Music Monday ~ Spike Jones

Anybody remember Spike Jones and his City Slickers? The band was guaranteed to raise a smile, sometimes even a laugh-out-loud back in the dark days of war in the 1940s, and far beyond, on both sides of the Atlantic.

Tomorrow would have been Spike Jones' birthday. He was born on 14 December 1911 in Long Beach, California.





Spike Jones was "a man whose name was synonymous with laughter in America for more than a decade," Dr. Demento wrote in the forward to Jordan J. Young’s profile, Spike Jones and His City Slickers. In the 1940s Jones and his City Slickers band became known across America as an outlandish group of musicians whose musical parody recordings, stage shows, and radio broadcasts frequently featured such "instruments" as the washboard, the cowbell, the auto horn, and the toilet seat, accompanied by the rhythmic punctuation of hiccups, Bronx cheers, and the sounds of various live animals. (See here for more).







Very brief comment on his natal chart (set for 12 noon as I can find no time of birth recorded on line). Inventive ought to have been Spike's middle name! Uranus, planet of invention and eccentricity was in helpful sextile to his ebullient Sagittarius Sun as he was born. Jupiter, ruler of Sagittarius was in the first degree of its own sign, adding weight to an innate love of excess and exaggeration, made zany and inventive with the aid of Uranus' aspect to natal Sun. I'd not be surprised to find that Uranus was close to Spike's ascendant degree or at midheaven.

On a more sombre note, Mars was on the Taurus degree of Fixed Star Algol, the star ancient astrologers looked on as the most unfortunate of all. Algol, when conjunct a personal planet can sometimes merely indicate a particularly passionate individual, but sometimes such a conjunction appears in the charts of those whose lives end in an unfortunate or untimely way. From Wikipedia: Spike Jones Jones was a lifelong smoker. He was once said to have gotten through the average workday on coffee and cigarettes. Smoking may have contributed to his developing emphysema. His already thin frame deteriorated, to the point where he used an oxygen tank offstage, and onstage he was confined to a seat behind his drum set. He died at the age of 53.




A couple of reminders:

Cocktails for Two



My favourite - Laura

(I always thought that the band was at its best with a well-known sentimental song, which they eventually send spinning in the opposite direction - into the realms of the ridiculous. The band members were excellent musicians and quite capable of playing "straight" as well as any of their contemporaries, by the way.)

THE WEEK THAT WAS ~ Julian Assange ~ Neptune ~ Mercury Retrograde

Writings and comment on Wikileaks and Julian Assange has filled cyberspace and other public spaces this week with the most words written on a single topic since the BP oil spill.

My (very personal) view of the situation varies from most others I've read. I have a strong feeling that all is not straightforward. There's "something else", some secret motivation ? I don't know. But I can't raise the same level of enthusiasm and support for him this time around. Gut-feeling.

Something about the latest release of hundreds of thousands of diplomatic cables, embarrassing to those in power, but not in the same league as previous whistle-blowing efforts, doesn't strike the same note for me, and I get to wondering.

It's not that I don't have great respect for the courage of Julian Assange and what he had done before the latest scenario. In fact I wrote about earlier Wikileaks "exposures" in a post headed Wikileaks, Pluto & Galactic Center. At that stage Assange's birth data was a mystery, it is now available.

A similar Neptunian fog surrounds Assange as that surrounding President Obama. There's a lot of Neptunian fog around in general just now in the USA. Neptune connects to mystery, illusion and delusion - mental fog. Assange is supposed to be trying to clear foggy areas, but in the process causes the mists to swirl dangerously.

Assange's natal chart ought to provide some clarity on his true personality. The rape charges he faces only add to the fog; they have been, more than likely, "trumped up".

Numerous astrologers have already published interpretations of Assange's natal chart. It does not behove me to argue with what any of them have written. Instead I'll offer links to several pieces I've come across so far, and let any passing reader who has missed these make up their own mind on the matter.

Some articles by astrologers interpreting the natal chart of Julian Assange:

ERIC FRANCIS.....(also Mr Francis's responses to skeptics in this respect at Boing Boing)

MARY PLUMB at Mountain Astrologer ....And a second one relating to the birth time


DARK STAR ASTROLOGY

LYNN HAYES at Belief Net

ASTROPOST

ROBERT PHOENIX

TARA GREENE

Below is the natal chart of Julian Assange constructed from data available. His date and place or birth are said to have been taken from official documents, so ought to be reliable. Even so, I retain a wee bit of doubt, he being in the business he's in! The birth time is the most open to question, but as it's the only one available I've included it below.

