Astrology is the study of wholeness, of totality and of its implied order.
The chart is everything, the whole of existence, the planets within it are tiny, flickering symbols in a vast space.
These planets identify you as an individual and how you have emerged into being from the space that the whole chart represents.
So the study of a birthchart is the consideration of one moment in time and space and how it relates to the whole.
Astrology is holistic, religion in the way that most people understand it is divisive.
If there is to be something that we call God, it has to be everything in existence. It cannot be partial.
So the birthchart that you see in front of you is a symbolic representation of God, or heaven if you like, the actual planets are you.
Every possible combination of those planets is available and ultimately no one of them is intrinsically better or worse than any other.
But because we are individuals, we identify with that combination and see life and other planetary groupings in relation to ourself.
So the behaviours of other combinations are judged in terms of whether they are sympathetic to our own.
The desire to separate things into good and bad, right and wrong, heaven and hell is a human one.
People that believe in these divisions do so because they simply haven’t taken the time necessary to think things through properly.
They have not been able to step out of their own narrow concerns and conceptions, their own planetary placements to see the whole picture sitting behind them.
So when John Lennon sang ” Imagine there’s no heaven ” he was simply asking people to step out of this blinkered, self centred view and see the true nature of things.
If we are looking for a sign that would describe peaceful coexistence and cooperation with our neighbours it would have to be Libra, so its no surprise to find a 5 planet stellium in the sign.
The politically idealistic and religiously rebellious nature of Imagine would be seen in the Sun’s conjunction with Uranus, it’s trine with Mars in Aquarius and the Jupiter / Neptune pairing in Sagittarius.
While we dont have a time for the actual release is seems likely that it would be in the morning and 9.30 places most of the stellium in the idealistic 11th house, with a Cancer Moon in the philosophical 9th.
Perhaps the Sun’s square to the Moon shows up the paradox between the song’s ideals and the narrow conventional religious thinking that it looks to free us all from.
With Libra Sun and Mars in the same sign in exact trine to an Aquarius Moon, Lennon had some of the same qualities in his own chart, although with three powerful oppositions he was a man of apparent contradictions.
His Give Peace A Chance Libra Sun on the cusp of the 7th house was opposed to a personally assertive Aries Ascendant.
His politically idealistic Aquarius Moon in the 11th could be seen as being out of step with his 5th house Pluto and desire for personal and creative drama.
His ability to stand as a mouthpiece for his generation through the exact 1st house Jupiter / Saturn conjunction could be seen as being at odds with his Mercury in Scorpio in the 7th house behaviour within his relationships.
But that’s the thing with oppositions. We can’t judge someone or ourselves by the standards or requirements of a placing at one end, we have to acknowledge and accept the two way pull as having equal input and credit in forming the character.
When we are looking at the question of soulmates, it is helpful to see the planets as points where each individual emerges from the collective.
Although every planet describes a part of ourselves and our lives, the Sun in our chart is the placement that most relates to our individual self.
By progression the Sun moves on its journey, making aspects with the other planets and as it does so brings the life themes described by them into particular focus.
It also seems to meet other beings emerging from our soul group in order to help us with our exploration of these themes.
When we are looking at progressions in a life it is always helpful at the start to remind ourselves of what is possible.
John Lennon died at the age of 40, cruelly assassinated by Mark Chapman – The Man Who Killed The 1960s .
Consequently his progressed Sun could only move from its natal place of 16 Libra to 26 Scorpio.
But this still gives it time to trigger all of the oppositions.
Psychologists who don’t have access to astrology will often look to our early childhood experiences as being the cause of our later behaviour patterns.
As astrologers we see that one is not caused by the other but both are symptoms.
If someone has the Sun in Libra opposite an Aries Ascendant they have to feel pulled in two very different directions between their own desire for an independent life and their needs in relationship.
In fact this theme will dominate their life.
Therefore its likely that they would have had early childhood experiences that encapsulate and reflect this theme.
One thing that comes up time and again is when someone has a powerful solar aspect in their chart, they will have early experiences connected with it as the progressed Sun tightens the angle.
John Lennon’s Sun at 16.16 Libra and Ascendant at 19.54 Aries means that between the age of 3 and 5, his progressed Sun will be in exact opposition to it.
” John’s Dad, Alfred was a merchant seaman who was often away from home, the regular pay cheques stopped when he went absent without leave in February 1944. When he eventually came home six months later, he offered to look after the family, but Julia ( John’s Mum ), by then pregnant with another man’s child, rejected the idea.
