Star Wars’ George Lucas
The square, however, suggests it is not
going to be easy. A Mercury-Pluto closing
square is a Capricorn angle, suggesting
that information (Mercury) of critical
importance (Pluto) must be controlled,
harnessed, and directed toward specific,
long-term ends. With Mercury-Pluto,
knowledge is power, and having the
right kind of knowledge can mean the
difference between life and death.
In Star Wars, the entire film revolves
around information hid den in the
memory of Artoo by Princess Leia. This
information consists of intercepted data
from an Imperial transmission regarding
the construction of the Death Star – a
huge battle station destined to become
“the ultimate power in the Universe”.
Darth Vader is in hot pursuit of these data,
and barbecues Luke’s aunt and uncle
in the process. True to his function as a
Herald, Artoo delivers the holographic
transmission of Princess Leia and the
Death Star data to Luke, thus issuing
the challenge that inaugurates our hero’s
journey.
A particularly nasty image of the MercuryPluto square is the Imperial mind probe, a
dark metal globe with a frightful buzz that
glides into Princess Leia’s holding hole
with the programmed intent to extract
from her mind knowledge pertaining to
the location of the Rebel Alliance. With
a farrago of metal arms protruding from
its sides, and tipped with a multitude of
delicate instruments, the mind probe
is designed to penetrate the brain and
torture its victim with hideous images
and excruciating pain until the desired
information is released. Yet, Princess
Leia somehow resists.
We find out later, of course, that she
is Luke’s sister and Darth Vader’s
daughter; thus she, too, is strong with
the force. Leia’s mental power is another
expression of the Mercury-Pluto square,
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Sep/Oct 2015 The Astrological Journal
Star Wars’ George Lucas
a power which is also demonstrated by
Obi-wan Kenobi, Vader, Yoda, and later
Luke. These powers include the ability to
penetrate the mind of another being and
control their thinking and decisions. In
fact, a fully developed Jedi has an entire
arsenal of psychic powers – the ability to
see the future (precognition), read minds
(telepathy), perceive events at a distance
(clairvoyance), and even control physical
matter (psychokinesis).
Mercury’s square to the Moon also
figures predominantly in the story.
A Mercury-Moon square suggests a
conflict between the rational, objective
qualities of Mercury and the emotional,
subjective qualities of the Moon. In effect,
caring (Moon) interferes with reasoning
(Mercury), and vice versa. As a closing
square, the aspect must be utilized in the
service of some public responsibility. One
must learn to contain one’s feelings and
hold them in awareness, yet not allow
them to overly influence one’s thinking.
To the extent that the aspect is not
integrated, the individual is in danger
of allowing emotional states to cloud
his mind and obscure reason. This is
sometimes referred to as “emotional
reasoning”, such as when a person feels
“bad” and thus concludes that s/he must
be a “bad” person. The other side of the
problem occurs when feelings are denied
in an effort to remain rational at all costs.
If feelings are overly suppressed, the
informational value of what one feels
cannot be accessed by the intellect. The
person appears insensitive, out of touch
with feelings, overly intellectual, and
“stuck in his head”. Emotional rapport is
lost and the person talks over his feelings
with little awareness of how his words
impact others.
An example of the latter is the character
of Threepio, whose capacity to listen
(Moon) is compromised when he is
stressed. On such occasions he flies into
an emotional tizzy and babbles nonstop
(Mercury) until someone switches him
off. Early on, Luke also evidences this
same quality. Eventually he learns to
integrate his feelings with his thinking,
but this does not fully occur until the final
film.
An example of an unintegrated MoonMercury occurs in The Empire Strikes
Back when Luke is practising mental
concentration during his training with
Yoda. “My mind fills with so many
images”, he says. Yoda instructs him,
“Control, control you must learn control”.
But when Luke has a precognitive vision
of Han and Leia imprisoned by Darth
Vader on the cloud city of Bespin, he
turns frantic. Luke feels their pain and
is compelled to rescue them. “Save them
you may,” says Yoda, “but you would
destroy all for which they have fought and
suffered.”
At this point in the story, Luke is Yoda’s
pupil and is thus playing a Mercury
role. While an avid student and quick
learner, his biggest challenge is to control
his feelings – especially his anger and
fear. In effect, Mercury is stressed by
the pain that is implicit in the Moon’s
opposition to Pluto. Squares are aspects
of containment and control, and Luke has
yet to learn how to control his feelings so
that they do not interfere with his mental
concentration. He can feel the force, but
cannot yet control it. Yoda and Obi-wan
implore him to complete his schooling
(Mercury), but Luke’s feelings (Moon) for
Han and Leia obscure his reason. He is so
afraid to lose them, as he lost the rest of
his family, that he ignores the warnings
of his mentors and rushes off to confront
Vader.
It is fitting that his first confrontation
with Vader occurs on the “cloud” city
of Bespin, for at this point in the story
Luke’s thinking is clouded by his darker
emotions – again, Mercury square the
Moon-Pluto opposition. Luke’s feelings
are “ungrounded” and his head is in
the clouds. His concern for Han and
Leia causes him to behave stupidly and
irrationally. Thus, he naively falls into
the trap that Vader has set for him, and it
nearly destroys him.
In these scenes we see how Mercury is
a central player in the Star Wars saga.
This is altogether fitting for the focal
planet of a t-square. It is precisely Luke’s
wound to his feelings (Moon conj. Pluto)
that generates the emotional pain that
Mercury must learn to harness and direct.
In the final film, Luke completes his
training with Yoda and emerges as a fully
mature Jedi warrior. In actuality, what
emerges is a fully integrated Mercury
t-square. Luke is now more thoughtful,
reflective, and responsive to the concerns
of others. His caring (Moon), potency
(Pluto), and thinking (Mercury) are all
working together. Throughout Return of
the Jedi, Luke’s heroics are in large part a
reflection of this integration. He remains
cool and detached even under the most
extraordinarily dan gerous situations,
always coming up with the appropriate
response to solve the crisis. Not only has
he become a master of his emotions, but
he utilizes his mental powers (Mercury) in
the service of his desire to protect (Moon)
and redeem (Pluto) those he loves.
The key moment
In each of the three original Star Wars
films – Star Wars, The Empire Strikes
Back, and Return of The Jedi – there
is a key moment when the Moon-Pluto
theme is fully revealed. Near the end of
Star Wars, Luke is encouraged by the
discarnate voice of his mentor, Obiwan, to trust his feelings precisely when
he is required to shoot the lethal rocket
into the interior of the Death Star. But,
to trust his feelings he has to depend
on the Force, which is the supreme
intelligence and power of the Universe.
“Let go, Luke,” says Obi-Wan, “trust the
Force”. Luke turns off his computerised
targeter, closes his eyes, turns inward and
shoots his missile. It penetrates the one
vulnerable spot on the Death Star and
blows it to bits.
In the sequel, The Empire Strikes Back,
the key moment is when Luke is told by
Darth Vader, “I am your father. Search
your feelings; you know it to be true.
Join with me and together we can rule
the galaxy as father and son”. Again
he is required to trust his feelings in a
dangerous situation; he could be seduced
by his paternal longings into the Dark
Side. Again Luke has to ‘let go’, this time
to tumble head over foot into the empty
abyss of the reactor shaft in a desperate
attempt to escape Vader’s hypnotic
power. When the Moon opposes Pluto,
trusting one’s feelings can literally feel
like falling into a deep, black hole – a
motif that occurs again and again in
Lucas’ films.13
Finally, in Return of The Jedi, the key
moment occurs when Vader ‘turns’ and
rescues Luke from the evil Emperor.
Earlier, Luke told Vader, “I will not turn –
you will be forced to destroy me… Search
your feelings, Father. You can’t do this. I
feel the conflict within you. Let go of your
hate”. This time it is Vader who must ‘let
go’. Vader emerges as the film’s ultimate
hero when he realises that Luke is right;
love is stronger than hate. And with this
realisation he forthwith dispatches the
Emperor by throwing him into the reactor
shaft where he is annihilated in a fitting,
Plutonic explosion. Although this heroic
act ultimately kills Vader, he has already
been healed and transformed by his son’s
love. When Luke cries out to his father,
“I’ve got to save you”, Vader replies, “You
already have, Luke”. And in his final
moment, he whispers: “Luke, you were
right… you were right about me… Tell
your sister… you were right”.