My single comment here is to note that (if birth time is near correct) foggy Neptune lay in Sagittarius in the first house of self as he came into the world. Neptune was within a few degrees of Jupiter (the publication and exaggeration planet and ruler of Sagittarius), though in the adjacent sign, Scorpio. For me this is the most significant factor in the chart.

Believe nothing you read and only half of what you see in matters relating to Mr. Assange.

IN OTHER NEWS

Mercury Retrograde - or its shadow - are under investigation, Chez Twilight, for causing chaos on this blogger's computer.

The current Mercury Retrograde period proper started yesterday, 10 December (ends 30th) but the so-called shadow period, when some astrologers consider effects can often be recognised, ran from 22 November (ends 18 Jan. 2011).

I've had a recurring computer problem with viruses and/or trojans (mbr rootkit and alureon) from late November until yesterday. On 1 December, after all my own efforts to eradicate the infections from my system had failed I enlisted the help of an on-line technician who could access my computer remotely. He did what seemed like a good job, it took almost 2 hours (costing $90!) - with a 7-day warranty.

Yesterday, 10 December, the problem returned. I contacted my remote techie who very kindly classed that day as being the last of my warranty period, and went through the whole long rigmarole of catching and killing the virus again at no further charge. He advised me to change my anti-virus software, recommended ESET NOD32, which I have now acquired.

What I probably need, though, is a way to eradicate Mercury Retrograde!

Arty Farty Friday ~ Feminist Miriam Schapiro

FIVE DAYS OF FEMININE #5 :

Feminist artist Miriam Schapiro, born in Toronto, Canada on 15 November 1923, grew up and studied in New York and Iowa. She married artist Paul Brach in 1946. Schapiro worked a series of odd jobs until she became a artist full-time in 1955. She originally painted in the Abstract Expressionist style. As her commitment to feminism grew during the 1960's, she developed her own personal style which she called femmage. Combining such commonplace elements as lace, fabric scraps, buttons, rickrack, sequins, and tea towels she transformed them into sophisticated compositions that often imply multiple layers of both space and meaning. Her recent works juxtapose intricately patterned abstract backgrounds with stylized human figures in motion-whether falling or dancing- made of brightly colored paper. (http://mystudios.com/women/women.html)

In keeping with the topic of Passion, Freedom & Women, Miriam Schapiro is a groundbreaking artist who, in her 60-year career, stepped out of the mold to fight for women’s artistic freedom and the democratization of art. She was a key visionary in starting a new movement in art, Pattern and Decoration.

Schapiro challenged the male art system from within and without. Since the 1960s, she risked her artistic reputation to bring women to the fore and erase the line between high art and craft, flaunting uses of the previously taboo materials like organdy and lace.

Schapiro explained: “I bring to my paintings all the elements of craft because I believe that craft belongs to women. That’s how it’s been designated by the patriarchal art system. Our culture also insists that ornamentation and decoration are innately female. But, unfortunately, it then follows that what is female is considered inferior. It doesn’t have to be that way. Eastern and Islamic cultures don’t feminize their decorative arts. What the male patriarchal art world does here is sexist as well as racist. The binary concept of fine art being above craft is false.”

In addition to her painting, Schapiro fought for women’s artistic freedom, traveling across the country to deliver speeches that were filled with the work of ignored women artists. In 1971, she and Judy Chicago formed the Feminist Art Program, which, for the first time, addressed how the self-esteem of women had been damaged by male-dominated culture. With students, they created a collaborative environment, Womanhouse, that attracted national attention.
http://www.ontheissuesmagazine.com/2010winter/2010winter_art.php

AUTOBIOGRAPHY



In her natal chart I'm looking for creativity, Uranus, Aquarius, Mars and Fixed signs (determination) to be emphasised: art, rebellion, social reform and a fighter.



Sun is conjunct Mercury and Jupiter in passionate, determined Scorpio (Fixed sign) and in harmonious trine to Uranus in Pisces and Pluto in Cancer. These form a Grand Trine in Water signs - with the Scorpio factor prominent because those are personal planets, yet very much in in tune with the generational pull from rebellious Uranus and powerful Pluto.

