Venus: Venus’ essential function is to unify separate
forces. Symbolically, it represents a feminine principle and,
among other things, is associated with one’s personal
sense of communal harmony.
Saturn: Saturn’s essential function is to reject,
ignore or control other forces and, among other things,
represents authority figures and personal limitations;
it is associated with the restrictions imposed on one’s
existence, including those enforced by governments and
other authorities.
Square: The square aspect represents a discordant relationship
between any two planets within range of 90 zodiacal degrees
of each other, or between any two signs that are three
signs apart from each other. As the Mars ruled signs, Aries
and Scorpio, form square aspects to the Lunar and Solar
ruled signs respectively, Cancer and Leo, the square aspect
is associated with the essential character of the planet
Mars, i.e. disassociating, aggressive, etc.
While the following article details events in the lives
of two musicians from different cultures and eras, there
are important links between them, astrological and otherwise,
that tie these stories together.
One Love
On
the evening of December 3, 1976 - two days before Bob
Marley was to appear at the Smile Jamaica free concert
at Heroes Park Circle in Kingston (which, against Marley’s
wishes, had been surreptitiously turned into a political
event for Prime Minister Michael Manley’s election
campaign) - an unknown gunman opened fire on Marley’s
home during a break in his group’s rehearsal. Though
no one was killed, three people, including Marley’s
wife Rita, were injured. Although Marley had intended the
concert to be a call for peace during a period of great
political unrest, he was now unwittingly caught in the
middle of a state of emergency.
Though
apprehensive about appearing at the highly controversial
event, Marley gave a triumphant
performance, which he opened
with a new song called War. The song was a protest
anthem featuring lyrics adapted from an excerpt
of H.I.M.
Haile Selassie’s (Ethiopian Emperor and Rastafarian
prophet) speech to the United Nations on October 6, 1963
- a powerful message against institutionalized racial oppression
(see Notes below).
Marley left Jamaica almost immediately following the
show, and did not return for over a year. When he did,
it was to headline the monumental One Love concert in
Kingston on April 22, 1978, where he successfully united
the leaders of Jamaica’s two rival political factions – the
socialist Manley and right-wing Edward Seaga - onstage
at the closing of his performance (he was later awarded
for the gesture with the Third World Peace Medal by all
the African delegations to the United Nations). Once
again, toward the end of this historic performance, Marley
sang the song War to address the power division that
continued to fuel violence in his country.
Chart
1: Bob Marley (February 6, 1945 at 2:30 a.m. in St. Ann’s,
Jamaica; Diagram 1) has natal Venus at 3 Aries square Saturn
at 4 Cancer.
“Fight
the Real Enemy”
Almost
fifteen years later, on October 4, 1992, Irish singer
Sinead O’Connor appeared as the musical guest
on the popular American television program Saturday
Night Live. O’Connor was a notorious figure on the pop
scene at the time, known as much for her shaved head and
strong vocal abilities as her less-than-diplomatic relationship
with the press.
She
first made scandal headlines in the United States on
May 12, 1990, when she cancelled a scheduled
appearance
on SNL in protest of the show’s inclusion
of shock-comedian Andrew Dice Clay, known for his macho-misogynist
persona,
who was to host the show that night (see Notes below).
When
she finally did appear on the program a year and a half
later, she once again used the opportunity
to make
a statement that was bound to be controversial. At the
closing of her second musical number, an a capella version
of Bob Marley’s War, she shocked the nation by pulling
out a photograph of Pope John Paul II, which she held to
face the camera before tearing it up, while repeating the
phrase “fight the real enemy”.
Unbeknownst
to the majority of her American audience, this was done
in response to recent scandals
in her native
Ireland regarding reports of abuse committed by certain
Catholic priests. However, public reaction to this incident
was, for the most part, harsh and unforgiving. The backlash
reached its climax twelve days later when O’Connor
appeared, along with a host of music stars, at the Bob
Dylan 30th anniversary celebration concert at New York’s
Madison Square Garden.
As
she began her a capella rendition of Dylan’s
I Believe In You, certain members of the audience began
to boo her, presumably in response to her SNL appearance
- an ironic twist considering the show was held to celebrate
an artist who himself had endured hostile audience reactions
during the peak of his career.
