Born in 1960 & 1961

Fellini's 1960 classic, Wikipedia

1960


Overview: We started the decade with Jupiter in its own sign Sagittarius (exuberance), Saturn in its own sign, Capricorn (conservative, sober, authority), Uranus in Leo, Neptune in Scorpio, Pluto in Virgo and Chiron in far-reaching Aquarius. OPEC was established, while several African nations were liberated from colonialism including, Madagascar, Congo, and Senegal.  Cyprus also liberated itself from Great Britain so a revolutionary spirit was already spicing the air.  The women’s rights movement, the Gay rights movement, and the Civil Rights movement were also underway.  In Argentina, Israelis captured Nazi general Adolf  Eichmann.  http://www.endmemo.com/events/1960.php


The French New Wave cinema was underway making international stars of Truffaut, Godot, and Varda.  The international cinema was hot cranking out movies from India, Japan, Canada (Quebec) and all across Europe.  People were watching Fellini’s La Dolce Vita, Franju’s Eyes Without a Face, Naruse’s (Japan) When a Woman Ascends the Stairs or on the Hollywood side, Hitchcock’s Psycho, Kubrick’s Spartacus, and Annakin’s Swiss Family Robinson.


On the music side, the sound was still Elvis, Buddy Holly, and the bluesy rock music or shake, rattle and roll. The British Invasion with the mop top Beatles leading the way was yet to come.  Jazz, folk, and folkloric music from other parts of the world played a prominent role as did classical music as there were several virtuosos touring the world in the 1950s and 1960s including Canadian iconoclast Glenn Gould who ignited the return of Bach’s keyboard work.


Famous births of 1960 include: Antonia Banderas, Bono (U’2), Jane Lynch, Hugh Grant, Colin Firth, Jean-Claude Van Damme, Sean Penn, Roger Taylor (Duran Duran), Stanley Lucci, Tilda Swinton, Kenneth Branagh, Hugo Weaving, Julienne Moore, Erin Moran (Happy Days), and Ru Paul, to name a handful.


Significant Transits

In many ways, the 1960s was a holdover from the 1950s and we would expect that from a transitional year.  We started out this decade on a conservative note with morals and behavior growing looser as we approached the end of the decade.  As the decade rolled forward, events grew in intensity, not surprising with the Uranus-Pluto conjunction in Virgo wanting to fix the world, and finding a lot wrong with the planet.  We went from an American Bandstand or Ed Sullivan Show mentality where teeny boppers (Baby Boomers were the first teenagers and prior to this generation you were either a child or an adult) screaming their lungs out at the sight of Elvis then later the Beatles and other pop stars from those early years to the Summer of Love, sit-ins, and LSD.  However, the older Baby Boomers of marrying age were having babies and that’s where some of us come in, though my parents are from an older generation (Pluto in Cancer).


We launched 1960 with a trine between Saturn in Capricorn and Pluto in Virgo sextile Neptune in Scorpio.  Jupiter in Sagittarius trined Uranus in Leo.  With these elements in grounding or rigid Earth and enthusiastic or passionate Fire would have set off mixed messages.  While the Fire element wanted to blaze its way through the month, the Earth element brought in conservatism.  We would not be changing the status quo no matter how exuberant for change we felt.


A child born under these influences would carry this dynamic throughout their life--a sort of push-pull, wanting to trail blaze but stepping back to those things that were tried in true.  If the child was born when the Sun was in Capricorn, he or she would be more down to earth than the children born with the Sun in Aquarius who would just feel at odds here with possible squares to Neptune and inconjuncts to Pluto and the opposition to Uranus (Aquarius planet).  But both of these groups would have a heavy responsibility placed on their backs (Saturn in Capricorn and Pluto in Virgo), but also the ability to expand one’s thinking and with the Aquarius Sun, the ability to think outside of the box, definitely a skill that would help these children survive the wacky and surreal 1960s that awaited them.


In March of 1960, Jupiter moved out of its own sign into sober Capricorn which formed a wide sextile with Neptune and a trine with Pluto in Virgo.  So these children are even more conservative than those children born in January and February with Jupiter now feeling constricted.  The trine between Pluto and Jupiter spent most of April exact which would have expanded upon Pluto’s need to analyze and break down the old structure and transform the areas of health (medicine), service, and other Virgo topics.  The children born during these months most likely experienced the death of an authority figure, most likely the father, or a father or grandfather figure in their early childhood.  They would either grow up to feel victimized or use that Neptune in Scorpio energy to forgive and regenerate--to be born again.


