Prophet of the Avant Garde
Man Ray
"I'm a free man. I don't work for a boss. I'm indifferent to things that don't interest me. But never would I attack them, especially in the creative arts, because I say anybody who does creative art is a sacred person. He cannot do any harm whereas a bad politician, a bad doctor, or a bad cook -- can kill you."
Man Ray
Well I'm not sure artists are completely harmless human beings but they do come ahead of politicians on that score. Venus has just entered Aquarius, on her way to the North Node, then on to Neptune, for some futuristic pleasure within all this new reality. I have a Venus-Uranus conjunction and every best manfriend of mine has been an Aquarius. My father had a Venus in Aquarius and we communicated in alternative dimensions. Telepathy is a must. The mental realms of these creatures fascinate me and the freedom I've enjoyed in all of these relationships has been treasured. I'm free to be myself. Untethered.
The artist Man Ray popped into my head and I watched a documentary I had on his life and work. He seemed to fit the Venus in Aquarius moment so I looked him up. August 27, 1890. Moon conjunct Jupiter in Aquarius trine Venus conjunct Uranus in Libra. Exactly my type. Everything he did was inventive and he worked in many different media, always following his own imagination. He was hilarious too.
"I simply try to be as free as possible, in my manner of working and in my choice of subject. No one can dictate to me or guide me."He lived a long relatively unsuccessful life in multiple relationships with women, another Venusian Aquarian characteristic. Now his works sell for millions. A dollar too late. Then again, many of us have a rather detached relationship with money, perfect for the dedicated artist who doesn't mind starving. No Venus in Taurus here. I suppose anarchy would triumph if we all lived by these ideals so the dictates prevail and restrict. Unless by chance, you have a Uranian Venus.
Sculpture: Obstruction by Man Ray
posted by jm at 3:53 AM
38 Comments:
This morning I was sorting through my bookshelves and was particularly drawn to a book of Man Ray's photos which I thought would be good inspiration. Then I clicked on your blog and there he was. One of those lovely synchronicities!
I've got the Uranus Venus square.
Juju!!! How stunningly perfect.
I'm entering a new chapter and a renewal as an artist. He revolutionized the photographic process by putting objects directly on paper then processing it without a camera. "Manographs" they were called.
Uranus and some sort of revolutions are scheduled and I suddenly feel the calling. Artists remain in that room forever, I think, which makes for some difficulty fitting in. But who really wants to? He said in the film, "I just want to be accepted, not understood." Well he's accepted now so he got his wish granted.
It takes such devotion to remain true to artistic principles but it comes naturally, really. He said one thing I liked, since I so often get sidetracked into new ventures. He said he does one thing for a few years, then another, and I've seen this so often in the brilliant, which could be one reason why commercial success eludes them. I got into Man Ray just recently and he's fascinating.
"I take useful things and make them useless, he said. Virgo (his Sun) deals with Aquarius.
It's a new day. Change has come, so they say. Joyous comment. There's a reason Venus in Aquarius is associated with telepathic communication? I didn't even need a phone with my last one!
Mpk, I love my Venus-Uranus conjunction most of all and it can cause trouble like the square in its desire for freedom. The love of originality (which is largely why you like me) is one its finest attributes, but the tendency toward boredom can be problematic. I get agitated with people easily and want out, but some are better than I am.
A couple of weeks ago I was with a group of friends and I suddenly had enough. I got up and walked out without a word. Later I felt a little guilty but, fortunately they are artists and understand. When I saw them Fri. night they were delighted. No one noticed my last abrupt departure and absence of "good-byes!"
As a VU I have friends from every walk of life and have never paid any attention at all to class distinction. I've met so many interesting people and I basically feel that everyone possesses intelligence somewhere in their psyches. I can talk to anyone and learn.
VU can enter and leave relationships abruptly and with a South Node in the 7th like both of us have, this is a great plus, although you'd do it less than I, probably, with yours in Cancer.
I also let people go entirely when they leave town or move on in other ways.
