Peanuts is the best cartoon example of astrology ever created. Of course, Charles M. Shulz had no idea he was using astrology when he drew his famous characters Charlie Brown, Snoopy, Lucy and the rest. The clue is in Charlie Brown’s sweater with it’s Aquarian zig-zag motif. Shulz was born with Mars in Aquarius and his comic strip is about the gang. The group. The tribe.
CHARLIE BROWN AND HIS AQUARIAN SWEATER
Aquarius is the sign which rules the community. No gender, class, age or colour differences should get in the way of the group. The cartoon evolved during the 1960’s when The Age of Aquarius was in the charts and Shulz channelled his Mars in Aquarius so brilliantly into the Peanuts gang. He even intuitively drew half the logo on Brown’s famous yellow top – much imitated.
HOW CHARLES M. SHULZ (ACCIDENTALLY) GAVE HIS CHARACTERS SUN SIGNS
What fascinates us as astrologers is that Shulz gave his characters birthdates. He also recycled his own horoscope themes in his most famous stories. Snoopy versus the Red Baron, operating as a pilot on his kennel, is pure Sagittarius (the sign ruling aeroplanes and flight). Shulz was born on 26th November 1922 with the Sun in Sagittarius.
CHARLIE BROWN AND LUCY – AND A CARTOON BORN WITH THE SUN IN LIBRA
The series itself is Libran. And Shulz had Saturn in Libra so much of his anxiety about partnerships, relationships or one-on-one feuds was channelled into Peanuts. By laughing at it, the world relieved much of its anxiety about that new Sixties/Seventies phenomenon, women’s liberation. The Civil Rights Movement (the Aquarian statement in America during the Sixties) found its voice in Franklin’s presence in the gang. And what a gang.
Peanuts made its first appearance on October 2, 1950, in seven newspapers. Its typically Libran concerns (Lucy versus Charlie Brown and feminism/fairness) and unrequited love (Charlie Brown and the Little Red-Haired Girl) made the strip a global hit. This, coupled with Shulz’s ability to pour his own Mars in Aquarius horoscope signature into ‘the gang’ made him very rich.
At its height, Peanuts was published daily in 2,600 papers in 75 countries, in 21 languages. Over the nearly 50 years that Peanuts was published, Schulz drew nearly 18,000 strips. The strips themselves, plus merchandise and product endorsements, produced revenues of more than $1 billion per year, with Schulz earning an estimated $30 million to $40 million annually
Schulz’s inspiration for Charlie Brown’s unrequited love to the Little Red-Haired Girl was Donna Mae Johnson, an Art Instruction Inc. accountant with whom he fell in love. When Schulz finally proposed to her in June 1950, shortly after he had made his first contract with his syndicate, she turned him down and married another man. Lucy was modeled after Schulz’s first wife, Joyce Halverson. His Saturn in Libra really spoke!
LIBRA, LUCY, CHARLEY BROWN AND FOOTBALL
Schulz was asked if, for his final Peanuts strip, Charlie Brown would finally get to kick that certain football after so many decades (one of the many recurring themes in Peanuts was Charlie Brown’s attempts to kick a football while Lucy was holding it, only to have Lucy pull it back at the last moment, causing Charlie Brown to fall on his back). His response, “Oh, no. Definitely not. I couldn’t have Charlie Brown kick that football; that would be a terrible disservice to him after nearly half a century.” The Libra issues between the pair (equality, fairness) went on.
All videos available for viewing at YouTube. Happy Birthday Franklin! (Filed July 31st 2015).