Archive for October 2010
Helmut Newton
Brigitte Nielsen by Helmut Newton
Today’s birthday boy is photographer Helmut Newton. Wikipedia describes Newton as a “prolific, widely imitated fashion photographer whose provocative, erotically charged black-and-white photos were a mainstay of Vogue and other publications.”
Scorpio rules over sex, birth and death — themes that define the work of Newton. In fact, there might not be a 20th century artist who so readily exhibits the stereotypes associated with his zodiac sign. Anyone who knows anything about astrology viewing a photo by Newton should be able to guess that Newton is a Scorpio at first glance. It’s like looking at the Olsen twins and guessing that their zodiac sign is Gemini. It’s that obvious!
Grace Slick
One of my favorite astrology books is called “Sun Sign, Moon Sign” by Charles and Suzi Harvey. In each chapter, there’s a section entitled “Images for Integration” where the authors provide particular examples from popular culture that support their interpretations.
If I was to choose an image that would support my interpretation of someone born on October 30, that image would be of October 30th’s birthday girl Grace Slick singing “White Rabbit,” the classic hit from Jefferson Airplane.
Some people might argue that the tale of “Alice in Wonderland” that inspired the song represents a Piscean trip into a drug-addled fantasy world, but I tend to believe that it’s more of a Scorpionic sojourn into the depths of the psyche. Of course, having a Scorpio woman sing the song so memorably could be influencing my interpretation. Still, I don’t believe anyone else could have done the song justice.
Winona Ryder
The birthday girl for October 29 is Winona Ryder. Ryder became a star when she played Lydia , the goth teenager in “Beetlejuice.” Of all the zodiac signs, I believe that Scorpio suits the goth style the most. Ryder fit into a role that seemed tailor-made for her, not only because of the character she played, but also because of the costumes she wore.
Off the set, Ryder does appear to have a similar character to Lydia. A fan of black clothes and dark eye makeup, the actress isn’t known for making grand gestures on the red carpet. In fact, she’s one of Hollywood’s coolest celebrities. Dark, alluring and somewhat secretive, Ryder epitomizes many of the qualities that define her zodiac sign.
Bill Gates
I should be discussing the signature style of Scorpio, but since the sun moved into the sign a few days ago, I keep coming across celebrities who define the sign in much more profound ways.
Today’s birthday boy is Bill Gates. In my book, I likened the sign of Scorpio to a glacier moving slowly across the ground, transforming the landscape around it. That’s how a Scorpio native works. Capricorn individuals are often described as being calculating and methodical, but I believe that those qualities are even more prevalent in the natal chart of a Scorpio with a well-placed sun. Capricorns often rely on innate patience and a great sense of timing, whereas Scorpios tend to be rather relentless in their pursuits, relying upon consistent effort to get the job done. And when they are done, the world as we know it has become a much different place.
Sylvia Plath
Scorpio isn’t known as the most cheerful sign of the zodiac. Yet today’s birthday girl, poet Sylvia Plath, has become synonymous with depression and suicide since her death in 1963.
It’s quite natural for Scorpio natives to be deep thinkers. It is one of the most introspective sign of the zodiac, and introspection can lead some people into rather depressive territory. But not every Scorpio is depressed. Plath had a rather tough, nearly exact square between Mars in Leo from the sixth house to Mercury in Scorpio in the eighth house. I suppose that was the trigger for her mental illness.
For every Sylvia Plath there’s another Scorpio out there who enjoys life to the fullest. Her sun sign had little to do with her suicide, even though it’s easy to draw a parallel between the somewhat withdrawn nature of Scorpio and the self-pitying nature of many depressed individuals. The cliché that this can be a “dark” sign is apt. It’s just not the defining aspect of the sign.
Jaclyn Smith
The thing that interests me the most about today’s birthday girl, Jaclyn Smith, is that she virtually transformed the business of fashion in 1985 with her signature line for Kmart. In an era when celebrities endorsed products the old-fashioned way, Smith put her own name on the labels. She was the first superstar to become a “brand.”
There is an innate pioneering spirit that drives Scorpio natives forward. Yet Scorpios can be tremendously patient as they remodel the landscape to make it a better place to do their kind of business. It took the rest of us twenty-five years to get tired of celebrity branding (isn’t that right, Lindsay Lohan?), but it’s probably here to stay, anyway. We can all thank Jaclyn Smith for that.
Katy Perry
The sign of Scorpio is often associated with sex. In mundane astrology Scorpio is responsible for reproduction, so it only makes sense that the sign that rules over the reproductive organs has a sexual connotation. Yet Scorpio isn’t a sign that normally lets it all hang out. There’s usually quite a bit of reserve in the way most Scorpio individuals present themselves to the world.
Take Katy Perry, for example. She might wear low-cut, strapless dresses a lot, but her sexual persona is actually a retro throwback rather than an all-out visual assault. Today’s birthday girl wears clothes that would have been considered to be provocative fifty years ago. You’re far more likely to see a Cancer with her boobs hanging out, or a Sagittarian in something that leaves nothing to the imagination than to see a Scorpio in something slutty. It’s just not the sleazy sign people make it out to be.
Zac Posen
Scorpio is the sign of resurrection, and that’s why today’s birthday boy, Zac Posen, makes such a great example of a Scorpio well-suited to his milieu. Posen likes to resurrect silhouettes from the past and put them on his runway. I believe that only three signs should be working with retro looks. Cancer natives have nostaligic flair, Capricorn individuals know when to bring back trends, and Scorpios know how pillage the archives.
Sometimes, however, Posen can pillage the archives too literally, and he’s often accused of being stuck in the past. Nevertheless, there isn’t a lot that hasn’t been done already in fashion, and sometimes all it takes for a designer to become the hottest name in the business is good timing. With Saturn moving into Scorpio in October 2012, Posen is about to embark upon his make-it-or-break-it phase.
I hope he makes it.
Nancy Grace
If I had to guess the sun sign of Nancy Grace, I’d guess Scorpio. She’s born on the cusp of Libra and Scorpio, and people who were born in North America on October 23 usually have about a fifty/fifty chance of being one sign or the other. Nevertheless, Grace’s probing journalistic style makes me believe that she’s a Scorpio. Scorpios like to dig deeply into issues. Grace is far less interested in surface appearances than she is in the inner workings of things. That’s the difference between Libra and Scorpio.
So I looked up her chart and she’s definitely got a Libra sun! I was wrong, but she’s also got Mercury, Mars and Neptune in Scorpio. I don’t have an accurate time of birth, but she can’t have a Scorpio sun. Still, the Scorpio influences in her chart lead me to believe that Grace might be better off reading the Scorpio horoscope in her local newspaper. She doesn’t make a very convincing Libra native.
Catherine Deneuve
The birthday girl for October 22 is Catherine Deneuve. I find it interesting that Deneuve was not only the fact of Chanel fragrances in the pre-Lagerfeld era, but also a muse of designer Yves Saint Laurent. Both Coco Chanel and Saint Laurent were Leos. And while I get a Libra vibe from Deneuve, I wondered why she was influencing Leo designers.
It turns out that her moon is in Leo, along with Jupiter, Pluto and the north node, all in her seventh house of partnerships. No wonder the Leos love her!
Cosmically Chic 
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