100 years ago 1926 produced a tranche of notables who became embedded in the culture some for ill as well as good or their work did, in a way which makes it a peak year for influencers. Their effect lives on well after their death.
Examples: Queen Elzabeth 11, David Attenborough, Marilyn Monroe, Ruth Ellis, Jimmy Savile, Dame Joan Sutherland, Hugh Hefner, Claus von Bulow, James Hillman, J.P. Donleavy, Harper Lee, Peter Schaffer, R.J. Lifton, Ian Paisley, Fidel Castro, Buddy Greco, Jan Morris, Louise Hay, Michael Foucault, Chuck Berry, Klaus Kinski, George Martin (Beatles), Michael Bond (Paddington Bear), Valery Giscard d’Estaing, Stanley Baxter, Miles Davis, Allen Ginsberg, Mel Brooks, Elizabeth Kubler Ross, Tony Bennett, Arthur Ochs Sulzberger (NY Times), Kenneth Williams, Jerry Lewis, Alan Greenspan, Ingvar Kamprad (IKEA founder), John Fowles.
I was trying to work out what it was astrologically that made it a standout year.
Chiron was on the cusp of Taurus, moving in after May 1926. Eris was in the early stages of Aries having moved three/two years earlier. Jupiter was in Aquarius all year from January onwards. There was also a Saturn Neptune square in Fixed signs giving an urge to produce a better society (in some cases), a creative streak or neurosis.
Two recent examples in the news. One is Brother David Steindl-Rast, 12 July 1926, Vienna, Austria, celebrating his 100th birthday. After a troubled WW11, he helped set up refugee camps, then took a degree in Fine Arts and Experimental Psychology and emigrated to the USA with his family. He became a Benedictine monk and pursued Buddhist-Christian dialogue, studying with Zen masters and later co-founded a Center for Spiritual Studies with Jewish, Buddhist, Hindu and Sufi teachers.
His Cancer Sun is conjunct the North Node and Pluto square Mars in Aries which could suggest a reservoir of anger and resentment; though it is to an extent balanced by Jupiter in Aquarius in an optimistic, idealistic opposition to Neptune and in a controlled square to Saturn in Scorpio – and no doubt mellowed by years in solitary meditation for months at a time.
I met him years ago at a workshop in Big Sur, California though I am not remotely religious – and he came across as not only mild mannered but ‘good’ – and I have not met many people I would describe as good.
The other from a totally different arena is David Austin, 16 February 1926, Shropshire, England, a horticulturalist who was the maestro of rose breeders, named in 2010, named a “Great Rosarian of the World” the year he died aged 92. He had an Aquarius Sun and Mercury in a creative opposition to Neptune square Saturn in Scorpio; with a colourful, design-conscious Venus Jupiter conjunction also in Aquarius. Plus an uber-determined Mars opposition Cancer.
All very different skills and talents but they all hit the zeitgeist and most live on in reputation after their passing.
Any additional ideas gratefully received as to why astrologically.
The post 1926 -a vintage year first appeared on Astroinform with Marjorie Orr – Star4cast.
