Yoko Ono acclaimed as an avant-garde artist and controversial as John Lennon’s muse, blamed for the Beatles’ split, is having a retrospective at Tate Modern as she nears her 91st birthday.
She was well known in the New York art world before she met Lennon in the late 1960s, staying with him till his death in 1980, recording experimental music with him and campaigning for peace.
She was born 18 February 1933 8.30pm Tokyo into a wealthy family with a childhood spent in New York and in Tokyo during the war which fuelled her later pacifist activism. Her creative tastes always ran to the outre and surreal in music and art. She has her Sun in final degree Aquarius as well as Venus in Aquarius conjunct Saturn all in her performing 5th house so will be attention grabbing as well as good at organising entertainment events. Her Sagittarius Moon squares Neptune Mars Jupiter in Virgo in her 12th giving her a colourful, exuberant streak to counter-balance the chill of Saturn in Aquarius. What sets the mark on her revolutionary, rebellious, mould-breaking streak is Pluto square Uranus which is strategically placed in her career 10th and relationship 7th. She likes upsetting convention and stirring up a reaction. Her Chiron in Taurus in her 8th has a hint of ‘the heart of darkness’ about her, whether consciously or unconsciously attracting her to destructive situations. Being forever known as the widow of a murdered John Lennon may be part of it.
What is delightful is that on her astrocartography Liverpool, John’s birthplace puts Venus within a degree of being conjunct the relocated Midheaven with her Sun in his 10th. A place that boosted her status.
With Pluto in her 10th she will be influential and also controlling, perhaps fulfilling John Lennon’s early pattern of a possessive mother figure with his Moon opposition Pluto. Yoko’s Uranus in her 7th hints at her need for an unconventional relationship where she could still be a strong individual.
Their relationship chart describes a complicated chemistry – tightly bound together with undercurrents of resentment. There was a Grand Trine of a power couple Pluto Jupiter trine Venus trine Saturn, with Saturn opposition Mars Neptune squaring onto the composite Sun. Power-struggling, passionate, aggravating, unfair even cruel at times as one stifled the assertiveness of the other. Quite a powder keg.
John Lennon, 9 October 1940 6.30pm Liverpool, England, had a Libra Sun conjunct his Descendant and a creative, attention-grabbing 5th house Pluto in an emotionally intense and possessive opposition to an Aquarius Moon. With a Saturn Jupiter conjunction in Taurus in his 1st and Uranus also in Taurus. He came to fame aged 20 on the next Jupiter Saturn conjunction and died 20 years after that when the Jupiter Saturn conjunction in Libra was in place. Jupiter throws a few too high and then Saturn steps in to cut them down.
New York was not his easiest place since it put a trapped Pluto in his 8th.
When he was shot Yoko had a devastating SA Pluto conjunct Neptune and the transiting Jupiter Saturn conjunction crossing her Ascendant. A moment in cultural history.
Strictly astrologically speaking, Yoko is simply adhering to her inherent Aquarian nature. She’s different, quirky, strange, etc., unafraid to be her authentic self, probably enjoying shocking others. A true Aquarius.
I worked in health care for many years and always thought Yoko displayed the classic symptoms of histrionic personality disorder: needing to be the center of attention, dressing in an inappropriately sexual way to gain attention, acting out to garner approval. All this behavior is unconscious, but it’s possible she used her relationship with John Lennon to further these ends. That lucky Jupiter in the 12th in the guardian angel position enabled her to find peace in solitude and working alone after the assassination. I’ve been to Liverpool, and she is indeed well loved there because of her generosity in restoring John Lennon’s childhood home and donating it to the national trust.
I’m from New York. I’ve never heard of her. I have read about JL. But yoko being his muse? Odd. I never picked that up before.
This makes me wonder about the Leaving A Legacy harmonic. Always surprised to hear that someone so famous to me isn’t recognized by another generation.
And here I was having a fantasy that Y.O. might pull a Frida to JL’s
Diego and wind up outshining him down the road…
Really hope the retrospective travels to NYC. Her memes have always lifted me, and way back his unified partnership with her ( the Lenonos!) felt important and born of a genuine ideal.
O, Dear M, back in the day, when Mr Lenono still walked this earth and it’s inhabitants read p a p e r newspapers, he and the Missus would take out full page ads in the New York Times for things like Peace.
It was pretty sublime.
@*A* – go easy on M. I also lived in the Big Apple. Plenty of kids today never heard of that city label. That M never heard of Yoko …well, what can you say, really?
I remember a time when Yoko Ono was blamed for the demise of The Beatles. The blame alternated between her and Linda Eastman. Pathetic really!
I’m really surprised whatever you read about John Lennon didn’t even mention his wife from when he was 29 til his death at 40. After his death she set up the Strawberry Fields memorial to him at Central Park, using the name from one of his best-known songs. Isn’t there something still at Central Park explaining this?
The relationship started with an affair until he divorced his first wife. She’s often been blamed for the breakup of the world’s biggest band, but having read a lot about the Beatles, I think it might have happened without her.
Her “conceptual art” visually, widely considered to be weird even by her fans, and her music, widely considered to be unlistenable caterwauling, are very famous and well-known to most people who know about the Beatles!
John’s first son Julian, born to his first wife, has said a lot about Oko in interviews you can easily find online. Julian has an uncanny ability to sing just like his Dad when he wants to.
John and Yoko’s son Sean together hasn’t said as much, since he seems much happier about his Mom.
Ha!
Indeed ~ a very signature style. An unabashed knack for what worked on her, yet wonderfully secondary to her role as Artist.
Very strange lady
Never really caught onto her art but her sense of fashion has been an eye-catcher.
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