#and the boy was given away to the care of Aunt Mimi and her husband. According to Lennon | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

astrognossienne · 3 years

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tragic icon: john lennon - an analysis

“Everybody loves you when you’re six feet in the ground.” - John Lennon

Well, not everybody. As founder and one-fourth of arguably the greatest band of all time, The Beatles, much has been said and dissected and analyzed about the man from the many who were fascinated by, adored, idolized, and worshiped him. Often called “the thinking man’s Beatle”, his talent was and still is undeniable and his place in music history is set in stone. His songs, whether he co-wrote them in his iconic partnership with his friend Paul McCartney, or whether he was solo, have been much-admired and covered, not least of all that old vain, vapid and mawkish chestnut that everyone likes to break out in times of social trouble and crisis: “Imagine”. His platitudes for peace and love, however trite, nonetheless struck a major chord with millions. His legend naturally increased after his untimely murder and he instantly became canonized by the masses as some type of martyr. The death of a Beatle turned washed-up house husband made the world stand still. His last album became a hit, a funereal fervour helped it sell three million copies in the US alone; it was #1 in more than a dozen countries and went on to win the 1981 Grammy Award for Album Of The Year. We all seem to need heroes, and some people seem to need to be admired in that way. However, when we elevate people to that status we are often not doing them any favours; nobody can stand that level of scrutiny. Maybe he shouldn’t be sentimentalized anyway – he doesn’t deserve it and he would have hated it. At any rate, he’s not the demigod that many make him out to be; he was just a man, and a deeply flawed one, at that. The fact is that very few of us actually knew the man personally, so nearly all of us, including myself, are basing our opinions on hearsay. However, I'm not overly fond of John Lennon. As such, I’ll keep this analysis brief.

John Lennon, according to astrotheme, was a Libra sun and Aquarius moon. Lennon was born during a German air-raid over Liverpool, England. His father, Alfred “Alf” Lennon, was a merchant seaman, who deserted his wife Julia (nee Stanley) and their infant child. As Alf was often away at sea, Julia started going out to dance halls. In 1942, she met a Welsh soldier named “Taffy” Williams. By 1944, Julia was pregnant with Williams' baby, and Williams refused to live with Julia—who was still married to Alf—until she gave up John, which she refused to do. She gave birth to a daughter, Victoria Elizabeth, on 19 June 1945, and was subsequently given up for adoption to a Norwegian Salvation Army Captain and his wife (Peder and Margaret Pedersen) after intense pressure from her family. Julia soon met another man, John Dykins, and after numerous criticisms from the Stanley family about their (still-married) daughter 'living in sin' with Dykins as well as considerable pressure from her sister Mimi—Mimi threatened to call Social Services unless John was handed over to her care—Julia reluctantly sent John to live with Mimi and her husband George. In July 1946, Alf visited Mimi's house and took John to Blackpool for a long holiday, but he was secretly intending to emigrate to New Zealand with him. Julia and Dykins found out and followed them to Blackpool.

Alf asked Julia to go with them both to New Zealand, but she refused. Lennon's parents agreed that Julia should take him and give him a home as Alf left again. Julia took John back to her house and enrolled him in a local school, but after a few weeks she handed him back to Mimi. Various reasons have been suggested for Julia’s decision, such as Dykins' unwillingness to raise the young boy, Julia's inability to cope with the responsibility, or a punishment forced on her by Mimi and her father for "living in sin". Whatever the reason, John lived with his Aunt Mimi and her husband, George Smith, until his late teens. He was drawn to music at an early age. It was George Smith who gave John his first harmonica. As a child, Lennon was a prankster and he enjoyed getting into trouble. His mother visited him on a regular basis and bought him his first acoustic guitar in 1956. She was known as being high-spirited and impulsive, musical, and having a strong sense of humour. She taught her son how to play the banjo and ukulele. Deeply inspired by Elvis Presley, he had formed a skiffle group called the Quarrymen in 1957. He met Paul McCartney at a church fete in 1957 and asked him to join the group. The group underwent several name changes and lost original band members Pete Shotton and Eric Griffiths. While he was attending high school, an off-duty police officer knocked down and killed Lennon's mother in 1958.

