Arty Farty Female Friday x 3

Two commenters on last Friday's Arty Farty page suggested some female artists I might feature. I've chosen a name from each comment along with one choice of my own, resulting in one Briton, one Canadaian and one American - a nice balance! I'm going to pinpoint only what astrological features I see as pertinent in each chart, bearing in mind each artist's style and what I've gleaned of her personality. I'll add just a couple of samples of the work of each, many more examples can be viewed via Google Image.

In alphabetical order then: Eileen Agar, Emily Carr and Joan Mitchell. All charts set for 12 noon as no birth times are available.

EILEEN AGAR

Born 1 December 1899 in Buenos Aires, Argentina, to a Scottish father and American mother.
The family moved to Britain during Eileen's childhood. Her style is generally categorised as surrealism, her aim in life seems to have been to enjoy it to the full!

One summer, with her husband and a group of famous artists, she travelled to Picasso’s house at Mougins in the South of France - just weeks after Picasso had painted Guernica, and it was, it is reported, a wild summer of partner-swapping and relaxed exhibitionism. There's a photograph of Eileen dancing in a transparent skirt in Mougins. She wrote in her biography that in the South of France that summer there was “Surrealism on the horizon, Stravinsky in the air, and Freud under the bed.”

She liked to see surrealism as "the interpenetrating of reason and unreason", and valued it for its wit, irreverence and joke-making. She was interested in making shapes, visual metaphors. Art, she said, ought to be playful. She saw her art as an "imaginative playfulness". "I've enjoyed life, and it shows through," Agar said ...... "Like a transparent skirt, or something like that."




If someone asked which zodiac sign best represents enjoying life to the full, I'd answer "Sagittarius!" No surprise then to see that Ms Agar had so many personal planets in that sign, all of 'em in fact - except for Moon (whatever her time of birth) and Jupiter (Sagittarius's ruler) both nextdoor in passionate Scorpio.
Sun and Uranus (planet of the unusual and unexpected) are conjoined, reflecting her draw to surrealism.

THE NEW PLANET



DOUBLE TAKE






EMILY CARR

Born 13 December 1871 in Victoria, British Columbia. Her style developed from post-impressionism, via Fauve and cubism to expressionism with focus on the scenes and traditions of the Canadian Northwest. Her outstanding characteristic is love of the land and its people - but mainly the land. Almost as strong though was her independence in the face of Victorian prejudices, and her thirst foradventure.

Passionately committed to her art, a lover of wild places who saw with great intensity of feeling, Emily was independent, strong willed, and fiercely energetic. The tasks she set for herself demanded nothing less. Yet she was also cantankerous, peevish, hotly intolerant of hypocrisy, narrowness, and prejudice. She was an intentional outsider, almost a misanthrope, yet a lover of those in the margins of society. These characteristics naturally brought her into conflict with three forces antagonistic to her leanings: a culture that discouraged artistic vitality or experimentation in women, a pious family dominated by rigid proprieties, and the conventional mores of late-Victorian society.

Despite these counterweights, she challenged the prohibitions of her family by crossing the invisible line into Native culture. She engaged in a rare cross-cultural friendship with a Squamish basket maker, a relationship unacceptable in Victoria's polite white society in the early twentieth century, traveled alone by canoe, steamship, trading scow, and wagon, slept in a tent, in mission houses and grave houses in isolated Native villages at a time when tribal culture was being crushed, and even attended illegal potlatches raided by the Provincial Police.
She experienced everything with uncommon intensity, a factor which fueled her frenzied periods of enormous output, yet contributed to her self-doubt which led to a lengthy and marked slowdown--some would call it a regenerative hiatus--in her painting. Nevertheless, she pulled herself up out of depression, came to ignore public disregard, surrounded herself with pets, sang hymns to her half-finished paintings out in the forest, and, at fifty-seven, won her way to her most productive and original period of painting, producing the works for which she is most known.

http://www.svreeland.com/real-ec.html




Another Sun in Sagittarius here! Sun conjunct south node of the Moon too, a sensitive point in the natal chart adding emphasis to the placement, though not nearly as much Sagittarian emphasis as found in Eileen Agar's chart. Emily had four personal planets in Cardinal Earth Capricorn, the source of her love for the land, I reckon. Saturn in Capricorn (its own sign) is conjunct Mercury, planet of communication - perhaps a hint of the cantankerous part of her nature? Uranus the rebel and Jupiter the expansive traveller are conjoined, though (just)in different signs, and link by harmonious trine to Venus, planet of the arts. So here, combined, are a thirst for adventure and a rebellious determination to fly against the status quo.

