Harrison Ford

Our last post was about a film producer, Walt Disney, and this one is about an actor, Harrison Ford.

Before I get into interpreting various factors in Ford's chart I want to alert you to a companion site to this blog, the "Information Site" (which you can access with the red link in the right panel). It's a space to collect various aids and guides to using the B.I.D.E. Interpretive System—the Centerpiece of this blog. Over time, as the next ten books in the series are developed and we explore the ideas here in the blog, I'll be posting more and more information at our companion site. I urge you to visit there and explore the deeper reasons for this blog and the book that inspired it—Astrological Repair Manual.

Harrison Ford's chart shows a decided clustering of planets, often called a "Bundle" pattern. This configuration shows a concentration of functions and energies in relatively few areas of activity. The planets that border the bundle, Uranus and Neptune in Ford's case, are normally within range of at least a wide trine. We'll use the B.I.D.E. system to explore his bordering planets in just a bit...

Notice, though, that very near the center of the cluster in his chart are the Sun and Moon in close conjunction. Not only does the over-all pattern speak of his ability to massively concentrate talents and potentialities but the center of the pattern—the point of greatest focus—holds the two planetary functions that are the "Power-Source" of a person's character.

Two interesting qualities of his nature are revealed in something he says in a short video that was made about his love for aviation. He says that flying gives him a big sense of freedom but also a great sense of responsibility and goes on to add that freedom without responsibility is "not so engaging"...

For me, it's easy to see his love of responsibility in that tightly clustered bundle pattern and, because of the strong and steady focus of that pattern, it becomes easy to see him linking it to a need for "big freedom" with flight—a very interesting way for him to "engage" the rest of his chart {alert: houses without planets are not "empty"} and have the freedom balance the concentrated responsibility of the main pattern.

One last bit of revelatory character in his flying career: of the many planes he owns, his favorite is a slow, steady, and trustworthy vintage aircraft...

