The Art of Music

The art of music is often associated with Neptune in modern astrology. We begin with the horoscope of Lucianno Pavarotti (Figure 5), whose gorgeous tenor voice soared to the heights of beauty and even evoked a sense of the spiritual in this listener.

 

With pointer on Pavaotti’s Neptune, we also see Venus, at the opposite end, and the midpoints Moon/Zeus plus Node/Kronos, Sun/Kronos, M/Sun and M/Node at or very near exactitude on the axis. Even Venus + Neptune is mostly unhappy in Uranian interpretation: “Rapture (yes), but then “renouncing, false or unhappy love, deceptive hope...” Why not “love (Venus) for music (Neptune)? Or art (Venus) that is sensitive, intutive, raptuous. Or perhaps simply the art of music? As for the other midpoints, all are mostly positive with Venus, but quite discouraging in every “Rules” interpretation with Neptune. In looking at this chart with the knowledge of what the native became, we can see the positive clearly, but what if we saw such a chart when the native was young and untried, seeking direction? Then, while the negative potentials might be mentioned, an alternative of hope can also be proposed. How about something like this: The “I” (Midheaven/Sun) may identify with the potential of a fiery creative talent (Moon/Zeus), that if nurtured and properly schooled, could rise to prominence (Sun/Kronos) and bring advantageous contacts (Midheaven/Node, Node/Kronos).

 

If a young, aspiring musician like the famed female opera star Leontyne Price (Figure 6) had considered her MC square Neptune prospects with Uranian astrology, she may have been sadly discouraged: M + Mars = Neptune reads only Fraudulent action. Inability to assert oneself. To succumb. To destroy something. Weak-willed. Pluto/Admetos = Neptune is at least, benign: Coming events develop below the surface, and can be noticed in small symptoms. Sun/Mercury = Neptune combines terms like impractical, sluggish, swindle and fraud with the possibility of inspiration as an author. (But voice is also Mercury, is it not?) Ascendant/Venus-Vulcanus = Neptune speaks variously of deception, separation, wasted effort, being forced to learn lessons, or that others may succumb through trials of strength.

In considering alternative interpretations: M-Mars is “one’s action” and here the primary Neptunian action for which this native became known is music—that was likely noticed at first in “small symptoms” as she grew from childhood. She expressed her music through her beautiful voice (Sun-Mercury), and received powerful accolades for it (A/Vulcanus). Would the Uranian student see any of this potential, if reading for a very young Leontyne, or might the student become too focused on the very discouraging Midheaven-Neptune-Mars combination and fail to see the more uplifting possibilities?

 

For one more example of a musician, see Figure 7 for the 90° dial chart of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, who has his Mercury-Sun conjunction in close opposition to Neptune. By “Rules,” Mercury on Sun/Neptune means day-dreaming; not being awake, mental defects, poor memory, and yes, it also offers receptivity for thoughts and ecstasy. Alone, Sun-Neptune is sensitive, and perhaps a medium, but weak in health, infirm. He only lived for 35 years, a short life by today’s standards, and died of a fever, but the magnitude of what he accomplished while living remains amazing by anyone’s standards, even if he’d lived to be 100. Might Sun be revisioned to define not just the body, but perhaps also something about how one “shines” in life? And Neptune be seen not primarily just for deception, confusion and dissolution, but also for emphasizing imagination, vision, a sense of Spirit, the quest for beauty? If so, then this person’s light was highly influenced by his visionary quest, and he communicated this to the ages. On this axis of Mercury and Neptune, we also see Venus/Jupiter (success in art? or with “old” Neptune, hopelessness) Moon/Mars (active brain), Mars/Pluto (organize, lead, perform several activites at once, or with “old” Neptune, secret plans, not carried out or aimed at destruction), Venus/Jupiter (rapture, or “old” Neptune’s hopelessness) plus the midpoint of Poseidon/Uranus-Node-Ascendant (visionary recognition, mental connections, union of ideas with others). Traditional Uranian interpretation is, happily, kind to almost everything involving Poseidon.

In retrospect of Mozart’s life and work, I think a fair addition to the totality of this axis, particularly the Mars/Zeus and Uranus/Poseidon could be: to express and communicate with others one’s unusual, electrifying connections with Spirit.

Mozart’s Midheaven axis falls exactly on the midpoint Neptune/Kronos, which means “incompetent as manager or leader.” His biography indicates that he may have experienced that at times. But certainly, also, if we consider Neptune as also relating to art and the spiritual, then this combination could also mean that one’s soul and leadership potential may involve the heights of artistic and spiritual expression.