What’s So Mercury About Freddie?
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| One face of the god Mercury. |
Freddie Mercury, the voice of Queen, would have been 65 today.
I’ve occasionally wondered how he chose the name Mercury and what the astrological connection would be – because of course there is one. So to celebrate his birthday I looked at his chart.
First of all, he has Sun and Mercury in Virgo, which is ruled by the winged one of course, but I think the truly mercurial bit of Mr Mercury is in the other one sign Gemini.
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| From astrodatabank. I wish we had the birthtime. |
His North Node (destiny) conjuncts Uranus (rebellion) in Gemini, ruled by Mercury. Gemini is, of course, one of the dual signs, so it’s no surprise that Freddie swung both ways. As for the dressing up, I associate Uranus-ruled Aquarius with cross-dressing. Click here for some pictures that tell the story.
The god Mercury protects thieves, gamblers and tricksters. He plays the fool but he is also a magician; a good description of Freddie himself.
I’ve noticed that Capricorn Sun or Moon often bestows a really big voice. Just listen to the four octaves going whee in this clip. (Brian May’s not too shabby either.)
What a lovely, celebratory post. I remember discussing Freddie Mercury with my dad in his garage. He told me Freddie was ‘artistic’ and I was impressed because I thought he was special and obviously my dad did, too. I must have been 13 at the time. I see that “Don’t Stop Me now, I’m having such a good time, I’m having a ball” has been voted the favourite Queen lyric of all time by fans. I prefer the one in second place: “fairy tales of yesterday will grow old but never die”
me too.
& I love the way he brought camp to the bourgeoisie
I used to hang out with a painter & decorator who did loads of high end work and worked for peoplelike Terence Conran, HM Government and several “stars”. Clapton? Despicable. Jagger? Horrible. Freddie Mercury? A gem – always pleasant, very involved in the work and excellent taste. My decorator friend said you could really tell what someone was like by the people they worked with. Freddie’s entourage were all really nice, down to earth people. And so, I guess, was he.
Aww – Bless him
Gotta love Freddie. I was into ‘I want to break free’ when I was about 9, still love it. I know taurus and scorp having beautiful voices,I didn’t know about capricorn sun and moons!
@Sabrina – I’ve been compiling a list for a while – ever since I realised that David Bowie and Elvis shared a birthday. Music is truly a business for a few of these guys. Here’s what I’ve got. See if you can add to it.
Here are some more with Sun in Capricorn. There are some very big voices here – or a depth of emotion: Scott Walker (9 Jan), Michael Stipe (4 Jan 1960) and of course Captain Beefheart, Dolly Parton, Shirley Bassey (Jan 8 also), Patti Smith, Janis Joplin, Joan Baez, Annie Lennox, Beth Gibbons (Portishead – ouch), Ethel Merman.
Here are some singers with Moon in Capricorn (a lot of soul): Sarah Vaughn, Tammy Wynette, Patsy Cline, Stevie Nicks, Wynonna Judd, Billie Holiday, Nina Simone, Dinah Shore, Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, oh and David Byrne.
PS – I’ve never seen it written in a book either but I think you’ll agree that the list sings for itself. It’s part of my campaign to prove that Capricorns are not boring. (Reader I have no Capricorn in my own chart – so this is a truly altruistic crusade.)