Dick Can Intuit it for You Short Scale: Astrology From the Trash Stratum
There is much to say about the prophet Philip K. Dick. We'll circle back to his natal chart, and 2/3/74 eventually, but for now, I just wanted to lay out a fascinating study in how astrology can affect fiction. I was reading We Can Remember It For You Wholesale, a collection of early short stories by Dick, when I decided to check up the chart for the date of the titular story. The literal nature of how the chart displayed the story was thrilling, and I found from there, the other stories were similarly well described by the skies that day. I was fairly deep into this research when I realized that the dates shared in this collection were actually the dates on which his agent received these stories, and not necessarily the day he wrote them. I was discouraged, but then remembered that he was such a relentlessly sped up word freak that he likely had been awake all night writing these stories and then running them over to his agent first thing in the morning. Or something like that. Many of these stories were submitted one or two days after a previous submission, and sometimes two stories were delivered in a day, so either way, we can be fairly certain that these stories were written within a day or two of him submitting them.
My interest here was further piqued by looking at the planetary day each story was submitted on. By focusing on that day's planet as the protagonist for most stories, the rest of the chart, without the benefit of the timed houses, comes into clarity. Most of these stories were submitted on Moon Days, Mars Days, and Mercury Days. I am assuming these were his days off from the record store he was working at at the time, but just the nature of those days truly describes the main themes he was relentlessly exploring at that time. What is the nature of memory and reality (Moon), horrors of war (Mars) and the very nature of Mercurial writing, conversation, and communication in general.
Now I don't believe that PKD was consulting an ephemeris before writing these stories, but he was a high level prophetic mystic whose early stories, even before his more widely reported mystical experiences happened, were eerily prescient to the world we now live in. Just check out "The Exit Door Leads In" from another collection to have your eyes bug out at him foreseeing that the ever present AI nonsense would lead less to a nightmare control grid panopticon, than the cringey nuisance of relentless incompetence we are all now subject to.
Even if these stories were written a few days before the charts I'm using here as documented by his agent, I still believe they hold some powerful merit to the ability of the artist to intuit the energy of the times, and write to the most extreme possible ramifications of any given alignment in the sky. PKD was sensing how the heavens were aligning, and in lightning quick wordsmithery, documenting what that could mean for the future. Even if it was a day or two off, who's to say he wasn't a precog? Suspend some disbelief, and let's get into some astrology from the trash stratum!
Note: this will be a gradually expanding document. As I read more PKD short stories, I will add the interesting astological correspondences at the end of the entire "We Can Remember It For You" anthology. Feel free to check back when you read a new old story!
The Cookie Lady - 8/27/52
The Cookie Lady begins this compilation, on Mercury day. Mercury is the planet most commonly associated with youth, ruling the Sun in Virgo no less, carrying with it the imagery of the Maiden. The Moon can represent the body, and on this day, the Moon as in its fall, and at the southern bending no less, so as low as it can get, and in bad shape, this is the old woman coveting the vigor of the youth, willing to rob his life to get it. Mercury culminated at noon that day, highlighting the vanity of Leo. However, the beauty here, Venus, is also in its fall in Virgo, lusting after youth instead of embrace the beauty of aging gracefully. One can also see that Venus in Virgo shows the calculated way in which the old lady entices the young chubby boy with his weakness of cookies.
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| The Cookie Lady |
Beyond the Door - 8/29/52
We have here another fallen Venus story on Venus day, this time a relationship is falling apart in part due to the overly critical nature of Doris, Venus in Virgo. Ruled by a regal Mercury, it seems even the present she most wants is not good enough because it was bought on wholesale. Meanwhile, Doris is cheating on Larry, which is an interesting potential downfall of Jupiter trining Venus from its own sign in Taurus. The great bounty of Jupiter giving even when it is inappropriate. It does all work out well for Doris in the end though, so what do I know? The Moon is being squared by Venus here, Doris gest what she wants, and Larry dies due to his resentment towards the Cuckoo clock, and keeping it out of spite once the relationship ends. In terms of death, Pluto trined the Moon that day, I guess Doris, being represented by a fallen Venus, still got what she wanted! It's also worth noting that the Cuckoo clock is a device well described by Venus in Virgo. It is an ornate and beautiful piece that requires constant vigilant fussing maintenance to keep it wound, and the intricacies of a clock in general are an extremely Virgoan minutia.
