Hilma af Klint - an astrological profile

The increasingly recognised Swedish artist Hilma af Klint who died in 1944 was born October 26 1862.

This post looks at how her inherent energies -as much as can be known without a full birth chart - are indicative of her body of abstract work.

Only a very selective representation of her work is used here for illustration of the theme addressed

Though traditionally trained in the fashion of the day - landscapes and portraits af Klint really found her forte in abstraction - drawing heavily upon the symbolism of natural and geometric forms due to both inherent inclinations and exposure to the metaphysical and transcendent philosophies from the late 1800s.

In terms of how the known representation of her astrology is consistent with her expressions [actual birthtime not known] af Klint’s birthdate clearly combines all those potentials: 

A Scorpio Sun-Mercury conjunction. 

Pluto in Taurus

Mars in Pisces.

Venus Jupiter and Saturn in Libra

South Node Uranus in Gemini trine Venus

North Node in Sagittarius - with Moon likely nearby.

In response to those influences the life of Hilma af Klint revolved around Nature Art Philosophy Spirituality - and the visual and textual documentation of these intermingled threads in a huge number of notebooks -over 100.

Going by at least a few of the large body of works - which included oil and watercolour - af Klint was partial to the world of astrology -or at the very least its symbolism of zodiac signs within paintings of what look to be large planet spheres.

Her pre-natal eclipses occurred in June 1862;

The June total lunar eclipse at 21 Gemini resonated strongly in her through the natal position of Uranus at 20 Gemini - so too the Venus-Pluto conjunction in Taurus at the eclipse - which by her birthdate came through Pluto alone.

The Jupiter-Saturn conjunction of that era was in Earth - Virgo - there was a 2 degree orb between these at the lunar eclipse and they were tightly square Uranus in Gemini.

The conjunctions in Earth in that era were very much part of the trajectory of the Industrial Revolution -[1861 1881 clearly marking a sustained onset of physical material emphasis on production and productivity. This work-like-a-machine ethic was clearly evident in  af Klint as she was born in that 20 year subset of the longer era of Earth influence within society -beginning a year before her birth.

At birth Jupiter and Saturn had moved into Libra - where the ethic of prodction was suitably applied to her work as an artist.

The key additional point of note re the June 27 partial solar eclipse was Mars 25 Pisces was exact square the Sagittarius-Gemini nodes dispensing into the collective the urge to communicate spiritual themes.

Only Chiron was retrograde in June 1862 so those outer planet imprints were full steam ahead and likely contributed to her capacity to be so productive - even if by October 1862 her birthdate showed 5 retrogrades -Mercury Mars plus Uranus Neptune Pluto.

It could be argued that this was the perfect mix -strong impulses from collective and personal energy patterns along with equally strong inner directed energy being processed through the subconscious - and particularly useful to have the 3 outer planets so imprinted upon her psyche in their transits close to Earth when she was born -as well as being retrograde for weeks or months in advance - [especially Neptune - since early July 1862. Pluto from mid August. Uranus from late September - this sequence covering the prior 1 to nearly 4 months before her birth.

Neptune remained retrograde after birth until mid December 1862 = over 6 weeks post natal.

Pluto was retrograde until late January 1863 = 3 months post-natal.

Uranus was retrograde until late February 1863. = 4 months post-natal.

This clarifies the time frame of strong outer planet influences being absorbed [ which equates to higher consciousness transmission being imprinted]

These timings only reflect the exact station to station time periods -the full periods of influence would be longer with these outer planets due to the long slowdown in advance of the retrograde station and the slow uptick in speed before station direct.

 

see my dedicated post on retrograde periods

The point to be made is that af Klint so strongly expresses the acquired imprinted qualities of Uranus Neptune and Pluto in her abstract body of work. 

These 3 planets all connect to other-worldly consciousness and to the formless background layer identified both in spiritual faiths and by physicists who embrace both micro and macro scale bigger picture realities: 

Uranus offers - in the right vehicle - the ability to tune into the background energy fields of the cosmos. 

Neptune offers the potential for immense sensitivity of perception to the point of immersion and direct connection to the unified whole that embraces the totality of existence. 

