Progressions as Signatures for Changes in Mental Status

The inexplicable reasons why a person does what he does when he does, can often be foretold in the birthchart by looking very simply at just the Progressed Sun and the transiting Nodes. (The Nodes, of course, show a basically subconscious drive to pull a person through life.) I was beginning to wonder about this when I heard Michael Lutin restate it in a lecture. He has just published a book that works with this concept called Sunshines. I don't like what he wrote about my own combination but that doesn't mean that it's not true.

Anyway, I like to look at the progressions of the Inner Planets, and especially their retrogrades, to try to figure out how this affects a person. They seem to provide unconscious motivations and directions. The outer planet transits seem to like to dump all kinds of stuff that you struggle to cope with, but often a person sails through these times without too much of a deal. I think if the progressed inner planets are doing something funky, dealing with the outer turmoil becomes much more complicated. Not necessarily worse, but complicated. There is a turning inward through the progressions which for an artist or a writer could be a blessing.

I've noticed something to match this theory in the charts of Ernest Hemingway and Hart Crane. I'm using them because they were born on the same day, were brilliant and famous writers and both suffered severe depression and killed themselves. They both were born with difficult birth charts, lots of red squares between difficult planets. For that reason, though, the charts are easy to read for these qualities (after the fact at any rate) and I wanted to see if the progressions indicated anything that might have signaled beforehand that they would act on the difficulties of their charts.

Ernest Hemingway
b. July 21, 1899 8:00 Oak Park, IL

Sun 29 Cancer; ASC 8 Virgo; Moon 10 Capricorn; MC 4 Gemini; NN 28Rx Sagittarius

Hart Crane
b. July 21, 1899 20 h. 50 Garretsville, OH

Sun 30 Cancer; ASC 15 Pisces Moon 18 Capricorn; MC 22 Sagittarius; NN 28 Rx Sagittarius

Both men were born with a t-square of Saturn in Saggitarius opposite Pluto and Neptune in Gemini and squared by apex Mars in Virgo. Their Nodal Axes were loosely involved as Neptune conjuncts their South Nodes. The Saggitarius-Gemini-Virgo shows the writing/publishing theme along with travel and restless lifestyles. Mars-Saturn-Pluto in hard aspect together shows an aggressive streak which can play out through enormous creative talents or through violence and hard living. There's a deep sense of isolation and on the other hand the life force just wants to ruthlessly grab it all. Their Mercury's are well placed with sextiles and trines. In Leo, Mercury wants to roar and this would have come quite easily due to the easy aspects. This is quite a poet's combination and Mercury sort of seems like an oasis to run to in an otherwise chaotic and violent existence. The tensions from the rest of the chart seem to have driven them to express through their Mercuries. Plus, both men had Sun in Cancer which for men can be quite challenging as it is very sensitive and receptive and also very self-protective and hard shelled. Cancer men will often project as very Macho. Sylvester Stallone is also a Cancer Sun.

I see progressed Mercury for Hemingway's mental demise and progressed Sun and transiting Neptune for Hart Crane's. Also, their Saturn Returns were strong indicators. Crane jumped off a steamboat a couple of years after his 1st Saturn Return and Hemingway shot himself right after his 2d Saturn Return (His father committed Suicide during his 1st Saturn Return). Both killed themselves for Saturnian reasons, they felt like failures and couldn't work. Their standards were too high for themselves. Saturn rules Capricorn and this also would have set off the emotional challenges that are typical of their Capricorn Moons, namely only being lovable for ability to known in the world.

Hemingway's Progressed Mercury is very prominent in his psychological progression. First of all, Mercury rules both his Virgo ASC and his Gemini MC so it will affect his health and well-being and career. Natally it's at 26 Leo, but it progressed into Virgo when he was a child. In 1914 it stationed at 4 Virgo and retrograded back toward the cusp. When it passed back over the Leo-Virgo cusp in 1923 he had been working as a journalist. In 1925 he published his first book of stories. From then on Hemingway enjoyed much creative success. It seems he expressed the Leo ideal of the game-hunter, hard-living, big hearted guy and needed Mercury to be in Leo in order to create. Mercury hit its natal spot sometime around 1927 along with progressed Sun and transiting Neptune. Both writers were in fat city as writers at this point. Mercury turned direct by progression in 1937-38, passed over itself in 1946 and went into Virgo in 1949. He published his last great work The Old Man and the Sea in 1952 soon after. Hemingway had so much physical pain from accidents and health problems due to drinking that his creativity stopped. When his progressed Mercury hit his Natal Mars (remember apex of t-square to Pluto-Neptune opposite Saturn) he shot himself. Mars, of course, equals guns and it's heavily afflicted in his chart. He had been given electro shock treatments (Pluto) for depression (Pluto-Saturn-Neptune) and had lost his Memory (Neptune, probably Nodes too).

I don't know how Hart Crane's Mercury fared because he passed so much earlier. Mercury went retrograde in 1914 and his parents divorced in 1916. He dropped out of high school sometime around that time. When he killed himself he was struggling with some bad reviews about his poetry and was struggling with his homosexuality. Saturn opposite Pluto is pretty conservative, Hemingway was a blatant homophobe.

In Crane's case, I think the progressed Sun and Transiting Neptune were more to blame for his death than Mercury. Neptune rules his Ascendant. And Neptune rules the Sea where he died. His progressed Sun had just switched from Leo to Virgo the year before and transiting Neptune was still within conjunction with it when he jumped on April 27, 1932. The progression of the Sun from one sign to another is generally very strongly felt by a person. It can either be a very empowering experience or a total let-down. I personally experienced the let-down variety when my Sun progressed from Leo to Virgo. Leo is such an expansive, creative, foolhardy sign. The critical, discerning nature of Virgo that one needs to purify one's self in is not always a welcome adjustment. (I think Arnold Schwarzenegger shows a positive transition of Leo to Virgo through his progressions but he is natally a Leo Sun so maybe can keep some of that sunshine with him always).

Jupiter is in Scorpio in both men's charts, but it is conjunct Crane's 8th House cusp of Death and it rules his MC. (Scorpio being a water sign it also signifies Death at sea.) Also, he had the Mars-Saturn-Pluto-Neptune t-square right on the angles opposite his ASC which made their influence even more intense. Saturn had just passed over his natal Saturn-MC conjunction and the drive to make something of himself and to be something impressive in front of the world was just too much.