Order your complete, in-depth analysis:

Unlike other astrocartography services, this includes an entire world map analysis, not just a look at limited areas::

About Rob Couteau:

Couteau in Wikipedia:

The Role of the Least-Aspected Planet in Astrocartography:

Table of Contents:

Introduction:

Transcendental Biographies:

Transcendental Events:

On the nature of the Transcendental Energy:

Psychic inflation:

Summary of Plametary Symbolism:

Introduction to Transcendental Planets:

Sun:

Moon:

Mercury:

Venus:

Mars:

Jupiter:

Saturn:

Uranus:

Neptune:

Pluto:

Nodes, Travel, and the "Triple-zero" Transcendental:

Appendices:

Additional biographies and events:

Bibliography:

FAQ:

 Postscript:

The Least-Aspected Planet as the Spiritual Raison d'Etre:

Transcendental Nations:

American Presidents & LAP Saturn:

World Events:

Beyond the “Trigger Effect”:

The LAP as the Focal Point of the Horoscope:

Zones of Intensity:

Transcendental Portraits:

Rob Couteau in Wikipedia:

Order / Contact:

Search This Site:

Featuring astrocartography essays on:

Joan Baez

Ethel Barrymore

Clara Barton

Otto von Bismarck

William Blake

Helena Blavatsky

Marlon Brando

Louise Brown

Elizabeth B. Browning

Sir Richard Burton

Robert Burton

Richard E. Byrd

Lord Byron

Catherine the Great

Louis-Ferdinand Celine

Charlie Chaplin

Claudette Colbert

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

The Dalai-Lama

James Dean

Simone de Beauvoir

Claude Debussy

Emily Dickinson

Amelia Earhart

Adolf Eichmann

T.S. Eliot

Queen Elizabeth I

F. Scott Fitzgerald

Sigmund Freud

Indira Gandhi

Paul Gauguin

George Harrison

Ernest Hemingway

Adolf Hitler

Victor Hugo

Helen Keller

John F. Kennedy

Robert F. Kennedy

John Lennon

Abraham Lincoln

Jack London

Marcello Mastroianni

Herman Melville

Michelangelo

Maria Montessori

Jim Morrison

Benito Mussolini

Friedrich Nietzsche

Richard M. Nixon

Pablo Picasso

Vanessa Redgrave

Rainer Maria Rilke

Arthur Rimbaud

Jackie Robinson

Auguste Rodin

Erwin Rommel

Eleanor Roosevelt

Dante Gabriel Rossetti

Bertrand Russell

Edith Sitwell

Ringo Starr

Algernon Swinburne

Teilhard de Chardin

Alfred Lord Tennyson

Nikola Tesla

Harry Truman

Jules Verne

Queen Victoria

Luchino Visconti

George Washington

Edward H. White

II Kaiser Wilhelm

II Woodrow Wilson

William Butler Yeats

Rob Couteau in Wikipedia:

Transcendental Sun

Without the sun,
what day? What night?
–Heraclitus.

The soul awakes; and, wond’ring, sees
In her mild hand the golden Keys.
–William Blake, “To the Queen.”

Energy is the only life.
He whose face gives no light, shall never become a star.
The pride of the peacock is the glory of God.
–William Blake, The Marriage of Heaven and Hell.

The beginning is the end.
–Heraclitus.

I celebrate myself.
–Walt Whitman, “Song of Myself.”

Core meaning:

Many of the traditional qualities of yang energy as defined in the I Ching correspond to the astrological Sun. It is “light-giving, active, strong, and of the spirit.” “Its essence is power or energy. Its image is heaven.” “In relation to the universe,” it “expresses the strong, creative action of the Deity. In relation to the human world, it denotes the creative action of the holy man or sage, of the ruler or leader of men, who through his power awak­ens and develops their higher nature.”1 The yang energy is “conceived of as motion. Time is regarded as the basis of this motion.” Yang energy also expresses “the power of time and the power of persisting in time, that is, duration.”

