On August 16, 1977, I was at the Bob’s Big Boy coffee shop on Vine Street in Hollywood when a friend—a musician, actually—came in and told me that Elvis had died. It was one of those moments, frozen in time and memory: my friend sitting across from me in a coffee shop booth, his head bowed, silent, gently mourning.
I’ve always liked Elvis a lot, but my wife is a huge fan. She’s got many of his records and movie soundtracks; whenever she notices there is going to be an Elvis movie or special on TV, she’s ready to record it.
A few years ago. I read a remarkable, dystopian, science fiction book called Elvissey, by Jack Womack. In Elvissey, the future world is run by a corporation, Dryco, that uses the Church of Elvis to keep people pacified. The story is narrated by a woman who must go back into the past with her husband, find Elvis, and bring him into the present (future) to enable Dryco to maintain control of the population through the Church of Elvis. The book explores celebrity, corporate control, racial boundaries (the narrator is also African-American), language, marriage, the politics of art, commercialism, and religion. The Elvissey in the novel is a very big Church of Elvis revival tent, Pentecostal-like event.
With Sag. rising in his tropical (Western) horoscope, he was the King. And with his Sun, Mercury, Venus and Part of Fortune all in the 2nd house, he had a great voice. In my book, I wrote that Elvis was a Capricorn Sun whose “leg and pelvic shaking was even reminiscent of a mountain goat balanced on hind quarters, preparing to leap.”
Elvis’s Vedic chart is fascinating. Vedic astrology uses planetary periods to look at major life trends. These planetary periods are calculated based on the position of the Moon at birth. Called dashas (although a recent book spells it dosha), they last anywhere from 6 years (for the Sun’s dasha) to 20 years (for a Venus dasha). Vedic astrology also uses sub-dashas (called bhuktis) to more clearly delineate important life events.
Elvis was already well into his Jupiter dasha when he recorded his first songs at Sun Records in Memphis in July, 1954. In Elvis’s Vedic chart, Jupiter rules his benefic 5th house and his 2nd house (which is assocated with wealth accumulation, as well as the throat).
Mercury, an especially powerful planet in Elvis’s Vedic horoscope, is in his 2nd house. Mercury is vargottama, meaning that it is placed in the same sign (Sagittarius) in the main chart and an important harmonic chart called the Navamsha, where Mercury is also aspected by Jupiter. Vargottama boosts a planet’s power in life. Less than three weeks after Elvis recorded his first song, “That’s All Right,” he entered his Mercury sub-dasha. This Jupiter dasha/Mercury sub-dasha continued right through his meteoric streak to fame from 1954-1956.
Elvis’s Vedic chart had Scorpio rising. Vedic astrology uses the actual placement of the Sun, Moon, and planets against the constellations, rather than precessing them as we do in Western astrology. If you back up your Ascendant by about 23 degrees, you will have your Vedic Ascendant. Same for any of the planets. Hart de Fouw and Robert Svoboda, in the excellent book Light on Life: An Introduction to the Astrology of India, wrote about Vedic Scorpio Ascendants: "Being the eighth house in the natural zodiac, Scorpio also suggests such eighth-house indications as poison…chronic illness, and death," all of which were indicated later in Elvis's life.
A Vedic Scorpio Ascendant relates to the 8th house and sex appeal, of which Elvis had an abundance. Soulful bluegrass singer Gillian Welch wrote, in the lyrics to “Elvis Presley Blues," “He shook it like a chorus girl.”
In Vedic astrology, the 12th house is said to rule “bedroom matters.” Elvis’s 12th house is ruled by sexy Venus, which is placed in his 3rd house of communication and the arts, conjunct the North Node. The North Node in Vedic astrology is called Rahu and it gives an insatiable appetite to whatever it touches. His sexual charisma ate up the stage.
A Scorpio Ascendant means that Elvis’s 10th house of career was in Leo, ruled by the Sun. The Sun was placed in his 2nd house, which rules wealth, the throat, the power of speech, and movable assets--all important elements in his career.
The Scorpio Ascendant also gave Elvis an interest in the occult. He was a devotee of Paramahansa Yogananda.
The Ascendant is very important in Vedic astrology, and so is the Moon. However, the Sun is less important than in Western astrology and is sometimes considered to have a malefic influence.
Vedic astrology does not recognize the outer planets (although some Western Vedic astrologers use them). The Vedic solar system ends with Saturn. Therefore, Elvis’s Scorpio Ascendant is ruled only by Mars. I was watching a TV special on Elvis last night (with my Elvis-fan wife) and it talked about Elvis’s love of dangerous leisure activities. He apparently loved to ride things that had motors, went fast, and might tip over—speed boats, motorcycles, etc. Very Martian.
The Vedic horoscope is divided into 27 equal-sized lunar “mansions.” The lunar mansion, or nakshatra, of the Ascendant is considered to be a major life influence.
Elvis’s Scorpio Ascendant was in the Jyestha nakshatra, symbolized by a protective talisman--aid by supernatural forces. The god who presides over this Nakshatra is Indra, the king of the gods and ruler of the heavens. The Ascendant, when in this nakshatra, can also indicate someone who is hypocritical or secretive--the latter a common trait among Scorpios. An Elvis documentary I saw several years ago showed Elvis riding in a limo with some of his buddies. They were engaging in ribald, off-color guy-talk when suddenly Elvis remembered they were being filmed. “Oops, hey guys” he said, motioning to the camera and adopting a solemn expression while adding a pious comment about God or motherhood or something like that. And there was also the prescription drug abuse that eventually killed him.
Elvis's Mars was placed in his 11th house, which rules easy money, career money, and luxury. Elvis liked colorful, multi-hued clothes, both on stage and off, and Vedic Mars is associated with "variegated" clothes (according to De Fouw and Svoboda in Light on Life).
(A note on the Elvis photo from Jailhouse Rock: According to Wikimedia Commons, “This work is in the public domain because it was published in the United States between 1923 and 1963 with a copyright notice, and its copyright was not renewed.")
