Levy family patterns

Our astrology chart tells us a myriad of things about who we are. A symbolic map of the Cosmos at the moment we draw our first breath, our birth chart illustrates not only personality traits but talents and gifts, attraction and repulsion, generational themes, as well as timing points that play out across the span of our lifetime and beyond. As Saturn-Pluto cycles peak every 36 years and the world moves through trying times, people born into this cycle reflect the intensity and regeneration these celestial antagonists are known for.

Because Pluto intensifies whatever it touches and Saturn’s hand is cold and austere, individuals born into this cycle are often highly sensitive to the reality of violence and destruction. They can possess a depth of kindness and compassion to the suffering of others due to their intimate understanding of cruelty and harshness. There is great potential in these people to know the weight of responsibility, the power of loss, and to rely on the kind of compassion you can only develop once you’ve been abandoned beyond the reach of your own fears.

The desire of Saturn to control Pluto’s force is much like trying to contain a volcano. It’s excruciating. This planetary combination edges one toward the trenches of their psyche, tempting the absolute limits for either breakthrough or destruction. How does one contain such intensity? They usually don’t. There is often a delicate balance that is learnt about pressure and release, power and control. With such intense internal energies at play, space and time alone to process is often required to consciously navigate the power within the dynamic.

To understand how this affects people born with this placement, imagine being born in 2020. The Saturn-Pluto cycle is not a safe nest from the get-go. There is an instant awareness imprinted on the infant that life is not safe. This narrative can play out for the individual throughout life, acting as both saboteur and power source.

EUGENE LEVY – Saturn & Pluto in Leo

Eugene Levy was born amidst the Saturn–Pluto conjunction in Leo on 17th December, 1946 (time unknown), in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.

Saturn, being the faster of the two planets, was approaching Pluto in December 1946, when Eugene drew his first breath, and both planets had also stationed retrograde in the month prior to his birth, adding frustration to an already tense configuration.

Eugene’s Saturn–Pluto conjunction in Leo, “the house of the Sun” (Lilly. p95), points to a journey of self discovery through creativity and self expression. Leo is a diurnal fire sign, elaborate in its desire to inspire authenticity in others. Traditionally, Leo is of the east, a sunny, Summer energy. It is a courageous, enthusiastic energy that gravitates towards leadership, pride and ambition.

Adding another layer of complexity, the planets function better in some signs than others. The restrictive nature of Saturn is in direct opposition to the expressive, fiery flare of Leo, ruled by the Sun. Saturn in Leo is said to be in its detriment (George, p.189). Leo wants to be recognised and Saturn doesn’t want the fuss. On a generational level this placement suggests difficulty with personal empowerment in the patriarchal line that potentially fuels Eugene to carve his own path, on his own creative terms. Saturn–Pluto in this instance can act as a behind the scenes motor in one’s boat.

Dan’s birthday was activated in Eugene’s first year of life.

Physical and astrological events can act as time stamps laid before us, marking the sky as sensitive terrain ready to be activated by current transits and people we meet. The Saturn–Pluto conjunction that Eugene was born under in December 1946 came to its final exact conjunction on the 9th of August 1947: Dan’s birthday, 35 years prior to his birth. From the 9th -17th of August 1947, Saturn and Pluto were both at 13 degrees of Leo.

While Dan was not yet born, his birth day clearly resonates for Eugene, and potentially the Levy family line. What ends up being a daisy chain of Saturn – Pluto connections between Eugene, Dan, Schitt’s Creek and 2020 could be an example of the potential of hereditary repetition (Brady, p.4). When you start unpacking family histories, it’s not a coincidence that people are born, or die, on the same day down the line. We’re born into narratives that are weaved long before we are even thought about.

Eugene’s Saturn-Pluto world

Our astrology chart reflects the Cosmos at a specific intersection of time and space. While it tells us a lot about us and the quality of life we will live, it also reflects the quality of time we are born into. Events occurring at the time reflect the themes and issues we will likely work through in life. We are not separate from these world events, we are part of their history and unfolding.