Aquarian Venuses often don't always have what would be considered ongoing "normal" sexual/emotional outlets and they love the intellectual realm so completely that some who don't share these desires can feel left out or frustrated.
They can be high-strung but electrically stimulating to a very high degree. They don't like to be trapped and possessed. I think Man Ray had a different muse for each segment of his creative development. He had only one painful and possessive relationship out of many. When he encountered the traumatic one years later he commented how happy he was that he no longer deisred her. That ol' freedom thing. You have to pay for it though. Some fair exchange.
One of the most intriguing pieces he created was a metronome with an eye on the needle that went back and forth. Watching it move takes you into another dimension. The inescapable element of time and yet the eye out moves along with it someplace else. Really fascinating.
The title of the piece was "Object to be Destroyed." Interesting developments followed.
Here's an example of how Venusian/Aquarian relationships can work. I have the conjunction and my partner had an Aquarius 7th and Uranus in Aries in a grand fire trine (was I perfect with my Aries rising? Uranian streak? His little angel.) They called us the "most together/apart couple they'd known." We loved each other enough to know what to do.
I met him in New Orleans one night and the next day I moved in with him and decided to see him to his death.
One weekend I got mad and moved out taking absolutely everything. Two days later I moved it all back in.
We went to Mexico and found a nice spot to paint and make music by Lake Chapala. One day I got mad and moved out taking another unit in the complex. He then moved underneath me and there we stayed together/apart for 6 months doing our own things and hearing each other's sounds. Of course, we visited all the time.
Next we went to Santa Fe where we got a little cottage together. One day I got mad and moved across town. He followed shortly after and took up residence in a shack on the property which we named Farley's Farm. There we stayed together/apart for 5 years, painting and making music. And farming. He had ducks and a corn field. His studio was in the back of my house so we crossed paths all the time. And his shack had no facilities. He wrote and illustrated a wonderful children's book in that shack.
Next was Colorado Springs where we lived together again and made it through 4 years. Then came Denver where we lived in an apartment a deux. One day I got mad (Uranus by transit opposite my Venus) and moved out. I took another apartment right across the hall. That was the best time of all and it lasted for many years. A very productive time. I can still hear the rattle of paper under my door at all hours of the night with his brilliant words of wisdom written to straighten me out without fuss.
The closeness was electrifying and creatively stimulating and the separations were required to get anything done. Not what you would call normal. To them. I'd hate to call us abnormal so shall we say, out of the ordinary. Uranus is ready after stodgy Saturn.
When I saw them Fri. night they were delighted. No one noticed my last abrupt departure and absence of "good-byes!"
I get agitated like this and leave too sometimes. I did it all the time when I was younger. I've realized that no one usually knows how I was thinking unless I tell them. And I know it's not exactly a fair reaction on my part since it's my choice to attend so I'm beginning to master it and feel ok with it. It's fine to leave. Mostly I've just learned to pace myself. I know how many of which types of gathering I can stand and at what intervals.
Here's an example of how Venusian/Aquarian relationships can work.
That's an amazing history! I can only imagine the wealth of stories...
I really think she with the best stories wins :D
I fall in love quickly with people with intriguing stories to tell. I like to tell my own, but it has to happen spontaneously. And those who attract and continually create intriguing stories are those I wish to be the closest of friends with. I don't mind aging as long as the stories grow.
Also people with extraordinary luck. Those who seem to bump into amazing connections almost spontaneously. These are the people I adore. I can do this too and it's like a ball that once it gets rolling...but I have to be going with the flow. Saturn quells the trickster in me at this point in my history but it won't last much longer.
I'm beginning to master it and feel ok with it.
That's the very best part of astrology. To know ourselves, accept our quirks, and learn to use them to our advantage. Everything is there for a reason. That's why no aspects are bad to me intrinsically. It's how we work with them.
I know how many of which types of gathering I can stand and at what intervals.
I'm getting better myself! It's like a stage set. We all take our places immediately knowing our parts ready to enact the drama. We part, meet again, and connect right away.
I fall in love quickly with people with intriguing stories to tell.
