Sabian .Earth Astrology

Orson Welles should need no introduction, but now in the twenti-first century he seems to have fallen to the ashes of movie history and is forgotten. His career was first based on his voice, a majestic baritone, but on Halloween eve 1938 that came crashing to a halt when aliens invaded the US via Mercury’s theatre’s production of H.G. Wells War of the Worlds ¹ Many think this was the first deployment of the now famous “fake news.” Brad Schwartz’s book is called just that “Broadcast Hysteria and the birth of Fake news.”

His father was a inventor and his mother, a concert pianist.  He was named after two friends of the family, George Ade and Orson Wells.  When he was thirteen years old his father Richard committed suicide and made Maurice Bernstein, an orthopedic surgeon based in Chicago, his guardian.  Some of this gets replayed in Welles’ Citizen Kane that is half autobiographical and half a jab at Randolph Hearst, but Mr. Bernstein nonetheless makes his appearance as Charles Foster Kane’s  wearily  ignored, and bespeckled advisor cum employee.

His birth chart says 7 am adjusting for local mean time and a bit I have pegged the wunderkind at 29 Gemini 25 making his ascendant conjunct his Saturn.

Transpluto the bull roars

Transpluto ruled by Taurus, the natural ruler according to Hawkins of this hypothetical planet, is on the second house cusp, but found in Cancer for Welles. It gets a nice square to Venus, who also rules Taurus, but now is in Aries and while it highlights his deep luxuriant voice, it also threatens everyone with his tempers and bellows.

 With his Venus and Mars are closely allied in the tenth house for his sumptuous and over budget sets were like Kane in his famous biopic, his and Mercury Theatre’s ruin. Unable to control his spending, like Michael Cimino and Francis Ford Ford, the big studies shied away.

Jupiter in the eleventh highlights his incredible versatility as actor, playwright, choreographer and director and then later as spokesman and of course that Uranus right near his midheaven was the incredible genius in his Mercury Theatre and broadcast on Halloween 1938 of War of the Worlds that shook people up so much, that they ran from the houses believing we had been invaded from Mars.

Welles is a bowl temperament type, heavily tilted to the eastern using his resources to the hilt to the rue and ruin. In interviews late in his life, he admitted having never had the discipline of parents, he never listened to anyone but himself (Pluto in the first house conjunct the ascendant and Saturn). He died a pauper in a destitute part of L.A.; but left a grand legacy.

Footnotes:

• 1
  Many think this was the first deployment of the now famous “fake news.” Brad Schwartz’s book is called just that “Broadcast Hysteria and the birth of Fake news.”

Updates: This post was updated on 22 April 2023.

Footnotes:

• 1
  Many think this was the first deployment of the now famous “fake news.” Brad Schwartz’s book is called just that “Broadcast Hysteria and the birth of Fake news.”