posted August 21, 2020 06:10 PM            

Blog Link: http://theastrofiend.blogspot.com/2020/08/the-astrology-of-leos-in-black_19.html

James Baldwin
Saturday, August 2, 1924

Sun in 10 Degrees Leo
Moon in 02 Degrees Virgo
Venus in 03 Degrees Cancer
Mercury in 04 Degrees Virgo
Mars retrograde in 04 Degrees Pisces
Saturn in 26 Degrees Libra
Jupiter retrograde in 10 Degrees Sagittarius
Pluto in 12 Degrees Cancer
Neptune in 19 Degrees Leo
Uranus retrograde in 20 Degrees Pisces
North Node in 22 Degrees Leo
Lilith in 17 Degrees Gemini

If you watched I am Not your Negro documentary on James Baldwin or listen to him being interviewed you can see James Baldwin is one of those introspective thinking contemplative (possibly introverted) Leo's.

My black card may get revoked but I never read any of his works (yet). I have watched the documentary mentioned above and watched several of interviews including one with Gemini American poet Nikki Giovanni, The William Buckley debate, and Scorpio talk show host Dick Cavett. I'm not an expert by far but James Baldwin is interesting. NOTE: While writing this I read James Baldwin’s short story, Sonny’s Blues. So my black card is on suspension but not revoked (LOL JK).

James Baldwin was from Harlem NY, born on Saturday, August 2nd, 1924 during the spirit of the Harlem Renaissance. So he grew up in the energy and legacy of black creatives exploring their own voices, talents and dreams while navigating through very overt and violently racists’ society. He was the oldest of his siblings and was a youth preacher. During his youth while perfecting his craft, he realized he was gay, and was also questioning God. He moved to France for 8 years during his youth because of the hopelessness from the lack of opportunities for blacks, racism, and to save his life. He wrote about his father, religion, and homosexuality and of course race. He mingled with the top tier of black creatives and social activists during his era 1940-1960s. Later in life he taught at colleges and died of stomach cancer in his home in France in 1987 at the age of 63.

Looking into his astrology. A theme that stands out to me is he has a great mix of energy in his chart. Leo, Virgo, Cancer (fixed, mutable, and cardinal) being the most represented. He has a lot of mutable energy for a fixed Leo Sun with Pisces Mars and Uranus, Moon conjunct Mercury in Virgo, and a Jupiter in Sagittarius.

Moon is conjunct mercury in Virgo

Baldwin's very gentle and soothing voice gave way to a very frank, honest, pragmatic, and a flair with his words. You can tell he thinks a lot and is in touch with his feelings and thoughts. His moon is conjunct mercury in Virgo which can explain why. He grew up poor, black, and smart (and he knew it). Like many writers he escaped to post World War 2 Paris at the age of 24 with a typewriter and Aries blues singer Bessie Smith blues records to save his life. In his words Write or Perish. During this time he was lost, hopeless, and in a crisis of faith. He was groomed to be a preacher by his step father but his later teen years he became disillusioned with religion later seeing it as a way of hiding and being enslaved. Clearly James is sensitive but very sharp.

Leo Sun conjunct Neptune in Leo, Venus in Cancer trine Mars in Pisces and Pluto in Cancer trine Uranus in Pisces.

Along with his acute Virgo energy he has Leo Sun conjunct Neptune in Leo, Venus in Cancer trine Mars in Pisces and Pluto in Cancer trine Uranus in Pisces. These sets of energy shows he's emotive, reflective, filled with passion, drama (Leo Sun conjunct Neptune in Leo), and a rebellious rage that gives him a sense of personal power (Pluto in Cancer trine Uranus in Pisces.). Moon in Virgo opposite Mars in Pisces shows he has conflict between his emotions and his actions. As someone with a Virgo/Pisces opposition in my chart I understand the push and pull between the personal/impractical and practical/logical. To both walk the line and cross the line.

A way he remedies this Pisces/Virgo opposition energy is to search, seek, and fight for healing himself and others. A way to heal being Liberation, and the fight for justice/equality for black people in his birth country.

Saturn in Libra square Venus in Cancer

He left America and wanted to feel invisible but he was drawn and moved back to America in 1957 because of racism, desegregation, and civil rights. He got a job interviewing people on this topic and published essays and articles for famous news/magazine publications like The New Yorker and Harper's Magazine. Saturn in Libra (exalted supposedly) is his social justice warrior tell and a bit of his Leo Liberation energy.

