The Aquarius Trinity aka The Destiny’s Child: The Astrology of Aquariuses in Black Liberation: Part 1: Toni Morrison

The Aquarius Trinity aka The Destiny’s Child: The Astrology of Aquariuses in Black Liberation: Part 1: Toni Morrison

It’s the last days of February and Black History Month (though Black History is every month!!). Though it’s Pisces Season I thought I will continue my Astrology of Black Liberation series by working a little backwards into peak Black Liberation energy. This being Aquarius energy, the 11th sign, the 11th House, the Water Bearer.

I couldn’t decide on which Aquarius I wanted to choose, so I decided to talk about a bunch of Aquariuses including what I call the Aquarius Trinity or The Destiny’s Child of Aquariuses in Black Liberation. In Christianity the Trinity is oftentimes The Father (God), The Son (Jesus), and The Holy Spirit (Spirit). All distinct but also one. If you want to get low brow and not take it spiritually the Aquarius Trinity can be called The Destiny Child of Aquariuses in Black Liberation. 

FYI I am speaking of the last Destiny's Child line up, not the original 4 girls, so just Beyoncé, Kelly, and Michelle. These are just analogies, I am not comparing these three Aquariuses to God nor deciding who’s the Beyoncé or who’s the Michelle. If you don’t like my analogies they can be the Three Magi (or Wise Men or Kings), the Three Musketeers or Three’s Company or Three Blind Mice or even Three 6 Mafia (depending on the levels of Mutable energy in their charts). Ok the last two examples definitely not.

All my rambling aside if you haven’t read the title I am referring to Aquariuses Toni Morrison (RIP), Angela Davis, and Alice Walker. I would say they all represent three different sides and energies of Aquariuses while at the same time being very similar and Aquarian.

To keep it simple I won't be going over their houses or writing about their rising signs in detail. Also to note I will be talking about Bastard conjunctions/aspect. 

A Bastard conjunction or Bastard aspects is an astrology slang phrase I coined to represent the relationship of planets that are not technically conjunct or form aspects (aka have relationships) because they fall outside the limits due to having wider orbs and degrees.

Bastard child aspects or Bastard aspects represent an out of wedlock child that's vaguely related but not that strong of union or relationship with their family/siblings because it is outside the bounds of rules/tradition. 

I consider a planet a bastard conjunction (or square or sextile or trine, or etc.), when they are in the same sign regardless of degrees or orbs. I consider this because even if they are out of orb or too wide of a degree. They are still working towards the same goals, struggles with similar things, and behaves similar to a technical aspect even if their relationship isn''t that or as close or tight or as strong. For me out of orb planetary relationships in planets of the same sign are familial but instead of twin or sibling relationships; it's more like a cousin or half sibling relationship. This is my own preference if you don't agree it's fine and I am not putting it on anyone. This is how I interpret it when I am working with charts in this personal astrology blog. I call them Bastard Conjunction. Bastard Square Bastard Trine Bastard (insert aspect here) etc.   

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TONI MORRISON

Toni Morrison born on February 18th 1931 in Lorain, Ohio. She was the second of four children to working class parents. She was an American professor, editor, playwright, essayist, children's writer, and novelist. She first started out teaching and transitioned into editing until after her divorce (while pregnant) in the mid 1960s. As an editor for Random House publishing company becoming it's first black female fiction editor and is credit to pushing Black literature and writing into the mainstream media and publishing worlds. She helped publish books for Muhammed Ali, Huey Newton, and Angela Davis to name a few.

She didn't start writing professionally until 1970 at aged 39 with her first book, The Bluest Eyes. She followed with Sula (1973), Song of Solomon (1977), and Tar Baby (1981). She's best known for her critically acclaimed, New York Times best selling, 1988 Pulitzer Prize winning 1987 novel Beloved; that was later turned into a 1998 movie starring Oprah and Danny Glover. She also won a Nobel Prize in 1993 for Beloved. Beloved was part of a trilogy with Jazz (1992), and Paradise (1997). 

Toni Morrison was later honored many years later with a Presidential Medal of Honor in 2012. Sadly in 2019 during Leo Season at the age of 88, Toni Morrison died.

