Apollon - Issue Five

The Generation GapLiz GreeneIn this article, Liz Greene takes an overview of the way different generations interact. Withexamples ranging from the estranged mother and daughter in the TV series Absolutely Fabulousto the “real lives” of the various generations of the Royal Family, she offers us an insight intohow the symbolism of the outer planets manifests in the lives of each generation.ike death and taxes, the misbehaviour ofyouth, we are told, is always with us.Complaints about adolescent flouting ofparental and civic authority may be found in literature from Ovid to Shakespeare, and lifeamongst the medical students at the Universityof Montpellier in the 16th century, according tothe outraged townspeople, was just as rowdyas it is today at Harvard Medical School.“Youth,” said Oscar Wilde wearily, “is wastedon the young.” The phenomenon of the “generation gap” has never been as vividly demonstrated as in the 1960’s, when the chasmbetween the conservatism of age and the iconoclasm of youth appeared all but unbridgeable.Bob Dylan’s seminal lyrics describe it concisely,although they hint at something far greater thanthe younger generation flexing its musclesagainst the older one:responsibility and freedom, is too simplistic.There are certain biological determinants whichensure that, when we are young, we have morephysical energy; and psychologically we mayhave less containment and less rigidity when itcomes to expressing ourselves, because theego has not yet become “set” in its habit patterns and defences. Repeated confrontationswith worldly limits may also sometimes,although not always, play their part in making usless inclined to take risks when we are older.The archetypal polarity of the senex and thepuer aeternus reflects this inherent life process.But beyond these very general factors, the picture is more complicated than it might seem.Not only individuals may break the mould, butalso entire generation groups. The face of thesenex may reveal itself in the young, the face ofthe puer in the old.Come gather ‘round peopleWherever you roamAnd admit that the watersAround you have grownAnd accept it that soonYou’ll be drenched to the bone.If your time to youIs worth savin’Then you better start swimmin’Or you’ll sink like a stoneFor the times they are a-changin’.hose who have watched the televisionseries, Absolutely Fabulous, may glimpse, inthe character called Edina, a florid exaggerationof the “flower power” generation which dominated the social upheavals of the 1960’s. Edinais a mother who is entirely identified with themore rampant form of the puer aeternus. Shesmokes dope, drinks herself into oblivion, pursues promiscuous and often disastrous sexualliaisons, dresses like a bad advertisement forpsychedelic drugs, and thinks and speaks in afashion which many people would normallyassociate with irresponsible, self-centred adolescence. Astrologers might recognise a mocking portrayal of the revolutionary thinking,incurable romanticism, and ruthless self-expressiveness of the post-war “me” generation, withUranus in Gemini, Neptune in Libra, and, mostimportantly, Pluto in Leo. In stark contrast,Edina’s daughter, Saffron, is prudish, stodgy, studious, and deeply ashamed of the antics of herfeckless mother. Saffron does not touch drugs,is wary of promiscuous sexual behaviour, dresses “like a Christian” (in the words of Patsy,Edina’s equally appalling crony), and eats sensibly. She is a realist who has no illusions abouthuman nature, and she does not waste her timefantasising about how the world could be. SheL.Come mothers and fathersThroughout the landAnd don’t criticiseWhat you can’t understandYour sons and your daughtersAre beyond your commandYour old road isRapidly agein’.Please get out of the new oneIf you can’t lend a handFor the times they are a-changin’.T1et to think in terms of an inevitable age-versus-youth conflict between authority andrebellion, between experience and naivety,between limits and exuberance, betweenYLiz Greene holds aDoctorate in Psychologyand the Diploma of theFaculty of AstrologicalStudies, and is a qualifiedJungian analyst. She works asa professional astrologerand analyst, and teaches andlecturesextensivelythroughout Europe. She is aPatron of the Faculty ofAstrological Studies. She isthe author of many bookson astrological and psychological themes, includingSaturn, Relating, Astrology forLovers, The Astrology of Fate,and The Astrological NeptuneandtheQuestforRedemption. She lives inSwitzerland. The MythicJourney, written with JulietSharman-Burke, has beenrecentlypublishedbyGothic Image.1 “The Times They Are AChangin'”, Bob Dylan,copyright 1963, renewed1991, Special Rider Music www.bobdylan.comApollon Issue 5 May 2000 page 5