Me too. This configuration falls in love instantly. Out of love too. Sometimes I meet and fall knowing everything has to be covered right away because I won't see them again. Whole stories are enacted in a day. Time is warped by Uranus.
Those who seem to bump into amazing connections almost spontaneously. These are the people I adore.
And how. That's where the telepathy is useful and the sharing of knowledge on an extraordinary level. The keywords for Aquarius are "I know." That's the kind of sharing I have to have for my Venus to be satisfied.
I think you are correct mpk. Jupiter is usually associated with luck but I think it might be Uranus. Different kind of fortune.
Saturn quells the trickster in me at this point in my history but it won't last much longer.
A little Saturn can be good, but I agree with you. The NN is crossing your Moon-Jupiter in Aquarius and Uranus in Aries will square your Cancer 7th house planets. Uranus transits have always freed up my Saturn. Uranus opposed my Saturn (5th house Leo) to the minute when my father died thus freeing me completely to live my independent artistic life. It was a strange blend of sorrow and excitement. Heavy sadness came in later but now the Uranus is being activated again. Uranus is neither happy nor sad. There's an absurdity to it all in our own machinations. I think the story Steppenwolf captures this characteristic.
Your Saturn is exactly on my Venus in Gem at 24 and your 27 Sun is on my 28 Uranus so our mental connection is ridiculously huge and natural. That's why I love Geminis so much. Others don't understand what I see in them, this supernatural something!
I really think she with the best stories wins :D
LOL! That has more significance than you know. I mean ... you do know.
Anyhoo. As things progress I'm re-uniting with my original approach to astrology which is to use it, not to predict, but to connect to the magic of cosmic relationship. What will happen? Will it be good or bad? Fact is, it will be both. It matters not. A sequential unfolding is in progress and I love most of all to marvel at the orchestration. Things work out only to unravel again. Puzzles seeking solutions seeking puzzles.
At this point I'm torn between immersion, including all that emotion, such as in the election process, and separation, watching the patterns align. I think this speaks of my Uranian self who gets involved in the mundane drama only to find the pleasure of separation once again. I think the key would be to allow the daily nothingness to be a part of my experience in a nice rhythm. Back to my original love of not-knowing. I'm smart anyway.:-) The people ... well, you know. And if something happens on July 20th, 2012, I'll be the first to be dazzled.
Venus in Aquarius is associated with telepathic communication
Hm, didn't know that! I have a Venus-Moon conjunction at the top of Aquarius. I do seem to be able to receive communications from the universe via synchronicities & objects, events, etc. Not that that's a special talent, but I enjoy the sense of literacy.
with a South Node in the 7th like both of us have, this is a great plus
Whoo, that's my SN too ... in Aries. Must be the NN in Libra that makes me careful to do proper goodbyes --if brief -- before bolting.
Aquarian Venuses often don't always have what would be considered ongoing "normal" sexual/emotional outlets and they love the intellectual realm so completely that some who don't share these desires can feel left out or frustrated.
A card reader once told me that people fall in love with me and I just don't notice. True. My passionate relationships were always unrequited, unconsummated, very painful and obsessive. Ow.
I really think she with the best stories wins :D
An m.p.k. after my own heart!
And jm, your together/apart relationship sounds wonderful. I want one of those before I depart.
HA HA HA!!!
Must be the NN in Libra that makes me careful to do proper goodbyes --if brief -- before bolting.
Yes indeed. You also are a polite Cap following a few of the rules! Uranians like to get from here to there instantly avoiding the tedious worn routes.
A card reader once told me that people fall in love with me and I just don't notice. True. My passionate relationships were always unrequited, unconsummated, very painful and obsessive.
Those pesky passionate relationships can be a drag! My Aquarian men are sexy as all get out sometimes but we never go there. Too far down from the mental mountaintops. I'd need a supersonic bobsled. I notice the ones they copulate with are not usually the mental giants they are. Needless to say, they are usually brief encounters. The mental light bulbs are suppose to be turned off then, right? Some of my favs are completely comfortable with abstinence which the world frowns upon and tells you to see a therapist. That's their solution to just about everything. Or Zoloft. I guess they forgot about procreation and its pitfalls.
