Author and speaker Alan Watts was one of the early westerners to bring the spiritual teachings of the East to the West. Neither an academic nor a proponent of any particular path or order, Alan Watts was an Anglican minister with deep admiration of Buddhism, Taoism and Hinduism. He was a free thinker with an encyclopedic breadth of scholarship and a charming sense of humor.
Alan Watts was one of the few teachers who made it possible for westerners to accept and understand ideas which originated in India and Asia, free of sectarian influence. He steered clear of presenting himself as a guru, and emphasized the similarities of many spiritual traditions. He was perhaps most critical of his own lineage, but could illuminate its hidden doctrines with startling clarity.
I form the light and create darkness: I make peace and create evil.
I the Lord do all these things.
-- Isaiah 45:7
One of the most important by-products of the technological revolution of the 20th century, was the facilitation of effortless world travel and intellectual exchange: first by ship, later by airplane, and ultimately by instant electronics.
Perhaps the most important of these was the collision of philosophical traditions which made it possible, in countries with freedom of speech, to review and evaluate the past millennia of religious thinking, spared from dogma or fear of persecution. Alan Watts was a key player in this collision of continents.
We could call Alan Watts a double Sagittarius, because both the Sun and the chart lord (the ruler of the 1st House) are in that constellation. Sagittarius and its ruler Jupiter have long been associated with seekers, teachers, and travelers. Alan Watts travelled the world and contacted other teachers and teachings.
"Mars in the sign of Sagittarius gives strong religious and philosophical convictions. People with this position are crusaders for the causes they espouse... These people like adventure and the excitement of distant places and travel. They seek to be leaders in law, religion, philosophy and higher education." -- The Astrologer's Handbook by Sakoian and Acker
As Sagittarius is the 9th sign and relates to all things expansive, so does the 9th house of the chart, and its lord. In this chart, the 9th lord is a bright Moon. When the Moon is bright, it functions as a strongly benefic influence, and this Moon is not only close to full, it receives the full aspect of Jupiter. These factors combine to further underscore his 9th house/Sagittarian/Jupitarian orientation. Planets conjunct the North Node are amplified. Here we see Jupiter amplified by conjunction with Rahu within a few degrees. Alan Watts travelled widely, received his priestly ordination and ultimately settled in a foreign land. This horoscope does not disappoint: the birth data seems quite accurate.
Whenever we find a pattern which occurs from the Ascendant, the Moon and the Sun's houses, the repetition suggests an important factor in the chart. This combination is called the Sudarshan Chakra or "best view wheel" in Indian astrology. Here, we observe that Alan Watts had the 12th lord in the 1st from all 3 points of reference. To describe this in modern terms, it's like having a very prominent 12th house, or 12th lord, or Neptune. As these symbols relate to inspiration, long-distance travel, religious orders, etc. this arrangement is yet another astrological indication his keen interest in spirituality, commencing from an early age.
Finally, we come to the influence of Ketu in the chart. It combines with the Moon in the career house. Modern astrologers consider Ketu to be like Neptune: other-worldly, transpersonal, mystical. When it combines with the Moon in the house of profession, we get yet another indication of spiritual or religious calling... Perhaps he was a crusader in a past life !
One of the most remarkable features of his horoscope is the Second House, the house which deals with the face, the mouth, and with speaking. It also deals with eating, drinking and smoking. His 2nd house contains several extreme mixtures of influence.
On the one hand, we see a favorable 2nd house because it contains a conjunction of Mars and Sun, the rulers of the auspicious 1st and 10th houses. This forms a natural Raja Yoga, a "royal combination" which promises success and recognition through 2nd house affairs. Mercury, as 11th Lord in the 2nd house, forms a natural combination for wealth. Alan Watts earned his fame through Mercurial means, as an author and public speaker. He wrote 28 books and appeared before audiences, conducted seminars and hosted a regular radio program.
