The Lyre

It all started with this picture. The sculpture's called Spring and I thought it was a pretty good representation of Lilith conjunct Sun in Capricorn. Lilith is, of course, all that is unmentionable and dark about the feminine. She is, among other things, the vagina dentata. I believe she is our inner wildness. Capricorn is stone. Really, the picture says it all.

It's by the great British sculptor Barbara Hepworth, who has just such a conjunction in her chart. Her great contribution to sculpture was her celebration of the void. or of the space within.

So I slapped it up on The Oxford Astrologer Facebook page and a short discussion ensued. Someone pointed out that the constellation called the Lyre, is in Capricorn. It runs from around 13°-24°. This was relevant because one of Hepworth's most beautiful series is called Orpheus, named after mythology's famous musician. Made about ten years earlier, it's more obviously in the shape of a lyre than this one, but you can see the connection.



So I looked up what Manilius, the Roman astrologer, writes about the Lyre on this excellent website.

"Next, with the rising of the Lyre, there floats forth from Ocean the shape of the tortoise-shell (testudinis), which under the fingers of its heir (Mercury) gave forth sound only after death; once with it did Orpheus, Oeagrus' son, impart sleep to waves, feeling to rocks, hearing to trees, tears to Pluto, and finally a limit to death. Hence will come endowments of song and tuneful strings, hence pipes of different shapes which prattle melodiously, and whatever is moved to utterance by touch of hand or force of breath. The child of the Lyre will sing beguiling songs at the banquet, his voice adding mellowness to the wine and holding the night in thrall. Indeed, even when harassed by cares, he will rehearse some secret strain, tuning his voice to a stealthy hum and, left to himself, he will ever burst into song which can charm no ears but his own. Such are the ordinances of the Lyre, which at the rising of Libra's twenty-sixth degree will direct its prongs to the stars".

And this fits so well with what I have observed about Capricorn Sun or Moon that I thought I'd repost a link to this piece I wrote, which simply lists all the remarkable singers with this placement. Here it is: How Adele Is A Shaman.

Since Neptune (music) was in Capricorn from 1984-1997, a whole generation of musicians is coming of age now. They'll be bringing us something special.

Last time Neptune was in Capricorn was 1820-1834. Here's something composed by Johannes Brahms (1833-1897).