Il Gattopardo

“It is true that Astrology has a lot to offer to Psychology through the interpretation of the Archetypes common to both arts and their reciprocal relationships” (C. G. Jung - in a letter to A. Barbault)

Who was Il Gattopardo? By Nestor Almada, Dip. Mayo S. Astrol (UK), Cert. Vedic Astrol. A.I.V.S. (USA) Il Gattopardo is a novel that covers a precise period of history from May 1860 to May 1910. It has as background the invasion of Garibaldi and annexation of Sicily to the kingdom of Italy and the end of the monarchy of the Bourbons. Il Gattopardo not only depicts the decline of an aristocratic household. It is also a precise subtle and talented description of the time and psychology of the characters. It is a balanced combination of history, fiction, individual memory and autobiography. There is a strong indication that the Italian author Tomasi di Lampedusa, Duke of Parma, and Prince of Lampedusa was the Leopard himself. Luchino Visconti believed that Tomasi di Lampedusa was himself il Gattopardo, because of his critical observations, his life style and for his attachment to the past, and that he was hiding under the skin of Don Fabrizio Corbera , Prince of Salina. The Character of Don Fabrizio Corbera was inspired in Giulio IV di Lampedusa, his grandfather. Gioacchino Lanza Tomasi, the adoptive son of Tomasi di Lampedusa and Director of the Italian Institute of Culture also agree that "Lampedusa was identified with Prince Salina". Also, oblivious to the uninitiated, there is intriguing astrological evidence that both, Tomasi di Lampedusa and Il Gattopardo are the same person. Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa was born on the 23 December 1896 at 9am in

Palermo, Italy (Data and Chart from Astrodienst Online).

The Ascendant (his attitude to life), the Sun (his self-expression) and Mercury (his rational thinking) are all located in Capricorn. Saturn, the ruling planet is in its own house, the 10th house. This is a very strong position for Saturn. Lampedusa was both a Capricorn and a Saturn Type. It is interesting to notice that Il Gattopardo was according astrology a typical Capricorn. He was a scientifically minded snob, philosophical, skeptical, and distrustful of mankind and disappointed of life in general. Catholic intellectuals rejected its pessimistic outlook and anticlerical views and Italian Marxist believed that its historical vision was too narrow. Tomasi di Lampedusa often uses animal imagery, to compare men to animals. In

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more primitive societies it was common to give names of animals to people to indicate their rank or position in society. Kings and chiefs are animals too, generally Lions or Leopards. Vestiges of this custom are still seen in some more traditional and close to nature societies where more literally such titles must be taken. . For instance, former emperor of Ethiopia, Haile Selassie was named ‘the Lion of Judah' and the honorific name of Dr Hasting Banda, was 'The Lion of Malawi' Tomasi di Lampedusa uses animal imagery to draw a distinctive class separation. The nobility is compared with noble animals; ".si illuse di essere un gattopardo imponente del pelo liscio e perfumato che si preparasse a sbranare uno sciacatello timoroso.." (P149). On the other hand, common people are compared with the 'lower' animals, "...dopo sara' diverso, ma peggiore, noi fummo I Gattopardi, I Leone: chi ci sostituira' sarano I sciacalleti, le iene' (p219) The snobbery of this astrological sign is described by Carter, in his 'Encyclopaedia of Psychological Astrology'; "Capricorn is conscious of, and a believer in, class distinction, but is quite ready to pay each man his due according to his own view of what ought to be accorded to a man in such a position. This belief in the value of caste is part of the love of orderliness which Saturn (the ruler of Capricorn) gives; there is a feeling that everyone has, and should has, his right place in life, and should keep there, unless he can rise himself by worth, expressed in such terms as Saturn can respect. He have a well-marked sense of status and pay what he consider to be due regard to the

claims of age, position, knowledge and wealth". Often Capricorn loves to look down on their fellows, insects in the distance, with profound sense of superiority. They think that their eternal criticism is superior discernment, and no one measures up to their own standards. In their secret hearts, everyone else is greatly beneath them. Constantly pity them for being thus afflicted with the small minds around them. Il Gattopardo is aware of his lineage and social position and says to the Piedmontese emissary Chevalley "The significance of a noble family lies entirely in its traditions, that is in its vital memories" The Prince of Salina believed to be himself a 'superior being' and that his descendants will only be Salina in name; 'they will be of a coarser stuff ', he said. Even when describing his own death, the Prince of Salina felt superior to others who busied themselves in the process of living, "on other occasions, more frequent, he had felt a kind of pride at being the only one to notice this continual escape (of his life force), while no one around him seemed to sense it in the same way, and this had made him feel a certain contempt for others, as an old soldier despises a conscript who deludes himself that whistling bullets are just harmless flies". The snobbishness of Tomasi di Lampedusa appears to be emphasized by Saturn in his 10th house which indicates his concerns over human values and his persisting trueness to his own nature under the impact of social compulsions. This house also indicates his social realization or sensitiveness to the social environment and focus on his honor or reputation as an expression of position in

