Sunday, October 21, 2007

Neil Diamond

I don't see Neil Diamond as a typical example of Sun Aquarius - not that there could ever be a typical example of such a maverick sign. He's an early Sun Aquarian, 24 January 1941, New York City, 11.04 pm according to Khaldea


Neil's a very Earthy Aquarian. 3 planets in Taurus, Moon and Venus in Capricorn, Neptune in Virgo. Airy Libra ascendant, which blends well with his Aquarius Sun. No planet in Water, but Cancer at midheaven.




In interview Neil has described himself as "a meat and potatoes kind of guy". That's not Aquarius - that's Earth.

He is said to be shy when off stage. This must be why, over the years, he has stayed in the background of show-biz razzamatazz. He gives few interviews. Yet on-stage he sparkles just like his name.

A few diamond-bright (groan) clues to his personality: first from a Larry King interview in 2003:

DIAMOND: -- the performing is -- you know, it's all about noise and being extroverted, which I'm not an extroverted kind of person, but that's evidently part of my personality and...
KING: You're basically shy, right? I presume -- you don't do a lot of interviews.
DIAMOND: No. Very few.
KING: You don't like talking about yourself a lot, right?
DIAMOND: Don't like talking about myself. And you know, the music should say everything and the performance should say everything and...
KING: So let's say you're introverted. You're shy. What happens on stage?
DIAMOND: Well, that's... KING: You're the last one to have a shy act.
DIAMOND: That's a different person. That's not me. That's that other guy up there."




The close opposition between Pluto in Leo and Sun in Aquarius in his natal chart may indicate two sides to his personality. Many Sun Aquarians of around his age (myself included) have this aspect between Sun and Pluto. Neil's is a much tighter opposition than my own though, and his natal Pluto in Leo is in 10th house - "on the public stage", with Sun at the base of the chart, in 4th - in "the home".

And this from a Rolling Stone article:

"Safety is a priority for Diamond, who has worked with much the same staff in the same L.A. offices for thirty years. Tiny frog figurines, some of them strumming guitars, decorate available surfaces, and the bathroom walls are covered with needlepoint sayings (over the toilet, inexplicably: HOME IS WHERE THE HEART IS)".

How Taurus is that!? Or maybe Sun in 4th? It ain't Aquarius!

Also this, from an interview with Neil at Guardian Unlimited :-

"He doesn't sound happy, in person or on the turntable.

'That's what I am. I'm one of those guys who can't get rid of that melancholia.'

Where does it come from, this melancholia?

'I don't know. I was born that way'. "

Hmm - I don't know either! Moon and Venus in Capricorn, perhaps. They happen to be semi-sextile Sun and Mercury in Aquarius. Or is it that Sun/Pluto opposition again, I wonder?

2 comments:

kaleymorris said...

Woo Hoo! Mr. Diamond is to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in March 2011.

Twilight said...

kaleymorris ~~ Yes - and not before time! He "tweeted" about it several weeks ago (he's one of the handful of people whose tweets I read). He graciously said that it was all thanks to the determined insistence of his devoted fans. Awwwww!