Profile: Director & Writer Julie Taymor
Last week I saw Julie Taymor’s film Titus (1999), an adaptation of Shakespeare’s Titus Andronicus. I had no idea what it was about, but a blue-painted & affectless Anthony Hopkins mug on the cover seemed to draw me in. I guess I was in the mood for something serious?
Well, if you know anything about that Shakespeare guy, you know that he’s got two kinds of properties: comedy and tragedy. This is one of the tragedies, it was easy to figure out pretty quick. And the only thing I knew about Julie Taymor was her name, and I was trying to figure out if I was merely confusing it with “Jeffrey Tambor.”
Anyway, I stepped into the film with no idea of anything about it. It’s been on my mind since seeing it, and I just looked up Taymor’s birth data (12/15/52, Boston, MA, 10:06 AM) to try to put a vocabulary to my reaction to the film, which has to do with the particular flavor of vision that informs the production design, timing and the framing of many of the visuals - the shots.
The first things I note are the aspects to the nodal axis:
-true Black Moon Lilith (BML) on the Leo/7th South Node
-the asteroid Lucifer (1930) in Scorpio/9th square the axis
-retrograde Jupiter in Taurus in the 3rd house square the axis and opposing Lucifer
-Venus in Aquarius/12th and Mars in Aquarius/1st, both conjunct the North Node
-Descendant conjunct the South Node
This is just one conversation, in more or less fixed grand-square fashion, yet it needs to be broken down. What she knows a lot about is Leo BML in the 7th, as anything on the South Node indicates something we come into this life understanding much about. BML here points to an understanding of the power of one’s primal creativity, and the effect such expressions can have on other people. And conjunct the Descendant, ways of exploring how to achieve balance and harmony are well-understood.
The unresolved issues (squares to the nodes) are Lucifer in Scorpio/9th and rx Jupiter in Taurus/3rd, indicating a conversation between the urge to get to the bottom lines of, via & with ideas (Scorpio/9th) and the desire to slow down the mind in order to get clearer about what it is that’s worth expressing (rx Jupiter in Taurus/3rd).
And then this business on the North Node - Venus in the 12th, Mars in the 1st and the Ascendant, all in Aquarius. Perhaps her karmic past includes a getting caught up in the collaborative expression (SN Leo/7th) that left out her unique creative vision (Venus in Aquarius/12th on NN), leaving her feeling she didn’t get to assert herself creatively as a true expression of her independence (Aquarius Ascendant & Mars in Aqua/1st on NN).
The 3rd-9th axis has something to say about how information gets in and out (and what kind of information it is), and Taurus-Scorpio as an axis has much to do with power: Taurus is about learning to run under the steam of self, while Scorpio is about pooling steams and running with others.
She certainly seems to have learned to integrate that stuff on the North Node - nothing she does looks even remotely like what others are doing, and it’s the last thing you’d expect. She seems also to have found a balance between that Leo SN and the Aquarius NN in doing that unique thing that makes her work stand out and be immediately recognizable, yet not having left behind her skills and strengths of working collaboratively with others.
Tom is available for soul-centered astrology consultations. See http://tdjacobs.com for more information and to sign up for his mailing list.
January 25, 2008 By Tom Jacobs
Notes on the Myths We Live - Finding Ourselves in the Movies
I’m staying at friends’, catsitting. They have quite a collection of movies (each is Sun-Neptune), and I’m a movie lover (Neptune-Mercury-Moon in 2/3, sextile Venus-Pluto in 12). I found myself busier during the stay than I anticipated, so I didn’t watch dozens of the movies over the last few days as a non-reality-based part of me had dreamily anticipated.
When faced with choosing one to watch tonight, I’m reminded of some work I’m developing on the idea that we’re living myths. At different times in our lives we relate to and bring to the world different stories. What these are at any given time in a life can be identified simply and easily by looking at the characters and themes in stories and various media that appeal to us again and again.
As a Scorpio, you might be able to guess that stories of transformation appeal to me. I like action flicks, indie stuff and I like some historical drama and musicals/opera, but stories of characters in deep transformation in any genre really do it for me. And they have for years. I haven’t sat down to work out all the dates, but so far Pluto’s transited to conjunct most of my chart, as Pluto at 3 Libra begins a stretch from the 12th to the 3rd that contains all my major planets but Saturn. It began with Venus-Pallas in the 12th, then Ascendant, then Mars-Uranus-Ceres in the 1st (all these but Ceres in Libra, with Ceres in Scorpio), and then Neptune-Mercury-Moon in Sagittarius in the 2nd-3rd. So, I’ve had plenty of opportunity to Plutonify various aspects of myself (or, um, have various parts of me injected/flooded with Pluto), and these stories of transformation are what I relate to. It seems my personal norm, I suppose.
While I’ll never be done, but as the same particular stories appeal to me again and again, I can tell that I’m in a particular phase of this business. I’m comfortable sharing some of the history (though I might not spill all the current choices): for a long, long time, my favorite movie was David Lynch’s Dune. “The sleeper must awaken!” came through as a kind of anthem to the part of me that was trying to come through. And pretty abruptly, I note, when I began taking channeling class and incorporating work with Spirit into my readings, Dune was no longer my favorite - someone had indeed awoken.
Tom is available for consultations and lessons. See http://tdjacobs.com for more information and to book a consultation.