In June, Jupiter retrograde back into Sagittarius bringing a sigh of relief as summer rolled in. Saturn formed an exact inconjunct with the Pluto-Neptune sextile which would have frowned upon anything seen as revolutionary or trouble-making, including rock n’ roll music, teenage sex or drinking, or just plain carousing.  Children born under this influence would be born with energy to transform the world, but feel blocked by Saturn’s authoritative energy.  Perhaps, these children would grow up interested in other places around the world, take up world traveling or live in a nomadic family of one kind or another, such as a military family or one of those family bands that were so popular in the following decade.  This could represent the children of pop and rock singers or movie stars with Jupiter and Neptune playing such prominent roles.  Or they could just as well be the children of immigrants making their way in a new country.


In September of 1960, Neptune and Pluto form an exact sextile from the 1-6, and the Uranus-Jupiter Fire Trine continued. These children would have an interest in movies, music, and later innovation and foreign relations of one kind or another.  With Neptune in Scorpio sextiling Scorpio’s planet Pluto in Virgo, this group of children could grow up as healers or medical doctors, or most likely psychologists and even if they didn’t go into a healing profession, they possess healing and regeneration powers.  They might choose between some type of pop stardom or humanitarian efforts (Uranus in Leo) and it would be hard to keep these kids or as they grow into adults, in a bad mood.  These are innovative can-do folks who want to serve in some way.


In October we experience another exact sextile with Pluto and Neptune so read the above themes. In November, Jupiter heads back into Capricorn where it spends a year.  In December Saturn and Jupiter conjunct with an exact orb.  This group would appear soberer than the children of previous months, not just because they are born during a dark month, but because Jupiter is in sober Saturn and Saturn is in his sign, Capricorn.  These children felt the burden of the world placed on the mantle of their shoulders whether or not they could articulate that.


They might have lost a parent through death or divorce, been born to a single mother, or a young mother (remember teens were experimenting with sex and abortion was illegal during this time).  These children in some way or another felt they had to take care of their parents or parent as they grew older or maybe they had younger siblings later to watch out for or they lived in poverty or some other hopeless situation such as a chronic illness (possibly the bones or skin).  This could have brought them strength and compassion as they grew up or a sense of victim mentality depending on the people mentoring them.  In any case, children born at the end of 1960 were going to see the glass as half empty and the December holidays might even feel depressing to them as they age.




1961


Overview: This eventful year included: the trial of Nazi general Adolf Eichmann for his role in the Holocaust, the Bay of Pigs Invasion (Cuba/US), the building of the Berlin Wall, Freedom Riders challenging Segregation in the Southern US (Civil Rights), President Kennedy’s putting a man on the moon speech, the founding of Peace Corps, the Soviets launching the first man into space, and the largest nuclear bomb exploded, according to About.com 20th Century History.  Other events playing in the background for babies born in 1960 and 1961, including, Nigeria gaining independence, the US breaking relations with Cuba, the China-India border conflict, and thousands of exiles from Cuba arriving in the US because of the Bay of Pigs Invasion and the arrival of Communism in Cuba via a revolution led by Fido Castro and Che Guevara.


Meanwhile the various rights movements such as women’s, Gay, and Civil rights continued.  Pop music continued in the early rock music vein with Elvis Presley and bands like the Beach Boys who formed in 1961 and sported a clean California surfer boy image.  Movies of this time include, Edwards’ Breakfast at Tiffany’s, Robbins and Wise Westside Story, Geronimi and Lusk’s 101 Dalmatians, and in foreign languages, Godard’s A Woman is a Woman, Buñuel’s Viridiana, Germi’s Divorce, Italian Style, Bergman’s Through a Glass Darkly, and Kurosawa’s Yojimbo.


Celebrities born in 1961 include: President Obama, Princess Diana, George Lopez, George Clooney, Eddie Murphy, Michael J. Fox, Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg (virtuoso violinist-teacher), Julie Louise-Dreyfus, Yves P. Pelletier, Nastassja Kinski, Enya, Melissa Etheridge, Boy George, Manu Chao (Spain), Elizabeth McGovern, Woody Harrison, Peter Jackson, Andre Ducharme (Quebecois actor), Meg Ryan, Mariel Hemingway, Nadia Comaneci and Arundhati Roy. (Many people on this list have either suffered hardships or have carried a heavy burden on their shoulders of one kind or another).


Transits:


At the start of 1961, the Neptune-Pluto sextile continued (as it would through the 1960s) and Saturn in Capricorn formed an inconjunct with Uranus in Leo.  The ongoing sextile started to gather strength because of it’s on-going energies with Neptune in Scorpio (psychology, sex, death, taxes, deep soul work, and transformation in the realm of music, cinema, healing arts, as well as, hospitals, prisons, and other institutions) and Pluto in Virgo brought more scrutinizing and analyzing to the situation, especially in the realm of medicine and service.  People born either with a Capricorn or Aquarius Sun would feel the generational pull to bring some type of transformation to the planet.  However, this would not come into play until the adult years, and more than likely, during midlife.  This goes for people born in the 1960s in general, but especially those born with a sense of duty when Saturn transited in Capricorn.  However, Uranus in Leo might still put the ego in front of service, “see how generous I am.”


These outer planets transits continue in February with an exact conjunction with Jupiter and Saturn in Capricorn from the 19th to 22nd with the conjunction informing the entire month.  In addition, people born with a Pisces Sun would experience Sun opposite Pluto towards the end of the month (if they were born the first 2 weeks of the Pisces Sun).  This opposition was exact on February 25.  And I would imagine that these children would grow up with a burden of service placed on their shoulders, and possibly a guilt complex if they did not serve the planet or humanity or even non-humans in some way.


In March we experienced a Saturn-Uranus inconjunction which would have slowed Uranus fiery energy down quite a bit leaving children born during this time feeling constricted in some way. While Uranus would want to burn a trail ahead, Saturn would pull out a stop sign and perhaps, babies born during this time would develop slowly physically or just have an unusual physique since Saturn rules body structure and Uranus rules the unusual and unexpected.  Perhaps the children were born prematurely or late, and grow up as late bloomers, not doing well in their early years of school.  This would not be an easy transit for a child born during this time.


Saturn and Jupiter ended their conjunction in Capricorn on March 15, which would have felt like a sigh of relief with all that constriction and hardship taking place.  Jupiter moved into Aquarius and took on more forward-thinking qualities on the 16th. A child born during this time would not only feel this shift of energy but embody it at 0 degrees Aquarius.  This child would grow up unusual in some way, perhaps distancing him or herself from others who appear less intelligent or because we are dealing with Jupiter, this child could have singled him or herself out as a genius out to save the world, since there is room here for exaggerated thinking, even narcissism with Saturn still in body-conscious Capricorn and Neptune in Scorpio (delusional thinking a possibility).  Or the child could actually be a genius or inventor of some type in the future. If this child develops leadership, it would be of the revolutionary style with far-out idealism to back it up.


In April Jupiter in Aquarius squared Neptune in Scorpio (17-30) with a 5-degree orb.  It’s possible that children born during this time period would feel a deep connection to the Divine.  I don’t know what would indicate an Indigo Child, but perhaps this transit would contribute to those qualities or the child born during this time could be prone to exaggeration, delusions, and mental illness such as paranoia or narcissism since Neptune in Scorpio would rule psychological states and it is in square with Jupiter in Aquarius which would bring in elements of an exaggerated or unusual, certainly, an unconventional way of thinking.  This child could also grow up to be an addict of some kind, maybe even a sex addict or just as well, become a powerful healer. Only a child’s life circumstance and environment would determine which direction he or she headed in.  And of course, we would need to look at the whole chart and not just these transit which is more societal than personal and even generational with Neptune involved.


In May we experience similar outer planet transits which continue through August, except in August, Saturn and Uranus form an exact inconjunct which would again inhibit someone born during this time in some way.  Perhaps these children would work harder to build self-confidence (Uranus in Leo) or to express their individuality leaning too far into the status quo or giving too much credence to authority figures (Saturn). Again, other aspects in a chart would either support or negate these behaviors.  They would make good leaders if they could keep their egos in check and practice integrity.


Jupiter retrograde began on August 12, creating a conjunction with Saturn (5-degree orb) and the inconjunct with Uranus started at that time too.  Babies born during this time would have either had a Leo or Virgo Sun and the Leo Sun and someone born from August 18 to the 23rd would have a Sun-Uranus conjunction in their Natal Chart so this would emphasize the situations mentioned in the above paragraph.


Those born with the Virgo Sun in August would experience a Sun-Pluto conjunction towards the end of the month and a tight orb sextile with Neptune.  These children would have a built-in desire to serve the planet in some way and bring transformation. As adults, they would work for a charitable non-profit, in medicine, alternative medicine, social work or in the psychology field.  They might even work as intuitive life coaches because of their practical side and need to serve others in need. The sextile to Neptune in Scorpio would gift these children with powerful intuition and healing insights, but they might with Pluto in Virgo conjunct Sun first go through their own trials and tests so that they could apply the wisdom they learned later in life in their healing profession or service career.  These folks would be excellent bodyworkers.  They could also become hypochondriacs or germ phobic.


In November, Uranus moved into Virgo which would further emphasize a need to serve humanity or the planet in some way, but through revolutionary and innovative ways.  Saturn and Jupiter continue a conjunction in Capricorn until November 4 and Jupiter returned to Aquarius on November 5. Saturn moved into Aquarius on December 4. 

People would have felt less constricted during these sign shifts from Capricorn to Aquarius and the sounds of revolutionary ideas would have been in the air and the media as 1961 drew to a close.  Children born during this time would have felt and embodied this energy in some way, despite the wherewithal to articulate any of it.  If what the neurobiologists say is true that we are programmed during our first 6 years of our lives through osmosis, then we must wonder what the babies born during this time and in previous years would have picked up into their belief systems.