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| Lisa Sheridan at approx. 25-30 (image borrowed from imdb.com) |
Scorpio as the reaping of mysterious and perhaps ancient bad karma
For the second time I noted the haunting beauty of short-lived and not terribly famous actress Lisa Sheridan (1974-2019). This time as a one-episode character in a re-run of the well-crafted tv crime series The Mentalist (ep. 1-21, 2009).
Having plowed through literally thousands of celebrity horoscopes, and viewing them using either the "natural zodiac" (Aries/1st, Taurus/2nd and so on) or Moon as a lunar ascendant (often remarkably revealing of the emotional life), even these replacements for a chart with known birth time slowly began to speak in favor of Hindu astrology. Just by addressing the matter of the precession of the spring equinox clarified almost every chart and in the case of this actress (no known birth hour) perfectly illustrated Scorpio as the archetypal sign of idea of the dark night of the soul. It's been said that the entire birth horoscope (with time known) reveals the person's karma, at least in outline (though many would claim much more).
Lacking known time, the chart instead takes on a kind of collective karma, or even a detached view of the World Soul indicating its own ups and downs, which may mean that entire "sub-generations" arrive on earth to share some experiences. But the national horoscope may be even more important as nations might be led by self-servers or wise men and this limit individual inhabitants of that country. Some people may technically have brought good karma to this life and still reach nowhere due to the homeland's restricted chart.
Being an extreme case of Scorpio and also consisting of the large cross in the Quality of Darkness (Tamas guna) anyone with some knowledge of astrology may guess that these are somewhat troublesome omens. Moon in Leo would like to be a mind reflecting an untroubled ruler, the Sun, but according to this natural chart, the dark 8th spot rather brings less pleasant things to mind. Should the actual birth hour agree it is easy to understand why that disease alcoholism struck. Scorpio is infamous for its toxic conditions, psychic or somatic.
From what little is said about Lisa Sheridan on the Internet she seems to have been the nicest of persons and I agree. Scorpios are nowhere nearly as tempestuous and/or sex-fixated creatures they are made out to be. The blog will return to the chart of the USA with Scorpio rising according the sidereal zodiac and using the well-known chart by the British physician and Freemason Ebenezer Sibly. From the US chart it is obvious that secrecy may be Scorpio's most prominent trait and these very friendly Scorpios may just as well be putting up a front. Scorpio is the opposite of being frank or above board. Integrity issues may be the real reason their calm and friendly manners. Hindu astrology means that the 8th house / sign indicates karma not yet having matured, even as a storm may be brewing in that unseen world where the karmic puzzle is being laid out. Putting the lid on, that's Scorpio's way and naturliga has its legitimate place in some job types...
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Some Indian astrology sites juxtapose the 5th house of good karma (purva punya) with the 8th house of bad karma, a natural enough extension of the eight sign as a symbol of death. One is also reminded of the old saying "the wages of Sin is death". But then Christianity soon banished the then prevalent thought of reincarnation in order for Jesus death to have any meaning whatsoever in their ideology. Research by means of hypnosis indicate we do indeed return to earth time and again, even if having been a believing Christian believer in one or other lifetime, so obviously this religion was not very well constructed. Reading the Roman 3rd century Platonist philosopher Plotinus reveals the extent to which Christianity borrowed from philosophy in order to create their narrative about a sacrificial goat taking on the sins of mankind, introduced due the Fall. Scorpio and the Christian myth of Fall is closely connected.
The motif of a fall is common in philosophy too and even though Plato tried to de-mythologize old Greek beliefs, he still reverted to mythical descriptions since metaphysical realities must use similitudes from our world of sensory experience. His tale of the fallen souls as a mankind of bound prisoners in a cave is a perfect image found in astrology.
During the Hellenistic era the Bull (Taurus) corresponding 2nd house was understood to be the portal to Hades (Plato's cave) - only that the view of our earthly life is now reversed and seen as time spent in the Kingdom of Death. Using the sun as symbol for the eternal soul, sunrise symbolizes its reappearance in the 1st house of the enveloping ego-body system. But during the step before that the soul receives its flesh body thanks to the Moon. This, the mother principle, have its place of exaltation in Taurus, which gives another take on Plato's cave/womb.
