Astrology

Basil Rathbone

• 3 min read
Astrology
Photo by Josh Rangel / Unsplash

In Western (tropical) astrology I am a Double Gemini (Sun and Moon) with Sagittarius Rising. In Indian (sidereal) astrology I am a Taurus. No way. In Chinese astrology, I am Year of the Wood Horse (Fire Sign), with the Snake (another Fire Sign) as my lunar/inner animal and a secret animal that's either a Monkey or Rooster (Metal Signs). OK...

The issue for me is not what the Sun or the Moon were doing at the moment of our birth, or what was ascendant, or what the planets were doing in our houses. Horoscope astrology offers a mystical or Gnostic obsession with synchronicity which seems to be religious in nature, except that here Time replaces Space (cf. The Divine Elevator and Sacred Geometry plus Chartres Cathedral's Zodiac windows).

Zodiac Clock in Prague
Cathédrale Saint-Jean-Baptiste in Lyon. Photo: Chris 73
Zodiac Clock in the Piazza San Marco, Venice

I am content to believe that astrology can capture human DNA quite well and I certainly fit the Gemini profile. Fire, Earth, Air and Water and animal-based "types" like Aries, Taurus, etc. with their clusters of adjectives offer a richer human tapestry than the classical theory of humors or the DSM lists of pathologies created by modern psychoanalysts and psychologists. No wonder a significant proportion of the population in this so-called scientific age prefers to believe in astrology's descriptive and predictive powers. Why? Because it works better and it's not as rigid - change is woven into the mix.

Below are some of the famous names in this website, with their Sun Sign and an occasional Moon Sign and Ascendant (Rising Sign) thrown in.

  • Cervantes - Libra (Aries Moon, Sagittarius Ascendant)
  • Rubens - Cancer (multiple links: use Search)
  • Rembrandt - Cancer
  • Louis XIV - Virgo
  • Voltaire - Scorpio
  • Goethe - Virgo
  • William Blake - Sagittarius (multiple links: use Search)
  • Jane Austen - Sagittarius
  • Beethoven - Sagittarius (Sagittarius Moon, Scorpio Ascendant)

Just to confuse things: some astrologers explain that Ophiuchus technically can be considered a zodiac sign and that Jane Austen and Beethoven, for example, would move out of Sagittarius.