Clint Eastwood

I've been a fan of Clint for a long time, and wanted to take a look at his chart. His time of birth is not available and the chart is set for noon (31.5.1930, San Francisco) so what I'll do is focus on the inner motivation as shown in his chart, and on one of the aspect patterns.

Clint's chart has a colour balance of 3 red: 3 green: 3 blue aspects. This might sound very nicely balanced because all three colours of aspects are the same, but it's not! Red "doing" energy vies with green "thinking" energy for equal place and this suggests a lot of jumpy, sensitive, maybe tetchy reactions. Blue "being" energy hardly gets a look in; Clint would need more blue aspects, which confer the ability to rest, relax and enjoy, to make this a more comfortable balance. Clint has been starring in and directing films for many years. He seems tireless in his work and now I can understand why, taking his colour balance and motivation into consideration.

Bearing in mind the red/green aspect emphasis in his chart and life motivation, it's interesting to see that his chart contains a complete red/green aspect pattern - the Irritation triangle. These are touchy, tetchy figures and are seen in the charts of people who are flexible, hard working, and sensitively aware. These people can often take on more than their fair share of work, but sometimes they take on too much, reach breaking point and explode. Those around them take cover until the storm passes, and then things calm down quickly as the person returns to what they were doing, feeling a whole let better having worked their angst and irritation out of their system with the outburst.

Taken together, Clint's emphasised red/green colour balance, and the red/green Irritation triangle start to offer a theme which could be followed up in a full exploration of his chart and motivation.

Although there's no time of birth, it's still possible to use Age Point and LifeClock to see where a few of the significant events in his life fit in. His first starring film role was in 1958, in what is described on his website as "a very poor movie". His Age Point was on the Low Point of the 5th House. In 1959 he starred in the TV series "Rawhide", as the character Rowdy Yates. This was his big break. He was 29, on the Saturn return with Age Point coming up to the stress zone before the 6th House cusp. In 1986 he became Mayor of Carmel-by-the-Sea in California, with Age Point appropriately on the 10th House Balance Point and at the top of the chart for all the world to see.

Looking at Clint's films and achievements listed on his web site it's impressive to see just how much he's done over the years. A look again at his chart shows that Saturn, one of the pinning planets in the Irritation triangle is pretty much out on a limb in his chart, on it's own and leading the way. Saturn is in Capricorn, the Sign it rules, so will be at home with grounding and making things manifest. It only has red and green aspects, too, making it active, sensitive and very aware.

Addendum 2014 Since writing this post I've written about Eastwood's chart in depth, using the correct time. The write up appears in my book Using Age Progression available from the APA Book Shop, also see "Books" tab at top of page, and in a published article in the Astrological Association Journal, March/April 2013.

The Jodrell Bank Radio Telescope

Over the next few days, Jodrell Bank Observatory in Cheshire is celebrating 50 years of the Lovell Radio Telescope. It’s creator, Sir Bernard Lovell, now in his 90’s, will be giving a public talk at the Observatory as part of the celebrations.

When I learned that the famous radio dish received its first space signals from the Andromeda Galaxy, on 2nd August 1957, I thought I’d set up the chart (time as noon, location Goostrey) just to see what it looked like.

Wow! Just look at that chart alongside the photo of the telescope! It’s oriented this way because of the time I set it up for, but with a different time the whole chart structure would move around - just as the telescope does when it’s tracking signals from space. The chart image bears an uncanny resemblance to the telescope itself.

There are two interesting and relevant aspect patterns too. The blue/green Ear/Eye Information triangle is one of them. This figure picks up and stores information and messages of all kinds. The other is the Shield, a quadrangular figure. The Hubers say in Aspect Pattern Astrology that this figure is relatively rare and has high absorption power; appropriate then for the chart of the first signals received from space by the telescope.