Saffron and Edina(Julia Sawalha and JenniferSaunders) from the BBCTVseriesAbsolutelyFabulous BBCis so well grounded that she is incredibly, irredeemably dull. Astrologers might recognise amocking portrayal of the pragmatism, cynicism,and brutal honesty of the generation groupborn with Neptune in Scorpio and Uranus andPluto in Virgo.his mother-daughter relationship presentsus with a reversal which gives the series itspunch and humour; and, although hilariouslyexaggerated, it is nevertheless a peculiarly truthful portrait of a particular dynamic between twogeneration groups in the second half of the20th century. They are divided, not by chronology, but by attitudes. Here it is the old, not theyoung, who kick against the confines of senexcodes. If we wish to understand the sometimesirreconcilable conflicts which are so often set inTBob Dylanpage 6 Apollon Issue 5 April 2000motion between parents and children, generation groups need to be viewed, not merelyfrom the perspective of age, but from the perspective of values. A generation group is notdefined merely by time. It also exhibits inherentperceptions, responses, attitudes, and needswhich make it unique. Generation groupsreflect the quality, not the quantity, of the timein which they are born.ow long is a generation? A biological generation may be anywhere from fifteen toeighty years apart from its predecessor; we aredealing with the vagaries of procreation whenwe assess generation groups in these terms.Some people still in their teens have children;others wait until their thirties or forties; somemen start second or even third families in theirsixties or seventies; with the advent of Viagra,the eighties are entirely feasible; and with thepossibility of freezing sperm for an indefiniteperiod, there may be no limit at all, and aposthumous child may be engendered by afather who has been dead for a couple of centuries. Grandparents may be young or old, andit is possible, if one gets moving early enough,to be a great-grandparent at forty-five. But if wethink of generation groups in terms of the qualities which they embody, then we need to availourselves of the broader insights provided bythe astrological model, and consider the outerplanets and their cycles.Hranus, Neptune and Pluto in the birth chartportray three different but overlappinggeneration groups reflecting fundamental needsU

and longings inherent in the collective psycheduring the period when each of these planetstransits through a particular zodiacal sign. Weeach belong to a Uranus generation, a Neptunegeneration, and a Pluto generation. We havemore in common with the Uranus generationthat lived 84 years previous than we do withthose born only 7 years earlier. We have morein common with the Neptune generation thatlived 178 years previous than we do with thosewho were born 14 years earlier. And we havemore in common with the Pluto generationborn 246 years previous than we do with thoseborn with Pluto in the previous or followingsign. These planets provide us with a complexmapping of the cyclical qualities of time and thegrowth pattern of the larger unity to whicheach of us belongs. They also tell us about howour particular Uranus generation perceives andpursues progress, what our particular Neptunegeneration idealises as the path to redemption,and how our particular Pluto generationmobilises when survival is threatened. Beyondour individual value systems and character qualities, we each belong to larger groups whichenvisage evolution, salvation, and transformation in different ways. When we respond, notas individuals but as units in a collective, werespond through the outer planets in the birthchart. These responses may be relatively conscious and in harmony with our individual values, depending on how the outer planets “sit”in the natal chart; but they may also be relatively unconscious or in deep conflict witheverything we thought we believed in. We maybe surprised, shocked, and even overwhelmedand fragmented when these deeper collectivelevels of the psyche are activated.t should be remembered that, although BobDylan was catapulted into prominence as oneof the major prophets of his generation duringthe great Uranus-Pluto conjunction of the1960’s, Dylan himself was not born under thatconjunction.2 Born in 1941, he belonged to thegeneration group with Neptune in late Virgotrine Uranus in Taurus. Personal planet involvement such as the Moon, Jupiter, and Saturn inlate Taurus and the Sun in early Gemini conjunct natal Uranus and trine natal Neptune, andMercury in late Gemini square natal Neptune,ensured that he was able to translate the visionof his generation into highly personal creativework. The timing of this was not accidental;Dylan entered his period of greatest creativityand popularity while the Uranus-Pluto conjunction of the ‘60’s moved over natal Neptune,trined natal Moon, Saturn, Jupiter, Uranus, andSun, and brought to flower the potentials inherent in the natal configuration. In other words,the collective needs of the 1960’s dovetailedbeautifully with the collective values inherent inIMick Jagger Copyright 1999 B.RemerDylan’s generation group, and his poetry andmusic thus became the vehicle for both. Thatremarkable trine between Neptune and Uranuswhich occurred in the early 1940’s, commonalso to