If one thusly reads the zodiac circle's first third backwards (opposed to the sun's daily movement) one discovers the Fall in the fourth sign, Cancer where the Moon rules. (The next to thirds are partly repetitions but on expanded stages, from the Person the second part deals with the soul level or the real Individual, while the third stage it the Universal level). On per personal level, in the natural or archetypal zodiac the newborn is represented by Aries, a Fire sign which to the philosophically inclined points directly to Plotinus' first emanation: The One. The Sun, while ruler of Leo, is held to be exalted in Fiery Aries, and there reminding one that soul is bodily man's essence. Withing the child or merely personal type a soul awaits its potential awakening.
Fire too is of course a symbol borrowed from the lower world of senses, but if for now neglecting Plotinus' distinction between Light and Fire, indicates an acting out or an outpouring which results in a second emanation or divine Intellect (Greek: Nous). Astrology, exalting Sun in Aries, seems to say there is an essential connection between God and Man, even when using Plotinus' exalted view of "The One." Indeed, how the lower and higher worlds interconnect makes the use of worldly metaphors legit when talking of the supernatural levels in Neo-Platonism. I find it nearly impossible to resist comparing the divine Intellect (Nous) to astrological traditions of the 7th heaven or Saturn. Whilst only the highest plane of the sense world (including man's rational soul) extends to Universal Soul, the latter in turn is, at its core, the divine Mind or Intellect (Nous).
Man's soul being kin to (cut from the same cloth as) the Universal Soul thus potentially may experience on a higher level than even "cosmic consciousness" (which still may be occupied with the material universe). God-Mind seems to be within reach for a human. This blogger briefly had the same experience on going to sleep two nights in a row in his thirties (decades ago) and so far never again. Just about to lose waking consciousness a deep blue space opened up and "every piece of music ever composed" was heard playing as a unity with not a hint of chaos but everything fitting together perfectly. This was of course also a metaphor borrowed from the sense world as I have always been intensely appreciative of music (every genre). I do have a clue if seed experiences must be sought: at 15 rock group Be-Bop Deluxe was a favorite and on the second album is found the title "Between the Worlds". I seldom bothered with the enclosed lyric sheets and to this day don't know what the writer Bill Nelson had in mind.
So this was a vivid experience of some level within Rational Soul repeated twice just to make its point. I cannot for my life decide what level of Soul in Plotinus' cosmology this may have represented as I knew nothing about Neo-Platonism 30+ years ago. Classicist A.H. Armstrong criticized Plotinus' cosmology somewhat for including too many levels. Was my "higher soul" momentarily aware of the sensory world's "cosmic sympathy" and was it catching a glimpse - through Universal Soul - the noetic Mind of God (containing all archetypes/Ideas) of which my perspective honed in on musical forms? I do not know, but such experiences (especially when repeated the next day) serves to nudge the subject in unexpected directions.
Back to the zodiac as seen in the lower world of sense. Again reading the natural zodiac backwards from the moment of sunrise/birth, before equipping the soul with a flesh body in Taurus is seen Gemini, an Air sign indicating man's capacity for abstract and logical thought (though Man is discovering just how intelligent other species are). Now Gemini is not the divine Intellect or even the high, rational part with both Universal Soul and man's soul has as its crowning glory. All people differ in intellectual capacity and both Gemini's Mercury and Saturn (whose manifest home of real being is the Airy Water Bearer).
In the unusual case of a human with both the intellectual planets obscurely placed in the heavens at the moment of birth, but Moon in Mercurial 3rd may, may result in a day dreamer who responds to "gut feelings" instead of developing much interest in rational problem solving... Realizing how many combinations astrology offers just in thinking ability provides a good parallel to that incredibly complex heavenly symphony I briefly heard (maybe for just a second - I was stunned and again wide awake from the experience).
