Don’t Thank Me. Thank Jerry: Part III

Editor’s note: The following is the final part of a three-part series on Jerry Garcia, published by Eric Francis on Friday, July 29, 2005. It is now part of the Planet Waves archives, containing thousands of horoscopes and articles written by Eric Francis over the past decade. Access is only available with a subscription to Planet Waves Astrology News.

Garcia’s Natal Horoscope

Okay, so, I hope I have something new to add to the discussion in the form of a look at the natal chart of Jerome John Garcia. There are a couple of fun things that really stand out, a couple of scary ones, and I think we should take a look at his Neptune, which is what seems to have been his greatest asset and also what did him in.

Here is the chart.

Even the blind can see the grouping of Leo planets in his 10th house. Not everyone who makes a major contribution to the world has a powerful 10th — but lots do. The thing about the 10th is, no matter how many planets you have there, you earn your place in the world, but at least you have the resources to do so. And as Debbi Kempton-Smith says, you have to live every minute like you’re being followed around by a television crew. The top of this horoscope is populated by two signs: Cancer and Leo, the very core of the zodiac. Cancer is to the right, toward the 9th house (spirituality, the higher self); Leo is to the left, toward the 11th (friends, dreams, rewards of profession). These three houses are among the places we really come into contact with the public.

Let’s work right to left. Look at that conjunction of Venus and Jupiter in Cancer in the 9th house. This is someone who has a lot to give, and who simply has to give it. What else do you do with that aspect? He would have made a really good college professor. In a way, he was one.

I’m going to invite Isabel Hickey into the discussion, through her book Astrology: A Cosmic Science, one of my favorites. Of this aspect, she writes, “What the world would call a lucky person, but it is an earned increment in the spiritual bankbook. Intense appreciation of beauty. Orderly and artistic. [Okay, not so orderly in Jerry’s case, but he could definitely focus.] Gives popularity and benefit through the public if in a congenial sign [it is]. Restless individual that wants to be on the move.”

This is a good book. She concludes with one of the best-known facts about Venus-Jupiter conjunct: “Overindulgence in appetite and extravagance need controlling.” Yes. In Cancer, we do get the image of too much cream soda and ice cream, diabetes be damned.

He identifies strongly with that Venus; his ascendant is Libra, consistent with his mellow nature, his dislike of conflict and at times an inability to make or stick to a decision. Apparently it’s a true story that at one point he fired rhythm guitarist Bob Weir and keyboard player-vocalist Pig Pen from the band, but they ignored him and kept coming back to work anyway — thank God.

The chart ruler’s conjunction to Jupiter de facto makes him a spiritual leader, ice cream and all.

Now, notice how the chart works from a professional perspective. Cancer reaches as far as the 10th house cusp, the career and the reputation (house cusp marked directly above, in orange). So while Leo is strong later in this house, the ruler is actually Cancer and thus the Moon, demonstrative of the nurturing and unambitious style of Garcia’s professional life — and how many people he took care of financially as a result of his own success. Cancer is another one of those public places, particularly when you put it somewhere everyone can see it, such as the 10th.

The 10th house ruler is the Moon, and by its placement, that refers us back to the 6th house — work, service, work, service, work, service.

Health. The Moon is in Aries in his 6th house: a need for innovation. In another article, I called this “the dauntless Moon,” shared by the likes of Betty Dodson and Salvador Dali. It’s a good Moon for artists. It stops at nothing, if it’s got a pulse. That suggests high vitality, but the 6th suggests that health is potentially a big issue, and it’s connected to his professional activities due to the 10th house association. It also says that practice makes perfect. You can read this placement as Garcia’s statement that he would rather perform concerts than play scales. He played hundreds of nights a year. How many Dead shows were there? A lot. There’s a searchable database of them at Deadbase.net. Then there were the Garcia Band shows. And many, many side projects. He was not ambitious; he just liked to do his thing.

But that 10th house is something to speak about, and whether he wanted a reputation or an impact or not, it called him, and he was in many ways the consummate Leo, completely at home in the public eye despite being a shy little kitty. Reading his Leo planets in order, we have Pluto, Mercury, the Sun and Chiron. Hey, George W. Bush has Mercury conjunct Pluto (in his ascendant, which carries a lot less responsibility than the 10th). And apparently worse musical tastes. He listens to “My Sharona” on his iPod (true fact, verified by the White House — if you believe the press reports).

Garcia’s is the chart not just of a big star, but one whose soul-level communication has impact, and represents the core of his identity. This is the combined influence of the Sun, Mercury and Pluto. (Along these lines, Mr. Bush really is who we think he is as well, the dark side of these aspects.) Mercury-Pluto puts a bit of death in that message, or an awareness of something that feels like ultimate finality all the time. We can see two different ways the same aspect has been played out by two different men both considered great leaders.

Neptune is worth looking at, as it’s the ruling planet of both music and drugs. He has it in Virgo, like millions of people in his generation and indeed people born as early as the late 1920s, just before the Great Depression hit. This is not an easy placement. NOT. It can be driven but frustrated; Neptune wants ease, bliss, freedom and dreams (skip the details), while Virgo wants things just the way it wants them, down to the red jellybeans. It’s certainly a good aspect for someone whose dual nature is perfection and hanging loose, for someone who projects spiritual energy through virtuoso skill — if they can work through their insecurities. Mars in Virgo helped that a lot — it’s definitely a competent placement. When the chips were down, it was Garcia who would do the heavy lifting on the band’s albums and films; he could work for days on end.

