Cillian Murphy of Peaky Blinders renown is portraying another morally ambiguous character in Oppenheimer, Christopher Nolan’s blockbuster out this month about the ‘father of the atomic bomb.’
The real question for Murphy plumbing the soul of theoretical physicist Robert Oppenheimer was what combination – ambition, madness, delusion and/or deep hatred of the Nazis allowed him to agree to an experiment which could obliterate humankind. “He was dancing between the raindrops morally. He was complex, contradictory – but ultimately unknowable.”
Early reports indicate it is a powerfully affecting film.
Oppenheimer, 22 October 1904 8.15am? New York, did have worrisome aspects to his character with an incident in his student days at Cambridge when he left a poisoned apple on the desk of a tutor he was jealous of who had made him feel inadequate. His parents pulled him out of a charge of attempted murder by placing him under psychiatric care where he was diagnosed as perhaps schizophrenic.
His affair with Communist sympathizer American psychiatrist Jean Tatlock is highlighted in the film, though they had split before he took over the Manhattan Project in 1942. She suicided from depression in 1944.
Apologies for not noticing the time was marked DD (dirty data) by ADB. There are a variety of suggested times and the one which makes most sense is around 8pm, which was Ebertin’s pick (see above). This puts Opp’s Taurus Sun and Mars in his 6th square Saturn in scientific Aquarius in his 3rd – undoubtedly intelligent, hard-working and chillingly unsentimental. His Pluto and Neptune on this time would be in his 8th – as was the case with Churchill and Hitler. Hidden powers of great magnitude for good or ill. Opp’s Pluto was also in an experimental, innovative, pushing-back-the-boundaries opposition to Uranus squaring onto a Virgo North Node. His 9th house Moon opposed Chiron exactly. His Uranus and Sun were both trine a last degree Leo Midheaven.
His comments at the time of the first test in mid July 1945 from the Hindu sacred text the Bhagavad-Gita – “Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds”. “If the radiance of a thousand suns were to burst at once into the sky, that would be like the splendour of the mighty one” – give a hint of his spiritual struggle to reconcile his hubris with the devastation it brought.
Cillian Murphy, 25 May 1976 Cork, Ireland, has Jupiter, South Node, Mercury, Venus in Taurus so he would have some resonances with Oppenheimer; but Murphy’s critical Saturn Mars and Uranus clashing with Oppenheimer’s Moon points to equally strong reservations about him. Murphy’s South Node conjunct Opp’s Mars is intriguing – suggesting it pulls the actor back into his primitive urges, good for the role but not so much for his peace of mind.
Christopher Nolan, who co-wrote and produced the movie, has his Pluto conjunct Opp’s North Node.
Oppenheimer’s doomed liaison with Jean Tatlock, 21 February 1914, was a tortured affair, On the upside her Sun Venus in Pisces fell on his IC on the cusp of his 4th which would give an illusion of comfort. But her Mars was conjunct his 8th house Neptune and her Pluto sat in his 8th as well opposition his Uranus.
His wife Kitty Oppenheimer, 8 August 1910, a Sun Leo square Saturn in Taurus with a highly strung Uranus opposition Neptune had her Saturn conjunct his Sun and Mars which was not auspicious – an aggravated chemistry. Her Mars on his midheaven would add a competitive element to their connection. After the war she became alcoholic and after his death in 1967 took up with a partner whose wife had just suicided and she died five years later.
Blighted lives.
Looking for a ‘nuclear’ signature: – at the Hiroshima bomb in 1945 Pluto was sitting exactly on the Uranus/Neptune midpoint. Neptune Pluto is the key aspect I’d expect to see around nuclear incidents or Neptunian variations thereof. Chernobyl had Uranus conjunct the Saturn/Neptune midpoint exactly with a disastrous-accident Saturn conjunct the Mars/Pluto and square the Sun/Mars midpoints; and Sun opposition Pluto trine Neptune.
At the moment for those worrying about Putin’s itchy finger on the button – we have moved through and survived without incident tr Pluto hitting the Uranus/Neptune midpoint in 2021/22. Though there is still tr Neptune conjunct Uranus/Pluto running this year till early 2024; and tr Uranus square the Neptune/Pluto midpoint in 2025. But all of these aspects have occurred once in a while in the past without a nuclear incident.
Big issues in Nam with unexploded ordnance still buried in the mud. Same thing in Europe and England…bombs that failed to explode during the war are now being unearthed during city construction programs. Wherever there was a war, death remains buried.
Sorry…this was supposed to be a reply to Jennifer E and Nicole Sours Larson way at the beginning.
Fascinating, Marjorie! I find it interesting that Oppenheimer is having a moment of celebrity while Uranus is transiting his natal Mercury which, if the time is right, is at 21 Ta 57. Mercury is his ascendant ruler. Also Saturn going back and forth over his MC in the coming months. And his secondary progressed Jupiter is stationing retrograde at 00 Ta 12 conjunct his natal Sun, and his progressed Sun is at 26° Leo trine his progressed Uranus at 26 Sag. Also progressed Mars at 2 Leo square his Sun stirring things up. And, perhaps as evidence for this birthtime, his solar arc directed MC is at 27 Gemini right now, his ascendant degree. SA Uranus at 24 Aries square his Moon, SA Pluto at 13 Libra opposition his Jupiter…I’ll stop there but it’s always fascinating to see the charts of dead people respond to current astrological influences! Thanks Marjorie!