RED CEDAR


TOTEM FOREST






JOAN MITCHELL

Born 12 February 1925 in Chicago, Illinois, lived much of her adult life in France.

Her style: abstract expressionist, using a huge canvas, sometimes more than one, multi- panelled, covered with energetic, aggressive looking brush strokes - in her youth she was a competitive athlete, possibly a trait detectable in her paintings. She said that although her paintings seemed total abstractions, they were, in fact, "about a feeling that comes to me from the outside, the landscape." She wasn't an easy person to get along with, by all accounts - quarrellsome, heavy drinker, competitive, something of a "bad-ass", reluctant to align herself with other female artists.

Through all the misery and frustrations of her relationships with friends and lovers plus the numerous deaths of friends, relatives and dogs that she suffered and along with her severe health problems and active alcoholism, she kept painting - sometimes raging away at the canvas or expressing less violent emotions that she was unable to release any other way. Her tenacity and commitment to her work despite all this were remarkable, as was her refusal to make paintings in a more manageable size. She must have had a tremendous physical struggle that included having to get a studio assistant to squeeze paint from tubes due to the arthritis in her hands (per Kertess)." (See here.)

Aquarius Sun, Mercury and Venus, with Sun semi-sextile Aquarius's modern ruler, Uranus lays down a background of determined independence, and thanks to Uranus's input, not a a little rebellion - never inclined to accept the status quo.
Ms Mitchell's "difficult" personality springs also from a set of tight oppositions in her natal chart. Sun opposite Neptune; Saturn opposite Mars; Jupiter opposite Pluto. However one wishes to interpret each individual opposition, the presence of three of these is bound to set up some internal wrangling, I guess, which could manifest as external aggression and general crabbiness. Additionally, Mercury and Venus (planets of communication and art) are in challenging square aspects to Saturn on one side and Mars on the other, forming what astrologers call a "T-square". There's another, similar, formation involving Neptune (creativity) and the Sun in opposition and in square aspect to Saturn. Some of these difficult aspects link up to form a Grand Cross, a configuration which, in some instances, can be indicative of on-going inner conflict.


BARGE PENICHE



CHORD VII





(This post went on a bit - so - next post Sunday).

Astrologers' Words of Wisdom

Astrologers come in all shades, stripes, shapes and sizes. Something for everyone! My own choice is for the more down-to-earth variety, those who never lose sight of reason and rationality. There are, and have been, quite a few such astrologers. As an occasional feature I'll aim to choose a paragraph or so from the books or websites of some of these. Paragraphs highlighting points which are important to bear in mind, but can be forgotten or overlooked in the excitement of discovering all that astrology has to offer.

First up - snippets from British astrologer C.E.O. Carter's book The Astrological Aspects, first published in 1930; and from American astrologer Grant Lewi's Astrology for the Millions, first published 1940.

C.E.O. CARTER:The difficulties of writing anything reliable and capable of helping the practical student are great. For, while we can understand the abstract significance of the planets and so form a conception of the theoretical meaning of each aspect, it still remains true that when we descend from these abstractions to the effects of the aspects in actual life we find ourselves confronted with a very intricate task. That which is unitary above becomes many below; the trend of manifestation is always towards increased diversity. Thus, even in terms of character, the same aspect exhibits great differences in manifestation according to the almost innumerable possible concurrent circumstances that may arise. When we seek to determine the probable external form of the aspects in the affairs of life, we meet yet greater variation. What is more absurd than to suppose that the same aspect (whether radical or progressed) will manifest in the same way in the case of a convict serving a life sentence, a millionaire financier, a Bohemian artist, or a soldier on active service?

