Actor Michael Fox has announced his retirement due to health concerns. He was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease thirty years ago and started drinking heavily and suffered from depression. He then pulled himself together and started a foundation to advocate for sufferers of the disease. He’s still leaving the door open for the possibility of an improvement which might see him return but says for the time being he is finding it difficult to memorize lines.
Born 9 June 1961 12.15 am Edmonton, Canada, he has a 4th house Gemini Sun sextile an excitable Mars Uranus in Leo in his 5th. His steady Taurus Moon is conjunct Venus opposition an 8th house superstar Neptune and square a 12th house Jupiter and Saturn. In addition to being super-indulgent and eternally optimistic, such a Jupiterian T Square if handled well can give the ability to be an enlightened social spokesperson. His Moon Venus is also in a charmingly seductive trine to his Pluto North Node in Virgo. He has Mercury in Cancer in his performing 5th house trine Neptune, sextile Pluto – giving him abilities as a comunicator.
When he was first diagnosed in 1991 he was on his First Saturn Return with the triple conjunction of Saturn Uranus Neptune in Capricorn moving through his psychological 12th house so it would be a deeply unsettling experience. In addition – and worse – tr Pluto was then square his Mars and Uranus which would be scary, trapped and hugely disruptive. His Progressed Mars was also opposition his Pluto so he would feel completely cornered.
At the moment he is on his Second Saturn Return with the triple conjunction of Pluto, Saturn, Jupiter moving through his 12th house. So in addition to feeling held back he will be sensing a need to gradually let go old ambitions. Tr Neptune has also been squaring his Gemini Sun this year, finishing up late January 2021, which is low energy.
His get-it-together 5th Harmonic is exceptionally strong; as is his victim/healer 12H; and ‘seeking soul’ creative 7H and his actors’ 15H.
His fourth book is out: “No Time Like the Future: An Optimist Considers Mortality.”
There is an irony for such a Jupiterian personality whose half-glass-full approach to life has helped him stay buoyant through a devastating disease that it is Saturn which pulls him down. Or maybe not. It’s always the eternal struggle for the Jupiter Saturn conjunction. Jupiter raises high to the Olympian heights while Saturn cuts down to earth.
Marjorie and Tara, thank you for your answers.
I heard a great interview with Michael J. Fox on CBC recently. Michael talked about that buoyant optimism that he expressed in his other books. A lot of self-reflection on that… looking at it honestly, questioning it. And now… bringing a maturity to that optimism (Saturn with Jupiter).
His wisdom now was that he was simply being Present to What Is. Just Presence.
And from that, the other word he came up with to express his experience with his family is… Celebration.
He is weaving his Saturn and Jupiter together quite well, I’d say!
I have noticed in friends and clients with this conjunction… If Saturn is “first”, and then Jupiter.. there is an experience of the heaviness but then the uplifting of Jupiter comes later. If the other way around, there is the optimistic rise of Jupiter and then the reality check of Saturn comes in later.
Also… I, too, have Saturn in the 12th. I think it is Stephen Forrest that says planets in the 12th are Master Teachers. This seems to be true for Michael and has been true for me. My deepest lessons/wisdom have been marked by triggers of Saturn. For heaven’s sake.. I have even lived on an island named Saturna!!
Hadley Freeman also did a terrific interview with him in the Guardian.
I too have this conjunction and I’m always relieved that my Saturn is first, thus I then have the uplift of Jupiter.
The indicator for Parkinson’s disease is asteroid Parkinson. When he was diagnoed for Parkinsons, in 1961, trans
asteroid Parkinson was in his 1st House, at 18Pi12, exactly squaring his natal Sun, and quincunx his natal Mars.
Thanks Marjorie – wow, his life is astrology in action. Those two Saturn Returns so prominently marked.
The first Back To The Future film came out as Pluto was opposing his 2nd house Taurus Moon-Venus. He wasn’t the first choice for the film, but the guy who got the role wasn’t right. So the producers got Fox in even though he was working on the “Family Ties” sitcom (symbolising Gemini in 4th?) and he would film that in the day then work overnight on BTTF !! But it paid off as his movie career blossomed after that until the Parkinson’s diagnosis.
From a personal point of view it’s a shame to have lost him from the cinema, there’s so much enjoyment to be had in those late 80s movies he made. And of course he comes across as very much the Gemini – especially in BTTF where he plays a role ten years younger and is quick thinking/acting/talking.
But life obviously had different plans for him and his work/advocacy for Parkinson’s has been very valuable.
Would the Saturn have given him the strength to cope with long term illness?
More his Jupiter to be honest, I’d think, gives him a bottomless reservoir of hope that would keep him going.
The Jupiter Saturn thing only struck me when I was writing it – but v timely.
With a Jupiter Saturn conjunction I suppose the energies work together, instead of competing – despite them being almost opposite in nature. So Saturn may take the optimism of Jupiter and crystallise and solidify it. Being in Aquarius this probably involves technology and medical breakthroughs, and it’s not just blind faith and hope but something he feels can be actualised.