November 10, 2007 By Tom Jacobs
Profile: Film Director David Cronenberg
I was drawn to see Cronenberg’s new film, “Eastern Promises,” yesterday. After noting my reactions to various aspects of it, I thought to look up his list of films on IMDB. My suspicion was correct: I’ve been drawn to his films for years, and always have a major discomfort when watching them, even as I know I need to watch them.
It’s something like 8 of his films that I’ve seen, not that many, really. But the impact they’ve had on me has been deep, and brought me to look up his chart (March 15, 943, Toronto, ON Canada, no time).
The first thing that jumped out at me from his chart is retrograde Chiron in the same degree as the Leo North Node. It tells me that his own unique brand of creative expression in the karmic past had no outlet, or was not supported or possible (given the circumstances of the situations in which he found himself), and that its expression may feel like an imperative in this life. Pluto is also retrograde and in the sign of Leo…and directly opposite Mars in Aquarius. This tells me that his conscious and unconscious desires (Mars and Pluto, respectively), have an argument running, and that the product of the argument will be an outward expression of Martian stuff that can shock and disturb, but that will support the needs of the Rx Pluto in a way that perhaps only makes a clear sort of sense to Cronenberg himself.
South Node ruler Uranus is in Gemini, conjunct Saturn in Gemini, the former being square the nodal axis. Uranus therefore represents unresolved issues from the karmic past this time around for him. From Steve Forrest I’ve picked up a great phrase for when the South Node ruler squares the nodal axis: He was his own worst enemy. In Cronenberg’s case, it looks like he achieved status as his own worst enemy by what he communicated and how he did it.
The asteroid Lucifer is also square the nodal axis, from the last degree of Scorpio. This tells of the perception in the karmic past that he did things that were bad, wrong - or, if you prefer, evil. Given the relative nature of right and wrong, the perception of having done wrong is enough to have this asteroid square the nodal axis. In Scorpio, we’re talking about intensity, probing the depths, telling difficult truths - we’re talking about the use of power. The dialogue between Lucifer in Scorpio and Uranus in Gemini, the opposition squaring the nodes in Aquarius/Leo, centers on the right use of information for the right reasons, the right expression for the right reasons. One read on them is just because you can surprise the stuff out of people with your message and how you deliver it doesn’t mean that you should. The opposition can serve to keep both energies in check, as they’re having a conversation and can offer each other the differing perspectives (the signs they’re in) they each understand. If they do serve to keep each other in check, Lucifer will ask Uranus if the message needs to be as explosive as Uranus wants it to be, and Uranus will ask Lucifer if anything out of the ordinary is automatically wrong to express.
When going down the list of films yesterday, one of the big ahas was when seeing “Dead Ringers” there. I’ve been hypnotically drawn to see that movie twice (forgetting between viewings everything about it), and each time felt my skin crawl, and my resolve to remember my own version of sanity dissipate…and I couldn’t just quit it and move on to something else. For me, Cronenberg’s work offers the opportunity to see this kind of Mars-Pluto/Chiron expression in action, and I seem to be hooked. And fully disturbed. In the end, I objected to the fact that the film was even made (yes, I can laugh at myself for this now), and understanding the Uranus/Gemini-Lucifer/Scorpio opposition in square to the nodes offers the energy I was responding to with my objection.
The last thing I’ll mention is the true Black Moon Lilith (listed as “osc.” in the embedded chart). With the messages we can/I do variously assume Cronenberg offers us, the data I’ve mentioned so far can come into play. With his true BML, however, I offer that understanding his reasons for his own expression (taking the content of the work out of the picture) are helped by understanding this placement. It’s retrograde, and conjunct Jupiter in the sign of Cancer. What I see with true BML when conjunct other bodies is that there’s a specific dependence on the expression of that other body and the willingness to experience, be, view or meet Lilith. Conjunct Jupiter, his sense of bigness, his ability to risk optimism and fulfill his natural human need to develop a sense of largeness within and for life, is tied to admitting (and perhaps being) Lilith.
This tells me that when he risks sharing his vision, he risks being treated as a Lilith figure. That he’s a man makes no difference to this story; when you bring Lilith, you run the risk of being labeled and treated as dangerous, a malcontent, deserving of abuse for what you brought. (One of the giantly needed teachings surrounding Lilith is that each of us, male and female, has her as part of our makeup.)
When we have conjunctions to Lilith, it’s natural to avoid knowing or expressing the energy of the conjuncting planet, because we’re taught to fear Lilith and avoid learning who she is and what she has to offer. When I see Lilith with Neptune, for example, the typical, default orientation is to avoid knowing the direct connection with God/Goddess/Spirit that we each as humans on some level crave. When Lilith is with the Sun, being seen is the issue; creative expression of ourselves as a cohesive unit (the job of the Sun), is what’s avoided…until, of course, it isn’t.
It makes me curious about Cronenberg’s sense of Jupiter, his willingness to Jupiter, in his early days (he clearly has no problem exploring this energy now). I guess I’ll add that to my Lilith homework list.
And I didn’t even mention that the Mars-Pluto opposition is actually a t-square between Mars-Pluto-Eros, the Sun-Arjunsuri conjunction in Pisces, or the square from Venus in Aries to Moon-Jupiter-true BML…
Tom is available for consultations and lessons. See http://tdjacobs.com for more information and to book a consultation.
September 27, 2007 By Tom Jacobs