We’ll miss you, Bob Jansky

Zip Dobyns

The astrological community has lost several of its leaders in the past two to three years, including Isabel Hickey, Mark Edmund Jones, Carl Payne Tobey, and this year, just a month apart, John McCormick and Robert Jansky. But Bob was more than an astrologer. He was also a good businessman who gave us the astrological ball for the IBM Selectric typewriter and who conducted an increasingly successful astrology book club. His latest vision was a dream shared by many astrologers, and begun in a small way by several groups including three in which I am involved: our own CCRS, NCGR and ISAR. The dream was of a data center which would have on file huge numbers of astrological charts so that astrologers could phone or write in to obtain data from many different categories. The Church of Light probably was the first organization to keep such a file, and they also are working on getting it put on computer disc which is the only practical way to manage in our current technology. We will continue our efforts to attain this goal but will miss the drive and practicality demonstrated so consistently by Bob.

The computer is revolutionizing astrology with its ability to do an enormous variety of techniques with minimal time and energy. Some would probably never be done if we had to calculate them by hand. One of the new techniques is the Kinetic Solar Return; a return of the transiting Sun to the secondary progressed Sun rather than to the natal Sun. Since both the progressed and transiting Sun are moving at different speeds, it is a challenge to find the moment when they are exactly conjunct, but a computer can handle the job. I first heard about the new technique at the conference in New Orleans of the American Federation of Astrologers, and of course, came home and asked my son Mark to add it to our collection of programs. But, due to my usual busy life, I have not done much to test the technique, though we did a short article on the charts of Carter and Reagan that covered the election period. Bob Jansky had just bought a computer and had high hopes for its use in astrology, and I’m sure he would have been interested in seeing some of the new computer-facilitated techniques tried out on his chart. A sudden and unexpected death is a good opportunity to try out new methods, so here are Bob’s kinetic solar returns, both the normal one and one which is precession corrected. The latter means that the progressed Sun has been moved by the amount which the earth and solar system have shifted against the backdrop of the relatively more stationary stars. Sometimes both variations seem to work, as in this case.

With solar or other returns as with other systems of current patterns, one can draw the chart to stand alone or can put it around the natal chart and look at aspects to the natal in addition to the aspects between factors in the new chart. We are including the two kinetic charts and also Bob’s natal chart so that you can note additional aspects beyond those mentioned in this article. Our page size makes it difficult to include a chart with progressions or other current patterns in an outer wheel, around the natal chart, which is my preferred form of handling charts, so we will just note the progressed date for the current year and let you look up the planetary positions.

Since I do not believe in chance or accidents, and do believe that character creates destiny, I would look for psychological reasons for someone having a heart attack when he is seemingly on top of the world, with everything going for him. The heart is associated with letter five of our alphabet, the ego-need to love and be loved or to achieve one’s ambitions in the world, to reach the top and be respected, admired, have power, etc. If we are not able to reach the top, a heart attack offers us a legitimate excuse for the failure. If we need more love and attention, a heart attack may get it for us. Since Bob’s business was thriving; he was at the top in terms of running his own show and being much in demand as a lecturer, book publisher and distributor, etc., the success in the world would apparently not be the issue. How about the need for personal love? As usual, the natal chart spells out the challenge and the current patterns simply say “pay attention; it’s time to deal with that issue in your own nature.”

I feel about Freud somewhat as I feel about the Behaviorists. They have some good ideas, but their philosophical premises are dreadful. Freud said that the two primary issues in life were the ability to love and to work. We can see both themes strongly marked in Bob’s natal chart. The Virgo stellium in the 11th house along with the two rulers of the first house Scorpio, Mars and Pluto, in the 10th house, clearly shows the driving need to be successful in his work; the identification with career and achievement in the world. For further emphasis, we have Saturn in its own sign, Capricorn, along with Ceres, one of the keys to work. Venus, another key to identity (natural self-expression) as ruler of the Ascendant, is one of the Virgo group. Neptune and Jupiter, keys to our search for absolute value and meaning and faith in life, are also in Virgo. Chiron, seemingly like another Jupiter in the chart, is widely conjunct Vesta, the super-Virgo asteroid. The Moon and its south node, keys to our emotional security, are also in Virgo. Bob clearly identified with his work, found his faith and his emotional security there, in his work with the public with most of this emphasis in the transpersonal houses. I have said repeatedly that adding new planets or techniques just repeats the same message, making it still more clear and emphatic. Four of the nine new asteroids from Al Morrison turned up in Virgo!

But the other great drive, the need for love, was also strong in the chart. Libra is rising, with Juno, the marriage asteroid, in a wide conjunction to the Ascendant from the 12th house where it becomes all the more important because of the tendency to be partially unconscious. Additional emphasis in Libra and Scorpio (East Point, Sun, Antivertex, Mercury) repeat the need for a mate—a close, caring, lasting relationship. Uranus in the 7th house and Chiron and Vesta in the 8th house repeat the need for a mate. Ceres and Saturn in the 4th house can mark a natural parent, and the north node of the Moon in the 5th house can mean the same. But in conflict with the preceding indications of a need for a personal emotional side to the life, we have the intense involvement in work and need to stay in control of his own life (Pluto and Mars in the 10th, Saturn in Capricorn, Scorpio in the first house). Plus, we have the strong need for freedom (11th house emphasis, first house, Uranus in Aries) and we have the search for a ideal love (Juno in the 12th house, Pallas in Pisces, Sagittarius node in the 5th, Chiron in the 8th house). The combination of a search for an ideal, a need for freedom, a need to stay in control, and an enormous investment in work can make it very hard to satisfy the need for personal love. Yet a basic part of our nature does not just fold its wings and disappear because we choose to ignore it. It goes underground, into the unconscious, and it hits the physical body in an astrologically appropriate part of the body.