In each of these three key moments,
the Moon-Pluto theme is fully revealed.
Both Luke and Vader had to open to
their feelings, let go of control, and face
the possibility of death. In so doing,
there was healing, transformation, and
empowerment. One could argue that evil
is born out of a failure to transform, to
suffer pain, to die to one’s old self and be
reborn. The first trilogy reveals that this
was Vader’s original sin; it was why he
became Vader. He could not tolerate –
“let go” – the pain (Pluto) of his emotions
(Moon) when he lost his mother in an
earlier episode of Star Wars. He did not
trust that the way of healing is through
death.
In Part 2 (Nov-Dec 2015) of this essay,
Dr Glenn Perry examines the background
to the Star Wars story and the conflict of
Moon-Pluto ideas.
Glenn Perry, Ph.D,
is an astrological
therapist, astrological
consultant,
and
director
of
the
Association
of
Psychological
Astrology. A professional astrologer
since 1975, he is Board member
of the International Society for
Astrological Research (ISAR). He has
served as Vice President of ISAR and
the United Astrology Conference (UAC)
Board. His doctorate is in psychology/
consciousness studies. More about his
work and books can be found at: www.
aaperry.com.
References
1 Handy, Bruce, “The Force Is Back”, Time,
February 10, 1997, p. 74.
2 Williams, Joanne, “Sun Interviews George
Lucas”, Pacific Sun, February 8, 1980, p. 7.
3 Pye, Michael and Myles, Lynda (1979), The
Movie Brats, New York: Holt, Rinehart, and
Winston, p. 9.
4 Chutkow, Paul, “The Lucas Chronicles”,
Image Magazine in the San Francisco
Chronicle, March 21, 1993, p. 15.
5 Yarish, Alice, “George Lucas – hell-raiser
to millionaire”, Independent Journal (Marin
County, CA), March 2, 1980, p. 14.
6 Chutkow, Paul, “The Lucas Chronicles”,
Image Magazine in the San Francisco
Chronicle, March 21, 1993, p. 15.
7 Weinraub, Bernard, “Luke Skywalker Goes
Home”, Playboy Magazine, July, 1997, p. 174.
8 Ibid, p. 12.
9 Handy, Bruce, “The Force Is Back”, Time,
February 10, 1997, p. 72.
10 Weinraub, Bernard, “Luke Skywalker Goes
Home”, Playboy Magazine, July, 1997, p. 120.
11 Williams, Joanne, “Sun Interviews George
Lucas”, Pacific Sun, February 8, 1980, p. 7.
12 Weinraub, Bernard, “Luke Skywalker Goes
Home”, Playboy Magazine, July, 1997, p. 176.
13 The Moon-Pluto motif of the devouring
mother occurs in a variety of guises
throughout the Star Wars trilogy, as well as in
all the Indiana Jones films (also by Lucas). For
example, in Star Wars there is the garbage
compactor on the Death Star, replete with
a devouring dragon that pulls Luke down
below the surface of the foul water. Then
the compactor walls begin to close in on
Luke, Han, and Leia. In The Empire Strikes
Back, Luke plummets down the reactor shaft
toward what seems certain death. Also, Han
Solo flies the Millennium Falcon into a
cave that turns out to be the open mouth
of a monstrous Jonah-like creature. In Return
of the Jedi there is the underground lair of
the Bantha monster which nearly swallows
Luke; and again, later, there is the Sarlacc
creature in the desert that is a virtual hole
in the ground with teeth and tentacles that
reach up and pull unwilling victims into
its belly where they are “digested over a
thousand years”. All of these images attest to
Lucas’s preoccupation with being devoured
by large, powerful entities that are symbol ic
of a devouring womb/mother that will not
permit separation.
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