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life, showing authority as administered over inferiors, and the moon is in Leo is the quest for authority. The planet Saturn was personified by the ancient Romans as 'Saturnus', a mythical God reputed founder of civilization and social order. Recurrent symbols about death are common in the novel. The death of the young soldier is one of the four principal recurrent symbols. At Donnafugata Fabrizio's tenants present him with sixslaughtered baby lambs. The rabbit killed by Fabrizio is gloomily described "the animal had died tortured by anxious hopes of salvation, imagining it could still escape when it was already caught, just like so many human beings." The last example of this recurrent symbol occurs as Fabrizio leaves the ball; "A long open wagon come by stacked with bulls killed shortly before at the slaughterhouse, already quartered and exhibiting their intimate mechanism with the shamelessness of death". When Fabrizio Corbera passes someone in death agonies on the way to the ball, he gets out of the carriage and kneels in prayer on the pavement. Tancredi understand the Prince's deepest yearning when he remarks with subdued irony, "uncle, you are courting death" Scholars explain these scenes of deaths as recurrent symbols of the decline and death of the Salina's dynasty. When Fabrizio fascinated with Greuze's 'Death of a just man" asked himself 'if his own death would be like that', is often interpreted as a symbolism of the last spasm of the moribund aristocracy. However this may not be the case. Negative thinking is a natural characteristic of Capricorn. According

the Blackie's English Dictionary, the word 'saturnine' supposed to be under the influence of the planet Saturn, "which tended to make people morose; of a gloomy temper" Astrologers agree that in general Capricorn and Saturn types are pessimistic and gloomy: "Frequently despondent (unhappy or melancholic due to disappointments) and apt to look on the dark side of things. Often moody and pessimistic and prone to self-pity, especially if he develops a 'lonely and misunderstood' complex"(Tucker). "Saturn in the world of feeling he rules over fear and grief, sorrow and pain, and all emotions that are deep and prolonged" (Alan Leo). "Because Saturn rules Capricorn, the natives has a tendency to be melancholic and, at times, lonely' " They behave on the principle that the world is a place in which every man is for himself” (Sakoian & Acker).”Melancholy, fatalism, or an attitude of despair or indifference. Capricorn prepares for the worst. He cannot help thinking it all much uncalled for. He is essentially disillusioned and plans everything accordingly. Saturn gives neither faith nor hope"(Carter) Those recurrent symbols of death in Il Gattopardo may means that the author just wanted 'to share' his negative feelings, since is natural for a Capricorn to has a depressing effect upon others. In the Prince's balance sheet of his life, 'happy moment's are no more than 'golden speck's on the immense ash-heap of liabilities' (P294) The experience of true love appears to be absent in the novel. Lust turns into disappointment. "Quelli furono i giorni

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migliori della vita di Tancredi e di quella di Angelica, vite che dovevano poi essere tanto variegate, tanto peccaminose sull'inevitabile sfondo di dolore" Human love is to be found debased as 'deviant sexuality' when Tancredi and Angelica in secret apartment find a whip of bull's muscle. In ancient mythology, the bull is a common symbol of man's animal nature. The following day they enter the apartment of the Saint-Duke. This time they find another whip, used by the Saint-Duke to scourge him. A symbol of 'repressed sexuality'. True love avoids Concetta, the Prince's daughter. Her father sacrifices her to the 'necessities of the time'. The prince approves Tancredi, his young nephew's desire to marry the daughter of a newly rich rogue, Calogero Sedara. "I fear Tancredi will has to aim higher, by which of course I mean lower" Human love is denied in marriage and expressed in debauchery. The Prince trapped in a marriage, which he considered as a part of the inherited scheme of life, seeks escape from reality in sensuality with Marianina. Perhaps the 'reality' created by Lampedusa may well be the expression of his true inner nature. Being standoffish prejudiced and severe, the natural Capricorn is often deprived of love. Its basic nature is selfish and in the pure state, the type is austere, supercritical, fault finding and overbearing. They can find something to criticize in everyone. “In the majority of cases, wrote Alan Leo, it makes him very narrow and limited, giving rise to mental attitude of antipathy and indifference” "Capricorn is too cautious for their own good, being emotionally indecisive, these people fear loneliness but all too