If born before 8:00 PM Miriam's natal Moon would have been in Aquarius - that'd be a very good bet. Born later than 8:00 PM Moon would have moved into early Pisces. Although that would blend well with her Water Grand Trine, yet I feel Aquarius is clearly indicated here.

Venus, planet of the arts is in Fiery and outgoing Sagittarius, in a rather wide trine to Neptune planet of creativity in Leo. This outgoing Venus/Neptune factor is not quite as prominent as I'd expect - unless, of course, one or other of the planets was close to a chart angle (ascendant, midheaven, etc.) We cannot know that without an accurate time of birth.

Saturn (structure) and Mars (the fighter) conjoined in diplomatic Libra, semi-sextile (helpful)to the Scorpio cluster adds a hint that although Miriam is a passionate and determined fighter for her cause, she has found tactful and artistic ways in which to bring her concerns to the attention of the public.




TWO AMONG MANY



MADNESS OF LOVE



COSTUME FOR MOTHER EARTH



RUSSIAN MATRIX



PAS DE DEUX


MIRIAM'S LIFE WITH DOLLS



FOR PAUL BRACH



LOST & FOUND

DOROTHY PARKER

FIVE DAYS OF FEMININE #4

These days Dorothy Parker is remembered most for her witty and cynical poetry. She was not particularly proud of the poems, but they have survived in public memory long after her short stories and other writing has been forgotten. Some of her screenplays have survived. The screenplay of A Star is Born was her work, and nominated for an academy award. Three different versions of the story have been made, and have entertained three different generations. It's a bittersweet tale, the kind she knew well from experience.

Dorothy's poems are mainly reflections of her own disappointments and frustrations. She had a sad childhood, losing both parents at an early age. This shadow followed her throughout her life. Her lovers and spouses only seemed to add to her distress. Dorothy attempted suicide 3 times, eventually took to alcohol, and died alone in a New York hotel, aged 73. The New York Times printed one of its longest ever obituaries as a tribute. She left her estate to Martin Luther King Jnr, though she had never met him, and he had never heard of her! She supported many left-wing causes, civil rights campaigns and at one point joined the communist party, and found herself on the US government's blacklist.

DOROTHY PARKER Born 22 August 1893, West End, New Jersey, at 9.50 PM.



According to a couple of sources on-line Ms Parker's birth time was 9:50 PM, putting the ascendant angle in Taurus. It's said that the ascendant can give clues as to personal appearance. In this case it doesn't. Dorothy Parker is described as fragile looking, doll-like, almost elfin, quite the opposite of the sturdiness of Taurus. From what I've read about her personality, Taurus seems to have been well-eclipsed by Virgo and Gemini.

The Sun had just passed into Virgo, at 00 degree when Dorothy Parker was born. There are 2 other planets at 00 degree: Venus at 00 Libra, and Jupiter at 00 Gemini. Some astrologers consider that the first and last degrees of a sign carry more of the "pure essence" of it, which could be of some significance here, especially in the case of Virgo and Gemini. Dorothy's legendary sharp tongue, naturally critical and acidic attitudes are typically Virgoan. The two signs, Virgo and Gemini, both ruled by Mercury, provide her writer's "signature". It was as though the Sun and Jupiter had struggled to get into their proper places just in time for the birth - or she had waited to emerge until they were properly placed!

Sun is conjunct Mars - novelist Sinclair Lewis had Sun conjunct Mars too (he who said "When facism comes to America it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying a cross"): two writers of the same generation who were not averse to expressing controversial views. Writers with a fighting (Mars) spirit! Sun in Virgo, Mercury in Leo are in mutual reception in Dorothy's chart too (each lay in the sign of the other's rulership), which adds even more emphasis to the astrological picture, showing a born writer.

Moon in Capricorn and Sun/Mars in Virgo, both in Earth signs forming a wide harmonious trine. This I find somewhat surprising. She doesn't seem to have been the solid, stable Earthy personality it indicates. However, Moon is in challenging square aspect to Saturn in Airy Libra, and Sun is square to Jupiter in Airy Gemini. Two Airy challenges stirring up dust! Without these square aspects people might never have remembered the name and personality of Dorothy Parker.

A trio of poems from the many she wrote:

Star Light, Star Bright

Star, that gives a gracious dole,
What am I to choose?
Oh, will it be a shriven soul,
Or little buckled shoes?

Shall I wish a wedding-ring,
Bright and thin and round,
Or plead you send me covering-
A newly spaded mound?

