How sad that it is her passing that prompts me to check out the fascinating astro of Ms Helen Gurley Brown. Even if you loathe Cosmo mag for anarcha-feminist reasons, you would agree that it was revolutionary in its day, yes? She also did a LOT to invent and popularize the notion that to be a single, career-ist woman was not just respectable but actually desirable. See Sex & The Single Girl – the book that got her so many letters from avid readers, she turned it into a magazine.
So some astro notes; She was Aquarius – Sun + Mercury Retrograde – and Saggo Rising. So super-revoltionary and then with a throbbing little Moon-Mars in Scorpio conjunction trine Venus-Lilith in Pisces. So you know, she probably really meant all those blowjob tips quite sincerely.
But to me, the key to her chart is that Saturn-Midheaven-North Node in Libra conjunction. She came from achingly humble beginnings, with (I think) a crippled sister and ill mother to support via her limited means. HGB described herself as a “mouseburger” – someone without obvious looks, brains or family background to trade off, who had to survive via sheer ingenuity and hard work. It all fits, yes?
I’m loving that there are two people both called Barfagreed on here all of a sudden and they are talking to each other! That is post-modernism! HGB – RIP – her blow job tips actually often did not work and i would go so far as to tell my daughters to never follow a cosmo sex tip in their lives. but i have spoken to my mother about the impact of HGBs book Sex and the Single Girl and she said it was revolutionary. She wrote it in a day when women were not allowed their own bank accounts and… Read more »
Interesting!
Right on, *The* Leo Socialite.
well put. Love the critique on her bj tips too lol.
HGB, thanks for being bold and outspoken! We are so much more than our reproductive and tidying/cooking abilities, and every woman who has openly asserted these facts has done us all a justice.
Rest in peace, autonomous sister.
She was def a pioneer in her time for sure! It’s just now a days Cosmo sex tips are so dated and so bland. But i do remember in the days before the internet that there were very few magazines to offer such things for a mainly female audience.
Is interesting, she is getting a LOT more love on Twitter than in the MSM – she changed the media game, said it is fine to discuss orgasms AND how to get a raise all in the same mag/sentence. Her own writing was hilarious, just saw a quote that went something like “you don’t have to chase the glittering existence like Madam Bovary did – instead you will lay a TRAP for it.”
my theory is – just aired on my twitter – that she saw magic mike and died on a satisfied high, her work was done
A “feminist” icon who gave women tips on how to give men blowjobs? Excuse me while I go barf.
Hmm, i don’t think i said “feminist icon” as such but she was definitely a cultural game changer – flawed in many respects but believe it or not, she launched her mag in an era where working women/single women were seen as suss and a job just something you do until marriage.
Talking about sex freely is not classified as feminism. Working overseas to free women in suppressed countries, or writing to expose the atrocities of the truly down-trodden, that is progressive. Oh, and working until you get married, then being a proud woman at home, is also feminism in an extreme form these days.
Growing up, I read Cosmo and Ms. religiously. She was a true groundbreaker.
agreed, there is so much more to feminism than being open about sex. in essence, carrying on like a sexed up kitten, even in a feminine voice, is just as bad as the male daydream of the girl sleep-over, complete with naked pillow fight.
Hey, Barf I and II:
Look up the zeitgeist of the time, when HGB wrote the book and launched Cosmo, and you’ll see that what Mystic posits is not opinion, but Fact.
*Real* feminists know their history. Get busy with your studies, Ladies.
excuse me? wow,
*Real* feminists know their history. Get busy with your studies, Ladies.
and living life is living life, get with it
Well, I know I don’t care for being ‘told’ what feminism is and isn’t. People are welcome to their opinions about what feminism constitutes. I think MM puts an interesting reason why astrologically HGB would be drawn to sexual topics – perhaps that is a more useful focus..
LOL Oh, I was just being snarky in kind.
But really: get learned.
🙂
I don’t have to get learned I lived it, thanks
how is it, that whenever a post about the achievements of one woman in a given timeframe that the Blog states as a cultural gamechanger or the like, it gets twisted into comments Mystic did not make about feminist icon and other inferred bitching? the context is clearly stated. It’s an ASTROLOGY blog focusing on the personal planets effectively played in motivation and achievements, not a critique on what is 2nd wave feminism. There is nothing wrong with not being remotely into cosmo and magazines etc but don’t twist the words around to suit your own argument. I find it… Read more »
@the anons not you scorpy x
i grew up with this mag in my teens and my mum was grateful I think so she didnt. have to explain. What an educaion/sex manual !
moon mars is seriously hardcore. I am dating it at the moment. Makes you real sharp. But in scorpio, wow. Bet the sealed section was her twirling her hair. Great astro lineup.
