This beautiful little astrological portrait was found amongst the private notes of the surrealist writer Charles Duit:
“I was born in Paris on October 30, 1925. I am, therefore, a Scorpio. I should immediately add that I attach a certain value to this sign. It is my portrait that makes the natives of this sign, astrologers. My reason tells me that it is the work of chance. But I do not believe in chance, and I doubt reason could provide a true image of this extravagant world. This does not mean that I believe in astrology like I believe the earth is round.Â
However, by my complicated nature, my critical mind, my taste for a corrosive lucidity that easily turns into self-hatred, I am clearly a Scorpio. It takes me years to do what others do in several months, and this is not surprising, for I am under Saturn’s influence. But my rising sign also connects me to Sagittarius, to which I owe my love of the remote, the spiritual, the inaccessible, and the divine. This movement I easily recognize in that of the Centaur who soars upward without being able to tear himself away from the ground to which he is joined by the animal part of his being.
Venus in Sagittarius explains my passionate love of the beautiful and my vision of the divine through the woman. Feminine beauty epiphanizes the divine for me.”
And this is how he explains his life-long complex relationship with his mentor Andre Breton*: As a Scorpio, I could not tolerate Breton’s solar, jovian side. They threw my nocturnal powers into ferment…
From The Esoteric Secrets of Surrealism: Origins, Magic, and Secret Societies
*FYI: Andre Breton was Aquarius, with Libra Rising. Actually, he was born with the Sun in Pisces but later dropped his official birthday back a day. He apparently preferred to be Aquarius as he found being a Pisces “too soluble.” He was born with Mercury Retrograde in Aquarius, just like it is now.
Image: Toyen – Marie Cerminova
I am clearly a Scorpio. It takes me years to do what others do in several months, and this is not surprising, for I am under Saturn’s influence.
Very relatable and especially so now
I really love this piece of art by Marie Cerminova. I’m inspired to create art now, based on the shapes and big energies in the natal charts of my loved ones, (and my own), along withdwpicting the symbolism that feels right in how those energies are expressed by the subject.
My dear Dad is born 28 October some 20-something years after this marvellous Monsieur Duit; and one thing I’ve always noticed but never ‘aha!’ realised until reading this article is the Scorpion’s (?? Or Venus in Sag? But my Dad is Venus-in-Virgo ..) amazing ability to hold contradiction comfortably – in fact, they seem uncomfortable without it. For e.g. – looking at last 3 sentences of first paragraph; Duit deftly contrasts reason and chance, without committing to either. My Dad has this similar mix of abstract fatalism, at the same time as being quite a weary skeptic, preferring rules to conjecture – and he was not an academic or writer, but a mechanic. And then of course the beautiful Duit description of being a grounded centaur ever pulled skyward – the tension and pull between opposites again, finding common ground, like with earthy feminine beauty and the divine. It’s a beautiful ability, and an intellectual balancing act that I always attributed to Librans?? I guess contradiction IS reality – and the Scorpion kings and queens I’ve known have always kept it real ..
*(This is not to say that I feel being an academic/writer is mutually exclusive to being an artisan/mechanic – quite the opposite -one of my favourite writers is Matthew Crawford, a motorcycle mechanic with PhD in political philosophy from one of the big US universities. He turned to working with his hands as an act of living in the ‘real world’, as opposed to inhabiting a world of theory, but really he comfortably inhabits both, in my view. Maybe my Dad’s love of contradiction has rubbed off on me – or maybe it’s my Uranus in Scorp ? ..😂)
I believe it is in the Scorpionic nature to be uncomfortable without knowing the cthonic side. A world where everyone gets along and has pro-social motives? Not believable.
Funny story. Met a new person who was trying to bulldoze me with a Charm-and-Affinity-Offensive. By way of Due Diligence I asked her sun sign. ‘Aquarius’ says she. Months later, COMPLETELY BY ACCIDENT I came across a piece of paper…a birth chart prepared for her, with a birth date of 8 November. A Scorpio trying to fake it til she made it as an Aquarius! I suspect there is a lot of this sort of shenanigans going on
That is hilarious! There is a post somewhere on here about a Roman emperor who was Libra but had coins minted in his honor with the Sea-Goat symbol on them, to suggest he was Capricorn…
Nocturnal powers? Think that’s what I’ve got
‘I could not tolerate Breton’s solar, jovian side. They threw my nocturnal powers into ferment…’
😂
“However, by my complicated nature, my critical mind, my taste for a corrosive lucidity that easily turns into self-hatred, I am clearly a Scorpio. ”
Same … and I also have Venus in Sag.