Gentle beam, shall I implore
Gold, or sailing-ships,
Or beg I hate forevermore
A pair of lying lips?

Swing you low or high away,
Burn you hot or dim;
My only wish I dare not say-
Lest you should grant me him.

Men

They hail you as their morning star
Because you are the way you are.
If you return the sentiment,
They'll try to make you different;
And once they have you, safe and sound,
They want to change you all around.
Your moods and ways they put a curse on;
They'd make of you another person.
They cannot let you go your gait;
They influence and educate.
They'd alter all that they admired.
They make me sick, they make me tired.

Coda

There's little in taking or giving,
There's little in water or wine;
This living, this living, this living
Was never a project of mine.
Oh, hard is the struggle, and sparse is
The gain of the one at the top,
For art is a form of catharsis,
And love is a permanent flop,
And work is the province of cattle,
And rest's for a clam in a shell,
So I'm thinking of throwing the battle ---
Would you kindly direct me to hell?

Her self-chosen epitaph: "Excuse my dust."

Charlotte Church - maturing well?

Five Days of Feminine #3

I've only recently caught up with the UK's used-to-be child singing phenomenon Charlotte Church.

I picked up a used DVD for 77cents, a movie in which she starred back in 2002/3. It hadn't sunk in that she was the female lead until the credits rolled. I'd bought the DVD because of its male lead, writer and director Scot/US citizen Craig Ferguson - he currently of US Late Late Show fame. Movie title: I'll Be There.

Anyway, back to Charlotte Church.

I was amazed to discover that she is now in her mid-twenties. I remember her as a 12-year old singing sensation - a memory solidified. In the intervening years she has carved out a career and become a wealthy mother of two. She and a long-time boyfriend, a rugby star, had two children. As far as I can discover they never married, and eventually split up.

Charlotte is now a very wealthy woman with a fortune reported to be anything from 10 million pounds sterling to 25 million (in $$$ around ...erm...16 to 40 million?)






In the intervening years since her debut she branched out from her early classical-ish style to pop, sold something in the order of 11 million albums worldwide, gathered a reputation as a diva and motormouth, and was often featured in UK tabloids, not always in complimentary fashion.


I was quite surprised to see Charlotte's natal chart. Born on 21 February 1986 in Llandaff, Wales. Astrodatabank has given a time of birth of 10:28 PM with a "B" rating - so not 100% reliable. I suspect a rectification, which isn't a bad thing, but I always think there's a temptation to make it fit - which is cheating! I'll use it anyway, it puts Moon at 00 Leo, whereas her round face in youth seemed to indicate Moon in its own sign, Cancer, to me. She had obviously some early maternal leanings, another Cancerian/Moon trait. One interviwer reported that she said she wanted 6 children! (Ye gods!!)



Ascendant may or may not be correct, but it fits pretty well in Libra ruled by Venus, planet of the arts, and placing midheaven in show-bizzy sign Leo, with natal Moon close by.

Sun and three personal planets in gentle, dreamy and intuitive Pisces doesn't exactly describe the gal who comes out of the bios available on-line, although her Sun IS conjunct Jupiter, ancient ruler of Pisces and planet of excess, so perhaps in her extreme youth she was driven by an excessive need to prove herself and her power.

Saturn and Mars are conjoined in Sagittarius, and in a challenging square aspect to Venus. Saturn's challenge may be a reflection of her urgent need to mature, and in the most recent interview I've read, published just this month in fact, with reference to her new album Back to Scratch, Charlotte does seem to have matured quite a lot.

A few snippets from The Independent
interview:

Charlotte Church is wearing a leopard-print dress and is gobbling down a cheese and pickle sandwich, with a packet of salt and vinegar crisps. She looks happy and radiant and is a lot more grounded than I had first imagined.........It's not been easy being in the public eye ever since she emerged as the 12-year-old "Voice of an Angel". Even when she goes out for a cigarette via the back door of her publicist's office in St John's Wood, where we meet, she is greeted by paparazzi........."I don't want to be a walking soap opera character," she says. "I want to be a singer."
These days she knows what makes her happy: "I know what is important to me now: happiness. It's about my family and my friends and of course my children, who are the be-all and end-all of my every decision."
Now Church is planning on a pop career in the US if she gets a deal for her album. "It was my biggest market – I sold more than six million albums there – but I haven't done anything in America for eight years. Apparently my name recognition is still pretty strong there."

