Le cheminement particulier de l’astrologue professionnel moderne
Classes and Programs
January 15 eclipse
Haiti Earthquake
Profiles: Springsteen, a bit of Bono
Le cheminement particulier
A few weeks ago a woman named Carol Lalonde contacted me. She was impressed by my article “The Peculiar Development of the Professional Astrologer” and wanted to translate it into French to use with an astrology group where she lived in Quebec. Of course I was quite pleased, since I love to hear my voice in a language I cannot understand. Here’s a link to the article: Le cheminement particulier de l’astrologue professionnel moderne. And of course you’re welcome to read the English original, The Peculiar Development of the Modern Professional Astrologer.
Classes and Programs
The end of January takes me to San Francisco. On Thursday, January 28, I will give a talk at the San Francisco Astrological Society entitled “Harmonics and Aspects, Ancient and Modern”. Go to http://www.sfastrologicalsociety.com/ for further details.
The following Saturday, January 30, I will give a one-day workshop at the San Francisco NCGR entitled “Astrology’s Symbol Systems and their Hellenistic Origins.” Contact the NCGR at http://ncgrsanfrancisco.org/ for more information.
Here are some more things on the educational front:
As a preliminary step to putting together a complete internet/correspondence astrology certificate program, we have been continuing with seasonal introductory workshops. Last November we surveyed the formulation of the meanings of the signs of the zodiac. In January we went through depictions of astrology’s planets as developmental, vocational and character, experiential, and spiritual factors. Next will be a completed presentation of planets as spiritual development, followed by a discussion of aspects and harmonics. This will be held in March 2010. The final preliminary talk will be on houses, their history and use.
These lectures are all held in Providence, RI and are open to everybody. If you are interested in purchasing the CD’s for any workshop they are available as a 3-disc set for $45; they are far less if you’ve already taken the workshop.
We will continue with the night sky/planetary configurations workshop series sometime in the late winter in Massachusetts.
For all of you who like to look ahead – once I finish The Astrologers’ Commedia manuscript I will be itching to take this material on the road. This summer – and perhaps beyond – I will be offering talks on cosmology, divination, and the astrological universe as depicted in Dante’s Divine Comedy. If you have an interest in astrology’s cultural roots, spirituality and cosmology, and/or some of the world’s greatest poetry, this program is for you.
Solar Eclipse: January 15, 2010
This past week there was an “annular” solar eclipse – this happens when the apparent size of the moon is too small to fully cover the entire Sun; instead we see a small band of light (an “annulus”) ringing the Moon. Below is a chart for this recent eclipse. Notice that because the Sun and Moon are below the horizon we could not see it in the Western Hemisphere. You would know it was an eclipse – and not just an ordinary New Moon – because of the proximity of either the North or South Node of the Moon near the eclipse point. In this case the Node was 5 ° from the Sun/Moon conjunction. Because the Moon was too far from the earth, however, it would not be large enough in appearance to cover the entire Sun.
We can compare this to the eclipse of six months ago.
At that time the Node was less than a degree from the Sun/Moon position. This means that this eclipse would last longer and be visible over a wider area of the earth (much of Asia).
There are different ways of assessing an eclipse chart.
- We can note the eclipse position and any conjunctions or hard aspects (square, opposition) to it. This would help qualify the eclipse regardless of its location on earth.
- We could note where the eclipse would be visible, that is, where its umbra or shadow falls on the earth.
- We could set up an astrological chart for a particular location (Washington DC, London, Tehran) and notice planets on the angles. This might show possible effects for that location or a whole country if it is the capital city.
- We can also do a map of the globe (see below) or any position on the globe and see what areas might be affected by an eclipse. This current one, occurring three days after the devastating Haiti earthquake, may show the trajectory for that country’s recovery from the quake.
Below is the fourth alternative. Although the eclipse (and the previous one) features a strong Jupiter/Neptune combination, this current eclipse features this important conjunction – now separating – at the IC of Haiti. (It’s a little hard to make out from this map – find the two planets on the bottom and move upwards.)
What might this eclipse mean for quake-ravaged Haiti that is already in shambles with such a tragic loss of life? Jupiter’s contribution may be in the form of their own resources as well as material resources from abroad that can help recovery. Haiti’s history has included terrible poverty and repressive or corrupt political regimes and more than their share of political and social violence. Perhaps Neptune will effect a change in the substance and direction of the nation, comparable to Japan’s transformation after suffering an atomic attack and losing the Second World War. We may see a very different nation emerging from the colossal damage and loss of life from this earthquake.
