patient preparation, year on year, The earth endures the travail of the Spring And Winter's desolation. So our souls In grand submission to a higher law Should move serene through all the ills of life, Believing them masked joys.
Pete Townshend and Roger Daltrey recently received Kennedy Center Honors in New York. We watched the TV presentation of this event earlier in the week. We were quite surprised to see the two Brits, leading lights of the 60s/70s rock band The Who, placed among such American luminaries as Barbra Streisand, Morgan Freeman and George Jones. There's a list of the year's honorees, and all those from previous years, here.
I'm not implying that these two don't merit the honor, but there are so many deserving American musicians, it seemed surprising that the judges needed to venture across the pond for honorees. Townshend and Daltrey appeared at The Concert for New York City, after 9/11, of course, but so did many others. That's not likely to be the reason they were chosen. However, the section of the show honoring Townshend's and Daltrey's work did include the appearance of "New York's finest and bravest", the fire fighters and police, singing along behind musicians on stage.
Anyway, seeing the two former hard-rockers sitting there, all establishment-ish, felt rather like sampling a caviar hamburger with a cherry on top - and almost as indigestible!
Speaking of digestion, I bit off more than I could chew as I started to investigate The Who's astrology. The best-known line-up consisted of Roger Daltrey as vocalist, Pete Townshend guitar, John Entwistle bass, and Keith Moon on drums. Their natal charts are included below. Times of birth, which seem to me to have been rounded-off, are as given at Astrotheme.
Few bands in the history of rock & roll were riddled with as many contradictions as the Who. All four members had wildly different personalities, as their notoriously intense live performances demonstrated. The group was a whirlwind of activity, as the wild Keith Moon fell over his drum kit and Pete Townshend leaped into the air with his guitar, spinning his right hand in exaggerated windmills. Vocalist Roger Daltrey strutted across the stage with a thuggish menace, as bassist John Entwistle stood silent, functioning as the eye of the hurricane. These divergent personalities frequently clashed, but these frictions also resulted in a decade's worth of remarkable music.
As one of the key figures of the British Invasion and the mod movement of the mid-'60s, the Who were a dynamic and undeniably powerful sonic force. They often sounded like they were exploding conventional rock and R&B structures with Townshend's furious guitar chords, Entwistle's hyperactive basslines, and Moon's vigorous, chaotic drumming. Unlike most rock bands, the Who based their rhythm on Townshend's guitar, letting Moon and Entwistle improvise wildly over his foundation, while Daltrey belted out his vocals. This was the sound the Who thrived on in concert, but on record they were a different proposition, as Townshend pushed the group toward new sonic territory. He soon became regarded as one of the finest British songwriters of his era, as songs like "The Kids Are Alright" and "My Generation" became teenage anthems, and his rock opera, Tommy, earned him respect from mainstream music critics.
The diversity of personalities within The Who could well account for its success. It's not easy to find any clear astrological linkage, apart from the outer planet placements. The four guys were born within two years of each other, so naturally Uranus, Neptune and Pluto are in similar positions - Uranus in Gemini, Neptune in Libra and Pluto in Leo.
I'll mention just one or two interesting points from the charts:
Roger Daltrey has a nice close Air trine from Uranus to Neptune with sextile to Pluto. He is arguably the most versatile of the four. He added acting to his resume, though without receiving any great acclaim, it has to be said. He did come up with competent performances in several UK TV series, and a few movies too. Four planets in versatile Gemini, including Saturn, which lay in Cancer or Leo in the other three charts, reflect his adaptability.
Pete Townshend shone as a songwriter in addition to his talent as guitarist. Jupiter in Virgo on his ascendant (one of the most powerful areas of the chart) is a good illustration of this: Virgo is ruled by Mercury the writer's planet, Jupiter is known as planet of publication and expansion. From his natal chart (below), I don't see Entwistle being the group's "eye of the hurricane" as stated in the quote, above. Actually the author contradicts himself somewhat, because in the second paragraph he says "The Who based their rhythm on Townshend's guitar". Townshend's nitpicky Virgo ascendant would seem far more likely to provide a stable foundation than Entwistle's impulsive Aries rising. Entwistle's midheaven is in stable cardinal Capricorn, though while Townshend's is in mutable Gemini, with Uranus sitting there (if time of birth is accurate)....I'm not informed enough about rock music to decide whose astrology best symbolised The Who's "anchor".