Transiting Neptune will be hanging around her natal Jupiter at the start of 2012, and from then on will transit the whole of her Pisces cluster, though very slowly. We can watch and learn what a transit of Neptune can bring to a custer of planets in its sign of rulership!

Charlotte singing John Lennon's Imagine. I think she does the song justice.

Carson McCullers ~ Complexity upon Complexity.

FIVE DAYS OF FEMININE #2

Carson McCullers wrote a slew of novels in her short and difficult life. She died, aged 50, after years of ill-health: strokes, breast cancer, partial blindness, partial paralysis and depression. Her books are set in locations well-known to her: small towns in south-eastern USA. Her characters are drawn from society's outcasts and misfits. She lived part of her life in New York and Paris, well away from the suffocating atmosphere of The South, and and could count among her friends such literary luminaries as Truman Capote, W.H. Auden, Tennessee Williams. She and her husband, Reeves, were both bi-sexual, which unsurprisingly led to difficulties and divorce but a later re-marriage. Complexity upon complexity!

I have yet to read any of her novels, I bought the one pictured above, The Heart is a Lonely Hunter, written when McCullers was 23. It sat on my "to read" pile for some weeks. Having sampled it and declared it "very odd" I passed it on to my husband, a far more patient reader than I. My husband dutifully read it, pronounced it "rather strange" and passed it on to his eldest daughter. She read it. Her opinion was much the same.

A random quote from the book had initially attracted me (here):

But say a man does know. He sees the world as it is and he looks back thousands of years to see how it all come about. He watches the slow agglutination of capital and power and he sees its pinnacle today. He sees America as a crazy house... He sees a whole damn army of unemployed and billions of dollars and thousands of miles of land wasted... He sees how when people suffer just so much they get mean and ugly and something dies in them. But the main thing he sees is that the whole system of the world is built on a lie. And although it's as plain as the shining sun—the don't-knows have lived with that lie so long they just can't see it.

One quote doesn't make a great novel though!

Our friend and son-in-law (TNPOTUS when he comments) recalled that another of Carson McCullers' books was on his high school reading list - Ballad of the Sad Café. As a writer, then, she must have accrued a certain amount of respect in the USA. We had nothing as modern in our school reading lists. Dickens and Shakespeare were our "meat and potatoes", with perhaps a Bronte or Jane Austen for dessert.

Carson McCullers herself must have been quite a strong character, given the obstacles she encountered during a relatively short life. Let's look at her natal chart. It is set for 12 noon in the absence of a birth time.
Born 19 February 1917 in Columbus, Georgia.



A cluster of planets in Air sign Aquarius, including the sign's modern ruler Uranus, connect to social awareness and a hankering after reform. Aquarius and Uranus - the two together - can often bring forth a misfit, rebel or an eccentric - or a prodigy/genius in some sphere.

McCullers' natal Sun is at 00 Pisces conjunct energetic and oft belligerent Mars, which conjunction sharpens some of Pisces dreamy mystical softness, and adds a will of steel, something she surely needed to deal with her various physical afflictions.

Jupiter, planet of publication is in helpful sextile aspect to Sun....good alignment for a writer.

Moon, were she born before 9am, would have been in Capricorn; later than that it'd be in early Aquarius. I'd wager it was in Aquarius, adding further to an oddball or misfit persona - her own (and that of several characters in her novels?)


The early degrees are a feature in this chart: Neptune, Pluto, Jupiter, Mars, Sun, Mercury and possibly Moon all within the first 5 degrees of their signs. Early degrees belong to the first decan (a one-third slice) of a sign. First decan is always governed by the ruler of the sign itself, so these early degrees equate to a "pure", unmodified version of whichever sign is involved. The chain of early degree planets also leads to multiple alignments, both helpful and challenging....leading back to where we started: complexity upon complexity.

Music Monday ~ ELLA

THIS WEEK: FIVE DAYS OF FEMININE.
DAY #1 Kicks off in musical vein, as usual:

What led me to decide that Ella Fitzgerald should be Music Monday's "victim" this week? It was a song - one among the hundreds that she sang so perfectly, more often than not bringing us the definitive version. I like to be able to hear every word of the lyrics of any song, and Ella was one of surprisingly few vocalists who respected the poetry enough to make sure we do hear every word.

Ella could sing anything.....anything! Midnight Sun led me back to her this week. It's the only song I know, and probably the only one in the English language, which contains the word "crystalline"....it also contains the word "December", bringing it into timely focus. The great Johnnie Mercer wrote the lyrics, the music was composed by jazz musician Lionel Hampton and band leader Sonny Burke. It's a great favourite of mine.

