Neptune is the planet most associated with creatives, but the astrology of artists features a lot of natal Saturn aspects, usually hooked up with Neptune. The Sixties art history classic Born Under Saturn explores how Renaissance artists cultivated the concept of themselves as alienated and melancholy, to distinguish themselves from ‘mere’ craftsmen, who identified with Mercury.
Yes, that’s right, in the olden days, everyone knew their planets, or at least their dominant ones. “Alienation, in effect, was a rung by which artists sought to climb the social ladder.”
Saturn was traditionally linked to melancholy temperaments and introspective, unique people. And, remember that the Renaissance was well before the discovery of the Outer Planets Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto. So if you wanted to signal an aloofness from the common crowd, Saturn was your go.
The Astrology Of Artists Is Saturnine
These days, our views on Saturn have evolved, and he is no longer the gloomy figure stomping around with the scythe. The concept of the artist tormented explicitly for their art has been replaced by a broader understanding of psychology.
And many artists are hustlers, adroitly managing their career, brand, and commodity perceptions in the marketplace. A glance at the natal birth data of some successful creatives provides an interesting take on the astrology of artists. They’re big on Saturn and Neptune. Their birth charts have many so-called hard aspects, like Saturn squares. If you want to achieve beyond-the-norm results in a career, you need Saturn. The Time God in alignment to an Outer Planet will drive you to work at it. Without Saturn in the picture, you might get “an arty person” or someone who likes going to art galleries.
Saturn Is The Grind Juice
Saturn is the grind juice, the stay up all night and stick at it energy. It forces people to see themselves in a commercial/social context. They’ll unleash insane amounts of focus and determination to score the time/renown/money they need to do the work they want.
Here, for perspective, are the critical astrological signatures of some modern-era artists of renown:
- Tracey Emin – Saturn in Aquarius square Neptune in Scorpio.
- Damian Hirst – Saturn in Pisces trine Neptune in Scorpio and opposite Mars-Pluto-Uranus.
- Jeff Koons – he is just super Uranian – Saturn in Scorpio trine Jupiter/Uranus in Cancer and Neptune in Libra squaring it.
- Lois Mailou Jones – Scorpio, with her Mercury in Scorpio square Saturn in Aquarius. Saturn also trines Pluto in Gemini and is conjunct her South Node.
- Andy Warhol – Saturn in Saggo trine Leo Ascendant trine Moon in Aries – that’s a Grand Fire Trine, folks. He also had the win-win of Jupiter in Taurus on his Midheaven – enduring fame and artistic legacy. $$$ too.
- Marina Abramovic – Saturn/Pluto in Leo trine her Sagittarius Sun trine her Aries Midheaven – another Grand Fire Trine artist.
- Ai Weiwei – A multiple Virgo, with the Sun, Mercury Retrograde, Mars and Pluto in Virgo. Mars is square Saturn in Saggo and the Saturn trines Uranus in Leo.
- Ed Ruscha – Saturn opposite Neptune in Virgo.
- Richard Prince – more of a Uranian – Neptune in Libra square Mars/Uranus in Cancer.
- Sophie Calle – Saturn/Neptune in Libra square Uranus in Cancer.
- Louise Bourgeois – Neptune opposite Uranus/Lilith in Cancer.
My feeling is that the successful artists and the ones whose work resonates need a bit of Saturn and Neptune/Uranus.
Thoughts?
I have been striving for “success” as an artist for over 25 years. I guess at some point I should give up and just focus on making money. I guess I’m beyond the point.
I have a sun Saturn conjunction in Leo in the 3rd. My tightest aspect in my chart is a Mercury Neptune Square and Mercury is my chart ruler. It’s in Virgo in an angular house. The 4th. I use Placidus house system and that gives me a 1st house Venus (though neither it nor the moon – which, in my chart, is unaspected- make aspects to Neptune. my Venus only makes a wide square to Pluto and a wide semi square to Saturn.
