The Horoscope of Marshall McLuhan

Unknown time of birth. The native died of a stroke, but not quickly. This indicates a strong Mars influence in the eighth house; the lingering nature of the death indicates an affliction to this planet. Mars, in regards to death, prefers to act quickly, hence we can conclude that something is going on with regards to Mars.

Inspection of the chart allows us to solve these problems by assuming a birth time between nine and ten am. This places Mars in the house of death (which would give death by stroke), and the detriment of Mars in Taurus maps the incredible, stubborn life force of Taurus into resistance. You could not get a much better interpretation of ‘Mars in Taurus in the eighth house’ than with a description of Marshall McLuhan’s demise.

Conjectured time of birth, there fore: 9:30 am

Aspects of Genius.

Conjunction to the Sun by Neptune, in Cancer. As I have mentioned previously, conjunctions to the outer planets are aspects of genius. They are the most remarkable when the inner planet is the Sun, followed by the Moon, and so in in declining order. Marshall has Neptune conjunct his Sun, certainly he falls into the first rank of the geniuses of our society, the ones who channel the greater wisdom of the infinite into our lesser realm of finite form and base matter. Additional blessings accrue with the sympathetic nature of watery Cancer with nebulous Neptune. The active planet of the Sun adds heat to the alchemy of the mixture, giving fog; and in this case, the ability to penetrate through the fog of illusion to the reality that exists within its gaseous form. This aspect alone would indicate that this person has an understanding of the emotional motivations of the mob.

The powerful Sun-Neptune conjuction is further aspected … a) by opposition from Uranus, and b) by trine from the Moon.

a) Opposition by Uranus. Marshall would have been opposed all his life by sudden, powerful forces. The nature of these forces are indicated by the sign that Uranus resides in, the house it rules, and the house it resides in.

Uranus in Capricorn. The establishment did not much like Marshall. And they would have come at him suddenly, unexpectedly, and over trivial issues. Uranus and the Sun do not have much in common, and an opposition is, actually, quite a natural relationship for them to have. Marshall would have found the choice between Capricorn and Cancer values an easy choice.

Uranus in the fifth house. Marshall would have had an attraction and exposure to strange and unusual entertainments. Anyone familiar with the decadent underside of down town Toronto knows that this is what is to be found in the city of light at night. Seeing sodomy on the side streets off Church, pagan sex rituals in parking lots off Queen, and, of course, all those Masonic drug-fuelled debaucheries in the hotels close to Bay. To Marshall, these would have been only a closed door away, and sometimes, hands would be grasping at him, trying to pull him in. No doubt, this was a strong stimulus into his embracing the Catholic faith: having seen the Catholic hell of downtown Toronto debauchery. Indeed, Toronto at night is certainly one of the closest cities to the underworld, no place for a good Catholic.

Uranus ruling the sixth house. First hand experience with sexually transmitted diseases. Intimate knowledge of others whose faces are rotted off from syphilis. Not very pleasant. More stimulus for Marshall to seek the comfort of the Universal Church. This is also the aspect not of the blackmailed, but the blackmailer. McLuhan had knowledge of secrets that were embarrassing to Establishment figures. More than once his office would have been burgled in a search for photographs, letters, or address books. Let us not be harsh on Marshall: it was a matter of survival.


b) Moon in Taurus mediating between the opposition. The mob, as indicated by sign, house resident, and houses ruled.

The very powerful Moon in Taurus (where it is exalted), brings peace to the antagonism between the eccentric Capricorn establishment and the wholesome peasant Cancerian that was Marshall McLuhan. Persecution of Marshall confronted the Capricorns with the distasteful prospect of some sort of peasant uprising, so they backed off to make more subtle plans. But these are only puny Uranus-Capricorns, so they were more flash than bang.

Moon in the Ninth House, ruling the eleventh house. The alliance of the academics of the ivory tower also assisted Marshall in keeping the plumbocrats at bay. We could also look to the good natures of some good souls imbedded in the legal system to protect his back. Good friends assisted.

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Gossipy bits. No astrologer can go too far when he says that Venus in the twelfth house brings secret affairs with women. This man had a string of mistresses, probably under the guise of a nurse, a doctor, or housekeeper. The lurking (and powerful) Uranus in the house of children would indicate a love child, and also indicate a child who is a greater genius than the father. I will go out on a limb here and say that he fathered a child during the last months of his life, possibly against his will, on a calculating caregiver, whose ambitions and world view can be best described as a fascist selective breeding experiment. Where this little boy from Brazil is right now is anyones guess. Probably Markham.

Complete analysis of Marshall McLuhan can be found in Sargon’s Astrology for Investors Newsletter, the March 2008 issue. It’s the one with Bianca Beauchamp on the cover.

I, Sargon the Magnificent, wrote this.