GRANT LEWI:...Consistent observation of planetary effects in a very large number of charts leads me to the conclusion that, whether or not Planets differ in their inherent character, their chief observable difference as they act in the chart is traceable directly to the difference in the rate of motion with which they pass through the Vitasphere (natal chart).....

Because Mercury and Venus remain always close to the Sun, their rhythms are merely slight variants on the solar rhythm, as viewed from the Earth. The Moon's rhythm also has a relationship to the solar rhythm, since the Moon goes all the way around the zodiac in approximately the same time that the Sun, Mercury and Venus are going through one sign.

If we consider you and the house you live in as the Sun, then Mercury and Venus and the Moon are those who inhabit the house with you, to whom you get accustomed and accept as an integral part of yourself and your life.........It is with the things that go on outside the house - that is to say with Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune and Pluto - that we are primarily concerned (a) in interpreting and understanding past experience and (b) in projecting... into the future.

A Non-astrological Rant

Last night we watched a DVD of an old British movie I'm Alright Jack, one of many films from the 1950s produced and directed by the Boulting Brothers.

Back then the British film industry was just beginning to find its metaphorical feet, after World War 2. The Boultings gave us many a satirical look at life. In I'm Alright Jack, a brilliantly funny depiction of both the excesses of trade unionism and the corruptness of the captains of industry, messages in the story are still appropriate today, even more so actually, in the USA.

Corrupt corporations have taken the place of corrupt bosses from the aristocracy and upper classes. Trades unions, though, have been de-fanged by conservative governments, leaving "the people" - ordinary people - without recourse to right the wrongs perpetrated upon them.

I found myself feeling angry when my husband muttered - "That was exactly the problem - trades unions! " I had to put him right in no uncertain fashion.

What other avenue did and do we "the people" have? What power do ordinary people now hold? None except for their votes at election time, and they can be manipulated by the power of money. I found myself envying the folk of the 1950s when ordinary people found their strength in the union movement. They took things too far though, and it led to their downfall at the hands of the dreadful Margaret Thatcher in Britain, and conservative administrations in the USA.

The unions were the only tool "the people" had. Now we don't have any tool at all. This makes me both sad and angry. In the USA, even more than in Britain, "the people" need to reclaim their power in order to de-fang the corporations. But how?

Ian Carmichael, one of the stars of "I'm Alright Jack" died a few days ago. RIP. He was probably the only remaining cast member still with us from a wondrously talented group including Terry Thomas, Peter Sellers, Richard Attenbrough, Margaret Rutherford, Irene Handl and.......ah... Liz Fraser is still alive I think.

Jupiter Returns

I'm due for a Jupiter Return in a day or two. This phenomenon occurs for us all at approximately 12 year intervals, as transiting Jupiter again hits the exact zodiac degree it occupied as we were born. I suspect that this particular transit to one's natal chart is generally A Good Thing, unless Jupiter in one's chart is awkwardly aspected. In many cases though it'll be a time to watch for fleeting opportunities; to expand in any chosen direction; good for travel, or maybe just heralding an easy-going few months when, if new problems do arise, they'll seem easier to deal with.

Jupiter moved into its traditional home sign of Pisces in mid-January. Planets' astrological energies are always said to be at their most recognisable when in their home signs. Attributes assigned to planets by learned astrologers over many centuries are said to shine out far more clearly when unadulterated by residence in a "foreign" sign. If this be true, my own natal Jupiter in Pisces at 6.46 degrees in 9th house (Jupiter's house), in first decan (ruled by Jupiter/Neptune), has a triple-whammy of Jupiterness: in its own sign, own house and its own decan. In addition, Jupiter in my natal chart is exactly semi-sextile Aquarius Sun. I don't like any textbook interpretation of this aspect, and have decided that what it represents for me is that traits of the two planets and signs are closely interwoven in my personality.