Saturn–Pluto conjunctions strip us back to bare bones. Due to the severity of the energies colliding, fear is embedded to the degree at which loss permeates. The obvious problem here is that instead of creating a new world where fear is met with compassion, these cycles notoriously bring in stricter laws and regulations to ensure a lack of repetition.

In 1946–47, Saturn–Pluto events were expressed globally within the theme of secrecy and power for personal gain (Saturn and Pluto in Leo). The superpowers of the day, USA and USSR, sought power over one another in the Cold War that lasted almost 40 years, Ghandi’s efforts paid off as Britain granted India independence under the “The British Indian Empire,” while the UN voted on an independent Jewish state, established as Israel in 1948, which continues to have a devastating impact on Palestinian’s.

The CIA was created under the National Security Act, signed in by President Truman two weeks prior to the exact conjunction in August. The “Central” in the name suggests that truth is centralised and shrouded in secrecy. This sounds a lot like Silicon Valley in 2020, where a select few have a monopoly on how we connect, who has access to that information and who sets the community standards. Illustrating how time stamps work, Edward Snowden (a Saturn-Pluto native) worked for the CIA when he leaked sensitive documents in 2013. It wasn’t until 2020, a Saturn–Pluto year, that “a U.S. federal court ruled that the U.S. intelligence’s mass surveillance program, exposed by Snowden, was illegal and possibly unconstitutional.” (4)

The IMF was also established under this conjunction to avoid repeated economic catastrophes that led to the recent Great Depression. Their intent to re-establish solid parameters for safety and security gradually turned into the world’s largest economic fund which greatly influences world politics with 190 member countries. It supports multi-national corporations and privatisation, while using austere contractual measures that leave developing countries in a perpetual state of debt when borrowing with increasing interest rates.

The Roswell incident brought the outer world of Pluto crashing to earth. The intense secrecy that still conceals this incident speaks to the power of such information, while the invention of the transistor made things like mobile phones and Microsoft Word possible, both of which were launched during the next Saturn–Pluto conjunction that Dan was born under in 1983.

For Eugene, and an entire Boomer generation born into this cycle, the fear of the unknown can manifest as a need for personal power that wards off potential loss and crisis. Eugene shares this specific Saturn-Pluto quality with Bill Clinton, Susan Sarandon, Ted Bundy, Steven Spielberg and Stephen King, and Elton John (whose song Dan was named after). Each of these people express great charisma and personal power (Leo) through narratives that encompass the invisible, powerful world of Pluto and the dedication to bring it into form via Saturn.

As gregarious and charming as Eugene may be outwardly, his astrology suggests that it may stem from a primal fear of disharmony and conflict (Moon in Libra, Saturn–Pluto conjunction), finding safety and security instead in diplomacy and equanimity. Behind the scenes in his private, inner world, his care is likely as genuine as his fear.

“Almost all modern electronic devices would not exist in the way that they do now without the transistor, making it arguably one of the most important inventions of the 20th century.” (5)

DAN LEVY – Saturn & Pluto in Libra

Daniel Joseph Levy was born at 1.13pm on 9th August, 1983 in Toronto, Canada. With 5 degrees of Scorpio rising, his Saturn-Pluto conjunction is placed in the difficult 12th house. Saturn at 28 degrees Libra and Pluto right alongside at 27 degrees is a very close connection that anyone born in August or September 1983 shares. It’s a specific iteration within a larger (Pluto in Libra) cycle, producing a generation who is changing our collective narrative around relating, divorce and diplomacy, while being acutely tuned in to the tentative tipping of the scales of justice.

While Dan and Eugene both have the astrological Saturn– Pluto signature, the two planets meet in different signs every 36 years, offering each of them a different ‘flavour’ to their personal experience and expression of the energy, and different themes arising in world events.

Dan being born with both Saturn and Pluto in Libra suggests that Eugene was working positively with the energy before he was born; he didn’t hand over the energy in a worse condition. Saturn tends to struggle in Leo (Saturn in detriment) and thrive in Libra (Saturn exalted), offering esteem, recognition and being held in high regard (George, p189). While the status of exaltation in Dan’s chart doesn’t cancel out the inherent frustrations, it does offer more opportunities and resources to use the energy constructively, or at least make something beautiful out of it (Saturn in Libra in the domicile of Venus).

