Tag: astrology

Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec – Astrology Musings

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Photo by Timea Kadar from Pexels

Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec’s short life is the stuff of legend today.

He was born into an aristocratic family in the south of France, and fought health problems all his life. However, he could draw and paint, and this became his life’s work.

He was not only a painter, but also a printmaker, illustrator, draughtsman and caricaturist. Much of his best known work encapsulates the heady and seedy theatrical world of late 19th century Paris.

Intense, variable energy

According to the known birth data, he was born with Scorpio rising, a testimony to the intense energy he put into his life, despite ongoing health and addiction problems.

His ruler, Mars, was found in Gemini in house 8. Here we see not only the variable and versatile energies but also the ‘darker’, more evocative, imagery of Paris that he was involved with and portrayed in a lot of his work.

The printed word in art

Mars is opposite Mercury and Jupiter in house 2, which, while adding a certain mental agitation, will also encourage the diversification of his talent.

And with his prominent Mercury and ruler in Gemini linked, it is fitting that the printed word is also equally prominent in his work.

Venus in Capricorn (part of a t-square, see below) also points to practical art forms and situated in house 3, we see another link to the mind, communication and words, particularly through illustration, posters and caricature.

Impressionability

Henri was a Sun Sagittarian with Jupiter conjunct in house 2, trine Neptune in house 6 and sextile the Moon in house 12. The strong mutable quality of his chart overall, including his Sun, shows restlessness and diverse talents, which can be put to good use. He and his family were also Anglophiles, and he spent some time in London. Sagittarius is rarely satisfied with sticking to his home patch.

This may also show his aristocratic background and upbringing, with all its ‘benefits’, but also a certain impressionability along with artistic ability.

Neptune, as I’ve come to realise, is often prominent in the charts of artists, connecting the individual with more trans-personal forces, drawing on inspiration.

Sensitivity

There is a fairly tight T-square involving Venus, the Moon and Neptune in cardinal signs, in houses 3, 6 and 12.

Here we see an innate sensitivity in relationships and mentally, and although with Venus and the Moon in Libra hinting involved hinting at a resulting artistic talent, this may also be indicative of his reliance on alcohol, which became a serious health issue in chronic terms later in his life.

Life’s work

Henri’s MC or midheaven in Virgo and Leo 10th house point to his life’s work. The rulers of these parts, Mercury and the Sun, are found together in house 2 of money and security, beneficial Jupiter encouraging him to push this career.

The opposition from Mars in house 8, as mentioned earlier, certainly made it anything but plain sailing, but also acted as a spur to greater achievement.

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Pablo Picasso, Creative Tour de Force – Astrology Musings

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It’s easily overlooked that Picasso was not merely a painter.

You can include sculptor, printmaker, ceramicist, stage designer, writer, poet and playwright to his considerable repertoire.

Even what he is best known for, Cubism, is like an attempt to solidify a two dimensional form.

With a Leo ascendant, there is a powerfully creative approach to life.

His ruler, the Sun, in Scorpio in house 4, anchors him deeply in the fathoms of psychology and in the ancestry, symbols and mythology of his and the collective genetic past.

Appreciation of beauty

So much has of course, rightly, been made of this. But he also has Venus in Libra in house 3.

Here is an appreciation of beauty (and women) and a need to express it verbally and through written form: writing and poetry.

This Venus is in a loose sextile to a house 5 Moon in Sagittarius, giving him wider creative expression for this trait.

Then there’s Mars, his sun ruler, in Cancer in house 12. Here is the emotive energy which can erupt from the subconscious through creativity, aided by the sextile to inspirational Neptune in Taurus in house 10.

Constructive transformation

But it’s his Taurus house 10 which is most interesting.

Here we have Saturn and Neptune in a loose conjunction, with Jupiter and Pluto doing the same later in the sign, opposed to Mercury in house 4.

Here is the purpose of strong physicality, the constructive approach, the need to transcend it, expand it and ultimately transform it into something else, the latter examined and inspected deeply, with great intensity.

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The Traditionalism of Hilaire Belloc – Astrology Musings

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Hilaire Belloc was a notable Anglo-French writer who died in 1953.

A Sagittarian ascendant befits his stradling of two distinct European cultures and a man of wide interests.

His ruler Jupiter in Gemini in house 7, shows his multi-faceted approach, eclectic relationships (he married an American) and variable writing topics; he wrote books for children, about travel, plays, essays and books on mainly history and traditional issues.

Saturn in his first house (in a loose opposition to Jupiter in house 7) could symbolise his generally conservative outlook. Saturn trine Neptune in house 5 hints at the idealism which he attached to his conservatism, expressing it creatively.

Wide interests

His Sun is conjunct Mercury (house 10 ruler) in Leo in house 9. Here is a powerful and creative individual with a strong interest in philosophy, extensive travel and foreign culture. This was always likely to be part of the basis of his life direction and career.

Belloc’s traditional stance is also very much emboldened by his full house 8.

The Moon conjunct Uranus in Cancer in this house reveals an emotional and somewhat unique attachment to deeper issues of life and culture. He was an ardent Catholic and traditionalist who hated to see old lifestyles disappear.

More than this, his Venus (MC ruler) conjunct Mars in Cancer in this house too, shows an ardent love of home, family and traditional values, the energy he put into getting back to their roots, and in trying to preserve and regenerate them. This too, became part and parcel of what he stood for.

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Berthe Morisot, the Art of Astrology – Musings

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Often considered one of the three great ladies of impressionism, Berthe Morisot’s works were described as exuding much feminine charm.

Born to a wealthy family, her early style was said to be ‘effleurer’, or of a light touch, though her palette was usually quite restrained in the use of colour.

She had three major periods in her work, watercolour, pastel, and then oil painting, though at times she was not averse to mixing all three mediums together. Even during her lifetime she was considered one of the best impressionists and still has a high reputation today.

Responsive love of balance

What can we see from her chart?

She has Cancer rising, making the Moon her ruler, which is in Libra conjunct Mars in house 4.

She seems to have had very strong feelings, and could probably argue well. The Moon in Libra loves balance and harmony and this is invigorated by the Martian energy. She was clearly very responsive. Mars is also the ruler of house 10 of career and house 5 of creativity, all indicative of an energetic and creative career.

A spur to achievement

Her Capricorn Sun in house 7 along with Mercury, gives her the ability to graft and study seriously, but clearly her marriage to Manet’s brother Eugene was extremely important, as was her relationships to other artists of that period, from whom she gained much inspiration.

However, the Sun’s challenging square to her Moon and Mars, shows that there were some major difficulties in her relationships at home, possibly in her childhood, which could have felt like a cleavage, but a spur to achievement in the long run.

A sea of artistic inspiration

It’s like her own strong feelings being at loggerheads with her sense of duty as a person as she grew.

Most interesting of all to my mind is Venus conjunct the MC in Pisces in house 9. If Venus can represent an aspect of art, then Pisces is like a sea of inspiration, very close to one of the prime indicators of career, or life direction.

This, perhaps, more than any other point in her chart, describes her very soft, subtle signature style of ‘effleurer’ and the ‘feminine charm’ she was known to illustrate in her work.

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Paul Signac and the Art Revolution – Astrology Musings

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Paul Signac had a deep love of the sea. Photo by Pixaby. Pexels.com

Paul Signac is not necessarily the first name that springs to mind when one thinks of the post impressionist period at the end of the 19th and early 20th centuries.

Nevertheless, a short study of his life reveals how key he was, not only in supporting Georges Seurat, founder of pointillism, and helping Henri Matisse develop and grow beyond Fauvism, but also in establishing ideas in art theory and encouraging communist anarchism, which was very much a supporting philosophy, opening up so-called artistic freedom.

He was also a great collaborator and supporter of fellow artists, and became a long time president of the Société des Artistes Indépendants.

The sea

Although he originally trained as an architect, he began to paint seriously after seeing Monet’s work.

Signac adored the sea, not just painting it, but being on it, a part of it, sailing around the coasts of Europe, drawing and sketching, to bring ideas back to the studio. Eventually he settled by the sea at St. Tropez.

Pointillism

Intrigued by Seurat’s revolutionary pointillism, he became a supporter and developed the technique himself, which in his hands further developed later into larger squares of colour, as opposed to small dots.

In time he became president of the Salon des Independents, an important organisation of the time which set the standards for 20th century exhibitions, allowing more freedom for the artist.

Dominant water element

He also knew Van Gogh and worked with him for a time and wrote extensively on the theory of art, with much of his output remaining unpublished.

So what about his birth chart? Well, he has Aries rising, quite fitting for his pioneering attitude. He also has Neptune quite close to his ascending degree, also appropriate since he was so fond of the sea, almost spiritually attached to it. Neptune is quite often prominent in the charts of artists. The water element is also quite dominant in his chart as a whole.

Strong Scorpio and 8th house

Neptune is in opposition to Venus in Aquarius, another symbol of the feminine, which leads one to feel that this was often a source of unease in his life, particularly in regard to relationships, which might have been quite unusual and prone to mysterious endings.

What is most interesting in his chart though, is a very full house 8 in Scorpio. Here we have his ruler, Mars conjunct Mercury and Jupiter and the Sun and Moon together later in that house.

Penetrating, intense mind

His ruler here will add greater intensive energy; his systematic approach to art, like sailing around the European coasts for the purpose of painting, is an example of this.

Mars close to Mercury and Jupiter, gives him a deeply penetrating, inwardly expansive mentality, which as we have seen, correlates well to his writings about art theory and his strong interest in political movements like anarchistic communism.

Do or die attitude

Indeed, this house 8 activity, including of course his Sun and Moon, suggests a strong interest in and attachment to others and their establishment of security, and in the deeper, more secretive aspects of life, like death, regeneration, existence itself.

It is this ‘do or die’ outlook which could have led to the interest in more fundamental theorising politically and philosophically. It also points to the fact that he was a very loyal friend and collaborator to other artists and helped to steer the movement along a more productive path.

Fundamental

What’s more, there is the opposition of Pluto in Taurus in house 2 to house 8 Mercury, Mars and Jupiter.

Here we can see fully underlined the undermining attitude he had towards the status quo through his interest in anarchistic communism. He wanted to change things for the better, but believed that only fundamental, even drastic political change could bring that about, even at the potential cost of his own security.

A prime mover

Considering all this Scorpio and house 8 activity, it is perhaps not surprising that Paul Signac is not necessarily one of the better known artists of his time. Yet, he was nevertheless a prime mover behind the scenes.

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