What does this astrological diagram with its symbols, divisions, numbers, and
lines tell us about the character, biography and destiny of Tyrone Slothrop?
Although Thomas Pynchon proposes a 13th sign
waiting to have a name for it
[302], the Zodiac consists of twelve signs and, presently, ten planets. {Many
astronomers and astrologers are both advocating and claiming the existence of
other planets, asteroids, etc.; but this is a totally different story.} A
horoscope is cast for the day, month, year, and time of birth at the
geographical location of the birth – the exact time of birth being the
decisive factor. This moment of birth, the “original scream,” fills
the lungs of the new-born with
Prana,
determines the Ascendant which thus determines the positions of the ten
celestial bodies in the twelve terrestrial houses.
The planets (yes, I realize astrology mistakenly uses the term
“planet” for the Sun and the Moon) represent archetypical entities.
The signs indicate the basic individual nature, character, and temperament. The
houses correspond to the concrete fields of interest, channels of expression,
and direction of manifestation. The aspects between the planets modify these
combinations and are the major triggers of events, experiences, and development
in the lifetime of any given individual.
Although Astrology itself has a long deep-rooted scholarly tradition, it is NOT
an exact science, and I am not proclaiming it to be such! There is just as much
art, religion, mythology, psychology, and intuitive factors combined with
astrology as there is empirical science. One can perhaps best sum it all up in
these terms: astrology is the mirror of time. . . . And, yes, in Pynchonesque
terms, there is a “zero,” a “zero-point” in astrology.
Whether or not astrology goes beyond the zero or just keeps on repeating itself
in various well-regulated cyclic periods is yet another matter
beyond
this article.
From what I have already stated as clues, hints, and references in
Gravity’s Rainbow
I have derived, deducted, and decided upon August 31, 1918, 7:15 a.m. EWT in
Mingeborough, MA., as the most plausible date and time of birth for Tyrone
Slothrop, the second son of Broderick and Nalline Slothrop, a tenth generation
Berkshire County New England Congregationalist family, which at the time of his
birth was not prospering. This is the nativity of a “double Virgo”
– both the Sun and the Ascendant placed in this Mercury-ruled, mutable
earth sign.
However, instead of being placed in the self-assertive, center-staged First
House, both the Sun and the ruling retrograde Mercury are placed in the misty,
dispersing, transcendental, yet anonymous Twelfth House – the “House
of Preterition.” As a member of the earth signs, Virgo rules trees and
paper more than soil (Taurus) or minerals (Capricorn). Virgo is the sign of the
book-keeper, the proof-reader, the technician, the clock-maker, the clinical
nurse or doctor, the stamp-collector, and the sceptic. Virgo is the sign of the
servant and
not
the master – definitely not a hero! Virgo is orderly, methodic,
analytical, pedantic and pragmatic; basically simple, shy, and withdrawn, yet
correct and helpful. Virgo’s natural ruler, quicksilver messenger Mercury,
also placed in Virgo, endows the native with a practical, technical and
scientific intellect as well as a talent for languages and “a way with
words” [293].
Yet both the Sun and Mercury are placed in the debilitated Twelfth House and
Mercury is retrograde! Virgo is the ruler of the Sixth House and Mercury is the
“Lord” of the Sixth House. Thus, of all the twelve double-sign
combinations, this is the only possible polarized twelfth-house binary
opposite. Orderly, health-conscious, and scientific agnostic Virgo is
transformed into this messy, heavy-drinking, chainsmoking (“Lucky
Strikes!”) superstitious paranoid sap of a comic book-like figure named
Tyrone Slothrop, one unhappy loner reporting to
No One
yet one of the “Faithful,” a truth seeker with a trustworthy face, a
soft touch with a knack for costume theatricals, getting ideas about
Destiny
itself, forced to pass his own tests, commercially fearful yet harmless (not
even armed!) desiring invisibility and seeking grace [20, 269, 390-1, 492].
Destiny is clearly present in this chart. Practical earthbound Virgo’s
main task in life is to administer and further continuity: serving, improving,
and holding together the system. The main direction of expression in the
Twelfth House is dissolution, dispersement, transcendence. Virgo is a mental
sign with a profound intellect, the Twelfth House is a psychic house with
intuitive instincts. Through its Virgo twelfth-house retrograde position,
analytical objective fact-finding Mercury is inverted to subjective synthesis
of signs, symbols, and reflexes. Slothrop is a clinical example of the
ultraparadoxical state: response before stimulii!! Yet he doesn't even realize
it until there is no turning back, no way home to Mingeborough. The message is
received before it was sent and the town has been occupied, even the short cuts
are blocked. A Virgo Mercury retrograde in the Twelfth House doomed to hiding
in garbage cans, scratching graffiti on toilet walls, and sending messages no
one will receive [597, 624, 744].