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| Beyond the Door |
Prominent Author - 4/20/53
A Moon Day story, where the unwitting great new god encounters tiny humans from the past, and winds up nurturing a new religion for them. The Moon in Cancer shows Ellis' power to nurture the little people. Whether to grow into something great or implying the negative aspects of religion is not really dealt with in this story. Eventually, Ellis' translation work is discovered, and the portal is taken away from him. Saturn squaring the Moon shows authority coming in and removing his connection to his people, the conjunction to Neptune implies the mystical nature of the portals ability to travel back through time, especially as it is conjunct Saturn, who rules time in general. The way this shimmer is described in his travels is extremely Neptunian, foggy and vague what he can see through the shimmer. The Mars Jupiter conjunction upon Algol is hard to ignore. Algol carries with it a certain anti-authoritarian inclination, here, he has the Martian boldness to carry on his own interest in interacting with the little people to the detriment of the job he was hired to do testing the teleportation device.
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| Prominent Author |
We Can Remember it for you Wholesale - 9/13/65
This story is the source material for Total Recall, and I think the most powerful example of this astrological intuiting which led me to write this article in the first place. We begin by noting it is Moon day, and the Moon rules our memories, good enough so far. The Moon is in Aries, which represents his trapped memories of being a special agent in a war, on Mars no less which rules Aries. Mars is powerful in Scorpio, which not only shows the immense martial skills Quail has, but also the secretive nature of being a special agent to begin with. Mars is also conjunct Neptune, showing the memory of this monstrous power hidden from Quail himself. The Moon here is opposed to Venus, showing how his marriage is at least in part a sham to keep tabs on his erased memories. Venus in Libra has great power, and here, it is to keep balance for the safety of Quail, and the entire secret mission. The opposition is the aspect where one can see the other most clearly, she is keeping tabs on him, and once his memory is regained, the relationship is over. Especially interesting is the fact that Venus moves out of Libra that day, out of the aspect to the Moon, and into its detriment in Scorpio where it can no longer see the Moon.
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| We Can Remember It For You Wholesale |
Jon's World - 10/21/52
This is an extremely dark, and still very relevant story. Submitted (and/or written) on Mars day, we have a practical and powerful Mars exalted in Capricorn. The father's insistence on materialist perception is paramount to this story. Only that which is provable and useful is allowed in this vision of the future. Unfortunately, this is taken to an extreme, where his son's visions of a more wonderful world are seen as an aberration and shameful. Mars was exactly conjunct Chiron that day, the wound which will not heal. Mars rules knives and surgery. The Father lobotmizes his son, and his son does not return. This is horrifying. The Moon moved from Scorpio to Sag that day. Out of its fall into the fiery realm of adventure in Sagittarius. From the father's perspective, his son's malfunctioning mind is cured, but his son's beautiful visions were previously with Venus! As we see in the story, the father's time travel mission winds up bringing about the pastoral visions of his son, which were real, and simply seeing the alternate reality which was slowly taking over. The authority of the father, Saturn, here occluded by Neptune.
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| Jon's World |
The Cosmic Poachers - 10/22/52
On Mercury Day, we have Mercury, in the chthonic realm of Scorpio, they are the eggs hidden deep in the caves of dead worlds by the Adharans. Mercury is squared by Pluto, who carries with it the stolen child mythology of Persephone. Jupiter, who rules abundance and proliferation, opposes the eggs, and yet Pluto trines the Moon... there nurturing of these eggs is aided by their robbery. The Adharans may be slaughtered, and yet, with Jupiter sextiling Uranus, the shocking relocation of the eggs to Earth, winds up leading to their ability to prosper, and take over the Earth.
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| The Cosmic Poachers |
Progeny - 11/3/52
Moon Day, in a story about robots rearing the young, and a distant Mother who wants nothing to do with the child. The moon, which signifies Mother, is generally distant and detached in any air sign. Here, in Gemini, the sign of maximum Yang momentum towards the Summer Solstice, the Mother pursuing her own interests and leaving the job up to the robots. Mercury, which can represent children in a chart, or youth at least, is in detriment in Sagittarius, being raised in a philosophically alien world to our own, is opposed to the Moon, as far away as it can get. Saturn, which can be viewed as the father, is with Neptune, feeling the guilt and sorrow of the loss of the Son. Libra, being the sign of partnership, shows the disintegration of the marriage, despite the Moon moving to trine Saturn, Neptune has dissolved the Libran qualities here. Saturn in a T-square with Uranus and Mars, does the shocking thing within the context of this story, and actually attempts to connect with his son, and remove him from the robots. The difficult aspects here show his failure.
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| Progeny and Some Kinds of Life |
Some Kinds of Life - 11/3/52
Being delivered on that same Moon day, we see a preoccupation with a similar theme, that of complete and total automation at the detriment of actual human life. This time we focus upon war on Mars to highlight this absurdity. Mars, here strong and exalted in Capricorn, is opposed to Uranus, the planet of shocking and eccentric changes, in the domestic sign of Cancer. This is certainly descriptive enough. The shocking end to the story (for 1952) is that women eventually wind up being conscripted into the army, (and isn't Mars in Capricorn not a perfect description of military conscription, Mars, controlled by Saturn in hierarchical Capricorn?), which is shown by the Mars Uranus opposition happening in feminine signs. Meanwhile, the two most regularly feminine gendered planets, Venus and the Moon, are opposed in masculine signs, (another sign of the dissolution of both marriages in these stories) portraying the women in a historically masculine role.
