Broad Strokes / Part 2 of the Astrology of Mel Gibson

Another indication that Mel is in a disseminating and reaping phase of karma, is that the moon at his birth was not only fast in its movement, but was also in the disseminating lunar phase, literally known in astrology as the "show and tell moon." You can't say Mel hasn't lived up to that part of his chart.

People born during this moon phase have to synchronize their work with that of others, willingly or not, but are usually astute in business, and fortunate in both contacts and contracts. Plans and dreams (or roles) studied for or begun in previous lives become concrete reality in this one. His work is well known, widely shared, and constantly under a microscope being reviewed for artistic, social and commercial value, never more than now.

Another clue that Mel is in a disseminating karmic phase is that his moon, which is highly significant in his life and important in his chart, is at precisely zero degrees and zero minutes of Libra, the exact moment of the autumnal equinox. This degree of a chart represents ripening and reaping. It's the day of the year when Ra, the ancient god of light, is defeated by his evil twin, Set, the god of darkness. It is the time of the year when night conquers day. It is preparing to wind down, a ticking internal clock that warns time is almost up.




Let's see what he brought with him this time around to help him achieve his life's purpose. In Mel's chart, the majority of his planets are in the western hemisphere, indicating that his choices and actions in life must be made with consideration of those to whom he is obligated, and also that he has life issues regarding playing well with others. He must interact and gain their cooperation in order to make his own goals a reality.








The majority are also below the horizon, which in an ordinary person's chart might mean shyness or reticence, because the opposite, having the majority of planets in the upper half of the chart, gives a public persona. But in Mel's chart, all those hiding planets are indicative of a very private person in his personal life.

Likewise, the majority of his planets are in cardinal mode and the water element, which gives his life and personality an over-all Cancer flavor, emphasizing his home/ family/ domestic matters/ real estate / and issues with women and children, in both his personality and his karmic lessons.

The pattern of the planets in Mel's chart create a bowl pattern, with Uranus in Leo and Venus in Aquarius forming the opposition that creates the rim. This gives him the nagging and unquenchable feeling that something is missing in his life, and he spends a great deal of subconscious time trying to reach a sense of completeness and sustained direction.

 

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Use this link to go to Cancer Rising, Libra Moon / Part 3 of the Astrology of Mel Gibson

Cancer Rising, Libra Moon / Part 3 of the Astrology of Mel Gibson

Mel is a Capricorn (a born executive, an ambitious and hard worker), with Cancer rising (a family man, someone to whom home and hearth are essential to life), so that's a challenge already. It's kind of a schizo way to have to live. He is literally torn between the two halves of himself: the ambitious, successful, money-making, A-list actor and Hollywood Power Exec, and the family-loving guy with an emotional need to create children, either of his body or mind. Mel has lost both of the things that are most important to him in the past couple of years--his family and his career.

In the human body, Capricorn rules the knees, and sooner or later, every Capricorn must bend his. I'm just going to bluntly tell you because it's true, that Capricorns think they run everything, and that no one can do anything as well as they can do it themselves. They have a tendency to take over everything in their path. Sadly, for them, unless they come to realize that they do not run the universe, that something much greater than they runs the universe, then the day they will be driven to their knees is somewhere in their future. For Mel, that future is now.

The moon is the ruler of his chart because it's associated with Cancer, the sign on his Ascendant, affectionately referred to as the rising sign.

 

The rising sign is the outer part of ourselves that we show the world. It's our physical form, the first and lasting impression we make, and our personality as a whole. It's a kind of mug shot. Until his DUI, Mel’s mug shot portrayed him as a family man who loved his wife. Often. That was our Cancer-induced perception of him.



This place on the chart often indicates "you, in this place, at this time," when the moon traverses it like a second hand on a clock.



Mel's moon in Libra, the sign of relationships, makes it dignified, or very strong. He needs another person to balance him, to bounce things off, to be with. The moon represents his emotional needs, and how he feels about women, particularly his mother, his wife, and his lover. He was born to be married and to be a father. His deepest and innermost self requires it. Do you need a refresher?



The moon occupies his 4th house, directing his emotional needs and attention to his home / family/ domestic matters / issues with mother, women and children / foundations and early childhood memories / and his ultimate ending.

