It’s Halloween and I’m thinking about the pull that horror entertainment has for us. This morning I heard an interview including Wes Craven and decided to look up his chart.
And as usual the chart tells the story of both his interest in producing horror-based work as well as his earlier time in the pornography industry (it’s all Pluto stuff, after all). For the full story on how I analyze charts from an evolutionary/karmic perspective, read The Soul’s Journey trilogy of books.
2 August 1939, 4:54pm, Cleveland, OH (rated AA)
Pluto-Venus in early Leo at the end of the 7th house, Pluto in a wide conjunction with Sun in Leo in the 8th. But all three bodies are square the nodes, so Craven is in many lives trying to work out the right way to deal with his personal take and opinions on life’s intense and taboo topics.
Pluto in this configuration says that his soul over the course of many lives seeking to figure out how to be strong and confident through dealing with personal expression of unconscious and taboo issues. He needs to be heard and received by others (7th house and conjunct Venus). That the conjunction is square his nodes says that there are unresolved issues he needs to work out. It means that he naturally gets certain ways to do those energies but others might not occur to him or seem undesirable but could in fact offer routes to success. Often with squares to the nodes we do the same thing over and over again only to find the same non-productive results again and again.
The Pluto-Venus conjunction is opposed by retrograde Mars in Capricorn/1st, indicating that his empowerment journey over many lives can be/is blocked and made difficult or at times impossible by others’ force of will and decisive action. It could be that in some lives hard-edged and unyielding people stop him from making the taboo-inspired art he wants to create. It could also show up as well-meaning criticism that feels rough, and alternatively it can be violence that gets in the way of creating peace. In some lives it might feel that he cannot get away from violence of all kinds, including the kinds of senseless, murderous rage that he depicts onscreen.
It’s my opinion that while he is wired to look at the more difficult parts of life and seek to create in response to them, his film work in this life actually represents him working out creatively unconscious memories of horrific violence in many lives. With a chart signature like this a person would have been on the receiving end of some simply awful things in many lives but also at times be forced to defend the self in similar ways and, perhaps, try on for size initiating such behaviors for one reason or another. All such experiences will imprint the emotional body in such a way as to have other lives along the Earth timeline (we’d call them past and future lives) manifest the emotions – they will rise to the surface in other lives, in other words, and we will need to confront them. Craven might have not experienced any violence in this life but he would from childhood carried intense stuff from other lives. It’s true of all of us, which is why many people have fears out of all proportion to their life experiences.
His South Node (SN) is in Taurus in the 4th house, conjunct Saturn. This tells us that his soul chooses in many lives conditioning environments (including families to be born to) that have an interest in and need for stability and conservatism. In a bunch of lives he is born to a family in which there is an emphasis on morality and ethics as well as clear expectations on what it means to be the right kind of person (Saturn ideas).
Pluto-Venus in Leo/7th and Sun in Leo/8th square the nodes says that the whole family system is trying to figure out what to do with the heavier, perceived-to-be-darker parts of life. The unresolved issue could manifest as not being sure how to deal with sex, death, money, and power – for starters. Add in jealousy, anger/rage, resentment, pettiness, and other Plutonian stuff. That Venus is involved means that dealing with these things in relationship with others also needs to be resolved. It could be that the more honesty-type honest things are avoided for fear of rocking the boat (remember it’s square that conservative-minded SN conjunct Saturn in Taurus/4th!).
The SN ruler – in my world the signifier of how a person shows up in many lives including specials skills, talents, and interests that may differ from the family chosen by soul – is Venus. This takes us right back to Pluto in Leo/7th near the 8th house cusp! So he is in fact showing up as a Plutonian figure and, in the 7th, trying to get a response from others. He has something to say (Leo) that might be uncomfortable or distasteful to others (Pluto) and he needs to tell others and get a response from them (7th house).
In some people this presents as a need for validation of the thing they have to say, acknowledgement of some truth they see that others might tend to want to try to shy away from and not confront. In others it could be anger that no one will admit the uncomfortable truth that is very obvious, leading to a chip on the shoulder and Plutonian aggressiveness – whether direct or passive – toward others who seem nice, pleasant, and in peaceful touch with the status quo.
Craven seems quite comfortable with his creative statements. And I don’t think it’s because he’s been around the Hollywood block a lot and is established. I get the sense that he has come into contact with something under the surface in him that forms the basis for the creative statement he wishes to make. When he speaks about his work he is eloquent and poised, no hint of repressed Pluto-in-Leo tension. To me this says that he is at peace with the Plutonian realities within humans that he sees and feels within himself, not afraid to bring to life frightening images and scenes.
In some people with this chart setup, such film making could be a sort of a middle finger in the face of their conservative surroundings. I don’t get that sense with Craven in the least.
His North Node (NN) is in Scorpio/10th house, which is about creating a place for the self in the world that allows for the sharing and exhibiting of uncomfortable truths. Writing, producing, and directing horror movies is certainly one way to make this happen! It’s actually kind of text-booky as it is so literal.
And this NN also fits with being an adult film maker – the whole porn thing from early in his career to which Craven admits. He says that through working on many X-rated films he learned the craft of being a director. Horror films are not taboo but accepted in the mainstream in a big way, but pornography is a huge business that is not often overtly discussed outside individual and cultural pathologies and, of course, economics.
In some lives he will be drawn to what is real but cannot be shared openly. Intensity is called for by this karmic signature and it will need to be satisfied in some way. The chart holder has options, though, as do we all. Blood and guts and fear and spine-tingling screaming all relate to death and this seems to be the main route for Craven to explore his Venus-Pluto creativity.
I also happen to have Venus conjunct Pluto, though in Libra. For me, Plut0nian creativity leads me to satirize what people may tend to fear, are obsessed with, or feel magnetized to explore. I’ve written several books of creative fiction that can be classified as satire or absurd fiction, including one volume of satirical erotica called Modern Love. It’s one way that I work out my Venus-Pluto intensity and emotional depth. In Libra/12th house, this conjunction picks up on collective dynamics about all manner of things Venus-Pluto-related and I have to figure out a way to process them to move them out of my field. As Venus-Pluto are sextile Neptune-Mercury-Moon in Sagittarius, the best ways are those that make me and others laugh.
Tom Jacobs is an Evolutionary Astrologer and Channel helping you understand what your soul is here to do and how to make it happen with grace, ease, and joy. He channels Ascended Master Djehuty (a.k.a. Thoth, St. Germain, and Merlin) and Archangel Metatron (a.k.a. Sariel). Book your private consultation, get a Soul’s Journey Soundbite, and explore intuitive coaching and astrology tutoring by visiting tdjacobs.com. Jacobs offers over a dozen books including the new The Soul’s Journey III: A Case Study. The Soul’s Journey radio show airs live each Wednesday at 7 pm Pacific on Contact Talk Radio.