Jimi Hendrix and Martial Music

‘The martial music of every sideburned delinquent who ever walked the face of the earth’.  Frank Sinatra (on rock ’n’ roll)

In the mid 1960s, American guitar and amplifier manufacturers ruled the roost in popular music. In the UK, big brands like Gibson and Fender were expensive and not readily available to import. Jim Marshall, a British music-shop owner in Hanwell, West London, first had the idea of copying the circuits of American amplifiers to sell at his shop. In consultation with leading British musicians such as Eric Clapton and Pete Townsend, Marshall’s home-grown reproductions evolved a distinctive rough-textured sound that was ideal for the emerging ‘rock’ direction in popular music. Economic necessity brought a sonic revolution whose time had come.

Jimi Hendrix met Jim Marshall soon after arriving in London in late 1966. With his otherworldly manner and outlandish image, Jimi appeared to have arrived from another planet, but despite the difference in their ages and backgrounds, the two ‘James Marshalls’ struck a rapport. Jimi arranged to rent Marshall amplifiers wherever in the world he was performing, and for a team of technicians to look after them for him (with the Node and Fortuna in his Eighth House, Jimi always did well out of shared resources).

As iconic as his white Fender Stratocaster guitar, no onstage Hendrix picture would henceforth be complete without a background wall of Marshall stacks. It is facile to say that choice of amp was at the heart of Hendrix’s sound, but the aggressive, feral tone that he became famous for was Marshall Amplification’s stock in trade. Call it synchronicity, serendipity, or nominative determinism, James Marshall Hendrix became Marshall Amplification’s chief ambassador.

Mars stands out in like a beacon in Hendrix’s chart. Dignified, angular and elevated, it controls the life path unavoidably and martial imagery followed him through his short, spectacular career. That Jimi served time in the US Airborne Division is just one part of his great enigma – think of the unlikeliest profession for a future rock and roll star and the military surely tops the list. Like fellow singing soldier Elvis, Mars in the Tenth house makes one wonder whether they chose the army, or the army chose them.

Mars is also the only planet in Hendrix’s chart not finally disposited by the Moon in Cancer. His playing was very lunar and intuitive and seemed to come from a deep psychic channel. By all accounts, Jimi had many Cancerian traits: he was fond of his stomach, preferred women’s company over hanging out with the boys, and he always charmed people’s mothers. He had a maternal streak and the lyrics of ballads like Little Wing fantasize about a protective female saviour figure. Certainly he was moody, and his natal Saturn-Uranus conjunction opposite the Sun suggests the manic depression referenced in his wild waltz-time song.

This article first appeared in the Astrological Association Journal, 2009. 

'TRANSFORMING LIVES FROM WITHIN'

Last Saturday evening, I was lucky enough to attend the David Lynch Foundation UK's Gala Dinner in London, 'Transforming Lives From Within'. This was a fund-and-awareness raising event, promoting the provision of Transcendental Meditation to schools and combat veterans. The Foundation has already had enormous success worldwide, teaching tens of thousands of people in chronically-stressed areas: army veterans, street children, American Indians, prisoners. 

We heard from two British Army veterans, including Steve Bindon, an ex-commando who has suffered from post traumatic shock disorder (PTSD) since being wounded in the Falklands campaign in 1982. Steve gave a moving account of his experiences and subsequent recovery since learning Transcendental Meditation through the DLF. He described the macho culture of the army, speaking in terms that many other ex-military men have used. Admitting vulnerability, let alone seeking help here, is pure taboo, even in the most high-stress environments imaginable. It is a chilling statistic that more Vietnam and Gulf War veterans have committed suicide than were killed in the actual conflicts.

We also heard from David Lynch himself, via Skype connection from Poland. He spoke passionately about his work and gave in-depth answers to several questions from the audience, covering meditation practice and creativity. He is a great guy. Putting his name to the Foundation has been the catalyst for many other influential people to get involved, and unlike some other aspiring guru figures, perhaps, he seems to have no ulterior motive. He is already rich and famous, and his face lit up noticeably when speaking of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, and hearing audience members relate their experiences of meditation.