Martians Come in Clouds - 11/5/52
On Mercury Day, we have Mercury, in detriment in Sag, a sign which implies long distance travel. The Moon that day moved into Cancer, a sign of hospitality, a sign capable of taking one in, and treating them as beloved family once trust is earned, which is exactly what the buggies need.
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| Martians Come in Clouds |
The Commuter - 11/19/52
On Mercury day, Mercury, the god of travel, is still in detriment, and we have a tale of people trying to buy a ticket to a town that does not exist. The Moon, here at noon, was still in the sign of Sagittarius, but would soon enter Capricorn to meet with Venus, where a reality shift in the single vote which blocked the building of Macon Heights would change, and the town would come to life, and the relationship of the protagonist becomes healed and strengthened by this conjunction. Capricorn here standing in for bureaucracy, and how it can deeply affect so many lives.
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| The Commuter |
The World She Wanted - 11/24/52
This is a fascinating story where Allison believes that the entire world, this one reality in the multi-verse, is hers to do with as she pleases. Being Moon day, we have the Moon, ruled by Jupiter, in sextile, receiving the maximum amount of blessings possible from Jupiter, which exalts the Moon in Taurus, as she traipses around and watches the world fall in line with her wishes. Desires, and what we want is ruled by Venus, which is here conjunct Chiron, implying that getting everything we want is a wound itself. The desires of Allison infringe upon our protagonists state of bliss at the beginning of the story, as he calls his noisy, dim and dingy bar littered with refuse, Nirvana. The Sun and Moon are in a square here showing that tension. The square is waxing, showing an energy of conflict manifestating in reality which this story hinges around. Allison desires his favourite bar to be more classy and bright, which is the final straw for Larry. The big reveal at the end is that this is actually Larry's world, and he dissolves Allison into the oblivion of another reality when her desires become too much of a drain on him. Again, Venus with Chiron. The story winds up being a meditation upon the conflicts of relationship, and whether being alone and having everything one wants is better than the compromises of relationship. Saturn conjunct Neptune are being approached by a waxing square from Venus here showing this conflict rather clearly.
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| The World She Wanted |
A Surface Raid - 12/2/52
Written on a Mars Day, we have a tale of human evolution, and lack of perspective on the other. Mars is squaring Jupiter here, in a superior square, so the martial desire to control others wins out over the higher minded ideals of Jupiter. The Sun is in the darkest sign of the Zodiac, showing the hearts of the modern humans trapped in caves beneath the Earth, now appearing as pale skeletal wraiths to the natural humans living above the surface in the Sun. Cleary, Harl is attracted to the more healthy woman he sees by the river, but can't bring himself to admit that is why he let's down his screen. Venus here is opposed to Uranus, planet of shock. To Harl, admitting these "lesser life forms" are actually attractive and healthy humans is too much for him to reconcile consciously.
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| A Surface Raid |
Project: Earth - 1/6/53
If the Sun is the creative principle in a chart, here we have Uranus opposing the Sun, casing the creation of a sentient being to work the Earth for the aliens untenable with their momentum towards freedom. Written on Mars Day, mars is in a sign based trine with Uranus. The impetus to flee and be free is too strong to fulfill the creator races goals.
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| Project: Earth |
The Trouble With Bubbles - 1/13/53
This is a fitting Mars Day story. The Martial desire to set out and explore is at the core of the conflict here. Having found nothing in outer space has led humanity to become restless and turned inward. The very desire to explore and conquer turned inwards into the microscopic globes they nurture and then destroy. Mars in Pisces showing the big dreams, and the Venus conjunction showing the eventual satisfaction of those desires. The trine between Jupiter showing the ability to grow these bubbles, with Mercury in Capricorn, a decidedly world building sign, supporting that desire in the Mars Venus conjunction.
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| The Trouble with Bubbles |
Breakfast at Twilight - 1/17/53
A rare Saturn day story in this canon, which is fitting enough for a time goes screwy story, Kronos being the lord of time. Saturn here is with Neptune, showing the rigid order of Saturn has been dissolved by Neptune. That Saturn-Neptune is ruled by Venus, which is exactly conjunct Mars, where a bomb propels the family's home forward into the future where everything else is decimated in perpetual war. The Moon here, representing the home is in a trine with Saturn and Neptune, showing it survives, and allows the family to make a choice, whether they sacrifice their children into the war machine to live another day, or risk subjecting themselves to another bomb, hoping it will send them back and allow themselves to continue on as a family. Pluto opposing the Moon shows the military threatening to take the children to enroll them, the Persephone mythos again. Venus shows choices, and here, it is with Mars, having to choose between war, and the Piscean mysteries of a dream that they can survive being blown back in time. The Moon also represents memories, where this family, in a trine to the Neptunian Time, remembers the way the world was.