But still tracing the newborn soul past the creation of an enveloping flesh body (built by the Mother Principle the Ox) and enhanced by Gemini/intellectual ability/the brain/Air, the fourth sign Cancer is interesting. For this, as mentioned, is the sign of the Fall, indicating the soul's choice of life in the sublunar sphere. Do note the Hindu Gemini portrays a young couple (male/female). Sex thus is added AFTER the fall, and agrees with Jesus' supposed insight in the beyond: in heaven the soul again is sex-less, same idea as Plato's story of the original soul who got split up in two halves. Cancer being Moon's only ruling sign shows how tightly knit the story is in this short story of philosophical teaching in pictorial form. Thus it is not strictly true that zodiac's second and third part merely expands upon the initial or personal part. But such are these visible manifestations of the multiform archetypes in the true world. They are fit for many uses.
Following the soul fallen into Cancer or the lowest part of itself (also described as Nature), only one more step backwards and one arrives at its beginning in its Father's house (that according to Jesus had so many different dwellings). So what gives as the exalted Sun in Aries but really stemming from Leo where the Sun rules, and Hindu astrology naturally terms the 5th the house of Atman. This can be read as both as the deathless individual soul but also as the World Soul, which personalized becomes the Father, subject of so many different religions and bearing many names. Sun may here be seen as The One, rendered visible as an image by the Sun of this material universe. It took me a few years to realize the opposition of Sun in Leo and Saturn in Water Bearer is a perfect illustration of Neo-Platonism's two uppermost emanations and more. The One and Nous (highest intellect) simultaneously describe the Center and the surrounding Space or Air - this is the World Soul while Fire and Air together constitutes the Higher Soul in the material universe. Astrology's symbol system carries its analogies throughout this cosmology.
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From the time when the king was regarded as the representative on earth of God or God's will, comes the 5th house as a specially privileged house. It fascinated me immensely to find this house of good karma to be variable, according to Hindu astrology. Enter a planet unsuited to the 5th or dissimilar to the significations thereof, and the soul may reincarnate bringing bad or unsolved karma with it even through this fine house. Makes one wonder if the 8th house of outright bad karma is even necessary. Studying this system makes one realize it is a cultural product containing layer upon layer and sometimes resulting in self-contradictions. Since giving up Western astrology in 2007 I do believe that the mind adjusts itself and sort things out. This blog shows the small and very selective set of rules I have come to prefer.
Those with little talent for creative synthesizing may well prefer astrology software who profess to do the thinking for the astrologer. I have seen a feature built-in where the program quantifies planets in certain positions and instructs the user that they should be allowed "nn percent strength" during interpretation. This is the very essence of "drawing by numbers", the average person's way of doing astrology. Astrology might appear scientific by its reliance on number and computation but that is only the initial step. Getting a chart to "speak" necessitates an altogether different mindset.
The puzzle that is the zodiac has the mathematically minded person archetypally represented by Mercury in Air-Gemini. But even so this nimble intellect needs a higher mental faculty for genius level understanding. This is given astrologically by Jupiter in Fire-Sagittarius, known in Hindu astrology as Guru, the divine Teacher. The 3e and 9th stand opposed as "simple" logicians and inspired, meta-logical intuition, capable of going directly from question to answer without a series of logical operations in between.
As a Fire sign it naturally stands closer to The One, which likewise is spontaneous, not having to think beforehand: The One and its divine intellectually creates as Nous or the intellectual and transcendental universes contemplates its riches. Hindu philosophy as a very similar thought to Plotinus: God in his "lila" (play) discovers himself ever more deeply. By no means a specialist, I find it incomprehensible that the gifted Orientalist A.H. Armstrong refused to see any Eastern influences on the Roman philosopher. God's Lila is nothing but Nous timeless/eternal self-contemplation (looking directed towards the One) with its consequences further down the "great chain of being".
It is true that the elements as metaphors may take on many expressions and simple astrological versions of Fire may end up as athletes our outdoors people with no 9th house interests at all. But this may well change in a future incarnation. Often death and terror may force the fallen soul to think bigger. And there is where we return to the beautiful actress Lisa Sheridan whose alcoholism shortened her life. Scorpio is the "walk trough the valley of death" a place frightful for many but which didn't concern the Bible author in the least since he was a believer in a higher reality. Scorpio is the next to last stage of the Water element and thus deals with only the lower portion of soul, the one the higher one drops in Pisces, the one Water sign associated with the Quality of Light.