Both Entwistle (right) and Moon (below) died too soon, their charts are similar in that the planets are huddled within half or less of the zodiac circle, leading to a less circumspect outlook in general. Both have four planets in Libra. Their deaths were in similar circumstances, Moon died of an overdose of a prescribed drug, a drug to assist in loosening an alcohol addiction - note that in his chart Mars and Neptune, the addictive planet, are conjoined within 2 degrees. Entwistle died of a heart attack due to an overdose of cocaine. In his chart Neptune and Mercury conjoin within 3 degrees and lie on the descendant angle which is one of the four most sensitive points in any chart.
Neither Townshend nor Daltrey has a personal planet close to Neptune -that's not to say that they didn't use drugs or alcohol, but they were probably more strong-minded, less the addictive type.
12 noon chart for Keith Moon as no time of birth known.
The video, from a performance in 1968, illustrates a little of the destructive motif for which the band became famous: smashing their instruments, destroying sets. The presenter individually introduces the four lads before they sing "My Generation". Towards the end we see the infamous incident when Keith Moon added 3 times the amount of explosive to a special effect, without letting the band know. Rumor had it that Pete Townshend's hearing loss started from that point, having stood close to the resulting explosion.
Possibly not too well known on this side of the Atlantic, Augustus John was a revered portrait painter in Britain in the early to mid-20th century. His elder sister Gwen (whose words those are) later also became known as a talented artist. As much as for their artistic talent they were famous, or notorious, for their Bohemian lifestyle.
Augustus was married to Ida, but.......
"Even by the wildest of Bohemian standards, it was a complex menage. Artist Augustus John was driven by an insatiable sexual appetite that nearly destroyed the lives of the women who loved him best. His domestic life was an extraordinary tangle of passions. His wife, Ida, although at first jealous of his beautiful mistress, Dorelia, eventually fell in love with her. As did Augustus's sister Gwen."
Later on, Gwen fell ecstatically in love with the 63-year-old sculptor Auguste Rodin.
"Unfortunately, her obsessive love so wore him out. He complained that sex gave him a headache and once a fortnight was enough; he felt devoured by her. When Rodin became involved with someone else, Gwen Rodin died in 1917."
"Augustus John died in 1961. He was a monster of selfishness. But so was his sister. She became a recluse, turning to religion after Rodin's death. When she died in Dieppe in 1939, Gwen was buried in a pauper's unmarked grave. And yet Augustus maintained, ' Gwen and I were not opposites but much the same really. She wasn't chaste and subdued but amorous and proud...Her passions for both men and women were outrageous.' Gwen was a shadowy spinster to the world she scorned, but not to the brother who saw her as the mirror image of himself." (See here)
The lifestyle of the Johns was stereotypically Bohemian. Do the natal charts of brother and sister show any indication of how they turned out? Were they at all alike?
They were actually more like opposites, which is a proposition Augustus had challenged. Augustus was born 4 January 1878 in Tenby, Wales, UK. No time known, so a 12 noon chart is shown.
(Right:Augustus with Tallulah Bankhead and his portrait of her.) He had a cluster of 3, or perhaps four planets in Capricorn. Moon could have been either in Capricorn or Aquarius (after 11pm). I'd guess the latter in view of what has been written about his eccentricities, but there's a window of only one hour, so it's not the most likely placement. His avant garde ways were reflected more certainly in the opposition of erratic Uranus to Venus, both planets being close to the Moon's nodes adding extra significance and weight to his penchant for out-of-the-box way of life and loving. An interviewer in 1913 described him as "an eccentric and difficult man"
Gwen John was born 22 June 1876, Haverfordwest, Wales, UK (no time, so another 12 noon chart).
She had Sun, Mars and Moon all in Cancer, widely opposite her brother's personal planet cluster in Capricorn. From descriptions of Gwen I've been able to access, she did fit the Cancerian stereotype in many ways.
