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An Analysis of the Birth Chart of Guy Finley.
Part of a series detailing the Birth Charts of successful people, this one of Guy Finley
Bio taken from website.
Director of the Self-realization School in Merlin, Oregon. Author and teacher, he delivers his popular Key Lesson emails each week to 200,000 subscribers. He is widely respected by doctors, business professionals, celebrities, and religious leaders of all denominations.
Guy's career reached this point through a circuitous path. Born into a successful show business family, he is the son of Late-Night TV and radio pioneer Larry Finley. His childhood friends were the sons and daughters of the most famous celebrities in the world. As a young man Guy enjoyed success in a number of areas including composing award-winning music for many popular recording artists including Diana Ross, The Jackson 5, Billy Preston, The Four Seasons, as well as writing the scores for several motion pictures and TV shows. From 1970-1979 he wrote and recorded his own albums under the Motown and RCA recording labels.
Throughout his youth, Guy suspected there was more to life than the type of worldly success that led to the emptiness and frustration he saw among his own "successful" friends and colleagues. In 1979, after travels throughout North America, India and the Far East in search of truth and Higher Wisdom, Guy voluntarily retired from his flourishing music career in order to simplify his life and to concentrate on deeper self-studies.
First Impressions.
When I first viewed Guy's chart my eye was immediately drawn to the first house Chiron. Chiron, in myth was the wounded centaur who gave up his immortality for the release of Prometheus. He was know as a teacher and healer and as such is prominent in the charts of teachers and healers. Of course nothing can be viewed in isolation and Chiron is in the tropical zodiac sign of Sagittarius which it is said to rule it is activated by an exact square form Mars coming from Pisces and enhanced by a sextile from Mercury in Aquarius. To an astrologer, Chiron 1st Sag square Mars on IC in Pisces and sextile Mercury 3rd Aquarius says it all about our natural teacher, but as we are not all astrologers I will explain a little more.
The Astrology.
Planets like people need strength and vitality, the strength will be found from its house and sign placement. Any planet in the first house will have extra strength, any planet in the sign of its rulership will have extra strength. So Chiron, by sign and house has extra strength. A planet's vitality will be deduced from the strength given to it by the planets which form aspects to it. I use very tight aspects not allowing more than three degrees of orb. Within this orb is a very tight square and a tight sextile. The square will give it the energy and drive it needs while the sextile will allow it to be used. The drive of the square aspect is further strengthened because is it coming from the very dynamic planet Mars, which is found on an angle giving it even more strength to offer up to Chiron. It is also found in Pisces a very spiritual sign so we could say that Chiron is receiving a goodly dose of spiritual energy. Mars being the god of war we have a Spiritual Warrior.
What of the sextile, what is being offered here? The sextile, flowing, harmonising, energy is received from Mercury, the messenger god. Mercury is its self well placed in the third house, the house of communication, as well as being in, what astrologers say, exaltation in Aquarius which is the sign of humanity and society at large. Mercury and Chiron are also connected by a parallel aspect, that is both planets occupying the same degree of declination adding more strength and importance to the aspect. But it does not stop there because Mercury is almost exactly half way, know as a midpoint, between those two benifics Jupiter and Venus so what ever Mercury communicates will be received well.
The Skill.
These three planets Chiron, Mars and Mercury, as well as being in aspect, form a triangular pattern, known as a Small Learning triangle and is made up of the two aspects we have already looked at and a semi-sextile between Mercury and Mars this means that energy can flow around this triangle in a very positive and productive way. Because it is a small learning triangle it is concerned with specific skills connected to the houses and planets involved and the motivation for this is seen by the longest side of the triangle which is the square so motivated by the work that can be achieved, what can be done with this skill.
So Guy's skill as seen from just a small section of the chart is as a teacher and communicator of spiritual or personal growth motivated by making a difference in the world.
Is it Fate.
Now there are many people so skilled, or believe they are but there profile is not so strongly felt in the world at large. Connected to this aspect pattern we find the Sun conjunct that driving force Mars, admittedly it is 5 degrees away, but because it is the Sun and straggling the IC, I will allow it, most other astrologers would have jumped on it without a second thought but I like things tight. So what is the Sun, in Sun sign astrology it is the be all and end all and describes how the person is. In fact the Sun does not really describe the person you are more the person you were meant to be or will grow into. It says a great deal about our Souls purpose and so will present to the just discussed small learning triangle as very strong sense of destiny.
"This is what I am meant to do, I have to do, this is the reason I am here."
The Road to prominence.
If you look at the chart you will see another prominent aspect, the opposition between the Sun and Saturn. This is prominent because it is right along the MC/IC axis. This is the axis were we stand tall in the world. The position of the axis is dependent on the exact place and time of birth, so while their may be many people born with this opposition aspect between the Sun and Saturn, it was just at that moment and at that place that it fell on the MC/IC axis. So what does it mean?
It could at first glance be thought of as a difficult aspect, Saturn is after all called the great malefic and the opposition is considered to be a difficult aspect. What it brings though is great pressure, the greater the pressure the greater the force and the greater the force the greater the result. It can be the makings of the man or the destruction of the man and the benefits of this configuration, assuming you can withstand the pressure, are not normally seen till later in life. However, when we see the pattern it makes with the Moon we see some helpful influences, so long as they are used well. The Moon turns the Sun/Saturn opposition in to an ambivalence triangle giving two ways to go. It is as though instead of struggling through the opposition towards Saturn or towards the Sun it is possible to take the easy sextile and trine route through the Moon. This can give the impression of reliving the pressure but unfortunately it is still there in the background and needs to be dealt with, either internally or externally.