On the other hand, we notice that the 2nd house contains the same Mercury, lord of the 8th house Gemini. As the 8th house relates to death, accidents and mishaps, we can view Mercury as a malefic influence. Or rather, we can view it as a natural benefic which simultaneously carries malefic influence. Such is Astrology.
The second house contains 2 naturally malefic planets (Mars and Sun) and a Mercury that has become "accidentally" malefic by its rulership of the 8th house: that makes 3 malefic influences. The ruler of the 2nd house, Jupiter, is in a weak degree and conjunct a malefic. That makes 4 malefic influences. Whichever house relates to an abundance of malefic influences, there the native requires struggle and initiative to overcome the challenges of life. So while Alan Watts' 2nd house may have granted worldly success through "royal combinations", it did not promise an easy lifetime... or a long one.
All things being equal (they rarely are) we can evaluate the longevity of the native by the strength of the 1st and 8th houses. Here, we note that Alan Watts died at age 58, which by modern standards is fairly young. The circumstances of his death remain murky, but apparently he took his own life, after 6 months of careful premeditation and planning. He had been under treatment for a heart condition. Given the abundance of negative factors in his second house - and his life-long habit of generous alcohol and tobacco consumption - such an early demise was unsurprising.
In charts with Scorpio rising, we can look to Pluto for clues about lifespan, and here we find it conjunct malefic Saturn, in the malefic 8th House. Those same two planets, Saturn and Pluto, although trined by benefic Jupiter, are opposed by malefic Mars and Sun. While the Jupiter aspect is favorable, the preponderance of influences is... unfavorable. Alan Watts died at the time of his second Saturn return, when transiting Saturn came back to its natal position next to Pluto in the 8th house. Transiting Ketu was passing over his Saturn at the same time. Given these very strong 8th house influences, it was time to exit the stage of life.
Others who died through injudicious consumption include Elvis Presley (drug overdose) and and King George VI (smoking). Like Alan Watts, their charts contain a Mercury and 2nd house that were simultaneously powerful and afflicted.
One of Watts' favorite lecture themes - one he often emphasized - he called the Dramatic Model of the Universe. He contrasted it to the Biblical model, where God fashioned the first man out of clay and blew into him the breath of life. He referred to the Biblical view as the Ceramic Model.
This will be the presiding image of Hinduism. Their idea is this: that God didn't make the world, like a technologist, but he acted it. That is to say every person - and every thing, for that matter - every tree, every flower, every animal, every star, every rock, every grain of dust, is a role or part which the Godhead is playing. -- "The Image of Man" by Alan Watts
According to Watts, the basic Hindu model of the cosmos is that the Supreme Being engages in a process of acting out the entire
universe and everything in it, in an eternal
blissful play of creation, dissolution, and recreation, which he likened to the human cycles of dreaming and waking, inhalation and exhalation, apprehension and forgetfulness.
Everything, according to this vision, is pulsating with what he called the "wiggly" motion of life.
Watts showed the parallels between this cosmic cycle on the grand scale and the fundamental electromagnetic cycles of sound and light, the 0 and 1 of Binary Logic, the movements within the atom, etc. In a stunning gesture of philosophical unification, he characterized it all as an eternal game of Hide and Seek that the Godhead plays with itself on all levels at once.
The traditional Sanskrit term for this divine play is Leela. We've briefly discussed it in Meanderings 8 but you can more fully appreciate it via the lucid and thorough exposition that Alan Watts gives in his 48-minute lecture entitled The Image of Man
According to Wikipedia, Eddie Murphy "is an American actor,
comedian, and singer. He had his breakthrough as a standup comic before gaining stardom for his film roles;
he is widely recognized as one of the greatest comedians of all time...
Murphy has received numerous accolades including a
Emmy Award, a Grammy Award, a Golden Globe Award, and a Screen Actors Guild Award. He earned a nomination for the Academy Award
for Best Supporting Actor his role in Dreamgirls (2006)...
