Janet's Planets

Astro Analysis of Barack Obama

We finally got a birth time for Barack Obama. People were raising doubts about whether or not he was born in the U.S or in Kenya which forced his staff to release his birth certificate on the internet. .  Do I sense some sneaky astrologers behind this event?  The new time is 7:24 PM on August 4, 1961 in Honolulu, Hawaii,  which gives him an Aquarius Ascendant, Gemini Moon and Leo Sun.  This chart looks much better for a Win than the previous time we had of 1:06 PM.

 

The previous time we had gave him a Scorpio Ascendant and a Taurus Moon.  Looking at the prior chart, I couldn’t understand how he could be an agent of change with three fixed signs-- (Leo, Taurus and Scorpio).  I didn’t know if he was putting us on or we were seeing something that wasn’t there.  Now with Aquarius rising and a Gemini moon, I certainly believe he is the right person to bring change.  He also has an abundance of Neptune energy and Neptune rules idealism and belief.  The Obama bumber sticker “Change we can believe in”  an exact reflection of his chart. 

 

I analyze birth charts by looking at the archetypes, or in other words, daimon’s or Gods and Goddesses. As Hillman’s states in his book, The Soul’s Code, “The soul of each of us is given a unique daimon before we are born and it has selected an image or pattern that we live on earth….the daimon is the carrier of our destiny”.  Plato said that before we come to earth a God or Goddess stamps us on the forehead and says, “go to earth and do what I did”. Thus we are born with unconscious drives and motivations.   The ancients Greeks called this energy the gods, Hillman calls them daimons and Jung called them archetypes.   Archetypes are unconscious clusters of behaviors, and  patterns of emotions and mental constructs.  I believe that becoming conscious of the archetypes in your psyche allows you to express them in a more mature and enlightened manner.  Astrological signs are the archetypes.  They are more profound then simply a list of qualities of behavior, they are a mythos, a schema, and a plan that is imaged in a story--a pattern of development. The classical myths and fairy tales were written about these archetypes.  These stories and our birth chart can help us learn about the archetypes in our psyche.  The most important archetypes in our birth chart are revealed by the sign of the Sun, the Moon and the Ascendant

 

The Sun in the chart represents the Self, the core identity--what we are to become.  In Obama’s chart, the Sun is in Leo, the Benevolent King.  Leo’s are destined to be the center of attention or the head of state.  It is a warm, fixed, extroverted, fire sign¹.  We look to Leo’s to lead. This is a great sign for a president.

 

The sign on the Ascendant in our birth chart represents the archetype that we project out into the world and how the world views us.  It is similar to the persona in Jungian psychology. In Obama’s chart, his Ascendant sign is Aquarius. This archetype is best personified by Prometheus, the only god who was a humanitarian.  If you remember, he rebelled against the gods to bring fire to mankind.  We see him as someone who will rebel against his class, in this case the political system, and bring change to save us.  Aquarius is the sign that signifies the revolutionary, the change maker.  It is ruled by Uranus which was discovered around the time of the French and American Revolution. 

 

The Moon in the birth chart represents the inner child, our hidden emotional nature.  It is similar to the personal unconscious in Jungian Psychology.   Obama has the Moon in Gemini.  Gemini is a mutable sign.  I think it is better to have the moon in a strong sign such as a cardinal or a fixed sign.  The Moon is our inner core.  And when things get really tough it is good to have a solid center.  This Moon may be too weak but can be helped by having a really strong partner.  Gemini is also Peter Pan who doesn’t want to grow up and leaves his shadow in the drawer.  Gemini’s don’t like to face anything difficult, but they are very verbal because Gemini is also the Bugs Bunny archetype.  He has a great gift for communication, this will be a tremendous help in debates and fielding questions from the press.  Gemini’s are not afraid to change their minds.  This may be why he has been accused of flip flopping on issues.

