Ellen at Epcot

Ellen at Epcot-with Pluto on my right (the dog!)

A couple of days ago I went to Epcot Center for my birthday.  Epcot Center is a part of The Walt Disney World outside of Orlando, Florida.  I started thinking about Walt Disney: who was he astrologically speaking?  What I found was a complex man, a bit different from the popular conception.

“Innovention”

His chart is multi-faceted, immensely creative, but also dark, brooding, and troubled.  With his Sagittarius Sun in the third house he thirsted for knowledge and once he had mastered a technique, he was anxious to share it with coworkers.  A third house Sun can also indicate someone whose siblings are very important in his life.  Walt Disney’s brother, Roy, was the co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of The Walt Disney Company.

Walt Disney’s Sun was conjunct Uranus, the planet of innovation and originality.  This is the mark of a rebel, such as when Disney insisted on producing Snow White and the Seven Dwarves against the advice of both his brother Roy and his wife Lillian.  Before it was released, this first animated feature length film was known as “Disney’s Folly”.  The other Hollywood studios were certain it was a colossal waste of money and would bring down the company.  When the film was released in 1938 it became the most successful motion picture of the year for which Disney received one full-size Oscar and seven miniature Oscar statuettes in honor of the seven Dwarves.

Creative and Troubled

Disney’s Sun also opposed Pluto.  This is a life of crisis and renewal.  The positive side to this aspect can be seen in his continual transformation of his business from one powerful era to the next.  A business life that included both failures and successes, his life covered many different aspects of business:  from artist to adman, animator, producer, television personality and amusement park designer and creator.

(Source:Wikipedia)

(Source:Wikipedia)

The Pluto/Sun opposition also indicates some of Disney’s darker profile, a feeling of “me against the world” which played out in a childhood marked by poverty and abuse, betrayals by his animators, and set-backs and bankruptcy in his early years.  He was also a founding member of the Anti-communist Motion Picture Alliance for the Preservation of American Ideals, in which he branded three of his former animators as Communist agitators before Congress in 1947.

Independent and Competitive

Disney’s Moon was in the first house which gives a need for autonomy, independence and a tendency to withdraw in times of stress.  Disney was famous for retreating to develop blueprints for a miniature live steam railroad for his backyard, with loops, overpasses, gradients and a 90-foot tunnel underneath his wife’s flowerbed.

Disney’s Venus was in the 5th house, which is connected to fun, creativity, and children.  This is also a very artistic placement for Venus and since his Venus was sextile Mercury, he was able to take advantage of the technology of the time to express his creative nature.

Disney’s Mars in Capricorn is a very hard-working placement and with a conjunction to Jupiter he was energetic and competitive.  His long career was constantly pitted against the other studios. After the early success of Mickey Mouse, he contended with Betty Boop and Popeye the Sailor in the 1930s, and Warner Brothers’ Bugs Bunny in the 1940s.  Mars was also conjunct Saturn which again indicates high ambition and a willingness to persevere to reach his goals.

In tune with the times

Disney had both Neptune and Pluto at the top of his chart indicating his openness to and ability to capitalize on the trends of his time.  He was inspired by the burgeoning field of animation and recognized the desire to escape the Depression and World War II by developing a world of fantasy.  His work spanned and spoke to several generations.  The same children and teens who watched Steamboat Willie in 1928, took their own children to Snow White in 1938, Old Yeller and Lady and the Tramp in the 1950s, and to the opening of Disneyland in 1955.  These same folks then joined their grandchildren to watch Mary Poppins in the 1960s.

Inspiration, innovation, perseverance, and creativity – a recipe for a legacy that lives to this day.

Disney Theme Song

When you wish upon a star
Makes no difference who you are
Anything your heart desires
Will come to you

If your heart is in your dream
No request is too extreme
When you wish upon a star
As dreamers do

Fate is kind
She brings to those who love
The sweet fulfillment of
Their secret longing

Like a bolt out of the blue
Fate steps in and sees you through
When you wish upon a star
Your dreams come true   (Disney)

Most of the information in this post was adapted from Wikipedia.