        Some of these qualities amplify the nature of the other yang planets in the symbolic solar system. The phenomenon of “motion” is further characterized in the yang manifestation of Mars. Mars and Saturn each symbolize ‘“strength in character” and the ability to “endure,” which here make their initial appearance in the Sun symbolism. A discriminating management of time, and a comprehension of the limitations that time imposes, fall under the rulership of Father Time as Chronos or Saturn. This cycle com­pletes itself in the final planetary form of yang: that is, in astrological Pluto.2 Through the transformative power of Pluto, the merely personal self is metamorphosed into the higher or Divine Self, upon which the ego structure is archetypally based. Therefore, from the crystallization of the ego, symbolized by the Sun, we progress to the “awakening power of the sage or holy man” (Pluto). It is through the “power of the Deity” (Pluto) that the sage awakens the higher nature that resides in humankind. From the incarnation of self (Sun), we finally arrive at the revelation of Self (Pluto): an evolution toward an ultimate, inner­most truth (Pluto).
        A quality of singular importance in the solar symbolism is individualization: notably, in the creation of the ego, with its ability to dis­cern reality from its central position in the field of consciousness, allowing for the unique development of identity and personality. As the ego moves through “particular conditions” (Sun) of linear time and space (“motion” and “the power of persisting in time”), a uniqueness of experience, perception, and identity is the result. This “idiosyn­cratic particularization” is a principal keynote of the astrological Sun.
        While the Sun rules “leadership” and being a “role model” for others, a more fully evolved Sun principle is exemplified by the “holy man or sage” who realizes the unique path that each sentient being must take to qualify for “enlightenment”–a word which itself partakes of the illuminating quality of the Sun. The path of each particular being moving toward higher consciousness is symbolized by the Sun’s brilliant, heavenly arc, which rises over the horizon and marks our ephemeral, daily passage through life. As an ontological symbol, in its rising, noontime, and setting positions the Sun’s apparent move­ment portrays our passage from birth, to midlife, to death. Finally, the Sun’s unique move­ment through the cosmos further symbolizes mankind’s unique journey of discovery in an ever-evolving universe.
        While the vital energy of the Sun triggers the growth of individual life forms, the ultimate goal of the yang force is symbolized by the transpersonal planet, Pluto. Pluto sheds uniqueness and transforms the idiosyncratic identity to reveal the transcendental nature of a higher Self. In its movement from the personal to the transpersonal, identity progresses from the unique self (Sun) to the Divine Self (Pluto). As ruler of the Underworld (i.e., the archetypal realm of the collective unconscious), Pluto quali­fies the uniqueness of the solar path by placing it within a larger, transpersonal context.

        The astrological glyph for the Sun (a circle with a dot in the center) symbolizes the focal point through which such eternal cosmic energies incarnate into a particular life form. In Western religious symbolism, this point (or scintilla, in alchemy) corresponds to the Christ-principle or “the Way of Christ”–a unique path one must discover (and cre­ate) within oneself. (“The apple tree never asks the beech how he shall grow, nor the lion the horse, how he shall take his prey.”–Blake.) Even the Church Fathers drew a metaphoric correspondence between Christ and Sol. In alchemy, we have the equivalent symbol of the sol terrenus or “earthly sun”: the alchemical symbol of Sol that we recognize today as “correspond[ing] psychologically to consciousness.”3

Improper manifestation of the energy:

Egoistic tendencies, exhibitionism, and a myopic focus on personal self to the exclusion of the identity of others are typical manifestations of yang in its “immature” solar form. This kind of obsession with the “I” (identity) serves only as an obstacle to the higher Self, which then has no recourse but to cryptically manifest in such banal personalized forms (e.g., mistaking one’s ego for something “divine”).
        Intrapsychically, such improper channeling of yang represents a fixation upon an ear­lier stage of ego-development. As children mature and grow into adults, a singular focus on ego growth is necessary to ensure the ego’s “durability” and “power of persisting in time.” For the creation of a strong and healthy identity, such a focus is a necessary devel­opment. In later life, however, the absence of a transpersonal (i.e., non-ego) perspective will result in inhibiting the development of the Sun’s other qualities. ”).
        The ego is a psychic focal point through which yang energy will fuel inner growth; enlighten the conscious­ness of others; and illuminate the meaning of one’s own identity. These solar functions allow us to obtain and sustain meaning as a coun­terpoint to the meaningless dimension of the world. ”).
        When solar consciousness becomes developmentally “stuck,” however, then the identity is corrupted by the vulgar notion that “the only thing that means anything to me is me.” Ironically, there is nothing unique or meaningful about egoism, self-centeredness, or a stage of con­sciousness that is severely limited and lacking a transpersonal dimension. What appears as uniqueness is merely the idiosyncratic and meaningless accumulation of egocentric expe­rience. This rather linear and two-dimensional realm of random experience will block the expression of the higher Self, with its potential for providing a broader scope of consciousness.