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| Breakfast at Twilight and a Present for Pat |
A Present for Pat - 1/17/53
On the same day, PKD handed in A Present for Pat, which shows another angle on the Saturn Neptune angle. In this story, we have a powerful God, Saturn representing authority, taking the form of a trinket given as a gift to the protagonists wife. The power in this idol is deceptively hidden by the fog of Neptune. The square to the Sun shows how this god disrupts Eric Blake's life, as it freezes his friend, his wife, and winds up costing him his job. The power struggle between this God, and the rogue God he is seeking out is shown by the sextile to Pluto, which represents the power struggle. The Sun represents Eric's self-determination, and his commitment to treating the God fairly leads to the God finding his prey hidden as Eric's boss, winning the war and righting everything in Eric's life by the end. Pluto, the power struggle, is in Leo, ruled by the Sun here. And the present, which can be represented as exalted Venus in this chart, is with Mars, it is actually a weapon!
The Hood Maker - 1/26/53
In the Hood Maker, we have a Moon day story, which, given the theme of genetic mutations, immediately brings us to the Moon's role in nurturing and growth. Powerful in Cancer, yet present there with Uranus. Uranus can be shown as the genetic mutation, a shocking change which leads to psychic abilities. However, Uranus is exactly opposed to Chiron, the wound which will not heal. These Teeps are infertile, which is the fact which is used to undo their mounting dictatorship. It can only fall with their one generation. It's cross sign, but the square from Saturn to Mercury and Sun shows the paranoid restrictions on free thought the Teeps are able to reap for a time.
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| The Hood Maker and Of Withered Apples |
Of Withered Apples - 1/26/53
On the same day, we have another story concerned with infertility and growth. A seemingly cursed apple orchard which cannot bear fruit has some bizarre hold over Lori. If we carry forward some of the delineations from The Hood Maker on the same day, Uranus opposed Chiron can again stand for some strange mutation which has led to infertility in the apple trees. But here, we look to Venus, representing Lori, being pulled by the trine to Uranus to continue to visit this orchard. The night before, which is likely when this story was being written, the Moon would have been sextiling Pluto, lord of death, before moving into the abundance of Cancer. As such, the woman, drawn to the weirdness of the orchard, eats the one apple, and dies, giving birth to a new life from her grave. Here, Jupiter, lord of abundance and proliferation, is exalting the Moon from Taurus waiting for the Moon to complete that sextile.
Human Is - 2/2/53
Submitted on Moon day, the Moon in Virgo is overly calculating here, obsessed with the details of the work being done, and not seeing the humanity and empathy needed to take care of his wife and nephew. Opposed by Mars in Pisces, dreaming of other worlds and not seeing what is right before him. Body replaced by an alien imposter which sees through more human eyes than Lester himself. Aquarius is often seen as the sign of aliens, and here, we have a Mercury Cazimi on the North lunar node. Aquarius often carries with it humanitarian themes. This alien comes in and shows more human empathy than Lester who's eyes are on distant skies. Jupiter, exalting the Moon still, trines the Moon, and she sees it in her heart to have mercy upon the alien who displaced her cold unloving husband. Philip writes about this story as being his credo about what it means to be a human, something he spent the rest of his career concerned with. The Sun Mercury cazimi on Rahu in Aquarius really describes the importance of this moment well.
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| Human Is |
Adjustment Team - 2/11/53
This Mercury Day story starts out in one place, having a character's entire world dissolve around him, in a seemingly deeply malicious fashion. Mercury on this day is about to move into its detriment in Pisces. Mercury opposing Pluto shows the abject decimation of his world and reconstitution, death and rebirth is Pluto's jam. As the story goes on however, we find this re-adjustment is the work of a benevolent higher power attempting to bring peace to humanity. Mercury is ruled here by Saturn, which is exalted in Libra, and trining Mercury. Conjunct Neptune like all these stories, but moving past it, shows the dissolution of reality, an extremely Neptunian device for reorganizing reality. Mercury opposed Pluto also shows the very difficult moral dilemma Ed must face in having to lie to his wife about what happened. Although in detriment when Mercury moves into Pisces, it will sextiled by its benevolent ruler, Jupiter.