He wants to see structural changes (Saturn) in terms of civil rights, voting rights, integration, and equality (Libra). He used his voice, his words, his thoughts, a gifted debater (he does have Mercury in Virgo) to advocate for his people. Saturn squaring Venus in Cancer showing that his fight for his rights are personal and emotional. Venus square Saturn native can be seen in superficial ways in Astrology. It’s insecure and unlovable, marries late in life or never, with a mature, disciplined, and repressed nature in love/relationships. James Baldwin’s Venus square Saturn love affair is with his birth country. A country where a gay black man is unlovable. A country where he experiences trauma having indirectly witnessing several of his younger friends get murdered (such as Malcolm x, Martin Luther King Jr. and Medgar Evers) A country who’s “love” spurned him, caused him to leave to save his life. Where he must mature, to find a place and a love that wants him as much as he desires it.

Mutable Energy: A Movable Feast

Sun with Pisces Mars and Uranus

Moon conjunct Mercury in Virgo

Jupiter in Sagittarius opposite Lilith in Gemini

James Baldwin especially with his Pisces energy, his Virgo energy, his Sagittarius energy, even his Gemini energy. A series of crises of faith (Jupiter in Sagittarius), his awareness of his victimization caused by his environment (Moon/Mercury in Virgo), his sensitivity (Mars/Uranus in Pisces) and his bad ***** energy in mercurial prince & the prankster energy (Lilith in Gemini) .

It's important to note he was also gay in a time where it was a crime and a mental illness. That however, didn't stop him from writing homosexual characters into via fictional works in the 1950s’. He was black and gay in 1940s’, 1950s’ and 1960s’. Note “gay liberation” didn’t officially start in this country (USA) until 1969. He got it how he lived it. He was othered from many different angles in his being but embraced his otherness.

Melancholic, a sensitive man with no illusions through his Virgo/Pisces oppositions, and squares between his Virgo, Pisces, and Sagittarius mutable energy. I think his mutable energy in a weird way held him together. Mutable energy is VERY VULNERABLE. This doesn’t make it weak, but more sensitive. Mutable energy vulnerability is the constant need to move and keep moving forward. Stopping in a mutable energy is akin to death like a fish out of water, a heart that stops beating, or the brain without oxygen.

It’s important to emphasize his mutable energy which makes his form of liberation more fluid and adaptable than just his Leo energy alone. It’s kinda like having a summer rain shower, where the sun is still bright and shining (Sun/Neptune in Leo) but it’s also raining heavy (Mars/Moon in Pisces/Venus in Cancer). This bright summer rain shower isn’t coded as depressing but it’s a powerful contradiction but at same time a stark and compatible parallel. The Sun is strong but so is the rain/water. The rain & water is vulnerable and delicate, and changeable. Sometimes sad, sometimes hopeful, sometimes in bleak despair. The sun stays the same but the rain/water is constantly changing and contradicting itself. This is James Baldwin’s mutable energy.

It’s ironic that with his Jupiter in Sagittarius he found his success, luck, abundance, clarity, peace, actualization, and sense of life/purpose/direction outside of the country of his birth. People see this as running away, fleeing, or giving up. One part is giving in but it’s more importantly defiance. You don’t want me here so I’ll go, I don’t linger in places where I am not wanted. So I’ll go, on my terms and live despite the fact. That’s his liberation.

James Baldwin’s Leo Black Liberation energy is him finding his peace, and way of life and survival in a society and world that hates his existence while at the same time needing his blackness (even queerness) as a symbol of their own superiority, personal power, and control. Living the life he wanted to. To be black, to love, to have joy, and to simply live is a threat to white supremacy. James Baldwin’s version of Leo Black Liberation was knowing who he was, not running away from it no matter how painful, and to simply live. Leo is the heart, our ego, and our declaration to world that we are here to truly live.

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posted August 29, 2020 04:16 PM            

He also had a close parallel between Sun & Venus at 17° north declination, and Jupiter contra-parallel Pluto.

Your observations match mine so far about his introversion, which would match a rising sign like Virgo, Cancer, or Pisces rising. It seems safe to say his Moon was in Virgo (after 8:00 AM), not Leo. We can also eliminate him being a Leo rising personality since it would have made him a triple Leo, which doesn't fit him at all.

I'll watch I AM NOT YOUR NEGRO today and see what else I can learn about him.

posted September 05, 2020 08:15 AM            

In both, I noticed an ability he has to play with words. And I thought of Virginia Woolf(Asc in Vir).

But i also noticed an acutely critical or self-effacing personality in his writing style that came through with his characters.

At times, he was preachy & verbose.But then would reel that in with clinical detachment.And this I found unusual for a ego invested Leo Sun.

So I thought that there should be some Virgo somewhere-either Mars/Moon or Venus?

Maybe it would be clashing with a "preachy" Sag or boundary insensitive Pisces? This to explain the off the tangent ramblings he is prone to in his writing.

And then I looked & saw that he has Moon/Merc in Vir conj ,Mars in Pis square Jup in Sag. Bingo!! I knew Sag HAD to be there. At times he would go off on a trail unending.

Mercury-Moon/Mars square would explain his criticism of racism in America. As would the inner tension of Mars/Jup square-which speaks of the frustration(Mars square)of dealing with people who feel so distant (Jup) from him.

