{"id":3414,"date":"2017-09-25T08:33:48","date_gmt":"2017-09-25T13:33:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.navamsa.com\/?p=3414"},"modified":"2017-09-25T08:33:48","modified_gmt":"2017-09-25T13:33:48","slug":"sam-shepard-exit-stage-left","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.navamsa.com\/?p=3414","title":{"rendered":"Sam Shepard: exit, stage left"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"sam1\"Judged by many of his peers to be the greatest American playwright of his generation, Sam Shepard authored 44 plays, and won a Pulitzer for \u00e2\u0080\u009cBuried Child.\u00e2\u0080\u009d But he was also an actor in over 50 movies, receiving an Academy Award nomination for his supporting role in \u00e2\u0080\u009cThe Right Stuff.\u00e2\u0080\u009d A multi-talented artist, during his early years in New York, he played drums for a psychedelic folk band, and later in life, directed his own plays, meanwhile collaborating on various projects with such luminaries as Bob Dylan and Patti Smith.<\/span><\/p>\n

Although his professional reputation loomed large, his personal life was intensely private, obscuring extramarital affairs and, for a time, heroin addiction. And he was restless, prone to sudden disappearances, pulling up stakes and moving across the country, back and forth between New York, California, New Mexico and elsewhere, or leaving the country entirely.<\/span><\/p>\n

Shepard was born 5 November 1943 at 15h45 CDST in Fort Sheridan, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago. Note: all chart details are in the sidereal zodiac.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

\"Shepard<\/a>Authors and writers typically have a strong 2nd and\/or 5th house in their charts. A robust 2nd reflects their vocabulary and command of language, as well as the capacity for \u00e2\u0080\u009csomething to say\u00e2\u0080\u009d through their writing. The 5th house is of course the application of the critical mind, the domain of creativity and, most pertinently for a playwright, a sense of drama.<\/span><\/p>\n

Shepard\u00e2\u0080\u0099s 2nd house enjoys no outstanding dignity, although the 2nd lord Mars is strong by virtue of being retrograde, occupies its own nakshatra<\/em> and is in no way afflicted in the 3rd house, itself associated with the craft of writing, and the performance arts in general.<\/span><\/p>\n

The 5th house is occupied by Rahu, while the 5th lord Moon is in the 11th, from where it aspects back into its own house. The influence of the Rahu\/Ketu axis upon both the 5th house and its lord is noteworthy. Rahu and Ketu reflect the innovators, misfits and outcasts of society. Shepard’s plays are chiefly known for their bleak, poetic, often surrealist elements, black humor, and rootless characters living on the outskirts of American society.\u00c2\u00a0Shepard was a great admirer of Samuel Beckett, author of \u00e2\u0080\u009cWaiting for Godot,\u00e2\u0080\u009d whose theatre of the absurd expressed the existential anxiety of modern times.<\/span><\/p>\n

Shepard was married for 15 years and had a son with his wife. For a couple of years during the early part of his marriage he had an extramarital affair with poet\/musician Patti Smith, with whom he remained lifelong friends and occasional collaborators on various literary or musical projects. His marriage ended for good when he met Jessica Lange, with whom he lived for almost 30 years, fathering with her both a daughter and another son.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"Shepard\u00e2\u0080\u0099s 7th house is not strong. It is occupied by Venus, a situation known as karako bhavo nashto<\/em>, which implies that, if the karaka<\/em> (Venus) of the very thing under analysis (7th house relationships) is jeopardized in any way, it destroys the very foundation of that which might have been hoped for. In this case, Venus is debilitated in Virgo. Compounding this weakness, Venus and Mercury are in Parivartana Yoga<\/em>. With the 8th lord Venus in the 7th, and 7th lord Mercury in the 8th, this was a poor prognosis for marital stability.<\/span><\/p>\n

