Karmic Knowledge

On May 15, 2007, the Reverend Jerry Falwell, founder of the Moral Majority, president of Liberty University and popular television evangelist, died unexpectedly after being found unconscious in his office. Often credited with being the first to break the taboo on blending politics with faith, Falwell has repeatedly made headlines with his outrageous statements, making claims that Tinky Winky, the purple Teletubby, was a gay role model and morally damaging to children, and that the September 11th attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon were brought on by the immorality of gays, feminists and pagans.

Jerry Falwell’s natal chart (click thumbnail for larger version) provides real insight into his controversial style. I have seen his time of birth as both 12 noon and 12:01 PM, though I have not seen any references as to the source of that information. There being no real difference between the two, I have run the chart using 12 noon as his time of birth.

From a karmic standpoint, Falwell’s chart tells the tale of a past life of strong opinions and rigid thinking, a lesson on learning to cooperate and a purpose of service for the good of all of humanity.

One of the most important markers in Falwell’s chart is retrograde Saturn in Aquarius which falls in his third house. Natally, a retrograde Saturn indicates that the individual became rigid in their past life and did not grow. With Saturn in the third house, the rigidity would have occured in the areas of thought, opinion and communication style. In Jerry Falwell’s case, this may not be the first life where he was dealing with fundamentalist ways of thinking.

Saturn in Aquarius often denotes a past life where the individual suffered ostracism and rejection, possibly having been outcast from the “tribe” or community. In this life, it shows up as a dislike of freedom and/or fear of being deemed an outsider. Compensation for this fear may manifest as intolerance, dogmatism, and insensitivity to others. These behaviors typically stem from a feeling of not being good enough. Decrying those who are different as being “less than” creates a false sense of self-esteem to cover up the fear.

Saturn’s message is reiterated in the square aspect (challenge) between Jerry Falwell’s Mercury, ruler of the third house, and Uranus, ruler of Aquarius. For Falwell, the task represented by this configuration would have been to develop tact, diplomacy and objectivity. New ideas which may have seemed foreign and frightening at first, if embraced, could have become the vehicle for personal and spiritual growth.

In his small but wisdom-packed book “The War of Art,” Steven Pressfield makes the case for adoption of fundamentalist principles as a reaction to the fear of freedom. He writes that:

…The human being isn’t wired to function as an individual. We’re wired tribally, to act as part of a group… We know what the clan is; how to fit into the band and the tribe. What we don’t know is how to be alone. We don’t know how to be free individuals.

In speaking of those who find the path to individuation too duanting, who find it difficult to be separated from the tribe, Pressfield says:

Fundamentalism is the philisophy of the powerless, the conquered, the displaced and the dispossessed…

The fundamentalist (or, more accurately, the beleaguered individual who comes to embrace fundamentalism) cannot stand freedom. He cannot find his way into the future, so he retreats to the past… He gets back to basics. To fundamentals.

I believe that, in a past life, Jerry Falwell may have indeed made an attempt to break free from dogmatic and insular thinking, but suffered for his choice. Both Chiron in Gemini and Saturn in Aquarius indicate that his ideas were not accepted by those he considered his brothers. With Libra on the 12th house cusp (delineation of karmic theme) and Chiron, the wounded healer, in his 7th house of partnerships and relationships, the pain of separation may have seemed too great to be overcome.

Not knowing how to be alone, Jerry Falwell used his charismatic Sun in Leo to create a movement where he would always be at its center. But being surrounded by hundreds of thousands of followers didn’t seem to be enough to allay his fears. Falwell continued, until the very end of his life, to publicly denounce any and all who didn’t adopt his beliefs or join his camp.

Had he been able to set himself free, Jerry Fallwell could have become a force for peace and brotherhood. Instead, he convinced others to join him in his fear, ultimately alienating more people than he inspired.

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