Furthermore, this specific 1983 Saturn–Pluto generation is familiar with the undertow of apocalyptic vibes and articulate in the nuance of trauma. They are acutely aware of the torment of self sabotage and the power that relationship and commitment has to trigger our lack of control. Those born into this cycle often experience variations of themes involving great toil, intense internal struggle, and breakthroughs that come at great cost, often occurring in a private, imploding world of shame spirals upon shame spirals. It’s a big energy to carry.

A young Dan with dad, Eugene Levy

Dan’s Saturn-Pluto world

The Saturn–Pluto in Libra cycle that defined the early 80’s played out on the world stage via technology, entertainment and severe austerity.

America felt the pinch of a recession and high unemployment, while the reigns tightened in the UK as Margaret Thatcher (who had Saturn on the Ascendant) won a landslide election, ruling with ‘an iron fist’. Saturn’s deprivation and Pluto’s devastation was broadcast daily through our televisions as the worst drought in history ravaged Ethiopia, resulting in >4 million deaths, and the threat of nuclear war loomed, triggering international protests.

USA for Africa was inspired by events in Ethiopia, Africa from 1983-1985, We are the world was made in 1985

Advances in technology rapidly changed spending habits, leading to the 1982 Time Magazine’s Man of the Year being the Personal Computer. The first mobile phone was released by Motorola, while Nintendo published Mario Brothers.

Mario Brothers is a textbook Saturn–Pluto video game based on plumbers (Saturn) working their way through the sewers (Pluto) of New York. The transistor technology that was first birthed in Eugene’s 1946–47 Saturn-Pluto conjunction was refined in 1982–83 as Dan was born and Eugene became a parent (Saturn). It now allows us to not only find love and connection digitally, but also attend online funerals during 2020’s Saturn-Pluto iteration. Separated, we can be together in our loss.

In entertainment, Fraggle Rock aired with content centred around conflict resolution (Libra), Tootsie gave us something to think about with power dynamics interwoven in gender, and Ozzy Osborne bit the head off a bat on stage. A staggering thought in the context of what we were told about the Covid-19 origins in 2020, yet a contrast that’s indicative of the Jupiter–Saturn Earth to Air cycle we completed in December 2020 (of which the the Air cycle started to stir in the early 80s).

Canada uncharacteristically disrupted the status quo and broke with the monarchy, establishing a new order through the Canadian Charter of rights, while Michael Fagan broke into the Queen’s bedroom at Buckingham Palace, overstepping Saturn’s bounds and crossing over into Pluto’s realm of intrusion.

Sounds like an 80s version of 2020! New technology, ideas and future horizons are birthed from intense fear, disruption, loss and powerlessness. Dan shares this Saturn-Pluto in Libra dynamic with Prince William, Edward Snowden, Juan Guaidó and possibly Kim Jong-Un, all of whom express great power and magnetism through unflinching determinism, and who remind us that the scales of justice have two opposing ends (Libra).

Living and working with Saturn–Pluto

Synastry is an astrological technique that allows us to understand interpersonal dynamics by comparing charts of two or more people. Both Dan and Eugene live with this Saturn–Pluto energy and these repeating patterns seldom appear randomly in family charts. They are potentially expressed as generational iterations long passed down the line. It begs the question of how far back this Saturn–Pluto narrative extends? Was Eugene raised by a Saturn–Pluto parent, and were they raised by Saturn–Pluto parents and grandparents? Where did it begin and when does it end?

Eugene’s Saturn–Pluto conjunction is close in degree to Dan’s Sun in Leo. Interviews with the Levy’s confirm this. Being the first born, raised by a father whose Saturn–Pluto conjunction has a resonance with his Sun suggests Dan was very aware of Eugene’s power and presence, and that Eugene was working through his own Saturn–Pluto issues via his relationship with his son, and later via Schitt’s Creek.

No doubt Eugene saw himself in Dan as he was growing up, in more ways than the handing over of the patriarchal baton. This generational theme suggests that there has been a message passed down the line about violence and oppression, that expressing it could be disastrous. Catastrophic. Whether voiced or not, there is likely an unspoken awareness of such energy between them, and a recognition of it in each other.

