Sunday 28 September 2014

Clooney - Alamuddin: a rather incompatible couple!


As I am writing this article, a glamorous wedding is underway in romantic Venice, Italy - under the spell of the Libra Sun that urges people to form "unions" of all kinds. The George Clooney - Amal Alamuddin wedding is one of the most discussed and spotlighted of the last few years, and it ranks second only to the Prince William-Kate Middleton wedding in 2010, for that matter.

"The most eligible bachelor" has finally fell in love with a rather "mortal" woman - and is now proving his love, by marrying that unique to him woman, in magical Venice! What a narrative! No wonder the public has been captivated by their romance (too much Neptune at play, maybe?).

What if I told you, though, that this glamorous couple is - astrologically speaking - rather incompatible? I do not have Amal's complete data - no one seems to know her exact time of birth - so I am a little cautious with her. Still, I cannot ignore certain key elements in their "Synastry" (the study of their dynamics, as a couple) which seem to be highly conflicting and disharmonious!

It is clear from George Clooney's chart that he is a rather introverted, conservative and down-to-earth individual (his Sun and Mercury are in Taurus). His astrology explains pretty well his handsomeness and allure, induced by a combination of his strong Taurean energies, of his Pisces Ascendant and of his Venus in First House. There is though a component in his chart that struck me as surprising: his stern Moon in Capricorn, tightly conjuncting Saturn!



Traditionally, Saturn and Capricorn are regarded as two rather cold and detached astrological elements. An icon of handsomeness and charm would not normally be expected to have such harsh components prominent in his chart. Clooney, however, has them in spades. And that’s not necessarily a bad thing.

In one sense, this makes him very disciplined, ambitious, and cold-blooded, which is considered a good mix in the professional field (no doubt his role as a doctor in the "ER" TV series suited him perfectly). However, on a personal level, this configuration may have some negative consequences as well. You see, the Moon represents in our chart our "inner world", our feelings, our soul's energy. And in Clooney's case we are surprisingly disclosing a (potentially) harsh and icy inner world!
 
It would be ironic for this love idol to possess such traits, as he inspires millions of women around the world! Typically, these traits come from a difficult childhood, where the child didn’t get the love and care they needed. Consequently, major insecurities and all kinds of negative feelings (i.e. grudges) are developed in his/her soul. In many cases, the root of evil lies in his difficult relation with his mother (or with some other female key-figure). Quite often, a negative pattern emerges when the person reaches adulthood: women are generally seen as cold and calculating, thus measures have to be taken against the ones approaching him, so that the person avoids any eventual rejection, exploitation and emotional heartbreak! Control mechanisms must be put in place, each time a woman steps οn the threshold of their private space.

However, that doesn't mean Clooney isn't performing sexually well (he is a "bull" after all). The areas where he likely falls short are emotions, tenderness, and intimacy. My guess is that many women remember him as a rather cold, calculated and distant partner. On the other hand, he seems to be a very practical and "earthy" man, who embraces the "necessity" of life and who might be readily engaging in relationships or marriages of convenience!

Let's take a look now at the Synastry of this glamorous couple. Their Sun signs are quite incompatible (he is a Taurus and she is an Aquarius. Their "core" energies are somehow adverse to each other). Moreover, their Suns are forming an almost exact Square aspect - a highly discordant aspect. And there is still more: Amal's Venus is also squaring Clooney's Sun! These are quintessentially disharmonious configurations!

Τhere are, of course, some mitigating factors as well. Clooney's Moon, for example, is located in his Eleventh House - which is "archetypically" tied to the sign of Aquarius. This element is unexpectedly providing George with  Aquarian energies - while it is making him "resonate" pretty well with Aquarian women (that's rather unusual to a Taurus man)! So, we are getting alright some aid out of this "latent synastric element" (you may read my relative article here: Latent synastric elements - the secret fuel of love ). This superstar's Moon seems to be harboring certain energies that are quite pertinent to the Amal's Aquarian Sun! But even this aiding element cannot fully compensate for their overall incompatibily!



Amal's Moon is forming as well a hard aspect to Clooney's Sun (a Quincunx), denoting a sort of alienation and a deep inner conflict between the two. Fortunately, there is another "latent synastric element" saving the scene, once more: Amal's Sagittarius Moon is “falling” in Clooney's Ninth House. This means that when standing by Amal's side, the otherwise stern and reserved Clooney is somehow transformed into a more open, forgiving, optimistic and even playful individual! The two are probably investing a lot of time and effort in self-improvement, in better educating themselves and the people around them. Traveling and interacting with foreign cultures is a core theme in their common life.