O’Connor responded by abruptly stopping the Dylan
song and launching into a fierce, abridged version of Marley’s
War, before being led offstage in tears. The fallout over
O’Connor’s bold actions appeared to be a direct
cause of her professional decline, as she didn’t
release an album for the next four years. She later explained
that her performance on SNL was provoked by memories of
abuse she suffered as a child, though she did eventually
apologize for the incident during an interview on September
22, 1997.
Chart
2: Sinead O’Connor (December 8, 1966,
time unknown, in Dublin, Ireland; Diagram 2) has natal
Venus at 23 Sagittarius
square Saturn at 23 Pisces.
Recurrence Transits
These
stories can be used to demonstrate the use of recurrence
transits in astrology. Most astrology
books and articles
that discuss planetary transits to a natal chart usually
refer to what I call “zodiacal contact”. If,
for instance, someone has the planet Venus at, say, the
25th degree of Pisces in their natal chart, and the planet
Saturn comes around by transit and moves to the same degree
of one of the two signs that make a ninety degree angle
to Pisces (Gemini and Sagittarius), then any astrologer
will tell you that the person has just had a Saturn to
Venus square transit.
However,
recurrence transits refer to times when specific planetary
combinations, such as Venus-Saturn
squares, are
repeated in the sky on a given day or series of days. If
someone has a Venus-Saturn square in his or her natal chart,
and Venus and Saturn are squared at a given time, then
that person’s natal square gets “activated”.
That is, there is some form of event or set of circumstances
that somehow reflects whatever the Venus-Saturn square
means in that person’s life.
What
is special about the recurrence transit is the fact that
this “activation” will occur even if
the transiting aspect doesn’t make any kind of contact
or aspect to a point in that person’s chart. Needless
to say, if someone has a recurrence transit of any kind
that does make “zodiacal contact” to a given
point in that person’s chart, then it is likely to
coincide with something really big in his/her life.
Chart
3: Bob Marley’s momentous One Love concert
(Diagram 3), Venus was at 24 Taurus square Saturn at
23 Leo
Chart 4: Sinead O’Connor’s startling appearance
on Saturday Night Live (Diagram 4), Venus was at
11 Scorpio square
Saturn at 11 Aquarius
Rules and Rulership
Both
Marley and O’Connor have Venus-Saturn squares
in their natal charts, though in both cases they are contained
in t-squares with outer planets. A t-square is a term used
for a configuration containing an opposition aspect between
two or more planets, that makes a square to a third planet
or set of planets from either side (for Marley the other
planets are Neptune & Chiron; for O’Connor, the
configuration includes Uranus, Pluto & Chiron – more
on these natal t-squares in the following section).
The
Venus-Saturn square on its own was in recurrence during
both Marley’s momentous One Love concert and O’Connor’s
startling SNL appearance. As landmark events in their respective
lives, they can be seen as statements inspired by deeply
personal motivations, both of which correspond to a basic
interpretation of the Venus-Saturn square – one’s
sense of communal harmony being at odds with the actions
of authority figures.
However,
despite this fundamental similarity in motivation, there
is a clear difference in the manner
in which it was
expressed in the two instances. Marley’s action was
to unite two disparate factions - an effective solution
to restoring communal harmony (at least temporarily), while
maintaining his strict apolitical stance. On the other
hand, O’Connor’s action made no attempt at
resolution, but rather was an outright revolt against an
established authority that she felt undermined communal
harmony, if not her own inner peace.
One way this marked difference between the two events
can be explained is by examining the sign placement of
both Venus and Saturn, with regard to rulerships, in each
event chart. Planets are usually considered to be stronger
when placed in signs they rule, and weaker when placed
in signs opposite their own rulership.
In other words, while the Venus-Saturn square represents
discordance between two basic principles in life (peace
and authority), the stronger planet during a given recurrence
transit will dictate the direction in which a related event
will take.
In
the case of Marley’s One Love concert, Venus
was in Taurus, one of its own “domiciles” (signs
of rulership), while Saturn was in Leo, a sign opposite
one of its own traditional domiciles (Aquarius). As Venus
represents a uniting principle, it had dominance over Saturn
in the context of the square on this particular day.
Conversely,
on the evening of O’Connor’s
SNL appearance, Saturn was in Aquarius, its own traditional
domicile, while Venus was in Scorpio, a sign opposite its
own domicile of Taurus. Hence, Saturn, representing the
principle of rejection, had the dominating influence in
its square to Venus on that particular day.