I have received some grants and awards and residencies and ONE gallery showing- but not high level. I should be further along by now.
I am really feeling exhausted of this pushing for success.
Suggestion: stop pushing and just let be. I am not meaning at a hippie,flaky level. Lower your expectactions and enjoy it more. You have received grants, awards and residencies etc. That means something. Can you do part time work (making money) and part time artist?
On the astrology side I can’t comment as I don’t know. Maybe someone else can chime in and help. I just felt that I could not just ignore your comment without some imput.
Oi vey – three years ago, if I had read this, I would of pulled at my hair, groaned and let my eyes roll into the back of my head. Understanding that yes this makes sense but ‘oh gawwwd my inner Saturn is stuck in the rennaissance still trying to gain clout via alienation and ‘yea music art is great, but when it comes to my creations there’s a belligerent blind spot.’ AKA ‘woo is me I deserve xyz, fund my self-limiting beliefs so that i may continue to coo to myself with denial and victimhood.’ fuq.
Reading this now, all that came up, but more like a fog lifting rather than an identity to try and cling too. I CAN hone and cultivate my heavy Saturn (squares venus, trines jupiter & lilith, conjunct mars/uranus/asc and loosely neptune and is part of an intercepted first house stellium)
Celebrity wise this made me think of Jack white of The White Stripes. Birthtime unknown, but he definitely has saturn as the focal point of a cardnial T-square with Uranus and Jupiter+chiron. Saturn also conjuncts his sun and possibly his moon.
Well, this is a relief. Saturn conj MC in Leo at the apex of a T-Square with Moon & Uranus seems to do more to block my creativity than promote it. But as i spend more time on earth, the creativity takes different forms, less personal self-expression & more creating bigger, longer-term social structures for others’ creativity to flourish in (or is that me just denying my own?). Neptune in first house in a wide trine to Saturn. Sun-Ur in 12th. Much dreaming & cogitation and research first… Sometimes i wonder if any of it will become ‘real’, but then, eventually it does.
I totally agree with the need for Saturn and Neptune in balance. I have Saturn in the 5th house, Neptune Asc (Scorpio) trine Jupiter. I write scripts for film and TV. Incredibly precarious industry and not for the faint-hearted – now in complete shutdown thanks to the virus. Some cinema chains are pivoting, resurrecting drive-ins, but how will shows get made? In spite of the enormous appetite for content, the industry can’t work. Your forecast for Pisces this weekend was spot on. I was on the brink of my first two feature films going into production. Mightily pissed off with Covid19 right now!
I’ve noticed that influential musicians with a cutting edge flavour often have this influence – these have tight conjunctions – Laurie Anderson, Brian Eno Saturn/Pluto. Dave Gilmour Saturn/Mars Ian Anderson Saturn/Sun .
Laurie Anderson, Brian Eno … swooooonnnn.
Have to look up the work Laurie Anderson did with Peter Gabriel in the early 80s ? Or am I just wet dreaming ?
http://youtu.be/d0TpztwmvVM
This is so interesting, Taurus sun, Aries rising, Mars conjunct Saturn in cancer, 5th house. I identify with Saturn and Mars as my creative muses, not Neptune (drugs and disillusioned dysfunctionality are dull and I like to be grounded, unsurprisingly). I am a 4am writer, studying writing at uni and mum, wife and teachers side…and love schedules and lists in order to fit everything i want to do in. Hate wasted time 🙂
I was born into art, now I move away from it, at least I seem to be drawn into other areas of life. I used to live art, but I feel this is essentially in everyone now; its not the sole domain of artists or gallery people, its wonderful for people who need healing.
In the past others regarded me as an artist, libra south node 2nd in almost exact trine to sun 6th. My parents met at art school, one was admitted by merit, the other through an elite network, prestigious contact. They parted not long after I was born. One is an artist in spirit, the other involved in law, contracts, administration, material matters.