The radio telescope itself is an impressive sight, and can be glimpsed unexpectedly from different parts of the surrounding countryside. It was used to dramatic effect in an episode of “Dr. Who” when there was a nail-biting showdown between the Doctor and the Master who were battling it out high above the ground on the structure of the telescope.

Cats are Solar, Dogs are Lunar

If you’re a cat lover, you’ll know that they can be fascinating, snooty and independent, all over you one minute and ignoring you the next. Any relationship will be largely on their terms; they can take us or leave us, living quite happily without our company for a lot of the time, yet we cat lovers always come back for more!

Cats live in a solar way with life revolving around them like it does with the Sun. They bask in it. They love its warmth and display “big pussycat” behaviour when relaxed and at ease. They’re a bit like people with the Sun in Leo, who like to be in the spotlight, have lots of friends (because they have warm and generous hearts), but because Leo is one of the Fixed Zodiac Signs, they are equally capable of digging their heels in and doing their own thing, regardless of what anyone wants. Leo is ruled by the Sun, which represents our sense of self, creativity, individuality, the mind, the ability to choose and make decisions, and the use of the will.

Photos of Cats and Worn Lions by Maylis Curie
Dogs, on the other hand, are lunar. With qualities such as feelings and emotions associated with the Moon, dogs need contact and don’t do well if left alone. They are pack animals and offer faithful friendship, and (probably without realising it) provide emotional support just by being there for their owners. Whereas cats don’t often splurge their feelings about very much, (although one of my cats used to growl menacingly and lash her tail when the dustbin lorry was in the vicinity), dogs will leave us in little doubt about how they feel: “Bark yap yap woof ” + wag = “yes I do want a walk”!

The Sun is the ruling planet of Leo. We can develop solar qualities of self-consciousness for ourselves, regardless of what Sign our Sun is in. Louise Huber says in her book Reflections and Meditations on the Signs of the Zodiac that “real self-consciousness shows itself when a person becomes conscious of his/her inner power, of his own creative potential…..”

Let’s aim high and go for the higher levels of how you might go about this: you can do it by developing your heart centre, and by consciously developing the sensitivity of your heart which will open it up to expressing real love.

The seed thought for Leo, which you could also meditate on, is

“I am That and That am I”.

Leo rules the heart and the heart is about love, acknowledgement and true acceptance of the other and of all humankind.

The world needs this - let your Sun shine!

Roger Federer's Detective Aspect Pattern

Editorial comment, January 2018: I wrote this post back in 2007, and the amazing thing is that Federer is still going strong in 2018. He's just won the Australian Open at the age of 36, quite an age for a tennis player to be on top if his game and still be winning on the international circuit.
 
Tennis player Roger Federer strolled out on to Centre Court earlier this month for the Wimbledon Men’s Final wearing white blazer and flannels. Looking cool, and for all the world as if he’d time-travelled from the 1930’s, he went on to win his 5th Wimbledon title in the presence of the legendary Bjorn Borg, himself 5 times Wimbledon Champion. What makes Federer tick, what is his inner motivation, and how might he be using the Detective aspect figure in his chart?

Federer was born on 8.8.1981, at 08.40 local time in Basle, Switzerland. His chart looks like a hammock, a swingboat, or an upright push chair with hood up. His is an “I” sided chart with Neptune the only planet venturing on to the “You” side. Such an “I” sided emphasis suggests someone who is focussed on their own growth and self-understanding. The direction of the aspect structure is vertical, indicating the urge to stand out, make a mark on the world and be recognised as an individual. The colour ratio of aspects is 2 red, 4 green, 5 blue. Federer’s chart lacks red aspects, but this is compensated to some extent by the 3 pairs of conjunct planets, each having potential talent according to the planets involved. With 4 green aspects, Federer is likely to be sensitively attuned to the surrounding environment.