Let’s leave Haiti for a moment and review to the previous solar eclipse – the total eclipse from last July.
Although this chart is cast for Providence RI, in Washington DC it also has a Pisces Ascendant and its ruler (Jupiter) is conjunct Neptune in the 12th. There is also an angular Venus (in the 4th) exact or partile square to Saturn (7th). There seem to have been a lot of prominent “men behaving badly” over the last 6 months. You may remember August 2009 had all those disruptive town hall meetings on health care, a final package that’s an ugly duckling at best. At the same time American foreign policy was yielding little (see Saturn in the 7th); Sarah Palin, however, had quite the profitable book tour. Uranus close to the Ascendant seems to have brought America more of its unpredictable than innovative nature.
Haiti Earthquake
Below is the Haiti national chart and around it the positions for the time of the earthquake on January 12.
Interestingly there is no particular short-range transit (or in the event chart) that points to the exact moment for an earthquake.
More interesting are the longer-term transits to the national chart when the earthquake happened. This points more to the long range destiny for that tiny and impoverished country.
You can see that the national chart has a strong angular square between an exalted Mars in the 10th house and an exalted Saturn in the 7th. It is difficult not to notice in the surrounding chart – the time of the earthquake -- that Pluto is 10’ away from the Mars position and that Saturn is just past the national chart’s Saturn. The national Mars-Saturn square is magnified and made more difficult by the Saturn-Pluto square in the heavens at this current time.
I am writing this on a day when helicopters have landed close to the devastated presidential palace; evidently the job of the American soldiers is to explain that this time they are there to offer assistance to the country, not to occupy it. Haiti’s transits disagree, actually. The entire structure of the country will probably change as it is in no position to take care of itself now or for the foreseeable future. The Saturn transit to the 7th house of foreign powers (Saturn exalted) and Pluto squaring Mars in the 10th indicates some kind of takeover. This structural change for the country will be for the good for the long term – we do hope.
Profiles: Springsteen, Bono (Part One – just Springsteen)
Here I step slightly outside my field of knowledge, for my knowledge of contemporary popular music (even rock) is more than a bit dated. Since more of my clients, students, and newsletter readers know considerably more about these two gentlemen than, say, Dmitri Shostakovich, it is certainly wise for me to examine these two very interesting people and their astrology.
I am grateful to Peggy Harrington, a big fan of Bruce Springsteen, for helping me write this article.
Bruce Springsteen hardly needs an introduction; he has been well-known for almost 35 years as a premier performer of party rock and of introspective acoustic ballads. After establishing himself as a commercial success, his music has become more political and at times very dark. He also has associated himself with a variety of liberal causes and has on occasion campaigned and performed for prominent American politicians. His peak of popularity was in the 1980’s. He did far less in the 1990’s (Beethoven had a time like this), and he returned re-energized during this past decade. He has been married twice.
Not unlike Woody Guthrie two generations beforehand, Springsteen attempts to depict situations of ordinary people in contemporary American and sing the poetry of their lives. His professional and personal lives are characterized by steady change punctuated by tumult; yet, as Bono stated in Springsteen’s Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction in 1998, Springsteen may be wealthy but his life has not been rocked by tabloid scandal and he’s unlikely to “die stupid”. He is also semi-affectionately referred to as “The Boss.”
Here’s his chart.
We first notice his many planets in Libra in the 5th and definitely think about a party person who above all wants to be popular. Especially with Gemini rising and Sun, Mercury and Moon in Libra, we might wonder that perhaps there is less under the surface than one might imagine. Yet many other factors argue for his being an intensely serious and temperamentally a very tough person.
Let’s first focus on Mercury, retrograde; the planet is indeed moving toward the Sun but before Mercury gets to join the Sun the planet applies to a sextile to Pluto at 17 Leo. Mercury also has a strong square from Jupiter in Capricorn, one that gives a greater heaviness to Mercury.
