SPOILERS!!!!..... my pagan astrological musings.....SPOILERS!!!!!

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Marrena

Member
May 1, 2014
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SPOILERS!!!!!








I know I shouldn't be taking a horror novel this seriously, it's supposed to be a diverting beach read, not The Truth Revealing the Ancient Mysteries...but damn, the first two thirds was so consistent with my own life experience (not the horrible pain and recuperation part though, thank my lucky stars) that I can't help mulling over the last third and taking it on its own terms.

Published in 2008, the tail end of the awakening of Eris. Eris was discovered in 2005. The zodiac rulership was completed in 2006. Up until then, there were two co-rulers, Venus and Mercury. Mercury ruled Gemini and Virgo, and Venus ruled Taurus and Libra.

Now Ceres rules Virgo and Eris rules Libra. And thank goodness Pluto was demoted to dwarf planet and now co-rules Scorpio with Charon--maybe that's where the Persephone influence came in, Charon probably should have been Persephone, but what's done is done.

The Egyptians had it right--the flip side of their Venus (Hathor) was Sekhmet--Eris, basically. The West didn't get Libra right--under the influence of Venus they had Libra as the fairest and most beautiful sign--harmony and balance and loveliness. And Taurus had a more earthy beauty.

But now the real ruler of Libra arrives and she's pretty damn scary. She's the goddess of harmony and balance but she's basically Sekhmet. She's the enforcer of Ma'at. Also a healer. And a ferocious killer, out for blood.

So far, so good. Mr. King picks up the zeitgeist, the powerful planetary energy of that time and writes his villainess as Eris/Venus, Sekhmet/Hathor and names her Persephone. The protagonist uses his newfound magical power to enforce Ma'at by killing a transgressor, and also to do a miraculous healing. And the way the book was going, I really thought that young Elizabeth had invoked Persephone, Sekhmet as protectress, and her overzealous protecting was going to lead to a bad end to the two Big Meanie sisters.

And in appearance--red cloak, very beautiful as a doll (Hathor), horrible and gruesome on the boat (Sekhmet), I was expecting Persephone was going to have the Sekhmet/Hathor personality. But instead of remorseless killing machine carrying out the orders of Ra, the final flavor is a vampiric Scorpio flavor. Yet Scorpio isn't EVIIIIIIILL, just powerful and tricksy and really intense. The gods are neutral--the same astrological chart can produce a serial killer or a surgeon. I could buy the switch from Eris to Pluto, Sekhmet to Isis. And I could buy the container trick--and even there, so close to Sekhmet, who was dissuaded from her terrible slaughter by being tricked with red beer. Have the original strong spirits in that keg instead of water and it would have paralleled the old tale exactly.

I guess it was the evilness of Persephone that threw me. It seemed too...human.

OMG, I sound like a crazy person. I blame the book. Why am I taking this book so seriously? I guess it earned it by the quality of the writing.
 

Dana Jean

Dirty Pirate Hooker, The Return
Moderator
Apr 11, 2006
53,634
236,697
The High Seas
SPOILERS!!!!!








I know I shouldn't be taking a horror novel this seriously, it's supposed to be a diverting beach read, not The Truth Revealing the Ancient Mysteries...but damn, the first two thirds was so consistent with my own life experience (not the horrible pain and recuperation part though, thank my lucky stars) that I can't help mulling over the last third and taking it on its own terms.

Published in 2008, the tail end of the awakening of Eris. Eris was discovered in 2005. The zodiac rulership was completed in 2006. Up until then, there were two co-rulers, Venus and Mercury. Mercury ruled Gemini and Virgo, and Venus ruled Taurus and Libra.

Now Ceres rules Virgo and Eris rules Libra. And thank goodness Pluto was demoted to dwarf planet and now co-rules Scorpio with Charon--maybe that's where the Persephone influence came in, Charon probably should have been Persephone, but what's done is done.

The Egyptians had it right--the flip side of their Venus (Hathor) was Sekhmet--Eris, basically. The West didn't get Libra right--under the influence of Venus they had Libra as the fairest and most beautiful sign--harmony and balance and loveliness. And Taurus had a more earthy beauty.

But now the real ruler of Libra arrives and she's pretty damn scary. She's the goddess of harmony and balance but she's basically Sekhmet. She's the enforcer of Ma'at. Also a healer. And a ferocious killer, out for blood.

So far, so good. Mr. King picks up the zeitgeist, the powerful planetary energy of that time and writes his villainess as Eris/Venus, Sekhmet/Hathor and names her Persephone. The protagonist uses his newfound magical power to enforce Ma'at by killing a transgressor, and also to do a miraculous healing. And the way the book was going, I really thought that young Elizabeth had invoked Persephone, Sekhmet as protectress, and her overzealous protecting was going to lead to a bad end to the two Big Meanie sisters.

And in appearance--red cloak, very beautiful as a doll (Hathor), horrible and gruesome on the boat (Sekhmet), I was expecting Persephone was going to have the Sekhmet/Hathor personality. But instead of remorseless killing machine carrying out the orders of Ra, the final flavor is a vampiric Scorpio flavor. Yet Scorpio isn't EVIIIIIIILL, just powerful and tricksy and really intense. The gods are neutral--the same astrological chart can produce a serial killer or a surgeon. I could buy the switch from Eris to Pluto, Sekhmet to Isis. And I could buy the container trick--and even there, so close to Sekhmet, who was dissuaded from her terrible slaughter by being tricked with red beer. Have the original strong spirits in that keg instead of water and it would have paralleled the old tale exactly.

