Stage Dads - Mr. Jackson, Mr. Mozart, Mr. Beethoven

Since Michael Jackson's death, his Father, Joe, has increasingly become the butt of reporter's jokes so I'm starting to become curiouser and curioser to look at his chart. Years ago Jackson publicly denounced his Father and admitted that he had been beaten and abused as a child. Joe was written out of Michael Jackson's will and it turns out he has been separated from Jackson's Mom for a long time. He is granted interviews just so that people can confirm before their very eyes that he was as abusive as Michael said he was. Well, he's got natal Mercury in Leo which has just gone Retrograde by Progression so that's not going to be hard to do. It's to the point where I'm feeling a little sorry for the guy. His son never would have made it to icon status without his Father pushing him the way he did. (Yes, I'm aware that it's probably not worth it, but then again I'm not a big follower of pop musicians).

As "Classical Music Major" I'm aware of Stage Moms and Dads. At one of my recitals an old dinosaur walked in wearing ruffles and really bright red lipstick and her eyes were way too sparkly and my Virgo Older Brother shuddered under his breath "Now that's definitely someone's Mom." I used to play harp and when you play harp you get to see the best of the visionary parents in full regalia.

I know through music history class that Beethoven's Father was highly abusive and pulled his son out of bed in the middle of the night to practice. And Mozart's Father pushed his son way beyond what the current labor laws would allow and Mozart grew up to be a little squirley because of it. So I went overboard with this project and began to look at all three, or all six charts. (I hope that I've got all the information straight but can't promise anything as I can't work the store feature right now on my Astrology program.)

All three of these Dads produced child prodigies and all three would perhaps be considered child abusers for having done that in modern times at any rate. I suppose the big story regarding Stage Moms and daughters comes from the life of stripper Gypsy Rose Lee. That's good for another study.

Just happened to find an interesting coincidence in that both Beethoven and Mozart's Fathers shared the same birth date, November 14. That sort of explains a little right there. Scorpio works with other people's resources. It is also an extremely ambitious sign and very focused and also capable of extreme behaviors. Scorpio is also a selfish sign and can also suffer from resenting the success of those it nurtures and of wanting to undermine their success through underhanded jealousies.

First, Michael's Dad. What's going on with him? Joe Jackson is not a Scorpio, he's a Leo, but Pluto is conjunct his natal Mercury and the two are unaspected to other planets so they create a strong presence in the chart. I could see how this could lead to very cutting verbal abuse.

As a Leo Joe would have the natural instinct to show off and be flamboyant and unencumbered by self consciousness. He may not have understood that he wasn't the one who was up on stage when his sons were practicing and performing.

With Mars in Virgo he would have a highly critical and perfectionist personality. Mars is one of the indicators in a person's chart showing his children, especially his Sons. Joe's Starchild Michael was born a Virgo.

Michael was born on August 29, 1958 with the Sun at 6 Virgo conjunct Pluto at 3 Virgo. Father Joe Jackson's progressed Sun and Neptune were both in conjunction with t. Pluto so these two were stuck in what Noel Tyl calls an "Ego Wipeout" bond forever. This is a good example of the great positive and negative extremes of how Sun-Neptune-Pluto type of synastry plays out between parent and child, that's for sure.

In addition to that, Joe Jackson was going through both a Mars Return (Son) and his first Saturn Return (Father).

And, another interesting detail to note that comes up with both Beethoven and Mozart's Father's charts and relationships is the combination of Mars with Chiron. Chiron is the great teacher/healer who could pass on all kinds of incredible information but couldn't use it to fix his own wounds. In combination with Mars, Chiron possibly shows a connection of some sort with one's Son. Joe Jackson has these very widely in conjunction with each other in Taurus (sign that rules the voice and arts, interesting that it also rules the Number 5 - Jackson 5 - through Venus' Sun conjunction cycle). Both Beethoven's father had a natal square and Mozart's Father had a natal conjunction, both aspects in connection with strong points in their sons' charts.

I discussed in a blog long ago the interesting coincidence of Father-Sun progressed Sun to natal Sun in the signs of men in the President Bush family a long time ago. It certainly seems that there is some kind of power connection when this happens in a family. As I said, Joe Jackson's p.Sun was within 4 degrees of conjunction with his Son's natal Sun. Ludwig Beethoven was born when his Father was 30 years old and in the next Sun Sign over so he has this relationship with his Father as well: Father Johann's p. Sun was at 27 Sagittarius, 2 degrees past his Son's natal Sun.

Both Mozart and Beethoven Senior had very long conjunctions of personal planets to their natal Saturns which may be of significance in understanding the karmic gifts which they passed on to their children. Due to the retrograde in the progressions, both men would have been experiencing this unchanging stressor on their Saturns. This could explain their own frustrated ambitions, along with their extreme behaviors as Fathers.

