Speaker’s Report - October 2022
Learning Pathways - Penny Walters
Our October speaker Penny believes major life changing events, those often sudden and traumatic ones, are an essential part of the learning we need so that we can grow into the person we are meant to be become in this lifetime. Using a corporate world / financial market’s term – The Black Swan event, Penny dived into her philosophy of choosing to use the difficult events in life as a learning experience and turning them into assets.
Technically speaking, Black Swan event is an event with some major effects that is deemed to be a surprise to the observer at the time when it happens but is later rationalised by hindsight as if it could have been expected. Penny used her own birth chart at the beginning and noted that the Black Swan events in her life during the first two years of her discovering and learning astrology helped shaping her views on astrology and ways of dealing with clients.
She uses a model to make it easier for us to dissect the Black Swan event. We start by looking at the character – the person and the characteristic of the birth chart. Secondly, we review the context – in what context does the character express itself. Thirdly, we observe the event – the story that play out and the indications for the event occurring (ie. triggered by transits). Lastly, we examine the Action – the impact of the event has on the person and how it changes the way the person sees and experiences the world, actions taken by the person, and contributions made by the event to the person’s life purpose.
Before going through the 3 examples (Alec Baldwin, Dave Grohl, and Will Smith/Chris Rock), Penny invited the participants to think about their life, the Black Swan events and how those events contributed to their life learning pathway.
On 21 Oct 2021, Alec Baldwin used a gun with live rounds on set and accidentally killed one person and injured another. Penny shared his natal chart as a start. He has an Aries Sun in 10th house with Aquarius Mars in 8th (could be a bit reckless and maybe a bit full of himself) plus a Leo Uranus in 1st (could be hard to control and a bit unpredictable). He also has Chiron widely conjunct Venus both in Aquarius and 8th house, an out of sign grand trine involving Saturn, Pluto, and South Node, and an out of sign stellium involving Jupiter, North Node and Neptune. Penny noted that while many people may have such planetary combination, not all will manifest in exactly the same way (ie. killing and injuring people on a film set by accident). His natal chart holds the potential of being a more spiritual person (Neptune North Node conjunction) and he has been using the Neptune energy in a different way (movie / film). Penny then added his progress and transit chart on the day of the accident which showed triggers such as Progress Mars exact on Natal MC and Progress Sun exact on natal 12th house cusp, and more. Penny and some of the audiences believed this Black Swan event could see him ended up in jail and he might find his meaning and purpose in life through that experience.
Audiences also stated that trine in someone’s chart could make the chart owner more susceptible to a Black Swan event as trine tends to indicate events being happening easily / smoothly / quickly / unintentionally, regardless of the nature of the event (ie. be it a ‘beneficiary/easy event or a difficult/negative event). Usually, chart owner does not have to put in ‘hard work’ to make things happen under the influence of a trine.
The next example is Dave Grohl, an American musician and the founder of a rock band called Foo Fighters and the drummer for Nirvana. His life changing events involved the unexpected death of the members of these 2 bands. His natal chart showed a Sagittarius 11th house and the ruler Jupiter sat in the 8th conjunct Uranus, South Node (tightly) and Pluto (widely). He has Chiron and Hygeia conjunct North Node which could indicate healing being part of his destiny (maybe through music). He also has a Moon conjunct Neptune in 10th (reaching others through music). Penny presented Dave’s progression and transit chart of the time when one of his band members, Taylor Hawkins, die. He has transiting Uranus on his natal IC, Progress Moon on MC conjunct transiting Hygeia in Scorpio. Penny then quickly showed the progress and transit chart of Dave when Kurt Cobain die. It showed Dave’s Progress Moon once again in Scorpio close to conjunct the MC and transiting Jupiter on MC, and transiting Neptune conjunct Natal Sun. Interestingly, Penny noted while Venus is not usually being linked to death, she noticed progress Venus does come to play, and in this case (when Taylor die), it squares Dave’s natal Sun (near exact). Penny also stated that his life lesson is about using music as a healing tool and through these very public and shared lost (of the two band members), he moves closer to that path.
The last case study was Will Smith publicly slapped Chris Rock at The Oscar. Will Smith’s natal chart has Scorpio Moon conjunct Neptune in 6th, and Jupiter, Pluto, Uranus, Sun and South Node forming an out of sign stellium in 5th. Penny noted that the 5th house stellium with Uranus conjunct Sun closely could be one of the indicators of his unpredictable character (and unusual way of raising his children as the stellium is in the 5th). At the time of the event, Will’s progress Sun conjunct progress Neptune in 6th while progress Moon also in 6th all in Scorpio. Transiting Moon and Mars conjunct MC (triggered a rather public display and having impact on public image and reputation), and Saturn in 10th (potential change in matters relate to public image and career). Given his progress Sun and Moon are both in Scorpio (at the balsamic phase), he is likely to experience a darker stage in his career (6th house). Penny stated that Will’s progress new moon is coming up in about 3 years and a bit in Sagittarius and that could be the time when he sees the lesson of this black swan event. Penny also showed Chris Rock’s natal chart – he has an Aquarius Sun in 11th square Neptune in Scorpio and Jupiter in Taurus. He also has Venus conjunct Mercury in Aquarius. Chiron in the 12th may indicate his inclination of hiding his pain. At the time of the event, Chris has transiting Pluto squaring natal Moon and his progress Sun in the 12th (for a very long time). Penny noted that Chris has a tendency to take a passive position so that he can fit in (according to an interview he gave) and he has been bullied since a young age. His 12th progress Sun will be crossing his ASC in about 4 years. Penny stated that it could be the time when he finally showed who he is.
Lastly, Penny fittingly quoted Byron Katie, “Life is simple. Everything happens for you, not to you … You don’t have to like it … it’s just easier if you do.”
