Fixed Stars

The Fixed Stars A bright star conjunct a planet in your horoscope, shows a place of protection, a safe haven in your chart. Bright stars show in what areas of life and in what ways you can proceed at your own pace and pursue your own aims, unimpeded and unthreatened. Even when a star has a nominally malefic meaning, when it conjoins a natal planet it means protection, although in this case the protection will be a matter of closing up into oneself instead of reaching out to others (which is how the benefic stars operate through the planets they conjoin). Conjunction with any bright star, whether nominally benefic or malefic, must be deemed to be a favorable influence in a natal horoscope because it symbolizes an easy adjustment to most situations; which in turn tends to encourage or draw easy situations. Exactly which areas of life are affected depends upon the planet and house involved. For example, Prince Charles's Sun conjoins the star Agena on the 5th cusp (children, sports, love affairs), so these are the areas of the Prince's life where he can feel liberated, adventurous, idealistic, experimentative, young (i.e., protected). Similarly, planets conjunct bright stars in the 2nd house grant a facility for dealing with money matters (such as the Jupiter-Pluto conjunction on Regulus in the 2nd house of Bill Gates’ chart); in the 10th house they make for a natural leadership ability and sense of group responsibility; and so forth. The manner in which the benefic influence of the bright stars differs from the benefic influence of – for example – the angles, North Node, Part of Fortune, Venus, or Jupiter is that these other benefic points are not so much places of protection as of opportunity. They don't shield us from the buffeting of circumstances so much as they give us some sort of advantage in coming to grips with them. Where these points fall (if they are well-aspected in the natal chart) we get our lucky breaks in life. By contrast, conjunction with a bright star is not so much a matter of increased luck as it is a matter of repose, ease, self-adequacy and insulation from the cycle of rewards and punishments which drives most of our everyday existence. Conjunction with a bright star endows a planet with a sense of refinement, ultimacy, art-for-art's-sake. If this description sounds vague, it's because the bright stars themselves vary considerably in their individual meanings. Some stars are benefic in influence, while others are decidedly malefic. However, even stars which normally produce unhappy events by primary direction must be considered to elevate the action of planets they conjoin in the natal chart, since they expand the scope of the planets outside the humdrum routine of everyday life, and focus the planetary energies on higher, more abstract designs. These interpretations for the twenty brightest stars (all brighter than magnitude 1.5) first give the name of the star, its longitude, and the planet whose nature it most resembles. The longitudes are for January 1, 2000. These longitudes should be corrected for precession by subtracting .014 degrees per year for dates prior to 2000; or adding .014 degrees per year for dates after 2000. The "Radix" entry for each star is a list of ideas associated with that star when it is found within one degree of conjunction with a planet in the horoscope. Since several pairs of bright stars are located very close together (in longitude that is – they're widely separated in the sky), we will only consider conjunctions to Sirius, Spica and Fomalhaut by planets with longitudes less than these stars; and we will only consider conjunctions to Canopus, Arcturus and Deneb by planets with longitudes greater than these stars. That w ay we can more easily separate out the individual meanings of Sirius versus Canopus, Spica versus Arcturus, and

