The ineffably sweet and pure, delicate cantabile of angel voices lure us on with a coquetry so enticing to enter where dwells the soul of the artist who divined his peculiar genius, the soul of Fryderyk Franciszek Chopin. His genius inevitably claimed as its own, the soul's most divine language, pure music, unfettered by words.
Stellar Wheel
pisces
Frédéric Chopin
01Hover over these to get the full astrological reference
BY SANJA KLJAIĆ
10 minute read
10 minute read
Existence beyond the veil
Born in a little village near Warsaw in 1810 under the starry constellation of Pisces, the house of Neptune. With Chopin, we head towards the music of spheres and enter the parade of stars that forms the archetype of the Fishes. As the ruling visionary of the last portal of the human psyche, Pisces, the weaver of cosmic melody, pulls us to the place that goes beyond desire, beyond the mind, beyond will, beyond intelligence, and way beyond conscience.
The sacred Fishes are two in number; they dance in a circle and move through the energetic vortices of the Ocean, flowing through different dimensions, meeting, greeting, and melting the Self and the Soul into a field of oneness. The Ocean births them, and the Land supports their feet 1 anchoring their emotional self deep within the tides where the Great goddess presides. The mystic archetype was assigned to the guardianship of the 12th house, the house that turns away from the common, ordinary, everyday, mundane living considered reality by most people to deal with extended dimensions.
Pisces ends cycles and, as such, is asked to be here on a very deep level
and bring change to the future evolution of the human race. The stellar creation of Pisces is enforced by Neptune, 2 the highest and finest force in the universe. Neptune is a planet of
direct connection to the divine, non-verbal experience, mysticism, music,
dreams, and illusions.
Neptune gives his beloved Pisces the ability to conceptualize, to make that quantum leap out of the vision or potential into reality. Chopin, like his spiritual parent Neptune 3, had a profound insight into the very essence of things, an insight which was not the result of reasoning or mental reflection 4 but was acquired spontaneously by means of divine inspiration and illumination.
Chopin’s
sun in Pisces drew
its sustenance from the 6th house of the zodiac, a place where the
matrix of the Virgin resides and brings forth the bread of life. Pisces here pulls
the water of the ocean upon the earth and begins to germinate the
new creation.
All things in existence have been said
to - originate from water. It is said that the consciousness of the Source vibrated
its Divine Ray and danced upon the face of the waters. The dance of these two life force energies is seen as the mighty
love-play of creation.
Our composer was surrounded by refined and cultivated people since he was a young boy.
This atmosphere of refinement gave little Fryderyk the lifelong impression of a gentleman 5. His mother Tekla, his
father Nicolas, and his sisters very much flattered and coddled
their dear Fryderyk, wrapping him up carefully in cold, damp weather, never suspecting the genius that lay hidden in the heart
of that slender, little figure.
The young boy artfully hammered
away at the piano from the time he could walk and move his thin,
lightly pronounced fingers. He knew how to breathe forth his beloved piano and express its characteristics. He wrote
poetry at the age of six 6 7, composed music at the age of seven, and performed
publicly as a soloist in a concerto at the age of eight. Once he began rhapsodically embellishing his études, nocturnes, preludes, sonatas, and mazurkas, his name spread like wildfire across the whole of Europe 8.
Chopin wasn’t special because he created music; he was special because he created new music 9, the music never heard or thought of before.
He experimented with different techniques and an unusual variety of tones and
thought long and hard about every sweet note that was put down on page 10. His illustrious spirit did not follow the old rules he sought
those of his own
“I shall create a new world for myself...It would be a pity not to become what I have the promise of being."
What made Chopin so Chopinesque is that he loved to figure things out on his own and even though he had only two teachers during his lifetime, he was largely self-taught. No wonder he didn't need teachers, Pisces is the complete and fit instrument in the hands of the Higher Powers. It's almost as if their thoughts print themselves as music and fly like winged messengers unfolding themselves right before their eyes 11 12 13.
Strong evidence suggests that Chopin was a lad with hectic humour and a lover of practical jokes. Doomed, depressed, and gloomy weakling of many biographers, he never was:
“So, having dried my tear-swollen eyelids, I take up my pen to inquire of you, are you alive or did you die? If you are dead, please let me know, and I will tell the cook, forever since she heard about it, she has been saying her prayers.”