 

His Moon in Gemini is in a challenging square to Uranus and Pluto which may indicate deep emotional wounds acquired during his childhood and from dealing with women; he may see women as unpredictable and controlling.  The Moon is also his inner nature, which in this case could cause his emotional nature to be demanding and erratic.  He could suddenly change direction.  I found a definition for these three planets in aspect in an old astrology book by  Reinhold Ebertin who said that the Moon with Uranus and Pluto shows a destiny of  “building anew upon ruins.”  A very apt description of what he will need to do if he is elected president.

 

Neptune is very strong in Obama’s chart.  It is the most elevated planet, the only planet that aspects the Sun; it squares Mercury and Jupiter and is the apex of a Fixed T-Square². Traditional Neptune outlets are art, theatre, dance and music. Neptune wants to escape reality.  If it doesn’t have these outlets it can lead to addictive behavior.  With Neptune, dealing with practical realities may be too demanding and unfulfilling.  There could be unrealistic goals, self-deception, escapism and hidden psychological weaknesses or blind-spots.  He may protect himself from harsh reality by distorting whatever filters through his emotions.  He needs to learn discrimination.  Psyche, a good example of a Neptune archetype, lived in an unconscious state with Eros until she was told by her sisters (her other self) to bring a knife and a lamp to bed to see who her husband really was.  She was punished for disobeying her husband by being sent to the underworld.  There she had to sort seeds, discriminating one seed from another.  Has Obama learned discrimination? This is a very important question in this chart.

 

 Neptune types can draw people to them who are deceptive and dishonest.  I see Neptune types as victims of vampires, those people who are looking for power and energy and can suck a Neptune type dry because Neptunes don’t have strong boundaries.   Neptunes need to be in a safe environment.  There is a strong feeling of compassion and need to serve with Neptune, but also a yearning to escape when things get really tough.  His Neptune gives Obama an air of vulnerability that is very appealing.

 

Neptune represents yearnings. With Neptune square the Sun he yearns for the ideal.  But Neptune also sets up confusion; there could be self deception, delusions and again, no boundaries.  He sets a very high standard for himself.  His expectations of what he can accomplish may be too high.    Neptune types can become martyrs, or victims.  He could be disillusioned when things don’t work out as he had envisioned. The challenge with this aspect is to make dreams happen. He can be a great inspiration to others as we have seen with the huge crowds of people who are feeling energized by him.  With Neptune square his Mercury he is highly creative and imaginative.  He has a gift for distorting reality.  He may have problems separating fact from fiction.

 

Obama has both Jupiter and Saturn aspecting his Mercury.  Jupiter would make him very broad minded and tolerant.  He hopes for the best and is optimistic. He is interested in philosophy, religion, education, law and politics. He focuses on the future and has a lot of knowledge about many subjects.   He is an inspirational speaker.  On the downside he could exaggerate, overstate his case, be careless in speech, and be arrogant about opinions. He can be over-confident especially with his Mercury being in Leo.  There could be a lack of clear judgment.  Jupiter is optimistic but also excessive.  This is mitigated by the fact that his Mercury is also opposite Saturn.  The Jupiter aspect is a much tighter orb and I think will be stronger.

 

Saturn represents a craving and a fear around whichever planet it aspects.  In aspect to Mercury, there is a craving and a fear around knowledge.  He wants to know everything but is afraid he doesn’t know enough.  He didn’t feel smart enough as a child.  Saturn aspects also indicate a craving for the father.  He is looking for a wise man for a father figure to give him advice.  But this Saturn aspect means that he is destined to become the father himself.  This aspect is very good for writers, teachers and lecturers; it indicates a logical, systematic thinker.  It is very serious and tends to melancholy, but the Jupiter would balance that. 

 

Both his Mercury and his Moon are heavily aspected.  His has 5 aspects to the Moon and four to the Mercury.  The mind, thinking, writing and speaking are a big part of his life and he is very intelligent and imaginative.  Both of the books he has written became best sellers.