His mother's death traumatized the teenage Lennon and, for the next two years, he drank heavily and frequently got into fights, consumed by a "blind rage". He was a troublemaker at school and failed all his examinations. Despite his academic shortcomings, he was accepted into the Liverpool College of Art and soon gained a reputation for disrupting classes and for being undisciplined. He failed his exam and was thrown out of the college. As a boy and young adult, he enjoyed drawing grotesque figures and cripples. Lennon’s schoolmaster thought that he could go to an art school for college since he did not get good grades in school but had artistic talent. With the addition of Paul McCartney, George Harrison, his good friend Stu Sutcliffe, and Pete Best, the Beatles were formed, although the band had not yet gelled. Sutcliffe died of a brain tumor in 1962, and Pete Best was later replaced by Richard Starkey, also known as Ringo Starr. The band played clubs in Hamburg as well as The Cavern in Liverpool. They were discovered by Brian Epstein, a record store manager, who succeeded in getting the Beatles an audition with George Martin, a producer at Parlaphone records. Epstein became their manager and cleaned up the group, replacing their black leather jackets with suits. Shortly after the Beatles’ success, after hearing about the fact that he had a sister, John was so overcome by emotion that he placed an ad in the paper, and hired detectives to look for her. They searched Norway for Victoria, and came up empty handed, and John died never having found or met her. Her adoptive name is Ingrid Pedersen. Later in life, Pedersen said she had kept her identity a secret for the sake of her adoptive parents; upon their death, she expressed interest in finding her “real family”, wanting to meet John’s sons. He married girlfriend Cynthia Powell in 1962.

In March 1966, during an interview, Lennon remarked,

"Christianity will go. It will vanish and shrink...we're more popular than Jesus now–I don't know which will go first, rock and roll or Christianity."

The comment went virtually unnoticed in England but, typically, caused great offense in America when quoted by a magazine there five months later. The furore that followed, which included the burning of Beatles records, Ku Klux Klan activity and threats against Lennon, contributed to the band's decision to stop touring. The Beatles then suffered a huge blow when Epstein died of an accidental overdose of sleeping pills on August 27, 1967. Their next effort, Apple Corps Ltd., was plagued by mismanagement. In November 1968, the Beatles' double-album The Beatles (also known as The White Album) displayed their divergent directions. By this time, Lennon's artist partnership with soon-to-be second wife Yoko Ono had begun to cause serious tensions within the group. Lennon and Ono invented a form of peace protest by staying in bed while being filmed and interviewed, and their single "Give Peace a Chance" (1969), recorded under the name "the Plastic Ono Band," became a national anthem of sorts for pacifists. Shortly after, the Beatles broke up.

In 1970, Lennon and Ono went through primal therapy in Los Angeles, which was designed to release emotional pain from early childhood. Lennon and Ono moved to New York in August 1971 and immediately embraced radical left political causes. While Lennon was recording Mind Games in 1973, he and Ono decided to separate. He and Ono were reunited shortly afterwards. On 9 October 1975 (Lennon's thirty-fifth birthday), Yoko gave birth to his other son Sean. Lennon began what would be a five-year hiatus from the music industry, during which time, he took on the role of househusband. Lennon emerged from his five-year interruption in music recording in October 1980, when he released the single "(Just Like) Starting Over". Two months later, on December 8, 1980, Lennon autographed a copy of Double Fantasy for deranged fan Mark David Chapman before leaving his home (The Dakota) with Ono for a recording session at the Record Plant to record what would be his last album, Double Fantasy. After the session, Lennon and Ono returned to their Manhattan apartment in a limousine about an hour before midnight. They exited the vehicle and walked through the archway of the building when Chapman shot Lennon twice in the back and twice in the shoulder at close range. Lennon was rushed in a police cruiser to the emergency room of Roosevelt Hospital, where he was pronounced dead on arrival. His remains were cremated; Ono scattered his ashes in New York's Central Park, where the Strawberry Fields memorial was later created. Chapman pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and was sentenced to 20-years-to-life. Chapman, who has been denied parole six times, says today that John would have forgiven him for shooting him.

