Famous Sun Sign Series: Ivan the Terrible

"Enjoy yoor oopertunity to paint me. Ven yoo are feenished, I pluck out yoor eyeballs."

Ivan the Terrible is the first in the Famous Sun Sign Series, as the sun is currently in the sign of Virgo.

A little about Virgo: The "virgin" of the Zodiac, Virgo is very practical, detail-oriented and discriminate. Virgos tend to be steadfast in their work and very particular. They have a strong caring side, as well as a very critical side. Virgos can also be self-deprecating in their need for perfection.



Ivan the Terrible was born on August 25th, 1530. He lost both of his parents at a young age, and was abused and humiliated by the Boyars (high members of the Eastern European aristocracy) who raised him until his coronation as Tsar at age 16. When he took power, he ousted the Boyars who had been in control (including having the last of them fed to the dogs...). That same year he married his first wife, Anastasia. A few years later, in 1550, he organized the first Zemsky Sobor- a sort of National Assembly outlying- in typical Virgo detail- his vision for improving the state of Russia. His Virgo energy was apparent in his need for particularity in choosing the men and the methods necessary to build an improved Russian state. This period of his reign was considered more positive and constructive. As a Virgo, Ivan the Terrible worked effortlessly in particular details to serve the greater good of Russia. The first printing press was introduced during his reign. He opened up trade connections with Western Europe, and helped develop new systems of government.

He seems to have broken the Virgo mold somewhat in conquering the Muslim Tatar- populated Kazan Khanate in 1552 and the Astrakhan Khanate in 1556. Virgos, traditionally, are not the most aggressive signs of the Zodiac. But, as I hypothesize is the case with many of the world's leaders, Ivan the Terrible identified as much with his country as with himself. He sought the typical Virgo perfection for Russia, not just himself, and was just as equally critical about any shortcomings in the young country. So, conquering the tattered remnants of the Golden Horde of Genghis Khan from decades earlier seems all too appropriate.

Ivan's unpleasant childhood contributed to something of a repressed insanity that began to show itself as the years went by. Upon the completion of St. Basil's Cathedral (to celebrate the conquest of the Kazan Khanate), Ivan had the architect, Postnik Yakovlev, blinded to prevent him from ever designing another building as wondrous. Virgo caution with a sociopathic twist?



"It vas so byooteeful when I feenished it. I veesh I could remember what color it was."




Ivan's need for control, critical nature and almost neurotic concern and distrust began to take a hold of him during this later part of his reign. Ivan the Terrible worked effortlessly to expand Russia into a true empire- which got him into serious trouble with Sweden, Poland, the Hanseatic league (which ran along the coastal countries of Northern Europe), the Ottoman Empire, the Crimean Khanate, and of course the Boyars at home in Russia. He bit off more than he could chew in the long run, and years of war, plagues and pressure from hostile neighbors devastated Russia. Eventually, Ivan degraded so badly that he killed his son with his walking staff during an argument over his daugher-in-law's choice of clothes, and shortly after died while setting up a chessboard. A few somber, though appropriate, examples of the Virgo concern in down-to-earth, day to day details.

Plus he was completely insane, which crosses all Zodiac boundaries.

Ivan the Terrible's probable drink of choice:
Kvass- a slightly alcoholic beverage made of fermented bread, common throughout Eastern Europe since even before the Middle Ages. A couple hundred years after Ivan's death, Russia would begin to receive British-exported Imperial Stout, a dark and highly-alcoholic (and therefore more stable) beer that could withstand the long sea voyage to the courts of Catherine II without freezing or spoiling.

Ivan doesn't know what he was missing!

General Sources:
http://www.nndb.com/people/933/000092657/
http://horoscopes.mydaily.com/astrology/virgo/about/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ivan_IV_of_Russia

Introducing the Famous Sun Sign Series

So I was looking up a few of my favorite historical figures, and I noticed that tons of these famous people were Cancers. We're talking an improportionately large quantity. Well, we'll have to wait until next year to discuss that, because this month I'm starting a year of famous people from the current sun sign. Here's the list I picked out- you may be surprised at who you share your sun sign with.

Virgo (starting this month), 08/23 - 09/23 - Ivan the Terrible and Sean Connery
Libra, 09/23 - 10/23 - Mohandas Gandhi, Vladamir Putin
Scorpio, 10/23 - 11/22 - Kurt Vonnegut, the Baha'u'llah
Sagittarius, 11/22 - 12/22 - Andrew Carnegie, Jimi Hendrix
Capricorn, 12/22 - 01/20 - Martin Luther King Jr, Mao Zedong
Aquarius, 01/20 - 02/18 - Grigori Rasputin, Charles Lindbergh
Pisces, 02/18 - 03/20 - Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Edgar Cayce
Aries, 03/20 - 04/20 - Thomas Jefferson, Harry Houdini
Taurus, 04/20 - 05/21 - Sigmund Freud, Karl Marx
Gemini, 05/21 - 06/21 - Queen Victoria, Marilyn Monroe
Cancer, 06/21 - 07/22 - Alexander the Great, Nikola Tesla
Leo, 07/22 - 08/23 - Carl Jung, Fidel Castro

With each post I'll have a few details about the typical characteristics of each sign, and the ways that they show up in the lives of these people (in sometimes unconventional ways...)