"While Augustus was a bullish and pugnacious personality, Gwen was often painfully introverted and had an almost irrational fear of strangers. This contemplative approach to life is reflected in her work. Her personal attachments were passionately intense while also being, for the time at least, highly unconventional."(Here)
"By contrast Gwen has recently become a celebrated painter of international renown. Following a long and obsessive love affair with Rodin in Paris, she increasingly searched for isolation and solitude which was illustrated in her intensely personal studies of interiors and solitary figures. Her methodical technique and palette of subtle mauves and blue-greys is in direct contrast with the bravura and brilliance of Augustus’ colours."(Here)
Gwen had Jupiter and Pluto in opposition: excess and intensity, a reflection of her obsessive need for love and sex. Her brother's Sun conjunct Jupiter with Mercury trine Pluto may have had similar manifestation, especially when added to the Uranus/Venus opposition.
"La Chambre Sur La Cour" by Gwen John
Without time of birth for either chart it's not possible to glean more. Their respective rising signs would likely be opposite or quincunx, I'd guess . Classic would be Scorpio rising for him, putting Pluto on the descendant angle. For her....a bit clingy - Cancer rising with Moon on ascendant angle, or Capricorn rising with Moon on descendant perhaps, that might account for Augustus seeing himself in her.
HAPPY NEW YEAR! I wondered what the tarot would have to say about 2009, so put the question, "What do I need to know about 2009 in the USA?" I made it specific to the USA to avoid confusion, but in the process probably caused some!
I shuffled, cut and drew 3 cards in the following order:
Queen of Coins/Pentacles 2 of Coins/Pentacles Knight of Swords
I'd hoped to draw one or more cards from the major arcana, but instead two court cards and a 2 of Coins/Pentacles. I resisted the urge to wait a couple of days and do it again. I always think the first draw offers the best answer, even if it's not offering an immediately clear scenario.
So - I think this is a hint about two people who will become extra significant in some way during the year. But who?
Queen of Coins - Coins equate to the Earth element in astrology. If I hadn't asked specifically about the USA, I'd have thought of Queen Elizabeth (the literal Queen) who is a Taurean, and really a stereotypical Queen of Coins. I'll still bear her in mind because I've known the cards do a bit of a sideways lurch before. Something connected to the Queen of England then - stepping down, illness, bereavement - maybe? If we stick with the USA, Michelle Obama strikes me as a Queen of Coins. Steady, loving mother, down to earth, sensible, businesslike. Perhaps something affecting the new First Lady, something as yet unknown, big development.
The 2 of Coins can be interpreted as continual change and transformation, but it's not a gloomy card. If approached in the right state of mind the changes can be seen as helpful, leading to an all round improvement. Careful handling is needed, and again Coins/Pentacles relate to Earth, and material things, finance too. We already know this is going to happen, it's apt but nothing new. Could the element of change though be connected to the 2 personalities in the two cards on either side of the 2 of Coins? It may be noteworthy that this card is between them. I don't "get" Hillary Clinton as Queen of Coins, otherwise I'd take a stab at idea that something might cause she and Joe Biden to swap jobs. That's probably too outlandish....but who knows? The cards sometimes do relate well to their absolutely literal meanings - so widening it a little - a prominent male swapping jobs, or replacing, a female - or vice versa. Hmmmm - back to Queen Elizabeth stepping down and being replaced by Charles or William.
Knight of Swords: would relate to Princes Charles or William if the cards have indeed lurched across the Atlantic for me. Otherwise, we have seen Knight of Swords before in my set of tarot experiments - he appeared in relation to Joe Biden, and I identified the card as Biden then. Joe Biden will naturally be in the news quite a bit as the new Vice President, but here he'd be drawn to attention in a special way - something he will do or experience over and above regular duties, perhaps something more personal - anyway, a big news story with him as the lead player. Swords relate to the element of Air in astrology, so though the Knight of Swords can relate to a military type, the way the stereotype operates is via mental processes - cutting through murky situations with sharp intellect.
Nothing from those cards seems nearly as dramatic as I'd expected. The spread might well relate to one specific incident, here or abroad, involving the two personalities in the court cards. Alternatively, the spread's apparent mildness could be an indication that 2009 will not be the horrendously dramatic year some people expect.
This is all in the spirit of experiment - I'll be keeping this spread in mind throughout the year, and reporting back!
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