John Lennon, Paul McCartney, and MickJagger,3 seems to have reflected a vision ofprogress which embraced not only political andsocial change but also spiritual aspiration. Thatthis configuration, moving from earth into airsigns, presided over virtually the entire periodof the Second World War, may seem strangein light of the promulgation of peace, equality,and spirituality expressed by these generationalprophets, especially by Lennon in the song,“Imagine”. But Hitler’s Reich was also a reflection, albeit a vicious and distorted one, of avision of political and social change combinedwith spiritual aspiration. Jagger, with his natalSun and Pluto conjunct in Leo, is perhaps morein touch with the darker elements inherent inhis generation group, as is demonstrated in thesong, “Sympathy for the Devil.”erhaps most fundamentally, these generational icons share the placement ofPluto in Leo. In terms of generation groups,when Pluto moved from Cancer into Leo, aprofound change occurred in the survivalmechanisms of the collective; and this planetary shift is perhaps the astrological significator par excellence of an inevitable collisionbetween parent-child generation groups.Those born with Pluto in Cancer tend, onthe instinctual level, to perceive survival asdependent on family, community, andnational bonds, which provide a sense ofemotional belonging, continuity, and safety.These were the individuals who were prepared to go to war and die for King andcountry even if, as individuals, the war itselfmade no sense to them. Those born withPluto in Leo tend to instinctively perceivesurvival as dependent on ferocious individuality and determined self-expression even inthe face of opposition. Amongst these arethe individuals who, whether through arrogant egocentricity or an intuitive perceptionP2 See Darby Costello'sarticle on the Uranus-Plutogeneration in this issue, p.14. Bob Dylan was born on24 May 1941, 9.05 pm,Duluth, Minnesota, USA.3 John Lennon was born on9 October 1940, 6.30 pm,Liverpool. Paul McCartneywas born on 18 June 1942,2.30 am, Liverpool. MickJagger was born on 26 July1943, 6.30 am, Dartford.By the time the latter twowere born, Uranus hadmoved out of Taurus intoGemini, but was still trineNeptune. It also nowformed a sextile to Pluto inLeo.Apollon Issue 5 April 2000 page 7

may be possible if the father can face his ownfeelings of woundedness and inadequacy, andif the boy, when he is more mature, is able torecognise his father as an ordinary flawedhuman carrying wounds inflicted by a worldmuch larger than the family.owever, some issues are bigger and deeper than individual personality interaction,and any resolution may depend on a muchbroader perspective. A child may appear to aparent, not as an individual, but as a representative of a vast collective force which can seemprofoundly threatening to all that the parentstands for and believes in as an individual. Andwhen it is the parent who embodies the powerand vision of a whole generation, the child mayfeel terrified and overwhelmed. Parents andchildren may also interact through the mediumof outer planet aspects to other outer planetsacross the charts. In such cases, both stand forthe collective might of their generation groups,and may have difficulty in perceiving each otheras individuals unless personal planets are alsoinvolved in the configuration. Anyone who hasperused the charts of successive generationswithin a family will have noticed the frequencyof close contacts - especially the “hard” aspects- between outer planets and personal planetsacross the birth horoscopes. These contacts areoften within 1º of orb. One may be forgiven forgetting the feeling that there is method in thiscosmic madness, and that when such linksappear between parent and child, or parent andgrandchild, some deeper evolutionary pattern isat work which involves the group as well as theindividual. Individual reductive psychology mayfail to penetrate to the meaning of the responses which are activated, and we may have toexpand our psychological models to grasp whatis at work.HKing George VI & QueenElizabethof the individual’s power to create a differentreality, made their own decisions about theirpersonal destiny, and refused to fight inVietnam.Outer planet configurations betweenparents and childrenxploring the patterns of astrological generation groups can take us into many spheresof human interaction and endeavour, and a single article cannot possibly do justice to thedepth and complexity of this theme. However,I will touch on one of the most valuable areasof insight which the perspective of astrologicalgeneration groups can offer - the interactionportrayed by outer planet involvement acrosstwo birth charts in parent-child relationships.Some difficult issues between parents and children may be reflected by conflicting aspectsbetween the personal planets, reflecting deepdichotomies in personal attitudes and values. Aboy’s Mars opposition his father’s Moon maylead to some energetic conflicts of will, and perhaps even