Monthly Archives: August 2014

Lauren Becall and New York

Lauren Becall died on August 12, 2014 at her home in the Dakota Apartments. While best known for her success in Hollywood, she was born in Manhattan. Her Moon in Aries closely conjoined NYC’s Moon, making her a quintessential New Yorker: she resonated with the City and lived here for most of her 89 years.

Becall’s family was Jewish, from Poland, and she grew up in the Bronx, Brooklyn and the Upper West Side. As a teenager, she studied acting and ballet and attended the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in Manhattan. She modeled and was discovered through a Harper’s Bazaar magazine photograph, going to Hollywood at 18. Her films didn’t always succeed or garner rave reviews but she enjoyed marriage and a family with Humphrey Bogart. She returned to Manhattan in 1958, where she spent the rest of her life.

Becall’s Aries Moon gave her a tough, no-nonsense side, but she could also be charming. In her interviews and autobiographies, she was typically Aries – blunt, honest and direct. She was impatient with the public’s continued interest in her partnership with Bogart decades after his death.

Lauren Becall starred on Broadway beginning in 1959. She won Tony Awards for Applause in 1970 and Woman of the Year in 1981. Her prominent Moon gave her a big splash while young and often attracted media attention, but her more substantial success occurred in her 40s and 50s. Saturn opposed her Aries Moon in the 10th house and squared her Ascendant, and Saturn may delay things.

Becall’s Moon and the angular houses of her horoscope line up with NYC’s angles, showing a significant connection. In relationships, this often signals a prominent influence on one another. NYC’s Ascendant and Jupiter in Libra conjoined her 4th house, providing her with a lovely and expansive home base. Her Moon opposite Saturn fell in NY’s angular 7th and 1st houses. Her first house Venus in Leo fell in the City’s 10th, showing how her attractive appearance initially brought her success in NY. Her natal Pluto in Cancer was behind-the-scenes in her 12th house, but tightly conjoined the City’s Midheaven. So her inner angst and personal struggles were very much aligned with the fabric of NY and the City provided a showcase for her strengths. She never seemed spoiled by success or deterred by misfortune; rather, she often reminded us that life is what you choose to make it.

Lauren Becall was born on 9/16/24 at 2:00 AM according to her 1978 autobiography.

Robin Williams, Uranus and Pluto

Robin Williams’ tight Mars-Uranus conjunction exactly trined his ascendant – making his manic, unpredictable energy his most prominent characteristic. Mars was Out of Bounds in declination in his birth chart and nearly exactly parallel Uranus as well, reinforcing the role these two planets played in his life.

Mars and Uranus were also closely parallel intense and complicated Pluto, and so Williams actually had a triple parallel of Mars, Uranus and Pluto – with the Uranus-Pluto parallel the closest aspect in declination in his birth chart. He was very much an expression of these planets’ energies.

When we think of the characteristics of Uranus-Pluto that have been described in many recent astrology articles, they include upheavals, extreme conditions and sometimes radical or revolutionary change. Robin Williams’ career and personal life also reflected these characteristics, ranging from happy marriages, beautiful homes, loving family and an Academy Award, to lawsuits, divorce, box-office flops and substance abuse. While the public often saw the manic side of his personality, he was reported to suffer from deep depression.

The transiting Uranus-Pluto square of course played a role in Robin Williams’ death. Transiting Uranus squared Mars and Uranus in his birth chart earlier this year. And transiting Pluto was beginning a long station exactly opposed to both natal Mars and Uranus at the time of his death. True to these planets, he was unpredictable to the end.

Robin Williams was born on July 21, 1951 at 1:34 PM in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, according to his birth certificate and Astrodatabank.

Shift Work and Biological Clock

A recent research report in the journal Occupational and Environmental Medicine concluded that shift workers were 9% more likely to develop diabetes. Among men who worked shifts, the likelihood rose to over 35%; men working rotating shifts had a 42% greater risk of developing diabetes. The Chinese researchers considered 12 previously published studies with a total of over 225,000 people.

Shift work disrupts the sleep-wake cycle, hormones and many body chemicals. The researchers suggested that for men, the hormone testosterone is linked to circadian rhythms, and lower levels of testosterone are associated with the development of diabetes.

While the study could not claim a cause and effect relationship, circadian rhythms are defined as those based on a 24-hour cycle: our daily rhythms of life and internal clock. And these are of course determined by the Sun! While this is, strictly speaking, not astrology, it shows that our health is directly linked to our experience of the Sun’s cycle.