ASTROLOGY ARTICLES BY JON

JIMMY BUFFETT: BUILDING A CAPRICORN EMPIRE ON NEPTUNE

Neptune is associated with the sign Pisces and the natal 12th house: the house of dreams, inspiration, spirituality and also confusion. Neptune wants nothing to do with reality. Capricorn is associated with the planet Saturn and the 10th house and is cold, hard reality.

Obviously if we have too much Neptune in our charts we can lose our grip on the real world, try to escape reality, and in some cases, fall victim to drugs and alcohol. If we have too much Capricorn, we can become bitter and hard and concerned only with our own personal ambition and material wealth.

What happens if we have just the right balance? Let's take a look at the birth chart of Jimmy Buffett, famous for his very Neptunian tune "Margaritaville" which features the hook, "wasting away again in Margaritaville, searching for my lost shaker of salt." He was inspired by his days in Key West, but Jimmy was no ordinary Neptunian beach bum. He had ambition.

What provided that ambition? Jimmy is a double Capricorn meaning both his Sun and Moon are placed in the sign Capricorn (along with Mars). He's a Capricorn through and through. This gives him a tremendous capacity for hard work and also makes him very calculating.

The Sun in our birth chart is our identity (our essence). Jimmy's Capricorn Sun is in his third house. The houses in astrology represent areas of life experience. The third house deals largely with communication. Jimmy has written hundreds of songs, played thousands of concerts, and written several books not to mention his restaurants and other ventures. I would say he is a great communicator/entrepreneur. His sun makes a conjunction with Mars (planet of action) so he's able to make things happen. Capricorn also often indicates longevity and his career has lasted more than 35 years.

What provided the inspiration? The planet Neptune is in his 12th house and is square his Sun/Mars conjunction. Ordinarily a Sun/Neptune square could indicate some of the Neptunian shadow side as described above (escapism, substance abuse) and I think Jimmy did go through some of this. His Neptune is extra powerful because it's in its own house (12th house).

Neptune in the 12th house is especially dreamy. It provides a beautiful wonderland to escape too. The hard part is taking that vivid imagination and turning it into something tangible. Again we look to the planet Saturn and the sign Capricorn to provide structure. In Jimmy's case his Neptune and Saturn make a harmonius sextile aspect in his chart.

Jimmy's Saturn is especially strong, not only does it rule his Sun and Moon sign but lies in its own house (10th house) as well. Saturn in the tenth house, like Capricorn, is willing to work long and hard to get to the top.

Jimmy's whole body of work is based on Neptunian themes such as the ocean and drinking. He says he wrote the song "Margaritaville" in like 15 minutes or something. A song about a fictional place, a place to seek refuge from the real world and from that song he built a whole Capricorn empire.