Where does the magic realism come from?




After reading Francisco Goldman’s tribute to Gabriel Garcia Marquez, I wanted to know where the magical realism came from.

So I went to my trusty astrological chart calculator and plugged in: March 6, 1927, Aracataca, Colombia

And this is what I got. 

An Aries moon: Aries is the first sign in the zodiac. People born under Aries are fire. They embody  the start of new things, and they blaze new trails. They can often be great leaders. President Obama is born under an Aries moon as well.

Mars in second house: Second house is the house of speech (and also material wealth). Mars  is the planet of passion and energy. Those with Mars in second house often have powerful, almost militaristic abilities in speech. Mars and Saturn aspect each other. Saturn confers discipline and the ability for hard work to the fiery energy of Mars. Without this combination of Mars and Saturn, no great works come to fruition.

Rahu in third, in Gemini:  Rahu is the planet that rules worldwide fame. Right here, he’s sitting in Gabo’s house of communications. Rahu gets an aspect from Jupiter, the planet of wisdom. Rahu magnifies to extremes. If Jupiter, the planet of good fortune and material prosperity, and Rahu combined in 3rd house of communications, it also means he got filthy rich.

The fifth house of creativity again gets an aspect from Mars, Sun, and Jupiter. These three planets work well together as a trio, and also hint towards a great interest in truth and justice. And the fifth also gets an aspect from Saturn, ensuring discipline to the fiery rush of creativity.

Saturn in eighth in Scorpio: Those with Saturn in eighth house live a long time. Marquez died at 87. Saturn in eighth ends up delving into all the eighth house topics that nobody wants to talk about—death, despair, loneliness, alienation. The fourth from the fourth, ie; eighth house, is also the house of the maternal grandmother. This house obviously had deep impact on Marquez's entire chart--Saturn, as Jyotish astrology says, is the "planet that gives everything." And: "What Saturn gives, nobody can take away."

Exalted Venus and retrograde, "neechbhanga" Mercury in twelfth house in Pisces: And here are the planets that caused him to enter that space of magical realism. The twelfth is the house of dreams and fantasies. Pisces is the watery sign of liberation. In this house, all boundaries are dissolved, and the space of the real and the imagined lose their perceived separateness. Venus, the planet that rules the arts, is exalted in Pisces. The twelfth house is also the house of retreats and sanctuaries—bounded spaces, just like the house that Gabo grew up in. Mercury, the planet of quick wits, is debilitated in Pisces. Debilitation often signals that a planet is super powerful because  it is receiving a “neechbhanga,” or cancellation of debilitation, which leads to the extraordinary facility with words.  Einstein’s Mercury receives a cancellation of debilitation as well. The retrograde energy of Mercury may be what people seize on when they decide the magical realism is “not smart enough”—Mercury is the planet of smartness, and often people whose Mercury is going backwards can appear too simple, on casual encounter.  

 Sun and Jupiter in the eleventh house in Aquarius: Jupiter is the planet of wisdom. The Sun is its friend.  And the Sun confers fame. Both are in the eleventh house of gains (and incidentally, also thought to rule publishing.) Aquarius, ruled by Saturn, also imparts a strict disciplinarian ethos, as well as great interest towards humanitarian philosophy.

Ketu in ninth, in Sagittarius. Ketu is the final and most mysterious planetary force in Jyotish astrology. The ninth is the house of spirituality and philosophy—many philosophical writers have planets placed here. To have Ketu, that planet of ultimate spiritual dissolution, in ninth house of destiny, signals his readiness to enter the world beyond this one.   

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