Pluto offers the attunement to the metaphysical - everything non-visible non-physical - the larger dimensions of activity beyond the basics of terrestrial life.

Science is taking hundreds of years to explore and verify what sensitives and mystics like af Klint simply know can see and feel.

From the age of 18 af Klint was inspired to represent spiritual ideas - the natural disposition of Neptune -while maintaining a deep engagement with forms found in nature. 

Mathematics and botany were strongly in her consciousness.

While many years in adulthood were devoted to spiritual exploration on an experiential level her commitment to abstraction took hold strongly from the age of 44 -inspired by those spiritual experiences and philosophies. 

The geometric language of lines and forms was utilised to reveal invisible forces in the inner and outer worlds and allow her paintings to become “gateways to other dimensions”

Af Klint saw herself as being able to channel the ideas from non-visible entities and to work as an automatic transcriber of the holy - a ‘’technician of the unknown” instructed to “proclaim a new philosophy of life”. 

The work was not simply about form and resonance. It was also about meaning.

Scientifc discoveries of the era were aligned to the transit of Uranus in Gemini -whereby unusual or revolutionary ideas arise - including in science.

One 1860s discovery was spectroscopy -  which allowed previously unseen chemical elements to be seen using a newly invented optical device called a spectroscope which utilised a prism to enable analysis of a substance. This aspect of optics being used to peer deeper was a physical dimension use of the prevailing Uranus in Gemini influence.

For af Klint the energy was accessible without scientific instruments because she could read/perceive energies from within the non-physical dimension.

After the era of Uranus af Klint was born into [1858-1866] the next period of Uranus in Gemini [1942-1949] saw Abstract Expressionism unleashed in the United States. This art form again was tapping into energy fields and manifesting them through art.

It is no surprise that Uranus [ being the polarity of the bold and colourful expression of Leo] is the signifier of the conceptual the abstract the detached and so a merging of Uranus into art  - not just science is no surprise - and that scientific art has its own genre.  

Af Klint harnessed the geometric aspect of scientific language as her chosen Uranian medium of expression to convey Neptunian [oceanic immersion] and Plutonic perceptions [a deeply insightful reading of the energies imbued in natural forms]

Clothing is already being created using the now public domain artwork of af Klint. The way the imagery functions in 3D is also very intriguing

Af Klint was the perfect vehicle -the ideal consciousness -  through which the new insights of the era could be transmitted -but her mentor Rudoplph Steiner warned her to hold back some of her work - realising it was ahead of its time and too easy for the mainstream to reject.

Increasingly but gradually since ther work was exposed in 1964 a wider and larger receptive audience has evolved -to a peak of popularity [so far] in 2018-2019 in New York at the Guggenheim “Paintings for the Future exhibition.

When the show opened on October 12 2018  the Sun was 18 libra squared by Pluto 18 Capricorn - on the midpoint of af Klint’s Venus-Jupiter in Libra - fitting signifiers of the popularity of this showing and it’s transformational effect on her career/reputation.

Miro, Picasso: inside the mind, an astro energy-analysis

Spanish creatives Joan Miro and Pablo Picasso

born in the late 19th century left a powerful legacy

with global cultural impact spanning the 20^th century and beyond.

Detailed analysis of their energetic blueprints

reveals their personal similarities

as well as the artist who had most historical significance

This analysis looks at the planetary factors related

to Miro and Picasso & future trends

Miro

Miro happened to be born in a most auspicious period

 when a rare conjunction of planets occurred.

It is the combined imprints in particular of Pluto, Neptune, Uranus, Saturn and Jupiter –said to be captured by the neural networks at birth – that manifest so strongly in Miro’s work

Pluto and Neptune formed exact conjunctions in Gemini in 1891 and 1892 – for the first meeting in almost 500 years –which is a significant enough collective energy shift – but for Miro the added connections of Jupiter, Uranus and Saturn linked very closely to Pluto-Neptune enhanced his particular ability to be a conduit for the universal energies prevailing.