Bob’s secondary progressions showed very clearly the need to deal with this emotional part of the nature. Mercury was square his Moon, Mars had been progressing over the progressed south node of the Moon for several years and was still on the progressed mean node within the one degree orb allowed in secondary progressions. I read the south node as a lesson, in this case, the need to integrate the independence and work identification of Bob’s Mars with the emotional needs of the nodes which (like the Moon) show our dependency, our need for some kind of emotional support system. Bob also had the progressed Moon opposite the progressed Sun, a strong emphasis on the need for love and closeness, yet in an aspect which needs to be integrated, to form a partnership and not keep pulling apart. Progressed Venus was also quincunx progressed Uranus, the closet-cleaning aspect which tends to leave or change a situation, either for greater efficiency or because it is outgrown. In this case, it is another reminder of the basic freedom-closeness problem. Bob also had the two Libra asteroids in conflict aspects; Pallas square the Ascendant and Juno square Pluto which, as ruler of Scorpio, is another key to our ability to share our world and deep emotions with someone else. And for a final touch, the progressed Sun-Moon opposition was square natal Venus. Even the new asteroids which are tentatively associated with love and closeness were all involved in appropriate aspects, but we can let them wait until we have more extensive experience with them.

But the main reason for this article is to explore the new technique, kinetic returns. We already know that secondary progressions are a highly valuable way to see the evolving of the basic character over one’s lifetime. Looking at the normal (not precessed) kinetic return, the first impact hits: Sun exactly on the IC with Neptune in close conjunction and exactly square the Ascendant. If we took this as a chart for the year and watched the secondary Moon, it was when the latter reached the kinetic MC, opposite the Sun that the death came. Of course the aspect could have meant many other events. The purchase of the computer and start of the data bank would have been an appropriate way to handle the new stage of public visibility. But the Sun in the kinetic 4th house was calling for some kind of personal emotional support which the Sun trine Uranus (in progressions) also wanted and didn’t want since it would entail the loss of freedom and power.

Other aspects in the kinetic return included Moon conjunct its own south node in the 5th house in Aquarius; another strong statement of the unresolved freedom-closeness dilemma, with the Chiron square from the 8th house repeating the natal challenge of freedom, search for an ideal, sharing of power, etc. The fixed T-square is brought into really high focus in the local chart for Van Nuys, Ca. where the Moon falls exactly on the 7th house cusp. The Moon wants a mother; the 7th house wants a mate; Aquarius can only tolerate a friend with no strings. We can note also that the rising Jupiter-Saturn conjunction is octile Venus and exactly quincunx the California MC. Also, Vesta, (work and health) is conjunct the Antivertex (auxiliary Ascendant), with an octile to the Juno-Pluto conjunction, pointing again to the unresolved natal struggle between work and partnership. Mars in Capricorn in the 4th house square Pallas in Aries on the cusp of the 8th house just says it again. That position of Mars symbolizes three sides of the cardinal dilemma; freedom, work and power, dependency and emotional needs. Pallas in the 7th or 8th wants partnership, but in Aries again speaks for freedom. There is a sense of impasse and potential for some kind of drastic effect on the physical body, to demand a solution. When we cannot find a solution to a deep rooted psychological conflict, leaving the scene is one way out. The unconscious can be ignored for just so long, and it takes matters into its own hands.

The precessed kinetic return seems less impressive, but still emphatic. The Ascendant is trioctile Pluto-Juno and square Vesta. The mean nodes of the Moon are exactly on the MC-IC, with the south node on the MC, and they square Chiron in the 12th house. Jupiter and Saturn are trioctile the Moon from the 5th house. Neptune-Sun have only harmony aspects in classical terms but they are at the midpoint of Pluto-Juno and Moon. Mars is quincunx the IC as well as maintaining the square to Pallas. Mercury, ruler of the Ascendant, is opposite it, a key to “self against self” in some form. Often such aspects indicate self-blocking which will lead into illness if the conflict is not brought into consciousness and integrated. The emphasis in the 7th and 8th houses again suggests the primary problem; the need to deal with emotional issues. Unfortunately, Bob kept his eye on the work. His fine business ability kept his conscious mind engaged, and the unconscious remained an ignored stepchild. Until we recognize the psychological principles of astrology, we risk similar losses of individuals who have much to contribute to the field but who need a little more insight into their own psychological make-up. But knowing Bob, I’m sure he’ll be back soon to tackle the job again. Enjoy your vacation, Bob. Heavy duty Virgo-Capricorns sometimes have to learn to take a little time off. And let us know when you return. We’ll look forward to even greater accomplishments but maybe also a little space for love.

Copyright © 1981 Los Angeles Community Church of Religious Science, Inc.

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