As a matter of fact, this p.Sun to n.Natal synastry will happen between the charts of any Father and Son when the Father's natal Sun is roughly 30 degrees before the Son's natal Sun. There is a double whammy effect because the child will born during the Father's Saturn Return which happens roughly at one's 29th year. It does seem to be a strong formula for insuring that success and ambition are passed down from generation to generation. That would require a lot more study to confirm. And it certainly doesn't look like a happy inheritance to be gifted. I'm discussing more connections with Saturn down below. These men have Saturn very strongly aspected in relation with their sons, that's for sure.

Both Fathers (Mozart's and Beethoven's) had progressed Venus in Scorpio when their sons were born. P. Venus conjunct natal Saturn in one chart and conjunct natal Pluto in the other chart. I suppose this shows great ambitions through the arts and no doubt an ability to "psychically channel" huge amounts of cosmic knowledge.

Joe Jackson
b. July 26, 1928 Fountain Hill, Arkansas

Sun 4 Leo; Moon Scorpio or Sagittarius; NN 7 Gemini

So then

Johann Beethoven, Beethoven's Father
b. Nov. 14, 1740 Bonn, Germany

Sun 23 Scorpio; Moon Virgo or Libra; NN 7 Cancer

He was 30 years old when Beethoven was born. Going through Saturn Return when his Son was born. And his Progressed Sun was conjunct his Son's natal Sun (and widely his Moon). This point was opposing natal Mars and squaring natal Chiron.

Something interesting that I've noticed in Father B. and Mozarts' Dad's charts as well is an interesting conjunction to natal Saturn from progressed Planets. Father B's Mars is conjunct his natal Saturn in his natal chart in the sign of Leo. Both planets had gone Retrograde by Progression so that they were still in conjunction when Beethoven was born (and Rx, difficult). His progressed Venus, meanwhile, was conjunct to the degree with his Pluto. He was to have a very intense relationship with this child regarding ambitions, will and the arts.

Father Leopold Mozart has a similar thing going on. Natally he has a conjunction of Venus to Saturn-Mercury-Sun in Scorpio (same spot as p.Venus-Pluto in Beethoven's Dad's chart, remember what I said about Scorpio). Venus in Leopold's chart is Retrograde when he is born. And so his progressed Venus has come out of Rx by the time his son is born and has returned to close to the same spot where it was when he was born.

These retrogrades make it look as if the Father's were reliving parts of themselves through their Sons. Both Saturn and Pluto/Scorpio are related to Karmic lessons and reliving problems. They are both very ambitious planets. In a sense, through their sons, these men were using twice the lifetime's worth of knowledge to get their sons to succeed in the world. (Sorry, that probably doesn't make sense).

Leopold Mozart
b. Nov. 14, 1719 Augsburg, Germany

Sun 22 Scorpio; Moon Sagittarius or Capricorn; NN 24 Leo

These are only a couple of the connections in these charts. I'll stop here.

The U.S. Pluto and its Progression in the U.S. Economy

Today's Fresh Air interview with Terry Gross sent me off on a meandering path concerning the U.S. Pluto in history. As mentioned in my last post, Terry interviewed NY Times writer Gretchen Morgenson about the U.S. Bailout of the Banks and Mortgage Companies.

The 1776 chart for the U.S. gives a natal Pluto which is Retrograde at the end of Capricorn at 28 Degrees. Progressed Pluto doesn't move very much at all so most Astrologers ignore it in people. But in Countries which have a longer lifespan it's movement can be better detected. Changes of Direction, either Direct or Retrograde can show big Changes. This change is very prominent in influence in the U.S. economic situation regarding investments.

The Federal Reserve Bank was created while Pluto was in the opposing Sign of Cancer so Pluto's Movement into a Cardinal Sign is going to be a big influence in the Country's economic situation. The Great Depression happened as Pluto was going through its opposition.

There are some theories that when a planet is placed at the end of a sign, it is essentially tired of the energy of that sign and just wants to move on. Being Retrograde, the U.S. natal Pluto has been in Capricorn at the end of that sign ever sincethe country was created in 1776. That's some pretty tired stuff as Capricorn already represents an old man. If you look on Wikipedia at the history of Recessions in the U.S. you sort of get the idea that the U.S. has a problem with money flow. Capricorn is wise, but it is cautious and generally afraid of falling down and breaking its hip.

I looked a little closer at the Retrograde Motion of Pluto for the July 4, 1776 chart of the U.S. First I looked at the transit. Pluto went Direct by transit on Oct. 8, 1776. This shows nothing very stand outish but I'm not knowledgeable about American History. I'm just noting the date for future reference. I found two letters reproduced on the Internet written on this date. One is by George Washington and one is by John Adams. Both were struggling with the Revolution, of course. And in particular they were struggling with money.