Fomalhaut versus Deneb. To further illustrate a star's meaning, notable people who have this star conjunct a natal planet are listed by planet contacted. Finally, the "By Direction" entry lists the kinds of events which might be expected in the month or two following the conjunction of a bright star with an angle by primary direction. For instructions on how to calculate these directions see the free Primary Directions book download at www.dearbrutus.com => Books. The 20 Brightest Stars with Longitudes as of January 1, 2000 Aldebaran: 9°47' Gemini; nature of Saturn. Radix: benevolent, self-contained, mannerly, punctilious, reasonable, intellectually curious, cool, competent, steadfast. Examples: Sun - Joe Namath, Clint Eastwood, Benny Goodman, Oswald Spengler. Moon - Jack Benny, Benito Mussolini, James Fulbright. Mercury - James Arness, Brigham Young, Rachel Carson, John Dillinger, Maximilian Robespierre. Venus - Julie Christie. Mars - Roy Rogers, Cecil Rhodes, Herman Melville, Guy Lombardo. Jupiter - Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, Alexander Graham Bell, Brooke Shields, John Jacob Astor. Saturn - Jimi Hendrix. By Direction: Helplessness, oppression; circumstances beyond one's personal control. Rigel: 16° 50' Gemini; nature of Mercury. Radix: Dreamy, aloof, preoccupied, optimistic, selfmotivated, outspoken, brash, acerbic, sassy. Examples: Sun - Peter Lorre, Thomas Mann. Moon - Sigmund Freud, Rudyard Kipling, Alfred Tennyson, Teilhard de Chardin. Mercury -Ross Perot, James Mason, Jacques Offenbach. Venus - John F. Kennedy, Anthony Quinn, Van Cliburn. Mars - Wayne Newton. Jupiter - Arnold Palmer; Mike Wallace, John Travolta. Saturn - Andrew Jackson, M ary Martin, Bernard Malamud, Arthur Rimbaud. By Direction: Enthusiasm; birth of new skills and interests. Capella: 21°52' Gemini; nature of Venus. Radix: Refined sensibilities, aesthetic (effete); dilettante; maintains own and distance; prefers solitude (above-it-all, snooty). Examples: Sun -George Bush pere, Jacques Yves Cousteau, Richard Strauss. Moon - Brooke Shields. Mercury -Errol Flynn, Douglas Fairbanks, Bob Dylan. Venus - Jackie Kennedy Onassis, Dag Hammarskjold, Ralph Bellamy. Mars - Martin Luther King, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Joni Mitchell. J u p iter - Paul 5imon, Art Garfunkel, Anne Morrow Lindbergh, Marquis de Sade. Saturn Mick Jagger, Diana Ross, Joe Frazier, John Denver. By Direction: Emotional turmoil, sticky entanglements with others. Betelgeuze: 28°45’ Gemini; nature of the sun. Radix: Easygoing, sociable, gregarious, alert, ironic, sardonic, entertaining, earnest, upright; intent and determined without making waves. Examples: Sun -Richard Boone, Lillian Hellman, Guy Lombardo. Moon - Doris Day, Alan Bean. Mercury - Edward Heath, Ian Fleming, Henry Cabot Lodge II. Mars - Barbra Streisand; John Barrymore, Sean Connery, Henry Kissinger; Anna Pavlova. Jupiter - Ann Landers, Babe Ruth, Charles Dickens, Samuel Goldwyn, A. Conan Doyle. Saturn - Ella Fitzgerald; Billie Holiday, Alan Watts. By Direction: Pause for reflection; shed illusions and face reality. Sirius: l4°06' Cancer; nature of Mercury. Radix: Sociable, conversational, makes a good impression, deft at handling people, businesslike, well-organized, in-charge (impatient, stickler for details). Examples: Sun – George W. Bush, G. Pompidou, Gertrude Lawrence, Henry