 

The Moon aspects represent his inner emotional nature and I wonder if he has worked on that part of himself.  The Moon is the hidden part of us.   Both his Ascendant and Moon are in air signs I and believe these signs do not like delving into their psyche to dredge up some shadow material.  Air signs and the Neptune types would rather go into denial.  I hope his emotions and his problems with women don’t trip him up someway.  Air signs want to talk, think, write, communicate and network.  They love theories and ideas.  They like to collect information and communicate it.  His other sign is Leo which is fire.  Fire signs also don’t like dealing with the deep psychological stuff either.  They are too busy being active

 

My astrologer friend Robert Hand says that “You don’t know how much consciousness is pumped into a chart”.  That is true and that is why when I do astrological counseling I never try to analyze a chart of someone who is not there in front of me or on the phone to give me feedback.  I don’t know how much Obama has worked on himself.  Each archetype has an evolved and unevolved or mature and immature aspect.  My experience has been that we have to be introspective, have learned something from our suffering and work on ourselves to manifest the higher elements of the archetypes.  My experience also has shown me that it is difficult to have worked on yourself and have all the archetypes operating in a conscious manner if you are only 47 years old.   Usually the way we evolve is that we work on our charts one archetype at a time and by the time we are 60, or more times than not 70, there is a chance that we have the entire chart humming along in a compassionate, conscious manner. 

 

No, I am not going to predict who will win the election.  I am batting zero in that area.  I thought Gore would win because I could see success in the chart but he lost the election and got the Nobel Prize instead. It would be presumptive of any astrologer to be sure of how the astrological energy of any aspect and transits will specifically manifest itself

 

But, now I will look to see what impact the transits and progressions will have on his chart the coming year.  Two important major cycles I look at to see where someone is in their life and if they are they on their way up or down is the Secondary Moon phase and transiting Saturn.

 

Obama is now in a Gibbous Moon phase which means that he is  moving toward the Full Moon phase where he will reap the rewards of all of his past actions and hard work during the last 14 years. The Full Moon phase for him will occur in 2011.  The Gibbous Phase is a growing phase where he can see his rewards in the distance and is working toward them

 

Transiting Saturn is now in his 7^th house.  He is in the stage of the Hero’s journey where he is returning to the tribe to bring his gift to mankind. The hero's journey is a key theme in myths, fairy tales and stories from the beginning of time and throughout the world.  The Hero goes on a journey, meets a challenge and returns home with a gift, a treasure or his wisdom.  The Hero's return is celebrated, and life is transformed by his journey.  The 7^th house is also called the debut point in the chart.  It comes after 14 years in the underworld where the Hero has worked hard with no recognition and now comes up to the upper world where other’s see and respect all he has done and he starts his rise to power.  Obama made the debut in 2006 and he will climb toward success until 2015 when he will hear the call to adventure and want to do something different in his life.
   

Joseph Campbell writes that Returning to the Tribe can be a dangerous part of the Hero’s Journey.  Cambell said three things can happen when you try to return with your gift.  One problem is that the tribe does not accept your gift and you can either give up and go back into hiding or, two, you can sacrifice your gift to be accepted, to fit in.  The third way is to give a little of what you have to offer and wait for the world’s ability to receive it.  Both the Moon phase and the Saturn phase indicate that Obama he is on his way up.  He is headed for more and more success.

 

There are two major problems this year that he will run into on the way.  First of all there is a Lunar Eclipse on August 16, 2008 that will conjunct his natal Uranus in the 7^th house.  An eclipse represents a crises and on Uranus it can mean a disruption, a sudden turn of events.  It’s in the 7^th house of other people or his partner. The 7^th is the house of open enemies.  An eclipse here means that some major relationships will be transformed.

 

Second, transiting Uranus is opposite Mars.  This aspect repeats three times, the first time was on Jun 12, 2008, next is July 10, 2008 and the third pass will be March 12, 2009.  When a transiting planet makes three passes, there is usually a hint on the first pass as to how it will manifest.  Any problem he had in June will repeat.  This aspect can cause sudden trauma, sudden upsets or unexpected shocks.  He may come under attack.  He needs to be careful as this can manifest as an accident caused by him being too impulsive or rash.

