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| pp. 1 2 3
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| The imagination of Hieronymous Bosch |
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Rembrandt was born with
a grand trine between Saturn, Pluto, and Neptune. The presence of Pluto in
Rembrandt's chart intensifies, darkens, and deepens the already omnious configuration
between Saturn and Neptune. In both thematic content and style can we witness
the Saturn•Neptune aspect in Rembrandt's
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work. Regardless if Rembrandt's subjects
were explicitly sacred or profane, his masterly use of shadow and light always
suggested a mysterious presence, as if some numinous entity occupied the canvas
or paper.
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| Rembrandt's Faust receives a visit |
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For his nearly fifty
year career, Rembrandt sustained a quiet, brooding, and melancholic atmosphere
in his artwork. The etching on the left depicts the quintessential Saturn•Neptune
figure, Faust, the metaphysician who dared to sacrifice his soul for immortality.
In the work, we see Faust looking up at the first indications of Mephistopheles
breaking through into the mundane world.
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Poet and artist William
Blake, born with a tight Saturn Neptune opposition, seemed to be possessed
by manifesting divine vision into this world. Although the brilliance and
creative fire of his paintings is more indicative of Uranus at the Midheaven
in his chart, the essential themes of Blake's art speaking loudly of the Saturn•Neptune
complex.
Liz Greene suggests that
the feelings and images associated with Neptune, "are connected to the primary
themes of fusion, redemption and return to the source." (Greene, The Astrological
Neptune, 323) When Saturn acts to materialize the longings of the Neptune,
these images and feelings take on an added urgency and potency. The titles
of Blake's works, such as "The Marriage
of Heaven and Hell," and "The Union of the Soul with God, " suggest the importance
of Neptunian themes in his pieces.
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| Grey's Illumined Mind |
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Culminating in the line
of visionary artist's since Blake is contemporary artist Alex Grey. Born under
the Saturn Neptune conjunction of 1953 in Libra, Grey's work—arguably more
than any other artist mentioned here—deals specifically with essential Saturn•Neptune
theme: the spiritual as it manifests in this world. Much of his work since
1980 has focused specifically on the intersection between the physical body
and the spiritual plane. Alex Grey captures the nature of Saturn•Neptune configuration
when he writes: "Mystic art is spirit expressed into matter."
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(1) Greene, Liz. 1996.The Astrological Neptune. York Beach, Maine: Samuel Weiser.
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