Fatebook

 

 

 “Yea, it’s on” A message sent by Mark Zuckerberg on October 28 of 2003 at 11:09 PM on his new network. There are numerous different Natal charts for Facebook, but I'm not concerned about its balance sheet as a business, I'm interested in its function as a medium for human thought and connection across the world. It's not a beloved platform for trendies or politicos with an axe to grind, but they keep uploading their content onto this platform regardless and diligently checking responses.
  This post was written for my Facebook group before the Algol-rhythm blocked the address to this blog across the platform.  I'm not sure how much I'd change the article if it had been written after that unfortunate incident, though I've altered the address to include "astro" and am now fully shareable there again.  As someone who moved back to his small, secluded home town, this site has been a blessing to stay connected to friends across the world and forge new relationships which grow into lifelong friendships.  It is easy to criticize any large corporation for their unethical practices and corruption, collusion with government suppression of dissent and so on.  It isn't my intention here to focus on that, but to look at the natal chart, the moment the first message was broadcast across this network, and dive into the nature of this site as a broadcaster of individuals, as well as its influence upon how we function psychologically and communicate.  I get criticism for posting my content there, that Instagram is cooler, or Twitter has a wider reach... but only Facebook refuses to limit my character!
   

 

   The most interesting thing about this chart immediately slaps you in the face, that almost all planets are below the horizon. You would think as a platform to broadcast viewpoints and ideas, (or pictures of food, as my Facing North group proves I'm not above.), that there would be an accentuation on the visible, and yet this natal chart accentuates the internal.  The setting and below the horizon quadrant. This is a decidedly Yin chart. That which is setting is receptive, it is taking in the energy of others and reacting to it.  That which is below the horizon is what is internal.  Setting and below the horizon is where we take in the energy of others and ruminate upon it.