The only public art I ever exhibited was erotic art, was well received, that was 1-2 decades ago. At both art and design schools I was content, more in a private realm than public. My co-horts moved to different disciplines. I am more interested in health, sex and therapy now. I have studied dance, music but not as devotedly as art.
My art hangs in the house with my friends art too and a parents…a good portion of it is erotic. I worked in design and many of the environments were riddled with excess, substances, sex…I was always reserved at work.
You can see it in my chart; pluto uranus virgo conjunct 1st opposite mars conjunct chiron 7th pisces; these are trine/sextile almost exactly to neptune in scorpio. Ceres and juno both scorpio 2nd, trine cancer moon 10th, trine pisces mercury retrograde 6th…mercury is opposite jupiter 12th, and that is on my ascendant (which is sextile to the moon, ceres, juno).
Saturn is there in that venus is in mid late degrees capricorn 5th, moon is widely square aries saturn 8th, moon is in 10th house associated with capricorn. I love art, older men, sex. I’ve had a lot of intense times but I am mostly move between reminiscence, curiosity and adventure, truth and ambivalence and optimistic pragmatism.
Uranus is a strong influence being in my 1st (very close close pluto), my sun in uranus ruled, is conjunct vesta. I am happier being autonomous, independent, having plenty of space…
There are no rules, only the ones you need, wish to draw up for your own vital being…Tear them down or enjoy teasing them out, continued development takes challenge, courage and sacrifice (in the honest sense).
After reading that I feel like I know you x like you were drawing yourself in front of my eyes. So nice to meet you. 🙂
Thanks. I am having a hell of a transit since end last year. I met a healer (shamanic and orthodox) who radically changed me for better or worse. Potent themes like last time saturn leaving scorpio. It is now direct / on natal neptune 3rd house, so I’ll be hopefully studying post grad 2016. Pluto is degrees away from my venus 5th. Uranus is transiting 8th (almost on north node) sextile sun 6th, hence interests in healing, therapy, sex. South node libra is still important, the art is always there.
Children and older people altered my view considerably, and I don’t wish to practice as an artist professionally. My father suffered at some level with repressed creativity, my mother is in pain from intense creativity. Its impossible to get them to see each other’s perspective…
At home we are fortunate in that the images of life, art are on the walls, people who comes here feel mostly reassured…I must admit it all appears to be neptune influenced…I met an art therapist who is very keen on native american indian culture, for purposes of knowledge, insight. Its been great. She also encourages clay work. I am still investigating daoist qui gong, neig gong, xingyi.
You would probably like an erotic painting we have in the front of the house, only in the sense of freedom of self, of women swimming in the depths of a moving crimson and ultramarine sea, its very serene, quietly liberating. There are others sea pieces, a friends, of very delicate sea life…and another of mine, a marine-sea woman in depths of black water.
I had Saturn conj Neptune in my 5th last year. It turned out very different from my expectations . I thought Saturn would sort of crush my Neptune fun but he accommodated it and showed me a balance there that I hadn’t experienced before. Now for Saturn conj my Jupiter in sag in the 6th.
Also just starting Uranus and Eris conj Aries sun in my 10th. I’m hoping this means I can unleash my crazy and get paid for it.
Eris ? Hmmmm I could become the bitch of wall street 🙂
Agree, was most sceptical of saturn over neptune; today another art therapy workshop, this time for post graduate study – hopefully. Everything / experiential here is emphasized, via specific creative path / choice…We had many people in a group participating in movement activities designed to elicit, test trust. It was wonderful.
Saturn over jupiter, that is belief, philosophically oriented; tests in this regard, but it sounds as though it will trine any aries in the 10th, or any leo, so it should yield benefits with peers in the 10th, but you will be taping into intuitive networks for those opportunities, good luck.
I can see different types of art with different astro signatures. For example:
One of my best friends is an artist. Plein air, impressionistic, Cezanne tops her list. She has a Jupiter-Neptune yod topped by Saturn in the 11th, a 5th house cap moon, Leo rising, and a Scorp sun. Killer work ethic — she paints every single day and has the schools and shows and portfolio to show for it. We looked at the charts of a lot of her favorite artists and found a Leo-scorp-cap dominance in all of them.
Saturn likes mastery of technique, precision, mathematical rigor, right? So very Renaissance. It fits. How else can you spend years on a painting?
I could never do art like that. Trying to produce on a schedule as a studio major killed every ounce of creative joy in the process. I’m Saturn trine Neptune, but my art is all 12th house and 5th house Pluto. It begins and ends with Modernism — Rothko and Pollock and OMG Barnett Newman are my gods. The best piece I ever did, I think, was a 10×10 canvas with inch-thick gesso textures and swirls and stuff that I had people throw/smear/paint different colors of jello on. Dat ain’t no Saturn art.
(I only stayed away a day, I missed you all so much <3)
So I only recently started calling myself an artist (3 years) ago and I have Saturn in Pisces 11th house, square Moon and Mercury in Taurus. Saturn trines my Kataka Venus, 3rd house.
Uranus (11 deg) Pluto (6 deg) in 5th virgo, Uranus squaring moon and mercury and trining Jupiter. Pluto squaring my Gemini Sun in 2nd.
Neptune in Scorpio 7th house, opposite Mars and Jupiter in Taurus. Confusing! will have to do more research.
Ha- I have that selfsame yod! With Saturn in the 10th conj Midheaven. Have yet to get my head around it.
Glad you couldn’t stay away. 🙂
<3 you 🙂
I haven't been able to stop thinking of Rothko for weeks! NN transiting his Libra Sun?
I like this perspective. It makes a lot more sense to me than Neptune placement actually. Saturn is my chart ruler and my natal Saturn is in Pisces. As a young dancer I knew artistry is work…daily work and daily discipline. Also Saturn is limits..art sometimes is what you work with…within limits. Like what Mary Pickford remarked about sound films…”it would make more sense if it went the other way around”…because in her opinion (and mine) it’s what you remove. Debussy said that music is what is between the notes.
I have Neptune in Scorpio in the 10th. Let’s just say I had a very successful drinking career (that I’m now “retired” from that). Pisces is in my 2nd where my Saturn and Chiron live. I struggled in theater because I don’t do shortcuts nor do I like to compromise my integrity. I’m too old for dance now. I write compulsively for my own pleasure. But this thought about Saturn as a patron planet for artists is liberating for me and validating too. It makes real sense. Discipline, hard work, limits, careful cultivation of tools and techniques…I can work with this idea very much so now. Thank you.
Well said, & i agree. Dedication, focus, commitment, discernment, improvement – they’re all Saturn traits that are essential for producing great art. And often, the solitude – the boundaries around us – that is needed to do so. It’s a great way to reframe our Saturnine tendencies… Strangely it makes me feel lighter just reflecting upon it (or is that the influence of Saturn in Aquarius already?!) 😊
I live with an artist and she is definitely not of saturnine nature. Much more sag Neptune and kataka, so to her art is a more spiritual experience that is channelled than a craft that is hewn by long hours and strict protocols. Thank god. To me the saturnine troubled artist thing is so annoying. Art ? Good art ? So subjective, I reckon the most important skill to have these days for an artist is chutzpah and PR skills. Thats the difference between a piece that costs $1000 and one that’s $50,000.
Maybe the saturnine image was for the wealthy Caps that had the $s and appreciated all that discipline and detail ?
I agree about the PR skills. I think the more self promoting aka Warhol you can be the more chance your art will be taken seriously, taken up, etc. Having a compelling or charming personality helps as well, as does having art establishment mentors/friends. Tracey Emin is compelling for her bad girl tortured artist persona and deeply personal, confessional work.
plus, as in most fields, to become super successful, you need the luck of ‘being in the right place at the right time’
Well Art=hard work, and practice practice practice so this makes sense. I think I need to study my astrohacks a bit more though, need to really wrap my head a round Saturn.
I have saturn conjunct my sun. I am creative, but not really artistic. Might be my strong mercury in gemini in the 10th that leaned me more towards writing. I also have sewn, landscape,played musical instruments, sang.
Thank you, Mystic. This was the exact post I needed to read, since I’ve been frustrated for YEARS that I’m not a working writer and have had to resort to day-jobs for steady cash. Ugh, it’s the most frustrating thing being slightly off to the side of the path I’m supposed to be on. I’ve been working recently on my writing self-discipline, and until I read this post, I hadn’t connected all the dots of being a working creative writer/artist. (I certainly feel like an artist, not a craftsman).
I have a heavy 5th house Mars-Saturn-Pluto conjunction in Libra trine Gem rising trine Aqua MC/sun. My Neptune is in Sag in the 7th house opposite my Gem rising, but I have Neptune transiting my 10th house Pisces. Oh, and moon is in Virgo opposite 10th house. My ideal is to have a Neptunian artistic career, but I guess in order to have that, I need to become friends with that bolstered Saturn.
Thanks again for this post – I just couldn’t tie it all together into how best to make my chart work for me as a professional writer. 🙂
But it’s about Saturn as a foundation for that type of working-artist career. Sounds like something I can do.
Have you had a chart done by MM? She pointed out some reasons for my professional leanings and it really helped me!
Saturn trine the MC/Sun sounds totally amazing for any career!
Though I do recall Mercury being a powerful influence in a writer’s chart. Where is your Mercury/how aspected?
Sun in libra here, conjunct the MC, Uranus (Lib) and Pluto (late Virgo), Pluto trine Saturn in Taurus in the fifth, and sextile Neptune in late Scorpio in the twelfth (currently being shat upon by transiting Saturn). Neptune opp Saturn and square NN in Pis. It’s taken me yeeeeeears but I’m finally finding the balance between the Neptune/Saturn/Pluto/Uranus thing.
I don’t think I can buy into this Saturn artist’s thing. But then, I have Saturn in the 5th house in Sag, so who knows, maybe it works.
But I don’t think this Born Under Saturn concept is workable. I spent some time trying to locate some excerpts from the book, the best one is at this link:
http://tinyurl.com/qy38kk3
The site also has other summaries and excerpts, you can find them by going to the home page and searching for “Wittkower.”
I don’t see any evidence that the Wittkowers have any actual knowledge of astrology, and there is some evidence they don’t understand it at all. They are basing their theories on readings from Italian art history sources, interpreted through mythological archetypes, set aside from actual astrology. As I interpret it, their theory is that sometime during the Renaissance, the ideal of the artist changed from Mercurial to Saturnine. Artists were Mercurial messengers of the Gods, then they became afflicted by divine madness.
I find this whole concept typical of Italian art history experts, who seem to think the entirety of art history exists in an ideal form during the Renaissance in Italy. A single moment in time represents the entire existence of artists of all time. How many art historians can dance on the head of a pin? ALL of them.
In any case, this book was published in 1963 and the art historical perspective based on pre-20th Century concepts. I know this all too well, my own art school refused to teach art history from the 20th Century, as it was considered “contemporary art” and thus had not withstood the test of time, nor endured consideration and reconsideration through the ages by appropriately authoritative art historians. 1963 was a particularly bad time to get a perspective on the role of the artist, which would change dramatically as PostModernism developed in the late 60s. Ah, it was all so simple for artists then, back in the days of High Modernism, when Men were Men and Women were interior decorators.
The artist is, and always will be a Mercurial type. Artists create abstractions, they use ideas to represent one thing with another thing. This is essentially a Mercurial function. Artists literally are “messengers of the Gods,” they imagine something from a higher perspective, and deliver it in an abstracted form, showing a glimpse of that elevated perspective. They step outside of time and reality, to imagine something in a way that only they could produce. Then they take that intangible abstraction and reproduce it in a tangible representation that carries their message. Artists use a medium to express their ideas, they become part of that medium, and the medium becomes an extension of them. They reproduce their ideas into an earthly form. They are messengers of the gods, here on Earth.
So no, I’m not buying the Born Under Saturn concept. Not unless you want to consider Saturn as a higher plane of Earth. I think it’s more Mercury and Neptune. But of course I would think that, I have Mercury at my MC opposite Neptune.
Hmm .
It could also be argued that artists (to generalise) also have to apply a lot of Saturn in getting their work done, and also in grokking (yes, ok) where to cut, exclude, focus, what to leave out… That sort of thing. Saturn as Work Ethic and chief auditor. And also knowing how to make $50 last for a week, hahaha
I think you’ve hit a lot of nails on the head here. Let’s hope there weren’t too many art historians dancing on them. 😯
My 5th house Pluto disagrees with your 5th house Saturn though. Pluto says to channel the gods is NOT enough. The artist must ALWAYS be a Titan. All or nothing. Which is why I currently do nothing. :/ Saturn probably wins that argument actually.
Thanks for adding to this,
I might be alone in the universe on this one but pre-20th century art tends to leave me a little…bored? I mean I know one thing must follow another and there is of course Michelangelo, but I live for the avant garde and/or contemporary stuff more than anything.
As soon as I see ‘master’ this or ‘hero’ that I instantly get a case of the yawns..
This obsession people have with person x or y.
The Prometheus thing, i don’t understand why people see it like this. Nobody holds the keys to the universe and to fawn over someone in such a way..like that is the only thing
I mean, ergh anyway probably not making sense.
Agree Pi. I prefer modern (20th-21c) art to the renaissance stuff. Probably because we’re living now and modern artist resonate more for us?
Also, *most* art history theory is about male artists, which really gives me the sh*ts 😀
The Saturn thing makes total sense to me. Most of the “tortured” artists I know have a strong Neptune/12th/Pisces signature along with a stron Saturn/10th/Capricorn signature.
What says torture more than knowing in order to make heaven real you must submit to the earth?
When you feel diffused into life itself but must sit yourself down day after day and keep yourself in “reality”?
Of course, I see this more in a certain type of artist: the visionary type, to be specific.
The more fiery, Leonine type has less trouble- they are creating more for the thrill and more for the self-expression.
The visionary is receiving information from that other place- that vast ocean of imagination (Neptune/Pisces/12th). And they have the tall order of making that vision (Neptune/Pisces/12th) real (Saturn/Cap/10th).
Of course, the two types can blend in infinite ways.
I consider myself more a laborer of vision…less fun, more responsibility, but feels so much bigger than creating just for a thrill.
That’s an interesting analysis imho.
X
Very well observed, AKAPluto.
I have both (all?):
Moon conj Neptune
Saturn in 10th conj Venus straddling the MC
Leo rising/Mars in 5th Sag
I’ve been blessed with Gifts but that Saturn/MC makes for slow, slow progress.
I’m an artist. Here’s my ‘stuff’:
Saturn in Libra in the 8th, trine my Pisces ascendant, squaring my Cap moon, conjunct Pluto. Sun in Scorp. Neptune conjunct the Midheaven.
I do struggle with the ‘I vant to be alooone’ and then the, uh, resulting loneliness! I sometimes skip out on big groups, but then I want want want to find/be in them. (For awhile.) I’ll go seek my tribe, but then realize I just want one kinda cool artsy/challenging person to collaborate artistically or lustily with me. Heh.
I used to fear Saturn, but as I just had an epic return, and it is juuuust getting out of my sign, I can see the day-to-day hardwork that fosters an artist’s reality-connection. It’s kept me serious when a lot of my other flighty (Neptunian?) tendencies would’ve kept me undisciplined/spaced out. I haven’t reached total success or mastery to the level I want, but I think for many that’s a nice long haul that refines and makes you more capable, lighter and ‘truer’ in your work, overall. Love Mystics insights, as always!
