Man on Wire: The horoscope of Philippe Petit

BBC 2’s screening of  “Man on Wire” (which documents the planning and execution of Philippe Petit’s tightrope walk in 1974 between the Twin Towers in New York)  proved truly compulsive viewing. I am an acrophobic, which just added to my fascination,  I could hardly wait to get behind my computer this morning to take a look at Philippe Petit’s  horoscope. 

The whole feat smacks of “hey look at me, look what I can do, I’m on the top of the world” – so  when I got the chart up on the screen, it seemed fitting to see the sun in its own sign Leo. Leo’s are showmen par excellence. They want to shine, to excel, to be the glowing centre of the universe and by goodness doesn’t Philippe Petit put on a mind boggling show of fearlessness!!

What also springs out of the chart, is the conjunction in Virgo of Mercury with Saturn. This kind of tightrope walking demands total concentration. One split second’s loss of focus and the results would be deadly – quite literally. Mercury here again in its own sign. Total attention to detail. Total subjection of the mind to the individual will.

The Moon is moving quite fast in Aries and this in unfortuante when working with a 12 noon chart. In the early morning the Moon is square with Uranus – while by midday it is squaring Mars and starting to trine the Sun.  By midnight it is conjunct the North Node. All we can be 100% sure of, is it is in Aries. So… double dare. The way in which Petit taunted the police officers who summoned him to come down from the wire…that does seem to be an act concurrent with a Moon/Mars square though. The mutual reception between Moon Aries/ Mars Cancer would add additional weight to this contact.  I also feel comfortable with the idea of the Sun trine the Moon. This is of course totally speculative. The

I think that it is the two major conjunctions in Philippe Petit’s horoscope,  Sun with Pluto, and Mercury with Saturn which seem to draw Petit to death defying acts on the tightrope. Each time he steps back from the wire life (the Solar Power at its peak in Leo) has triumphed over death (Pluto).  The compulsion to play (Leo) , to view life as a stage, to risk all, to balance dangerously on the edge, seems to have direct bearing on Pluto which in this chart closely shadows the Sun.   While on the other hand, the Mercury and Saturn combination provides the necessary mental focus and self discipline to make the dreams of Philippe Petit reality.  Super chart!!!

Later this week… I will be taking a look at the horoscope for the walk itself.