Of critical importance, in my view, is the relationship between Mercury and Saturn. Saturn is in Mercury’s sign (Virgo) and Mercury is in Saturn’s exaltation (Libra), but that’s merely a piece of it. You might notice that both Mercury and Saturn are, from opposite sides, exactly 18° from the Aries/Libra axis (remember that number!). This means that these are areas of the zodiac that equally rise – and these two positions’ rising times are identical. (Often we think of this relationship as contra-antiscia). This highlights a further relationship between Mercury and Saturn that gives Springsteen far more gravitas, an ability to work hard and patiently, and gives him a sharp if narrower intellect.
Let’s take a look at Saturn. This can be a difficult planet, for the out-of-sect malefic can often be a problem. (If Springsteen was born during the day, Mars would be more the source of difficulty.) This Saturn is very dense but is made more powerful by being oriental and being in an angular house or place, the 4th.
We should pause and consider Saturn in the 4th: this place, originally the “place of father”, is about one’s home, family, ethnic group, homeland. Springsteen’s music is anchored in a sense of place – like central New Jersey – and rooted in describing the ordinary features of American life. Through his music Springsteen has become a poet/musician of his home region and has endeavored to do this on a national scale. Popular music is certainly the most lucrative and accessible way to do this; otherwise you have to look in the direction of John Updike for the same emphasis but that’s “serious literature.” (Springsteen’s Midheaven in this chart is 28 Aquarius, making his IC the opposite degree of 28 Leo and close to the fixed star Regulus. This may make the Midheaven/IC axis even more prominent in his chart.)
Let’s continue with Mercury/Saturn for a modern astrological moment:
You may see that both planets, being 18° from the 00 Libra/00 Aries axis, are symmetrical to the “Aries point”. It gets more interesting if you consider that Sun is right there at 00° Libra and forms a midpoint so that Sun=Aries point= Mercury/Saturn. What does Reinhold say? Here’s a quote from Reinhold Ebertin’s “Combination of Stellar Influences” (affectionately called COSI): between positive and negative manifestations – logical thinking or inhibited mental development – Ebertin writes that this combination entails “Obstinacy, tenacity or endurance, clumsiness or heaviness, industriousness, the state of enduring suffering without yielding” (p. 112 AFA edition). Springsteen has shown many of these qualities, but without the clumsiness or heaviness, it seems.
With the many Libra planets in Springsteen’s chart – and for a musician -- it’s worthwhile to look at his Venus placement. Following Ptolemy’s depiction of the soul as the overall dispositor for Mercury and Moon, we are further encouraged to look at Venus. It is in detriment in Scorpio and in the 6th house and is also between two malefics: separating from Mars (Venus’ dispositor) and applying to Saturn.
All this attests to a person with a lot of magnetism, sexual and otherwise, and a person with a wide range of emotions and emotional expressiveness. He is probably even less emotionally complacent than he is intellectually lazy – not very much! For a person who has made some of popular music’s best party music ever, he has a shadowy dark and intense manner that is part of his appeal. However, I would think that this is far more difficult for people who must deal with him closely.
There is more to say from a traditional perspective but I will save that for my presentations next week in San Francisco.
A Modern Harmonic Interlude
In a harmonic chart, the reference is a specific number that divides the 360° circle of the zodiac. In addition to close conjunctions in a birth chart, all aspects of that number and its multiples become conjunctions; half that number are oppositions, one-third become trines, one-quarter become squares. In that way a wide range of planetary intervals appear that would not show up conventionally as aspects.
For example, multiples of 72° divide the circle of the zodiac into fifths, and so this interval (and multiples) becomes the basis for a fifth harmonic. Then if we divide 72° into half we get 36°, and multiples become oppositions, so that 18° aspects become squares. (Do you remember the number 18 being mentioned above?) Divide 72° into thirds and we get 24°, multiples of which become trines in a fifth harmonic chart. These intervals must be very close to exact for them to become natal factors.
Most astrologers who use modern harmonics will use the fifth harmonic (or H5) to denote talent or inventiveness, and a chart with a lot of strong aspects and aspect configurations becomes a strong indicator that themes of talent and inventiveness will resonate with the individual.
If you think that Springsteen’s fifth harmonic is noteworthy you would be right. Remember that we’re not looking for signs or houses (they are simply number values) but aspects between planets. In other words, please ignore the fact that this chart looks like a normal birth chart but is a rendering of specific planetary intervals in the guise of something that appears familiar.
This is a truly impressive harmonic chart – on a Mozartian level.