Cabot Lodge II, Rube Goldberg. Moon - Anne Bancroft. Mercury - Robert Graves, Immanuel Velikovsky, Pearl S. Buck. Venus - Jimmy Stewart, Nelson Rockefeller, Tony Bennett. Mars Pablo Picasso. Jupiter - Sean Connery, Helmut Schmidt, Rachel Carson. Saturn - Glenn Ford. By Direction: Turning over a new leaf; starting a new life or career. Canopus: 14°58' Cancer; nature of Saturn. Radix: Serious, morose, pessimistic, critical, cynical, heavyweight. Examples: Sun - Cecil Rhodes, Ringo Starr, Rod Serling, Geraldine Page. Moon Annie Besant. Mercury - Carl Jung, Jack Dempsey, Erle Stanley Gardner, Stanley Kubrick. Venus - Benjamin Harrison. Mars - Isadora Duncan, George Gershwin, Lord Byron. Jupiter Bobby Fisher, Margot Fonteyn, Lynn Redgrave. Saturn - Henrik Ibsen. By Direction: Limitation, restriction, heavy emotional pressure; imposed upon by others; anguish. Pollux: 23°14' Cancer; nature of Mercury. Radix: Fresh, naive, impetuous, exuberant, open, analytical, curious. Examples: Sun - Gerald Ford, Jerry Rubin, Ginger Rogers, Ingmar Bergman, Isaac Bashevis Singer. Moon - Robert Cummings, H.R. Haldeman, Earl Warren. Mercury - Lilian Hellman. Venus - Joe Namath, Buddy Hackett, Fred MacMurray, Benito Mussolini, Karl Marx, Jay Gould. Mars - Albert Camus, Willy Brandt, Vivien Leigh. Jupiter - Susan Hayward, Barbara Stanwyck, Robert Graves, Paul Gauguin. Saturn - Diane Keaton, Rex Stout, David Ben Gurion, Diego Rivera. By Direction: New worlds to conquer; new perspectives and responsibilities; coming into one's own. Procyon: 25°48' Cancer; nature of the Moon. Radix: Emotionally centered, in touch with innermost feelings, cautious, shrewd, independent, aloof; unflagging hopefulness, faith and endurance. Examples: Sun - James Cagney, Donald Sutherland, Art Linkletter, John Glenn, Mary Baker Eddy. Moon - William Holden, Pierre Charles Baudelaire. Mercury - O.J. Simpson, Aldous Huxley, Calvin Coolidge. Venus - Fidel Castro, Stan Laurel, Lena Horne, Nelson Eddy. Mars -Audrey Hepburn, Mary Martin, Jacques Cousteau, Yves Saint Laurent, Henry Ford II. Jupiter Jimi Hendrix, Larry Flynt. Saturn - Goldie Hawn, Henry Winkler, Marc Chagall, Jack Paar. By Direction: Intense, emotional; things come to a head; calls for hard work and dedicated effort. Regulus: 29°50' Leo; nature of the Sun. Radix: Proud, dignified, regal bearing, grand manner (expects to be served), genial, unvarnished, unabashed. Examples: Sun - Wilt Chamberlain, Ray Bradbury. Moon - Winston Churchill, Benjamin Disraeli, Franklin Pierce. Mercury - Gene Kelly, Jesse James, Samuel Goldwyn, Johann von Goethe. Venus - Rudy Vallee, Jenny Lind, William Faulkner, Heinrich Himmler. Mars - Henry Ford, Mike Douglas, Gary Cooper, Vladimir Horowitz, Mata Hari. Jupiter – Bill Gates, Eleanor Roosevelt, F. Scott Fitzgerald, William Saroyan, Emily Post. Saturn - Anwar Sadat, Walter Lippmann, A. Solzhenitsyn, Annie Oakley, V. Nijinsky. By Direction: Power, prowess, exuberance; take control of life. Spica: 23°51' Libra; nature of Saturn. Radix: Sincere, determined, inner strength, courage, stiff upper lip, obstinate (easily put-upon, autocratic). Examples: Sun - John Kenneth Galbraith, Suzanne Somers; Lillian Gish. Moon - Henry Kissinger, Jack Anderson. Mercury - Larry Flynt. Venus - Woody Allen, Mickey Rooney. Mars - Roger Moore, Otto Preminger, Damon Runyan. Jupiter - Ralph Nader, Thomas Mann. Saturn - Nikita Khrushchev. By Direction: Heavy pressure; difficulties with others; deception or underhandedness; strange, worrisome undercurrents.

