There were no new tweets today on J. K. Rowling’s twitter page but there was a big change. As you can see above, we have a new header for the page and a fresh cameo. Beatrice Groves, who reminded The Presence six days ago of her annual tweeted apology for the casualty-laden Battle of Hogwarts (today is the 21st anniversary of the Battle), has already identified the stars in the picture as a “close-up” of the Capricorn constellation; read about that here.
We know that Rowling is an amateur astrologer who has drawn up detailed natal charts for friends with longish interpretations. Does Capricorm have a hidden meaning in astrological lore connected with the Battle of Hogwarts? We only know of one astrological reference that Rowling is familiar with because she used it almost exclusively in the charts which have been posted online: Louis MacNeice’s Astrology (Doubleday, 1964). I own a copy but found very little in the pages dedicated to Capricorn except for MacNiece’s concern about “Capricorn’s ruler… frosty old Saturn.” “Saturn is casting a chill or a shadow and yet he may be a liberator. If Saturn the ruler is actually in this sign [i.e., Capricorn on the natal chart], then everything is cut to the bone” (p 98).
In the discussion of the planet Saturn and its influences we find “In the Middle Ages Saturn was said to carry a scythe or a sickle because he does more execution when receding than when advancing” (p 60). It is also “much connected with magic” (p 62). Mostly, though, Saturn is bad news: melancholy, depression, illness, and death.
Which, at a stretch, is a pointer to the deaths at the Battle of Hogwarts? If you like. Saturn the planet might have been pictured rather than the Capricorn constellation if this was the message. I’m hopeful that the picture means instead what Rowling has said each of her headers reflect, what she is working on and thinking about now.
What do you make of the new header on the J. K. Rowling twitter page? Is there astrological meaning, something we will learn about in Strike5 or Beasts3, or something else? Click on the ‘Leave a Comment’ link at the top of this post and let me know what you think!
I happened across something that caught my eye because it involved Alfred Hitchcock and a movie he did in 1949–a historic thriller called ‘Under Capricorn’ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Under_Capricorn
The story is based on a true crime involving a love triangle–“the story starts with a lady and stable boy in Ireland who become bound together by a horrible secret. Although not a murder mystery per se, there is a previous killing, a wrong man scenario, a sinister housekeeper, class conflict, and very high levels of tension, both on the surface and underneath.” Wikipedia ‘Under Capricorn’.
I’m not confident this has any real link to what she could currently be working on–but since it involved Hitchcock and Capricorn and mysterious goings on involving relationship conflicts–I gravitated towards it in hope that she might be working on Strike Book 5
Hello everyone,
a german astronomy page explains the capricorn mythology like this (https://www.astronomie.de/sternbilder/sternbild-steinbock-lat-capricornus/ my translation – sorry for the mistakes!)
Under the header “history and mythology” the author Günther Bendt explains):
“The constellation capricorn is one of the 48 original constellations of the list of the antique astronomer Ptolomy from the 2nd century AD. Its one of the oldest constellations.
According to greek mythology it should remember of the god Pan. Zeus put the constellation into the sky out of gratitude for Pan’s successful intervention during the battle of the gods for world supremacy.
The background of Pan is unknown. He grew up together with Zeus in Crete. Pan had two little, twisted horns on his wooly head. His legs and feet were those of a goat an he had a tail. He loved singing and to live freely in nature and he developed a greedy inclination for young, beautiful women and alcohol, of which he could take in large amounts. If drunk he started such raucous bawling that each and everyone took flight. Still today the expression “panische Angst/panischer Schrecken” [panic ~ angst] is used.
When the olympic gods were about to lose the decisive battle against the titans and giants (?) of earthmother Gaia Pan’s bawling prove itself an effective weapon. Pan routed the overpowering opponents with his terrible voice only.
Allegorical depictions of the constellation of capricorn on old star charts show a male goat with a curled fish-tail. Already the Sumerians around 2.800 BC called the constellation capricorn “goat-fish”. Apparently the constellation of capricorn is much older than the mythology of the classic Greece.”
Any ideas? … Decisive battles, goats … there seem to be some possible links to the Potter Universe … What’s about the Strike part?
Lots of greetings, Claudia
Thanks for this Claudia. I love the idea that the Capricorn header might be pointing us towards Aberforth involvement in the next movie (or FB4 if she has begun that already)….
Look up what Pluto, the South Node, and Saturn are up to in Capricorn over this year. That could be it. I recommend Stephen Forrest for a reference point.
From the ForrestAstrology.com website of Steven Forrest and his ‘Evolutionary Astrology‘ students:
On Saturn in Capricorn
Lunar Nodes in Cancer-Capricorn
Pluto and the South Node in Capricorn