Below is her astrology information from Astrocharts

Sun in 29 Degrees Aquarius

Moon in 11 Degrees Pisces

Mercury in 10 Degrees Aquarius

Venus in 12 Degrees Capricorn

Mars in 29 Degrees Cancer Retrograde

Jupiter in 10 Degrees Cancer Retrograde

Saturn in 19 Degrees Capricorn

Uranus in 12 Aries Degrees Aries

North Node in 17 Degrees Aries Retrograde

Neptune in 4  Degrees Virgo

Pluto in 19 Degrees Cancer Retrograde

Chiron in 14 Degrees Taurus

* Ascendant in 25 Degrees Taurus*

Looking at her chart placements a few themes stand out. 

Toni Morrison is a more emotionally present, introspective, and curious Aquarius Sun with Pisces Moon, and Cancer stellium. She has Cancer Mars, Cancer Jupiter, and Cancer Pluto.

Ironically she's also has a more stoic/traditional Saturn ruled Aquarius ( as opposite to an Uranian Aquarius) with the Capricorn/Saturn influence of Venus conjunct Saturn in Capricorn. She has several oppositions aspects between Cancer & Capricorn and Pisces & Virgo, and a bunch of t squares.

She's also more of an earthy Aquarius with a bastard grand Earth trine with Venus & Saturn in Capricorn, Neptune in Virgo, Chiron in Taurus, and  Ascendant in Taurus. Cardinal energy is pretty dominate having 3 out of the 4 Cardinal signs in her chart. Lastly she is 12th Houser with a stellium of Uranus, North Node and Chiron in the 12th House.

Toni has a bastard conjunction between her Sun in 29 Degrees Aquarius and Mercury in 10 Degrees Aquarius. She's an Aquarius so she's naturally an intellectual that is concerned with her community and the world around her.  Part individualist loner and part social intellectual trendsetter she put her talents to use as first a professor and then an editor. 

Using her water bearer energy she valued inclusion and promoted the words and stories of Black American movers and shakers like activists, writers, and athletes. 

Toni has her Moon in Pisces Sextile her Venus in Capricorn. This shows harmony between her emotions (Moon) and sense of beauty and richness in relationships (Venus).

Her Moon trine is Jupiter both in water signs which shows emotional optimism, emotional openness and the need to expand oneself by using their feelings and intuition as conduits and guides for a fulfilling experience.

Toni Moon has a bastard opposition with Neptune in 4 degrees Virgo this shows bit of a conflict between her emotion impulses, and habits (Moon) and her sense of boundaries, illusions, fantasies (Neptune). Possibly shows problems with respecting boundaries and/or having her emotional boundaries respected. Neptune in Virgo has a nervous critical fidgety energy while Moon in Pisces has a sensitive, emotional sponge vulnerable sort of energy. Creating a seesaw effect and cycle of reinforcing, and then breaking down emotional boundaries and illusions.

Toni Morrison has Venus 12 Degrees Capricorn conjunct Saturn in 19 Degrees Capricorn opposite Jupiter in Cancer

Venus square Uranus/North Node in Aries

All this points to strong Saturn energy by way of Capricorn and sense of delays, having to start over, limitations, and maturation/wisdom via pain and struggles.

Toni started professional writing at 39 as a mature single divorcee in the 1970s.' I could imagine she was emotionally raw, insecure, and scarred from her divorce.

The lows of her Capricorn energy gave her inspiration and confidence to lean into her Cancer energy. While the highs of her Capricorn energy have her the discipline, responsibility to fulfill the goals of her Cancer energy and not be boggled down by emotions. As I said before oppositions work in the fact that opposition pairs work and go after the same goals, values, the same themes and ideas but in opposite ways. Capricorn leans into stoicism, hard work, duty to guide and hold people accountable despite emotions while Cancer leans into emotionalism, also hard work, and a duty to support/nurture others in service of emotions. Both striving for security.

In an interview with her Aquarius sis Oprah she felt a calling, she feels an obligation and a duty to devote herself to 1. being a mother 2. being a writer.

This brings me to her Mars in 29 Degrees Cancer Retrograde

and Jupiter in 10 Degrees Cancer Retrograde energy.

As I said before the lows of her Capricorn energy gave her inspiration and confidence to lean into her Cancer energy, especially her faith in Jupiter in Cancer (exalted btw). Her abundance/expansion optimism (Jupiter), the urges and calls to action of her (Mars) energy allow her to release her Capricorn energy.

In March 8th 1998 60 Minutes interview she said she felt a debt to her people, and especially to her mother, literally and symbolically. 