   This chart has a waxing crescent Moon, the Sun, in the Scorpionic fourth house, watching the Moon travel away into the fifth house of entertainment in Sag. A new impulse and means of expressing the inner world to the outer community has been forged, and is in a nascent phase of just being seen for the first time.   The accentuation of the Sun and Mercury within the fourth house fascinates me.  Here we see a description of someone sitting in their living room communicating out to the world.   As I explained in a past post, the fourth house is where we must place sleep and the bed as well. In Scorpio, on the setting, below the horizon side of the chart.  How many sleepless nights were caused by someone stewing upon and ruminating on things said online.   Fights where digitized words were sent across wires to the outside world, the Sun in the fourth trining Uranus above the horizon ruling technology and electricity. Above the horizon, in Aquarius no less.  Shocking technology used within the domain of social interactions.  It's wide and cross sign, but given how empty the top half of the chart is, it's hard not to view Mars and Uranus conjunct in this chart.   Uranus is in the Seventh house, how many relationships were ended over a simple disagreeing opinion over the internet?  Where a simple sentence reduces a whole complex human being into one idea.   If you don't like that one idea how simple it is to cancel that human from your life.  In person, most disagreements are easily moved past as the emotional presence of another being over-rides the concepts being discussed.  Online, all we see is a sequence of words we dislike and so easily conflate that with the entirety of the human being we are about to block and cancel.  We generally have more in common with each other than we have adverse.  Surely Uranus in the Seventh house of relationships is appropriate here.
    We see a debilitated Jupiter in Virgo opposing Mars.  How much anger has been fomented through this medium?  Blown out of proportion in a Jupiterian fashion?  What else is debilitated here?  Venus in Scorpio... the false sense of connection people feel online, which can often be an illusion of emojis and fake blue thumbs.  And Saturn, well... Saturn.  This chart is a bucket shape where we see all the planets occupying one half of the chart besides Saturn.  The energy of the populated side of the chart is funneled out to be expressed by the lone wanderer on the other side.  Here, Saturn is above the horizon  where all this human time and energy can be seen in its debilitation in Cancer.  It is also hidden in the 12th house, and exactly opposed by Chiron.  This is an amazing description of one of the great criticisms of Facebook within the wider world, its use as a massive time waster.  Not only for employees scrolling their phones while on the clock, but for individuals with a list of important tasks to accomplish, instead obsessively scrolling their newsfeed seeking out likes and attention, or just snooping and peeping on the displayed and curated lives of others.  Saturn, our ability to structure our lives and work towards a larger, greater goal, is hidden from us within the twelfth house of Facebook.   Within Cancer, the water sign of caring and protection for one's self first, often by caring and protecting others. This seeking out of human connection, misguided through the web of Uranian wires, trapping us within the ultimate seclusion of its twelfth house dungeon.
    The twelfth house being ruled by the Moon, which is conjunct Pluto.  Pluto aspecting the Moon can lead to paranoia and worst case scenarios playing out within the imagination.   As a separating conjunction, the Moon has taken on the harsher aspects of Pluto and is distributing them throughout the fifth house of pleasure.  As the Moon rules behavior habits and health as it relates to maintaining the basic chores of life, we see again a harsh re-wiring of habits and important daily functions being swept to the side.  The Moon also rules our memories and how we emotionally process them.  Is Pluto conjunct Moon in the fifth house not a good descriptor of seeing Facebook pop up a memory on this day of you and an ex?
   Jeeze.. this post has been a bummer, and sort of feels like I'm retreading the ground of think pieces from a decade ago about the platform which most view as passe and irrelevant, but I don't view any of that as the entire story of this platform.  Not even close.  Venus may be in its detriment in Scorpio, but it also shows something beautiful within the fourth house here, squared by Uranus (in the seventh), the ability to connect with others around the world from one's own home. And yes, love has been spawned through social media, as well as close friendships, and tracking down long lost family members and on and on.  The ability to connect so simply to the vast masses of humanity is an incredible mind blowing feat I am still to this day not fully over, or completely numb to.  It still amazes me, and despite all the negative ramifications of social media, the internet, and technology in general, I am still eminently grateful for it.  Yes, the site has a Leo ascendant, where people attempt to portray a curated version of their best life to the wider world, but it also has a Scorpio IC which just wants to connect on a deep and powerful level with others, hidden, but it is there. The Sun knows it.
   We do also have Neptune on the descendant, implying a certain level of delusion about how we are received by others, but there is also a grand trine between the Sun-Mercury conjunction to Mars and Saturn in water signs, where it can actually facilitate the ability to broadcast that which is deep inside out into the real world. Our words here have an effect on others, and it can be a positive one.
    The south lunar node is often viewed as siphoning the energy out of wherever it is.  It is conjunct Venus in the fourth here, sucking the natural human emotions out of the home... hmmmm.  Venus also rules the midheaven, so again, wasting time at work. 
   Another surprising element of this chart is just how fixed it is.  You would think a social media giant would be a changing amorphous entity, and yet 20 years later it is still just... well.. Facebook.
People say it's dead, and outdated, and lame, but it's still here dominating the field.  Failing stock prices don't seem to change that. 

  Regarding stock prices, the second house signifies the money and it is ruled by Mercury, combust by the Sun.  The chart has Jupiter within the second, but Jupiter is in its detriment.  This site isn't really about making money in the end.  What is it about?  Well... Saturn... malefic in the twelfth... ruled by an oversharing Moon in Sagittarius.... the control structure is the hidden enemy.  The Moon represents the public in general, it is you posting everything the system wants to know.  They will keep pumping money into this beast forever

   So why do I care so much? Well digging up the Facebook natal chart (of course) has profound synastry with my own chart.  

 

  To start, the houses align with my own, which is a deep connection between two charts, where the view of worldly concerns is so similar.  As a Gemini Sun, communication and Mercury in general is paramount, Facebook's Mercury and Sun trine my own Mercury, which, social media being a primarily Mercurial pursuit explains why I have always felt so at home here.  How could a site which trines my Mercury EVER implement a character count limit?  Sigh... Social media itself is a function of the 11th house.   Of course, my Sun, Venus, and Mercury all fall within the eleventh house of Facebook's chart, while the Sun and Mercury of Facebook's chart fall within my third house of communication.  Facebook's Mars squares my own Sun, and I've certainly experienced my own share of frustrations back when I used to actually argue on this site! (ha... the good old days!).  The North Lunar Node of Facebook's site is exactly conjunct my Midheaven, so I will continue to share my material on this site, and enjoy it as a portal to the wider world from my cold little shack up in Aurora territory.  And I hope you do too!