Graham Linehan, the Irish comedian, arrested by five armed police over an offensive tweet as he returned to the UK to face court charges over an altercation with a teenage transgender activist, has admitted that being embroiled in the debate over transgender issues had “consumed his life”. It has lost him work, made him financially destitute, ended his marriage and has now landed him in the centre of US accusations that the UK is banning free speech.
What strikes me as curious about the whole scenario is how he has allowed himself to get dragged into the centre of the toxic boiling lava of arguments that have characterised this issue. He claims that transgender activists have been serially abusive to him on social media – and in the case of the teenager involved in the altercation irritatingly in his face with their phone. But getting into confrontations with ranters and ravers only feeds their twisted psychology. He seems to have persuaded himself that he is on ‘holy’ mission which was sparked by objections to a 2013 Father Ted episode featuring a transphobic character. That was when tr Neptune was just into Pisces squaring his Gemini Sun.
There are two key factors in his chart – one is a deeply buried, stubborn and can-be obsessive 8th house Mercury in Gemini square Pluto. Mercury square Pluto can become dogmatic and opinionated. Sakoian & Acker remark: Does not mince words. Tells it like it is regardless of how others react. ‘For this reason they must often remain silent to avoid creating controversy. There can also be a desire to shape the ideas of others to conform to their point of view.’ A characteristically strong willpower may be misapplied or used for disruptive purposes – can be destructive.’
The other is his Saturn in Aries conjunct Aries North Node on the focal point of a yod inconjunct Pluto Uranus sextile Neptune which requires maturity and self-discipline to get the best out of it otherwise it can be self-defeating.
His Chiron in Aries hints at problems with identity as if deep down he fears he might not exist and so perhaps develops a pseudo-identity and an identification with the ‘Wounded Healer’.
In 2013 when it all started for him his Solar Arc North Node was conjunct his Sun with SA Saturn having hit his Sun slightly earlier – so his yod hit his Sun and that indicates a significant life crossroads which dragged him into the centre of the culture wars that followed.
It is not that I don’t think he is on the right side of this argument but he is so over-the-top about it with no tactical sense about how to handle the argument/opposition that there are question marks.
His Jupiter in Leo is conjunct Alphard = strong passions, favorable for gain, liable to disgrace, legal trouble and judicial sentence. Negatively, this conjunction brings to its natives the possibility of wrong advice, wrong attachments and there is the possibility of disgraceful actions. Legal involvement. The legal involvement might be of such a nature as to bring a judicial sentence to the native. There will be a general lack of self control, not readily apparent. (Astrology King)
He does have a Jupiterian high up and coming with tr Uranus square his Jupiter January to mid March next year though there is a dollop of muddled, panicky Neptune at the same time.
I know a very opinionated person so I checked their chart and yes they have Mercury in Sag square Pluto in Virgo. No time of birth though so no idea of houses.
I don’t think it was an episode of Father Ted that was objected to, that finished in 1998. It might have been The IT Crowd.
At the moment transiting Uranus at 1 Gemini is conjunct Linehan’s Sun and Mars at 17 Libra is in a waxing conjunction with his South Node. His Chiron has been under the influence of the Neptune/Saturn transits into Aries and it is perhaps significant that his arrest on Monday took place as Saturn was about to retrograde back into Pisces.
Linehans chart suggests someone who can be outspoken and rub up against those with power and against established institutions. With those Sun Chiron aspects, the transit of Uranus and the current movement of shapeshifting Neptune and Saturn it is not hard to see him skirting with martyrdom due to his opposition to Trans rights etc
Born on the 22nd gives instant notoriety, for good or for bad….puts a target on one’s back.
He was born with the Asc on an “accursed degree” for which Sepharial says….
“It is a degree of Abandonment. a life that is wrecked & battered by the winds of adversity.”
The 3 gender issue markers are in his 1st House, over emphasized by an aspect from Jupiter.
Trans Uranus aspects from the 7th of open enemies,to a transgender issue in his 1st..
He uses the world wide Web to promote his view point…Saturn, r3 in aspect to Web.
Enlarge his current biwheel by going to the 3 dots top right corner of your computer.
https://postimg.cc/z3Sv2rKL
P. S. BTW, is that another unaspected Sun? More than 8° from that Mars?
Mercury square Pluto in its shadow side can also be an obsessive thnker, a manipulative communicator (words are used to dominate, control, and undermine others), show a tendency towards distrust and paranoia (assumes hidden motives in others, sees betrayal where there is none), can be mentally rigid (difficulty to accept alternative views), can be harshly critical, has a compulsion to know (needs to unearth secrets at all costs), can be verbally destructive, and has a fear of being exposed (may project inner fears onto others and create cycles of distrust and secrecy).
But it can be conscious and evolved, and in those frequencies give deep insight, penetrating analysis, uncover hidden truths, be psychologically astute, and a transformative communicator – so an excellent researches, therapist, investigator.
I have Mercury Square Pluto. I’m in my early 50s now.
My journey with Mercury square Pluto has been something like this: up to the age of roughly 45, yes, I felt paranoid, I suspected the worst, I felt sure I was being betrayed… I also doubted all of this and felt I couldn’t trust my own perceptions… Gradually I learned to cast my fears and worries past trusted friends and advisors, to ask them to give me a reality check.
As time went on, and especially within the last few years, I grew more confident of my own perceptions. I learned to be much more observant about, for example, body language or non verbal communication.
Gradually I realised that those ‘paranoid’ suspicions I was so used to having… were, in fact, pretty accurate, and based in reality! So I feel as though I have come full circle.
At the risk of sounding a bit pretentious, it is as though I can read people’s deeper motives from the slightest change in their tone of voice or a facial muscle, and often I am discovering that I can detect the deeper undercurrents faster and more accurately than the people themselves.
This is helpful. Would you mind sharing in which sign your mercury is, I am assuming your Pluto must be in Libra (I am also early 50ies). My pluto is at 1 Degree 44 Libra and my asc is in the last degrees of Virgo, I share some of what you have observed, fear of being betrayed when I was younger and perception into motives of others with maturity, I was also paranoid about my own motives (thought I might not be a good person, handling from good motives), now I am more comfortable with my own shadow.