Transcendental potential:

When the Sun principle is underdeveloped in the horoscope, the identity may remain in a nascent state for an inappropriately prolonged period. This may result in an inability to develop a personal style or means of expression; shyness; or an inability to “shine” around others. Instead of an extroverted, dramatic expression of self, one may have difficulty in properly directing psychic energy into the external environment. “Surrogate egos,” in the form of attachments to those who have developed a more expressive, dramatic personal style, are typical in the lives of those with an underdeveloped Sun principle. The psychological projection of the Sun upon others is often expe­rienced as a strong admiration or even a compulsive attraction toward the beaming, radi­ant egoism of the surrogate-Sun companion. This will be especially pronounced during early life and adolescence: a period when the ego should be making a distinctive debut upon the world stage. Relationships with such surrogate-ego friends will be pursued without any conscious realization of the psychological princi­ple at work. The search for self can also take an introverted form, such as an attraction to solar principles of a more abstract nature (the inner search for the archetypal father, e.g., realizing the need to develop leadership qualities within oneself.3

        Conversely, highly evolved Sun personalities may be drawn to illuminating the consciousness of the underdeveloped Sun friend or to triggering the formation of his iden­tity. Such a person finds his purpose in dramatically personifying the heroic process of individuation. He may present himself as a leader or role model and point to his own life as an example to be fol­lowed (one “orbits” around the Sun, just as the student follows the illuminating “path” of the teacher). In a similar fashion, we speak of the astronomical sun’s ability to “attract other celestial bodies into its orbit” and to “dramatically illuminate the solar system” with spectacular solar explosions and dramatic flares that emanate from the chromo­sphere, brighten the solar corona, and extend out into space as heat and energy.
        In cases of ego-inflation (identifying with the solar principle), the under­developed-Sun personality may be tolerated simply as a means of “bouncing one’s rays” off an inferior orbiting object. Here, the Sun-identified personality–stuck in a develop­mental stage of flamboyant egoism and childish exhibitionism–exploits the presence of such orbiting “satellites” or revels in “collecting admirers” simply as a means of verifying the force of his own identity. Minus such attention-seeking devices, which he uses to gain and hold the fascination of others, the solar-identified personality might doubt the value and power of his own personality. 
        Therefore, the danger for the underdeveloped Sun-“orbiter” is clear. While he may learn to develop certain ego skills in emulating the solar role model, he may also become locked into the orbit of this more charismatic personality. (Vicarious living has its limitations.)

        In cosmogonic myths, the Sun initiates a process whereby unformed primal darkness is shaped, illuminated, and vitalized, thereby engendering unique, living beings. Astrologically, we would speak of a desire to create a specific identity; to pursue a talent; to render a unique manner of expres­sion; or to celebrate, dramatize, or dignify the self. Focusing psychic energy upon tasks that uniquely match one’s abilities or that develop one’s potential will assist in the formation of an identity. In its acts of creative, the ego generates a solar force of its own: an electro-magnetizing and “heating” of the psychic atmosphere through the illumination of the self.
        This pro­cess foreshadows the next astrological stage of yang: the interactive pro­pensity of Mars. In its extreme form, this will result in aggression, violence, or other forms of “yang madness.” Positively expressed, however, Mars’s interactive exchange of energy, especially when channeled through work or in dynamic groups composed of various specialists (e.g., a team working toward a specific goal), leads to positive accomplishment.
        In turn, this foreshadows the next astrological stage of yang: the collective self, experienced through Saturn. Saturn sacrifices the merely personal or interpersonal goal so that the demands of the social collective are met. Saturn’s “self-sacrifice” foreshad­ows the final stage of yang, symbolized by Pluto: the surrendering illusions and, especially, shedding the “illusion” of the ego. When the self fulfills its social respon­sibility and comes to recognize society as an expression of many individual self-identi­ties forming a collective self (Saturn), a transformation process will then lead beyond the collective-self to the transpersonal encounter symbolized by Pluto.
        Those “sacrificed” to the fulfillment of duty (i.e., the societal responsibilities of Saturn) or to the task of assisting others in depth transformation processes (e.g., Pluto as psychotherapist, surgeon) will need to activate any unfulfilled desires for ego-gratification, -fulfillment, -expression, and -growth (Sun). Unless this is approached consciously, one will be drawn to unconsciously fulfill such desires through one’s social (Saturn) or transpersonal (Pluto) roles. In such a case, for example, a psychotherapist’s judgments (Pluto) will be clouded by unfulfilled identity issues, e.g., he will recommend things for the patient that symbolize the unfulfilled needs of the doctor. Similarly, Saturn’s urge to engage in “dutiful” action may become tainted by the expression of egocentric control (Sun) over others. A father’s physical abuse of his son–so-called disciplining–is, in fact, not the disciplining (Saturn) of his son’s self but the engorging of the father’s ego (Sun) with negative forms of psychic energy, which are experienced as “rigid and severe authoritarianism” over others. Therefore, the solar principle must not be “skipped over” in favor of a later phase of the yang spiritual force, as the Sun energy will, sooner or later, manifest in another form: in a cryptic, subliminal, unconscious form that will be intermingled with another planetary force, as in the examples cited above.
        The proper goal of solar consciousness is the individual expression of our transpersonal nature. The I Ching portrays this in the image of the sage who incarnates a creative force. The divinity of the higher Self and its noble expression in individual life forms is the ultimate manifestation of the Sun symbolism. We experience this in the singular nature of our brief human incarnation.