I suspect her writing made her feel a sense of security, purpose, and made her feel closer to her family, her people, and herself.

Family and motherhood is clearly very important to Toni Morrison. Later in her career she wrote children's books with one of her sons. A 2004 CBS Sunday Morning interview on YouTube shows this. Combining business and family, security and creatively.

The rebellious atypical Aquarius energy is supported by her independent Aries North Node & Uranus conjunction that gave her stubbornness and strength to pursue a career while being a devoted mother.

In her art, in the book, her book, the one that really put her on the mainstream map was Beloved. Beloved was about a formerly enslaved post Civil Water Reconstruction woman and her family. This woman who had escaped slavery made the desperate decision to killed her young 2 year old daughter to avoid slavery. Years later she is haunted by the ghost of her dead child.

Her book is very reflective of her several oppositions aspects between Cancer & Capricorn and Pisces & Virgo. Along with the violence, death, transformation cycle of the t square between Pluto/Jupiter/Mars in Cancer & Venus/Saturn in Capricorn opposite then squaring Uranus conjunct North Node in Aries.

Virgo fixation mixed with Pisces both dissolving earthly boundaries to be haunted by a supernatural spirit from the great beyond. This is peak Moon in Pisces opposite Neptune in Virgo energy. Showcasing a spiritual death, disillusion of self and exploration of the emotions of trauma, guilt, and grief of taking one's own child.

While the t square between Pluto/Jupiter/Mars in Cancer & Venus/Saturn in Capricorn opposite then squaring Uranus conjunct North Node in Aries. A tale of a mother (Cancer) that loved her child so much, with such rawness and intensity that she had to kill her daughter as both an act of rebellion, survival (Uranus/ North Node in Aries) in the form of extreme violence to protect and spare (Mars) her child (Pluto/Jupiter/Mars in Cancer) from the horrors of slavery, racism, trauma, torture, rape, physical emotional mental and sexual abuse (Pluto).

It was a mercy killing, a necessary evil, wrong morally, neutral spiritually, and a reasonable but extreme decision as a parent, a compulsion to nurture (Toni's words). In Toni's words via a PBS NewsHour interview it was the right thing to do but it was not her right to do it. The mother in Beloved chose and controlled Beloved's fate by choosing death which is also an interesting juxtaposition between Toni's own Pluto conjunct Jupiter in Cancer with Pluto exacting opposing Saturn (no bastard opposition). It deals with the themes between fate/faith (Jupiter), control (Saturn), death Saturn/Pluto and transformation (Pluto).

Toni Morrison's Beloved was inspired by the real life story of enslaved woman Margaret Garner who killed her child rather than give her up to life of slavery. This action speaks of Toni's Mars in Cancer and Pluto in Cancer which in of itself recalls, reinterpret and transforms a real tragic historical story (Pluto) into one that shows the extremes of motherhood and love (Jupiter). 

All this aside to get more into the Black Liberation Aquarius energy and why I chose Toni Morrison for one of the Aquarius Trinity aka The Destiny’s Child of Aquariuses in Black Liberation is that Toni's work, life, and ideas symbolizes what the pursuit of Aquarius energy in Black Liberation looks likes.

Toni lifted up others and gave them a platform via her work as an editor. By sharing her own resources and talents, it in turn gave her the courage to pursuit her solo dreams too.

An interesting tale of Toni Morrison's character, Aquarius-ness and commitment to Black Liberation is that Toni (then in her editor bag at Random House) reached out to a young 26 year old Angela Davis for her to write a autobiography. This was after Angela Davis was acquitted of her charges with the government and out of jail. Angela was not interested and very hesitant due to her age and feeling too young to write an autobiography. Toni was 13 years older than Angela.

Toni was insistent, she felt Angela's story was important and needed to be told. Toni saw her potential and reached out to her, almost like parent/older sister role. She knew Angela needed coxing and nurturing.  Angela did write her autobiography titled: Angela Davis: An Autobiography, Random House (September 1974). They would form and maintained a sort of Mentor (Toni), mentored (Angela) relationship and friendship for decades.

This brings to me to my point Toni Morrison's form of Black Liberation is brining people together, lifting others like herself up, and giving voices to the voiceless (Aquarius) and her own personal brand of Liberation through her own writing that combines her emotional, protective, maternal instincts, & family centeredness (Cancer stellium), sense of duty, urgency, and steadfast despite age/time (Capricorn energy),

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