 

To become president a candidate has to have a strong connection to the United States chart which represents “us” as a collective.  His Uranus at 25 Leo is exactly opposite the US Moon at 25 Aquarius.  We deeply resonate to his ideas of change.  Also, his Neptune is conjunct the Ascendant of the US.  We look to him to satisfy our collective hopes and wishes.

 

On election day, we will all experience a transiting Uranus opposite transiting Saturn aspect which portrays a battle between the status quo (Saturn) against the forces of dynamic change (Uranus).    Since Obama has Aquarius rising, ruled by Uranus and Uranus is transiting his 1^st house, we know that he is representing Uranus on Election Day.

 

On Inauguration Day, Obama has a lovely progressed Sun in sextile to his Midheaven  of fame.  This shows an assumption of power.  This is not a guarantee of a win, but it is a good indication of public recognition at that time. Also, his Jupiter and Saturn are on either side of the MC in the inauguration chart, a very good sign of a successful day.  But, I haven’t looked at John McCain’s chart yet in this kind of depth.

 

An interesting point about this election year is that we had 3 people running who were born in three different Pluto generations³.  The sign Pluto is in tells the overall focus of that generation.  McCain was born with Pluto in Cancer, a generation focused on home, family and country.

Hillary Clinton was born with Pluto in Leo, the me generation; the generation that wants to achieve and actualize themselves.  Obama was born with Pluto in Virgo, the generation that wants to serve.  Virgo wants to be efficient, fix what is broken, clean up the environment.  This year, the Virgo generation, especially those born in 1961, is experiencing transiting Saturn on their natal Pluto which is a time that they can transform and manifest the power of service.  If elected, he will be the standard bearer for the entire generation of Pluto in Virgo.

 

I wish him safety and good fortune.

 

Janet Kane

 

⁽¹⁾ Mutable signs are Gemini, Pisces, and Virgo.  They are flexible.

Fixed signs are Taurus, Leo and Aquarius.  They are steadfast and loyal

Cardinal signs are Aries, Libra and Capricorn.  They are outgoing and dynamic

Air signs – Gemini, Libra, and Aquarius.  They are thinkers and communicators.

Fire signs – Leo, Sagittarius, and Aries. They are intuitive and creative

Water signs – Cancer, Scorpio, and Pisces.  They are emotional and  sensitive

Earth signs – Taurus, Virgo, and Capricorn.  They are practical and efficient

 

⁽²⁾    Three planets squaring each other in fixed signs

⁽³⁾    Pluto in Cancer Generation – Those born in1914-1938

Pluto in Leo Generation – Those born in 1939-1956

Pluto in Virgo Generation – Those born in 1957-1972

 

 

 

The Twelve Labors of Hercules

"Myth is something that never happened, but is happening all the time. - Greek poet Sallistius

The most important planetary transit is Saturn as it moves through the houses of our natal chart.  It takes Saturn approximately 29 years to travel through all the houses spending approximately 2 1/2 years in each house.  This 29 year cycle falls into two parts.  Saturn spends 14 ½ years in the lower part of our chart and 14 ½ years in the upper part.   The lower hemisphere of the natal chart corresponds to night and our inner life.  When Saturn passes through this bottom half of the chart we grow internally.  We develop strength, assimilate knowledge, get in touch with our power and find our base.  When Saturn travels to the upper hemisphere we flower; we share our knowledge with others and we make our contribution to the world.  As Saturn progresses around the chart he brings problems to a head in the area of our life represented by the house he is inhabiting at that time.  I see Saturn as symbolizing our journey toward individuation as he brings us the experiences of pain, restriction and discipline as a means for greater consciousness and fulfillment. So every two and a half years we focus on a problem that we have ignored or repressed and in that way bring maturity to the way we deal with that issue.  For example, when Saturn is transiting our 4th house we seriously look at our roots, our original family to deal with issues we may have repressed in that area.  For instance in this house Saturn has us examine what family patterns are we still playing out.