Natural Mystic
Important
details to note in both Marley and O’Connor’s
respective natal t-squares would be the planets found at
the apex. For Marley, that planet would be Saturn in Cancer,
which squares both his Venus in Aries and Neptune-Chiron
in Libra.
While
Venus was the dominant planet by transit that day - hence
resulting in a “Venusian” expression
of his recurrence transit - Marley’s dominating motive
was to remain outside (Saturn) the system. He wanted to
maintain his resistance (Saturn) to what Rastafarians refer
to as “Babylon”, anything in society that does
not appeal directly to “Jah” (God).
Neptune,
among other things, represents the “masses” (in
an idealized sense) or humanity as a united collective.
As a singer-songwriter, Marley remains one of the 20th
century’s principle voices against socio-political
oppression and injustice. His message, relayed throughout
his music, was directed at promoting universality, a distinctively
Neptunian aim.
In
addition to the fact that Venus was the dominating planet
during his recurrence transit and
the One Love concert,
the presence of Neptune in his natal t-square reflects
his drive to bring together warring factions and inspire
peaceful resolution to conflict. Also, Chiron’s conjunction
to Neptune in Marley’s chart elevates his humanitarian
sentiments to a distinctly spiritual aim – his Rastafarian
faith.
Although
astrological understanding of Chiron - a celestial body
(most likely a comet) discovered
between the orbits
of Saturn and Uranus in 1977 - remains ambiguous at best,
its most common associations to date are with alternative
forms of healing and faith. Marley’s death of cancer
in 1981 was the result of his refusal to amputate a toe
a few years earlier (1977, in fact), opting instead for
an alternative treatment, after melanoma had developed
in the digit. Neptune is often associated with a sort of
insidious nature, relating to important matters that manage
to go unnoticed until after they’ve had their full
effect (some astrologers even link Neptune to infections).
Faith and Courage
Sinead
O’Connor’s public image, that of the
razor-tongued and razor-shaved warrior woman, is well portrayed
in her horoscope (even without a given birth time). She
has the Sun & Venus in Sagittarius, with Venus at the
center of a t-square to the outer planet opposition common
to most people born between 1965-67: Uranus & Pluto
in Virgo and Saturn & Chiron in Pisces.
Along
with the fact that Saturn was the dominating planet during
her recurrence transit, the
presence of Uranus and
Pluto – outer planets with a more radical (Uranus)
and imposing (Pluto) nature than Neptune – in her
natal t-square with Venus and Saturn, characterize the
severity of her actions that night. With regards to Chiron’s
influence in her t-square, it is interesting to note that,
following her apology to the Pope in 1997, O’Connor
joined the congregation of controversial Irish Bishop Michael
Cox, who eventually ordained her as a priest.
Again,
as in Marley’s case with regard to the Rastafarian
faith, Chiron appears to have some relationship with the
emerging new contexts for spiritual beliefs and practices – in
this case, the advent of female Catholic priests. With
Chiron’s conjunction to Saturn in O’Connor’s
t-square, her burgeoning wisdom directed her to more a
more effective method of fighting the abuse of authority – from
within the system.
Lunar Eclipses
Finally,
there is one other astrological thread common to these
events – the conspicuous presence of Lunar
Eclipses in close contact with planets contained in the
t-squares of Marley & O’Connor’s natal
charts. Long before the emergence of horoscopic astrology
(the use of a horoscope to read the life of a given individual),
eclipses were interpreted by stargazers as “omens”,
indicators of important events that would ultimately affect
the community at large.
Indeed,
both of these events in some way reflected the collective
anxieties of their respective
communities, anticipating
larger issues that would have to be faced down the road.
Long after Marley’s death, Jamaica continued to suffer
from hooliganism and random street violence, which had
initially erupted because of tension between the island’s
stratified political factions. Ten years after O’Connor’s
daring and, at the time, baffling protest, church officials
were finally compelled to face reports of serious abuse
committed within their system.
In
Marley’s case, the Lunar Eclipse that occurred
before the One Love concert was at 3 Libra, conjunct his
natal Chiron-Neptune, emphasized his position as a spiritual
leader (Chiron) in Jamaica’s fight for peace and
unity. His early demise raised him to a martyr-like status
(Neptune), a symbolic representation of the struggle at
hand, as well as a reminder of the consequences of a society’s
failure to resolve political differences peacefully.