FUN FACT: The moon is often prominent in the charts of writers and alcoholics.

Use this link to skip to A Pisces Midheaven / Part 4 of the Astrology of Mel Gibson

A Pisces Midheaven / Part 4 of the Astrology of Mel Gibson

Mel has Pisces on the Midheaven, the place that represents his career, reputation, and direction in life. It's a place of both fame and notoriety, of honor and dishonor. Pisces, which is ruled by Neptune, is a sign of creativity: of acting, writing, directing, drawing, imagining, painting, music and magic.
But Neptune is the planet of illusion, delusion, deception, confusion, seeing things that aren't there, and not seeing things that are. It represents water and oil, liquids, bodies of water, and vast open spaces like oceans and skies and space. The Gulf Oil spill is a prime example of a Neptune affliction.

{Neptune may represent snowy mountains, too, but that's a theory that needs more data.}

Neptune has dominion over alcohol and drugs, disappearances, and conspiracies. That's why they can seldom be figured out. There's always some clue missing.




Mel's Neptune, the planet with the majority control over his direction in life, is also in his 4th house of home, family, domestic matters, real estate, and beginnings / endings, along with his moon. The 4th house shows us his foundations --peekaboo--and early life, as well as a partial view of his ultimate demise.
That's a very watery, boozy, cocaine kind of place.



Neptune doesn't get full control of Mel's career, reputation and direction, however. He has an interception in his chart. That's when one house swallows up one whole sign, and little bits of the following and preceding signs. At some latitudes, it can swallow up two whole signs, but the closer we move toward the poles, the whole chart begins to fall apart and is unreadable. An interception that falls into one house also falls into the opposite house. It's caused by an irregular curvature of the earth.









Old school astrologer Noel Tyl, a former opera singer, an authoritative sort with a voice like God, who happens to be a champion of my favorite astrologer, Jeffrey Wolf Green, wrote on the subject of interceptions:

"Interpretively...interception has little significance."

[From the glossary of "Teaching and Study Guide to the Principles and Practice of Astrology, by Noel Tyl; Llewellyn, 1976; page 706]

I disagree! Interceptions are like blinking neon arrows that point and flash an urgent message: Pay Attention Here.

In my experience, the intercepted houses are always a driving force of the person's life, almost like a secondary Midheaven. A huge amount of what happens to him can be described by the houses and signs involved. Esoterically, they, and any planets they contain, indicate lessons failed in a previous life that must now be repeated in an intensified course. And here is a prime example of that theory in action. Which two houses in Mel Gibson's chart are intercepted? The 10th (career, reputation, honor / dishonor) and the 4th, (home family, domestic issues / foundations / endings / and all those Oedipus complex / personal, private Madonna / Whore issues he’s having to very publicly (10th house) deal with right now.

With the moon intercepted in the 4th house, Mel withdraws emotionally. His feelings of rejection are intensified. Intercepted in Mel's 10th house / Midheaven is the sign of "Me first!" Aries. Aries is a very assertive, sometimes aggressive sign. They're take-charge-git-'er-done kinds of people. They tend to stomp all over the places and people upon which even angels fear to tread.

Mars is the ruler of Aries. It's also a co-ruler with Pluto of the sign Scorpio. Mel's Mars, a/k/a the Penis Planet (sex, sports, recreation, procreation, blood, scars, wounds, tools, weapons, wars, anger, hostility, impulses, and a bunch of others I respectfully refer to as “dick things”) is in sexy, smoldering, intense, passionate Scorpio.



It's conjunct (that's fancy astrology talk for "right next to"), his natal Saturn, the planet that gives weight and concrete form to whatever it touches. Saturn is also the planet that rules his sun sign, Capricorn. Both planets are in Mel's 5th house, the house of children and creativity (the child of one's mind). The 5th house is the house of entertainment, including such things as movies, theater, hobbies, games, vacations, recreation, love affairs and recreational sex.


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Use this link to skip to Mad Max / Part 5 of the Astrology of Mel Gibson  (The URL is wrong, by the way. It saved as Mad Max Part 3. But the link is right.)