One of the ways to understand transiting Saturn in the houses is to use the myth of The Twelve Labors of Hercules as an allegory for his journey.  The labors of Hercules are the challenges confronting us during the Saturn transit.  Each of his labors describe the experience we must face at that time but also the gift of knowledge acquired represented by the natal house.

Equating the 12 labors with the 12 signs of the zodiac goes back centuries.  The first mention of this correlation was by Hesiod circa 700 BC and again by Pausanius in the 5^th century BC.    Eventually the Twelve Labors of Hercules were written down in full by Appolororus (180-120 BC).

Hercules was both the most famous hero of ancient times and the most beloved. More stories were told about him than any other hero. Hercules was worshipped in many temples all over Greece and Rome.  The Labors of Hercules are one of mythology’s most famous accounts of the archetypal journey of a hero and is also the story of our lives.

The story of Hercules starts – as so many mythical stories do – with the dysfunctional marriage of Zeus and Hera.  In the story, Zeus fell in love with Alcmene.  When Alcmene became pregnant, Hera was enraged and she tried many tricks to prevent the baby from being born. They all failed.  When Alcmene gave birth, she named him Herakles. (The Romans pronounced the name "Hercules,".) The name Herakles means "glorious gift of Hera" in Greek, and that got Hera angrier still. Then she tried to kill the baby by sending snakes into his crib but little Hercules strangled the snakes, one in each hand, before they could bite him. Hera wanted to get even but she knew she would lose in a fight with Zeus because he was too powerful. So she decided to pay Zeus back for his infidelity by making Hercules' life as miserable as she could.

 

When Hercules grew up and had become a great warrior, he married Megara. They had two children. Hercules and Megara were very happy but Hera did something that so enraged Hercules that he murdered Megara and the children. When Hercules regained his senses and saw the horrible thing that he had done he hurried to Apollo’s temple to get advice.  The temple was in the town of Delphi and was called the Delphic oracle. Apollo said that in order to purify himself for the spilling of his family's blood, he had to go to the city of Tiryns and work for the king, Eurystheus who had a reputation for being cruel. The hero had to serve Eurystheus for twelve years and perform twelve labors.  King Eurystheus is the archetype of Saturn.  He puts us into difficult situations that stretch us to our limits or constricts our freedom. When the tasks were completed, Apollo said that Hercules would become immortal. Unlike other men, instead of dying and going to the Underworld of Hades, he would become a god.

 

Because all stories about gods incorporate the human qualities and failings of the humans who create them, Hercules represents the efforts of all ordinary humans struggling to realize their full potential.  The challenges Hercules faces are metaphors for the challenges confronting us on our journey through life.   -------------------------

I will be presenting a workshop on this subject on April 25 in Washington, DC.  For details see http://www.jung.org  In this workshop we will follow the story of Hercules as he performed these twelve labors.

We will learn that these labors describe the characteristics, the tasks and the gifts that can be discovered in each

of the twelve signs and houses of the zodiac.    We will look at our birth charts to see our overall life task and also which task we are called to perform now. Please bring your birth chart using equal houses or email me for a copy.

 

 

References: 1.  Erin Sulliven, Saturn in Transit:  Boundaries of Mind, Body and Soul, 1991

    2. Phoebe Wyss, Hercules’ Labours:  2007

3. Alice Bailey, The Labours of Hercules:  An Astrological Interpretation, 1974

    4. Liz Greene, Saturn:  A New Look at the Old Devil, 1976

    5. Google

         

 

 

 

Dark Knight and the Saturn Uranus Opposition

 

”Do I look like a guy who has a plan?" The Joker

I just saw the film, the Dark Knight and was struck by how well the film represents the archetypes of Saturn and Uranus. These two planets are currently in opposition to each other. This film made it obvious that the film makers today work with the major archetypes in a conscious way.