For Murphy's role as Donkey in Shrek (2001), he won the Annie Award for Outstanding Achievement for Voice Acting in a Feature Production
and was nominated for the BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role for the latter, which to date the only voice-over performance
to ever be nominated in BAFTA's history.
He has also received numerous honorary accolades including the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor in 2015, the Critics' Choice
Award for Lifetime Achievement in 2019 and the Golden Globe Cecil B. DeMille Award in 2023."
In July of 1976, at the age of 15, Murphy performed at a local talent show, delivering an impersonation of singer Al Green. According to Murphy,
this event marked the beginning of his career in show business, which
took off like a skyrocket. This coincided with the recent start of his Saturn Dasha. Saturn in his chart is found in its own sign Capricorn, in an angular house, close to conjunction
with the great benefic, Jupiter. For charts with Cancer ascending, Jupiter becomes doubly positive by virtue of is rulership of Pisces, the 9th house of fortune and opportunity.
When Saturn is exalted or in its own sign, in an angular house, this forms Sasha Yoga, one of the five "great soul" combinations. Sasha Yoga gives the results that a "good" Saturn can bring: success through patience, self-discipline and hard work.
So while Saturn may be a malefic influence by nature - and its activation likely led to long hours of rehearsal and performance - its disposition in Eddie Murphy's horoscope made it the harbinger of tremendous worldly success. In his Navamsha or 9th harmonic chart, Saturn is further strengthened by placement in the first house, in its own sign Aquarius. Furthermore, Saturn is exalted in his Dasamsha or 10th harmonic chart (which can be evaluated for further information about ups and downs in career).
Starting in 1980 (within the Mercury sub-period of his Saturn Dasha) Murphy first earned national attention as a cast member on the Saturday Night Live television program and was credited with helping to revitalize the show. Note that his Dasamsha chart contains a highly favorable Mecury/Saturn conjunction in the first house of the chart. For charts with Libra rising, Mercury rules the fortunate 9th house Gemini, while Saturn rules the fortunate 4th and 5th houses, Saturn and Aquarius. This forms a Raja Yoga, a combination for worldly achievement. So while the Saturn/Mercury sub-period may have appeared lackluster in the natal chart, its activation via the 10th harmonic chart proved spectacular.
We have already discussed his 7th house Saturn, whose activation gave career success.
But we need to mention its effect on relationships. Not unheard of among Hollywood celebrities, Eddie Murphy has fathered many children with several partners: 10 children from 5 women, at the time of this article.
Although his 5th House (the house of children) is unremarkable at first glance, we find that its ruler Pluto in very close conjunction with Rahu: less than 1/2 a degree apart. Planets conjunct Rahu are amplified with respect to their worldly expression. Perhaps this factor alone is instructive. In any event, his extremely powerful 7th house had made it easy to form... intimate liasons.
Eddie Murphy is known for playing many roles in the same story. For example,
in the Nutty Professor film series, he played 7 different parts at the same time !
One of the key features of his horoscope is a Water emphasis. Cancer, a watery constellation is the rising sign: that alone conditions the chart towards sensitivity and imagination. Looking to the Moon as chart lord, we find it conjunct watery Neptune.
According to The Astrologer's Handbook by Sakoian and Acker, natives with Moon conjunct Neptune are "highly impressionable and tend to be psychically attuned to the emotional reactions of others... Vivid imagination is indicated and, if correctly used, can enhance musical and artistic ability."
Having a fluid identity and the ability to impersonate anyone else on demand, is the principle job of the actor. Success in film and theater depends on the astrological mutability of the Moon, Neptune and Pisces. While part of his comic genius may stem from the influence of Uranus (which tends towards the shocking) his musical and acting talent is related to Sun in Pisces and Moon with Neptune. These special influences make it possible for him to effortlessly play many parts.
... which brings us back to Alan Watts and his emphasis on what he called the Theatrical Model of reality, where God delights in acting out the entire universe:
Interested in the horoscopes of other spiritual teachers ?
See these articles: