January 7, 2009
The great thing about archetypal astrology is that it can be used to deepen our understanding of events that can be personal, collective or universal in nature. Being a Jungian astrologer and very much aware of the concepts of collective consciousness and synchronicity, it always amazes me when a movie reflects the energy of the current time, unbeknownst to the director, producer, actors. The last time I had this wow moment was with Milk.
This movie was released on November 26, 2008 and immediately hit a cord with the American public. It depicts the life of Harvey Milk, California's first openly gay elected official, who was assassinated 30 years ago. Astrology, which is also an extraordinary timing devise, will help us understand why the movie came to life now and why it has captured the imaginations of the audience.
Harvey Milk was born on May 22, 1930 in Long Island, fought in the Navy during the Korean War and upon his return to the US, tried a careers in insurance and on Wall Street. Although successful, his heart was not in finance and in 1972 Milk moved to San Francisco. He settled in the Castro district, organizing the expanding community, dubbing himself the "Mayor of Castro Street". He encountered resistance from the existing gay political establishment but kept running for political office three times, although unsuccessfully. Meanwhile he honed his innate skills as a politician. Voters responded well enough to warrant his running for city supervisor in 1977. Milk was elected and served for eleven months. On November 27, 1978, Milk and Mayor George Moscone were assassinated by Dan White, another city supervisor who had recently resigned and wanted his job back.
Both Milk's election and the events following his assassination demonstrated the clash between the liberal population of the district and the conservative the city government and police force. It is hard to believe that a 70’s-set movie about a homosexual politician could prove so popular now when Representative Barney Frank is a major figure in the House, Ellen DeGeneres has a popular day time show and States are discussing gay marriage.
What is the theme that the collective consciousness, the public recognized as important and current? It is the energy that is represented by Saturn and Uranus. These two planets represent energies that are dissimilar even hostile to each other. Saturn as the ruling planet of Capricorn stands for the traditional, the conservative, the preservation of status quo, is focused on the bottom line, on the pragmatic, respecting authority and the establishment; seeks above all to be responsible and self disciplined. Uranus as the ruling planet of Aquarius is focused on societal change, even radical change, progress, stands for the unconventional, the unique, but also the humanitarian, the idealistic; seeks above all personal and intellectual freedom. The dance between these two planets occurs within a 42-45 years cycle but is most noticeable when Saturn and Uranus actually come to a face to face position in the skies, an opposition, a 180 degree angle. It is actually happening now in the skies and they will remain in this confrontational aspect until 2010.
We recently witnessed these energies being played out by our presidential candidates in a very public arena. In the last opposition (mid 60’s) civil rights was the big issue. Nowadays gay rights is one way in which the opposition between the conservative and the progressive is materialized. During the last election States voted on gay marriage and California politics was dominated by Prop 8.
Harvey Milk in his natal chart has Saturn and Uranus in a 90 degree angle. We call this aspect a square meaning that there is in his psyche a conflict between conservative pressures and the need to express his differences, his uniqueness. Most people with this square respond to the psychological conflict by being quite hard edged. He was no exception. His Saturn is very strong in the ruling sign of Capricorn but sits in the 11th house of groups, associations, social issues. This is the quintessential astrological signature of gifted community organizer.
All of us are feeling the effects of the ongoing Saturn Uranus opposition but in different degrees according to the specificity of our own natal chart. In terms of our collective consciousness we recognized the actuality of the issue, we connected with the struggle between status quo and progress and Milk, the movie, became a success although the events depicted have long been outside the scope of the news.
I also believe that a person’s chart remains active after the passing of their physical body and astrology provides good evidence to support this position. Harvey Milk’s rising sign is at 23 degrees Aquarius being now activated by transit by Neptune, the planet connected with images, media, movies. Although his physical person is no longer with us his image, his persona, his struggle, his accomplishments have been brought to the limelight. Neptune takes 164 years to complete a 360 degree orbit so this transit would not have been possible during Harvey Milk’s lifetime.
The choice of Sean Penn might appear coincidental to all but astrologers. Sean Penn was born exactly one Saturn cycle (29/30 years) after Harvey Milk, connecting in a powerfully karmic way the Man to the Actor. Critics have praised Sean Penn’s performance as masterly revealing the “in your face” quality of Milk’s character. Although Sean Penn does not have a Saturn Uranus aspect, his chart shows in other ways the theme of the defiant, the rebellious. The Universe is telling us through the release of this movie to pay attention to the ongoing conflict between the conservative forces and progressive forces and within our world to let go of the past without forgetting its lessons for the sake of creating a progressive but well thought out future.
© 2009 Luiza Azancot
