Pursuing Happyness - Chris Gardner

On the Astrological Wheel Aquarius follows Capricorn. Each sign sort of fixes what is wrong with the sign that comes before it. Moodwise, Capricorn can tend to be the sign of the Grump and the Curmudgeon. Its Ruler, Saturn, rules Time and Old Age. In Greek mythology Saturn was Father of Uranus, the Ruler of Aquarius. But, he had a bit of a jealousy problem with his children and actually swallowed Uranus whole. There is an unbelievably gross picture of this event painted by the great Spanish Painter Goya; definitely one of the most horrifying paintings of all time. So, these planets are connected on an emotional level in a really intense struggle. Capricorn rules the side of parenting associated with the traditional Father Role. It teaches ambition and discipline and persistence. Aquarius symbolizes the Future and Hope and Brotherhood. And, on a more abstract level, this story is a great metaphor. Time must be accepted for its ability to swallow up the Future. It's a great lesson about Life.

So, what I'm leading into is the movie that was recently released about the struggles of Chris Gardner called "The Pursuit of Happyness." It's basically an unbelievable story about overcoming obstacles based loosely on a book Gardner wrote. He tells how he managed to not only get accepted into a very competitive Internship Program with a major Stock Brokerage Firm, but he was hired after the Program. But the story gets much tougher: Gardner did it while sinking into destitution and homelessness as a single Father who was caring for his toddler son at the same time. And he also managed to do this after having a really lousy childhood and as an African American minority. I guess if this guy says you can do it if you're Happy, then we had better pay attention. I needed to look at his chart for "Happyness Indicators." His story is so extreme they would probably be blaring out loud and clear.

Chris Gardner
b. Feb. 9, 1954 Milwaukee, WI

Sun in Aquarius, Moon in Taurus

Sun in Aquarius. These guys are pretty upbeat people overall. Air sign gives emotional distance and intellectual clarity, a friendly, extroverted personality that's directed towards the future rather than dragging in the past. Gardner's Sun is conjunct Venus also. Venus rules Love and Money and also Diplomacy Skills and a Harmonious element.

Moon in Taurus. Again, this gives an easy going, friendly streak to the emotional nature. Taurus is ruled by Venus so it also hooks into the Venusian qualities mentioned. Depending on the time he was born Gardner's Sun may be squaring his Moon. This isn't a particularly Happy aspect but would make sense since he experienced a lot of tension early on through his parents'. He never knew his Father as a child and his step-father was a louse.

Back to the Sun-Venus conjunction. It contacts every planet in the Horoscope that I would expect to symbolize Happyness: maybe Moon, Mars, Jupiter, Neptune, Uranus, and well Pluto. It doesn't contact Saturn the Curmudgeon. So, Gardner can project himself out into the world and make things happen. Sun trines Jupiter in Gemini and Neptune in Libra and if you can accept a wide orb makes a Grand Air Trine. Both Jupiter and Neptune can give a lot of Luck and a very positive, optimistic attitude. Put together into a Grand Air Trine gives an ability to protect ones' self through one's Mental abilities and create Luck through this. The Luck is given direction through an opposition by Pluto to the Sun-Venus conjunction. This gives a lot of determination and drive to the configuration. This would be a good combination for making money especially combined with the other Venus/Taurus aspects and in particular in the Stock Market as Pluto is in Leo and Leo rules speculation. It can also make one attractive to people in power but can create problems in intimate relationships. This opposition is squared by Mars in Scorpio in Gardner's chart, so his relationships might really suffer through aggressiveness, but probably has a pretty healthy sex drive.

So, that explains Gardner's ability to be Happy. Where does the Tragic Saga part of the Drama come from? Well, what works well out in the World can pose different problems on a psychological level. And then there's The Nodes. North Node in Capricorn and South Node in Cancer show subconscious connections to one's Parenting needs. Gardner was intuitively connected to his need to be a Capricornian Father for his Son because of what he had missed when he was a kid. (He also tried first to own his own business (Saturnian) selling Bone Scanners (Saturnian). Chiron is conjunct his North Node which connects in with this need to heal his wound. On the other hand Uranus is conjunct his South Node in Cancer so he has a unusual idea of what the Mothering needs are. His own Mother was sent to jail because his Step-Father reported her as collecting both Welfare and Paychecks (nice guy) and she supposedly later on burned the house down with him in it. So, strong issues here. Plus, Neptune is squaring this NN-Chiron opposite SN-Uranus so there would be issues around Disillusionment and Victimization and Empathy for others.

In fact, when Gardner was making his big turn-around and suffering so much at the same time (I believe this was in or around 1981) Pluto was conjunct his natal Neptune squaring his Nodal Opposition (Wipe-Out which can become spiritual transformation) and Uranus was conjunct his Mars squaring his Sun-Venus to Pluto opposition. His Progressed Sun was aspecting his Progressed Mars (square), n. Jupiter (square) and n.Uranus (trine) so his Ego Drive was very positive and upbeat.