 

Back in the 1980’s, a Story Analyst at Disney wrote a memo to the executives explaining what he had learned from reading Joseph Campbell’s The Hero with a Thousand Faces.  He realized that Campbell had broken the secret code of story, that the stories we respond to need to have certain building blocks and those building blocks are the archetypes as defined by Carl Jung. His memo became required reading for the Disney executives and the author of that memo, Chris Vogler, later wrote a book on this subject entitled The Writer’s Journey, Mythic Structure for Writers.

 

Disney and other movie studios realized that films act to amplify and deepen our experience of the archetypes. They portrayed pure archetypes in Dark Knight and it has become the big blockbuster film of the year.  The key themes are Saturn as played by Batman, dressed in black and representing law and order in a death struggle with Uranus played by the Joker, wearing colorful makeup representing chaos.  (A hint of the energy of Uranus is that the planet lies on its side, has a 98 degree tilt and rotates the opposite way of the other planets.)

 

“Introduce a little anarchy, you upset the established order, and
everything becomes chaos. I am an agent of chaos. And you know the thing about chaos, Harvey? It's fair.” – The Joker

 

To really understand these archetypal energies, we need to pull out the old mythology books and read the story of, what I call, the First Dysfunctional Family. Uranus was the sky god, he represented chaos and was continuously creating children that were monsters; the ones he didn’t like he shoved back into the womb.  The mother asked her youngest born Cronos (Saturn) to castrate the father to cut off his fertility. He did as he was told because of his sense of responsibility. Saturn later became god of the golden age in Italy and gave the people all the rules of society to live by.

 

“You had plans. Look where it got you. I just did what I do best--I took your plan and turned it on itself”. – The Joker

 

In this major world transit, Saturn and Uranus are battling it out. In the book, Cosmos and Psyche, Richard Tarnas states that the world transit starts to be felt by all of us when the aspect between the two planets is 15 degrees.  At exactly 15 degrees before exact on July 31, the film, the Dark Knight was released.

 

“See, I'm not a monster...I'm just ahead of the curve” – The Joker.

 

The film makers outdid themselves by bringing the gods to the stage just as the ancient Greeks did when they staged such as Medea and Orpheus. They believed that these dramas were psychologically healing.

On the other hand, Dark Knight may not have been healing to those who acted in it.  I think it let loose some very disruptive, dark energy. A strong Uranian or chaotic archetype was activated during the making of the film. As it often does, the archetype got out of control.  Heath Ledger who played the Joker, died from an overdose of drugs before the film was finished.  He was a Pisces and those sensitive types are very susceptible to the energies around them.  After the film was released, Christian Bale, Batman was arrested for assaulting his mother and sister and Morgan Freeman, Batman’s assistant, had an auto accident.  Need I say more!

“Y'see, madness, as you know, is like gravity. All it takes is a little...push” - .The Joker

The battle between the energies of Saturn, tradition, stability and limits and Uranus, unpredictability, chaos and revolution is an eternal conflict.  Saturn wants to stay with the way things are and Uranus wants change.  We have this battle inside ourselves and it is also occurring in the outer world.  The Saturn Uranus opposition will be exact on Nov 4, which is Election Day. I usually think of the Republican Party as the party of stability and tradition with the Democrats being the party of change.  But with the unpredictable choice John McCain made by choosing Sarah Palin for Vice President, with all the surprising revelations coming out about her, I’m no longer sure who represents what.

[The Joker to Batman] “You just couldn't let me go could you? This is what happens when an unstoppable force meets an immovable object. You truly are incorruptible aren't you? You won't kill me out of some misplaced sense of self-righteousness, and I won't kill you, because you're just too much fun. I think you and I are destined to do this forever.” The Joker

So, to understand the energies being played out on Election Day, and if your feeling a little crazy over all of it, go see Dark Knight.  It may be cathartic for you.  I loved the film. But don’t go if you are a Pisces.

Janet Kane

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Obama as Parsifal

 

I read President Obama’s book, Dreams From My Father and especially noted the part about the Muslim half of his family--his half brother, his absent father and his half sister and I thought where have I seen this story before?  And then I heard the inauguration speech where he reached out to the Muslims and I suddenly realized, it was Parsifal in The Fisher King myth and that Obama may be embodying that archetype.