often attract it by reason of alienating the affections of partners, or friends that wish to cultivate. Often lonely, indeed it seems to be part of their psychology to feel everyone with whom they come into contact misunderstands them. They are capable of undue severity towards their fellow men. They crave love, yet being exceedingly self-centered they often fail to realize that the sentiment of love must be reciprocal (Tucker)". The 'Capricorn' Prince only trusted the stars and his dog. "They (the stars) are the only truly disinterested, the only really 'trustworthy creatures', and rubbing the dog's big head Fabrizio says, you Bendico' are a bit like them, like the stars, happily incomprehensible, incapable of producing anxiety" "In the human kingdom, Saturn represents also the divine ascetic, from the humblest puritan to the Sanyasi or Yogi. A hard taskmaster, he exacts to the utmost those qualities which produce self-control and self-restraint; and thus he 'individualizes' every virtue, each becoming the permanent possession of those who come under his influence. The higher the mind is risen above the purely, concrete and objective, the more will the native incline towards comparison, discrimination, judgment and tact. Saturn is the planet that chasten. Capricorn is conscientious in action and in a rather narrower sense, it represents the stern, uncompromising sense of duty and conscience, that we connect with the puritan and even in selfish matters it tends to act methodically, erecting a standard which it steadily endeavors to uphold" (Alan Leo) Lampedusa also use animal imagery to contemptuously describe those 'living at

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the level of their most basic instincts'. Fabrizio, after an affair with his mistress in Palermo consider himself "un porco e niente altro". Tancredi courting Angelica is described as "innamorato come un gatto, ma anche bagnato come un ranocchio, sudicio come un cane sperso, e affamato come un lupo" (P178). Appalled by the ugliness and frivolity of the Sicilian upper class, Don Fabrizio compared them with frogs, " un stagno fitto di ranocchie" (P261). Here Capricorn reveals the ultimate critical genius of Lampedusa and especially indicates his power of analysis in question of morality and ethics. "Capricorn actions centers on things material, which is why we usually find the minds of natives of Capricorn filled with ideas of services and its rewards. Physical splendor holds a great fascination for the Capricorn born, and their ideals in this direction are usually very strong developed. Rarely conspicuous for energical endeavors, preferring to rely upon tactics based upon caution, which mainly consists of a sitting on the fence, awaiting opportunistic chances to cash in upon developing situations rather that to create opportunities for themselves by adopting a positive and vigorous policies. They are quick to size an advantage, since fair play is not one of their virtues" (Tucker). Like many Capricorns, "Don Fabrizio lived in perpetual discontent, watching the ruin of his own class and his own inheritance without ever making any move toward saving it, without reacting". At the same time, the Prince, in the hope of recovering some of his wealth and influence, approves Tancredi's desire to marry the daughter of a newly rich man.

The words "Se vogliamo che tutto rimanga com'e', bisogna che tutto cambi" (Things must change so they can remain the same), summarizes the typical Capricorn expediency. In the chapter 'Relics' which is set in 1910, the three unmarried and now elderly daughters of Il Gattopardo are engaged in excessive acts of devotion. But an agent of the church tells them that most of the relics they have been venerating in the chapel are bogus are of no value at all. Form an astrological point of view, this scene could well symbolize a Capricorn 'value system'. Here the natural expression of human affection is undervalued, while at the same time, external material objects are overvalued. "Psychological Earth gives them a sense of concrete reality", says Carter. And perhaps this skepticism and clear understanding of material values lead Lampedusa to 'despiritualize' the myths, whereby the old myth become just an outward form without any significance. "The gods and demigods of the myth and legend are reduced in IL Gattopardo to serving decorative functions and their stature has been decreased by being confined to the limits of art of the mural". The Prince believed himself to be a God in human form and was convinced of being capable of influencing the heavenly motions; "Bati dire che in lui orgoglio e analisi matematica si erano a tal punto associati da dargli l'illusione che gli astri obbedissero ai suoi calcoli" (P11). Practical judgment does not strengthen any truly mystical, spiritual or genuinely religious experience, but rather leads to a demand for a complete conformity to normal expectations in life.