The DLF's work confounds the stereotypical image of meditation from two directions. Transcendental Meditation is neither the passive, life-denying practise of the ascetic, nor is it the middle-class hippy's lifestyle accessory. The experience of transcendence makes an impact on absolute real-life situations, and is transforming and saving people's lives.

LONG MEDITATIONS

"I have so much to accomplish today, that I must meditate for two hours instead of one". ~ Mahatma Gandhi

Gandhi's quote nicely sums up the power of long meditations. The temptation is always to skip time in silence and jump out into the fray, especially when we have lots to do. Rather than idle escapism, meditation is in fact the subtlest and most sublime form of activity: it brings energy, focus, and in a more mystical way, an attunement with the tasks that need doing. Meaning, that a good meditation will cut down the amount of heavy lifting that is actually required. "Do less and achieve more", said Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, with the corollary of that being "Do nothing and achieve everything". 

Sometimes it's best to take it easy, however. Last Tuesday's Scorpio Solar eclipse was one I treated with caution, unnecessarily, as it turned out. Eclipses are intense energy and Scorpio is particularly emotional (associations here with Buddha's Enlightenment, but that was probably the Scorpio Full Moon). Whether because it was Diwali that day, I can't tell, but a three-hour evening meditation went by with no trouble at all. Smooth, easy, could have stayed down for longer. And I am still feeling the benefits days later.

RETURN OF THE LIGHT - Happy Diwali 2012

The Solar eclipse of 13th November brings to a head issues that I have written about recently. Saturn and the North Node transiting Scorpio were always likely to impact taboo areas, as has proved in the UK with the child abuse scandals. Still, barely a month after Saturn's ingress, its effect has already been clear.

Solar Eclipse 13/11/2012, 22:09, London

After being criticized for lack of action against the predatory Jimmy Savile - and purportedly several other unnamed entertainers of recent years - the Beeb has now gone the other way. Recklessly naming Lord McAlpine in connection with child abuse scandals  cost the BBC's Director General George Entwistle his job. 

BBC first broadcast: 2/11/1936, 15:00, London.

Seen from the outside, the BBC is a strange institution, with its archaic license-payer funding and enormous influence inside a small country. It is probably strange on the inside too, judging from its horoscope. A mutable, angular Grand Cross suggests news gathering and dissemination, with a wide diversity of output reflecting its mission statement to 'inform, educate, and entertain'. The BBC's Royal Charter has existed since 1st January 1927, but this chart is set for the first publicly broadcast high-definition television show. 

Moon in Gemini, opposite Jupiter, reveals the Radio 4 love of talk, debate and wordplay. The BBC is famous for intelligent comedy, and though a publicly-funded broadcaster shouldn't chase ratings, apparently, since when has the BBC not been accused of dumbing down?  Mars on the descendent also implies its competitive approach, for which it is often criticized. 

Despite its eccentric image, the BBC is a highly respect brand, with an international reputation for impartial news coverage. Jupiter in Sagittarius in the 9th house, conjunct the midheaven gives it a cosmopolitan feel and a British, in the best sense, attitude of fairness. Likewise, its travel and nature programmes are classics. The BBC's editorial is often criticized for liberal bias, but that strong elevated Jupiter also suggests a sense of entitlement, with roots in its Royal Charter.

Saturn conjunct Pisces rising describes its corporate nature, in the context of creativity. As Uranus transited that ascendant, Christmas Day 2007 saw the launch of BBCiPlayer, the digital catch-up service. The combined online content of the BBC's news and programming makes it one of the best websites on the whole internet.

REMEMBER REMEMBER (part 2). 

The Sun, and more particularly Saturn in Scorpio have made their presence felt in the UK, mostly on the back of the Jimmy Savile case. What started as a scandal around a dead DJ has enveloped the whole country. Savile (31/10/1926, time unknown) was approaching his third Saturn return (26 degrees Scorpio) before he died last year, and it seems fitting that he has become the catalyst for an expose of sexual abuse. 

There are rumours of many other entertainers, household names of the 1970s and 80s, implicated in similar scandals. A former Tory MP is also alleged to have abused children in care in north Wales. Yet another example of vulnerable youngsters being preyed upon by powerful adults using their status to escape conviction. A picture emerges of a culture of casual sexual exploitation. Saturn is bringing a reaction against these practices, where 'colourful characters' are exposed for what they really are, or were. 