Furthermore, Amal's Sun and Venus are "falling" in George Clooney's "sacred" Twelfth House, which is bearing some mystical, transcendental and somehow "disabling" energies. In general, when someone is placing planets in our Twelfth House, we tend to "embellish" and idealize him/her. Nevertheless, no other individual has the potential to deceive us more than the one who puts the Sun, Moon, or any other major planetary configuration in our Twelfth House!

With Amal's Pluto in Clooney's Seventh House and simultaneously in opposition to his Venus, Alamuddin seems to be acting as a sort of therapist for him, bringing to the surface many of his complexes and traumas (while deliberately "mining" his rigid rules). And since her natal Jupiter is "falling" in Clooney's Fourth House (seat of very private and intimate energies) she has a quite soothing effect to his soul.

Overall, this is a challenging Synastry. Still, a different result might have been achieved if any of the next two cases held water: if Amal's Ascendant were either in Scorpio or in Capricorn. In the first case, an Amal’s Scorpio Ascendant would allow Clooney's Sun to fall in her ultra harmonious Seventh House; this fact alone would have considerably improved the quality of their relationship. And there is more to it: Clooney’s Moon would then "fall" in Amal’s Fourth House. Such a "domification" would generate a torrent of affection and tenderness between two individuals. And that's exactly what the apparently "emotions deprivated" Moon of this handsome actor is longing for!

Lastly, if Amal had a Capricorn Ascendant, her Sun and Venus would probably fall in her Second House, "archetypically" turning her into a Taurus (her partner’s Sun sign!) Her Ascendant would then be in the same sign as Clooney's Moon, while her partner's Sun would "fall" in her Fourth House, bringing a strong sense of familiarity among the two (and once more, a tsunami of emotions). The couple would then have a far more viable Synastry (if the above preconditions were true). Otherwise, we are dealing here with a plainly incompatible Synastry.

Copyright: Thomas D. Gazis

Sunday 21 September 2014

Constantinople's inauguration horoscope


In the 4th century CE the Roman empire was entering a phase of decline that would ultimately lead it to its demise. Thus it's not very suprising the fact that in 324 CE the emperor Constantine the Great took the radical (and somehow heretic) action to transfer the capital of his empire from Rome to Constantinople - almost fifteen hundred kilometres to the east! The location that was about to become the future Constantinople was back then just a small citadel named (by its greek founders) "Byzantium". But thanks to a construction frenzy that lasted 6 years Constantine built magnificent buildings, fora, baths and an hippodrome and managed to metamorphose the humble citadel into a cosmopolitan city that would rival Rome itself!


And then, the day of the inauguration of the city came! Which actually had to be determined by an astrologer (astrology was rife in the Roman empire and was about to become rife in the Byzantine empire too)! There are two major byzantine historians (Zonaras and Kedrinos) specifically mentioning the inauguration date of the new capital Constantinople: on the 11th of May 330 (Old Style)! It was a date established by the emperor's personal astrologer Valens who - as the historians are detailing - worked very hard and for a long time in order to find a uniquely propitious date.

Fortunately, we have a byzantine source reporting the time of the inauguration too (see Magdalino's "The occult sciences in Byzantium", page 168). It is "at two hours and 26 minutes". The phrase "at two hours" does not mean "at two o' clock". The byzantines counted their day from dawn on. Thus, "at two hours and 26 minutes" means "two hours and 26 minutes after the sunrise". But there is another catch here. These byzantine hours and minutes are not exactly like the ones we are familiar with. A byzantine daily "hour" for example is the result of the division of the natural day in 12 equal parts. Thus, a byzantine daily "hour" might very well range  from 45 to 75 minutes (depending on the season and on the latitude of the location)! To spare the computations, "two daily hours and 26 minutes" for the latitude of Constantinople on the 11 of May equal 2  hours and 53 of our modern time! And since the Sun rose at 5:51 on the 11th of May 330 CE the time of the inauguration is approx. 8:44 am. (and I say approximately because the byzantines did not possess precision clocks and they relied upon raw sundials and water clepsydras).

Having in our hands the exact date and time of Constantinople's inauguration we can now erect its inauguration horoscope! It is the one you see below (rendered somehow "hellenistically" - no moderns planets in it):


So, Constantinople is a Taurus with Moon in Leo and the Ascendant in Cancer. Back in 330 CE  the astrologers were using the "Whole Sign Houses" system of domification. They were computing the Ascendant alright (19 degrees of Cancer in this case) but the sign of the Ascendant was becoming (in its entirety) the "First House" (or to be more precise "The First Place"), the following sign was becoming the "Second Place" and so on. In the above chart, the First Place corresponds to the entire sign of Cancer! And without doubt, having the two benefics in the First Place (that is Venus and Jupiter, with Venus being the dispositor of the Sun and Jupiter being in Sect) seems to be an excellent election!

