george campbell's (famous linguist) chart interpretation
Posted: Thu Mar 09, 2017 3:20 am
http://www.astro.com/astro-databank/Campbell,_George
Something I have noticed about many charts is that sometimes the chart seems to perfectly fit what we know about the person, but other times the chart seems completely off. I would say that this is one of those charts that doesnt really seem to fit what is known about the person. At least not when it comes to what this person was most known for.
*the tight T-square between mercury, jupiter and saturn (im not really a big fan of modern astrological complex aspect configurations though)
*mercury in virgo (but retrograde)
*mercury and mars are in the 11th house which is the joy of jupiter, theoretically I can see how this might contribute to some involvement with foreign matters
*his 7th house ruler venus is conjunct the MC. Traditionally speaking, I recall the 7th house symbolizing matters having to do with foreign countries, but im not really sure if it would apply in this context or not
*mercury square jupiter
That being said, I don't really find any of the above explanations that convincing. Also I noticed that his 3rd and 9th house are empty, which is kind of surprising. Perhaps the only thing which might possibly explain his prolificness with foreign language is his 9th house ruler moon tightly conjunct pluto, but again, I want to find a traditional explanation for his extreme language abilities as opposed to modern ones. So far I am drawing blanks, anybody else want to take a swing at this?
*edit: I just noticed that his mercury in virgo disposits his moon and saturn (both rulers of the 3rd and 9th houses respectively) and this mercury is retrograding applying to jupiter. From my point of view, and correct me if im wrong; jupiter applying to mercury would imbue mercury as well as the signs and the planets within those signs with an extra burst of jupiterian energy. Additionally mercury is closely scrutinizing the ascendant as well, which might influence his career choice. While this explanation is still not super satisfying, it is at least somewhat convincing. Still not the smoking gun I am looking for though.
So apparently this guy was an extreme linguist, but I can't seem to find anything in the chart that really pops out and screams that this guy is a linguist. On the contrary, I would expect this guy to be maybe a famous artist or singer given his venus tightly conjuncting the midheaven. The only things that I can see that would really explain his career choice and linguistic proficiency are the following:Scottish polyglot and a linguist at the BBC for many years, author of the Compendium of the World's Languages (Routledge, 2000), as well as Handbook of Scripts and Alphabets (Routledge, 1997). He was listed in the Guinness Book of World Records during the 1980s as one of the world's greatest living linguists, could speak and write fluently in at least 44 languages and had a working knowledge of perhaps 20 others.
*the tight T-square between mercury, jupiter and saturn (im not really a big fan of modern astrological complex aspect configurations though)
*mercury in virgo (but retrograde)
*mercury and mars are in the 11th house which is the joy of jupiter, theoretically I can see how this might contribute to some involvement with foreign matters
*his 7th house ruler venus is conjunct the MC. Traditionally speaking, I recall the 7th house symbolizing matters having to do with foreign countries, but im not really sure if it would apply in this context or not
*mercury square jupiter
That being said, I don't really find any of the above explanations that convincing. Also I noticed that his 3rd and 9th house are empty, which is kind of surprising. Perhaps the only thing which might possibly explain his prolificness with foreign language is his 9th house ruler moon tightly conjunct pluto, but again, I want to find a traditional explanation for his extreme language abilities as opposed to modern ones. So far I am drawing blanks, anybody else want to take a swing at this?
*edit: I just noticed that his mercury in virgo disposits his moon and saturn (both rulers of the 3rd and 9th houses respectively) and this mercury is retrograding applying to jupiter. From my point of view, and correct me if im wrong; jupiter applying to mercury would imbue mercury as well as the signs and the planets within those signs with an extra burst of jupiterian energy. Additionally mercury is closely scrutinizing the ascendant as well, which might influence his career choice. While this explanation is still not super satisfying, it is at least somewhat convincing. Still not the smoking gun I am looking for though.
Yeah I forgot to emphasize in the beginning that I was looking for a primarily traditional analysis of his chart. Thanks for your take on it, I guess I was so fixated on the delineation of the natal chart itself that I overlooked the POF chart. Your POF interpretation is very solid btw and makes a lot more sense out of this chart. That being said, I still find it confusing that his MC conjunct venus aspect was completely overruled by the POF chart. I mean I am aware of how powerful the POF can be, but you would think that the natal venus conjunct MC aspect would at least have some influence at least on his reputation and career; yet apparently it did not; otherwise he would be known for it. Unless there is some more esoteric manifestation of venus conjunct MC than I am not aware of.