Looking back over past Jupiter Returns in my life, I can spot two which brought benign events. In the spring of 1974 I won a national competition in the UK - prize was two weeks holiday for two with spending money.... Photo(right):on that holiday in Tangier, Morocco, standing by was our adopted pal, Mohammed. A Jupiter Return in the spring of 1998 corresponded with a move of home, following retirement. Other Jupiter Returns don't trigger any immediate memory of significant events at those times though. That is not necessarily to say there weren't any - just that they could have been related to minor matters, long forgotten. The rest of the natal chart, and transits thereto, also have an important bearing upon how, or to what extent, a planetary return can be "felt" at each go-around.

I'm not holding my breath for any Jupiter goodies this time around, but if any come my way, I'll be very happy. I'll be happy first because they'll be helpful in some way, and second because they'll add to my unshaken belief that, as far as astrology is concerned (all together now) "something is happening here, but we don't know what it is - do we Mr. Jones?"

Music Monday ~ Alice Cooper

Clint Black or Alice Cooper, I asked myself. Both were born on 4 February, though in different years. Clint Black, likeable, clean-cut country singer; Alice Cooper master of horror-infused hard rock, records banned in the UK. They could hardly be more different. Toss of a coin indicated Alice Cooper for the blog.



Born Vincent Damon Furnier on 4 February 1948 in Detroit Michigan at 10:33 PM (Astrodatabank). Alice Cooper was originally his band's name, its origin the subject of a variety of show-biz legends. Fans started calling the lead singer "Alice", and as a consequence Furnier decided to take the name.

The band and its lead vocalist

"pioneered a grandly theatrical and violent brand of heavy metal that was designed to shock. Drawing equally from horror movies, vaudeville, heavy metal, and garage rock, the group created a stage show that featured electric chairs, guillotines, fake blood, and huge boa constrictors, all coordinated by the heavily made-up Furnier. By that time, Furnier had adopted the name for his androgynous on-stage personality. While the visuals were extremely important to the group's impact, the band's music was nearly as distinctive. Driven by raw, simple riffs and melodies that derived from '60s guitar pop as well as show tunes, it was rock & roll at its most basic and catchy, even when the band ventured into psychedelia and art rock. After the original group broke up and Furnier began a solo career as Alice Cooper, his actual music lost most of its theatrical flourishes, becoming straightforward heavy metal, yet his stage show retained all of the trademark props that made him the king of shock rock." (Biography)

Does Furnier's natal chart give away the secret of his success? Away from his stage persona he comes over as a pretty nice guy with a ready sense of humour. There's an interview with British TV presenter Clive James below. It quite won me over.


Libra rising, ably assisted by a quick-witted Aquarius Sun accounts for his personable charm off-stage. But I'm looking mainly for a clue as to why this son of a church minister was drawn to the type of stage show he chose to perform. His Sun is opposite Pluto, planet of all things dark and "nasty" - but so is my own and I'm not drawn to such excesses. There's more in Furnier's case. Pluto, the Arabic Part of Fortune and Saturn are conjoined.
Part of Fortune is explained at Cafe Astrology HERE. It is calculated mathematically using the degrees of the ascendant, Sun, and Moon.

Part of Fortune points to innate talents that set us on a path to worldly success.
First look to any planets or points that are tightly conjunct or opposite the Part of Fortune as significators of vocation, career, and natural talents--keys to success.
Second, determine the ruling planet of the sign of the Part of Fortune, and consider that planet as another significator.
Consider the sign and house placement of the Part of Fortune as qualities and areas of life where we possess natural and innate talents or abilities, and that can be considered keys to worldly success and prosperity.
Look to any planets or points posited in the same sign as the Part of Fortune, whether or not they are conjunct the point. These will also play a role in our profession.

Putting all that together, we have Pluto (darkness), Part of Fortune, and Saturn (business) in Leo, sign of show-biz, two of those in 10th house of career. It fits!

