”Do I look like a guy who has a plan?" The Joker
I just saw the film, the Dark Knight and was struck by how well the film represents the archetypes of Saturn and Uranus. These two planets are currently in opposition to each other. This film made it obvious that the film makers today work with the major archetypes in a conscious way.
Back in the 1980’s, a Story Analyst at Disney wrote a memo to the executives explaining what he had learned from reading Joseph Campbell’s The Hero with a Thousand Faces. He realized that
Disney and other movie studios realized that films act to amplify and deepen our experience of the archetypes. They portrayed pure archetypes in Dark Knight and it has become the big blockbuster film of the year. The key themes are Saturn as played by Batman, dressed in black and representing law and order in a death struggle with Uranus played by the Joker, wearing colorful makeup representing chaos. (A hint of the energy of Uranus is that the planet lies on its side, has a 98 degree tilt and rotates the opposite way of the other planets.)
“Introduce a little anarchy, you upset the established order, and
everything becomes chaos. I am an agent of chaos. And you know the thing about chaos,
To really understand these archetypal energies, we need to pull out the old mythology books and read the story of, what I call, the First Dysfunctional Family. Uranus was the sky god, he represented chaos and was continuously creating children that were monsters; the ones he didn’t like he shoved back into the womb. The mother asked her youngest born Cronos (Saturn) to castrate the father to cut off his fertility. He did as he was told because of his sense of responsibility. Saturn later became god of the golden age in
“You had plans. Look where it got you. I just did what I do best--I took your plan and turned it on itself”. – The Joker
In this major world transit, Saturn and Uranus are battling it out. In the book, Cosmos and Psyche, Richard Tarnas states that the world transit starts to be felt by all of us when the aspect between the two planets is 15 degrees. At exactly 15 degrees before exact on July 31, the film, the Dark Knight was released.
“See, I'm not a monster...I'm just ahead of the curve” – The Joker.
The film makers outdid themselves by bringing the gods to the stage just as the ancient Greeks did when they staged such as Medea and Orpheus. They believed that these dramas were psychologically healing.
On the other hand, Dark Knight may not have been healing to those who acted in it. I think it let loose some very disruptive, dark energy. A strong Uranian or chaotic archetype was activated during the making of the film. As it often does, the archetype got out of control. Heath Ledger who played the Joker, died from an overdose of drugs before the film was finished. He was a Pisces and those sensitive types are very susceptible to the energies around them. After the film was released, Christian Bale, Batman was arrested for assaulting his mother and sister and Morgan Freeman, Batman’s assistant, had an auto accident. Need I say more!
“Y'see, madness, as you know, is like gravity. All it takes is a little...push” - .The Joker
The battle between the energies of Saturn, tradition, stability and limits and Uranus, unpredictability, chaos and revolution is an eternal conflict. Saturn wants to stay with the way things are and Uranus wants change. We have this battle inside ourselves and it is also occurring in the outer world. The Saturn Uranus opposition will be exact on Nov 4, which is Election Day. I usually think of the Republican Party as the party of stability and tradition with the Democrats being the party of change. But with the unpredictable choice John McCain made by choosing Sarah Palin for Vice President, with all the surprising revelations coming out about her, I’m no longer sure who represents what.
[The Joker to Batman] “You just couldn't let me go could you? This is what happens when an unstoppable force meets an immovable object. You truly are incorruptible aren't you? You won't kill me out of some misplaced sense of self-righteousness, and I won't kill you, because you're just too much fun. I think you and I are destined to do this forever.” The Joker
So, to understand the energies being played out on Election Day, and if your feeling a little crazy over all of it, go see Dark Knight. It may be cathartic for you. I loved the film. But don’t go if you are a Pisces.
Janet Kane