Saturn in Leo
-Trine Neptune in Sag
-Sextile Pluto in Libra (Ruler of my AC, Scorpio) Conjunct Sun in Libra
-Sq Uranus, Venus (conjunct AC) in Scorpio
-Sq Moon in Taurus @DC (conjunct Jupiter retro in Gemini)
Been a super-hermit craving/taking extra alone time for practice, conjuring sound & creativity; just like an athlete training for…something. Thank you Saturn transit in my 12th House, over my Mars, NN, Uranus, AC, Venus & into the 1st house now. Tomorrow I leave the city to get even MORE alone to hone a few techniqes & prep for the New Moon Eclipse & Saturn’s move into SAG!
(Musician/Writer person…)
So many great points in your article Mystic and so many interesting comments too. I wish I had something more to say than “me too” but yeah…me too!
I don´t have the “artistic signature” in my natal chart 🙁 Saturn in Taurus conjunct Venus/Mercury 11th house. I invest in art though. It so happens I live in a loft in an artistic neighborhood that allows me regular visits to open studios.
Oh well, at least I used to wake up at 5am in the dead of winter to go to the swimming pool.
Sound pretty artsy to me. I don’t know if there’s one ‘signature’ set of planets that makes one an artist.
I am awe of your getting up at 5am to go swimming! Gimme some of that, please. 🙂
Dude it’s not like any expressive capacity you have is revoked just because of some aspects that may or may not be present. Mind you, Saturn in toro does seem to gel with art investment 🙂 and if Venus merc in 11th house doesn’t allow for living in an artist-laden area .. 🙂
And artists still need people to buy their stuff, in one way or another. It takes all sorts. 😉
Buy, notice, write and talk about, support, go see, photograph, …
Anecdotally, I have actually observed that a shit-ton of artists I know are born under a Sagittarius Sun – when I mention this correlation, people seem to scratch their heads, LOL. But it makes complete sense if we look at the Sun as the driving force to create…in Sagittarius this would be abundantly so since the underlying Jupiter rulership is all about expansion. I have known a few Saggos in my day who are almost like Leos on steroids, LOL, – the magnification of the Solar principle is *that* amped up!
On a personal note, I have some degree of artistic ability but rarely find the time to use it these days, sadly – I do have a naturally good eye for things like balance, proportion, and color, which I have always chalked up to being Venusian (and the daughter of a Venusian artist, LOL). My (Sagittarius!) brother w/ Sun conjunct Venus got the artistic gene as well and also rarely uses it.
These days my creativity is expressed mainly through the written word and my culinary pursuits, but I’m about to get some significant progressed Leo action and look forward to seeing what happens! It’s a bit frustrating to be aware that you possess some degree of raw natural talent in multiple areas and yet be unable (for a variety of reasons) to really explore/develop them…wasted potential is always such a tragedy! But it’s all about Maslow’s hierarchy – you have to have those baseline foundational needs met before you can really devote energy/time/resources to the self-actualization portion of the equation. For a long time simply due my upbringing, I didn’t have the opportunity/encouragement/support to play with/cultivate these things so there is definitely some creative arrested development going on that needs to be remedied. I think it’s so important that we become aware of ourselves as creative beings and confidently express this <3
Yeah, Twyla Tharpe would fit the Saturnine artist archetype too!
I love Sophie Calle and Tracy Emin too!
Twyla Tharp has also written a great book with practical advice about the creative process. Haute Saturn. Highly recommended. http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0743235274/ref=tmm_pap_title_0?ie=UTF8&qid=&sr=
Yes, I second this! Wonderful, constructive, inspiring book.
Makes sense. Being an artist and a successful one requires huge amounts of self discipline, structure and routine.
yes, it does!
A question regarding chart interpretation. If you break down the aspects, doesn’t the majority of people have something between Saturn and something else? A trine, a square a conjunction?… And if you add asteroids and angles you cannot NOT have a bunch of aspects. And if it’s not Saturn it will be Neptune, if it’s not Neptune it will be Uranus etc… Ehat is the guiding principle regarding what aspect matters?