James Baldwin was both gay & black.One thing that separated him from whites was his colour. The other that separated him from his race was his sexualit.

Jupiter to me represents the Church. And its mass influence on Black identity in America cannot be underrated.

So the symbolic Mars(me)square(in conflict) Jup(with the Church & by extension Black people).

It is likely that he too was troubled & not at peace with who he was. The socially conscious Sat in Lib opp Chiron in Aries.

In as much as he was learning about himself, he perhaps felt a need to "explain" himself to an unsympathetic society( Chi opp in Sat Lib)?

This would have created a wound(against this backdrop)of not being able to be himself both through his skin & sexuality (Chiron in Aries)

posted September 07, 2020 03:36 PM            

quote:

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Originally posted by Kannon McAfee:
After watching I AM NOT YOUR NEGRO again and going through his wikipedia page, I think there's a good chance he had Cancer rising (which would have put the Moon in late Leo). That would put Pisces over the MC for much of Cancer rising and Neptune in the 2nd-3rd house area. Mercury in 3rd could have been opposite MC.

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Thank you for reading my post!

posted September 07, 2020 03:43 PM            

quote:

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Originally posted by Aries23Degrees:
I read "Go tell it to the mountains" & " Giovanni's Room".

In both, I noticed an ability he has to play with words. And I thought of Virginia Woolf(Asc in Vir).

But i also noticed an acutely critical or self-effacing personality in his writing style that came through with his characters.

At times, he was preachy & verbose.But then would reel that in with clinical detachment.And this I found unusual for a ego invested Leo Sun.

So I thought that there should be some Virgo somewhere-either Mars/Moon or Venus?

Maybe it would be clashing with a "preachy" Sag or boundary insensitive Pisces? This to explain the off the tangent ramblings he is prone to in his writing.

And then I looked & saw that he has Moon/Merc in Vir conj ,Mars in Pis square Jup in Sag. Bingo!! I knew Sag HAD to be there. At times he would go off on a trail unending.

Mercury-Moon/Mars square would explain his criticism of racism in America. As would the inner tension of Mars/Jup square-which speaks of the frustration(Mars square)of dealing with people who feel so distant (Jup) from him.

James Baldwin was both gay & black.One thing that separated him from whites was his colour. The other that separated him from his race was his sexualit.

Jupiter to me represents the Church. And its mass influence on Black identity in America cannot be underrated.

So the symbolic Mars(me)square(in conflict) Jup(with the Church & by extension Black people).

It is likely that he too was troubled & not at peace with who he was. The socially conscious Sat in Lib opp Chiron in Aries.

In as much as he was learning about himself, he perhaps felt a need to "explain" himself to an unsympathetic society( Chi opp in Sat Lib)?

This would have created a wound(against this backdrop)of not being able to be himself both through his skin & sexuality (Chiron in Aries)

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Thank you for reading my post! I like your interpretation too! I like your Chiron in Aries in interpretation.

His wounded healer being that he couldn't simply be. His being (black+gay= violence. A theme that is still present now with a lot of black gay/queer people being attacked.

Especially during his era where his people were being lynched and murdered for their existence.

posted September 11, 2020 01:07 PM            

quote:

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Originally posted by Astrofiend:
Thank you for reading my post!

Honestly I think for me personally I am going to stop trying to guess celebrities/public figures ascendants/rising. That aside I can definitely see him as water ascendant with Cancer Rising being fitting.

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It's too late for me . I think like a rectifier and even though I don't engage in what I now call "recreational rectification", I do like to study interesting people through the lends of what their real personality/rising sign/Ascendant may be.

I now think Baldwin may have been Scorpio rising. It's that tendency to withdraw or to "work alone" that speaks to water/Cancer/Scorpio factors. But I don't think I've seen enough of him on video, and I certainly haven't read enough of his work to be able to rectify a chart for him.

But I do like looking at the astrology of artists and creative people who show courage and character worth remembering and emulating. Much better than fixating on the astrology of murderers, etc.

posted September 18, 2020 12:50 PM            

quote:

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Originally posted by Kannon McAfee:
It's too late for me . I think like a rectifier and even though I don't engage in what I now call "recreational rectification", I do like to study interesting people through the lends of what their real personality/rising sign/Ascendant may be.

I now think Baldwin may have been Scorpio rising. It's that tendency to withdraw or to "work alone" that speaks to water/Cancer/Scorpio factors. But I don't think I've seen enough of him on video, and I certainly haven't read enough of his work to be able to rectify a chart for him.

But I do like looking at the astrology of artists and creative people who show courage and character worth remembering and emulating. Much better than fixating on the astrology of murderers, etc.

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It's possible. I mean he could even have a Virgo rising. His frame is very small/thin and mercurial (he looks like he can walk fast).

Honestly who knows?