Moon is conjunct Jupiter planet of excess, and exactly opposite Uranus (planet of shock - the unexpected) this closely aligned combination has obviously played a part in Alice Cooper's stage persona, as has Neptune planet of creativity and imagination sitting right on his ascendant - the ascendant reflects the image of a person the world sees first.

I noticed, during my searches, that Alice Cooper has an astrological twin - a former US Republican senator, and TV news anchor, Rod Grams. He was born same day, same year as Alice Cooper, but in Princeton, Minnesota. The only obvious similarity is that they both came into the public spotlight, though for different reasons. I know exactly nothing about Rod Grams, but gather that both he and Alice Cooper lean politically rightward (Alice Cooper supported G.W. Bush and has been quoted as saying that Sarah Palin is "a breath of fresh air". It's best that I say no more on that score !





Interviewed by Clive James below, followed by School's Out -

Langston Hughes & America

Poet Langston Hughes was born on 1 February 1902 in Joplin, Missouri.
Personal planets in a combination of Aquarius, Pisces and Capricorn can be translated to humanitarian (Aquarius) dreams (Pisces) relating to (what ought to be) reality (Capricorn).
Moon in passionate Scorpio (unless Mr Hughes was born near to midnight) adds intensity to his poetry. This poem of his: Let America Be America Again,can still bring a tear to the eye these days, long years after it was written.

Let America be America again.

Let it be the dream it used to be.

Let it be the pioneer on the plain

Seeking a home where he himself is free.

(America never was America to me.)

Let America be the dream the dreamers dreamed—Let it be that great strong land of love

Where never kings connive nor tyrants scheme

That any man be crushed by one above.

(It never was America to me.)

O, let my land be a land where Liberty

Is crowned with no false patriotic wreath,

But opportunity is real, and life is free,

Equality is in the air we breathe.

(There's never been equality for me,

Nor freedom in this "homeland of the free.")

Say, who are you that mumbles in the dark?

And who are you that draws your veil across the stars?

I am the poor white, fooled and pushed apart,

I am the Negro bearing slavery's scars.

I am the red man driven from the land,

I am the immigrant clutching the hope I seek—And finding only the same old stupid plan

Of dog eat dog, of mighty crush the weak.

I am the young man, full of strength and hope,

Tangled in that ancient endless chain

Of profit, power, gain, of grab the land!

Of grab the gold! Of grab the ways of satisfying need!

Of work the men! Of take the pay!

Of owning everything for one's own greed!

I am the farmer, bondsman to the soil.

I am the worker sold to the machine.

I am the Negro, servant to you all.

I am the people, humble, hungry, mean—Hungry yet today despite the dream.

Beaten yet today—O, Pioneers!

I am the man who never got ahead,

The poorest worker bartered through the years.

Yet I'm the one who dreamt our basic dream

In the Old World while still a serf of kings,

Who dreamt a dream so strong, so brave, so true,

That even yet its mighty daring sings

In every brick and stone, in every furrow turned

That's made America the land it has become.

O, I'm the man who sailed those early seas

In search of what I meant to be my home—For I'm the one who left dark Ireland's shore,

And Poland's plain, and England's grassy lea,

And torn from Black Africa's strand I came

To build a "homeland of the free."

The free?

Who said the free? Not me?

Surely not me? The millions on relief today?

The millions shot down when we strike?

The millions who have nothing for our pay?

For all the dreams we've dreamed

And all the songs we've sung

And all the hopes we've held

And all the flags we've hung,

The millions who have nothing for our pay—Except the dream that's almost dead today.

O, let America be America again—The land that never has been yet—And yet must be—the land where every man is free.

The land that's mine—the poor man's, Indian's, Negro's, ME—Who made America,

Whose sweat and blood, whose faith and pain,

Whose hand at the foundry, whose plow in the rain,

Must bring back our mighty dream again.

Sure, call me any ugly name you choose—The steel of freedom does not stain.

From those who live like leeches on the people's lives,

We must take back our land again,

America!

O, yes,

I say it plain,

America never was America to me,

And yet I swear this oath—America will be!