So Saturn conjunct Midheaven means a bloody hard time of it in work, but worth it in the end? What if it’s for all of us mid 60s babes with Saturn conj. Chiron in Pisces opposition Uranus/Pluto.. Zap zone freeing all that up?
I wonder whether her eternal youthfulness and longevity can be put down to having Leo on the cusp of the 8th — I think that is one of the traditional astro interpretations of this position.
Ah yes – we looked at her here
http://mysticmedusa.com/2011/03/what-sign-is-she/
Anna Piaggi, 22 March 1931~ (wiki’s been updated)
Sun maybe Moon in Aries, Merc 7 deg Aries, Venus19 Aquarius, Mars 28 Cancer, Jupiter 10 degrees Cancer, Uranus 14 degrees Aries, Neptune Virgo 3, Pluto 18 degrees Cancer.
A chart that packs a punch I’d say.
That desk of her’s and the get-up in the post you linked to says Aqua rising to me –never judge a book etc . . . although Venus conj Ascendant would undoubtedly be useful in the world of publishing.
Funny how you titled it Aquarian Girl as for being all of 90, something about HGB really is quintessentially VERY Girl. Actually, I always think Aquas perfect their joie de vivre as they get older. Something like fine ripening as they hone all that wanderlusting, gadding about, electrifying energy into an alchemy mixed with wisdom.
My older Aqua friends always have fab advice based on their own mishaps and misadventures which they now view with both sensitivity and a chuckle, really no heaviness at all. I surmise they don’t do Grinching as they age.
your post makes me ponder FA as another birthday looms. i hope to tap into my aqua nature more as i’ve never really understood it but know it always keeps me ool under pressure. Def no grinching about age even at post 50 eeek. More scary than sad. Lots to look forward to with wisdom and an adventurous spirit.
I think Aqua Natures are very broad, and can to an extent, dislike the stickiness of emotion. I have an Aqua Moon so I work my emo as logically as I possibly can – if that makes any sense.
But by saying broad, it also brings with it a certain largess. They get the micro, but prefer it to make sense within context of the macro. There’s also a bit of the “Cool Crazy Uncle/Wild Aunt” vibe to older Aquas, but I think you’re already there if you’re grooving. 🙂
Happy birthday in advance, and remember, YOU are the adventure!
Thx FA for pre bday wishes . its not till Sat urday but don’t worry being Leo everybody has pre warning and my Bday week has already started with 3 celebs already.
I am def the cool aunt of my family and my bro who is uber aqua is the weird uncle.
Ex had moon in aqua whih i never understood really even tho i am aqua rising but care factor ? minus infinity and beyond lol.
Wow, Mystic, I really like your write-up here of the astro signatures in her chart.
Makes me wonder what the ‘key’ to my own chart is. (*walks off to ponder*)
I think , generally speaking, whatever is happening in the chart’s MC, and Sun are good places to start to look, and where there are planets all bunched up together.
Any other ideas?
asc and the planet that owns it. Your tightest conjunctions and most heavy action in the circle
Thanks so much!
what’s an eg of most heavy action?
tight squares?
She was a pioneer , rest in peace .
An interesting woman she certainly lived to a good age. We share a birth date and an Ascendent it seems. GO THE AQUA GIRLS.
Yes, go us! I have Aqua sun and Mercury retro = eloquent communication of stuff that no one else gets. I’m glad she was able to reach the masses.
Reading her NYT bio, it seems she was a real shit-stirrer, with a cushion embroidered with ‘good girls go to heaven/bad girls go everywhere’, pink silk walls and in minis and fishnets until her death… all rather Libran.
She wrote her best selling book upon the encouragement of her husband (who produced ‘Jaws’) after he discovered her love letters to a married man. They must have been a progressive, creative duo.
i always had the idea she was a cap ??
Yeah, me too! Are we thinking Helena Rubinstein?
Yah – Helena Rubenstein is posted about here, intereresting
I love your title btw – where is the Embassy?
A life well lived and dedicated to the benefit of all. Look at her getting her pegs out well into her 60s – probably older – that’s a role model! Will have to look into her life story – I did not realise that she rose from adversity. That looks like a young and nubile Linda Evangelista on the magazine cover – pre airbrushing?