Next, it’s only right I focus on his better half; the much-maligned Japanese artist who captured his imagination as well as his heart: Aquarius Yoko Ono.

STATS

birthdate: October 9, 1940

major planets:

Sun: Libra

Moon: Aquarius

Rising: Aries

Mercury: Scorpio

Venus: Virgo

Mars: Libra

Midheaven: Capricorn

Jupiter: Taurus

Saturn: Taurus

Uranus: Taurus

Neptune: Virgo

Pluto: Leo

Overall personality snapshot: He was a reasonable and idealistic person. For him, problems and dilemmas are things that can be resolved by reason, discussion and, at the last resort, by law. Although society, elevated principles, and social institutions mattered to him, perhaps even more than the individual people who go to make them up and run them, for him it was vital that he lived the principles that he held in such high esteem. This made him something of a visionary and prone to set himself up for disappointment, for nobody – including himself – could be as ideal as he would like. Equality, liberty, fraternity was probably his credo, and no matter how impractical he might have been, his friends always gleaned the good intentions that inform his actions and behaviour. Although he could be charming, magnetic and witty, he willingly brought up contentious subjects and spoke his mind with a kind of serene frankness.

He looked at all sides of any issue, and he brought a lively interest and enviable clarity to all social interchange. Even when he had strong views, he did not really want to rock the boat too much, and this made him an ideal diplomat. Friendships were enormously important to him, yet because he hated upsetting anyone, he found it difficult to be friends with anyone with whom he could not be totally frank and open. The challenge he faced again and again is how to keep the harmony and connectedness, without sacrificing his autonomy. Because he was such an equable, rational person, he easily felt threatened by powerful emotions such as hate and jealousy. They felt like enemies of the intelligent world order he sought, and yet paradoxically he was often attracted to emotional types. Emotions tended to play hide-and-seek with him, pulling him into a merry chase that feels both exhilarating and frustrating. Emotional intrigue actually fascinated him, and he allowed it to feed his instinct for self-dramatization. Whilst all the while pretending to figure out why someone could behave so irrationally, he was really getting a buzz and, if inclined towards the literary arts, planning his next plot.

He had a sturdy, muscular frame with a lively, attractive energetic face. He had intense and direct eye contact with others, and may well have been told off for staring at people as a child because of this. He was probably of medium height and could show amazing feats of strength when necessary. He met life in a straightforward and energetic manner. He often expressed himself through dramatic outbursts, many times in anger or even other forms of self-destructive behaviour. He held a lot of hidden rage and passion within him, which had to be released. He followed his instincts and beliefs with great dedication, but few people really knew what he was up to until after his demise. This is because he liked to keep his motivations a secret. He needed his career to be strong, solid and enduring. He knew that he must work hard to achieve the status and respect that he desired, and although there may well have been obstacles in his path, his dedication and step-by-step progress led to success. When dealing with colleagues, he could place strong demands on them. He was a person who wanted a first-class life-style, and who treasured his possessions. He needed to be able to feel materially secure, and he probably gained wealth through sheer industry, because he was patient, steady and confident in this area of his life. However, he may also have been a little too trusting when it came to money, presuming too easily that there was always more where it came from. His acquired wealth may be generously distributed, both on himself, for he was self-indulgent, and on others, because he was vulnerable to sob stories.

Although he was an extremely creative person, he wasn’t as impressed by beauty as other people were. He could be quite stubborn and conservative in his outlook. His physical and practical affairs may have brought his many difficulties and challenges, and there were likely financial delays in the working side of his life. As a worker, he was methodical, controlled and very efficient. Although he tended to be reserved and suspicious in emotional relationships, once he felt sure that he was loved, there was little that he wouldn’t do for his partner. He belonged to a determined, practical and stubborn generation that was interested in finding out new and different ways to organize things. As a member of the Taurus Uranus generation, he also found it difficult to accept change and disruptions in his life, unless he fully understood and agreed with the reasons why. When he did take the plunge, he did so in an all or nothing way. As part of the Virgo Neptune generation, he had a practical and materialistic frame of mind, which was critical of standards of religion and government. Members of this generation tried to restore order where chaos and injustice ruled, although sometimes their aims and objectives were misunderstood. He preferred to gain fame as a solo performer than by working as part of a team. As a Leo Plutonian, he wanted freedom in his relationships and demanded the loyalty of his friends as a right. This generation was egotistical, but they also had the will to win. As a member of this generation, he wanted power over his own life and was prepared to challenge established structures. This generation brought about a revolution in forms of entertainment, recreational activities and leisure time, as well as attitudes towards children, as is evidenced in the disparity of his treatment toward his sons Julian and Sean.

Love/sex life: He wanted sex to be real, tangible, and easily accessible. For this reason he was prone to divide his sexual contacts between those that served his physical needs and those that involved his search for the perfect relationship. His approach to the former was practical and matter-of-fact while he would look to the latter with dreamy fascination. This dual approach certainly did not make sense to everyone. Many people, including some potential partners, were apt to call him insensitive, along with a few other, less printable names. His attitude toward sex was essentially passive and downright lazy. Whether he was looking for love or just a good time he was easily led, emotionally lazy, and sometimes opportunistic. This lack of initiative made it difficult for him to find the perfect love that was always his utmost goal. Relationships of this sort require great energy and determination and there was a part of him that would always balk at such extraordinary effort. But if he was lucky enough to find a partner who was willing to do most or even all the work for him, he could be a lover well worth keeping. Many Beatles fans objected when Lennon paired himself with the strong-willed Yoko Ono but Ono was just the Mars in Libra ideal Lennon needed and she was willing to take control of the relationship.

minor asteroids and points:

North Node: Libra

Lilith: Pisces

Vertex: Libra

Fortune: Capricorn

East Point: Aries

His North Node in Libra dictated that he needed to move away from a tendency to see the world only in terms of himself, and develop a more outward-looking view. It would have been good if he took other people’s needs and desires into consideration to a greater degree. His Lilith in Pisces was a powerful muse in his life as an innovative male thinker; he was dangerously attracted to women who were natural born mystics and cultivated their own myth. His Vertex in Libra, 6th house dictated that he longed for a union of souls that was based on a model of pure peace and justice. Images come to mind of a mythical life on Venus, the planet of love, where there is never a discordant beat between lovers, but rather, continual harmony even if played in the minor chords. Physical lust was certainly a necessary aspect of two beings eternally intertwined, but the platonic component far outweighed it in importance. He had an attitude of duty, obligation and sacrifice when it came to heartfelt interactions. He could become hypochondriacal or martyristic to get the love so desperately wanted. There was a need for others to appreciate the sincerity of his intentions, to the daily tasks he executed in a conscientious and caring way and for others to know that his actions, no matter how routine they may seem, were based on devoted love.