Out of the rack and ruin of our gangster death,

The rape and rot of graft, and stealth, and lies,

We, the people, must redeem

The land, the mines, the plants, the rivers.

The mountains and the endless plain—All, all the stretch of these great green states—And make America again!

"Bring gloom down to the minimum..."

On this date in 2007, I posted a few thoughts after having read astrologer Bill Herbst's then current newsletter. It concerned potential outcomes of astrological configurations due between 2009 and 2012. I've found that Mr Herbst's pieces are always clear and informative. By the time I reached the end of this one, however, I felt depressed. Even more so, because Mr Herbst's conclusions about the coming years matched, broadly, those of several other astrologers. Since 2007 more gloomy voices have joined the chorus of doom.

Is there no alternative interpretation to the configurations which are the basis of these forecasts though? Mr. Herbst pointed out that current times, before and after 2010, will offer a long-needed chance for us to right our wrongs and clean up our messes. But isn't there something even more hopeful? Isn't there another view of the whole scenario? Could it be likened to one of those optical illusion illustrations which contain two quite different pictures, provided that the eye and mind are correctly focused to see them both? (In the example, right, you can see either the head of an old woman or that of a young, elegant woman.)

Bearing in mind that predictions have not always proved to be reliable, couldn't this mean that there might have been alternative interpretations of certain planetary configurations? Because similar astrological configurations in the past resulted in dark outcomes, it does not necessarily follow that comparable scenarios will happen when a similar astrological configuration appears. Other elements have changed in the intervening period, external elements, unconnected with astrology, but connected with the way man lives, thinks, and deals with events. Any time Uranus is involved in a configuration, as in this case, can any astrologer be sure of his forecast? The future could have in store something as yet indescribable, and impossible for us to understand, let alone to foresee.....that's the flavour of Uranus.

In any case, some positive thinking can't hurt! Some say that the communal mind is a powerful entity. Some say that it is possible to attract towards us what we hold in our mind's eye. If there is any chance at all that this is true, ought we not to be holding a brighter vision of the coming years in our minds? I'm addressing myself here, too, I hasten to add!

I'm not naive enough to think that the communal mind could hold back the power of nature and the elements. It might, though, have strength enough to ensure the move into key positions of those individuals who would deal with challenging situations in the best possible way. In the United States there will be mid-term elections held in November; in the UK there will be a general election this spring. Opportunities to elect individuals with compassion, skill and insight enough to rescue from any disaster the seeds of a new and better scenario. With the wrong people in places of power, should the worst happen, I can well imagine that any gloomy forecasts of astrologers we've read already will seem very mild compared to the reality !

A lot of positive thinking now might do a temendous amount of good later....and it costs nothing.

Bring gloom down to the minimum
Have faith or pandemonium's
Liable to walk upon the scene. (Johnny Mercer)

Arty Farty Female Friday ~ Lisa Milroy

It's hard to understand why so few female painters have their work widely acclaimed. Offhand I can only offer Georgia O'Keeffe as example of an internationally instantly recognised artist. In the past I've featured Frida Kahlo, Grandma Moses, Beryl Cook, and a bunch of female illustrators of children's books. All those ladies achieved some level of fame in their own countries but none but is a household name on a par with Salvador Dali, Edward Hopper, Gustav Klimt, David Hockney and such. Where are the "big hitters"? Why haven't more females risen to the top of this pile? Male dominance is fairly understandable in some fields, but in this particular field, especially from mid-20th century on, it is really puzzling.

In the interests of balance, I searched around for female artists, known or little-known, to spotlight for the next week or two. First up, Lisa Milroy. She was born in Vancouver, Canada on 16 January 1959. I noticed one website (Answers) states 13 January, but I prefer to rely on The Royal Academy of Arts website

A look at examples of her art via Google Image (below) told me something right away: Saturn is playing a leading role here - regimentation, structure, practicalities. Her Sun in Saturn-ruled Capricorn fits this, but not sufficiently, there will be more.