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| Adjustment Team |
The Impossible Planet - 2/11/53
Also delivered on the same day, we have a story which features lying as a central issue, where Captain Andrews agrees to take Irma Vincent Gordon to a planet he does not believe exists. Irma wishes to find Terra, and die on the humans home world, which the humans in this futuristic setting believe to be merely a myth. Captain Andrews at least does his due diligence in trying to find a planet which would fit the mythological description, which is in polluted tatters. The moon, which represents home of course, is debilitated in Capricorn. But the story of course ends with the wonderful twist that it winds up being, in fact, Earth. The opposition of the Moon from Uranus, in the moon's home sign of Cancer, shows this happy twist. Mercury, moving into detriment, but sextiling it's ruler as well can show this spurt of nasty luck, as the woman dies and vanishes into the sea.
Imposter - 2/24/53
On Mars day, we have a story about a man who has a bomb within himself, well described by Mars in fire sign Aries, god of war. Venus is moving past the conjunction to Mars, in its detriment, squaring a powerful Moon in Cancer. Spence Olman believes himself to be a human, and have secure, real memories of his life, but as Uranus in Cancer with the Moon shows, it is all a fiction. His identity has been erased for the purposes of war. For added confusion, we have Neptune opposing Mars and squaring the Moon.
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| Imposter |
James P. Crow - 3/17/53
Another Mars day story, one must think the amount of bravery James P. Crow would have needed to scam the robots, move into their highest ranks, and carry out his bold blackmail of their hold on power over the humans. The Moon is on Mars, highlighting the bravery of the dignified Mars. Venus has moved into it's own rulership in Taurus, with Jupiter, further showing the success of humanity over the robot overlords. While Saturn, the robots rule, is opposing Mars from its sign of exaltation, it is ruled by Venus, which has just left the conjunction with Mars, and is concerned with Mars' agenda, carrying that conjunciton energy forward. Furthermore, Neptune shows the confusion of the robots about their own past, which becomes their greatest weakness.
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| James P. Crow |
Planet for Transients - 3/23/53
We have yet another story where Uranus shows mutations. Moon day, a strong Moon in Cancer seems strange for the first section of the story, as yet again we have humans cowering in caverns beneath the Earth, hiding from the irradiated surface left ravaged from a nuclear war. What the Moon with Uranus here, powerful in Cancer actually represents is the many forms of mutants who have adapted to the "hot" surface environment, are now flourishing in the Sun with all the new life forms adapted to thrive on radiation. The main character Trent, then becomes Mars in this chart. Trent is a brave man sent above ground to seek out other human colonies, a martial trait. But Mars here is in detriment, yet it exalts the Moon. Trent calls the mutants "lucky bastards", he is jealous of their ability to live without a lead suit in the Sun, frolicking amongst the new plant life. Venus is retrograding back meanwhile int Aries, the sign of its detriment, but forming a mutual reception with Mars. Mars, moving towards the wisdom of Jupiter, realizes that the Earth is no longer theirs, they must migrate off world, and find a planet that can host them comfortably. It's nice that this story ends with a wish that the mutants will want to host them in some distant future, and invite them back. Very sweet little story here.
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| Planet for Transients and Small Town |
Small Town 3/23/53
Submitted on the same day, the Moon can manifest powerful creative impulses from the depths of the unconscious, out into physical reality, which is the core of this story. The retrograding Venus shows the cheating wife, who believes she has won when her husband disappears, only to find that her husband's train set has actually over-ridden reality itself, and he is now the mayor. Note that Venus is moving into Aries, and opposed by Saturn, the new mayor, and Neptune, the mayor's dream, made reality by the powerful exalted Saturn. The Moon, on Uranus, shows this shocking ability to manifest a new reality, opposed by Chiron, which is this man's deeply held feelings of powerlessness. The Moon, made eccentric by Uranus, and its square to Saturn shows the claustrophobic feeling of being trapped in a small town and not fitting in. A very powerful story.
Souvenir - 3/26/53
In Souvenir we have a rare Jupiter Day story. Fittingly enough, since
the entire story hinges upon a philosophical disagreement. A superior
civilization enforces their philosophical homogeny ruthlessly upon a
more primitive civilization. In order to do away with all conflict and
war, they are willing to decimate an entire civilization, which, well
that, kind of defeats their point doesn't it? Here, Pluto is very
closely squaring Jupiter, which is in the more comfortable, but
independant sign of Taurus. The Moon is with that day, highlighting
this brutal imperative to change or be destroyed which Pluto, in the
sign of Leo the king, implies here. What is interesting, with Mercury
sextiling Jupiter here from it's own sign of Pisces, is that the two
civilizations have a pleasant meet and greet, and even break bread,
despite the ever-present inevitable conclusion that they will refuse the
offer and be destroyed. This is a profoundly Piscean way to go about
this!