This is amazing. I am a scorpio with Jupiter conjunct my ascendant and venus in Sag. One of my longest running recurring dreams is me taking off from the ground to fly, but then I realize that I have to really put in effort to take off and keep going. The whole dream is me thinking if I just….try….a…..little….harder I can do this.
This is one of the most apt and poetic descriptions of the Sagittarius soul (and angst) that I think I’ve ever read: “the Centaur who soars upward without being able to tear himself away from the ground to which he is joined by the animal part of his being.”
I feel seen. And attacked. LOL. What a wonderful find, Mystic.
Tres tres Francaise!
haha I immediately went into the link and bought the book!Esoteric Secrets Surrealism Magic Secret Societies – there is my bookshelf in 6 words ! 8th house dominant Neptunian
It’s an amazing book!
It’s just arrived! a little Mercury RX glitch – phonecalll – I’m standing outside your house with your parcel. me- I’m standing outside my house where are you? him I’m at 159. me – I’m 161 next door. him – I can’t see your house. Me -thinking Gee that house protection spell and salt on the threshold is working overtime here my house is invisible. him – is it the blue place behind the trees? I meet him at the gate and take my magic book inside…..
Ditto! Love this, thank you Mystic xx
I love surrealism art. Some pieces feel like they unlock parts of my mind.
That book sounds great !
Hey Mystic, curious about your process. How do you find about all these people and their writings/lives/philosophies? Books? Web? Tales from cool friends over long dinners? Asking for a friend…
It gets magnetised into her aura
😄
Ha! 😀 Never thought of that.
On serious notes, I seem to losing my ability to read a book cover to cover. Digital age has been shite for my attention span. So, even more impressed by Mystic’s research superpowers.
this too!
It’s intuitive – maybe as my Mercury is quincunx Neptune? I have research obsessions at any one time but ideas or snippets sort of float into my mind and my googling is guided. This came because I was trying to recall an Andre Breton poem I loved when i was 14, so I searched something like “Andre Breton her arms in the wind stars”& found this book. Breton’s Mercury Retro in Aquarius square Moon in Taurus makes him the natural muse for these times. I still have not found the fuqing poem!
Is it L’Union Libre? There, he describes each physical part of her, as animal elements or flora, historical figures, objects like clock mechanics and broken panes, sea froth etc.
Ha! I had to learn that for French class at school! C’est très drole!
i’ll always remember: My wife of the armpits of martens and phenols
Oh this translation is hilarious! Imagining this as a Mystic Blog Post header 🙂
No, but I love the poem! I actually think the one I am thinking of may have been Apollonaire, something about sunlight, tidal pools, her arms waving him goodbye like tentacles…Maybe I DREAMED it.
I did think your mystical poetic travails might have led you to another surrealist poet back then, so i looked up another poet in edge yellowing curled print before coming back to AB. If you dreamed it, then a Surrealist wrote it! …(maybe in their draft notebook, which i would not be surprised you tapped into 😀 ) Tidal pools and arms waving goodbye do not seem to resonate with the poet i wrote about for my early fiscally astute academic decisions for post grad thesis, but hey! i loved the spiralling arms back into my painterly-aesthetic world of lives yore, during my apparently wfh 😉
*Wonders why the Surrealism books are so close to hand after months of streamlining for home/work efficiency*
*Knows where the tax stuff is; refusing to look until ironing retro-restorations and planting are done*
We’re the same, Mystic…jusssst the same. You research Andre Breton, I look for specific episodes of Gilmore Girls to hunt down a particular dialogue. 😆
I always thought it was a Ouija board ? 🤓
Which by the way I found out recently is a trademarked product. The trademark is owned by Parker Bros or Hasbro ? .the same people that own Monopoly ?
That’s hilarious
hasbro? lol
‘my little pony ouijaboard’