Arcturus: 24°14' Libra; nature of Mars. Radix: Friendly, up-front, outgoing, natural, unaffected, candid, childlike, mischievous, daring, joie de vivre. Examples: Sun - George C. Scott, Chuck Berry, Eugene O'Neill, Evel Knievel, Montgomery Clift, Friedrich Nietzsche. Moon - Edouard Manet. Mercury - Lenny Bruce, Walter Matthau, John Dean. Venus - F. Scott Fitzgerald, D.H. Lawrence, Geraldine Page, James Fenimore Cooper. Mars - Donald Sutherland, Nikolai Gogol. Jupiter - Winston Churchill, Ed Wynn. Saturn - Edward G. Robinson. By Direction: Ambition, self-respect; new opportunities and friendships. Mimosa: 11°39’ Scorpio; nature of Saturn. Radix: Calm, self-possessed, unhurried, dignified, self-controlled, idealistic, attuned to nuances (stubborn, haughty). Examples: Sun - Burt Lancaster, Charles Bronson, Art Carney, Andre Malraux, Warren G. Harding. Moon - Bruce Lee, Charlie Chaplin, Yves Montand. Mercury - Johnny Carson, Paul Simon, Grace Kelly, Lee Harvey Oswald, Juan Peron. Venus - Billy Graham, Goldie Hawn, Paul Klee. Mars - Ayn Rand, Theodore Dreiser, Martin van Buren. Juplter - James Arness, Huntington Hartford. Saturn - Peter Sellers, Robert E. Lee, H.G. Wells. By Direction: Need to triumph over adversity; stand up for oneself. Agena: 23°48 Scorpio; nature of Mars. Radix: Idealistic, romantic, mystical, adventurous, liberated (aloof, touchy). Examples: Sun - Prince Charles, Erwin Rommel, Burgess Meredith. Moon - Warren Beatty. Mercury - Dylan Thomas, Timothy Leary, Jonas Salk. Venus - Andy Williams, Benjamin Disraeli. Mars - Werner Erhard, Robert Penn Warren, Boris Pasternak. Jupiter - George Washington Carver, Roy Rogers, Herb Alpert. Saturn - Sammy Davis, Jr., Jane Meadows, Henri Matisse. By Direction: Release from pressure and uncertainty; new direction in life. Bungula: 29°33' Scorpio; nature of Venus. Radix: Abstracted, otherworldly, on own wavelength, optimistic, hopeful, vulnerable, childlike, gentle and genteel. Examples: Sun- Robert Kennedy, Billy Sunday. Moon - David Frost, Arturo Toscanini. Mercury - Charles Schulz,Werner Heisenberg. Venus - Mike Nichols, Thor Heyerdahl, Jeanne Dixon, Timothy Leary, Isaac Asimov. Mars - Jean Genet, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Carlos Castaneda. Jupiter - T.E. Lawrence, Noel Coward, August Rodin, Conrad Hilton. Saturn - John Muir, Alfred Tennyson. By Direction: Move or journey; search for a more congenial environment. Antares: 9°46' Sagittarius; nature of Mars. Radix: Cocky, brash, outspoken, bullheaded, acute, humorous (caustic), unflagging energy and optimism. Examples: Sun - Woody Allen, Mark Twain, Winston Churchill, Cyril Ritchard, Maria Callas, William Blake. Moon - Rock Hudson, Maurice Chevalier, Pablo Picasso, Mark Spitz. Mercury - Dick Cavett, Jonathan Winters, Uri Geller, Harpo Marx. Venus - Kurt Vonnegut, Horatio Alger, Rex Stout. Mars - Julie Andrews, Walter Cronkite, Robert Young, Arthur Koestler, W.H. Auden. Jupiter - Helen Hayes, James Baldwin, Hans Christian Andersen, Henri Toulouse-Lautrec. Saturn-Norman Vincent Peale, Bennett Cerf, Paul Cezanne. By Direction: "Coming home"; finding one's niche, where one belongs. Vega: 15°19' Capricorn; nature of Mercury. Radix: Eager, animated, outgoing, bubbly, sunny disposition and cheerful attitude. Examples: Sun - J.R.R. Tolkien, Walter Mondale, Konrad