Together/apart is The Way.
Uranus bypasses the usual structural system so I think this could account for the telepathic wave patterns picked up on.
Uranus rules the nerve circuitry in the body and the lightning fast communication within. Sometimes Uranians plug into this and the speed with which they pick up messages can seem like before the fact and that mimics telepathy. Flash insights are common, and it's not that everyone is left out, it's just that Uranians place a high priority on these sensations. The electrical high.
Funny how many Uranian Venuses there are at Raging U. One could almost believe in astrology.
Free to come or not come.
tee heee. had to pitch in after reading your "together-apart" love story. Long before I even knew about astrology, I used to tell people I dreamed of living that way with my future lover like Mia Farrow and Woody Allan: having separate Manhattan apartments, in buildings that face each other. Must be my Venus square Uranus I guess...:-P
LOL!! Elena! How funny. Are we that predictable? Mia is an Aquarius.
and south node in the seventh too. partners in karma :-)
I was fascinated by his hot and heavy relationship with Lee Miller. Is that "the one" you are talking about?
I'm sure the heat between such venus-uranian people would magnetize the whole room. Apparently she invented the "solarization" effect together with him. An intense creative partnership...
I'm another Venus/Uranus conjunction, both in Libra but in different houses (5/6, respectively).
I too do the abrupt exit, but I also may go weeks without seeing someone I really like and then it's like we were never apart. We pick up where we left off. :o)
Elena! Yes! Lee is the one. And she did invent the process with him.
He took a photo of her neck that he disliked and discarded. She fished it out of the trash and reprinted it. He loved it and took credit for it which angered her so she stormed off. When she returned he had hung the photo on the wall with its neck slashed and red ink pouring down. Probably didn't phase her much. But yes, an intense partnership it was.
Must have been a Pluto transit!
Together\Apart made me think of the separate bedrooms theme. I have a friend who he and his wife have their own bedrooms. His just as he wants it an hers just so. They usually sleep apart, but when they need to come together it creates a certain atmosphere since they have to be invited to enter into the space.
ha! love it. wouldn't mind having a romance like that. keep me on my toes. :)
or by my neck :0
Yup joe. You're another one. I do love the type. I go years not seeing someone and then when we meet it's rather matter of fact and usually by happenstance, picking up the beat just as you said. There really is no leash. I never prevented my partner from doing anything he wanted.
One day in New Mexico he disappeared like he often did and didn't return at night so I started to worry slightly. Next day he still wasn't there and I finally got a call. He was in California. I was relieved knowing where he was. And not at all surprised.
Another time I saw him off to North Carolina at the airport. A week later he returned only he never went to NC. He lost his ticket and had been in his apt. down the block. You never knew with him.
All these famous people nowadays lead such boring lives. I can't quite follow them.:-) But I do try. Honest.
Gives necking a brand new connotation!!
They usually sleep apart, but when they need to come together it creates a certain atmosphere since they have to be invited to enter into the space.
Now that I like. Class. Beats invasion. There are more of us than we know.
OMG! The 7th SN! Partners in karma indeed. There are so many of us here.
It's tough in a world that thinks relationships are the end all be all. The ultimate answer. Can't be healthy without them. Carrying them like baggage everywhere. Cabinets full of them. Ha! Back to the Zoloft.
This is all fascinating. I read a book about Lee Miller years ago. She was happiest during war I think.
There is something so necessary about the surrealists and Man Ray. I can't imagine living without their vision.
That's fascinating about her happiness. The war affected all of them so much and we live in a bubble here with little understanding of these things. Watching cities being gutted overnight is surreal in itself. He returned to the States during that time and was deeply depressed, never feeling at home. I don't think they ever really recovered and most of them captured the angst in their work which changed markedly after that. It's as though there has been depression ever since, maybe a universal innocence lost. It was right after the discovery of Pluto and I think Hiroshima was a turning point in consciousness.
