Our English Literature students are currently revising their poetry in anticipation of their Matsec exams (our version of O' Levels) and one of the poems up for study is Sonnet LX by William Shakespeare. Here it is:
Simply put, in this sonnet Shakespeare ponders on the brevity and meaning of life, something he alludes to in both 'Macbeth' and 'As You Like It'. What caught my eye was 'And nothing stands but for his scythe to mow'. That is definitely a nod to the Grim Reaper - or in astrological terms, Saturn. The ancient Greeks often referred to Saturn as 'Chronos', from where the word 'chronological' comes to us, and was usually portrayed as an old man with a scythe.
Until the 16th century, Saturn was believed to be the outermost planet in the solar system and it was for this reason, perhaps, that 'he' was considered to represent the outermost boundaries, the end, so to speak. Beyond him were the fixed stars. It is no wonder, then, that he represented death, or the Grim Reaper. He is Father Time who ultimately visits everyone. He is, however, more than that. Saturn represents responsibility, discipline, pragmatism, structure and order. It is thought to rule bone structures and it is through structure that we can implement organisation and planning. In the sonnet, Shakespeare tells us that in spite of Father Time visiting even him one day, he hopes that his art will be immortal. Indeed it is.
Saturn turned direct today after a period of retrograde motion. I got permission from Eileen Grimes, an astrologer from Seattle (author of a fabulous book on the astrology of the Titanic), to share her photo. Sometimes the skies talk to us directly. On the day of Saturn going direct, she took a photo of what looks like the Saturn glyph... here it is! What are the chances?!!
Would Will himself have known about astrology? Most definitely. I'll refer to you a wonderful website where you will find a detailed article on this (see the end of this post - a long link post; copy and paste into your browser)....but those of you who have an acquaintance with his plays will know that he refers to the stars many, many times in his plays. It appears that he was not fond of the idea of the stars dominating man's actions though, as expressed through "The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, But in ourselves, that we are underlings". Romeo and Juliet were "star-crossed" lovers and in his other Scottish play, Macbeth asks the stars to "hide your fires".
So Saturn now moves forward in the sign of Pisces. Let's see where that takes us.
And there you have it. From poetry to astrology.....
I hope you enjoyed reading this (brought to you by virtue of Mid-term holidays and one tired but recuperating teacher; now full speed ahead until Christmas break).
Blessings,
Cindy
I hope you enjoyed reading this.
https://politicworm.com/oxford-shakespeare/the-big-six-candidates/oxford-and-the-english-literary-renaissance/shakespeare-and-sir-thomas-smith/shakespeare-smith-and-astrology/#:~:text=Shakespeare%20didn't%20like%20the,bound%20by%20what%20it%20predicted.
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