Thursday 30 April 2009

Lost characters and father issues - The Sun/Jupiter connection

I am a great fan of Lost and I consider it to be one of the most original TV shows ever. As a viewer, I, too, get exasperated sometimes wondering what on earth is going on, but I cannot rest until I find out exactly how it is all going to turn out. The storyline toys with philosophy, religion and destiny, which is hardly surprising considering that the three men primarily responsible for this (J.J. Abrams, Carlton Cuse and Damon Lindelof) all have Sun/Jupiter contacts. What is even more interesting, however, from an astrological point of view, is how father figures are portrayed in the series bearing in mind the Sun/Jupiter aspects. Naturally, we must allow for the fact that this is not "real" life and certain characteristics may be exaggerated for dramatic purposes, but still, it would be interesting to see what is the Sun/Jupiter person's idea of father.
J.J. Abrams has a Sun/Jupiter conjunction in Cancer, the sign of Jupiter's exaltation, Carlton Cuse has a Sun in Aries in an exact trine with Jupiter in Sagittarius, the sign Jupiter rules, (he also has, however, a Sun square Saturn in Capricorn with a 5o orb) and Damon Lindelof has a Sun/Venus conjunction in Taurus square Jupiter in Aquarius. One would mostly expect, therefore, a positive father image from these men. Far from it. I don't know what kind of a relationship they have or had with their own fathers, but the fathers in the series leave a lot to be desired.
The Jack Sheppard/John Locke relationship seems to reflect the dichotomy in Cuse's chart, with his Sun aspecting both a very strong Saturn and a very strong Jupiter. We have the man of science (Jack-Saturn) opposed to the man of faith (John-Jupiter). Both men however did not experience a loving father-son relationship. Jacks's father may be a well-respected doctor, but is an alcoholic, loses his job and has fathered an illegitimate child in Australia. John's father is the negative Jupiter taken to the extremes. A con man, who seduces women into giving him their money, who cons his own son into giving him his kidney and even tries to kill him by throwing him out of the window.
As for the rest of the male cast, Sawyer's father commits suicide after his wife was conned by John's father, Ben's dad is unable to cope with the upbringing of a child and blames his son for killing his mother during childbirth and Jin's father seems to be the only example of a loving and selfless father who takes Jin on without knowing if he is his son or not, yet he cannot be much help to Jin in his pursuit of a better life and slowly fades away in the background of his son's life.
So, in four out of five cases, we have the weak and ineffectual father who can't be of any real help to his son either due to social position (Jin) or his own vices (Jack) and his inability to deal with the hard facts of life (Sawyer, Ben). In John's case we have the seducer par excellence who tries to lead a comfortable life at the expense of others.
Not a very "benefic" planet when it comes to fatherhood, is it? Or rather, Jupiter's idea of fatherhood doesn't fit very well with our contemporary notion of how a proper father should behave. We believe that a father should be responsible and always be "there" for the child, we believe that he should be as nurturing as the mother and, in general, our sympathies lie with Saturn in so far as the father needs to provide the necessary structures for the healthy development of the child. But Jupiter isn't like that. In mythology, Zeus impregnates all those wonderful ladies and then leaves them pretty well alone to raise the child and suffer the wrath of Hera. It's the price they pay for giving birth to a demi-God.
Strongly Jupiterian people very often feel that life owes them something, that they are entitled to happiness and they can't be bothered with the daily and boring mundane tasks we all seem to be burdened with. It's not the same as Neptune, who wants to escape from it all. Jupiter doesn't want to escape from the saturnian elements of life, it's just that he feels they are beneath him and he wants somebody else to deal with them for him. Jupiter wants servants and he is lucky enough to find them in life pretty often. This is not a planet that likes responsibilities. So, if you have a Sun/Jupiter aspect, your father may be jovial, warm and affectionate but you get the feeling that this is because he loves life and not you in particular. And when push comes to shove, he doesn't seem to be the person that you can count on.
We may think, of course, that this is a bad thing, but is it? Jupiter is the planet connected with philosophy and religion and it is an inescapable fact that philosophy and everyday life are incompatible. If putting food on your plate is your primary concern, then meditating on the meaning of life is out of the question. You just don't have the time. Naturally, not all jupiterians become philosophers, but still they want as much free time as possible to experience life the way they see fit. Which means that they should indeed shy away from responsibility. The fewer everyday problems, the better. The mistake they very often make is that they try to play Saturn because everybody else does it. And of course, things go horribly wrong.
Another important aspect of the Sun/Jupiter connection when it comes to fathers is that, if you embody the Jupiter archetype, then you have to "kill" your father in order for you to claim your place in the world. The father must die in order for the son to rule. On Lost, Jack "dethrones" his father by telling the truth that his father was operating under the influence, Ben actually kills his father and insists that John do the same if he wants to be free but John, unable to do it himself, has Sawyer do it, taking revenge for his own father's death. It seems, therefore, that not all is fair in Jupiter land. In astrology, we usually search for Saturn or outer planet aspects to explain a difficult father/son relationship, but apparently we must not automatically assume that everything is fine with Jupiter.

2 comments:

  1. Yes - int he Lost universe, anything resembling good fatherhood appears to be a largely absent theme. Going back to Jack's father he was a bad dad to Jack and a non-existant father to Claire. We see the same pattern for Widmore who was bad for Penny and non-existant for Daniel. Even Ben as an "adoptive" father left a lot to be desired as Alex grew up. I don't remember all the specifics, but it seems to me that Shannon's father wasn't so great and he wasn't a great step-dad to Boone either. Kate seemed to have a decent biological father, but was on the run for killing her step-dad. The story hasn't played itself out yet, but we know that Miles at least "feel" he got the short end of the stick with his dad. And if I remember correctly, Hurley's dad was largely a deadbeat until Hurley won the lottery. Daddy issues seems to be a never ending theme!

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  2. Yes, thank you for mentioning Hurley, as I wanted to focus on the male cast. His father isn't portrayed as a bad man, but he did leave his family behind not being able to stand the pressure perhaps. Very jupiterian as well, so it strengthens my point. Since you mention the female parts, don't forget Sun who has a very strict and authoritarian father that runs his business in a Mafia style.

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