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| Souvenir |
Survey Team - 4/3/53
The collection ends with a Venus day story. Venus is in detriment, so is the Earth. In Aries, fittingly enough, as the surface of the Earth has been scorched black by the fires of war. A plan is hatched to send a rocket ship to Mars to see if it is habitable for humans to evacuate the scorched Earth. Uranus, which can imply an eccentric and out of the box plan, is sextiling Mars. When they arrive, they find that it was been stripped bare and completely decimated, among the ruins of an abandoned civilization. Of course, Mars in this chart is also in detriment, and widely squaring Pluto no less. As they search the ruins for a clue as to where the previous inhabitants landed, they unsurprisingly discover that it was Earth. Humans had decimated Mars, and then moved to Earth. Being a Venus day story, Venus represents the protagonists here, and shares a mutual reception with Mars, which is in an Earth sign, showing in two different ways how the humans originally came from Mars. How lovely!
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| Survey Team |
My investigations into the astrology of Philip K. Dick will be ongoing, I'll link further articles here,
The Future Astrology of The Variable Man
PAYCKECK AND OTHER CLASSIC STORIES BY PHILIP K. DICK
Payckeck - 31-7-52
On a Jupiter day, we can look to Jupiter here as our protagonist, Jennings. The Moon can generally be viewed as the co-significator of the main character in a chart, as well as a stand-in for the general population in a mundane chart. In this story, we have two Jennings, the one we are following who's had his mind wiped, and the one who foresaw the future and planned this elaborate heist for the mind-wiped version. The Moon here is averse to Jupiter, so they cannot see each other, Jennings refers to the forgotten past version of himself in the third person, viewing him as a completely separate entity. Despite being averse, they have significatn dignity between them, as Jupiter exalts the Moon, and the Moon is ruled by Jupiter. The moon wants what is best for Jupiter, and Jupiter is inclined to trust the Moon's plan.
Meanwhile, the antagonist in this story is a totalitarian government who wants to imprison Jennings to find out what he knows about the Rotherick Construction group which he was working for that wiped his mind. In this world, the Corporations are sovereign to the overreach of the government, so long as a crime cannot be proven. Jennings intuits that this company is a covert rebellion which he would prefer join thanbe left to the whims of the government. Jennings, Jupiter, is ruled by Venus, we will take Venus as the Rotherick group, as they did control him, to the point of controlling his memories. He likes them, though is at odds with them as part of his machinations to get into power within the group. We see this tense T-square between Mars, which is the government here, powerful within Scorpio, but hating Venus, the corporation.
Venus is further described by being conjunct Pluto, Rotherick has built a giant cavernous underground hidden layer (chthonic realm) with which he seeks to secure power (also Pluto). This is a very nifty alignment! Venus is within the second decan of Leo, ruled by Jupiter, showing the unique, and underhanded methods Jupiter needed to employ to overcome that square and gain victory over Venus.
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| Payckeck, The Great C, Out In the Garden |
The conflict here is shown by Pluto on Ketu, in a T-square with Mars and Jupiter. The power struggle of Pluto is having the life sucked out of it by Ketu. There is wavering support for the war effort, as most people don't believe they can win against the Ganymedians, who have the uppper hand as their precious cradles are on Ganymede... actually... maybe the relevance of that myth is rearing its ugly head consciously for PKD here. At any rate, Ketu shows the desire for the Senate to just give into the demands, they begin to cast a vote, i wait with baited breath, Mercury votes to give in, Mercury in this chart is within the decan of Jupiter, showing sympathies towards the planet, Venus is asked to vote, but unfortunately we don't get to follow that dignity thread through the Sol System.
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| Prize Ship |
Nanny - 26 Aug. 1952
This is one of the funniest things I've ever read. The revelation that the robot nanny's are programmed to fight each other in an evolutionary war of planned obsolescence is so delightfully absurd and brilliant. I am only sad that he didn't take it to the extreme end of having this survival of the fittest arms race become the eventual end of human civilization via robots PKD was so obsessed with. The Nannies are supposed to be taking care of the children, but in the end wind up being programmed primarily to battle other rival nanny bots, at the expense of their nannying duties. The Moon represents nurturing the young, and here it is in its fall in Scorpio, present with its ruler Mars, and it happens to be Mars Day, showing the real purpose here. Mars in the final degree of its rulership shows the planned obsolescence, every robot is about to lose its power and ability to win. In a similar way, the Sun, which can represent the father, has just moved out of its rulership. The dereliction of the duty of the parents to these machines, and especially the egoistic fury the father's display in continuously purchasing more expensive models to impotently attempt to protect the investment. It's rather sad. Meanwhile, Ketu is with Pluto, showing the futility of this battle of the Nanny-bot measuring context, the Moon is approaching the southern bendings here.
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| Nanny |
Second Variety and other classic stories by Philip K. Dick
Fair Game - April 21, 1953
Professor Anthony Douglas thinks he's rather clever as the leading nuclear physicist, and arrogantly thinks that the inter-dimensional intruders are interested in him for his knowledge. This story was submitted on Mars day however. Mars in detriment in Taurus no less, a sign of appreciating good food. Mars is conjunct Jupiter, the aliens gloat about what a big human they caught as they drop him into the frying pan.