April 1893 was a very potent period for that grouping of 5 planets to find sources of expression – in particular, people whose lives might serve as examples. Miro is readily apparent as a rightful heir to the available energies with his day and time of birth adding further reinforcement to the outcomes that defined his life

Pluto conjunct Neptune combines two levels of energy expression that are far removed from everyday experience – the metaphysical and the immaterial – fundamentally the terrain of quantum physics –which most have little sense of or experience with or even intellectual appreciation of.

Thankfully there are artists, musicians, spiritually and scientifically minded people who all have a perspective on the nature of this non-ordinary reality –and therein lies the capacity for cross-over -  where the spiritual or the scientific is expressed through art or music.

Both Pluto and Neptune, via the particular high frequency of electromagnetic radiation they discharge, are associated with abilities beyond the normal, including pre-cognition, extra sensory or clair-sentient ability. They provide a resonance with the physics of the depths of space as well as the minutiae of sub-atomic quantum reality

When Pluto and Neptune aligned exactly in the early 1890’s their position in the Gemini sector made this type of consciousness of the unconscious and hidden realms available to the everyday mind.  The Gemini level of mental functioning is concerned with symbols, signs, language, codes, letters, graphics –along with fragments of information, ephemera – and on another level with writing, reading, talking, communicating ideas, thoughts and general information.

Pluto in Gemini creates a fascination, even obsession with the above aspects of human mind and activities – with a desire to penetrate the mind itself as well for hidden information [ psychoanalysis and hypnosis]

People born with Pluto in Gemini have much more deeply insightful minds than delivered just by Gemini in an unadulterated state. Pluto seeks out the meaning, secrets and essence of things and provides the mind of such people with far more information about things, people, life in general, than most who operate at an everyday level of functional thinking.

Neptune in Gemini infuses the mind with fantasy, daydreaming, escapist, meditative and spiritualized states that are closer to the brainwave conditions of sleep than the alert working mode of  the mind

Effectively, Pluto and Neptune together in Gemini create a shift of the mind away from the terrestrial and mundane and into the altered reality of cosmic space-time and the revelation of unconscious material 

There was only one significant factor allowing Miro to keep himself anchored or earthed enough to avoid extreme dysfunctionality: Saturn in the balancing sign Libra provided enough of an antidote to the extremely intense forces he had to work with – four planets in Gemini –being Moon and Mars adding to the Pluto-Neptune mix means he had an awful lot going on in his head; Jupiter and Uranus add in excesses and chaos to the mix and Mercury linking to all the forementioned planets means his planetary channel of mental functioning is receiving a huge amount of information. Is the complexity of his artwork any surprise? Work done in different periods shows different prevailing influences but all his stylistic elements show correspondences with the dominance of one or more of Miro’s driving forces – from the most intense and complex to the minimalist symbolic works infused with motifs of surrealism, cosmic symbology, dreams, the unconscious, dematerialised space.

Miro book cover graphic

That Miro expressed his highly energised mind through art comes as no surprise when the combination of Venus, north lunar node, Sun and Jupiter all in the elevated high noon position. These ingredients bring together Venus and planets in the connected sign Taurus [Sun, Jupiter] all in association with the destiny indicator the north lunar node. 

Libra and Leo are the two signs most associated with fine art and creativity and Taurus with sensory perception. Miro has Saturn in Libra which is a good structural or compositional sense; Leo is the sign rising at his birth and the Venus-Node combination in Aries has a polarity link with Libra [opposite signs are in feedback as in any dipolar magnetic system] In other words his Aries elements were equally capable of operating like Libra.

 In combination Miro possessed not only a medley of exceptionally creative traits evidenced by the factors just noted, but also a mid capable of transporting those talents somewhere no one had gone before.

His serious side –describing himself as tragic and tormented and capable of being viewed as constrained – all showing the influence of  Saturn so closely opposed to the mentally functioning Mercury – whereas in terms of pure contradiction Miro himself recognised the humorous and playful aspects of his work and others would detect spontaneity in the man himself. These balancing qualities come from the close conjunction of Jupiter to the Sun and Uranus offsetting some of Saturn’s hardest traits.

Miro’s first solo show was in 1918. Fittingly he was drawn to the avant garde especially surrealist practitioners of the era. By 1922 he showed his capacity for astute deconstruction  of material reality – identifying the canvas as a magnetic field activated by an electric current and the opportunity for the laws of gravity to be challenged. 

