The Astrology of Leos in Black Liberation: James Baldwin
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 bitch 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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