The Sun, Saturn, and Self

Before the invention of powerful telescopes and the discovery of the outer planets, astrologers concerned themselves only with the celestial objects that they could see with the naked eye. From the brightest and most obvious - the Sun, to the dim brown planet we call Saturn.

Even before realizing that the Sun is the center around which the Earth gravitates, the Sun was acknowledged as a supreme power in the cosmos, central to the cycles of day and night, summer and winter, the source of all life. Astrologically it was and is associated with regality, leadership, fame. In modern times we’ve come to associate it as well with the concept of ego. And as far as types of people that could be associated with the Sun, in addition to royalty and political leaders, we can also include celebrities. “Stars”. After all, the Sun is THE star in our system, whose light blots out all the others.

And Saturn, the slowest-moving and dimmest of the visible planets, has been known as a source of sorrow, solitude, and restriction. The type of person associated with Saturn is the hermit, far from being the center of the crowd.

Of course these are archetypes and nothing in reality is this black and white. The position of the celestial objects are constantly revolving, constantly changing in relationship to one another. The Sun and Saturn interact. Sometimes that interaction is easy, and sometimes not so much.

One of my favorite examples of this is the musician Gotye. In 2011 he was launched into worldwide fame with the release of his single “Somebody That I Used to Know”, which became the #1 best-selling song of 2012. It was part of his third album, Making Mirrors, which contained several other critically-successful singles and won album of the year at the 2013 Grammies. And then he apparently… became somebody that we used to know.

Facile jokes aside, Gotye, otherwise known as Wally de Backer, didn’t stop making music. In a 2014 newsletter he announced, simply, that he would not be making music under the moniker Gotye. He then continued performing as drummer and vocalist for the band he co-founded in 2002, The Basics, as well as creating his own record label, starting a non-profit organization, and engaging in other artistic endeavors outside of the spotlight. While his own words describing why he wanted to step away from the Gotye project are mysterious and vague (in his newsletter he mentioned instances of early-onset deafness and questioned if anyone would be able to hear him anyway), I think there are some clues in the lyrics from his single from Making Mirrors, “Smoke and Mirrors”:

So now that you've arrived, well, you wonder -

What is it that you've done to make the grade?

And should you do the same?

(Is that too easy?)

Are you only trying to please them?

Will they see then -

You're desperate to deliver

Anything that could give you

A sense of reassurance

When you look in the mirror

…

You’re a fraud and you know it

And every night and day you take the stage

You always entertain

You’re giving pleasure

And it’s admirable, you tell yourself

And so you gladly sell yourself to others

De Becker had stated in a CBC radio interview “I have more self-consciousness… I can sort of see the concerns about like becoming maybe more famous [and] being prompted to be more of a personality”. And having previously stated that the album is “all very related to self-reflection and introspection”, it seems fair enough to assume that de Becker was speaking to himself with these lyrics.

So what’s going on? De Becker was born May 21, 1980 with a Gemini Sun squaring his Virgo Saturn. The square aspect is the most tense, creating conflict between two points. Here the ego, the personality that in some circumstances would love to shine its light upon the world, is tampered by the restrictive nature of Saturn.

This can be seen positively or negatively. It certainly can lead to some challenges. In the case of de Becker, the Sun is in the superior position over Saturn (meaning it was rising over the horizon first), giving the Sun a little bit of an upper-hand in this situation, which probably makes it easier for him to get on stage than it might if Saturn held the superior position. While perhaps uncomfortable with celebrity, he certainly has the ability to perform despite whatever hesitations he might have. Meanwhile, those with the superior Saturn square might struggle more to let their authentic selves radiate out for others to see, experiencing low-confidence sometimes to the point of depression. The Sun can’t see anything outside of its own light. Saturn KNOWS there are infinite stars in the universe, which can lead to those with Saturnian-Solar placements to struggle justifying shining too brightly, lest they dim the light of others they know are equally important.

This is something visible in the archetypes of the two zodiac signs Leo (ruled by the Sun), and Aquarius (ruled by Saturn). They sit opposite each other on the zodiac wheel, which makes them somewhat like inverse images of each other. Both are strongly individualist, but like their planetary lords, Aquarius sees that EVERYBODY is truly original even if others can’t see that about themselves, while Leo might be too busy making sure that their uniqueness is radiating out for the world to see that their light might overpower those around them.

One attitude is not superior to the other. Either extreme can lead to problems, such as the aforementioned depression or self-censorship in the case of Aquarius, and domineering or narcissistic attitudes in the case of Leo. But when these two polarities are balanced, we can find some of the best of humanity - warm, generous, humble human beings who can lead with compassion for others as well as themselves.

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