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https://newenglandhistoricalsociety.com/seven-facts-john-neal-wild-genius/
I recently received an article from the New England Historical Society about this most unusual man – the first to use the phrase, son of a bitch, in American literature. His Sun is conjunct my Ascendant so I had a very strong reaction when reading the story of his life.
“During his lifetime, John Neal was as popular a novelist as Stephen King, as outspoken an activist as Gloria Steinem and as influential a critic as Harold Bloom. Neal advocated pugnaciously for a range of causes—women’s rights, American literature, abolition, temperance, bans on dueling and lotteries, Native American rights and healthful living. He used his pen as his chief weapon (though sometimes he used his fists). He wrote novels, short stories, poems, literary criticism, art criticism and newspaper columns.”
John was a combination of Contrariness and Genius. When someone commented, “In the four quarters of the globe, who reads an American book?” – he immediately sailed to London, England. “In London, he contributed to Blackwood’s Magazine, a literary journal. He was the first American writer published in a British literary journal.”
The peak of his contrariness occurred when he returned to his native Portland. While he had intended to settle in New York, Portlanders criticized him so vociferously that he decided to stay in Portland and become a thorn under the saddle of the citizens of Portland. “He mocked prominent citizens in one of his novels, and he’d offended many with his use of regional dialect and criticism of some American authors.”
From an early age, John exhibited anger management issues. “John got into a lot of fights. At 10, he made and sold lollipops to his schoolmates. When they didn’t pay as promised, he beat them up. In Baltimore, he got into a street brawl that caused the Quakers to excommunicate him. At 79, he threw a man in his 20s off a streetcar. His victim had smoked a cigar on the nonsmoking vehicle.”
John hated titles! “He refused to call judges ‘Your honor.’ Neal had dropped out of school at 12 but he trained as a lawyer at a time when admittance to the bar didn’t require a law degree. As a Quaker, he believed ‘there is no greater humbug in the minds of men than this obsequious bowing to men of high station.’”
Being one of the first recorded Womens’ Libbers, “he championed equal pay for women. Neal also championed a lot of other women’s issues and promoted women writers in the magazines he edited, including, The Yankee. He delivered speeches on women’s rights to large crowds in New York City and on the lyceum circuit. Neal included women characters and women’s issues in his fiction, and in 1868, he cofounded the New England Woman Suffrage Association. Two years later, he organized the first public meeting on women’s suffrage in Portland.”
John Neal gives me hope for the future – hoping that more Contrarians will incarnate in the new Pluto in Aquarius Cycle. With my Moon-Uranus square the Sun, I have always admired such independent, outspoken types. When I had my first astrological reading with Catherine Grant, a founder of the American Federation of Astrologers, I saw her as a “crusty old broad” and, as a shy and fearful young person, I wanted to be just like her. I am sure there are many at this stage in my life who feel that I have achieved my goal.
When the birth time is unknown, I always use the Johndro Locality chart. In the early 1980s, I observed the accuracy of these charts – almost as a second chart for interpretation.
First, Pluto in Aquarius is Out-Of-Bounds, often a signature of a generation, as with Pluto in Leo. It is also a powerful Handle for a Bucket Pattern. This means that all of the energy of his planets is funneled through Pluto in Aquarius.
My best example of an OOB Pluto is that of a dear friend -- she is active with empowering workshops and empowering women. With 4 planets OOB, she has never taken the traditional route for anything - no college but she is a professional. She respects non-traditional relating. She always takes a circuitous route.
The most powerful and prominent signature in John Neal’s chart is the Fixed Cross with Jupiter opposing Saturn and Pluto opposing Uranus. With Uranus, contrariness, orneriness and fixed determination are key features in the personality. This Cross does not involve any personal planets so that the energy of the configuration manifests in social and cultural matters.
With several planets in Ending Degrees (24-29 degrees), especially in his Fixed Cross, he was inclined to take matters to extremes in a doggedly determined manner. He just could not help himself.
From my forthcoming book on Beginning and Ending Planets, I state in the introduction (found on my website www.lynnkoiner.com):
An Ending Planet is the one that is the latest by degree in the chart but the planet must be positioned between 24-25 and 29 degrees. There is an energy that may be over-developed by the individual and, as a result, it can become distorted. With the Ending Planet, the individual must and does learn to let go of the tendency to hold onto the planet’s energy. But, individual may go to extremes with the Ending Planet before releasing the energy. Some students observe that they feel compelled or even forced to do this.
John Neal has Mars as a Beginning Planet, acting very much like an Out Of Bounds Planet – difficult to regulate and this must be self-taught. His anger management issues were the result of his Beginning Mars.
The Pluto-Jupiter aspect is one that I have observed over decades. These people are hyper-sensitive to people who are phony, duplicitous, playing games and fake. Once they detect that someone is phony or trying to falsely impress, the wall goes up and they can never relate to that person again. They are extremely perceptive regarding manipulative or deceptive behavior so they are good with profiling but they may not be a very good team player.
Jupiter signifies the Relating Principle – how we relate and to what we relate. Jupiter in Scorpio always relates at an intense level with no patience for shallow, superficial communications. Jupiter-Uranus-Saturn finds it impossible to relate to anything conservative, conforming and traditional. Uranus in Leo tends to rebel again traditional authority and authority figures in general – “Just because someone is in authority, it does not mean that they must be respected or that they are accurate in their judgments and
decisions.”
In the upcoming cycle, Pluto in Aquarius will no longer make any of these fisty aspects to the outer planets, only sextiles and trines. Hopefully, the transition will be peaceful, unlike previous cycles.
There is an interesting pattern when Uranus enters the sign of Gemini in 2026. Since its discovery, there is a great battle for Democracy. First, the American Revolution; Second, the American Civil War; Third, World War II. I realized after attending lectures and concerts that saluted the “Greatest Generation” of the Age. I realized that this Greatest Generation were largely born with Uranus in Pisces and were called to service when the Battle for Democracy began with Uranus in Gemini (their first Uranus Square). The Pattern at the American Civil War is repeating again – in 2027, Uranus in Gemini and Neptune in Aries repeat their alignment from the 1800s. This was a battle to save our Democracy and our Constitution, specifically the Declaration of Independence. Many respected economic and mundane astrologers have predicted a great civil war. We can see the seeds of this with the Trucker Strikes and the Vaccination Rebellion with Saturn in Aquarius.
In my studies in Theosophy, I observed that Esoteric Gemini rules the concept and Principles of Democracy – that all people have the education, the freedom and the accurate information by which they can make accurate decisions for themselves. Dis-information is a step in the direction of dismantling Democracies around the world. Bill Sarubbi (Meridian) states that, in May 2031, humanity will be forced to make a choice between the Higher Self and the lower self.
The last time that Pluto was in Aquarius was from 1777-1798. Pluto in Aquarius back then was opposed by Uranus, a combination that portends revolutions - such as the American Revolution and the French Revolution – both to rid the countries of the control of a monarchy. In an early stage of our current rebellion, Gen Zers are voting en masse for the first time to “save our democracy and their rights.”
Patrick Watson on his website states: “People from this span of time may stand out as utilitarian, defiant and skeptical as a group. Individuals with aspects from Pluto to more personal planets and points may stand out as their transformational non-conformists, abstract theorists and antiheroes.”
There is another excellent Pluto in Aquarius article by Alexandra at
Astrology
from the Soul web site
My friend, Janet Kane, has an article of AI and Pluto in Aquarius at www.mythiczodiac.com
With our Democracy at risk, BE A JOHN NEAL!
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