I’ll give this a try –
Most people have rich charts, agreed. Regarding aspects, traditional casters ranked importance as follows: conjunction, opposition, square, trine, sextile, inconjunct. Regarding houses, the cadent houses ranked first – 1st, 4th, 7th, 10th. So, you may say that first-house conjunctions would be of premier importance to the native. Regarding planets, I use dignities to weigh individual influence, and disposition to further rank. As you start to layer-in complexity, your awareness (or intuition) increases. Practice is required.
Study the rules of the ancients to start – they will push you in the right direction, more times that not.
…and I should add, that your question is as ancient as the art itself so, in asking, you join the ranks of initiates throughout the ages, and past masters have left legacies of simple, well-ordered texts to enlighten and guide you, and you are blessed in your quest for truth.
Thank you, PlutonicUranian.
😯
I gravitate towards anything creative, writing, drawing & music, not because I’m any good at it, I’m seriously not. Yet there’s always been a determination to go through the process, a sense of tenacity that comes with it.
Pisces Rising w Saturn conjunct Mars in Virgo 6th
Louise bourgeois though, that astro signature makes a lot of sense given her work.
Oh totally- nice catch.
I have Sun-Saturn trine in Toro/Cap and a loose Nept-Uranus conj in Cap. I always did wonder why I felt more accomplished when my poetry & fiction were chosen to be published by credible organizations as opposed to feeling like a “sell-out.” Getting paid for my creative writing had been what I expected once upon a time. I think I understand the Renaissance artists in the regard now… This book will go on my must-skim list for sure!
Sweet. Pisces Sun with Capricorn moon and Saturn in Leo. Uranus in 5th house square Saturn exact. Saturn, Neptune, MC in grand fire trine.
*awaits showers of cash*
I fuqing hate isolation btw. Artist as troubled loner is not a meme that I identify with. Fwiw
Hate but can’t avoid. That is.
LOL I await mine too! I have Jupe in Taurus conj midheaven.. Saturn-Sun conj in Pisces opp Uranus-Pluto-Mars in Virgo.
I must be like the lazier and less talented second cousin twice removed of Damien Hirst and Andy Warhol. I can’t even play Pictionary FFS. Perhaps my fifteen minutes is already up 🙂
I had the idea that you were a music person. Is that right? X
Painters paint. Proper painters paint pleasing pictures. Poor patronage, philistines plague painters. Paint, Painter, paint!
Perfect!
Tick.
Nazi in a blue tie
( surely I can say it if my Prime Minister can say it )
Security and jobs, security and jobs
Avoiding the mobs and saluting Steve Jobs
Fiscal position patter is cerebral emission , rather
A rechtus rictus, verbal rhetorical concrete
Strutting effete, punctilious party-line blather
Look at me ma !
Ive come so far, living amongst the blessed
A Corman choral of rehearsed diversion
A Hockey stick graph of acute perversion
I know all Abbott your ambition
I will not Pyne for your position
Yes, we know all Abetz it
There will be no Morris (on) dancing
We really Dutton think about the consequences
Hang on to your hernia Truss
We are gonna need the Bishop before we are saved
But the rites are complete
And diagnosis…. Terminal.
APS
07/09/2015
Perfectionist poets painstakingly prune prose.
Sincerely,
Saturn.
Saturn in 9th, Virgo 26°
Trine Sun – 1st house Aqua 5°
Trine Moon – 5th house Gem 3°
Trine ASC – 12th House Cap 27°
Sesquiquadrate Chrion – 4th house Taurus 9°
Sesquiquadrate Mercury – 1st House Aqua 9°
Square Neptune – 11th House Sag 21°
Sextile Uranus – 11th house Scorp 25°
Pluto conjunct MC – 10th house Libra and Square ASC
I like to think I’m a creative. Isolation / Alienation – it’s a natural state of being for me. Feels more comfortable that way. Easier to catch the crazy and smear it across the blank pages.