 

 I remember Joseph Campbell writing that the defining myth for the west and for our time is the Fisher King myth which is a part of the larger story of the Quest for the Holy Grail. He wrote extensively on the subject and it became an important universal symbol for the psychologist Carl Jung and his wife.   The quest for the grail, which transformed the Middle Ages, was the discovery of the importance of the feminine, the quest for wholeness. This myth is the quest for the restoration of the spiritual life in western man.   Jung said that the grail myth was amongst the most important myths in western civilization. The Fisher King myth is deeply embedded in our collective unconscious and has endured in our literature and music from Wagner’s Parsifal to T.S. Eliot’s The Wasteland to The DaVinci code. This story has also influenced film making from Excalibur to Monty Python’s Holy Grail and the films of Steven Spielberg and George Lucas.    The Grail is a potent image in our modern psyche and reaches back to pre-history. Let’s review the myth of Parsifal and see how it relates to President Obama’s story. 

 

The story of the grail as we know it today was part of a group of romances written between 1170 and 1190 by Chretien deTroyes. Historians say that so many of the issues we struggle with today began in the twelfth century. Later, the epic poem Parzival was written by Wolfram von Eschenbach in the middle ages, circa. 1200 to 1210. Von Eschenbach was interested in Islamic cultures and he imagined a world where Christians and Moslems would come together as brothers.  This is the major theme of his poem. This story became obscure until the Romantic period.  Blake and Shelley brought the story back into favor because they felt that Puritanism and science had effectively annihilated both the feminine soul and the masculine spirit.  They found the imagery to describe this state in the Wasteland.

 

I am giving a short version of the myth of the Holy Grail here and just concentrating on Parsifal and the Grail King, also known as the Fisher King, and leaving out the rest of the story which includes King Arthur and all the knights and their exploits.  The King who held the throne before Parsifal was named Amfortas which means infirmity or he who is without power. He would often boast and was led into reckless confrontations that were not necessary.  He had titled power but it was not legitimately won because he had only inherited and not rightly earned his high office.  The grail kingdom lead by Amfortas was a community built for protection from invasion and intrusion and was held together by loyalty. He had taken on power and authority that he was not able to handle, hence his kingdom withered under his neglect and his kingdom became a wasteland.

 

Amfortas only found relief by fishing. That is why he became known as the Fisher King.  Water symbolizes the unconscious and his fishing could mean doing inner work such as working with dreams, meditation, active imagination, drawing, music or poetry. 

 

The myth says that the healing of the maimed king could only be accomplished by an uncorrupted youth who would merit the crown through his authentic life work and experience.  This is where Parsifal enters the scene. Parsifal’s father experienced exotic and exciting adventures while traveling to foreign lands.  He married a heathen queen, and then returned to the west to marry and father Parsifal.  He returns to the east and when he died he left two widows one of which had a son she named Parsifal. He was raised in a forest far from the court of Amorfas by his mother and grandfather who taught him never to ask questions.  He takes a journey to find his father and then comes to the court and sees the king is wounded and the land is a wasteland; it is spiritually bankrupt.  He is filled with compassion and wants to ask “What ails you, what is wrong with your kingdom?” and then he remembers that he was taught not to ask questions so he did not speak.  He didn’t act in a

spontaneous noble way.  

 

     While he was dining with the Grail king, a procession enters the dining hall made up of a young man bearing a bleeding lance, a young woman carrying a shining grail made of precious materials and a maiden with a carving dish.  Everyone in the court is quiet and there is no explanation for this event.   He wants to ask about this procession and what it means but again he remains silent. Parsifal decides to leave and at that point the king gives him a beautiful sword that is designed to break at a critical moment.

 

He continues his journey and meets a Moslem knight on the road and they joust.   Parsifal’s sword breaks, they reconcile and find out that they are brothers. He finds out that he has a half-sister and they talk about their father. Campbell said this represents two sons of the same god, Islam and Christianity reconciling.

