Mars -
Mars has an aggressive or divisive character and, among
other things, represents a masculine principle (i.e.
male individuals, groups of men, etc).
Uranus – Uranus
has a destabilizing character, and is associated with
qualities or subjects like rebellious or generally
extreme behavior, inspired flashes of brilliance, very
sudden changes in circumstances, and modern technology.
Conjunction – Two
planets or more in a given sign can be said to be conjunct,
but the term is generally used for when they are joined
at the same degree, or relatively close, as it is in
this article. The significations of any two or more
conjunct planets are “blended” and grouped
as a singular astrological force.
In
early 1965, the Rolling Stones had been together for
almost three years. They started off as a rhythm & blues
band, playing cover versions of old standards by people
like Chuck Berry and Muddy Waters - whose song Mannish
Boy featured the line “like a rolling stone”,
from which the group derived its name. However, on
the heels of the Beatles’ international success,
the Stones’ manager, Andrew Loog Oldham, was pressuring
guitarist Keith Richards and singer Mick Jagger to write
their own material, in the more contemporary pop style
of the time.
The
band’s other guitarist, Brian Jones, a talented
multi-instrumentalist and “blues purist”,
was desperately fighting to maintain the group’s
style to its traditional format. He had been the group’s
original leader, but his lack of songwriting skills and
unreliable behavior on tour had gradually robbed him
of his influence. With Richards and Jagger now in charge,
the group was having relative success with original compositions
like The Last Time, though they still had not had a number
one hit in America.
Sometime
during the night of May 6th/7th – during the course
of an American tour - Richards woke up in his motel room
in Clearwater FL with a distinctive three-note “riff” (melody)
in his head. He quickly played the tune into a tape recorder
he kept by his bed and then went back to sleep. The next
day, he played the riff for Jagger, telling him, “The
line that goes with this (tune) is ‘I can’t
get no satisfaction’”. Jagger completed the
lyrics within the next two days, and the soon-to-be classic
song was recorded at RCA Studios in Hollywood on May
11th.
Richards
had originally intended his riff to be played by horns,
but wound up playing it himself on the guitar, with the
use of a “fuzz” effect created by a new gadget
that happened to be around. This piece of equipment was
among the first of its kind, and its inclusion on the
recording introduced a whole new sound for the electric
guitar. Today, such gadgets are standard tools for most
rock guitarists. The resulting song – (I Can’t
Get No) Satisfaction - was released as a single on June
4th, and hit number one on the U.S. pop charts on July
10th, remaining there for the next four weeks. The Stones
had finally hit the big time in America.
Curiously,
sometime during the same week of May 7-11 (most likely
around the 8th), Jones fell completely from grace in
the eyes of his band mates. Having already fathered a
number of illegitimate children by the time he was in
his early 20s, Jones was also known to be physically
abusive with women.
One night after a concert, he brought a young girl back to his hotel room.
When she emerged the next morning –crying, bruised and sporting two
black eyes – his indignant band mates cut him off socially, even
sanctioning his beating by one of their roadies for his serious offence,
from which he sustained two broken ribs. Although he would remain in the
group until a month before his death in 1969, Jones’ influence in
the group was now completely diminished and he spent the rest of his life
slowly wasting away.
Chart
1: Keith Richards (rectified)
Chart
2: Brian Jones (7:00 p.m. used, from “evening”)
Keith
Richards (born December 18, 1943 at 6:00 a.m. – rectified
by me to 6:02:21 – Dartford, England; Diagram 1)
was born with Uranus retrograde at 6 Gemini and Mars
retrograde at 8 Gemini: what would be considered a natal
Mars-Uranus conjunction. Brian Jones (born February 28,
1942, evening – 7:00 p.m. used - Cheltenham, England;
Diagram 2) was born with both Mars and Uranus at 26 Taurus:
also a natal Mars-Uranus conjunction.
Recurrence
Transits
This
story can be used to demonstrate the use of recurrence
transits in astrology. Most astrology books and articles
that discuss planetary transits to points on a natal
chart usually refer to what I call “zodiacal contact”.
If, for instance, someone has the planet Mars at, say,
the 2nd degree of Pisces in their natal chart, and the
planet Uranus comes around by transit and moves to that
same degree, then any astrologer will tell you that the
person has just had a Uranus to Mars conjunction transit.
However,
recurrence transits refer to times when specific planetary
combinations, such as Mars-Uranus conjunctions, are repeated
in the sky on a given day or series of days. If someone
has a Mars-Uranus conjunction in their natal chart, and
Mars and Uranus are conjoined at a given time, then that
person’s natal conjunction gets “activated”.
