The Elephant Man and the Charity of Jupiter

 

   Within the ancient legends of the great Greek Gods, Zeus would descend from the sky to walk amongst the mortals, disguised as a beggar, and visit the great kings to test their hearts and merits as the shepherds of mankind.  In this way, the charitable significations of Jupiter were enforced upon the royalty of the time, as they lived in fear of turning away the Lord of Thunder.  It is this tradition which David Lynch expertly crafted an allegory around in the film The Elephant Man, as the deformed and hooded figure of John Merrick came to test the hearts of those around him, and root out evil in powerful places.
  To start, the elephant, being the largest animal treading the Earth, has always been associated with Jupiter.  Jupiter exalts in the sign of Cancer, as it helps Mother Moon to foster the young ones into powerful, nurturing beings.  Elephants live in matriarchal societies which care for, and remember each other for their entire long lives.  Extended life is also a Jupiterian attribute. 

   The next clue in our Jovian allegory comes in the form of the nature of Jupiter. The great benefic gives his blessings to all, as he rules the act of charity towards those who are disadvantaged.  In the Homeric texts, the royals and nobles were honour bound to care for all who were impoverished due to the tradition that Jove would disguise himself as a beggar and tread the Earth testing their hearts. At least within the mythological texts, kings were terrified of turning away any beggar in case they just might be the Earth-Shaker in disguise.

  This point gets driven home in the scene where the board running the hospital are driven to vote to evict the Elephant Man as he is incurable, in order to open up the bed to others.  The man leading this charge says that his decision is "Unshakeable".  Cue the princess to walk in bearing a letter from Queen Victoria herself specifically praising the hospital for its "Charity towards the Elephant Man".  A more Jupiterian phrase could not be crafted! Within the Orphic hymn to Jupiter, we have the quote, "Earth-shaker, increaser and purifier, all-shaker, god of thunder and lightning,".  Of course, the dissenter acquiesces and raises his hand in favour of keeping John Merrick as a permanent resident. The royal hand moved to support the charity of the Elephant Man.

   Next up, John is spirited away to his previous captor and tormented further. When we see him put on stage again, we hear relentless thunder, the anger of Zeus on his throne seeing his beloved child disrespected.  Or is it Jupiter himself being ridiculed and tormented here? It's worth noting that Jupiter had a tendency to disquise himself as various animals in this Earthly realm.  Usually to get up to more lascivious activities than this, but the tendency remains.  The other performers in this circus then decide to free John and get him back to England.  In the scene where they send him off on the boat, the leader of this charge says (paraphrase) "All luck to you, God knows we need it most". Of course, Jupiter grants luck.

  Now, with John returned, I want to swerve from the over-arching Jupiterian narrative into the Solar signification.  The head nurse instructs the other nurses to never bring a mirror into his room.  The mirror is connected with the Sun and Moon in signification, as they all bear light.  The idea that he is not capable of internalizing into his lunar realm the reality of his visage is a debilitating factor within John Merrick's solar confidence.  If he is not allowed to fully inhabit who he is on a physical level, he cannot fully manifest as a self-realized and powerful being.  Intetestingly enough it's been said that elephants are the only animal capable of recognizing themselves in a mirror.   Was David Lynch aware of this?

   The climax of the film shows John standing up to a hoard hounding him and proclaiming that he is a human being.  To stand itself is a profound Solar significator.  It is around the first solar return that a baby finds the inner confidence and strength to pull themselves up and stand on their own two feet.

  The ultimate cathartic moment of this film is John being brought out to the theater, and being acknowledged by the famous actress who dedicates the entire play to him  Johne is prompted by his friend to stand up, which elicits a standing ovation from the entire audience, now respected as an autonomous human being and not just a circus freak.

  It is interesting to note that Jupiter itself is approaching the mass needed to create a binary solar system.  If Jupiter were 6 times more massive than it is it would collapse upon itself and form the gravity well needed to begin consuming its matter into a ravenous internal combustion engine redefining our solar system radically.

  Sorry, that last part was mostly irrelevant, but Elephant Man is such a profound meditation upon the reality of being a soul incorporated within a physical body that I had to write about it now that I see how overtly Lynch made this Jupiterian allegory.

    Though we do not have a birth time for John Merrick(named Joseph Merrick in reality, changed for the film.)  If you are aware of a birth time, please let me know.   His untimed natal chart for that day is still an outstanding description of the Jupiterian allegory at play here.  John Merrick has a glorious Leo Sun, which he was able to allow to shine by the end of his life.  Jupiter is in detriment in Virgo, just having overcome a conjunction to the restrictive Saturn.  The Moon here is ruled by Jupiter, doing everything it can to support him, crossing the ecliptic moving North that day, higher into the sky.  John loves his Mother profoundly in this film and discusses how beautiful she is, but how disappointed she must have been in his birth.  Here we can see Uranus opposing the Moon, which does not show dissapointment, but certainly shock.          Meanwhile, Mercury, the ruler of Jupiter, exalts Jupiter while in Cancer, providing more support for Jupiter in Virgo than it would normally have.  The chart shows every indication of the difficulties of Jupiter coming down to Earth in as much detriment as is possible, incarnating in the body of the Elephant Man, metaphorically at least within the framework of this film, and testing the power structure of the time, helping them to grow a heart, and view those who need it in a more charitable light.  ("Fix your heart or die!" - David Lynch).

   Interestingly enough, The Elephant Man was filmed from October 1979 until May 1980, which encapsulates the time that Jupiter entered Virgo where Saturn was, moving to form the first conjunction in Libra in hundreds of years, ending the Virgo series of Jupiter - Saturn conjunctions which John Merrick was born under.  This forms a fascinating sort of recurrence transit highlighting how someone's natal chart can live on past their death and continue to be prominently affected by the evolving astrology.
   Lynch was a mystical person who folded dream logic and metaphor into his films with a very high degree of potency.  I fully believe he did this consciously.  What do you think?  
   For more on the chart and astrological circumstances around David Lynch's passing, check out this article