to violence in some cases; but suchconflicts are unique to those two personalitiesand do not invoke deeper collective forces.And some resolution is possible if the fathercan understand that his son is a unique individual with self-assertive needs quite different fromhis own, and if the boy, when he is moremature, can exercise the same objectivity abouthis father’s emotional outlook and needs.Ether difficult issues between parents andchildren may be linked with Saturn andChiron cross-aspects. The former describedynamics rooted in personal defence mechanisms; the latter, although collective issues arehinted at, also enact themselves through personal defences against feelings of hurt andwoundedness. A girl’s Moon square hermother’s Saturn may suggest a definite chillwhich dampens their emotional relationship.But some resolution may be possible if themother can recognise the unconscious envyand anxiety which her child invokes in her,and if the girl, when she is more mature, cansee beyond her feelings of rejection to thedeeper meaning of her mother’s apparentlyimpossible expectations. A boy’s Sun conjuncthis father’s Chiron may describe mutual hurtand misunderstanding; but some resolutionOpage 8 Apollon Issue 5 April 2000here are, of course, individual dimensions tosuch contacts. Cross-aspects between theouter planets in one chart and the personalplanets in another can be understood partlythrough the basic principles of synastry. Forexample, if a girl’s Uranus is conjunct herfather’s Sun in Gemini, his lively, restless, andintellectually curious nature will activate thespirit of progress and inventiveness in her - notalways in a comfortable way - while she, in turn,may prove - again, not always comfortably - tobe a source of potential creative awakening inhim. The disturbing, electrifying energy of thiscontact would be visible from early childhood,and such a cross-aspect between father anddaughter could prove enormously creative andintellectually stimulating, as well as conducive toalienation. Or, if a mother has Mars in Libra andher daughter’s Pluto conjuncts her Mars, thatmother may find her daughter’s obstinacy andT

emotional fixity baffling, frustrating, and sometimes infuriating, while the daughter may feeldeeply threatened by what she perceives as hermother’s aggression. The explosive energy ofthis contact would likewise be visible from earlychildhood, and power battles would probablybe inevitable between mother and daughter although each may, with some consciousness,eventually help the other to be more honestabout emotional and assertive needs anddesires.the family psyche needs but does not possessamongst its members, it tends to instinctivelyacquire through marriage, so that its myths andcomplexes can unfold and be worked throughover the generations. It is therefore important,when examining family charts, to include notonly the direct blood line, but also the spouses.For the sake of both brevity and clarity, I am listing only the relevant chart placements of a fewspecific members of the Royal Family, rather4than reproducing the entire birth charts.ut interpreting such aspects in this way,while useful and valuable, may not go farenough. More is happening here than oneperson interacting with another. One personinteracts with a whole generation, represented by the individual with the outer planetinvolved in the cross-aspect. The daughterwhose Uranus in Gemini conjuncts herfather’s Sun will shake him up and make himthink about life differently, not simplybecause he perceives her as inventive andrebellious, but because, for him, she embodies the enormous power of a generationgroup whose perception of human evolutiondepends on breaking down the rigidity of oldand outworn intellectual structures. Themother whose Mars in Libra conjuncts herdaughter’s Pluto may feel overpowered andinclined to fight back, not just because sheperceives her daughter as intense and inflexible, but because that child has at her back,like an invisible army, an entire generationwhose survival depends on imposing a particular set of ideals of fairness and justice onhuman relationships. The relentless pressureof Pluto does not reflect the child’s personalpower-drive, but the bottom-line necessityof a collective which cannot tolerate anydeviation from its vision of what is necessaryin order to avoid extinction.The Royal FamilyBe can briefly explore a demonstration ofthis kind of parent-child generationdynamic through an example. Although theircharts have been used ad nauseam, the Britishroyal family is always useful in this respect,because the birth times are documented andthe continuity goes back for many generations.Naturally, we need to work extensively withour own family charts to get a clearer picture

The Eternal Triangle Liz Greene The Sacred Marriage & The Geometry of Time Robin Heath Eros & Aphrodite, Love & Creation Erin Sullivan Neptune and Pluto: Romance in the Underworld Sophia Young Issue 2 April 1999 6 The Journal of Psychological Astrology Apollon The Sun-g