That is, there is some form of event or set of circumstances
that somehow reflects whatever the Mars-Uranus conjunction
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 conjunction 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: Keith Richards writes Satisfaction riff (3:00 a.m.
used)
As
chart 3 illustrates, there was a Mars-Uranus
conjunction transit at 10 Virgo on May
7, 1965; hence, both Richards and Jones were
experiencing a recurrence of their natal conjunctions
at this time. Four days later, sometime on May
11, 1965,
"(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction" was recorded
while Mars was at 11+ Virgo, and Uranus was at 10+
Virgo--still
during the Mars-Uranus Conjunction. See Notes for
more details. Transiting Venus was at 26 Taurus on May 8th-9th,
conjunct Brian Jones' natal Mars--Uranus conjunction, around
the time of his assault (see below).
Inspired
Protest and Gadgetry
In
Keith Richards’ case, the transiting conjunction
met exactly on his Midheaven (at 10 Virgo) – the
horoscopic point that refers specifically to a person’s “career” or “place
in the world”. The recurrence transit, for him,
coincided with a flash of inspiration that allowed him
to express himself in such a way that would distinguish
him in the public eye. Even the song’s title reflects
the sort of restless, protesting nature associated with
the Mars-Uranus combination.
Importantly,
a square aspect from his natal Moon at 7 Virgo intercepts
his natal Mars-Uranus conjunction; that is, in numerical
order of degrees, it comes between Mars at 8 Gemini and
Uranus at 6 Gemini. As the Moon represents an unconscious, “receiving” influence
in astrology, it is interesting that the song’s
melody came to him in his sleep. He has often stated
in interviews that great songs are not “written”,
but “received”, like an antennae picking
up a signal.
The
fact that he used a very new form of technological gadgetry
to produce a distinct sound for the song’s recording,
also finds a symbolic reference to Mars-Uranus, in that
the employment of technology (Uranus) was used to create
a harsh, distorted (Mars) sound.
Although
the Beatles had included a hint of “natural” guitar
feedback (which is produced when a loud electric guitar
is turned to face its amplifier) on their hit song I
Feel Fine (a sentiment that is pretty much opposite to
not feeling “satisfied”), this was the first
instance – at least in the case of a “hit” song – that
a gadget that was specifically produced to create this
effect was used. Of course, the Beatles song in question
- which was released as a single in the last week of
November 1964 – also came out during (but was not
recorded during) a Mars-Uranus conjunction, but that
is another matter entirely. Whether the inclusion of
guitar distortion on the Beatles’ track was a direct
inspiration for the Rolling Stones is unknown, but not
unreasonable to presume.
Irrational
Expression of Rage
For
Brian Jones, his experience of the Mars-Uranus recurrence
transit was, sadly, not channeled through musical innovation
(though he was a tremendously innovative musician in
his time). It is hard to fathom why the blonde and charismatic
Jones – who, at this time, was probably one of
the pop world’s most desirable sex symbols – would
be impelled to express himself through violence against
women. It is well documented in numerous biographies
that this was a fairly regular form of behavior for him.
But
again, that is another view of what a Mars-Uranus conjunction
can represent in a given horoscope: a seemingly irrational
(Uranus) expression of rage and even violence (Mars).
It is worth noting that the planet Venus – which,
as the converse force to Mars, represents a sort of feminine
principle in astrology – was transiting through
the last degrees of Taurus during this week, “triggering” his
natal Mars-Uranus conjunction at the time of the assault,
along with the recurrence transit. This added transit
reflects the fact that it was a woman who unwittingly “wandered” into
the path of Jones’ unstable temperament at this
time.
Even
if Jones had been able to control his violent impulses,
this was still a pivotal and highly unsatisfying week
in his life. Although the Rolling Stones had been gradually
leaning towards a more “pop” direction in
their sound over the past year or so, it was only with
the success of (I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction that
they moved on, more or less completely, from their R & B
roots – at least until long after Jones was dead.
The Stones’ rising popularity following the song’s
success marked the real end of his grip on a band that
he had, basically, started three years previously – with
the explicit intention of playing traditional rhythm
and blues music.
The
Mars-Uranus recurrence was in an opposition aspect to
Jones’ Sun
(the astrological ego and creative force) at 9 Pisces,
pointing to the fact that his own interests were at odds
with the band’s new direction – not to mention
the fact that he was thrashed and humiliated in lieu
of his violent tendencies. Ironically, while Jones hated
the song (he was known to obnoxiously play the melody
to Popeye the Sailor Man when it was performed
live), it was he – more than anyone else in the
group – who
truly couldn’t get any satisfaction.
Biographical
and Data Sources, and Notes
|
