The RSVP Cycles

The RSVP Cycles was a textbook I read for an experimental music class in college. Having grown up in Southern California in the 1960s in a town where 35 modernist architects lived, one of whom was my Father, I think I took this type of thinking for granted. The book was written by Lawrence Halprin, a landscape architect, (and innovator) and his wife, Anna Halprin, who is a dancer, choreographer (and healer and innovator). RSVP stands for "Resources" "Score" "Valuaction" and "Performance." There's a nice explanation on Wikipedia. These principles propose a new way of understanding how to create, sort in the way that John Cage's books do, but with more structure. For the music class it was a text on composition. It could just as easily be a text on design, or dance, or painting, or anything else. Beyond that, I have to say that I didn't really "get the whole idea." Lessons in those days were usually kept pretty vague as a way of avoiding any authoritarian set rules.

What attracts me now is the word "Cycles," especially connected with the word RSVP, since I'm so much into studying Return Cycles as points of development. Lawrence Halprin passed away last year in 2009 on October 25. There must have been a mention in a newspaper somewhere about this anniversary on Monday that caught the corner of my eye because I suddenly started thinking about that book.

So, I decided to take a look at Anna and Lawrence Halprin's charts. What I found is a really amazing pair of Sun-Venus conjunction people. Sun-Venus is related to both the Arts, Harmony, Balance and Beauty, and also Marriage Partners. I can't find astro data about their actual marriage and don't know if they remained married. It appears that they stayed together, but with Uranus leading both of their chart shapes they probably kept their relationship pretty loose.

Not only did they share the conjunction but they shared it in the same sign in Cancer. The sign of Cancer is really appropriate for people who are involved in environmental design. (Think Buckminster Fuller, Tesla, Viktor Schauberger). Water is an extremely important element in Lawrence Halprin's design. The idea of allowing things to evolve and to grow from a seed is also a Cancerian ideal.

What's even more interesting is that Lawrence Halprin, who was born first in 1916, had a natal Sun conjunct Venus Retrograde and Pluto in Cancer. Sun-Venus conjunction people sometimes follow a really interesting 8 year cycle of 5 which is related to the proportions of the Golden Mean. It appears that Sun-Venus Rx people follow a 4 year Return cycle as well. Lawrence was going through a Sun-Venus Return at Age 4 when his wife was born. Both even have the conjunction aspect connected with outer planets by conjunction, but not in major aspect to other planets. Lawrence had a huge stellium in Cancer with Pluto, Sun, Venus Rx, Lilith, Saturn and possibly Moon.

Anna's Sun-Venus conjunction is later on in the sign at 21-24 degrees. Her Pluto is 8 Cancer.

It's really fascinating to flip the animation wheel on the software program and watch how the Sun-Venus Rx conjunctions cycle back on through every year on Lawrence's Birthdays in childhood. I said before that Sun and Venus seem to have been in conjunction every four years (something I don't understand because I thought this occurred every 8 years). Lawrence also experienced really intense Sun-Pluto conjunctions every year on his Birthday for about the first 10 years of his life.

Because Pluto is placed farther apart from her Sun, Anna also would have had the same type of Solar Return aspect every year during her childhood starting from about Age 6 or 7 and lasting through High School. That explains their need to completely change and transform their environment and ways of healing. They shared a very deep emotional core, that's for sure. They must have been left alone a lot as kids.

Lawrence Halprin

b. July 1, 1916 Brooklyn, NY
d. Oct. 25, 2009

Sun 10 Cancer; Moon 24 Cancer; NN 1 Aquarius Rx

Anna Halprin

b. July 13, 1920 (Place?)

Sun 21 Cancer; Moon Gemini; NN 13 Scorpio Rx