And, of course, to the best of my ability I will hypothesize what their adult beverage of choice may have been (those who drank, anyway. Some on this list did not, some did way to much...)

Look for the next post, on Ivan the Terrible, in a few short days!

Generational Astrology- Gen X

Do we really even need a post about this? I mean, Billy Idol. 'Nuff said.

Howdy folks. After a nice cappuccino (and while I battle the temptation to get another one) I am, per my sister's request doing a little post about generational astrology, or specifically generation - x (or, in astrological terms, the Pluto in Libra generation).

Back in ancient times, most of the planets people knew about were fairly personal because of how quickly they moved. Even in the rather shortened life expectancy of the old days, you could reasonably assume you'd make it to 30 (around which age you would encounter what's called your Saturn Return, a beast of a topic that I'm not gonna try to tackle until I understand it better). After people started to discover the outer planets of Uranus, Neptune and Pluto, it became clear that they had a much longer orbit around the sun (and, therefore, around the zodiac) and that large groups of people would be born during the years that these planets would spend in just one sign of the zodiac. As such, these planets (though intensely important in the personal chart of course) came to signify generational tendencies. Often the significance of the planet will play out in very overt ways depending on which sign it's in. In general, Uranus is connected to creativity, expression, rebellion- where the generation seeks and expresses its unique and creative side. Neptune is connected to spiritual understanding, ideals, areas where reality is less strict (which can provide creative insight as well as delusive misunderstanding). Finally, Pluto is connected to the dynamics of power, of change (as we discussed in the last post). I think a good place to start is the comparison between the Baby Boomers and Gen-X.

http://www.wstardesigns.com/Horoscopes/generations.html - This link has a little more information on generational tendencies over the past few hundred years. I've sort of consolidated some of their info and added my interpretation

The baby boomers were born with Uranus in late Gemini/early Cancer square Neptune in Libra, and Pluto in Leo. This is a fairly clear picture of the hippie movement- Search for uniqueness in terms of mentality and family/roots (communes, etc), which was at uncomfortable odds with their social ideals/development (Neptune in Libra). Finally there was the Pluto in Leo aspect- revolutions in Creative expression (just think about the music of the late 60's), Fun (*coughacid*) and the role of the self in society and at large.

In the 70's, those born into Generation - X had Neptune moving into Sagitarrius (creativity and idealism in the search for meaning and truth, as well as confusion and uncertainty). Uranus in Libra (early 70's) and Scorpio (Later 70's) brought changes and uniqueness in social understanding and sex, Pluto in Libra helped lend a transformative quality to social consciousness, an increased concern for the well-being of others, a desire for social cooperation, but in some cases without a clear focus. Libra is the Scales of the zodiac, the sign of relationships, marriage, cooperation and concern for others (and pleasing others, being popular). While an extremely important turning point for the mentality of people in a rapidly changing world, this generation (at least astrologically) did not have the same fire as the Baby Boomers, or the discipline of later generations. In addition, I think it's interesting that the Baby Boomers had Neptune in Libra- an idealism and slight vagueness in terms of the relationship aspects of Libra- while Generation X had Pluto in this sign, bringing a much harder, transformative slap in the face of reality about social understanding. This, in my opinion, is very telling about the differences in the Baby-Boomer generation and Generation X.

I believe each generation has stereotypes born of their innate tendencies that just happened to fall in a certain pattern (the self-expression of the Pluto in Leo's became "Baby boomers are selfish". The cooperative, social understanding of Pluto in Libra became "Generation X is lazy". The inquisitive, deeper understanding of Pluto in Scorpio became "Millenials are dark and emotional". But we all contribute to the whole in myriad ways, and each generation brings an understanding of a new part of the zodiac- each of which is essential as we grow and develop as a society.

Generation X'ers have alot of potential in creativity and expression as a group to other people, and while they faced the difficulty of searching for meaning and an understanding that seemed to come naturally to older generations, they were also some of the first people who had to face the challenge of finding meaning and understanding in a world of rapid social change, a world in which self-expression was not effective enough to provide meaning, a world in which communes just weren't an option anymore. I think Fight Club is the quintessential Gen-X movie- living in the creative wake of a generation of self-expression, with expectations of greatness but a strong sense of disillusionment. So what can we do? Work together, express our frustration with society by making soap and beating the sh!t out of each other, and ultimately learning about ourselves and finding love.

Tyler Durden: Man, I see in fight club the strongest and smartest men who've ever lived. I see all this potential, and I see squandering. God damn it, an entire generation pumping gas, waiting tables; slaves with white collars. Advertising has us chasing cars and clothes, working jobs we hate so we can buy shit we don't need. We're the middle children of history, man. No purpose or place. We have no Great War. No Great Depression. Our Great War's a spiritual war... our Great Depression is our lives. We've all been raised on television to believe that one day we'd all be millionaires, and movie gods, and rock stars. But we won't. And we're slowly learning that fact. And we're very, very pissed off.