“I’ve never had to prove myself. I’ve never had to explain myself and that, fundamentally, is the support that every father needs to give their son.”

Dan Levy (9)

Dan has described growing up with Eugene using Saturn words such as ‘strict’ and says he was grounded a lot. He also speaks of intense anxiety at being seen and approached by strangers due to his fathers’ fame (Eugene’s Pluto conjunct Dan’s MC-Sun), even though he was intentionally raised away from the Hollywood circus. The mutual respect between them is palpable as Eugene shares that he had to learn to give Dan space to carve his own path.

Eugene likely taught Dan about humility simply by example (Eugene’s Saturn conjunct Dan’s Sun) and Dan has potentially shown Eugene how to lighten up and channel his seriousness through creativity (Dan’s Sun conjunct Eugene’s Saturn-Pluto).

Their combined astrology illustrates how they have utilised this Saturn–Pluto narrative. The Saturn–Pluto cycle that birthed Schitt’s Creek graduated from the journey of the individual self in Leo (Eugene) to the co-star sharing of Libra (Dan), to being rewarded with the highest honours in Capricorn in 2020. This show is worth celebrating for infinite reasons.

Schitt’s Creek is a product of this Saturn-Pluto dynamic playing out between Dan and Eugene. By creating Schitt’s Creek, together Dan and Eugene are healing something in their family line about personal power and authority, agency and trust. If they were not maximising the positive potential of this energy we would witness a reinforcement of unhealthy power dynamics and volatile destruction. Instead, we witness its potential as grace and compassion, while all of us are healed by it within a Saturn–Pluto year.

While Dan and Eugene project these wholesome Canadian characters and digestible comedy, behind the scenes there have potentially been encounters with excruciating turmoil and confrontation with one’s truest, most undesirable self. The irony is that it produced the richness that are the stories and characters we have grown to love, giving us reason to keep our hearts open while creating a new world.

Schitt’s Creek illustrated the beauty possible amongst the loss and decay of Saturn and Pluto, and Dan and Eugene have shown us how to carry that on and off screen.

Dan graciously leads Eugene into the 21st Century

If you have enjoyed Part Two of this Schitt’s Creek series, follow on to read more:

Part 1 – Takes a deep dive into the astrology of 2020; the treacherous terrain of the Saturn – Pluto cycle that cast a long shadow over the year.

Part 2 – Unpacks layer by layer the inherited family patterns of both Dan and Eugene Levy, showing the daisy chain of astrological connections that produced Schitt’s Creek.

Part 3 Unpacks the chart of Schitt’s Creek, looking at the characters, storylines and public reception astrologically.

Part 2 – Source notes

1a Lilly, William. Chrsitian Astrology. 1647/2004. Astrology Classics. 1 – George, Demetra. Ancient astrology in theory and practice. (2019). Rubedo Press. Aukland, NZ. CH14. p189
“Detriments are the zodiacal signs where planets have their least power because of the scarcity or inconsistency of available resources. Here they find themselves in a particularly difficult setting”
2 – “The Australian Parent-Child research Project” by Bernadette Brady (p4)
3 – Brady, Bernadette. Astrology. A place in Chaos. (2006) Wessex Astrologer. Bournemouth, UK. (2006)
4 – Edward Snowden, Wiki – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Snowden
5 – The People’s History – http://www.thepeoplehistory.com/1947.html
6 – George, Demetra. Ancient astrology in theory and practice. (2019). Rubedo Press. Aukland, NZ. CH14. p189
“When a planet occupies the zodiacal sign of its exaltation, it receives the power of elevation to great heights of good fortune where it can receive honour, glory, recognition and respect.”
7 – Dan Levy quote – https://ew.com/tv/dan-eugene-levy-entertainers-of-the-year-2020/
8 – Eugene quote -https://ew.com/tv/dan-eugene-levy-entertainers-of-the-year-2020/
9 – Dan Levy quote – https://ew.com/tv/dan-eugene-levy-entertainers-of-the-year-2020/
10 – Deb Divine quote – https://ew.com/tv/dan-eugene-levy-entertainers-of-the-year-2020/

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