Hudson Valley Astrologer

“Isn’t it pretty to think so?”

The Sun Also Rises, Ernest Hemingway

Fascinating!

We were literally just talking about this yesterday. Is it the right time to buy a lotto ticket? Maybe, at least for the fine gentleman I had coffee with yesterday.

This morning, The Sun Also Rises, but still below the Ascendant of his chart at a little past 6:00 am est. In this very moment, the Sun is opposed his natal Jupiter, which in his chart stands apart in the theater of the sky, like Sir John in Giuseppe Verdi’s Falstaff, where in Act 1 he monologues, “L’onore! Ladri!” (“Honor! You rogues!”).

Just as Falstaff dominates the stage, Jupiter dominates the chart and is retrograde. He launches into a scornful soliloquy, dismissing honor (Jupiter) as an empty concept. Alone on stage, he commands the audience’s attention with his wit and bravado, embodying his larger-than-life (Jupiter’s puffiness) character. This moment in the performance isolates Falstaff physically and emotionally from the other characters (Jupiter stands alone in the 7th house), emphasizing his self-centered worldview (Jupiter is retrograde and rules the Ascendant) and setting him apart as the opera’s focal point.

There are other observations we might delineate, like the gaggle of actors (planets) across stage (horizon), which like the Sun, also rise! But an astrologer can feel the defensiveness, the representation of self-justification, and the sensitivity of it all, lying just beneath the surface of his tirade, all the excuses that beg “why not me?”

The age old question, “what would I do with good fortune?”, if, for example, I “won the lottery”, reminds me of this plot Verdi borrowed from Shakespeare’s The Merry Wives of Windsor and Henry the IV. The opera follows the humorous misadventures of Sir John, a gluttonous and scheming knight, as he attempts to seduce two wealthy women for financial gain, only to be outwitted and humiliated repeatedly. Like every single lottery ticket buyer ever known, save one, the one who against all odds bought the winning ticket. Yet there is this strange hope that the fates can be crossed and overturned. “Why not me?”

Thankfully, for the gentleman sipping his latte across from me, Jupiter is just beyond the orb of forming a midpoint picture with Saturn and Neptune.

(♃=♄/♆)

But it’s hard to argue that Falstaff didn’t have this midpoint picture exactly in aspect, which suggests an individual who is very upset with the ways of the world, and losing the will to fight. Invariably, after his failed scheming and humiliation, he’d seek to buy a lotto ticket, thinking, along with the rest of us, “Ahhh! This will solve all my problems.”

If we could only get Falstaff into counseling to help him process his feelings of humiliation by recognizing his emotions, practicing self-compassion, and reframing the experience as an opportunity for personal growth, then he might feel less compelled to seek an astrological miracle, or a winning lottery ticket. He might feel less disillusioned like the characters in Hemingway’s novel.

We could examine how past experiences shaped his behaviors, such as impulsivity and reliance on external validation (e.g., winning the lottery). Techniques like empathetic confrontation and guided imagery might replace harmful schemas that sabotage and reinforce a brittle defense mechanism.

Distress tolerance, mindfulness, and healthier coping mechanisms to deal with setbacks are probably more valuable than a winning ticket. But we can work ourselves up to such a state of frenzy in our misery that our imaginations can run away with these “what-if” scenarios, “what if I win the lottery?”

Encouraging self-reflection and journaling, perhaps answering these daily prompts, to rebuild confidence and shift the focus from external validation (winning the lottery) to what intrinsic values we hold dear, might lead us/him to a more generous opinion of ourselves/himself, one where we/he realize(s) that we/he are/is already infinitely kind, powerful, and strong.

HVA

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