Saturn in her chart is conjunct Mercury (communication planet) and in Capricorn, its traditional domicile, so comes through in the personality louder and clearer than when placed in other signs.
Uranus (the unexpected) in Leo opposes Venus (planet of the arts) in Uranus's home sign Aquarius - a connection to the artist's rather unusual choice of subjects.

Extract from another Royal Academy of Arts page:

Her best-known pictures – the huge white canvases of immaculately painted geishas (so sharp in detail you think they must be holding their breath) or the grids of objects, such as shoes or drawer handles – celebrate life’s details with the passion of a taxonomist. Reproductions give an idea of the context of her works but only in the flesh can you see the sensuously worked textures that make them sing.

"life’s details with the passion of a taxonomist" translates as: Pluto (passion) in detail oriented Virgo, linked to Mercury/Saturn in Capricorn by harmonious trine.
(PS Wikipedia tells us that "Taxonomy is the practice and science of classification. The word finds its roots in the Greek τάξις, taxis (meaning 'order', 'arrangement') and νόμος, nomos ('law' or 'science')..... very Saturn!)










At the link above, the artist tells how, while searching for a new studio location she came to draw geishas:

Throughout her studio search Milroy felt a strong need to keep connected to painting. ‘It’s terrifying to let go of a studio, quite unnerving. To maintain a link, and also amuse myself, I began to make thumbnail sketches – in my A-Z and on estate agents’ handouts – of geishas that featured in the Japanese prints on which I had recently based some paintings. Soon these geishas morphed into a troupe of geishas of my own design and kept me company during my search. When I finally found my studio and moved in, the first paintings I made were of these geishas – they demanded it!’ Milroy visits Japan often: ‘It is the most visually engaging place I’ve ever been to, and the most foreign.’

Astrological Twins in Fiction

A mention of Jeffrey Archer's novel Kane and Abel set me off on a train of thought. I read the book years ago, and later saw the TV adaptation. Recalling the main thread of the plot - how the lives of two men, born on the same day, on different continents become entwined, I began to think along lines which had, more or less, eluded me years ago.

The two leading characters were astrological twins, or nearly so. We are not told whether they were born at the very same minute of 18 April 1906 - allowing for different time zones - one in Massachusetts, USA, the other in Poland. It's an engrossing tale. I don't intend to spoil it for anyone who hasn't yet read the book or seen the TV adaptation, but anybody curious about the story can read more detail HERE.



I wonder whether Jeffrey Archer had advice from an astrologer when deciding on the birth date of his lead characters? Here's the chart, set for Boston MA. Planet-in-sign positions (apart perhaps from Moon) would have been the same for USA and Poland whatever the birth time.

Bare bones of the plot include a rags-to-riches tale, a born-with-silver-spoon (in appropriate orifice) tale, a common thirst for power and wealth, a common passionate love of respective offspring, and a whole lot of misunderstanding.

Giving the guys Sun in Aries was a good move - especially for the Polish character who had to really pull out all the stops of his Sun's Mars rulership to escape a dreadful scenario in the country of his birth. Giving them Mars and Venus in Fixed Earth Taurus was appropriate too. They are both very fixed in mindset, extremely stubborn, and enthralled by possessions and property.

Of course, it's fiction, but still interesting to think on these points. Those thoughts led me to ponder on another work of fiction, Ben Hur. I haven't read the book, but the 1959 movie is my favourite film of all time. This might be thought an odd choice for an atheist (agnostic on a good day) like myself, but I love its epic quality, its adventure and scope, but most of all its messages, clean and unsullied by the powerful organised religion which came after. Anyway.... I may be wrong, but I feel certain that right at the start of the movie there's some indication that Judah Ben Hur and Jesus were born at or around the same time. I can't find any evidence of this having been stated in the book, so my memory might be faulty and/or astrology-ridden these days. It's unlikely that author Lew Wallace, in the late 19th century, would have entertained thoughts about astrology, so this is probably just my memory playing tricks. It is mentioned (I think) that both Jesus and Judah Ben Hur were around Judea at the same time though, and were about the same age. Their lives did touch at two or three points in the storyline. This isn't a good example of astrological twins in a novel, but it's one which sprang immediately to mind.