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Scorpio as a callous profiteer or careerist
Lisa Sheridan thus could be seen as a victim of an untoward fate. As for the extremely successful and rich Swedish producer Max Martin with numerous superficial Billboard Top 100 hits under his belt. Calling him a genius is rather exaggerated, this is rather a mix of a good and nuanced hearing and technical skills (everyone today can create music with a computer but some do it better).
Still this music producer carries bad karma mixed with good. He cashed in some bad a few years ago when world-wide phenomenon Taylor Swift broke free from his stranglehold on her artistic freedom. Out of deep seated greed Max Martin had insisted to be credited as a songwriting by inclusion of his own generic pop music as opposed to Swift's own considerable composing skills two of her album. In the sales of the songs are the money rather than by merely by producing. (For fairness sake: Swift re-recorded not only Max Martin productions.)
Noticing Max Martin's unusual emphasis on merely two signs, Scorpio and the Water Bearer the ugliest of combinations appear, as Water represents the hunger inherent in the natural, untutored soul while the Water Bearer represents Plato's rational soul, the real human. Sometimes they act in concert and creates e.g. fine pieces of art: director/producer Woody Allen has the same sign combination and just about all of his films are about this troublesome combination of rationality mixed-up with an all too willing lower nature. Scorpio at its simplest is merely nature's call to the biological organism to safeguard the life of its species. Mindless sexual instinct.
Scorpio may become a callous profiteer if in business - se Donald Trump's Moon in Scorpio for a flagrant example (a full moon, furthermore). Bad or at least less developed cases of this sign and its contribution may become a hired killer or a subtle type of dictator/producer like Max Martin, infiltrating society but on the other hand always seen as a foreigner, poorly integrated. To my understanding he acts as a parasite by nudging or influencing his artists to record his songs as he obviously has an ear for the simplistic music the masses crave in their early phase, not yet having developed a mature taste. Artists may of course first approach with his established reputation for creating success and material for mass consumption. He thus moves with other money-seeking people, artists for whom art is only a distant, second consideration.
Max Martin's early hits with Britney Spears (and some boy group I manage to forget the name of) are perfect examples of simplistic music. "Baby, Hit Me One More Time" also reveals Scorpio's darkest and most violent side. Was this Max Martin projecting own violent fantasies onto his muse Britney? I didn't follow the talk around 1990 but hardly doubt Martin himself had been a victim of child abuse or a tough childhood from which music proved to be an escape. I have seen very unhappy childhoods prove to kindle a fantastic future career due to the person turning inwards...
One may wonder, though, to what extent Martin's mega hit contributed to Spears' unlucky future life. In attaching oneself to another one comes to partake of that persons' destiny to a certain extent, the more the less one's own character is developed. Imagine being an overbearing Scorpio producer in the music studio all day, using the peculiar ability of Air mixed (or rather non-mixed) with Water in affecting, almost hypnotizing, those about about them to accept his suggestions born out of the complex mentality the Water Bearer often possesses. In the moment people do not realize they are being brainwashed. Remember, not all Water Bearers reach the high development of the sign, Ideology may be beyond their reach but a sub-cultural or "club" expression without much awareness of the wide world is also a kind of social milieu, and thus represented by this sign.
All combinations of Air and Water may lead to either gullible people and players capable of moving others' mindsets in devious ways. Actor Nicole Kidman, for instance, has played her fair share of characters doubled-minded and devious (she was even nicknamed "Devlin" in an Adam Sandler comedy). Her horoscope contains Moon in Scorpio opposed to the duplicitous Sun in dual Gemini. This is a much more complicated and hard-to-grasp Sun/Moon combination than the bully Trump and his full moon, Sun in money-minded Taurus with hungering Scorpio Moon in opposition.
Scorpio being the sign of death is envious of Taurus, seemingly enjoying this paradisiacal life in the garden on the other side, but the Roman astrologer-poet Manilius put to writing an old tradition holding the axial power Taurus/Scorpion or their natural 2th/8th houses to represent the "Seat of Typhoon". This tradition ties in the the Bull's 2nd house. This sector may during Hellenistic times have been known as the place of a materialistic instinct (food, money) as Typhoon was Mother Earth's or Gaia's wroth son, so bad tempered it was imprisoned beneath the volcano Etna on Sicily. In India the 2th house is also associated with materialistic possessiveness though only signifying "movable possessions" (such as cattle).