.........................Was there such a night, it's a thrill I still don't quite believe,
But after you were gone, there was still some stardust on my sleeve.

The flame of it may dwindle to an ember, and the stars forget to shine,
And we may see the meadow in December, icy white and crystalline,
But oh my darling always I'll remember when your lips were close to mine,
And we saw the Midnight Sun.............................

There are numerous brief biographies of Ella online, along with many obituaries published after her death in 1996. I won't labour the detail, here's a simple outline only, drawn from Jazz.com
and Ella's Official Site

Ella was born out of wedlock, her parents went their separate ways after a few years and Ella, with her mother and a new stepfather, moved to Yonkers, New York. Her mother died in 1932, Ella was taken into care by her aunt with whom she did not get along. She ran away, lived rough until caught and sent to a Training School. The school's authoritarian regime caused Ella to run away yet again. She lived on the streets, scratching a living by dancing for tips. In late 1934 and early 1935 Ella won a couple of Amateur Hour talent shows in Harlem, these wins were a turning point. Soon she was working as vocalist in local ballrooms, and here began her true rags-to-riches journey, now a part of music history.

In 1938, at the age of 21, Ella recorded a playful version of the nursery rhyme, A-Tisket, A-Tasket. The album sold 1 million copies, hit number one, and stayed on the pop charts for 17 weeks. Suddenly, Ella Fitzgerald was famous.
(More at the above links.)

All sources describe Ella as a very shy, private person. Her vocal style has been contrasted with that of more emotionally-led stylists. From an obituary in the New York Times

A pre-eminent American singer who brought a classic sense of musical proportion and balance to everything she touched, Ella Fitzgerald won the sobriquet "first lady of song" and earned the unqualified admiration of most of her peers. Musicians from Bing Crosby to Benny Goodman, when asked to name their favorite singer, cited Ella Fitzgerald.

In a career that spanned six decades, Miss Fitzgerald stood above the emotional fray of the scores of popular standards she performed. Stylistically she was the polar opposite of her equally legendary peer, Billie Holiday, who conveyed a wounded vulnerability. Even when handed a sad song, Miss Fitzgerald communicated a wistful, sweet-natured compassion for the heartache she described.

Where Holiday and Frank Sinatra lived out the dramas they sang about, Miss Fitzgerald, viewing them from afar, seemed to understand and forgive all. Her apparent equanimity and her clear pronunciation, which transcended race, ethnicity, class and age, made her a voice of profound reassurance and hope. — Stephen Holden

Ella married at least twice, possibly three times but no relationship lasted, due either to the husband's criminality (first marriage and third relationship), or pressures of show business (second marriage, during which a son was adopted.)

In September of 1986, Ella underwent quintuple coronary bypass surgery. Doctors also replaced a valve in her heart and diagnosed her with diabetes, which they blamed for her failing eyesight. In 1993 the effects of diabetes resulted in amputation of both legs below the knees. In 1996 she died of the disease in Beverly Hills, California at the age of 79.

A little astrology:

Ella Fitzgerald was born on 25 April 1917 in Newport News, Virginia. No time of birth is known. Some sources give her birth year as 1918, but Astrodatabank quotes as source a biography by Stuart Nicholson, "Ella Fitzgerald: A Biography of the First Lady of Jazz," Scribner and Sons, NY, 1994, p.4:

"Ella Fitzgerald's enigmatic life began a year earlier than the date shown in all the reference books....The state reigistrar for Virginia confims she was born Ella Jane Fitzgerlad on Wednesday, April 25, 1917, in Newport News City".

Sun was exactly (within minutes of arc) conjunct Venus, planet of the arts as Ella was born, and in the sign Taurus, rulership of Venus, so the musical planet was very much at home. Additional arty support comes from Jupiter and Mercury both in Taurus.

I notice that Mercury was at the degree of Fixed Star Algol, thought by ancient astrologers to be unfortunate. We might say that this didn't manifest in Ella's case, though the diabetes which dogged the second half of her life, causing serious and fatal problems might well be a reflection of Algol's ancient reputation.

At 12 noon the Moon was at 25 Gemini - had Ella been born around 10.00PM or later Moon would have moved into Cancer. Cancer Moon would match her reported shyness and need for privacy far better than a chatty and sociable Gemini Moon. We'll probably never have access to an accurate time of her birth though.