Adenauer. Moon – Johnny Carson, John Glenn, Edgar Degas. Mercury - Lewis Carroll, Paul Newman, Simone de Beauvoir, Marlene Dietrich, John Forsythe. Venus - Paul Newman, Mohandas, Gandhi, Robert Kennedy. Mars – Claudia Colbert, Lowell Thomas, Dwight Eisenhower. Jupiter - Lenny Bruce, Art Buchwald, Gore Vidal, Bing Crosby. Saturn-Walt Disney, Nelson Eddy, Washington Irving, Immanuel Kant. By Direction: Freedom, independence; take control of own affairs. Altair: 1°46' Aquarius; nature of Jupiter. Radix: Laconic, frank, plain-spoken, benevolent, optimistic, humorous, mischievous, rebellious. Examples: Sun - Edgar Allen Poe, Arthur Conan Doyle, Jack Nicklaus. Moon - Woodrow Wilson, Niccolo Machiavelli. Mercury - Jack Lemmon, Zsa Zsa Gabor. Venus - Gisele MacKenzie, Maurice Ravel, William H. Masters. Mars – Archibald MacLeish, Bobby Fisher. Jupiter - John Keats, Mata Hari. Saturn - Elizabeth Taylor, Johnny Cash, Sarah Bernhardt, Friedrich Nietzsche. By Direction: Escape from a rut; new outlook, interests, and hope. Fomalhaut: 3°51' Pisces; nature of the sun. Radix: No-nonsense, down-to earth, meticulous, practical, honorable, idealistic, lofty (proud, authoritarian). Examples: Sun - Ted Kennedy, W.H. Auden. Moon - Elvis Presley, Michelangelo, G Seurat. Mercury - Harold MacMillan, Charles Lindbergh, Buffalo Bill Cody. Venus - Hugh Hefner. Mars - Piet Modrian, Jackie Robinson. Saturn - Henry Fonda, Jean-Paul Sartre, Joseph Cotton. By Direction: Move or career change; new responsibilities, new horizons. Deneb: 5°20' Pisces; nature of Mercury. Radix: Open, vivacious, intellectually curious, nonjudgmental, courageous; unflinching readiness to stand up for beliefs. Examples: Sun Willam Shirer; Edna St. Vincent Millay. Moon - Herb Alpert, Duke of Windsor. Mercury - Lana Turner, Buster Crabbe, Florenz Zigfield. Venus - Norman Rockwell, Babe Ruth, Sophie Tucker, Victor Hugo. Mars – James Baldwin, William James. Jupiter - Lawrence Welk. Saturn - Ken Kesey, Julie Andrews, Sherwood Anderson, James Monroe, Robert Burns. By Direction: After a frustrating period, one embarks upon new ventures and relationships. Achernar: 15°18' Pisces; nature of Mars. Radix: Stubborn, determined, singleminded, responsible, hardworking (pigheaded, dictatorial), daring, cheeky, independent in thought and action. Examples: Sun - Knute Rockne, Alexander Graham Bell, Rex Harrison. Moon - James Hilton, Eddie Cantor, Paul Cezanne. Mercury - Alec Guinness, Hugh Downs, Hugo Black, Maxim Gorki, Arthur Schopenhauer. Venus - Queen Elizabeth II, Sergei Diaghilev, Henry James, Neville Chamberlain. Mars - John Steinbeck, Miles Davis, Francisco Franco. Jupiter - Douglas MacArthur, Evelyn Waugh, Andrew Johnson. Saturn - Edgar Cayce, James A: Michener, Caesar Romero, John Huston. By Direction: Difficult adjustments; emotional pressure; jealousy.

***** More of Bob Makransky’s articles are posted at: http://www.dearbrutus.com and http://groups.yahoo.com/group/MagicalAlmanac/files To subscribe to Bob’s free monthly astro-magical ezine, send an e-mail to: [email protected]