Scorpio, in the land of the dead is removed from this world and thus it is infamous for its jealously and envy. In Max Martin's case the sexual drive, Mars and ruler of Scorpio is at home contributing to a relentless feeling of being a mere ghost and wanting more of the goods all the living seem to possess only immensely more, since Taurus needs are in no way inordinate (think the old saying "creature comforts"). But in Scorpio too, the very rich man's Jupiter combines with the Lesser Evildoer Mars. Immediately the story turns a bit sinister.
This may not be apparent since both Scorpio and the Water Bearer belong to the Quality of Darkness (Tamas guna) which in psychological terms is introvert and hard to get to know. This deep layer of Darkness sometimes is utter stupidity but just as often is seen a curious ability to reach positions of power and then remaining there. Very typical of politician on a power trip.
There is much unknown about tamasic people and in Sweden, a formerly very poor country, money holds such hypnotic power over it and the evening papers regularly announce how much richer Max Martin has become. He may be the pride of Sweden, now that those who curate the ABBA brand name repackaging has reached the extreme in sucking money out of a heap thread worn sing-alongs. An example from September 2023:
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| "Hit maker Max Martin now a billionaire" (presumably in Swedish currency) |
All through the years I have never seen one article revealing the reason why Taylor Swift left the seemingly successful partnership with Max Martin and ever re-recorded old albums to regain full control of her life. Googling, the answer to these questions Swedish media declines to mention, due to Martin's importance for Sweden's reputation, showed the simple answer:
Why Taylor Swift doesn't work with Max Martin anymore? It's no secret that she stopped working with the titan Max Martin specifically because he wouldn't let her write songs on her own...
Simple and entirely inordinate greed from death sign Scorpio (holding Jupiter, promise of big money). Interestingly, Scorpio is strong in Swift's chart too, explaining her finally going it alone. Sun and ruler Mars in Scorpio must at least be deemed equally strong but as Martin her birth hour comes in three flavors - none of them verified! Thus none of them has a known house position for Scorpio.
Max Martin would never reveal his birth time, the chart for the entire day seems too secretive, given the odd pairing of the social Air sign Water Bearer and the unsocial Scorpio. This combination may even result in a society's outcast or one bad bully him-/herself.
In Martin's case this is a problem as not even the Hindu Chandra lagna or Moon ascendent can be known with certainty. About halfway through the day, the promising New Moon (success in new endeavors) changes into a Moon in Pisces. Since western astrology to a high degree has lost sight of the importance of the dispositor of a planet (besides often looking at the wrong signs if using the tropical zodiac), this gives two very different pictures.
Speaking for the lucky New Moon is that both Sun and Moon has Saturn as dispositor and although this dominant planet is regarded as "fallen" and ill-behaved in egotistic Aries, at least it's an omen of success with children or newbies - Aries being the initial sign perfectly becomes the easily influenced crowd who might like ultra commercial dance pop by numbers.
On the other hand a Moon in Pisces altogether favored by being supported by Big Money or Jupiter, Moon being watery and Jupiter ruling precisely Pisces in its negative mode. As Mars is in its negative home sign Scorpion this may result in an inordinate musical talent a watery soul suits up beat dance music very well. But the hunger is strong among the animals below the Moons influence, the question is what has happened with Sun in Air and Moon in Water in this second scenario for the 26 February 1971.
Given such uncertainty, the best may be to use only the natural zodiac, via the archetypal Child / Aries carrying the dictator (producer!) Saturn within as a most conspicuous omen. (Astrological interpretation from the natural zodiac is highly speculative.) This chart also reveals a mean father figure or Patriarch in Saturn, casting his long and controlling 270° Hindu aspect though 3/4 of the zodiac. The meanness comes from the low sexual drive Scorpio this makes the martian Aries very atypical. (Meanness is a recurring trait with the Water signs.)