I guess it was the evilness of Persephone that threw me. It seemed too...human.

OMG, I sound like a crazy person. I blame the book. Why am I taking this book so seriously? I guess it earned it by the quality of the writing.
Wow, that was quite a study of the story!
 

Marrena

Member
May 1, 2014
10
52
58
Curiosity killed the cat--I checked Mr. King's natal chart. Very unusual that his birth time is known. No surprise that he has a Scorpio Jupiter in his fifth house, the house of creativity and artistic creation. Trined, given energy by his ambitious Mars in his 12th house, house of the subconscious. His south node is in the Scorpio fifth house too, so Scorpio energy comes easy to him. Oh, and Pluto in the first house, he personifies Pluto, and that is energized even more by a sextile with Mercury, the planet of writing. Saturn is there too. Good thing he's a horror writer, that could have gone badly!

His Eris is a borderline singleton planet, which might give it extra oomph, but more interestingly his Eris makes a quincunx, the angle of obsession, with Chiron. Chiron signifies healing and woundedness. So Eris is discovered and it gives sudden obsessive focus to woundedness and healing. And Ceres is reinstated as a planet, and his Ceres is opposite Chiron, giving even more energy to woundedness and healing--through food? Food and day-to-day mundane activities.

Well, that explains the first part of the book, and that he's a horror writer, but not the last part of the book. I have to think about this some more. Maybe it was just simply the genre itself that requires that sort of ending. On the other hand, he's Stephen King (was going to put a middle name there, but this forum seems to edit out naughty words). He can write whatever he likes.

I have to ask, though, wow, that's a pretty sexual chart. I haven't read a lot of his stuff, but the stuff I've read, while having some sexual scenes in it, usually dwells on the horror side of things (rape, control, etc.) rather than explicitly sexytime language. Have I just not read the right books of his? Just curious.
 

Neesy

#1 fan (Annie Wilkes cousin) 1st cousin Mom's side
May 24, 2012
61,289
239,271
Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
Curiosity killed the cat--I checked Mr. King's natal chart. Very unusual that his birth time is known. No surprise that he has a Scorpio Jupiter in his fifth house, the house of creativity and artistic creation. Trined, given energy by his ambitious Mars in his 12th house, house of the subconscious. His south node is in the Scorpio fifth house too, so Scorpio energy comes easy to him. Oh, and Pluto in the first house, he personifies Pluto, and that is energized even more by a sextile with Mercury, the planet of writing. Saturn is there too. Good thing he's a horror writer, that could have gone badly!

His Eris is a borderline singleton planet, which might give it extra oomph, but more interestingly his Eris makes a quincunx, the angle of obsession, with Chiron. Chiron signifies healing and woundedness. So Eris is discovered and it gives sudden obsessive focus to woundedness and healing. And Ceres is reinstated as a planet, and his Ceres is opposite Chiron, giving even more energy to woundedness and healing--through food? Food and day-to-day mundane activities.

Well, that explains the first part of the book, and that he's a horror writer, but not the last part of the book. I have to think about this some more. Maybe it was just simply the genre itself that requires that sort of ending. On the other hand, he's Stephen King (was going to put a middle name there, but this forum seems to edit out naughty words). He can write whatever he likes.

I have to ask, though, wow, that's a pretty sexual chart. I haven't read a lot of his stuff, but the stuff I've read, while having some sexual scenes in it, usually dwells on the horror side of things (rape, control, etc.) rather than explicitly sexytime language. Have I just not read the right books of his? Just curious.

Oh there is a bit of sex in his books, believe me - just enough to be titillating! So - regarding the middle name as you mentioned - I don't suppose you were doing to put "Stephen Edwin King" :laugh::smile:;)??

So - how many planets does he have in the 5th house anyway??
 
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Neesy

#1 fan (Annie Wilkes cousin) 1st cousin Mom's side
May 24, 2012
61,289
239,271
Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
...I just find it chuckly funny you used the word Titillating, when discussing sexy talk...
resized_grandma-finds-the-internet-meme-generator-this-is-udderly-titillating-c4cd55.jpg


Hey Giant - it is just one of those words that catch my fancy!
 

Autumn13

Active Member
Feb 14, 2012
43
101
One of the reasons that liked Duma Key so much was the absence of sexually explicit scenes. I liked the fact that Edgar and Wireman and Jack each loved Elizabeth in his own way. Jack does have some residual memories of "Kate" on the beach but they are memories and not outright "acts".
And yes, I do know that there is such a thing as a love life. I have had a wonderful 33 marriage and one beautiful, intelligent, fascinating son (who is getting married in September this year).
But sometimes books with too much sexual content from the beautiful to the harmful and almost criminal are simply too easy to find.
A book like Duma Key is a wonderful surprise.
 

César Hernández-Meraz

Wants to be Nick, ends up as Larry
May 19, 2015
605
4,416
44
Aguascalientes, Mexico
I find it curious that the original poster mentions that some attitudes would be "too human" for the gods.

Because I always saw the gods as behaving as "too human". Since all they do with their immortality is fight boredom by throwing tantrums here and there, their happiness, sadness, anger and even their evil are always there in the front seat.

I just had to say:
horoscope-for-the-week-stars-and-planets-will-not-affect-your-life-in-any-way.jpg

I dunno about that. There is a star known as Sol that has been affecting me. It kills any desire I have of going out of the house during the day. :kiwi-fruit: