Woodstock

It was billed as three days of peace and music. Woodstock. A concert that never happened in Woodstock but in Bethel, N.Y. over 40 miles away. Certainly there was plenty of music and peace, but all was not tranquil. This month, Shayn Astrology takes a look at the chart of one of the most famous rock concerts in history.

Woodstock. The huge rock concert event of the 1960s has come to symbolize peace, music, and the collective reaction of a young generation to an unpopular Vietnam war. Forty years ago from August 15 - 18, nearly a half million music lovers descended upon the sloping fields of Max Yasgur's farm. Originally, a crowd of 200,000 was expected thus outstripping food and water supplies and creating unsanitary conditions. Traffic jams purportedly closed down the New York State Thruway and roads leading into the concert venue were littered with abandoned cars. The gates were torn down and Woodstock became a free concert to the hordes. Two deaths and two births were recorded along with a number of drug overdoses and other injuries. Rain, wind, and mud contributed to the chaos and sometimes the sound system badly shocked the performers.

The good news is that it WAS an event of peace and music. Generally concert goers were polite to one another and enjoyed the sounds of 32 musicians with the top groups of the day, some of whom are still performing. One person in attendance reported "there was a feeling of immediate friendship, and the sense of a group mind at work."

At 5:07 pm of the first day, a reluctant Richie Havens was coaxed onto the stage and thus began the incredible Woodstock story. What does a chart for this time tell us?

Sagittarius rising shows that Woodstock was all about a philosophy and ideals of living in harmony and peace and against the inhumanity of war. Jupiter, the ascendant ruler is well placed near the most effective point of the tenth house thereby thrusting the event into the public consciousness. Its benevolent rays aspect the second house of status, the fourth house of peace of mind, and the sixth house thus ameliorating what could have been much more sickness and conflict.

Did you notice the strong Venus in the seventh house? This planet represents the music and peace this event stood for. It is also recreation and entertainment. The seventh house has to do with other people. There were plenty of caring volunteers to assist all participants. The mass of humanity there was definitely in for an amazing treat!

Now on to the ugly. The Moon is in extreme old age, with an utterly weak dispositor, and afflicted by the Rahu/Ketu axis. The Moon signifies nourishment which in this case mainly was provided by drugs. There was little food supplied at the event for all there. It also governs public relations. And to be sure, many local residents and others across the country were not impressed with this "hippie gathering." As ruler of the eighth house, the Moon's weakness revealed a financial situation in ruins. Sexual mores were pretty loose, too, with open lovemaking and plenty of skinny dipping.

And what of the significance of the debilitated ruler of third house, Saturn, in the fifth house? The planet itself rules authority which was the object of protest in this case. Read anti-establishment. The third house represents business initiatives and the fifth house is the entertainment industry. This all dissolved when the four partners in the venture parted ways very quickly after the concert.

No, I wasn't there nor could I have attended since I was thousands of miles away on an island in the western Pacific. I oftened watched dark-colored B52s take off from that island headed for southeast Asia. Woodstock was a strong statement against the war, and for a moment in time, the music and peace, like Venus in the western part of the chart, shone brightly above all other things.

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