It’s curious that Neptune, sometimes god of films, has been transiting Oppenheimer’s Nodes t-square with Pluto, sitting on the karmic South Node in Pisces, ruled by Neptune. And there is Neptune close to the ascendant in his natal chart. Neptune’s symbolic trident is also the trident of Hindu god Shiva, creator and destroyer of all worlds.
The chilling quotation he used from the Bhagavad Gita never fails to make me shiver a little inside. Oppenheimer read that text in the original Sanskrit, having studied it in the 1930’s. He said Hindu philosophy shaped his own world views, and kept a copy of the Gita on his desk. He would have been familiar with the Brahmastra, a mythical weapon that:
“It is termed as a fiery weapon that creates a fierce fireball, blazing up with terrible flames and countless horrendous thunder flashes. When discharged, all nature including trees, oceans, and animals tremble, and the sky surrounds with flame, glaciers melt and mountains shatter with copious noise all around.” (Wiki)
The Brahmastra creates ecological devastation for trillions of years. It can destroy the Universe. It makes me wonder about Oppenheimer’s state of mind – the ‘mad scientist’ is a cliche, but perhaps sometimes for a reason.
Lord krsna of Hinduism who said those words in war, didn’t let the brahmastra burst.
Scientists have an inbuilt ego of being God since none confronts them n they r able to silence by their sychophants any disagreeing voice but they fail to c that God never destroys without creation near
Complete madness! Initially they didn’t even know whether the nuclear reaction unleashed by a bomb would end or go on indefinitely and blow the world to pieces, but they went ahead anyway. Then officials attempted to suppress information about radioactivity and tried to “limit public understanding” of these poisonous after-effects. Let’s hope that the movie reminds people of the insanity of nuclear weapons.
well, that seems a little far-fetched. the key worry was not blowing the world to bits but setting the atmosphere on fire.
don;t disagree that atom bombs will ruin everyone’s day. glad that putin hasn’t pushed his buttons….but the next dude in-line could.
There are theories that Jean was murdered. It is thought that she was troubled by the thought that everything that was being worked on at Los Alamos was being handed over to Russia. She objected to her and his part in it.
It isn’t as far fetched as you might think, as Oppenheimer was put in charge of all staff not military. We are talking about thousands of people. Every single one was a communist.
To be a communist in those days meant that your first loyalty was to Russia. Most of the negative stuff about Jean Tatlock was put about by someone who didn’t want suspicion being pointed at him and his wife. Who incidentally was put in charge of the library and the only one with access to a phone and the ability to communicate anywhere in the United States.
Anyway Oppenheimer was denied a national security clearance in 1954 after he appealed. He admitted being a fellow traveller when he was questioned about his communist leanings. He didn’t deny that classified material was being given to Russia. Though he said he didn’t do it himself. He almost certainly made it possible for it to happen.
Hi Marjorie I think there is a mistake re his dates. I have this from wiki and astrotheme Robert Oppenheimer (April 22, 1904 – February 18, 1967 8:15 AM) That chart makes loads more sense too.Like Hitler Sun Mars in Taurus and square Saturn in Aquarius in the 8th . And luto in the 12th.
Also Chiron nought degrees in Aquarius on the eigth house cusp in a tsquare with the Moon and Sun and Venus Jupiter combust in Aires in the tenth house.
Urgh thanks. I should go to specsavers. Pity, I preferred the earlier (wrong chart) – made more sense in some ways. Have changed. May ponder further tomorrow when my brain is back functioning.
No probs . Re the two charts, I really couldnt see it in the first which is why I double checked. I also tend to associate nuclear as much with UranusAquarius as luto. And that mars square saturn, it seems fitting in an obscene way that he has the same placements as Hitler. And imv venus in Aires particularly conjunct Jupiter when mixed with Taurus is profoundly selfish. But the kicker for me is Chiron at nought degrees Aquarius on the eigth cusp. Thats an unhealable wound he has imposed on humanity. A Damocles sword always hanging above our heads forever. I wonder if his underlying motives was the cancerians moons need for safety and defence.
Aaah complete horlicks. The birth time is questionable and I tried the alternatives suggested by ADB. 8pm ish looks most sensible to me. And the harmonics work better on that time as well. I hate dodgy birth dates – never mind brain meltdown when I am tired and distracted by life getting in the way.
I agree about dates and times, one can build pointless castles in the air on the wrong data. Look after yourself Marjorie I hope you get some rest .
It was called the Manhattan Project. Los Alamos, Oak Ridge, and University of Chicago were the triad. The Nazi’s posed a credible threat. Leo Szilard sounded the alarm about the Nazi developments.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leo_Szilard
A lot of the young don’t realize that this world we have, that they fuss over for not being progressed enough, could have been a very different place given a different chain of events.
I went to high school in the town called Oak Ridge.
‘Though there is still tr Neptune conjunct Uranus/Pluto running this year till early 2024; and tr Uranus square the Neptune/Pluto midpoint in 2025. ‘
The cluster bomb situation the US has now created is a concern given it was agreed among many (including them) not to use? Hmm…. hope that doesn’t trigger any kind of escalation.
@Jennifer E, my understanding is that the Russians are already using cluster bombs. Nasty things, but apparently they’re running out of ammunition to provide to the Ukrainians and haven’t been able to ramp up ammunition production quickly enough.