His chart contains a Detective aspect pattern (a quadrilateral figure with red, green and blue aspects, and in Federer's chart pinned by Venus, Moon, Mars and Sun/Mercury). The Hubers say people with this figure “can discover the smallest clue, insignificant information and slight alterations. . .” Someone with this pattern “sticks to a trail, has a wide-awake character that nearly nothing escapes…with this figure in the horoscope, the person can adapt themselves meticulously to things and eliminate disruptive influences”. With his Mercury conjunct Sun very strongly placed on the 12th cusp and at the apex of the Ear/Eye part of the Detective figure, along with his Virgo Ascendant, and the blue Small talent triangle that is also part of this figure, it begins to sound as if these could be some of the things Federer draws upon in competitive tennis: the ability to focus on the game, absorb all relevant and sometimes minute details on an ongoing basis whilst playing, focus in 100% on the game and the goal of winning, and not be distracted by external factors such as the watching crowds.

I mentioned the position of Mars and the Gauquelin Effect in the charts of sportsmen and women in my posting on Venus Williams earlier this month. Federer’s Mars is not only placed in the fourth quadrant of the chart where this effect is said to be at its greatest, but it is also a part of his Detective figure, and in its strongest possible position, on the cusp of a House.

For more on aspect patterns, see the Huber’s book Aspect Pattern Astrology and my book Aspect Patterns in Colour both available from the APA Book Shop.

Age Point and LifeClock

Venetian Doors by Maylis Curie

Doors. Portals. Gateways. It doesn’t matter which name you use as they all symbolise a threshold which, when crossed, will take us into a new and different physical place or state of mind. Psychologically, doors can represent the threshold between past and future, between what has gone before and what is yet to come. Doorways, what they represent and what might be beyond them, can be exciting, forbidding, intriguing, scary, interesting, fascinating and stimulating.

Janus, the two-headed Roman god whom the month of January is named after, is depicted as a doorkeeper with one head looking back and one forward, the guardian of the first month of the year. In Roman mythology, Janus was the god of gates, doors, doorways, beginnings, and endings.

The on-going movement of the Age Point around the chart constantly offers opportunities for us to open doors to new psychological life phases and ways of being; the journey is progressive and at each stage there is something new to learn and experience about ourselves and the world we inhabit. There are the doors which lead us from one House of the chart to the next, and these are probably rather large and impressive as they mark the end of one psychological life phase and the beginning of the next. Being right on the cusp of a House, these doors can be flung wide open to the world in a big way - we have to go through them so we may as well enjoy the view! Then there are the doors which we pass through as the Age Point changes Sign. Perhaps these doorways are painted the colour of the element of that Sign; if so, a dazzling and vibrant blue door is not far away for me as my Age Point moves towards the Sign of Cancer! Then there are the doors which lead from the Cardinal to the Fixed zone of each House, and from the Fixed to the Mutable zone.

Of course, we must not forget that the doors which open on to the Mutable zone are the doors to the Low Point of each House. These may be less spectacular and impressive. They may appear dowdy or forbidding, perhaps even hidden away from public view, but once opened they can offer a direct route to the central core of the chart and to the connection between self and Higher Self. Louise Huber says that when we are on a Low Point, it is easier to get in touch with the soul’s purpose. These doors may appear less attractive, but there are hidden riches behind them.

Joseph Campbell, the author of many books on mythology said, “When you follow your bliss….doors will open where you would not have thought there would be doors; and where there wouldn’t be a door for anyone else”. When I read this, I realised that his words could be related directly to the movement of the Age Point through the metaphorical doors I’ve been speaking about. Of course, these doors are uniquely your doors and uniquely my doors - they are experienced differently for every one of us. And if we follow our bliss we must do so willingly, knowing that whatever life phase we are travelling through is transient….and that at its end there will always be another door, leading us to a new beginning.



This article, together with the picture of the doors, appears on the front cover of the July issue of “Conjunction”, the API (UK) magazine which focusses on Age Progression and aspect patterns.

Copies of “Conjunction” are available from the APA on-line Book Shop.

You can sample "Conjunction" on-line at the APA website.