Mars in its home sign, Aries, is in challenging square to Saturn in Cancer. In Ella's case I'd interpret this as an ongoing need to challenge or endure obstacles and limitations. In her life story it manifested early on during a troubled childhood background. Running away was her way of challenging problems back then. Later, as her health deteriorated she must regularly have had to endure inconvenience, pain and discomfort, but none of it could stop her rise to legendary staus. Her natal Mars square Saturn did its job!

MIDNIGHT SUN



SOMETHING - Written by George Harrison.

A Weekend Cyber Ramble ~ Cables & Earplugs & Eloi - Oh my! (No astro).

Come with me on a cyber ramble.

There is available at Amazon a set of speaker cables (makes a change from Wikileaks cables about which trillions of words are being written as I type) for the knock-down price of $6,800 “eligible for free shipping with Amazon Prime.” Ye gods! For that price I'd expect the cables to be delivered within hours by helicopter, landed on the front yard, brought to the front door by Sam Elliott.

Simple souls, like me, will be thinking, what could cause cables to cost so much?

“Dielectric Bias System (DBS) (US patent 7,126,055): Greatly improved performance is made possible by a constant 72 volt charge on all K2’s insulation. Similar to how the earth’s magnetic field makes all compasses point north, the AQ DBS system creates an electrostatic field which causes the molecules of the insulation to all point in the same direction. This minimizes the multiple nonlinear time-delays. Sound appears from a surprisingly black background with unexpected detail and dynamic contrast.”

Clear?
What is to be found in a review of said cables is the gem in this though. It was posted by "Patrick" and is too good to be buried in the Caverns of Amazon. It warrants inclusion in a book of science fiction mini-stories!

We live underground. We speak with our hands. We wear the earplugs all our lives.

PLEASE! You must listen! We cannot maintain the link for long... I will type as fast as I can.

DO NOT USE THE CABLES!

We were fools, fools to develop such a thing! Sound was never meant to be this clear, this pure, this... accurate. For a few short days, we marveled. Then the... whispers... began.

Were they Aramaic? Hyperborean? Some even more ancient tongue, first spoken by elder races under the red light of dying suns far from here? We do not know, but somehow, slowly... we began to UNDERSTAND.

No, no, please! I don't want to remember! YOU WILL NOT MAKE ME REMEMBER! I saw brave men claw their own eyes out... oh, god, the screaming... the mobs of feral children feasting on corpses, the shadows MOVING, the fires burning in the air! The CHANTING!

WHY CAN'T I FORGET THE WORDS???

We live underground. We speak with our hands. We wear the earplugs all our lives.

Do not use the cables!.

Wonderful! Thanks "Patrick" wherever you are.
If we ramble on a little further, there's more.

On the forum, (Making Light),where I had somehow run into Patrick's tale, a comment followed it:

"Somewhere in our brave new century, somebody actually pays nearly $1,000 a foot for speaker cable. And somewhere else, people toil anonymously to write things like that review. One can see the rough emerging outlines of Eloi and Morlocks—but not which is which."

This led me to refresh my memory of H.G.Wells' great novel The Time Machine.
Wikipedia

By the year 802,701 CE, humanity has evolved into two separate species: the Eloi and the Morlocks. The Eloi are the child-like, frail group, living a banal life of ease on the surface of the earth, while the Morlocks live underground, tending machinery and providing food, clothing and infrastructure for the Eloi. Each class evolved and degenerated from humans. The novel suggests that the separation of species may have been the result of a widening split between different social classes, a theme that reflects Wells' sociopolitical opinions.

The main difference from their earlier ruler-worker state is that, while the Morlocks continue to support the world's infrastructure and serve the Eloi, the Eloi have undergone significant physical and mental deterioration. Having solved all problems that required strength, intelligence, or virtue, they have slowly become dissolute and naive. They are described as being smaller than modern humans, having shoulder-length curly hair, chins that ran to a point, large eyes, small ears, and small mouths with bright red thin lips. They are of sub-human intelligence, though apparently intelligent enough to speak, and they have a primitive language.

While one initially has the impression that the Eloi people live a life of play and toil-less abundance, it is revealed that the Morlocks are attending to the Eloi's needs for the same reason a farmer tends cattle; the Morlocks use the Eloi for food.