His Part of Fortune in Capricorn and Part of Spirit in Cancer dictated that his destiny lay in creating practical and long-lasting achievements. Success came through hard work, determination, responsibility and perseverance. Fulfillment came from observing his progress through life and seeing it take a form and structure that will outlive him. His soul’s purpose guided him towards building security in his life, both emotional and material. He felt spiritual connections and the spark of the divine within his home and family. East Point in Aries dictated he was more likely to identify with the need to be free, independent, on his own, expressing when, where, how he wished. He needed to learn to balance his need for freedom with his need for closeness, and he needed to move towards a comfortable blend: he did not have all the power; other parties didn’t have all the power. Sometimes he got his way; sometimes they got their way; when this East Point is evolved, many times both compromise, harmonize and meet in the middle.

elemental dominance:

air

earth

He was communicative, quick and mentally agile, and he liked to stir things up. He was likely a havoc-seeker on some level. He was oriented more toward thinking than feeling. He carried information and the seeds of ideas. Out of balance, he lived in his head and could be insensitive to the feelings of others. But at his best, he helped others form connections in all spheres of their daily lives. He was a practical, reliable man and could provide structure and protection. He was oriented toward practical experience and thought in terms of doing rather than thinking, feeling, or imagining. Could be materialistic, unimaginative, and resistant to change. But at his best, he provided the practical resources, analysis, and leadership to make dreams come true.

modality dominance:

cardinal

He was happiest when he was doing anything new (in his case, it was beginning new partnerships), and he loved to begin new ventures. He enjoyed the challenge of claiming territory. He tended to be an initiator—and a bit territorial as well. Also, he had a tendency to start more things than he could possibly finish.

house dominants:

6th

1st

11th

His workplace in respect to his colleagues, and the type of work he did as well as his attitude to it was emphasized in his life. His everyday life and routine and the way he handled it was highlighted. How he went about being of service to others in a practical way, and the way he adjusted to necessities of mundane existence was a theme in his life. Also, how he aspired to refine and better himself was of importance as well. His personality, disposition and temperament is highlighted in his life. The manner in which he expressed himself and the way he approached other people is also highlighted. The way he approached new situations and circumstances contributed to show how he set about his life’s goals. The general state of his health is also shown, as well as his early childhood experiences defining the rest of his life. Globally aware, he put emphasis on his friends and acquaintances, as well as the influence of groups and societies on his life. His general hopes and aspirations revealed themselves, as well as how well he functioned as part of a system. This extended to how he manifested his creativity against the background of the community.

planet dominants:

Mars

Saturn

Sun

He was aggressive, individualistic and had a high sexual drive. He believed in action and took action. His survival instinct was strong. He wanted to take himself to the limit—and then surpass that limit, which he often did. He ultimately refused to compromise his integrity by following another’s agenda. He didn’t compare herself to other people and didn’t want to dominate or be dominated. He simply wanted to be free to follow his own path, whatever it was. He believed in the fact that lessons in life were sometimes harsh, that structure and foundation was a great issue in his life, and he had to be taught through through experience what he needed in order to grow. He paid attention to limitations he had and had to learn the rules of the game in this physical reality. He tended to have a practical, prudent outlook. He also likely held rigid beliefs. He had vitality and creativity, as well as a strong ego and was authoritarian and powerful. He had strong leadership qualities, he definitely knew who he was, and he had tremendous will. He met challenges and believed in expanding his life.

sign dominants:

Libra

Taurus

Aries

He loved beauty in all its guises—art, literature, classical music, opera, mathematics, and the human body. He usually was a team player who enjoyed debate but not argument. He was, at her best, an excellent strategist and a master at the power of suggestion. Even though he was likely a courteous, amiable person, he was definitely not a pushover. He tried to use diplomacy and intelligence to get what he wanted. His stubbornness and determination kept him around for the long haul on any project or endeavour. He was incredibly patient, singular in his pursuit of goals, and determined to attain what he wanted. Although he lacked versatility, he compensated for it by enduring whatever he had to in order to get what he wanted. He was bold, courageous, and resourceful. He always seemed to know what he believed, what he wanted from life, and where he was going. He could be dynamic and aggressive (sometimes, to a fault) in pursuing his goals—whatever they might be. Could be argumentative, lacked tact, and had a bad temper. On the other hand, his anger rarely lasted long, and he could be warm and loving with those he cared about.