This again suggests Max Martin had a bad childhood and not without realizing it wanting to control others as he himself suffered bondage or repression as young. This Saturn in egotistical Aries DOES NOT LOVE women (Venus) but would rather control them. One might turn a blind eye to this primitive patriarchal power-tripper and here only see an effeminate or weak man shaping a pliable woman (Venus) to his own taste or rather a craftswoman plying his material.
Besides, Venus is not regarded as strong in Saturnian and formalistic Capricorn. Here, signs of the sterility of a Max Martin production may be gleaned but is naturally exactly what the corporate music industry asks for. Not artistry but decent craftsmanship of the kind the consumer feels strangely familiar with. (Again: Saturn in Aries has a weak eye for quality as self-interest is so pervading.)
Though little can be ascertained in the lack of birth time, Scorpio's strangely unfulfilled nature and chronically aching inner child (controlled by the same Mars) looks like important parts of this day's Mystery.
Fortunately, Taylor Swift's Moon sign is not in question. Moon in Gemini with successful Jupiter is a good combination as Moon sees everyone as a friend. This is rather the opposite of her former producer, being lighthearted and communicative, Moon with Jupiter in Air is about as friendly as Geminis come, had it not been for Moon being opposed by reticent Saturn.
But Moon likes everyone, so the feeling nature which here is in Air and thus denotes an intellectual type of mind rather than a sensationalist, is well placed to learn from Saturn, the organizer. One may in the end wonder at the capability of this Moon - self-reliant and organizing itself as containing a built-in grand Patriarch. In younger years Saturn will however put timidity's brake on Moon so that this chart still is hard to decipher, not knowing which are the actual houses, some which favor Jupiter and some Saturn. Even if open-minded Jupiter dominates when young, Saturn will close and create a distance to the world at old age, which is represented by this planet of wisdom.
Another thing can be seen even though this chart is for the entire day: there is a clear rupture to be seen here as Sun and Moon do not cooperate well at all, meaning there might still be a marked discrepancy between the Taylor seen during work hours and the personal Moon-Taylor, seen only by her closest circle.
But then again, lack of known time may change this yet again. Jupiter with the Gemini mind makes for a generous and very talkative person sharing more of her life than would be possible with Max Martin's mark of the outsider (societal Water Bearer and secretive Scorpio). Should Taylor's Moon and Jupiter occupy the first angular house (1) she would nevertheless never be extremely outspoken, as that gives Saturn its strongest worldly position in the west. Same with open Jupiter in the official tenth house as Saturn would be restrictive regarding the affairs of the 4th private house (though enhanced being angular).
From her younger days the frequent change of boyfriends stands as a reminder that Sun and Moon often are seen as a couple, similar to Mars and Venus but more stable but for the fact that Hindu astrology warns of the big lights being in signs 150 degrees apart. In the case of silent Scorpio and talkative Gemini this makes for bad pairing, the couple don't communicate well and a long search for a compatible match can be predicted.
Hindu astrology does not have the Western quincunx or inconjunct planetary aspect, but it does count signs intervening between planets. Two planets may stand 6 respectively 8 signs apart (count current position as the first step) and trigger a "6-8 relation." This recalls the bad reputation of the 6th house of enemies and the 8th house of corruption and eventual death. Of course it would come to "sudden death" and "enmity" between Taylor's personal feelings some solar types, like company bosses or producers... If Sun is taken as a heterosexual woman's partner in a chart, there would be problems settling with a male.
With a known birth hour the actual houses affected by this "anti relation" would give more information but already the "natural" zodiac decently fits the known facts about Swift. Seeing "Moon-to-Sun" as a life line she has really reinvented herself. Too, she becomes a representative of the many women held back by vampires and energy thieves, and Max Martin's Scorpio symbolism appears to literally point to one of them.
Still, even the different Air and Water can produce tremendously subtle individuals working with both logic and feeling - it's typically good for artists (or psychologists!) or anyone who have learnt a bit about the many levels within the human being. With Sun and Moon, however, some splits are rather hard to avoid in life, the great Lights are so fundamental to a life cycle.
Among the less developed the "6-8 relation" easily lends itself to antisocial behavior, false rationalizations to explain strange instinctive behavior, this being astrology's way of hinting at a soul having not as of this birth managed to bring the rational and irrational soul into cooperation.
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