The Moon and Saturn are in the Second Place of "material posessions" (and the new empire had to have a lot of them!). I would like to add a peculiar note here. The 11th century byzantine emperor Manuel Komnenos was an excellent astrologer. I was reading a long letter he wrote defending astrology against an important theologian - monk who was refutating it (letter preserved in CCAG V.1, 108). To give more credit to astrology Manuel mentions that Constantine the Great inaugurated Constantinople in accordance to the election made by his astrologer Valens. And Manuel Komnenos draws a rather bitter innuendo here when he goes: "Valens who was a monk himself elected the Saturn of Contantinople to be in the Second Place, so that the money of the citizens go to the monks - as we can see happening in our times!" Voila! Saturn in the Second Place! Here I had a testimony that the above inauguration chart for Constantinople is the right one!

In hindsight Valens' election was a good one. After all Constantinople endured for more than a thousand years, till she fell to the ferocious ottoman army. The marauding Turks had made an epic descent, from their homeland the Altay mountains in Mongolia to Asia Minor (a Greek - Byzantine land, which the Ottoman Turks militarily occupied, expelled, assimilated or simply genocided the indigenous people and gradually transformed the Byzantine land to the present day Turkey). And all this culminated in 1453, when the Ottoman Turks managed to breach the walls of Constantinople, occupying it from then onwards and renaming it (later on) Istanbul.

To understand how good the election of the Inauguration chart for Constantinople is we have to have at least some elementary knowledge of hellenistic astrology. The Sun is "in Sect" and in the Eleventh Place of "Good Spirit"! The "daemon" (known as well as "Part of Spirit" - a part that the byzantines were using a lot) most probably is in the Eleventh Place of "Good Spirit" (the Φ symbol you see at the first degree of Taurus) and that is an ideal domification because it means that the new capital would be a brilliant city protected and "guided" by good spirits (I am saying "most probably" because if Valens had miscalculated the positions of the Sun and the Moon even by some degree then the "daemon" might very well be in the Ninth Place of "God" - and that would be a jolly domicafication too)! The benefic North Node of the Moon stands in the Tenth Place and that's a sign that the city will excel in everything and will become renowned!

And for those who are knowledgeable in hellenistic/traditional astrology (or who would like to learn more about it) it would be proper to include here an excellent traditional analysis of the inauguration chart of Constantinople from the part of the distinguished Serbian astrologer Goran Konchar:

"What stands out for me in short is this: both benefics are in the First Place in the fertile sign of Cancer, culminating from an angular Point of Fortune (Venus in her triplicity/decan rules it, while Jupiter is the exalted lord of the ascendant and receives her!) in the 4th Place. This is an excellent indicator of the city's growth, fame and wealth. The Moon as the ascendant lord and the 'natural' ruler of the Point of Fortune is in a partile, sextile with it from it's 11th sign - again, very good, especially for acquisition of wealth. At the same time, the Moon is waxing in a diurnal chart but is placed under the earth in its halb and in mutual reception with the chart luminary, the Sun in the excellent 11th Place - both lights as sources of life in fixed signs (durability) their mutual agreement/sympathy still made more firm by the placements in antiscia signs - the attempt to ensure harmony/good will between rulers and the populace. Moreover, both lights are also in the terms of the benefics! The Moon is additionally over the imperial star Regulus. The malefics rule the 7th Place of enemies in Capricorn and both are afflicted/weakened. Saturn is in the turned 8th, not beholding its domicile and impeding himself (detriment) in the bounds of Mars while the Sun is in a superior square to it, and applying - death and destruction of the enemies, even though they may prove to be a very tough nut to crack (a superior malefic in a fixed sign). Mars is applying to him as well by superior sextile, providing for more damage. Mars is made even more impotent than Saturn by its position in Gemini in the 12th , the house of its sadness (Ibn Ezra). The chart has the ascendant of Thema mundi, an attempt to create a world - ruling city?"

As Goran is pointing out, I think that indeed Constantine's the Great intention was to build from scratch a world ruling cosmopolis! Under this point of view, the election that his astrologer Valens made for the inaguaration of the city was a good one! Certainly this is not the most perfect election ever made (some byzantine historians purport the story that Valens was postponing the inauguaration for 14 whole years because he could not find the proper "perfect" planetary configurations!). But ultimately nothing is perfect. Constantinople started its life as a Roman city, it was soon turned into a predominately Greek one and finally in 1453 CE ceased to exist - as the Turks militarily occupied it and grossly altered its essence...

Thomas Gazis
Copyright: Thomas D. Gazis