And I thought ........ Mr. Wells over-estimated that date at 802,701 CE. We seem to be heading rapidly in the direction of the outer reaches of what he described, even now as we come to the end of 2010. It's fun to decide who will, eventually, be the eater and who the eaten.

Arty Farty Friday ~ Rob Gonsalves: Magic Realism.

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.

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!?

ASTROLOGER'S WORDS OF WISDOM ~ Jonathan Cainer

The following is a snippet from the section "Introducing the Moon" in The Psychic Explorer ("A down-to-earth guide to six magical arts: astrology, auras, the Tarot, dowsing, palmistry, ESP") by Jonathan Cainer & Carl Rider. (First published 1986). Astrological input from Mr. Cainer; Mr. Rider is a writer and philosopher who specialises in psychic and paranormal research.

Our modern world is very solar. Despite recent advances in the feminist cause, we still live in a society dominated by male energy - and perhaps that is one reason why masculine sun signs have become so popular! There is a strong tendency for most of us to accept glib, generalized information and simplified scientific truisms. The sun rules "simplicity", and it also speaks of "material growth and self-interest", two very characteristic 20th-century ideals. The lunar principles of compassion, sympathy and understanding do exist in our world, but most of us would agree that they normally play a muted second fiddle in the process of human motivation.

.......It is crucial to recognize that people of either sex have two sides to their personality. Inside every macho man is a soft, poetic, sensitive individual trying to get out. Inside every soft woman is a strong, capable and ambitious person waiting for an opportunity to express herself. However, most women, at least on a superficial level, find it easier to identify with the lunar side of their character, while most men have more affinity with solar energy. In other words, women are often more in touch with their moon signs and men with their sun signs.

If you can accept the notion that each individual is not just a one-dimensional personality with a cardboard cut-out facade but a complicated, sensitive mixture of differing (and sometimes opposing) inclinations, you are ready to enter the world of real astrology......

As we will soon enter the second decade of the 21st century, let's hope the influence of the second fiddler (the Moon) will come more to the fore in the world at large than it ever has done in the 20th century, and until now. A beautiful second-fiddle solo or two wouldn't go amiss!

Election-Go-Round

The USA is one big election-go-round isn't it? As always, at root of it all: the $$$$$$$$$!

No sooner than the 2010 mid-terms are done with, we start on 2012 and the presidential. Sarah Palin's name is being tossed around as a possible outsider for the Republicans, but what could really set the cat among the pigeons would be a Democratic challenger from the left of Obama. Mind you, left of Obama wouldn't be hard to do, he's slightly to the right of some Republicans already.




Two names come to mind as possible contenders from the left: Russ Feingold (left) and Alan Grayson (below). Whether it'd be as Democrats, or heading a new leftist, populist party is hard to guess - though there's hardly time to build a new party from scratch between now and 2012.






Of this pair, from what I've seen and read so far, I think Alan Grayson is the most likely to oppose President Obama. Russ Feingold seems like one of the Party "in-crowd", while still supporting underdogs. Any sign of him going in the direction of a challenge could see President Obama offering him some kind of position within the current set-up. I might be way off-mark there though.




Below, Feingold's and Grayson's natal charts set for 12 noon, as I can't find birth times. Is there anything in coming transits which might indicate a rise to higher profile, or a great change in path or circumstance?





Both men have Sun in Pisces - not what I'd expected - but remember that Neptune, ruling planet of Pisces is due to change signs in the next year or so. It will move out of Aquarius into its home sign, Pisces. We cannot be 100% certain what a transit of Neptune might throw up. Neptune, having the reputation of illusion, delusion and general fogginess can present a bit of mystery in its transit history. It's not as clearly a planet of unexpected change as Uranus, but changing signs = a change in itself, and in the general astrological "atmosphere" for those with Neptune or its home sign prominent in their natal charts.

The two men have natal Mercury (communication) within a degree of one another, at the end of Pisces/beginning of Aries, and, as it happens right in the path of transiting Uranus, planet of unexpected change. Both lost their seats to the opposition in the mid-terms - an unexpected event (in the case of these two) for starters! I doubt change will stop there though.

If Alan Grayson were born before or around noon, transiting Pluto will be within range of his natal Moon in the coming couple of years. Pluto = transformation.

Those are some significant factors I see. Any more?

Of course, how successful either would be if they chose to present a challenge is a moot point, and depends a lot on what happens in the next 12 months or so. Still, it'll be interesting to watch how things play out, keeping one eye the astrology.