Mark Twain wrote The Prince and the Pauper, a novel about astrological twins, identical in appearance but from very different backgrounds. They change places in the England of 1547. I haven't read this book, but the Prince of the title is Prince Edward who at the tender age of 9 became King, on the death of his father Henry VIII. Edward's date of birth, was 12 October 1537 - Sun in Libra. Pauper Tom Canty's would have been the same. Libra the sign of balance seems rather appropriate for these two boys who each found out what life was like on the other side of the scale.

If a passing reader knows of any other novel or movie with a theme involving astrological twins (born the same day, different parents, different place, maybe at the same time of day), do please drop a comment below.

Candles, Cards & Country Music. (No astrology today).

I'd like to say it's been a fun few days since Thursday 28th January at 2.30pm when the ice storm struck and our town and surrounding area lost power, but "fun" doesn't quite cover it...weird and a tad worrying is nearer the mark. Much of our region had no power for 5 days, and most of one day with practically no water supply either, after a generator at the water plant blew up. At Chez Twilight we had it easy, compared with some local folks who were forced to repair to a local shelter set up for those without alternative heat sources. We have a gas powered fire in the fireplace, so one part of the house stayed nice and warm in the darkness. All travails though were as nought compared to the suffering and devastation in Haiti.

At first it did all seem like a bit of an adventure. Big candles originally bought for decorative purposes but long since relegated to the storeroom were brought out complete with ornate candlesticks. "I knew these would come in handy one day!" We had two small flashlights and one big one with sets of spare batteries - more than enough for 24 hours or so, we thought. My husband found a 25-year old radio adaptable to battery power, then pulled out a pack of cards from his "emergency backpack". And so it was, as darkness fell each night, candles were lit, the cards came out, countless hands of gin rummy were played to country music from the only stations we could find still up and running. Two evenings into what they call an "ice event" we were quite into the card games - country music not so much - especially the modern variety. One could feel quite like hanging oneself from the nearest tree limb after a few evenings of that, except that the best tree limbs for the job were all, now, on the ground.

Our two big cottonwood trees in the back yard suffered badly, as did the maple out front. A succession of scary bangs and crashes through Thursday and Friday warned that our roof might be damaged by falling branches and chunks of ice. Outside, small and large tree limbs piled up on the ground as the weight of the ice became too much for them. It was a peculiar experience to stand outside after the storm subsided and hear the trees creaking, cracking and groaning under the enormous weight dumped upon them by Mother Nature's tantrum.

Who could blame Mother Nature for being annoyed at Oklahoma? Its senators have openly ridiculed the idea of climate change for years. This experience seems like the overture to many other odd acts of climate now waiting in the wings. As far as we know, nobody here can recall ever experiencing anything like this in their lifetimes. Winters can be temporarily extreme and severe here, ice storms lasting a few hours, power outages of an hour or so are not uncommon, but nothing as nasty or long-lasting as this has happened before in Texhoma (south-west Oklahoma, near the Texas border). This "ice event" has quickly followed the severe blizzard and heavy snows of Christmas Eve. It does seem that something peculiar is definitely going on!

Trees all around town have been badly damaged. There are, or sadly were, lots of beautiful trees here - my favourite feature of the town. So many limbs fell on power lines and so much ice accumulated at power substations in south-west Oklahoma that repairing lines, replacing poles and restoring power is a long and difficult task, given the conditions. There are still many neighbouring areas where power will not be restored for several more days due to further difficulties arising as a serious thaw arrived yesterday. Our house is on the fringe of town so we were some of the last to be dealt with. The lights went up quite unexpectedly at 8pm on Tuesday evening, in the middle of a candle-lit game of gin rummy.

What a relief - we were both heading rapidly towards having to wear our cleanest dirty shirts!

More on this topic at my husband's blog today: Thinks Happen


Below: Backyard damage surveyed by Himself.