Now let's apply the B.I.D.E. Interpretive System to Harrison's Neptune, Uranus, Moon, and Sun (don't forget that the Information Site has guides to help you do what I'm about to do...).

~~~~~~~~~
Harrison Ford's "Defining" Functions

Neptune in Virgo in the 12th House conjunct the Ascendant
[I'll be merging meanings for the 12th and 1st Houses]
Being Idealistic about Systems and Techniques in order to Explore the Value of Transcendence of Self so He Can Truly Be Who He Is.

This high and wide Necessity in Ford's character is in a flowing and creative relationship with:

Uranus in Gemini in the 9th House
Seeking the Truth of Intellectual Freedom in order to Realize the Ideal.
~~~~~~~~~
Those are some HUGE defining functions yet Ford works with them by concentrating their power on the
Sun/Moon Conjunction in Cancer in the 10th House
[here I'm merging the meanings for Sun and Moon]
Nurturing a Focus on Character Development in order to Be Who He Is In The World.
~~~~~~~~~

One last character note because of that last interpretation: Ford is known for keeping his private life extremely insulated from the glamor of Hollywood . . .

If there's anything you don't understand about the way the B.I.D.E. system works or why it can be an important tool in honest, affirmative astrology, please post a comment.

Soon I'll have a special page on the "Information Site" that explores why I created the system and how I've proven its value...

Jupiter's Friend, Saturn

We're going to stay with Jupiter a bit longer but we'll consider it in relation to our old friend Saturn.

From Chapter 7 of the free-to download book, Astrological Repair Manual:

"There is a set of forces within each of us:

Structure, Definition & Clarity
and
Expansion, Optimism & Extension

"Neither is more important, neither is better. Certainly, at different times of our lives, one or the other will become more prominent, but, if we want the best for ourselves, we’ll always keep both close by, even if one of them is standing more forward and taking the temporary lead. Jupiter (nothing for it but to use the common name and rely on your ability to stay above the worst of the common interpretations) is the function we all need to assure ourselves we can find greener pastures for our energies, the symbolic power to take a viewpoint that is high enough and broad enough to serve as the ruler of our hopes and aspirations. Without Jupiter, life would be sterile, and there would be no progress. It’s much more than just interesting to trace this function’s path through its 12 year-long phases.

"It begins with the potential you were given at birth to initiate your life’s expansions—the sign and house Jupiter occupied in your birth chart. [ If you haven’t yet looked back to The Instructions {in the free-to-download book} to find your chart factors, this might be a propitious time to begin. If you don’t want to yet, I’m sure your reasons are valid. ] Naturally, children in their first year of life have a maximum of desire to expand and seek all the opportunities possible. Even people who later ripen into the more austere members of humanity begin with some measure of exuberance and abandon. The second year of Jupiter’s transit brings some kind of contrast to the first since there’s a natural polarity to the flow of the signs and houses (more on this later). Year three sees the potential for a certain productivity along with the sheer delight at so many open fields of discovery. The fourth phase brings the first gearshift or rooting-in of our sense of opportunity—half-way to the middle of the cycle. Five gives us a chance to test the waters with some showing off and six brings a breather while we check our bearings just before the apex of the cycle. After six years of experiencing Jupiter’s power of seeking opportunity, we’ve almost completed one quarter of our first Saturn cycle. Our growing sense of structure is nearing its first attempt at nailing things down.

"It’s always interesting to look at what society has scheduled for us at various times in our lives and compare that with what our internal cosmos wants us to do. Reaching the ripe young age of six brings with it a deep desire to share with others our first full sense of what optimism means to us. Of course, most six-year-olds don’t think of it this way, but that doesn’t stop it from happening. We’re at our first peak of feeling our oats, and we need outlets to share that feeling without it getting stepped on. One good reason for needing that easing up on a six-year-old is that Saturn's first quarter cycle is at seven years old and there is a natural tendency to get a bit serious then. Compare Saturn's structuring and limiting challenges at seven with Jupiter's seventh phase and you can see one of the potentially toughest times in a young person's life. Jupiter's year seven should be a time of finding special others that can share our particular brand of positivity; eight, a time of deepening those ties; nine, an opportunity to take some first steps in social expansions; ten, the first reception of solid social rewards; eleven, the beginning of learning to network our abilities; and, twelve, a rebirth, with many gold stars on the wall! In the chapter that deals with the most expansive of the functions, I can be nothing but positive.

"That sketching-out of the first twelve years of growth and expansion may have sounded nearly idyllic and there are many other factors in a chart to consider to see the details of anyone's first 12 years. But I must speak the truth about what’s possible. If not now, when? If not me, who? Also, consider this: that 12-year cycle of expansion and opportunity continues, on higher and higher levels, throughout one's life... So... We all can tap into the positivity of the Jupiter cycle throughout our lives.

"Plus, there’s Chaos ahead and we can use all the upbeat attitude we can get our minds into!"

Saturn and Cycles

More from the 6th chapter of my freely downloadable book, Astrological Repair Manual:

"So, now that Father Time is all spaced-out, I’ll reveal another major truth about astrology: no single symbol or function or planet or sign or house (we’ll meet signs and houses when we get closer to Earth) — none of these factors has any meaning all by itself. I can say Saturn means Structure, Limitation, Clarification, Organization, etc. but it gains its meaning from its cycle as it relates to other cycles. How could structure even be defined if there weren’t things that needed to be structured?

"One of the backbone sources for the meaning of any function in astrology is the length of its trip around the Sun. For Saturn, it turns out to be real close to 30 years with the half-cycle at 15 and quarter cycles around 7 years. When I was young it was common to hear: 'Ya can’t trust anybody over 30'. Oh, my! I wonder if those saying it were under thirty and probably not averse to a rather disorganized and freewheeling lifestyle?