For
O’Connor, the Lunar Eclipse that preceded her
appearances on SNL and the Bob Dylan concert was at 24
Sagittarius, conjunct her natal Venus, indicated the crusader’s
ultimate desire to remain within (Venus) the faith that
she was rebelling against. Interestingly, just before her
apology to the Pope in 1997, there was a Lunar Eclipse
at 24 Pisces, conjunct her natal Saturn-Chiron conjunction,
reflecting not only her regret (Saturn) over "the
gesture of a girl rebel," but also her renewed allegiance
to the faith (Chiron) that she had crossed in the first
place.
Sources and Notes
Data Sources:
Bob
Marley’s birth data - February 6, 1945, 2:30
a.m., in St. Ann’s, Jamaica – quoted from Astro
Data Bank (Rodden Rating: C). Wayne Moody quotes 'Marley
and Me: The Real Bob Marley Story', told by his manager
Don Taylor, given in WTPE Sagittarius/1996.
David Fisher quotes Stephen King's biography 'Bob Marley'
which quotes his passport for February 6 but Marley himself
said that was the wrong date. Robert Duncan 'Only the Good
Die Young', 1986, wrote, "there is a question of the
accuracy of the data."
However,
the same date is quoted in the biography included on
his official website (http://www.wailers.co.uk/biog_bob.html),
which is run by his estate. Also, Cedellah Malcolm, Marley’s
mother, is quoted in Sheridan’s book for his birth
date, and even the time of his conception (“early
May”). Even if the birth time is questionable (though
it is quoted in several biographies, not just Taylor’s),
the confirmation of this date concludes that Marley was
born with the Venus-Saturn square in his horoscope.
Sinead
O’Connor’s birth data
is quoted from her birth certificate and student i.d.
card, images of
which are included on this fan site: http://www.sinead-oconnor.com/
Sadly, no time of birth is included, however, no matter
what time she was born, the Venus-Saturn square would be
present in her horoscope.
Biographical Sources:
Bob Marley
Soul
Survivor: The Stories Behind Every Bob Marley Song, 1962-1981 by Maureen Sheridan
Official Bob Marley website biography: http://www.wailers.co.uk/biog_bob.html
http://www.boomshaka.com/toshx/razor.html
Sinead
O’Connor
http://www.cd.sc.ehu.es/FileRoom/documents/Cases/391sinead.html
http://www.notbored.org/sinead.html
http://www.comedycentral.com/tv_shows/saturdaynightlive/snlepisodes.jhtml?season=1992
http://www.sinead-oconnor.com/news/wmview.php?ArtID=12
http://www.geocities.com/snlra/live/9293.html
http://edition.cnn.com/SHOWBIZ/9711/12/sinead.lat/
Notes:
Curiously,
Sinead O’Connor’s refusal to appear
on SNL on May 12, 1990 occurred during a Venus-Uranus
square recurrence transit – another facet of
her crusading nature. Also, keen-eyed observers will
note
that Venus was at 11 Scorpio on the day her apology
to the Pope was published (September 22, 1997) – its
exact position on the night she tore his photograph.
The planet’s return to this position at this
time represents the completion of a cycle, her renewed
commitment
to her beliefs.
H.I.M.
Haile Selassie’s given birth
date is July 23, 1892, near Harar, Ethiopia
Sources: http://www.bobartsinstitute.edu/Selassie.htm,
http://rastafarism.free.fr/haileselassie.html, http://www.m-w.com/mw/textonly/wftw/97july/72397.htm,
http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haile_Selassie
Lyrics
from the song War, adapted from an excerpt of
Ethiopian Emperor H.I.M. Haile Selassie’s
address to the United Nations on October 6, 1963. Music
by Alan Cole and Carlton
Barrett, originally performed by Bob Marley.
What life has taught me
I would like to share with
Those who want to learn...
Until the philosophy which hold one race
Superior and another inferior
Is finally and permanently discredited and abandoned
Everywhere is war, me say war
That until there are no longer first class
And second class citizens of any nation
Until the colour of a man's skin
Is of no more significance than the colour of his eyes
Me say war
That until the basic human rights are equally
Guaranteed to all, without regard to race
Dis a war
That until that day
The dream of lasting peace, world citizenship
Rule of international morality
Will remain in but a fleeting illusion
To be pursued, but never attained
Now everywhere is war, war
Of good over evil, good over evil, good over evil
Good over evil, good over evil, good over evil
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