ASTROLOGY ARTICLES BY JON

BUFFETT & MERRIMAN: ASTRO TWINS

Biological twins are a very interesting subject in astrology because, often times, the twins are very similar. This can be explained astrologically by their nearly identical horoscopes, but sometimes twins have different appearances, personalities, and or emotional temperaments. In the latter cases, sometimes the astrology shows that the rising signs are different, perhaps one twin has the late degrees of Aries Rising and appears to have a very aggressive personality and the other twin has the early degrees of Taurus rising and appears shy and deliberate in nature.

The Moon could have changed signs as well if the births were far enough apart. One twin could have a fiery and combative emotional temperament with the Moon in Aries, and the other twin could have a much more steady emotional nature with a comfortable Taurus Moon. And sometimes admittedly the astrology is not so clear cut in showing the differences between twins who have nearly identical horoscopes in these cases perhaps, as Ruth Orvis suggests (see her website twinstuff.com) twins "take on and play out different parts of the horoscope."

Now with that little bit of information about biological twins in mind, let's talk about astro twins with different mothers. Did you know there are people out there walking around with your horoscope? Probably not completely identical, unless born at the exact same moment in the same place, but very close. Scary huh? Have you ever wondered how these people's lives turned out?

I fancy myself as an astro-biographer, and because I am a singer-songwriter, naturally I tend to look up to elder musicians and astrologers. (I'm a Capricorn.) It was fascinating for me to discover that two of these people that I look up to were born on the same day (Christmas Day at that) in the same year. In fact they were born just two hours apart. Astrologer Ray Merriman was born on December 25, 1946 at 12:09am (Eastern Standard Time) in Pontiac Michigan. Singer-songwriter Jimmy Buffett was born on December 25, 1946 at 1:08am (Central Standard Time) in Pascagoula, Mississippi.

First let's take look at the horoscopes of these two fine gentlemen. You will notice that Ray Merriman has a late Virgo Ascendant and Jimmy Buffett has a Libra Ascendant. I've never seen Ray Merriman without a suit and tie and I've never seen Jimmy Buffett in a suit and tie, enough said! They have different styles, Jimmy's is casual and fun (Libra) and Ray's is well groomed and particular (Virgo).

Ray has a Gemini MC (Career) with its ruler Mercury in Sagittarius in the third house; automatically we think along the lines of teacher, lecturer, and writer for a career. The world sees him as someone who is very detail oriented, someone who gathers information (facts) and then shares that information with others. Jimmy, on the other hand, has a watery Cancer MC (Career) with its ruler, the Moon, in Capricorn in the 4th house. The world knows him for his imagination and his nostalgic (Cancer/4th house) songs and stories, heis not known for being factual. The Capricorn influence suggests the ability to plan and make things happen and persevere over time.

They both have a hard charging Sun-Mars conjunction in ambitious Capricorn but Jimmy's is in the third house, and Ray's is in the fourth house. This is a big difference: the houses indicate areas of life experience. Jimmy's vital energy (Sun-Mars) is dedicated to intellectual stimulation, communicating, traveling around and experiencing new things. Ray's vital energy is directed towards soul searching, and establishing a strong foundation. I think it's safe to say Ray is more inner directed than Jimmy.

They both have a Venus-Jupiter conjunction in the shrewd and financially oriented sign Scorpio located in the second house of money in both charts. Can you say wealthy! Jimmy's Venus-Jupiter conjunction actually tightly trines his Midheaven and this just screams success and popularity. (See my Midheaven article for more info on this). As we will learn later on, Ray also did very nicely for himself as a financial astrologer. Notice the Pluto-Saturn conjunction in Leo (creative self expression), Jimmy has it focused in the 10th house of career and Ray's is in the socially conscious and group oriented 11th house. Ray is passionate (Saturn-Pluto) when working with a group of like minded people for a cause and Jimmy is passionate about his career. Mercury opposite Uranus in both charts speaks of intelligence, revolutionary ideas and unique concepts.

So how did their lives play out? They both came from middle class homes and had reportedly happy childhoods. Both had two siblings each. They both attended multiple colleges and both eventually graduated in 1969 although Ray fared much better than Jimmy academically. They both discovered their respective passions for astrology and music while attending college. They both married young and then got divorced in the early 70s. They both worked extremely hard at establishing themselves in their respective careers in the early 70s and both started having great success at their Saturn Return in 1976. They both remarried in 1977.

The 80s brought Ray into financial astrology, he had a highly successfully newsletter called the Gold Book, a regular feature on the Financial News Network. He worked as a Vice President on Wall Street and founded the Merriman Market Analyst Inc. Jimmy's growing fan base became the Parrotheads and continued to grow in numbers. He also has a newsletter called the Coconut Telegraph. He started to market his merchandise and he opened a chain of restaurants and gift shops called "Margaritaville" and became an author of best selling books.

In the 90s and into the present decade, their successes have continued. Merriman left Wall Street and became President of ISAR and wrote a five volume set of books, The Ultimate Books in Stock Market Timing. Jimmy's empire continues to grow, writing best selling books in both the nonfiction and fiction categories. He also had another hit in 2003 when he teamed with Alan Jackson on 5 o' clock Somewhere. He continues to write and tour with the Coral Reefer band today. I just listened to the show in Vegas last night on Radio Margaritaville!

And that is the story thus far (more chapters to come I'm sure) of astro twins Ray Merriman and Jimmy Buffett!