It may be stretching rulerships to say Saturn and Pluto are in mutual reception, but there is an affinity between the planets and signs (all of Saturn's transiting signs over the next decade and beyond, arguably, are given extra significance, as they disposit Pluto in Capricorn). This link has drawn Capricorn politicians into the net, and also large institutions, the BBC and the Crown Prosecution Service (why didn't the CPS act on children's claims of abuse?). The current Mercury retrograde may bring more scandals to light.

The BBC has a couple of charts, first for its founding, and then for the first regular high-definition broadcasts in 1936 (above). The 1927 founding chart has the 1st January degree - 9 Capricorn - presently being approached by Pluto. Many countries and institutions' Suns naturally fall around this day, including the UK, and Pluto will cross it in the coming year. November 1st 2013 to be precise finds Pluto at 9 degrees, in the fourth of seven Uranus-Pluto squares up to 2015. Meanwhile, Saturn in Scorpio transits the BBC's 1936 chart Sun at the same time, so Auntie is getting it coming and going. 

The Corporation's perceived failure to deal with persistent allegations against Jimmy Savile has been described as its biggest-ever crisis. The press - particularly News International - is undoubtedly having a moment of schadenfreude at the Beeb's plight, after its own practices were drawn into the light over phone-hacking. Still, it is a weird feature of the BBC that they are expected to condemn themselves with their own programmes.

Pluto in Capricorn has brought us the first mixed-race US President - newly re-elected - and it is time for Britain to see more ethnic minorities in positions of power. We do not have the same history of virulent racism and segregation as America, but covert racism in Britain is in many ways more insidious. The recent incidents involving footballers Louis Suarez and John Terry are examples where racist language is not only condemned, but is now being hauled before the courts. 

Big things have been predicted for the Uranus-Pluto square and so far we have not been disappointed. The banksters, the Press, MPs expenses (stand up, Dennis MacShane), the possible Disestablishment of the Church, Scottish devolution, we can expect to see a quite different UK by 2015 after the last of the seven era-defining aspects. 

REMEMBER, REMEMBER... 

The Sun in Scorpio brings events in the calendar that have a dark and sinister cast: Halloween, Bonfire Night, Remembrance Sunday... the US Presidential Election.

I've held off writing about Obama v. Romney, because I'm not American. Polling Day is a strange time to be writing this, as we'll soon know who's won. Thinking-planet Mercury with a great sense of occasion, also goes retrograde today. This notoriously quirky astrological passage, three weeks in duration, was also in effect for George Bush's Coup in 2000, when he somehow won the election on fewer votes than Al Gore. If the election is as tight as predicted, there may be similar shenanigans.

From the outside, Mitt Romney (March 12, 1947, 09:51, Detroit) doesn't appear anybody's idea of a coming man, but many Americans seem to prefer someone with a business background being in charge. Romney looks like a 1950s American President out of Central Casting, never bad, PLUS he has Jupiter transiting his Gemini ascendant. Also of note, since the Global Credit Crisis of 2008, no Western democratic leader has been re-elected.  

Obama's birth certificate is a controversial document in itself, but his birthtime (August 4th, 1961, 19:24, Honolulu) gives him an Aquarius ascendant that is at the heart of many people's ambivalence about him. It makes him simultaneously cool and intelligent, while detached and aloof. Despite being routinely being labelled as a Communist - or worse, a liberal - many Obama's supporters feel he has not been radical enough. He hasn't lived up to the soaring rhetoric of his first campaign, but how could he? Others say the President has done a good job in difficult times, and he has managed withdrawals from Iraq and Afghanistan without inflaming any further conflicts. Overseas observers in general probably feel more comfortable with his cautious approach to foreign policy, but they don't matter.

Astrologer Sue Tompkins has written that Pluto in general represents ethnic black culture*. Pluto in Capricorn, the sign of success, has seen a mixed-race man rise to the highest office in the world, something many of us thought we'd never see. Whatever the Election result, Obama is a historic figure.

* Sue Tompkins - The Contemporary Astrologer's Handbook.