When a superstar athlete in a sport I know next to nothing about makes news and I know that athlete’s name, that, to me, is a “big deal.” Unfortunately, this time it’s a sad farewell to Harlem Globetrotters superstar Meadowlark Lemon who died on the 27th of December, just about 12 years after he had been inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, Massachusetts. (And believe it or not, I knew where this hall of fame was!)

According to Wikipedia, he had used an onion sack and a coat hanger to create his first basketball hoop and then attached that to an empty Carnation milk can to “sink his first two-point hoop.” He was a student at Florida A&M University when he was drafted into the US Army for a two-year stint. And by the age of 23, he was already playing with the Globetrotters.

After 25 years with them, he moved on to form a Globetrotters clone known as the Bucketeers before leaving them three years later for another team where he also stayed for three years. Apparently not one to allow grass to grow under his feet, he again moved on to create the “Meadowlark Lemon’s Harlem All-Stars,” a touring team and yet still came home to the Globetrotters to play 50 games with them in 1994–yes, at the age of 61! Somewhere along the line, he managed to find time to develop an acting career and to become a minister as well.

“Meadowlark was the most sensational, awesome, incredible basketball player I’ve ever seen,” NBA great and former Globetrotter Wilt Chamberlain said shortly before his death in 1999. “People would say it would be Dr. J or even [Michael] Jordan. For me it would be Meadowlark Lemon.” Los Angeles Times(“Former Harlem Globetrotters star Meadowlark Lemon dies at 83”)

Now with a brief but packed synopsis like that, I only wish I had his timed chart and not this untimed one. I can’t help but suspect he had an Aquarius rising–yes, even with Saturn potentially falling in his first house then. I try, however, to avoid speculation with the chart as much as I can, so I’m not going to start with this one.
I mentioned Saturn actually for two reasons. Although none of the other undecaquartisextiles (UQSXT) are relevant in this untimed chart, he had Mars forming an undecaquartisextile to Saturn. For him, he felt his destiny was in making people happy, and he did all of that with his on the court antics that left crowds with a smile. Perhaps it was the times when he played–in the years following the Korean War straight through the Vietnam Conflict, Desert Storm, and beyond. “I was one of the most fortunate athletes that ever lived. I was able to watch history,” he said.

But the UQSXT between his Saturn in Aquarius (Saturn is the traditional ruler of Aquarius, but this is a marvelous example of how the modern ruler–Uranus–also can come into play.) and his Mars in Mercury-ruled Virgo. Here, we see the UQSXT in action, bringing a humanitarian approach from Saturn through his actions (Mars) for the good of all. Normally, I use the expression “for the good of all” when I’m speaking about Pluto but it fits in this case just as happens at times with various aspects that bring an astrologer to the same conclusions.

For the great Meadowlark Lemon, his comedy routines (He was known as the “Clown Prince” and actually was inducted into the Clown Hall of Fame too, but no, I don’t know where that is.) and smooth sailing on the court, making shots without looking, dumping confetti-filled water buckets over the heads of unsuspecting referees, and finding ways to reach out and touch a child headed in the wrong direction to save that child from a hard life that could land him in jail somewhere in his life.

He had a wide conjunction of Neptune and Jupiter, both of which are associated with Pisces and the spiritual side of life. Although Jupiter is the traditional ruler of Pisces and Neptune is the modern one, these two are placed in Mercury-ruled Virgo. As if that’s not a bit of a twist, I’m going to fall just shy of calling the Mars-Neptune conjunction a stellium with Jupiter. Even though I consider Neptune and Jupiter conjunct, I find it a bit of a stretch to see Neptune as a strong enough bridge in this case.

There is a potential, I suppose, for his Mars-Neptune-Jupiter placements to have formed a stellium if we consider that he had ten children.  Mars and Neptune, however, also trine his Sun-Venus conjunction in Venus-ruled Taurus. I can’t consider the Moon in this chart, of course, since it’s untimed; but it’s obvious that Jupiter is a stronger player than one might initially consider.

Thank you and farewell, Meadowlark, you entertained us with love, and it showed. On that note, it’s time for me to get busy on the newsletter–obviously also overdue now. But here’s one more of the pieces of history Meadowlark Lemon helped to create!

Namaste, I love you,
Michelle

©2015 Michelle Young