He continues his journey and stops and stays with a hermit who tells him that he failed in his task by not asking the right question.  He says “you can never find the castle again; it is part of God’s plan”.   Parsifal says, “yes, I can do it.”  He had tenacity of purpose to change God’s law.

 

It takes Parsifal five years to find the castle again and this time he asks the king, “What ails you?” The country is healed and he becomes the grail king and represents the highest spiritual values which are compassion and loyalty. Only by asking appropriate questions and addressing our conflicts do we transform and move from ego-bondage to identification with the creative self.

 

The grail is a chalice or a cup and it is in the procession next to the lance.  Some say this represents male and female energies which need to be integrated before we can heal our world. This conforms to the idea of the Sacred Marriage in Jung’s work, the polarity of opposites and the necessary reconciling of these opposites in ourselves and in our society.

 

The grail is a mystery; some say it was a low broad serving dish; some say it held the blood of Jesus though this is in doubt because it is believed that the Grail myth comes from the east, probably from Islamic countries or pre-Christian Celtic mythology. The fisher king is about a society that is spiritually, morally and intellectually barren by the war.  Traditionally the wasteland myth concerns the struggle, the quest to restore fertility.

 

Curiously, when we look at President Obama’s birth chart we see an element in his chart that points to his major purpose in life which is to ask the right questions.  We see this by looking at the Sabian Symbols.  They consist of 360 word images corresponding to the 360 degrees of the zodiac (each zodiac sign comprising 30 degrees).  President Obama has 18 Leo on his descendant, or the 7^th house cusp that describes his relationship with other people.  If we look up the meaning of 18 Leo as a Sabian Symbol it is “Asking the right questions.”  In fact, I have the same degree on my 7^th house cusp and part of my work in astrology with my clients is to prompt them to ask the right question of the archetype in order to keep it in balance.

 

 I read the following in Esquire Magazine's article on Joe Biden.  He is being quoted here: “The guy (Obama) is

really disciplined.  He listens and then he asks the right question.” From  JOE by John H. Richardson__

February, 2009 issue of Esquire Magazine. And I read this in the Washington Post "The reason we keep getting

the wrong answers," Obama says, "is  that we keep asking the wrong questions. Ask not whether government is

too big or too small but whether it works. Ask not whether the free market is a force for good or ill but whether

its bounty is adequately shared. Ask not whether the next generation will be better off than the last but whether

we can throw off the shackles of stale partisanship, worn-out dogmas and narrow self-interest to do what

everyone knows we must”.   ___ from Obama and the Expansion of Possiblity by Steven Pearlstein, Jan 21,

Washington Post. And finally, during the campaign, right before the election, Obama got his economic team on

 the phone and opened by saying, “Here are 4 questions I have for you.”

 

 

Whether we know if or not, we are all playing out a myth or parts of different myths.  One of Jung’s major contributions was the idea of the collective unconscious. He saw the Collective Unconscious as a shared pool of symbolism which is often expressed in the form of religions, myths and legends.  The myths and legends consisted of stories based around a recognizable series of figures called archetypes.  The archetype figures are common to all cultures and describe a typical human experience.  These archetypes dwell in all of us and we can find ourselves playing out an archetype in a myth that is centuries old.  I think President Obama is here to play the role of Parsifal and restore the Wasteland.  In the film, Excalibur, Parsifal answers the question. Who does the Grail serve?  “The king and the land -- they are one.”

 

 

Sources:

Parsifal by Wolfram von Eschenbach

How to Read Literature like a Professor – Thomas C Foster

Myths to Live By – Joseph Campbell

The Fisher King & The Handless Maiden – Robert A Johnson

Parsifal:  The Quest of the Grail Knight by Katherine Paterson

The Holy Grail – Pokay Modern Scholar CD’s

Modern Poets – Rosenthal

The Golden Bough – J. G. Frazer

The Holy Grail – Giles Morgan

 

Janet Kane

301-345-2571

janetkane@verizon.net

http://www.janetszodiac.com

 

 

© Janet Kane 2009