In fact, stability could never be assumed in a chart like Shepard\u00e2\u0080\u0099s. With Pisces rising, dual signs occupy all of the kendras<\/em>. From the outset, this created a bias for some degree of restlessness in all four cornerstones of a life \u00e2\u0080\u0093 the Self, the home, relationships and career. In such a case, Jupiter and Mercury become the two planets that own all four kendras<\/em>. Both occupy trikasthanas<\/em> \u00e2\u0080\u0093 Jupiter in the 6th, Mercury in the 8th \u00e2\u0080\u0093 suggesting a certain irregularity in the life.<\/span><\/p>\n

The major planetary periods outlined the broad trajectory of his life. He ran his Jupiter dasha<\/em> from 1965 to 1981. Note that, a general principle in jyotish<\/em> says that nothing of major consequence happens in a person\u00e2\u0080\u0099s life until they experience the dasha<\/em> of their ascendant lord or 10th lord. In Shepard\u00e2\u0080\u0099s case, Jupiter is one and the same.<\/span><\/p>\n

Furthermore, Jupiter acts primarily to deliver results on behalf of its nakshatra<\/em> lord Ketu. And Ketu acts as a proxy for the 5th lord Moon, which rules both the act of creative writing and in particular, the field of drama. No surprise then, that in his Jupiter dasha<\/em>, Shepard won 11 Obie awards for off-Broadway theatre, and a Pulitzer for his most acclaimed play, \u00e2\u0080\u009cBuried Child.\u00e2\u0080\u009d<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"He ran Saturn dasha<\/em> 1981-2000. Although he continued to be active as a writer, this period also saw him move into acting, appearing in 20 movies. These included \u00e2\u0080\u009cThe Right Stuff,\u00e2\u0080\u009d for which he received an Academy Award nomination for supporting actor, thus establishing him as a bankable talent. Since Saturn acts primarily on behalf of its nakshatra<\/em> lord Mars, this highlights the 3rd house where Mars resides, and is indeed the house strongly associated with actors, musicians and other performance artists.<\/span><\/p>\n

He ran Mercury dasha<\/em> from year 2000 to his death in Mercury-Saturn. Since Mercury primarily serves its nakshatra<\/em> lord Rahu, this brings us back to the Moon and its lordship of the 5th house as similarly discussed in the context of his Jupiter dasha<\/em>. Writing and acting were by now inextricably intertwined in his professional life.<\/span><\/p>\n

Shepard died 27 July 2017 of complications arising from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), commonly known as Lou Gehrig\u00e2\u0080\u0099s disease. Health-wise, his chart betrayed weakness. His lagnesh<\/em> Jupiter is in the 6th house, aspected by malefics Mars and Saturn, both retrograde and therefore strong. His ascendant is aspected by weak benefic Venus and strong malefic Saturn, both of which are trik<\/em> lords. His 6th lord Sun was debilitated in the 8th.<\/span><\/p>\n

In degenerative illnesses, there is often a deeper astrological root cause \u00e2\u0080\u0093 an afflicted manas<\/em>. This model of the mind encompasses the most primitive part of the brain \u00e2\u0080\u0093 the limbic system \u00e2\u0080\u0093 sometimes referred to as the paleomammalian cortex. It\u00c2\u00a0supports a variety of functions including emotion, behavior, motivation, long-term memory, and olfaction. It also governs the autonomic nervous system, responsible for controlling bodily functions not consciously directed, such as breathing, the heartbeat, and digestive processes.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"An afflicted manas<\/em> can disturb the regulatory functions of the body, but also the perceptions as experienced through the five senses, the experience of which subsequently colors our spectrum of likes and dislikes (I love that color, I hate that music, this tastes good, that smells funny, I can\u00e2\u0080\u0099t stand the touch of latex…<\/em>)<\/span><\/p>\n

The astrological evidence for a disturbed manas<\/em> is assessed via three different \u00e2\u0080\u009clitmus tests\u00e2\u0080\u009d in the chart:<\/span><\/p>\n