While I think this is one of the greatest movie quotes of all time and has been pretty applicable to anyone born after 1950, Gen X in particular resonates with this statement.

Well guys, I got that second cappuccino, and this is all I got for today. Cheers!

Pluto and You

Hades/Pluto. Probably didn't have many parties at his place...


Here on my deck on this nice Wednesday evening, I'm enjoying a nice bottle of dark ale, and that got me thinking about something else that's dark, mysterious and slightly intoxicating- the planet Pluto.

Now, you may have heard rumors around the scientific community that Pluto is not, in fact, a planet. Well, that's fine and dandy for the scientific community. To me, and from my understanding the majority of the astrological community, Pluto is alive and well, as much a planet as it always has been.

This past Saturday, Saturn and Pluto formed a square, in the cardinal signs of Libra and Capricorn, respectively. This is a rather big deal astrologically, even more so because it took place within a couple degrees of the exact angles of the horoscope- 0 degrees of the cardinal signs (Aries, Libra, Capricorn and Cancer). This adds to the strength of the event.

Let's get some quick background info on Pluto. Discovered in 1930 by Percival Lowell, and named by an 11-year old girl from Oxford, England, Pluto entered the world at a time in which there was great change and upheaval. Pluto is associated with transformation, power struggle, depth and difficult, sometimes painful changes. The discovery of a planet tends to coincide with appropriate developments here on Earth- evidence, perhaps, that we tend to find what we search for- and, I would add, we search for things when we're ready for them.

Pluto is a very slow-moving planet, and as such is a generational aspect in the personal chart. If you were born between 1984 to 1995, the Pluto in your chart should be located in Scorpio. Back in the days before anybody knew about planets beyond Saturn, the sign Scorpio was ruled by Mars. After the discovery and assimilation of Pluto into astrological practice decades ago, Pluto became the ruler of Scorpio. Scorpio is a very dynamic, somewhat dark sign, and is a good match with Pluto, sharing features such as power through knowledge, transformation, perhaps even subversion. Pluto in Scorpio is in the sign it rules, and therefore at its strongest as it treks slowly around the zodiac. Those of us born during this time have a stronger Pluto in our charts, and this informs our generation in a strong way.

This, I feel, is pretty easy to see. Our generation has a deep, unsettled awareness of the balance of power in the world, along with a need to change and transform. There is a deep-rooted dissatisfaction with the way things are, along with a passion and depth that expresses itself in many different ways, depending on our circumstances. (More Gothic people, too? The Goth aesthetic screams Pluto in Scorpio to me) We also have a relationship to our sexuality that is notably different than other generations, and Scorpio is a very sexual sign. Pluto is no longer in Scorpio- it passed through Scorpio to Sagittarius, and just now on to Capricorn, where it is now squaring Saturn.

Saturn in Libra square Pluto in Capricorn is a very intense aspect in the world at large. Capricorn is often associated in astrology with the professional business realm- Capricorn tends to indicate cool, collected action, practicality, stubbornness mixed with confidence and the ability to get things done. I doubt its any coincidence that the transformative power of Pluto as it moves through Capricorn has begun to drastically change our understanding and relationship with business, money and resources. At the same time, Saturn is now in a square aspect with Pluto- a challenge between old and conservative structure (Saturn) and transformative, subversive power changes (Pluto). The last time this sort of aspect occurred was the 1970's, an era in which there were clear examples of old versus new- student uprisings, Kent state, protests, etc.

This is a tense time anyway, I'm sure most would agree- and all of us know that things need to change. My generation, with Pluto in Scorpio, feels that perhaps on an even more dire, intrinsic level. But armed with that knowledge, we can use it to our advantage. Our relentless desire for change, our connection to our subconscious and our need for peeling back the layers to find the hidden truth may help propel the great changes society needs.

Yessir, good times indeed.

A little something for the Harry Potter fans

Okay guys, I'll admit I've gotten a little extreme in where I've thought about applying astrology lately. So on a whim, Margaret and I organized the signs of the Zodiac into the Houses of Hogwarts. Now, don't be offended, it was just for fun. Some examples that helped along the way: Tom Riddle was a Capricorn, Harry Potter was a Leo, and Hermione was a Virgo (which isn't in Gryffindor, but let's face it, she could have been Ravenclaw anyway).
Cheers folks,
Beau

P.S. Message me with your sign if you want a more detailed explanation of why I shtuck it in which house...

Let the Drunken Astrology commence!

Hello everyone,

My name is Beau, and my comrade Talan and I were discussing Astrology recently over a few beers. Over a few rounds we realized the ingenuity of Astrological discourse with a glass of beer in hand. By suggestion of our bartenders Mike and Dylan, I started this blog to share our thoughts about Astrology, Life, Society, Mysteries of the Ancient and Modern World, and of course coffee and beer suggestions.

Only time will tell what crazy insights await, though we were considering T-Shirts for a start...
Cheers All,
Beau