Juju, I think you're right. I've always been attracted to their visions but now they are resonating with particular strength in my world. They lived in Europe and worked together inspiring one another. We don't have that now and I wonder where the cultural revolution is going and how it will tell its tale.
After the war it seems that the collective world of the artists dissipated. Man Ray was not recognized fully but he still was able to get through somewhat in an atmosphere where other innovators were working. So what now? Where do the bold and creative find the outlet with the loss of artistic centering?
Maybe the vision stays in our collective consciousness and will help inspire a new revolution in the arts. It's up to us individually to carry the torch with special potency.
One interesting part is the courtship of art and politics. Artists are so against the system yet they stay in close proximity, thriving in many ways on the failures and ideals of our human complicated webs. We shall see.
another hand up from an aquarian venus with SN in 7th (aries) and moon square uranus. beginning to think this whole life is about freedom and right relationship - overcoming slavery, on a personal and non-personal level. declaring independence and interdependence. i think you're right about the connecting rather than predicting role of astrology. it all already happened anyway.
i love that you call geminis cupcakes. my boss is a gem and every day he buys his coffee from the cupcake store downstairs. makes me smile.
Another one! So we all meet.
overcoming slavery, on a personal and non-personal level.
Yes..... and yes again.
it all already happened anyway.
And yes yet again.
Its funny how mad Uranus conj. Venus can make people around me. I have them smacked together in the same degree in Sag in the 12th squaring my Pisces Moon in the 3rd...I don't think community holds much weight for me. I'm not really aware I'm doing the run-out thing til people tell me so. I've moved, left best friends behind and they won't realize it till they see the empty place. Its just that... I'm moving on, so I figure they will too... but they're mad about it, lol.
Why didn't you tell me so?? Why should I? So you can make a scene or bring unwanted attention?
I leave for days, don't make calls and expect things to be perfectly normal when I come back... for a while people made scenes and didn't understand me, but now that I'm older they understand that its part of my make up. You not knowing where I am gives me a sense of freedom and gets me away from human ridiculousness.
And I just realized my partner has Venus Sq Uranus & Aquarius moon. I'm going through a major Uranus transit with it squaring my natal VU conjunction and sitting on my poor Pisces moon.
We're coming to a point where we both feel like running out on the other for a number of reasons but are trying to keep it together because we love the other. We may have to make really unusual arrangements to be happy.
I know I need to get out more and enjoy life more, sitting on the couch just isn't cutting it anymore.
Janelle you just said so much. I agree with you that others can get extremely uncomfortable with the lack of traditional relationship maintenance. With Sadge and Pisces Moon I bet people like you a lot, and as usual, probably want to possess you. People cling hard so often and separation without calls and e-mails freaks them. The phone addiction is amazing and still it's not enough as they follow every action of their celebrities. Maybe the loneliness of humans in general is virtually impossible to remedy. Moon/Uranus people had to face it though, since most had mothers who didn't satisfy needs in the usual way.
You not knowing where I am gives me a sense of freedom and gets me away from human ridiculousness.
Well said.
I'm getting the Uranus square too, my Moon as well, and I'm feeling the need to go beyond the usual boundaries and cut ties a bit. It's hard to say whether out is it though with a VU in the 12th. Out somewhere.
Relationships are self-correcting, I think, if you really want them to continue. I let them do what they do.
Ha ha, another venus in Aquarius here, conjunct the sun, with uranus in libra.
I've just read and savoured all these posts with such relish and realised that Yay! I'm not a freak after all.
And the world is full of other uranian venuses that love their own space and yet also experience the electricity of human interaction to the nth degree. That's why the independence and space is so vital, lest my nervous system overloads with it all. I need down time to discharge.
My idea of bliss is also the wonderful relationship with seperate houses or at least seperate parts of one house.
Are we VUs overpopulated after all?? How'd that happen?
I'm not a freak after all.
Astrology cured me of that notion. Or did it? The scale goes from abnormal freak to normal bore. We all fit in somewhere. A person survives at 98.6 degrees but I'm sure there are minor variations. How tight is it?
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