Some things are private.
The Moon in a chart can tell us a lot about the early childhood and the person's experience of the roles played by Mum and Dad can be seen from the MC/IC axis. I have not talked to Guy privately on this matter so I will not speculate on this here.
Inner Peace.
Another matter of the Moon is the relationship to the Sun for this relationship shows the relationship between the conscious and unconscious self, the degree of inner harmony within the individual, in Guy's case this relationship is an easy one, basically happy in his own skin. This and the strong energies connected to the MC/IC, standing in the world, axis helps us to understand how he has achieved the prominence he has achieved which has been fuelled by the skills found in the Chiron aspect pattern.
Is that you being cynical?
This does not of course tell the whole picture, we could of course have someone who has picked up a few words of wisdom, has the gift of the gab and is a good business man but I would hate anyone to develop that cynical picture. Chiron in the 1st shows great wisdom, the aspect picture shows us that he has worked hard to crystallise that wisdom through Mercury into something practical. In short he has brought it down to earth for the benefit of the masses. If it was not for the prominence he has achieved through hard work, very few would have realised the gifts that he bears.
The Mabon Experience.
There is one further point I would like to share and this has to do with a position in the sky I use to determine the deeper levels of a person, it is a higher level of the Sun, so it represents the Soul of the person and how it can be expressed. I call this position Mabon and is the second focal point of the Earth's orbit around the Sun, it connects the Sun to the Earth or brings the Soul down to Earth. As I was expecting Mabon is strong in Guy's chart and to get a good idea of the meaning of Mabon in a persons chart is to examine the sign it is found in and compare it to the labours of Hercules. I have done this in a book I am currently preparing and include the relevant section below.
The Capture of the Red Cattle of Geryon.
PISCES
(see also; Negative, Mutable, Water.)
Now in the great council chamber the great beings sat.
"At last a true server, he must now become a saviour. Set the final labour and send him on his way."
The Teacher ponder the way forward and called Hercules before him.
"Hercules, it is for you now to go to that place called Erytheia where rules the monster with three bodies and three heads, Geryon. He holds the beautiful red cattle but they are not his to own, you must bring them back, one and all, let none wander." After a slight pause he continued. "I give to you this one counsel and this alone I give. Seek the aid of Helius before you venture far."
Hercules crossed the final threshold and found himself on the shore of a great sea. On the beach he gathered a huge mound of drift wood and set a fire. For six days and six nights he tended the flames and on the seventh morn he pushed it into the sea. That day he slept and dreamed of a golden chalice, when he awoke, before him was a boat of shimmering gold and in this he sailed the great sea to the Erytheia.
It was not long before he discovered the red cattle grazing in the meadow. It was not long either before Orthus had spotted him and was upon Hercules in an instant. Orthus the two headed dog which guarded the cattle was laid swiftly to waste by Hercules who then approached the shepherd Eurytion. This challenge was met by instant submission from Eurytion who pleaded for his life, which Hercules spared. He then led the cattle to the shore and the waiting boat when from behind sprang Geryon himself. Hercules and he struggled but eventually Geryon lay dead on the shore. Hercules herded the cattle in the golden boat which swelled as all the cattle came aboard.
Hercules soon landed on the mainland but it was quite sometime before he was to return the cattle to the great beings, for one or another was forever running of on its own and Hercules would have to stop the herd and go after it. There where also many challenges he met along the way and Hercules dispatched them all. At last he arrived back with all his charges, not a one lost or slain along the way.
Hercules had now completed all twelve of his earthly labours and so now he rested before taking on more labours on the cosmic plane.
Discussion. I wander how many of my readers have already formed an opinion about this the last sign of the zodiac. At the very beginning we are privy to the knowledge that now he has become a server he must now become a saviour. Pisces the sign associated with Christianity and Christ the Saviour the cattle then, the beautiful red cattle are of course representative of humanity. We are told also that not one is to be lost, it is in fact all or none at all. He plays well the role of good shepherd, he guides, he protects and he brings home the wayward. It must be remembered that Hercules could have done none of this if he had not have been granted the holy grail. By connecting to the Sun god Helius, here representing the Father, who grants the holy grail only to those who are dedicated to bringing His children home. But what has this to do with us, mere mortals and Mabon in Pisces.
The obvious Christian overtones are unfortunate only in that it may be thought that a Christian preference is being expressed, it is not. I deal only with Astrology, maybe a very spiritual astrology but I deal not with religion and have no religious views to express within these pages.
Pisces is the last sign of the zodiac and as such represents a culmination of all the other signs, it is also all the other signs held in solution. The average Piscian is a very nebulous creature and suffers greatly for his lack of clear definition. When Mabon is realised in Pisces the picture is very different, for Mabon in Pisces is very clearly defined, it is simply that the dimensions are not known in the material world, restricted as it is to four, if we allow for time. When the Mabon Experience is fully realised in Pisces, there is no personality, there are no personal issues there is no separateness, there is only the whole. To these people the goal has gone there is no thought of achievement because they are just to busy bringing about, in any way, be it grand or insignificant, the evolution of the whole of mankind, they are busy but there is no sense of urgency for they have passed through time. They are the steady bobbing waves that wash the shore, they are the winds and rains that bring the mountain tops to the valley floor, till we all graze in the lush meadow of home.
You just can't make this stuff up can you.
I think you can see that this Guy Finley fellow deserves a listen to. I have read his work and was impressed, I am even more impressed now I have read his Birth Chart.
Find out more about Guy Finley and the wonderful work done at the Self-realization School where you can sample his writings for Free.
Chart interpretation by Keith Hirst. Published by kind permission of Guy Finley.