Personalities with Primary Transcendental Sun:

Charlie Chaplin (silent screen “celebrity” whose “dramatic self-expression” received widespread “acclaim” and who worked directly under his Primary Sun line in Hol­lywood, California); James Dean (Hollywood “star” of “nearly mythic proportions” whose “dramatic talent” flourished directly under his Primary Sun line, in Hollywood, and whose “self-absorption” is the subject of countless biographies); Amelia Earhart (avia­tor whose “well-publicized” transoceanic flights resulted in her enduring “celebrity sta­tus” as a “courageous heroine”); Paul Gauguin (one of the most “celebrated” modern artists, who relocated under his Primary Sun line in Tahiti and in the Marquesas Islands); John F. Kennedy (American president whose “heroism” in the South Seas occurred under his Primary Sun line and who was criticized for being “self-centered”); John Lennon (one of the greatest “celebrities” of the ’60s whose “talent” and “flamboyant personality” inspired a generation); Marcello Mastroianni (a “dignified” international film “star” who became the cinematic “alter-ego” of the noted film director, Federico Fellini); Pablo Picasso (“self-centered” artist who possessed profound “talent, willful individualism, and unmitigated pride,” who relocated directly under his Primary Sun line, in Paris, to become the “most celebrated” painter of the twentieth century); Rainer Maria Rilke (greatest Ger­man language poet of the twentieth century; a verse chronicler of the “self” who was born almost precisely under his Primary Sun line, in Prague); Erwin Rommel (“willful” German gen­eral and military “celebrity” who was given the “colorful” nickname, “the desert fox”; born in Heidenheim, Germany, almost precisely under his Primary Sun line).

Events: The Assassination of John F. Kennedy (the most “visible” and “publicized” assas­sination in history, which occurred under a Primary Sun line).

* * *

Keynote phrases for the Sun:

•The self actualized in sentient form.
•Consciousness, especially as structured through the focal point of the ego.
•Dramatically displaying an appropriate expression of identity to others.
•The presentation, promotion, and celebrating of the self. The ego as a tool or talent with which to define, create, or illuminate identity (i.e., identity real­ized through ego-functions and abilities).
•The “light”-giving aspect of consciousness (i.e., the illumination of consciousness through per­sonal insight). 
•The experience of “shining forth.”
•The function of the individual will.
•The self-actualizing principle.
•The expression of an individual style, flair, or dramatic delivery. Style not as an expression of Venusian harmony and beauty but rather as an energetic, beaming cele­bration (“celebrity”) of self.
•The willful expression of self in attention-seeking, overtly public manners.
•A level of fame that transcends ordinary human bounds.
•Ontologically, the emergence of the identity (Sun) from the “night-world” of the emotions and from the preconscious or intrauterine psyche (Moon).
•In Indian astrology, the Sun corresponds to Prana, the “breath of life.”3
•Yang energy expressed as unique self-identity.