We have two T-Squares here, one with an apex Sun and (you guessed it) Mercury and Saturn, and the other one involves five planets, squares coming to Venus and Jupiter from Mars and Uranus.
The first one binds together Mercury and Saturn even more closely, as those planets will manifest not as slow or sluggish or limited in some way but as a vehicle for talent and ingenuity.
For Springsteen, the strong aspects to a Venus/Jupiter combination depict somebody with a strong musical voice whose ambition is fueled by a strong belief in his own talent and ability to make a contribution. Remember, however, that these aspects are hard aspects, not trines or sextiles: here’s somebody who has to pour himself into his work with a single-minded intensity and is probably his own toughest critic.
Breakout Year
Let’s take an astrological look at the second half of 1975, the year he achieved national recognition. Earlier in 1975 he received this epic praise from music critic Jon Landau: “I have seen the future of rock and roll. His name is Bruce Springsteen.” The album Born to Run was released in August, coinciding with a highly successful set of New York concerts. That autumn he appeared in the same week as the cover story for both Time and Newsweek. For several years after his fame only increased.
To look at the year I have chosen the date Born to Run was released, August 25. Here is his bi-wheel with the transiting planets on the outside.
There are no significant outer planet transits to Springsteen’s chart that year. The planet that becomes important is Jupiter but also Saturn, lighting up his chart like a Christmas tree in early December.
During the year Jupiter in Aries had been in Springsteen’s 11th house, the place of “Good Spirit”, Saturn in Cancer was in his 2nd of resources. In June 1975 both planets contacted his Mercury and Mars in Aries joined the crowd (see the graphic ephemeris below). Next month both planets moved together and contacted Mercury, Jupiter, and Moon. Saturn continued to move toward Leo but Jupiter went retrograde. During the autumn Jupiter had the field to itself, contacting Moon in Libra, Jupiter in Capricorn, and Mercury in Libra.
Jupiter is the Great Benefic and with all the cardinal planets in his chart it makes sense that Jupiter could be very powerful for him when in cardinal signs. But Saturn? As seen above in our discussion of his natal chart, Saturn is a strong planet in his chart even if it is the malefic out of sect. I would think that this time was one of great focus and intensity for Springsteen and quite possibly an emotional adjustment had to be made.
Below is the graphic ephemeris for 1975; you can see Jupiter and Saturn plucking many of his personal planets – like a guitar.
Let’s look further at 1975. Below is his solar return for that year, cast for his birthplace.
We must note the strong angularity in this chart: 5 of 7 visible planets plus Uranus and Pluto are all in angular houses, depicting a year of strength and initiative. It’s hard not to notice Jupiter – once again – dignified and conjunct the Midheaven degree. This degree of culmination, less concerned with vocation and more about reputation and fame, is obviously very strong – strong enough to account for a meteoric rise into national consciousness. Five planets in the fourth house reinforce the hometown ties that he was able to capitalize on during this time, so that his range moved from northern New Jersey to the entire country.
And we also see Saturn in the first. As with the discussion above of his Saturn transits, there is emphasis on focus and perseverance. Because Saturn was in the first, there are some personal obstacles to overcome during this time.
Some other predictive indicators:
His progressions point more toward the years after his breakout 1975. The following year Venus, having moved into Sagittarius by progression, went into a square with progressed Saturn. I wonder if even that early he was contemplating turning toward a darker more introspective musical style. (It’s truly amazing how prevalent Saturn has been during this time and how well he seems to have used it.)
Springsteen had a progressed New Moon in July 1977, beginning a 30-year cycle for him. A few years ago he had another Progressed New Moon, in December 2006. We will surely find out what this new cycle is like, and one would expect a new direction from him that will evolve in the next several years. Perhaps he will retire from music and become otherwise active. We shall see.
Bono
For this newsletter I will not spend a lot of time on his chart; I will simply display it here.
Bono, who has on occasion played publicly with Springsteen, is a fitting complement to “The Boss”. As stated above, Bono gave the introductory speech when Springsteen was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1998.
Although Bono is an entirely different character, he is not any less ambitious. Springsteen, although an international music star, writes music about America. Bono has clearly studied and been influenced by Springsteen’s example of being a musician and a humanitarian. During the last decade Bono also moved from being known as a musician to a public direct political advocate and writer about world politics. But for now I simply offer his chart for your perusal and we will enjoy working with it in the February newsletter.