Just as he was entering adulthood, the Revolutions shook Europe driving
Chopin into permanent exile in France. Adieu à Varsovie! Here, our composer finds himself within
the heart of a new full-blown Romantic movement 14 where Chopin’s ardent Slavic temperament stood out like
the protagonist of his own opera. An exiled Polish patriot
whose tragic personal and professional life flourished in the
warm glow of artistic and aristocratic regalia.
Amidst
this cenacle swirl of luminaries, Chopin befriends 15 the city's most notable figures, including
Heinrich Heine, Alphonse de
Lamartine, Honoré de Balzac, Franz Liszt, and, of course, Aurore Dupin, the avant-garde,
best-selling novelist, a socialist and rebel feminist who was known by her pen name of
George Sand.
As that nom de plume would indicate, Sand, Chopin’s lover, highly valued her independence. She was the most controversial person in Paris, the proponent of sexual freedom of all types. She gave birth to the "new woman," a modern, cigar-smoking, trouser-wearing woman who claimed almost every masculine prerogative for herself.
What was the influence of George Sand upon our composer? Well, for one she was a ray of heaven-born cheer to his glance that’s chiefly introspective in nature. And two, it seems that Sand evidently projected what Goethe calls the Eternal Feminine, an ideal image that composed half of his soul.
16 17 18
“My heart danced with hers, her eyes held mine, her gaze burnt me and flooded me”
Chopin unmistakably was unlike other men; his mind exhibited both male and female characteristics, Woman
in his tenderness and realization of the beautiful, and Man in his energy and
force of mind, thus representing the highest type of artist and human being.
Imbued with an air of mystery and timelessness, Chopin well represents the supposed Water character of his constellation. With all his ingenuity, he had loved, and more than once, but had never had the nerve to commit to any woman 19. His refinement, his delicacy, and his aestheticism affected women:
“his music insinuated itself into their subconscious minds and left its cultural imprint, it was like one tenderly feminine soul speaking to another and gently firing it with nobler aspirations.”
Unquestionably Chopin needed an outlet for his sentimentalism and his unrestrained exaltation of spirits, which often alternated with his cerebral agitation and intense unbearable longing for the family, the friends, and the country he had left behind 20 21 22.
Like many other men and women of genius, he suffered all his life from folie du doute, an excessive doubting about all the affairs of life, which made him seek refuge within himself. Dwelling within the deep spheres outside of time and space gave a fixed form to his poetic divination. Coming into touch with the great ‘introspecting’ 23 helped him reflect and express through music a variety of formless human emotions, aspirations, longings, and desires:
“What good can my existence bring to anyone? … But wait, wait! What’s this? Tears? ... Sad but kindly tears! What a strange emotion! Sad but blessed. It is not good for one to be sad, and yet how pleasant it is - a strange state…”
Chopin undoubtedly wasn't afraid to suffer he saw the truth in the womb of darkness and from that darkness of void generated light and energy for his creations 24. He honoured both the flowing and the still, the light and the dark, the hand of receiving and the hand of giving, the Builder and the Destroyer, for he knew that these two opposing forces are born together.
Everything he had to say to the world he did through his music 25. And so, it could
come to mean that his music was simply a replica idealized of himself. He felt things extremely and deeply and often found himself lost in the place of all sweet
allurements, a place of whispering winds and sheen stars
blended with a mist of waterfalls. Remaining true to his moods and drawing inspiration from that which
circulated in the veins of his restless, passionate, and uniquely vivid nature attuned his poetic heart to every cord of life 26.
With his urge to expand, our composer, with his melody, summons us into the heart of his heart, submerging us into the soft superpower of Water.
At the outset of his tune, one can only imagine mermaids seducing Poseidon into the vague, sentimental interplay between a dream, night, twilight, soul, memory, soft eeriness, yearnings of hushed hearts and images of far-off places. Is it a dream or is it a memory? Perhaps it is a lingering memory within a liquid, lapis lazuli coloured dream.
It's uncanny how Chopin’s melodies speak so intimately to
the more sensitive beings. This is because the archetype of Fishies drinks from the living waters of the
spirit - germinating, rooting, and recycling its entire being within the
feverish, subconscious atelier of the mind.
Although a solitaire, Chopin was really a man of Oceanic depth, and even though he hated everything blatant, coarse and ill-mannered and all that savoured of the unaesthetic 27, in art or life, he really was a man who felt the heartbeat of humanity, a man capable of universal sympathies. He was no friend of long walks 28 and preferred to lie down and dream under beautiful trees “but then poets are given to dreaming and prefer to use their brains rather than their legs.”
While it is true that Chopin was ill in the last years of his life, he kept right on with his work 29; he played for aristocrats, ambassadors, and bankers and composed just as he always had done. In his Letters, we discover his humanity, his vulnerability disguised in absolute spontaneous and ebullient Slavonic humour:
“I have entered the highest society…I don’t know by what miracle this came to pass because I myself made no effort to get there. If I were more stupid than I am, I would think that I am at the peak of my career, but I realize how much remains to be done.”
So, it stands to reason that our Piscean vanguard touched on a more honest version of himself. He believed in the ethereal world, the world of imagination, and knew in his precious heart that the universe is a symphony of vibrating strings and that we are nothing but melodies, cosmic music played out on these very same energetic threads. "I only try to express the heart and soul of man." The heart and the soul that bewitches and caresses today as it did at its first hearing.
Literary sources
Bellman,
J., D. & Goldberg, H. 2017 Chopin, and His World, US: Princeton
University Press
Chopin, F.
1988 Chopin’s Letters, US: Dover Publications
Cyril, S. 2013 Music and It's Secret
Influence: Throughout the Ages, US: Inner Traditions
Farnsworth, E., D. 2009 Three Great Epoch Makers in Music, US: University of Michigan Library.
Huneker, J. 2004 Chopin: The Man and His Music, US: Dover Publications.
Moore, A., W, 2013 For Every Music Lover: A Series of Practical Essays On Music; An Essential Guide for Informed Listening and Practice, US: CreateSpace.
Image reference
1. Olga Rozanova 1915 Metronome, Tretyakov Gallery, Wikipedia Open Source
2. Mikołaj Gomółka, Melodiae na Psalterz polski przez Mikolaia Gomólke vczynione, W Krakowie w Drukarni Lazarzowey, 1580. Biblioteka Narodowa, SD XVI.Qu.273
3. Howard Pyle 1910 The Mermaid, Delaware Art Museum, Wikipedia Open source.
4. Steffen, Gustaf Fredrik & Ipsen, Fra 1894det moderne England. I Dansk bearbejdelse ved A. Ipsen. Med talrige illustrationer, etc. British Library digital image
1
Our past lives are written on the lines of our feet. Pisces influences the feet, which are the sieves through which the energies that rise from the genie of the earth enter.
2
Neptune, with his trident, both protects and shakes the earth and invades territory belonging to all the other gods, meaning that water penetrates everywhere and is present in all parts of the human body. Chopin’s Neptune in Sagittarius yearned for the freedom of constriction. Neptune marked him as an individual with tremendous creativity that manifested itself through ethereal music.
3
Neptune wants us to find a proper outlet for our
creative energies. No matter what has been concealed or how long,
Neptune in the chart will reveal it.
4
Neptune conjunct Saturn
tuned Chopin to the energy of the collective, especially with regard to the
ultimate transformation of society. Here a visionary idealism of Neptune is
utilized within the sphere of Saturn’s practical dimensions.
5
Sun conjunct Venus shows us that Chopin was a kind and courteous individual that possessed the most captivating grace and ease of manner. Bringing forth a cornucopia of melody, harmony, and rhythm (Moon trine Ascendant), strong in nobility and delicate in sentiment.
6
North node in Libra points us to the refinement and elegance of Chopin’s musical ideas. The noblest enthusiasm of Libra in the 2nd house glows in his music which is characterized by wonderful poetic feeling and psychological keenness.
7
The South node in Aries/8th house indicates that Chopin came forth knowing he won’t be following the common way and adhering to the old methods. He had unique, brave, and uncommon talents, with his own peculiar penchant for new music.
8
He had a noticeable presence and a strong influence on those around him. His mindset was - getting things done (Mars in sextile with Midheaven). Gemini on the 10th house cusp becomes known through people.
9
The wizardry of his musical technique is imbued with an air of mystery and timelessness and encased in rich harmonies of emotional resonance (Part of Fortune in Scorpio)
10
Uranus conjunct Part of Fortune enhances the potency of Chopin’s Uranus in Scorpio, blessing him with an innovative and inventive frame of mind.