1. Dr Victor Mansfield has kindly granted permission to use this insightful remark from a note I received from him on October 14, 1998: “I had a guru with an unaspected Sun. He always thought that it allowed him the maximum freedom of expressing the Sun’s meaning and function. Perhaps, aspects not only help manifest or express a planet’s mean­ing and function but they also limit its scope of action.” See his groundbreaking work, Syn­chronicity, Science and Soul-Making, Chicago, Open Court Publications, 1995.
2. “It is possible to trace a line of development linking the Sun, Mars, and Saturn, which parallels the line linking the Moon, Venus, and Jupiter.” Moore and Douglas, Astrology, The Divine Science, p. 41. “Neptune is the higher octave of Venus”; “Pluto is the higher octave of Mars.” Oken, As Above, So Below, pp. 317, 324.
3. “The metaphorical designation of Christ as Sol in the language of the Church Fathers was taken quite literally by the alchemists and applied to their sol terrenus. When we remember that the alchemical Sol corresponds psychologically to consciousness, the diur­nal side of the psyche, we must add the Christ analogy to this symbolism.” Jung, Myste­rium Coniunctionis, p. 100.
4. The Sun is said to “trigger” or energize the transits of the other planets when the Sun’s apparent movement through the zodiac corresponds to celes­tial degrees reached by these planets in their movement (or transit) through space. In such a case, we can also anticipate the Sun’s “illumination” of the core meanings symbol­ized by the planets in question.
        For example, when transiting Sun and transiting Ura­nus each reach a celestial degree that corresponds to the degree of one of the planets in the horoscope, the core Uranian qualities of “liberation, freedom, and intuitional brilliance” will be “illumined” by the pres­ence of the Sun’s vital energy. While the transiting degree of the Sun may seem to correspond to the moment when the Uranian event will occur (it is a traditional tenet of astrology that the Sun acts as this kind of “trigger”), the Sun’s transit may vitalize the ability of the ego to comprehend the meaning of what is actually occurring (i.e., to “see” it more clearly). Without the Sun’s participation as a transiting factor, the same event might have occurred without our conscious awareness or without our ability to discern the meaning of the experience. For this reason, the Sun may have more to do with triggering insight into transiting events and less to do with acting as a mere, mechanistic astrological trigger.

5. Dreyer, Indian Astrology, p. 87.

Additional Sun quotes:

Life is or should be an affair of each person, each one of us, getting in touch with the ele­mental forces of the universe (which is, throughout, a personal universe).
(James Jackson Putnam.)

To make a circle without a compass, try to trace a line always equidistant from the center, but do not think about other forms or about the many people who have traced circles before you. If you kill yourself, you will not make it perfectly round; and in the discrep­ancy between perfect roundness and your closest approximation to it, you will find your perfect expression. If you work in good faith you will try to make it perfect, but each of your circles, in spite of your improved dexterity in drawing them will always suffer from the same defect. Every one of them will bear your mark. But if, suddenly, you decide to imitate somebody else, you’ll do it worse, and your deception will fool only morons.
(Picasso.)

The man is only half himself; the other half is his expression.
(Emerson.)

As any artist will tell you, to be universal you have to be specific.
(Director David Cronenberg.)

Divine am I inside and out, and I make holy whatever I touch or am touched from; / The scent of these arm-pits is aroma finer than prayer, / This head is more than churches or bibles or creeds.
(Walt Whitman, Leaves of Grass.)

That which makes my life good makes my death good also.

(Chuang Tsu, trans. Gia-Fu Feng and Jane English.)

We are spiritual beings having a human experience.

(Teilhard de Chardin.)

 

To obtain your own astro-map & analysis, please inquire here.

 

I. Introduction

II. Transcendental Biographies    |    III. Transcendental Events

IV. Psychic inflation    -    Summary of Planetary Symbolism    -    Transcendental Planets        

V. Nodes / the Triple-zero Transcendental    |    Appendices: Orbs / References / Data

Additional Maps    |    Notes    |    Bibliography    |    FAQ

Postscript:

I. Interview in Astrolore    |    II. Transcendental Nations    |    III. American Presidents & LAP Saturn

IV. World Events    |    V. Numinous Consciousness    

VI. The LAP as a metaphor of the soul    |    VII. Zones of Intensity    |    

VIII. Complete Index of Names and Events    |    IX. Order Charts / Home Page / Contact

X. Search this entire site    |    XI. Purchasing Books about Astrology

|      Home Page: Astrocartography      |

 

All text © Copyright Rob Couteau and cannot be used without the written and expressed consent of the author.
key words: relocation astrology and Carl Jung symbolism planets relocation astrology and astro*carto*graphy astrocartographer Sun and astrology astrocartography