Let’s see what Isabel Hickey has to say about Neptune in the 12th house, where it stands in Garcia’s chart. “Feeling of being cribbed, cabined and confined strong. Stress on the subconscious levels due to extreme sensitivity. With Neptune afflicted the individual feels far from home on a foggy night and he can’t see where he is going. Deep seated loneliness that only connection with the Higher Self will abate. ‘Serve or suffer’ is the keynote here.”

Serve or suffer indeed. We have a lot of music to thank Jerry Garcia for. I am grateful he had music for no other reason than he really needed it. Fortunately for him, so did the world. Not a bad deal.

There were days
and there were days
and there were days I know
when all we ever wanted
was to learn and love and grow
Once we grew into our shoes
we told them where to go
walked halfway around the world
on promise of the glow
stood upon a mountain top
walked barefoot in the snow
gave the best we had to give
how much we’ll never know we’ll never know.

— From “Days Between,” Jerry Garcia’s last song
written with Robert Hunter

My Recommended Dead CDs

For acquiring commercially available CDs, I suggest going right to Grateful Dead Merchandising, recently available at (800) 225-3323 ; they have nearly everything, including lots of stuff your record store tells you is out of print, never existed, etc. All you can get in record stories (usually) are studio albums, which usually miss the point, but have some transcendent moments for sure. To catch the spirit, though, start with the live stuff.

I have several unequivocal recommendations that are in the “no turning back” category. The first is called One From the Vault, a live recording made during the band’s hiatus in 1975. It’s basically a perfect, if mellow, performance with an excellent sampling of the Dead’s original and cover repertoire, before an invitation-only audience of about 600 people. If you’ve never heard the Dead, or have only heard the occasional song, this is the perfect introduction. Even your parents and kids and cat will like this CD.

Next on this list is Dick’s Picks #10, an historic show from Winterland in San Francisco, recorded 12/29/77. Garcia’s guitar sounds like no other performance except the surrounding nights (extra songs at the end of the CD); the band feels like it’s 14 feet tall. They played some of their hottest shows (as did many others) in Winterland, this rundown, falling apart little arena formerly in San Fran, once home to the Ice Follies. Deadheads loved the room so much some took their chairs when the wrecking ball hit a little over a year later.

Then there is Reckoning (previously, For the Faithful). This is an acoustic recording from the early 1980s, mostly ballads, traditionals and some great slow-moving country songs. The acoustic guitars and Brent Mydland’s piano are a superb mix. If you like the super-mellow folk sound, there’s an earlier studio album worth having called American Beauty, which is beyond beautiful but with a very different selection of music than Reckoning. The Dead family’s vocals at the end of Ripple are worth the whole thing.

Okay — that will get you started.

If you want to get a taste of the band’s original, early sound (with blues man Pig Pen), there are two that are exemplary. The first is Two From the Vault. The second is Live/Dead, the band’s first live release. Live/Dead is truly an astonishing recording, preserving the psychedelic spirit of the late 1960s like nothing else.

The Closing of Winterland, recorded New Years’ Eve 1978, one year after the 12/29/77 show, is one of the grooviest things ever put on a CD or DVD. This is a new release, I think. The band is once again at its best (it was Winterland, after all), they play three full sets, and if you get the DVD (salvaged from a public television broadcast — with full quality audio), you get the opening acts, including Grateful Dead proteges The Blues Brothers.

There are two commercially available CDs that exemplify the band’s sound in its third incarnation, with keyboard player and vocalist Brent Mydland, whose playing soars and whose voice feels like the sound of a jet airliner. Those two recordings are Dozin’ at the Knick and Nightfall of Diamonds.

I don’t know enough about the Bruce Hornsby and Vince Welnick periods at the end (between 1990 and 1995) to recommend the best recordings from that era — but some are in the Dick’s Picks series, and Blair’s book, below, briefly reviews every available commercial recording until the time the book was published.

As for books: I’ve loved Blair’s excellent biography of Garcia, An American Life, which I got in Woodstock a couple of months ago and just finished. But one of the funniest books I’ve EVER, ever read is called Living with the Dead by Rock Scully, their former manager. It’s considered somewhat apocryphal and less than balanced, but who cares (except for the people who felt offended, so that counts); but if you factor in the biases, it’s well worth reading. Bassist Phil Lesh has a new book out, called Searching for the Sound, which I’ve not read — and which I’ve heard contains lots of regrets about drugs and alcohol (Lesh has a liver transplant).

The band’s original lyrics, including all by Robert Hunter and John Perry Barlow, are at The Annotated Grateful Dead Lyrics, which has a ton of information, discographies, and has recently been released as a book. The free site is here.

Grateful Dead Merchandising, which also has a toll-free number above that hopefully still works, is http://dead.net/. They are now offering downloadable shows for about half the price of Dick’s Picks.

Deadbase is http://deadbase.com/

See examples of Jerry Garcia’s art at: http://jerrygarcia.com/art-portfolio-new.html

Earlier article by Eric on Jerry Garcia, from 1995 http://www.planetwaves.net/grateful.html

Grateful Dead on Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grateful_Dead