"Right around thirty is when most of us have finally 'found ourselves'. We usually find it necessary to stake a claim for the pattern of self we’ve decided to be—lay out the pattern for others, organize our time in society to accommodate the clarity of self we now feel.

"And now I hear some people saying, 'Oh yeah? Thirty was hell!'. But do they realize that whatever difficult or negative period they were experiencing might have been there to clear the decks so they could claim a stronger place for themselves—make a clearer pattern of living?

"The half-cycle of Saturn is just as important for Identity Formation (Key Saturn phrase there). But, at fifteen, we’re putting out (for all to see) 'who we are' in terms of who we were born to and how they raised us. We’re also finding out what others think about that identity pattern and, possibly, trying to either hide it or flaunt it even more. The transition at thirty is qualitatively different. We’ve been through one whole cycle of identity formation and we’re trying to squeeze out whatever doesn’t really belong to the real self—condensing, confirming, clarifying, defining.

"Now, while we're circling this symbol of patterns and organization, would be a good time to lay out one of the most important structural concepts in astrology: the Squaring of the Circle. Every cycle, whether with one planet or two, has a beginning. It has a middle and an ending, too. Simple, eh? Yet many astrologers forget this view of life. They look at the position of a planet in a birth chart and freeze it there, trying to milk it for more meaning than it can give.

"We’re born with the planets at certain positions determined by our time and place of birth. The important thing to remember though is that the planets keep moving and so do we. Life and people evolve. These motions in astrology are called Transits and Progressions and are two topics that must be left for you to discover in the references recommended at the end of this book (and, in the revised and expanded edition of this book to which this blog dedicated). Way before you attempt learning about all the meaning possible with moving planets, you need a firm grounding in the field they move within—the circle or cycle. Each cycle has its moment of beginning when things are new and fresh—either exciting or scary. Each cycle also has its ending, which is the same moment as the beginning of a new cycle. But rather than thinking of this evolution of meaning as an old phonograph record, spinning endlessly, we should concentrate our positive minds and see each ending and rebirth happening on a new and higher level—a spiral of ever-ascending and fulfilling meanings.

"The first half of any cycle is all about taking the new materials we have to deal with and shaping them according to the vision we (hopefully) had at that magic moment of rebirth. If we aren’t facing our astrological cycles and our very lives in this way, we’re shortchanging ourselves!

"The exact middle of any cycle is the time when the vision of the beginning can flower and fruit—come to its highest personal consummation of expression.

"From the middle to the next rebirth is the time to share the fruits we’ve garnered with others—to make the function(s) valuable in others' lives.

"The two quarter phases—halfway from beginning to middle and halfway from middle to rebirth—are times we can use to firm up our directions, shift gears, if necessary, to get back on course, make sure our roots are firmly planted (personal or social), and gain strength for the push to the color and magic of the middle or the raking of leaves and the seed-tending of the time near rebirth. You're going to find that The Instructions and its system of interpretation [at the end of the free-to-download book] don't deal with these moving functions. Like I've said before, this book is all about giving you the right Perceptions so that any further studies you might engage in can be positive and profitable. If I'd never mentioned this important concept of the General Cycle, I would have been shirking my duty..."

We've finished the first consideration of concepts in the 6th chapter of the book. Once I've covered all 14 chapters, we'll go back and consider things in more detail. Hopefully, you'll be leaving your comments as we go along so I can consider where and how to reconsider these basics of astrology...

Setting The Boundaries

Just barely into this venture and here I am setting boundaries...

Not to worry though because the most important boundary in astrology is the Universe.

Next would come our home galaxy, the Milky Way.

Then, our solar system. Sadly, far too many people think the boundaries of astrology end here.

In my book, which I hope you'll download and read (free), I begin by putting the reader in a spaceship coming back from "somewhere" and dealing with one of the outer "boundaries" of our solar system.

In that first chapter, Xena and the Hordes, I mention this idea:

"This is where astrology begins. Further out, between the stars, is the space that symbolizes 'contact' with 'other souls' that inhabit a purely spiritual dimension. Once inside the atmosphere of the Sun, we’re dealing with aspects of ourselves that relate to life on a very solid earth, even though Xena and the Hordes are aspects of our minds that we rarely think about."

In that chapter, I'm dealing with what are called "archetypes"—psychological energies that we all have to deal with, sometimes creatively but most often (due only to lack of experience) in a manner that causes us grief and unnecessary pain.

One person I respect in regard to explaining the "deeper" parts of ourselves is Carl Jung. And, since any valuable practice of astrology needs a solid psychology behind it, I'll give Carl a chance to say something about this realm:

"Anyone who wants to know the human psyche will learn next to nothing from experimental psychology. He would be better advised to put away his scholar's gown, bid farewell to his study, and wander with human heart through the world. There, in the horrors of prisons, lunatic asylums and hospitals, in drab suburban pubs, in brothels and gambling-hells, in the salons of the elegant, the Stock Exchanges, Socialist meetings, churches, revivalist gatherings and ecstatic sects, through love and hate, through the experience of passion in every form in his own body, he would reap richer stores of knowledge than text-books a foot thick could give him, and he will know how to doctor the sick with real knowledge of the human soul."

Your feelings and thoughts?