11
It is said that Chopin’s dreamy eyes were disposed to various peculiarities of others (Ascendant in Virgo). The ascendant ruler nestled between the 5th and 6th house shows us the intertwining of two archetypal forces: Leo and Virgo. He was in tune with Virgo's purity of style and refinement of technique and Leo's genuine sentiment of the heart. Together these two archetypes show us the spirit that glowed in his work.
12
He possessed a keen intuition (Uranus in Scorpio in the 3rd house). Even though he was more prone to silence and introspection, others were drawn to his overflowing personal magnetism (Uranus trine Pluto).
13
Pluto shows us how to tap into our reservoir of willpower. And Uranus shows us where we can find our individual spark pulsating through every cell of our being.
14
The basic idea of this movement was - reason cannot explain everything; one must search for deeper, often subconscious appeals. Romanticism's emphasis on individualism and self-expression deeply impacted American thinking, especially the transcendentalism of Emerson.
15
Jupiter in Aries in the 8th house shows us that it was easy to fancy him. Like his friends, he embodied universal rather than merely individual emotional experiences.
16
When Pluto is placed in the 7th house, relationships with others and romantic relationships are a place for soul growth. Chopin understood the illusionary nature of social codes and what hides beneath other people (Sun conjunction Pluto).
17
The 7th house is naturally a Venus-oriented archetype. In Chopin’s chart, Venus and Pluto are conjunct, meaning he was a master at drawing tremendous amounts of affection, attention, productivity, and devotion out of people.
18
With this placement, Chopin had the ability to read other people’s minds, so to speak, and use these relationships as catalysts or agents for personal transformation, and change.
19
Chopin’s romantic relationships would bring to the
surface his deep emotional complexes, which lurked in the recesses of his psyche
from as far back as early childhood (Pluto in the 7th ruling Scorpio
on the 3rd house cusp).
20
Joyous vivacity meets languorous melancholy (Sun square Neptune). This placement indicates that Chopin combined within himself two natures that were not understood by a casual observer.
21
His sensitive nature vibrated with the despairing sadness and with his own homesickness (Moon semi-sextile Chiron). It is said that through his smile, the hot tear always glistened—a tribute to his country and to his brethren fallen in her defense.
22
Saturn in Sagittarius in the 4th house often marks an individual who is a patriot in every fiber of his being. Someone who cherishes their native land (from afar), their parents, and their ancestral roots.
23
It has been said that the
Genius takes refuge in pain and darkness, for, after all, it is a pain of every Genius that gave birth to the masterpiece of every art. He felt the greatest when
left to the inspirations of his genius (Uranus square with Chiron), to the piano, he confided all the conflicts that raged within him, all the courage and
living hope that sustained him.
24
Chopin was drawn to seek emotional rather than intellectual contact (Moon sextile Pluto); the approval of genuine musicians gave him pleasure, but he never courted distinctions or applause from anyone.
25
This innovative creator (Mercury in Aquarius) talked very little and rarely about music. His thoughts were not for words, they did not weave the pretty phrases of idle talk; they were busy converting ideas, hard work, patience, and dedication into success (Mercury sextile Saturn). But when he spoke of music one listened to (Moon in Capricorn in the 5th house), he was reserved and quiet, especially among strangers, but among his friends, he was witty and full of sly humour.
26
To the astonishment of his
friends, this brave Piscean excelled in everything he undertook (Mars
in Aries in the 8th house) and formed the
most brilliant expectations of his future (Mars conjunct Jupiter).
27
Aversions to coarse people, avoiding anyone who lacks good manners (Sun bi-quintile North node). The North node in Libra 2nd house indicates a keen appreciation of beauty, elegance, aesthetic values, and sensitivity.
28
Undeniably, Chopin had a delicate constitution; his physical temple was in need of development, but he was healthy and strong enough (Saturn in square with Ascendant) to participate in life activities and to bear the fatigue of travelling in diligence.
29
He had clarified aims, focused power, strong psychic sensitivity, and inclination to mysticism and the arts (Mars in trine with Neptune). Working through various illnesses, carefully and perseveringly assimilating his work, he was compelled to study continuously (Mars in trine with Saturn); only a virtuoso knows what this means.