google.com, pub-4599738212880558, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 google.com, pub-4599738212880558, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0
Showing posts with label David Souter Sep 17 1939. Show all posts
Showing posts with label David Souter Sep 17 1939. Show all posts

Apr 30, 2009

Justice Souter leaving SCOTUS - list of his writings

Will we miss him once he's gone?

Justice David Souter is finally having his way and getting out of Washington, and Cornell University Law School's list of Souter's writings - from concurrences to dissents and those in between - contains a bevy of the justice's work which includes my personal favorite - his dissent in the George W. Bush v. Albert Gore Jr fiasco of Dec 12, 2000.

Bad times, but already historical.

Justice Souter's Wiki bio details his low-tech lifestyle: no emailing, no cell phone, no answering machine, and no TV. Ahhh....me time!

His favorite past-time seems to be rock climbing so I'm expecting some major Capricorn (mountain goat) action to turn up in his natal chart...just a minute, I'll go calculate it now and be right back with a few astrological notes...

Okay, it's 1:28 am edt and I'm back with Justice David Souter's birth data: Sept 17, 1939, Boston, Massachusetts, time unknown, so I'm looking at a Sun-conjunct-MC chart (fame and importance)...Moon is in Scorpio the entire 24-hour period.

Sun 23Vir53; Moon 20Sco50; Mercury 19Vir36; Venus 27Vir05; Mars 27Cap52; Jupiter 5Ari06 Rx; Saturn 00Tau16 Rx; Uranus 21Tau48 Rx; Neptune 23Vir06 (conj Sun); Pluto 2Leo26; Chiron 18Can38; NN 29Lib46.

Mercury is final dispositor and strong in its own hardworking sign of Virgo, the critic.

Sun conj Neptune stands out rather brazenly although in the Sun-conj-MC chart, it's a separating aspect. The closest applying aspect to natal Sun in the chart is Sun trine Mars (3A59 - lots of energy available for rock and mountain climbing.)

Sun conj Neptune is an interesting aspect whether applying (conscious) or separating (unconscious) so let's consider that for now...it's too late to type out all the facets of this intriguing chart but I'll do what I can!

Naturally, veiling Neptune presents some sort of obfuscation of the individuality when so near the Sun which is one's core being, adult self, and the goal of the hero's journey that is Life. All aspects to natal Sun affect one's basic selfhood, the nature of the will power, and the way in which it is used. It has a Piscean flavor - the fish you can never quite get your mitts on (my mother had Sun conj Neptune and she used Neptune's creative talents well but she did like to be mysterious sometimes.)

The astrological Sun represents unfolding power in our lives and it intrigues me that Justice Souter's Sun (ego) reached as high as the Supreme Court of the US with nebulous, often undermining Neptune along for the ride. Usually we expect one with a 'weak' Sun to stay in their own little pond, but this particular fish had bigger oceans to navigate and support from elsewhere in the chart.

Sun-conj-Neptune people are off in worlds of their own and here there are supporting chart factors indicating separation tendencies, isolationism, and an ability to do concentrated work to the exclusion of all external conditions.

Desires and emotions seem to originate from a Higher Source with this conjunction; power potential is expressed by an ability to merge emotionally with the universal life force. This ability is supported by other chart factors.

Yes, the desire and ambition for self-importance are subtle but lurking; yet working on behalf of humanity is a possibility as well.

A mystical inclination may be evident yet his well-educated and developed mind has 'made the man' for he is a Rhodes Scholar and Harvard graduate (magna cum laude/Phi Beta Kappa) in Philosophy who wrote his senior thesis on Oliver Wendell Holmes, the great juricist.

And where is his Capricorn goat?

Mars 27Cap53 (conj US natal Pluto, btw) trine Sun as mentioned; also trine Venus, square Saturn, trine Neptune, and opposing Pluto. Mars squares the Nodal axis which can cause problems in public settings or with the public; Mars opposite Pluto gives a life test concerning the right use of power for actions will have far-reaching consequences; it shows a tendency to want to remake and rule other people so serving on the Supreme Court bench was a good way to express this powerful opposition, an aspect which can attract violence and/or crime, too.

(Justice Souter was a victim of a mugging, if memory serves, in 2004 - see Wiki bio - but that's DC for you - I saw a mugging out my living room window one afternoon, on Kalorama Road, just off Connecticut Ave.)

So you may have noted that Saturn is conjunct SN, a point of separation and unconscious behavior patterns. Saturn conj SN indicates that he is personally limited due to rigid habits and ambitions which put him out of tune with prevailing cultural attitudes and trends; this creates isolationism yet positively may put him in a class all his own - an individualist with a painstaking approach to his work (as mentioned above - this concentrating talent strengthens Sun-conj-Neptune.)

Mars is exalted in Capricorn as you know, where its energies are well-controlled and most efficient. And Souter's Jupiter in the pioneering sign of Aries indicates a freedom-loving philosopher, an explorer who wants to leave the stifling city and climb or ponder at will.

Jupiter Rx is a maverick and an independent thinker who dances to his own tune - his 2009 Secondary Progressed (SP) Jupiter is Direct by progression in late Pisces which meshes well with his n Sun-Neptune conjunction; SP Mars is now 4Pis15, and in need of seclusion and privacy - and less regimentation than Capricorn afforded.

So I say, thanks for your efforts, Justice Souter, and enjoy the rest of your life. You have the ability to get along well with others, so be sure you touch base with other human beings on a regular basis...keeps the Neptunian cobwebs out.

To be cont'd...