Next I looked at the year for when Pluto stationed Direct in the U.S. chart around 1872-73. Boy, was this a history lesson in Stock Market crashes. I don't have the exact date because of computer problems but there was a huge International Stock Market crash which began with the Viennese Stock Exchange on May 9, 1873. This lasted more than 20 years and is known as the "Victorian Depression." By coincidence I found this short article written by a Canadian Economist, Stephen S. Poloz, called "Remembering the Victorian Depression." Poloz was wondering if the U.S. was headed for another version of this depression. He doesn't think so. And, being Canadian, he was able to ask this question way back in May when the U.S. guys didn't have a clue we were even already in a recession: http://www.edc.ca/english/docs/ereports/commentary/publications_14616.htm.

This chart (Viennese Exchange Crash) has an outer planet t-square of an almost exact opposition between Saturn at 3 Aquarius and Uranus at 3 Leo. Neptune at 27 Aries is the apex planet. This t-square was made into a Grand Square opposing Mars 4 Scorpio Rx on the date of the crash. Sun, Pluto, and Venus Rx were all in conjunction to the Taurus North Node (25 Taurus). It's a very difficult chart to say the least. This crash obviously isn't related to the U.S. Pluto progression. I'm just adding this information because it's a huge crash which the U.S. Market followed later that year.

The United States depression, which is called "The Long Depression", followed on Sept. 18, 1873. At this point, the Railroad Industry ground to a halt after a long boom period precipitated by the end of the Civil War. A Pennsylvania banker, Jay Cooke & Company, went bankrupt on that date. On Sept. 20, the Stock Market was shut down and stayed shut for 10 days. This Depression is given an ending date of 1877.

There were several problems that occurred at once to cause the problems. The Coinage Act of 1873 turned the U.S. to the Gold Standard. This meant that Silver wasn't used anymore on the markets and this had a depressing effect on the Silver/Mining Industry. There was also a huge epidemic of disease in Horses in the year before which wiped out a lot of the Horse population. This affected transportation as well as the army who was fighting the Indians on foot. (Why didn't the Indians just win at that point, really...). I do remember reading Terry Lamb's prediction that the Saturn-Uranus opposition this year could bring a bad influenza so this could be problematic for us.

The chart for this date shows that Saturn was at 27 Capricorn Rx and was squaring Neptune at 28 Aries. This means that it was conjunct the U.S. natal Pluto. It was also one degree past and approaching the spot where Progressed Pluto was stationing direct.

There are some similarities to today's charts. Jupiter and Saturn were in reversed spots in Virgo and Capricorn. Pluto-NN of the 1873 chart are squaring the spot where Neptune-NN are today.

It's interesting that the 1870s were the point when the United States economy began to take off. This corresponds to the idea of a planet turning in direct motion. Worldwide, industrial production did really well. In the U.S. it increased fourfold. (I think my source for this is Wikipedia, sorry can't really remember). In the current U.S. production has dropped probably to almost nothing so we're definitely not on that same cycle.

So this Pluto spot is a sensitive point for any planet to hit. Jupiter will conjunct the U.S. Pluto in late December, 2008 into January, 2009. It doesn't appear that that Jupiter-Pluto connections are the best thing for the U.S. Economy but what do I know?

Uranus passed over natal Pluto in 1994-5 and Neptune passed over it in 1996. I'm probably the only to remember this but there had been a serious Real Estate bust from between 1990 and 1995 in California. The drop in home values was more extreme then than it is now. The Technology Boom began around that time as well. The passage of Uranus and Neptune over the U.S. Pluto was a good thing in these instances. The U.S. Savings & Loan crisis happened as these two were in conjunction around 1989-90.

The U.S. Pluto Return will be sometime around 2022.

Waking From a Dream

Is anybody having good dreams these days?

I'm such a light sleeper I rarely drop down into the type of sleep that you need to have a really good dream. This morning I had one of those great moments where I overslept and a loud noise woke me suddenly. I had been dreaming something, of course I can't remember what, and then I had that feeling of rising really quickly from the bottom of the ocean to the surface while waking.

I checked the chart. The first time I woke this morning was 6:30 am. Gemini was rising at the exact degree of my birth chart. Ruler Mercury was in Gemini in the first house trining Neptune-Chiron-NN-Moon right at the Midheaven. It was too early so I rolled over and went back to sleep.

When I woke from the dream slightly after 8:36 am, Mercury was in the 12th House of Dreams and still trining that huge stellium. Neptune was in the 9th House and the Moon was in the 8th House. Uranus was just past the Midheaven and squaring Mercury.

Mercury went Retrograde at 8:48. Neptune quickly followed going Rx at 9:14 am. It had just joined the Moon in the 8th House.