In July 1946, Lennon’s father visited her and took his son to Blackpool, secretly intending to emigrate to New Zealand with him. Julia followed them – with her partner at the time, Bobby Dykins – and after a heated argument, his father forced the five-year-old to choose between them. In one account of this incident, Lennon twice chose his father, but as his mother walked away, he began to cry and followed her. “
If that is not a perfect example of a progressed Libra Sun closing an opposition with an Aries Ascendant, I don’t know what is.
Progressions also emphasise the importance of the exact positions of planetary placements.
This is something that a lot of astrology followers miss.
They say I have the Sun in Libra in the 6th house which means da da da.
But they would be missing the key point here.
What they fail to see is it’s the Sun being exactly 3 and a half degrees away from the Ascendant that creates this important trigger that would inevitably shape John Lennon’s whole life.
And how this critical opposition elevates the role of partnerships and consequent splits with them to such a dominant degree.
Because despite the Aries Ascendant we don’t see John Lennon as an independent entity. As a 7th house Libra Sun we talk about him in conjunction with his partnerships.
The first one as part of the greatest songwriting team the world has ever known.
Paul’s Gemini stellium forms trines with with John’s Libra stuff including a close Mercury / Sun songwriting partnership.
His Saturn / Uranus conjunction creates a Grand Trine with Lennon’s Moon and Mars.
But the really powerful connection is the one between Paul’s 11th house Mars / Pluto conjunction and John’s 11th house Moon / Pluto opposition.
This is because they were both spokespeople for the Pluto in Leo generation.
There is only one time in John Lennon’s life when his progressed Sun would aspect his Moon / Pluto opposition. It formed a T Square with both in 1957 when he first met Paul McCartney.
It also follows that at the same time John’s progressed Sun would be square to Paul’s Mars / Pluto.
Few astrologers use Secondary Progressions, those that do will often focus on which houses they are occurring in.
My view on that is since the progressed Sun will take on average 30 years to move through a house, on its own it’s not very helpful.
Progressions only became significant when an angle to a natal planet is being formed, then the house position has some relevance.
In fact John Lennon’s progressed Sun was in his 7th house of partnerships for his whole life.
When it reached the trine / sextile to his Moon / Pluto, Paul McCartney wasn’t the only soulmate he met.
John’s Venus ( 3 Virgo ) is conjunct his first wife Cynthia’s Mercury.
Granted we only have a noon chart but the really strong synastry is that their Moons are in tight opposition.
So when John’s progressed Sun reached the trine to his Moon in 1957 it was also sextile Cynthia’s Moon.
John Lennon has Mercury in Scorpio in the 7th house. When his progressed Sun reached a conjunction with that Mercury in 1962 – 63, he married Cynthia.
If we remember that the 3rd opposition in John’s chart was the one between Mercury and the 1st house Jupiter / Saturn conjunction, it would come as no surprise to find that he met his 3rd soulmate when his progressed Sun opposed that Jupiter / Saturn in 1967 – 68.
John’s synastry with Yoko is interesting and unless you look into progressions you don’t see the whole picture.
His 7th house Mercury is in close trine with her 5th house Mercury. Note also that her Mercury is exactly conjunct her North Node.
Yoko’s Venus is in exact square aspect to John’s Jupiter / Saturn so when they first met, his progressed Sun was square to her Venus.
After meeting Yoko, John’s progressed Sun had only one final aspect to make, the opposition to Uranus in 1980 to his 4th soulmate.
Although the sign placements are different there are remarkable similarities between the charts of John Lennon and that of his murderer Mark Chapman.
Lennon’s Libra Sun is 3 degrees 28 minutes below his Descendant.
Chapman’s Taurus Sun is 3 degrees 34 minutes below his own.
Chapman’s 7th house Mercury is exactly quincunx to Lennon’s own.
The killer pattern in Mark Chapman’s chart is the T Square involving his Sun, Ascendant, Saturn and an apex Pluto.
John Lennon’s progressed Sun was square to Mark Chapman’s apex Pluto when he was murdered by him.
It’s so fascinating that a normal lifespan will allow our progressed Sun to make one major aspect with all the planets in our chart.
Even John Lennon,, who died before the half way point experienced all the main ones in his life. All of his soulmates came on cue, his progressions not only triggering his own natal placements but theirs as well.
John’s final one was the opposition to Uranus.
It seems that once our particular natal patterns have been properly played out by progression, our life dissolves back into the infinite space behind our placements.
Maybe to emerge at a later date with a fresh chart and a new set of challenges. With the same soulmates playing different roles.
We will have to wait and see.
In the meantime, if you want to imagine what heaven is like, just look past your own placements to the vast space in your chart behind them.
Posted on 22nd June 2023
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