This month’s special guest Jason Holley joins Vanessa Montgomery to chat about all things Aries, classic Aries folks Lil Nas X, Elton John, and Anne Lister, PLUS the new and full Moon, the Jupiter-Neptune conjunction in Pisces, and this month’s cosmic movements so you can plan your month ahead in alignment with the energies unfolding.
Our featured nonprofit this month is Safe Place International, whose focus is on helping refugees. Learn more and donate to their work today at https://www.safeplaceinternational.org/
Just wanted to throw in a belated thanks. I very much loved Vanessa’s and Jason’s conversation throughout this podcast, not simply the insights they gave into Aries and its axis with Libra, and the way they spoke about the Jupiter-Neptune aspect -really fixing it in this much bigger canvas of possibility and most specifically I appreciated when the discussion drifted into the bigger global view and Jason’s comment about ‘failure of imagination’ (may that beautiful seed fall on fertile ground) but in truth, what i most appreciated was the simple way they spoke with one another. It’s really refreshing to hear people listening to one another and bouncing off the ideas of the other rather than biting their tongues until they can jump in. They both had lots to say and both had strong styles, but it was a lovely demonstration of that Aries-Libra axis. This was a great podcast.
I very much love all the ways that AU models community for us. Thanks y’all! Go Team!
Thanks so much for this lovely feedback, Vanessa makes it so easy — so relational and alive 🙂
You’re the best ☺️
Hey thank you, that is wonderful to hear. And same back at Holley, he makes it so easy in so many ways. It was such a pleasure.
If I may, I’d like to share some information regarding the virtuoso pianist and composer, Sergei Rachmaninoff, who has Sun, Mercury, and Neptune all in Aries. He also has a Saturn/Uranus opposition. The premier of his Symphony in D minor was very unsuccessful at its premier: nobody seemed to like it, and Rachmaninoff fell into a deep depression. “I felt like a man who had suffered a stroke and had lost the use of his head and hands.” Fortunately, the composer sought help with a specialist, Dr. Nikolai Dahl, and through therapy, hypnosis, and positive affirmations, Rachmaninoff regained his self confidence and his connection with his muse. He went on to compose (among other things) his three piano concertos which are staples of the classical repertoire.
If you listen to the first movement of his 2nd Piano Concerto, you can hear the kind of brooding, dark melancholy that Rachmaninoff must have felt during his depression. But this dark material has a kind of mysterious beauty all its own, and it soon transitions into the iconic secondary theme that is cast in a major key, and is imbued with sunny, almost ecstatic optimism. This contrast of dark and light is explored all throughout the first movement, and the movement ends with the dark opening material. But somehow, instead of feeling depressing, it somehow sounds triumphant. It is as though Rachmaninoff is telling us: “Yes, I know what being depressed feels like. Don’t worry, nothing lasts forever!” (For further reading, consider The Lives of the Great Composers, by Harold C Schonberg).
As composer Richard Wagner said: The art of music is the art of transition.
Thank you for sharing, that was beautiful.
Yes thank you again Neal, very beautiful.
Interesting, I shall have to listen! I love that the Aries rose up in triumph and didn’t deny the journey. Thank you for sharing.
Thanks, Vanessa & Jason… great Aries presentation! I am so glad you mentioned Elton John, because I have an ‘Elton John’ story to share. Part of his success as a composer is due to his collaboration with poet Bernie Taupin, who has north lunar node and Venus in Aries. Sometimes a song is so powerful that it takes off and becomes a kind of healing force all on its own – a force that can show up in surprising ways. For me, such a song is ‘Your Song,’ by Elton John and Bernie Taupin.
I remember when Baz Luhrmann’s MOULIN ROUGE came out in the theaters, I was in the audience, when all of a sudden Ewen McGregor (who has Sun and Mercury in Aries) started to sing ‘Your Song.’ And I don’t know if it was the beautiful, heartfelt way he sang it, or the masterful way it was orchestrated, or the context within the story, or the stunning visuals on the screen, or what… but I just lost it! I had a total emotional meltdown which I was desperately trying to keep to myself, because I was sitting within a group. But it didn’t stop there. I bought the movie CD, and continued to have several more emotional meltdowns over the period of a week while listening to the song. I have Moon and Venus conjunct at 4 degrees, Aries (Same as Bernie Taupin’s north lunar node, in fact). Anyway, this meltdown I experienced is something that the ancient Greeks had a name for – catharsis. Something that is happening on the stage (or screen) serves as a catalyst for some deep inner healing.
Another meaningful Aries collaboration for me can be found in WEST SIDE STORY, with the wonderful pairing of Leonard Bernstein’s Moon in Aries with Stephen Sondheim’s Sun, Venus, and Uranus in Aries. I was deeply moved recently with Rita Moreno’s beautiful performance of ‘There’s a Place for Us.’ (Moreno has north lunar node and Uranus in Aries). This is another example, I believe, of a song that has great healing power… and seems to me to be even more relevant now than when it was written.
Thanks again, Vanessa and Jason… Namaste.
Hi Neal, just seeing this: love the west side story connection. That’s really a beautiful realization about Sondheim and Bernstein! Thank you for sharing it. And I also remember Ewan MacGregor singing in Moulin Rouge, and how one of the things being shared most was his courage for doing so, how raw and emotional it was.
Thanks for sharing Neal. I didn’t realise Ewen was Aries. It’s really interesting when you see those correlations in charts, and of course they happen a lot! What an amazing experience that you resonated to. It just shows how essential frequency is and the way synastry can reveal them. I had a chat with Tony about the Aries connection between Tim Curry and Richard O’Brien of Rocky Horror Picture Show fame on this podcast if you’re interested in tuning into that one. Also, I remember that Ewens work in Moulin Rouge, and bought the album and dvd, and the book! It was filmed nearby when I lived in Sydney and now Elvis is being created two suburbs away here at the Gold Coast. I have a feeling bringing his music and story back will have quite an emotional impact on new and old generations alike.