Every year, at about this time of year, I teach about the great American sculptor, architect and designer Maya Lin – I’ve been doing it for twenty years. My students and I explore how she went up against formidable odds, first entering, and then winning, a national contest for the Vietnam Veterans Memorial commission in Washington, DC. in 1981-82. A Chinese American, Maya was only 21 years old when she won the competition as a Yale graduate student. Much of the difficulty Maya experienced occurred after she was granted the commission, when she was forced to deal with the anger of some of the veterans, the obstacles and the restrictions imposed by some of the opponents, who not only hated her design, but attacked her over her identity – her age, her gender and her Asian heritage.
As synchronicity would have it, it wasn’t until this year that I noticed Maya was responding to a Pluto, Saturn and Jupiter time in her life, and how she was learning (Jupiter) to grow and mature (Saturn) in her abilities to speak out and stand up for her beliefs (Her natal Mercury and Mars).
There is a lot of chatter on social media about these three planets and a current astrological event happening. Some of it is kind of scary or I guess I should say sensationalized too. I do think it looks to be a difficult time, but for each person a different journey, depending I suppose on how you respond to your birth chart. There is a conjunction coming up this winter of the planets Saturn and Pluto in Capricorn at 22˚. Jupiter will be in Capricorn too. The conjunction will be exact mid-January. The last time the two came together in the sky was in the early 1980s, in the sign of Libra.
I’d like to put a positive spin on it by sharing a realization I had this week about Maya – about this famous artist and her fight for her memorial – a story I find personally encouraging anyway.
Maya designed a simple, abstract site-specific artwork, one not quite like any other war memorial ever before. She envisioned two walls coming together at an angle, as they descend into the earth of the Washington Mall. Most moving, I feel, is to visit the monument and gaze upon the smooth, black granite, and see yourself reflected back on top of the names of those deceased. She transformed the collective’s notion of what a great war memorial could be. It has since inspired countless other examples of public art. Maya Lin’s work has left a lasting legacy, but it was her response to a challenging time – a time of Pluto and Saturn and Jupiter – that helped her evolve and transform into her soul’s journey as artist.
You see in 1981-82, during the height of the battles over the design of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, all three planets were transiting Maya’s natal stellium in Libra. The day her design was chosen, April 30, 1981, Saturn and Jupiter were conjunct her natal north node of the Moon providing a time of grace in her life for both maturity and challenge along with opportunity to discover her soul’s path. Meanwhile, transiting Pluto was conjunct her natal Mars and Mercury. During the first major wave of criticism and outcry in October, 1981, Sun, Mercury, Jupiter and Pluto by transit formed a wide conjunction with her natal Mars at 19˚ Libra, Jupiter and Pluto both were at 24˚ Libra, exactly conjunct Maya’s natal 24˚ Mercury, while Saturn was at mid-Libra between Maya’s Sun at 11˚42’ and Mars at 19˚.
The most emotional and tense arguments over Maya’s design involved her now-famous public speech in defense of the memorial which occurred mid-February, 1982, with both Mars and Saturn conjunct her natal Mars, while Pluto continued to conjunct her natal Mercury. Phew! I like to watch an old news clip of Maya Lin as a young woman going up in front of the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts in a room filled with members of congress, veterans, journalists, and activists. I am always amazed by her courage and determination to defend her design.
All of this occurring in Libra – the sign so much about negotiation and balance with others as well as aesthetic appreciation and finding harmony and beauty in life. Maya’s intentions were so Libran; to create a memorial that would bring a sense of peace and healing over the losses of war, rather than a grand statement of military victory. It is like the universe was asking Maya to reconsider her thoughts not only about art, but also about how to mature and learn personal strength, and transform her own voice in defense of what she cherished in art and held true.
Of course, this January, 2020, the conjunction of Saturn and Pluto is in a very different sign, Capricorn. And to make the most of understanding the time for you is to consider where and in what house the conjunction lies in your birth chart.
On November 10, 1982, Saturn and Pluto met up for the exact conjunction at 27 ˚ Libra; both planets had moved just 3 degrees from Maya’s natal Mercury. That day marked the start of several days of official dedication ceremonies of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial with much public fanfare and celebration.
Difficulties that truly transform. What can I say…I love Maya’s artwork and admire her artistic career, but most of all I respect her courage, along with the patience and endurance she had, to ride with Pluto and Saturn to get there.
Not everyone is a “Maya Lin,” but we all got our challenges and fears. Such transits bring them to the table for us to see, allowing us to work on ourselves so we can be stronger...nothing to be afraid of; more to accept and to claim, and, well, to try to make the most of.