Great strides in further subversion were made by 1924 with Miro’s stated intent to transform the ‘canvas into a neutral indeterminate surface where figures could float free as dream-like signs within a transfigured world’ [Candela p10-11]

Surrealism had given Miro licence to express his transcended vision, surpassing the limitations of even Cubism’s multi-perspective revolution – for Miro space was a much more dimensional domain and thus his alignment is clear with much later 20^th century physicists who adhere to theories of physical space extending up to 26 dimensions

PICASSO

1973 Picasso portrait on Russian stamp

Picasso’s birth pre-dates Miro by over 11 years and so the planetary factors giving rise to his personal energetic blueprint are in a different category – so distinct in fact that Miro warrants more acclaim for his scientifically accurate perception of reality, long before such aspects of physics were determined or given theoretical credence

Picasso’s artistic credentials comply with the expected correspondences: he has creatively prominent Leo as his rising sign; Venus the indicator of aesthetic sensitivity in Libra –the sign most associated with fine art; a predominance of factors [6 in total] in Taurus-Scorpio adds to the picture via the strong attunement to sensory faculties endowed by those energies.

Were it not for further ingredients, Picasso could have been someone immersed in a very prolific creative occupation. Jupiter in Taurus created the abundance of his work and typically of Taurus a fondness for the tactile shown in his large body of three dimensional work, including ceramics, collage, costume, theatre sets  plus an often heavily gestural style. An enduring love of voluptuous forms is evident -  as well as the recurrent Bull motif. Life in all its earthly Taurean glory is offset with death and destruction elements [Scorpio] including skull imagery.

Pluto, Neptune and Uranus also have major roles to play in lifting Picasso beyond a merely successful career. Pluto enables an extremely penetrating insight and awareness. Placed in such connectivity to Mercury [mind] and in Taurus gave Picasso a metaphysical awareness – a capacity to understand the transcendance of material reality – its destruction and renewal.

Neptune in Taurus conceptualises the dissolution process, dematerialising the object. So much of Picasso’s work is about line, contour.

Uranus brings a strong influence to his Sun [by semisquare angle] and the Sun’s interaction with Jupiter-Neptune [the midpoint of these connects to Uranus] and this ingredient is the avant garde indicator –the rule-breaking, subversive and overall unconventional capacity which lights revolutionary fires.

Although Picasso clearly broke ground in the canon of Western art history and remains enduringly significant, that status may be more as a result of work that reflects his attachment to the earthly domains which make people secure and comfortable – even when rather oddly packaged - versus Miro’s desire to portray unrecognisable and bizarre symbolic and dreamlike realms where many fear to tread

In the longer stretch of global cultural history, Miro’s vision is likely to have renewed spike’s of relevance since the energetic pathway denoted by the spatial orbits of the signifiers Pluto, Neptune, Uranus, Saturn and Jupiter are increasingly engaged in shared cycles emphasising the conceptual over the form, the idea over the object –a process emerging in fine art since the radical revisions of Dada, Cubism and Surrealism opened the doorway to alternative ways of perception.

Picasso. Three Musicians [1921]

Outer planetary transits through the Air signs Gemini, Libra, Aquarius bring about more conceptual or ideas focussed consciousness in the collective of humanity. Positions in the water sign Pisces also add to a dissolving of material attachments in the mind.

Relevant  cultural aspects

In 2013 Neptune is in Pisces [until 2026] increasing dissolving of materiality

Uranus in Taurus will subvert materiality [2019-2026]

Uranus in Gemini -radical unusual ideas,  new com-tech [2026-2033]

Pluto in Aquarius - cultural renaissance [2024-2044]

Pluto in Pisces - non-ordinary realities, virtual, quantum  [2044-2068] 

Jupiter Saturn Cycle - from Dec 2020 is dominated by Air signs for almost 200 years

Jupiter-Neptune in Aquarius, Pisces - 2009-2035

Jupiter-Pluto in Aquarius, Pisces 2033-2070

Reference

Candela, Iria MIRO Tate 2011