Saturday, May 24, 2014

The Eminently Quotable Alan Moore

During a search for something to post for Memorial Day later this weekend, I read again some quotes from Watchmen, Alan Moore's comic book, aka graphic novel - a term he dislikes. What an excellent writer Mr Moore is! He has a passionate intensity of style, at the same time he manages to be both poetic and mystical. The combination must spring from a certain mix of facets within his personality; Wikipedia tells that he is occultist, ceremonial magician, and anarchist.

Take these brief quotes, for instance:

“Born from oblivion; bear children, hell-bound as ourselves; go into oblivion. There is nothing else. Existence is random. Has no pattern save what we imagine after staring at it for too long. No meaning save what we choose to impose. This rudderless world is not shaped by vague metaphysical forces. It is not God who kills the children. Not fate that butchers them or destiny that feeds them to the dogs. It's us. Only us.”
― Alan Moore, Watchmen

“There is no future. There is no past. Do you see? Time is simultaneous, an intricately structured jewel that humans insist on viewing one edge at a time, when the whole design is visible in every facet.”
― Alan Moore, Watchmen.

I've never read a novel in comic book form, am not even sure I could, but I'd give a straightforward novel by Alan Moore a whirl without a second thought. Happily he's writing one, it's to be titled Jerusalem, and will be one of those huge doorstop-type books, maybe even longer than Dune or Les Miserables, it has taken him years to finish, according to one interview he began writing it in 2006.

Mr Moore has told interviewers that he eschews computers, all of their spawn, and most TV. He's something of a recluse, but does come out occasionally to share his thoughts. He is an interesting subject for astrological investigation. I've looked at his natal chart before, when writing about V for Vendetta, another of his creations. An article in The UK's Observer newspaper from 2009 by Vanessa Thorpe describes Alan Moore in this way:
Standing more than six feet tall, Moore has the flashing eyes and floating hair of the malign presence in Coleridge's Kubla Khan. An unsung British creative giant he looks more like a shadowy character from one of his own cult comics than a mighty creator of worlds. He wears silver, scorpion rings, has a penchant for magic, tarot cards and erotica and is rumoured to worship a Roman snake god.

Oh my!

He was born on 18 November 1953 in Northampton, England. Natal Sun was in the sign of Scorpio - sign of dark secrets, erotic yearnings, death, and things subversive. A 12 noon version of his chart is below. I can find no indication online of his time of birth. Ascendant and Moon degree will not be accurate, as shown. Moon would be somewhere between mid- and late-Aries.


Mr Moore has not only natal Sun in Scorpio, but also Mercury, Venus and Saturn... Scorpio x 4! Is he text-book Scorpio, through and through? He has no planet in an Earth sign, so there's not a lot to anchor him from his Scorpionic dark and passionate imaginings. Scorpio's modern ruler, Pluto, lies in Leo and in square (challenging) aspect to his Sun. This might indicate that though Pluto in Leo would, in most cases be happy to seek the spotlight and shine therein, Moore remains something of a recluse.

I notice a "chain" of related degrees here, degrees in the mid 20 degrees:
Sun 25 Scorpio ~ Neptune 24 Libra ~ Pluto 25 Leo ~ Uranus 22 Cancer ~ Jupiter 24 Gemini ~ and possibly Moon too in the mid-20 degrees of Aries. Links in the chain alternate between helpful and unhelpful - but all mesh and integrate, bringing a kind of balance - never a bad thing. Traits included: essence of self/creativity/darkness of style/things unexpected or futuristic/philosophy/publication/ inner dynamism and drive.


4 comments:

mike said...

His Jupiter trine Neptune...Uranus trine Sun-Mercury...gives him a unique expression of his not-very-mundane, esoteric concepts.

Indeed, an interesting fellow. I know him from his "Swamp Thing" days. He extolls the imagination and world of ideas as equal to our material world. There are numerous quotations of his stating this view...here's one:

"The planet of the imagination is as old as we are. It has been humanity's constant companion with all of its fictional locations, like Mount Olympus and the gods, and since we first came down from the trees, basically. It seems very important, otherwise, we wouldn't have it." Moore

I like and appreciate who he is, but I'm not a particular fan of his, probably due to his science fiction, comic book representations, and action hero topics. I would like BBC to produce "The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen" much like they have done for the modernized "Sherlock Holmes" series...I think I would luv that.

Twilight said...

mike ~ Ah yes - those two trines account for a lot!

Another thought - with his natal Sun and Moon both in signs traditionally ruled by Mars, and likely to be in uncomfortable quincunx aspect there's a kind of outer powerhouse being continually irritated by inner powerhouse thing goin' on! Maybe a hint as to why he gravitated to super-hero depictions.

I feel the same about comic books. I loved comics as a child, but don't see myself being able to get through an adult version of one. I do admire his turns of phrase though.

"V for Vendetta" is on my favourite movie list - but I understand Moore was not impressed with the movie version of his tale.

Don't think I've seen "League of E...G..." the movie, I ought to find a DVD of it. But yes, BBC would no doubt make a much better job of portraying it as a series.

mike (again) said...

Off topic - Twilight, I saw an article on HuffPo about an exceptional woman named Lizzie Velasquez. She's born March 13, 1989, in Austin, TX.

Planet Watcher is down, so I can't enter her birth day. Astrotheme, et al, use pull-downs for entering data, but my computer is whacked-out and I have limited cursor abilities.

Would you do a post on this woman? Please and thank you!

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/05/23/lizzie-velasquez-antibullying-documentary_n_5379220.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lizzie_Vel%C3%A1squez

Twilight said...

mike (again) ~ It's midnight, so I'll post her chart now, so's you can peruse it tomorrow, and leave your thoughts in a comment, then I'll add my own afterwards when I've read about her.
:-)