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"Renunciation in the sense of retirement from and forsaking the world arises from different motives. Capricorn generally withdraws either from necessity, disappointed ambition or deep philosophic conviction" (Carter) Disappointed, Fabrizio Corbera lost interest in the world and his love for the stars symbolizes his longing for eternity "Fabrizio longs for an appointment with Venus in her own region of personal certitude. He calls astronomy his morphia, his path to sleep and forgetfulness; he merges into its tranquil harmony and lives the life of the spirit in its most sublimated moments". For the Prince, the stars are the intangible and the unattainable. According to the ancient myths, all the Gods abandon us so that we can discover ourselves. Tomasi di Lampedusa style appears to be strongly influenced by his own values

and his own ideas that have their origin not in objective data but in his own subjective foundations. Far from seeing the 'reality' as it is, he instead prefers to have a 'correctness of judgment' concerning what is observable. Our birth chart is something like a photograph of our psyche and it reflect the planetary energies and the archetypes transmitted throughout the planets. The stars provide the essential elements for the psyche and continue to operate within our minds and determine its working whether we acknowledge them or not. Il Gattopardo, describes more than decline of an aristocratic household. It is a psychological novel. It is also an autobiography where the main character, Don Fabrizio Corbera and the author, Tomasi di Lampedusa appear to be the same person, since both of them share the same astrological archetype.

References Carter, C.E.O. - "An Encyclopaedia of Psychological Astrology" - The Theosophical Publishing house, London (1976) Eskin, S.G. - "Animal Imagery in Il gattopardo" - Italica v 39 (3) September 1962, (pp189-194) Folly, P. - "The New Astrology" - Pan Books, London (1985) Frawley, D. - "From the River of Heaven" - Passage Press, Salt Lake City (1990) Frawley, D. - "The Astrology of the Seers" - Passage Press, Salt Lake City (1990) Gilbert, J. - "The Metamorphosis of the Gods in Il Gattopardo" - Modern Language Notes n0. 81, 1966 (pp22-32) Henderson, J. - "Ancient Myths and Modern Man" (Man and his Symbols) - Aldus Books Ltd, London Jaffe', A. - "Symbolism in the Visual Arts" (Man and his Symbols) - Aldus Books Ltd, London Jones, M. - "Astrology. How and Why it Works" - Routledge & Kegan Paul Ltd - London (1977) Kroiz, E, - "Horoscopes" - Tophi Books, London (1987) Leo, A. - "The Art of Synthesis" - Astrologer's Library- New York (1983) McSweeney, K. - "Lampedusa and the Hour of Death" - Southern Humanities Review 12, 1978 (pp213-220) Mayo, J. - "The Planets and Human Behavior" - L.N. Fowler & Co, London (1973) Meyers, J. - "Greuze and Lampedusa's Il Gattopardo" - Modern Language Review 69, 1974 (pp308-315) Meyers, J. - "Symbol and Structure in The Leopard" - Italian Quarterly, v9 1965 (pp50-70) Oken, A. - " Alan Oken's Complete Astrology" - Bantam Books, USA (1980) Sakoian & Acker - "The Astrologer Handbook" - Peter Davies Ltd, London (1977)

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Simone, M. - "Astrology" - Magna Print Books, Yorkshire (1975) Tucker, W.J. - "The How, What and Why of Astrology" - Astrological Publications, Delhi (1969) Tucker, W.J. - "Study by the Stars" - Astrological Publications, Delhi (1975) Tucker, W.J. - "Destiny, Cybernetics & Astrology" - Astrological Publications, Delhi (1974) Wales, B. - "Il Gattopardo- a Modern Cautionary Tale” - ConVivio vol 4 No.2 October 1998 (pp144-148) Copyright Nestor Almada 2005 Nestor Almada was born in Cordoba, Argentina. He studied astrology with the Mayo School of Astrology (UK), Vedic Astrology and Ayurveda with Dr David Frawley, founder of the America Institute of Vedic Studies and Homeopathy and Biochemistry with the Grace Medical Mission (India). Other Studies: University of New England, Dip in Modern Languages (Italian). Macquire University, Crt in Lang. (French). University of Melbourne, Grad Dip in Information and Communication Technology Ed. Hawthorn Institute of Education, Grad Dip in Education. Universidad Tecnologica Nacional (Argentina), Degree in Engineering (Electronics). Worked as an engineer in Europe and South Africa and as a teacher and Linguist in Australia. Presently studying Psychology at Monash University

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