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| Fair Game |
The Hanging Stranger - May 4th, 1953
On Moon day, Ed Loyce is in a bad situation, exactly conjunct Chiron, in detriment, and in a nasty T-square. The Saturn Neptune conjunction which these stories were all written within, is getting very close to the second conjunction in a series of three. Again we see the corruption of authority structures in this story. The square from Mercury in Aries shows the Mars ruled fear response he has in killing the clever eyed man instead of listening to him.
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| The Hanging Stranger |
The Golden Man - 24 June 1953
Mercury day is fitting here, as the Golden Man's first power is the ability to see and react to all physical occurrences, a unique ability of reflex and pre-planning, all Mercurial attributes. The fascinating part here is that Mercury is in the overcoming square to Saturn, who is exalted, in control, yet unable to restrain this new Golden human. Saturn is being weakened by Neptune, as their guns and traps fail to stop their prey, who has no great dignity in Cancer, other than the fact that it is in the sign of Saturn's Fall. By the end of the story, it is clear the Saturnine human attempt to restrict new mutants will fail, not only because of their super-natural precognitive sense, but because they will outbreed the humans. The Golden Man, is clearly a Solar archetype, radiant and shining, and it, as well as Mars, Uranus, and Mercury, are all in the abundantly fertile sign of Cancer.
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| The Golden Man |
The Last of the Masters - 15 July 1953
In this excellent story, I most wanted to see Saturn and Uranus in square to explain the dangerous freedom of the anarchists versus the oppressive rule of the robot master. Mars is with Uranus, and squaring Saturn, showing the argument which is won by the anarchists in the end that their roving bands of violence is better than a societal mobilization of full war. Saturn is exalted in Libra, showing the Last Masters ability to run an entire society, while Neptune represents its decaying physical form, nebulously failing piece by piece. Submitted on Mercury day, perhaps Mercury is the hero in Leo here who saves his daughter. With Ketu implies the turning of the back against the larger societal structures which Leo generally wants to rule.
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| The Last of the Masters |
The Father-Thing - 21 July, 1953
If we take Mars on this Tuesday to be the protagonist, then it is in fall in the sign of Cancer, which implies nurturing and safety, where here Mars has none. Mars is combust the Sun, which can represent father, so the Sun is blotting out the Mother's ability to protect her son, the Moon, in fall in Scorpio. Saturn, another indicator of father within a chart, is now within one degree of the conjunction all of the stories in the past two collections we've been looking at were building up to. Obfuscation of the father. Interesting to note is that Mars has triplicity dignity within Cancer, a feminine sign. Triplicity dignity has been described like help one can get from a friend, in this story the child finds two friends to help him battle the alien imposters. A further note of interest is that the Father-Thing gets shot in the eye, the Eyes being ruled by the Sun and Moon.
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| The Father-Thing |
Tony and the Beetles - 31 Aug 73
An incredibly insightful story about the nature of war, oppression, and how clueless one can be to their own privilege, as well how necessity and survival instinct can suppress raw hatred. Submitted on Moon day, the Moon on this day does indeed cross Rigel, which is where the war turns in favor of the Beetles. The chart itself, showing Mars meeting Pluto, is a bad sign for just about anything. Here, the harsh truth of Pluto reveals the true nature of the Terrans failing war efforts.
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| Tony and the Beetles - Null-O |
Null-O - 31 August 1953
We have a deranged alignment for this deranged satire on the insanity of nuclear war. In this story, the thalamic emotions are seen as a hindrance to pure logic. The Moon, being our emotional responses, in Gemini tends to be some what cold in its emotional response, here in a trine to Neptune and Saturn, showing a deluded sense of responsibility, the psychotic psychiatrist in this story views the shedding of responsibility to others as hindrance to accomplishing greater things for the future of this psychopathic mutation to the human species. Their ultimate aim is to destroy the distinction between all things. Neptune on Saturn, which rules boundaries shows this quite nicely, while the sextile to Mars on Pluto(nium) describes the horrifying method to their goals, ever bigger nuclear bombs.
If we look to the astrology of dates highlighted in the story, the Null-O's take over on Mercury day, June 25, 1969. Mercury is in the same range of degrees the Moon crossed as this story was written, and implies power in it's home of Gemini, as well as a maximum yang selfishness. The Moon is in fall in Scorpio, showing a hindrance in Lunar functions, in this case, empathy.
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| June 25, 1969 |
It is then said that on August 5 1969 the human population had been reduced to such a size that "We can begin erection of the E-Bomb terminals", which made me laugh, because it is a Mars day, fittingly enough, and we have the phallus glyph of Mars in the sign of Sagittarius, where we right our aim, which is also a large phallus glyph.
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| August 5, 1969 |
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| Sales Pitch |
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| Upon the Dull Earth |
War Veteran - 17 February 1954
On Mercury day, Mercury is in detriment. The thought processes of these people are warped by corporate manipulation, and war looms. What is fascinating about this chart is that the Earth is with the Moon at 28 degrees of Leo (always exactly opposite the Sun of course), and the Venusians have tricked the humans into peace by the end of the story, here, Venus is exalted. I especially loved that he made the Venusians green (the colour of Venus in most esoteric systems) and with webbed feet and hands. Though it isn't in reality, astrologically it is considered a wet planet. Interestingly we see a T-square between Venus, Mars, and the Earth (or Moon if you like). The Martians and Venusians seem to be in league in this story, though we barely get a glimpse of any Martians. Mars and Venus are in mutable signs, willing to negotiate, while the Earth is stuck in fixed Leo. The Earth, with Pluto, is confronted by the prospect of complete and utter annihilation. How fitting.
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| War Veteran |
The Chromium Fence - 9 April 1954
We have a rare Venus Day story here, which is fitting given the dignified status of Venus here, and the entire society focusing upon Venusian aesthetics as a factor of social compliance and totalitarian order. This is shown very clearly by having the dignified Venus, obsessed with beauty, opposed by a restricting Saturn. The protagonist of our story however is the Sun exalted in Aries. A single man willing to make up his own mind and not join one of the warring factions. His valiant stand, and even aggressive response is seen with Sun in Aries. The square to the Moon showing his own stance contrary to his own family. His son even causing his arrest accidentally, Uranus with the Moon squaring the Sun.
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| The Chromium Fence |
Misadjustment - 14 May 1954
Another Venus day story, here Venus is in the maximum sign of diversity and individuation of Gemini, trining the Moon with Neptune showing this mutation being a delusional field cast by the individual around them. The Sun, being the ruler, in square to Pluto from Leo shows how the rulers' own system to catch the mutants they perceived as a threat to their power, coming to persecute them.
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| Misadjustment |
The Mold of Yancy - 10/18/54
Fittingly a Moon day story. Most of the classical planets are on the Night Time is greater side of the Zodiac, showing the tendency towards monotonous societal homogeneity. Especially considering the Sun is in its fall in Libra, too concerned about what the group thinks to shine on its own. Even better, we have a very tight Sun Neptune conjunction showing the blurring of independent identity through an incessant stream of ambivalent propaganda. This is a perfect blend of Neptune deluding the shine of the Sun in Libra via the completely fake and manufactured persona of Yancy.
Yet we have a potent and very tight T-square. The plot to erode personal identity and opinion is all about manufacturing consent for future wars of domination on the basis of them being nebulously "just". Here, Mars, God of war, is exalted, squaring the Sun, and opposed the only two classical lights in Cancer. The Moon, on Moon Day, powerful in its domain, ruling the exalted Jupiter. Here we have our heroes infiltrating the oblivious totalitarian state of Ganymede, and ultimately triumphing. In a tight conjunction with these two powerhouses winning the war for independent thought is Uranus, the ultimate indicator of radical independence.
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| The Mold of Yancy |
Unreconstructed M - June 2 - 1955
On Jupiter day we have a tale of manufactured evidence. Jupiter is exalted, which is sometimes interpreted as an overestimation of one's quality. Jupiter is with the shocking, new innovations of Uranus and squared by the false narratives of Neptune. Meanwhile, the perpetrator is found out and exiled. He makes his way to Betelgeuse before realizing he has no safe way to ever get back to Sol. Ketu, the south lunar node is on Betelgeuse in this chart, showing where we can give up on life.
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| Unreconstructed M |
Orpheus with Clay Feet - April 16, 1963
On Mars Day, we have a story about a man who is so deeply uninspired he needs to travel back in time to inspire an insert of Dick himself into writing Science Fiction to feel some form of connection to creativity, who instead turns Dick off entirely and creates an alternate, more boring timeline. Mars in Leo shows his desire to be interesting and inspiring in the creative domain, squaring a fixed Mercury, who has some connotations to planning within the domain of time, widely squared by Saturn, lord of Time, and squaring as well Neptune, creating the illogical and mystical warping of time itself.
Now, as the story uses Orpheus as a symbol, the constellation most closely associated with Orpheus is Lyra, his magical lyre. The Moon that day was moving through the final degrees of Lyra, with the Southern Lunar Node, which tends to obscure and remove the energies where it is, such as the inspirational creative heights attained within the stars of Lyra. Furthermore, the Moon is in its detriment in Capricorn. Being an Earth sign, we get our association to the clay feet.
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| Orpheus with Clay Feet |
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