“A lady hanging from the ceiling by her teeth”

Part One
 
Although the French Impressionist Edgar Degas is widely known as a painter of ballerinas he did, on one occasion, depict a circus acrobat. 
 
The story of this masterpiece, titled “Miss La La at the Cirque Fernando” is extraordinary.
 
 
 
When Degas encountered Miss LaLa (real name Anna Olga Albertina Brown) she was performing  at the legendary Circus Fernando located on the southern edge of the bohemian quarter, Montmartre. 
Her signature “iron-jaw act” consisted of a dangerous ascent of the aerialist to the roof of the circus by clinching a rope between her teeth. 
 
She also entertained her audience by hanging upside down from a “trapeze” and holding, by a rope in her mouth, a little boy, then a woman, and later a man.  
The climax of the performance included lifting with her mouth a “cannon barrel” weighing more than 300 kg which was “packed with gun powder and lit”. Miss LaLa never lost her grip. 
 
In simple words, in the winter of 1878 Miss Lala was more famous than the artist and a local journalist wrote “…to admit that you have not seen her is to lose your reputation as a Parisian”.
Degas lived just a few blocks away from the circus and visited most of Miss LaLa and her troupe’s performances and rehearsals during the season.

He completed the painting and offered it to the Fourth Impressionist Exhibition which took place in an apartment on the Avenue de L’Opera. 

The exhibition opened on 10th April 1879. 

To the great annoyance of his peers, Degas did not bring the painting until 27th April. 

No one knew the real reason for the postponement but if that was a marketing strategy by Degas, it backfired badly. 

The painting did not attract the expected attention. Two art critics wrote uncomplimentary reviews of the depiction. 

After two weeks of public exposure, a disappointed Degas took the picture back to his studio where it remained for the next 23 years, gathering dust.  
Eventually, in 1902 Degas gave the painting on consignment to his regular dealer Paul Durant-Ruel under the name “L’acrobate” and under this name it joined an exhibition in Berlin in 1903. 

In January 1905 Paul Durant-Ruel organised an extensive Impressionist exhibition in London presenting 315 paintings including Degas’ “Miss La La at the Cirque Fernando”. Only 13 paintings were sold. 
 
 
On the last day of the exhibition Cawthra Mulock, a 22-year old Canadian man, also known as “The Boy Millionaire of Toronto” visited the gallery and bought the acrobat’s painting. 
 
Mr. Mulock, who inherited a vast fortune from his aunt at the age of 15, was on a business trip to London at the time of the exhibition. 
 
To recapture, for a period of 26 years the Miss LaLa painting was publicly displayed on only  THREE occasions and in 1905 it sailed to Toronto, Canada. 
 
For the next 15 years it hung in  Mulock’s mansion on Jarvis Street in Toronto, admired only by visitors to the house.
In 1917 Degas died in Paris. The sensational Miss La La had long been forgotten. She had settled in Brussels, managing a cafe and an inn for stage artists. 

In 1918 the Toronto millionaire died in New York from Spanish flu. 
 
His widow sold Degas’ painting to an Art Gallery in Toronto. 
It was then bought by an art dealer for $6,500 and in 1923 it figured publicly for the FOURTH time in 44 years in an exhibition in the French Gallery in London.

 

That same year, the philanthropist Samuel Courtauld established his Fund for purchasing modern paintings for the National Gallery in London. 
 
In 1924 the Fund bought the painting. 
 
“A lady hanging from the ceiling by her teeth” had found her home. 
 
To be continued…

Crafting lemonade with Michelangelo

London is stealing the hearts of art lovers this summer. The city offers unlimited and worthy options to immerse oneself in the creative world of renowned painters. 
My choice fell upon two eminent artists from the Renaissance era – Michelangelo di Ludovico Buonarroti Simoni (1475-1564) and Michelangelo Merisi (1571- 1610), better known by the name of Caravaggio – the name of his home town in Lombardy in Northern Italy. 
The British Museum presented the drawings from the last three decades of Michelangelo’s life in Rome and the National Gallery showcased Caravaggio’s last painting “ The Martyrdom of Saint Ursula”. 
Both Old Masters loved painting figures (including figures of handsome young boys). Yet, they depicted them using completely different techniques. 
Michelangelo painted in a fresco manner. 
Literally, fresco means fresh in Italian. 
The artist pioneered a method of applying the paint straight on a still-wet wall plaster producing a result that was highly resilient to environmental factors. 
 
The exhibition is a real eye-opener of the hard work involved in this technique. 
 

 

Michelangelo set up a meticulous process of creating preparatory sketches. 
He figured out the composition of the artwork by drawing a succession of studies. 
In them he experimented with the figures, displaying remarkable precision in outlining the smallest details of human bodies. 
Figures and faces were drawn again and again until the intended emotional intensity was achieved. 
Then these studies were used to produce a full-size drawing called cartoon. 
Patiently and accurately little holes were punched on the outlines of the cartoon, the drawing was then held against the wall while chalk was applied to it several times. 
The chalk would go through the holes to the wall, creating guidance for the artist. 
 
The exhibition displayed the cartoon Epifania, the only complete Michelangelo cartoon that has  survived. 
It is 2.32 metres tall,1.65 metres wide and contains 26 sheets of paper. 
Eventually, Michelangelo abandoned the Epifania project but offered the cartoon to one of his pupils who completed the painting. 
The exhibition presented the cartoon and the painting, reunited for the first time since the 1550s. 
The other Michelangelo preferred oil painting on canvas. Caravaggio did not discriminate when it came to his canvases. He often painted on fabrics with already existing depicts.
The artist also did not execute a preparatory phase.
 That does not mean he entirely skipped the step of detailed studies or drawings. 
The truth is he developed a technique attuned to his artistic temperament and time management. 
Probably he came about this method in his early years as a poor artist in Rome. At that time he worked for a painter from Sicily who paid him for “each head” drawn, so time was of the essence. 
Caravaggio gradually mastered his ability to paint without preparatory drawings and employed this technique throughout his career.

 

His work began with painting the surface of the canvas with grey, brown or black colours. 
Then he scratched fine lines on the suffice by using the handle of the paint brush to outline the most important details of his compositions. 
Next, he painted directly with colour while the models posed in front of him.

It seems to me that both Michelangelos have put forward the idea that not originality but self-belief in “My Way” is a crucial ingredient in the mastery of making lemonade from life’s lemons. 

Caravaggio – the darkness and the light

In the first decades of 17th century Caravaggio meteorically rose to fame and achieved the status of one of the most commissioned painters in Rome. 
He revolutionised the art for ever, and inspired other European artists, called Caravaggisti, to adopt his innovative style of painting. 
 
Yet, in the middle of 17th century Caravaggio was forgotten. He remained forgotten for three centuries until 1951 when the art historian Roberto Longhi organised an exhibition of Caravaggio’s work in Milan. 
The Old Master was re-discovered.  
 
The National Gallery in London recently exhibited two masterpieces of Caravaggio. 
Both of them have unfamiliar religious titles “The Martyrdom of Saint Ursula” and “Salome receives the Head of John the Baptist”. 
Both were painted in the last year of the artist’s life. 
The latter is part of the permanent collection of the Gallery.  

The exhibition’s design parallels the dramatic and naturalistic manner of Caravaggio. 
The hall is small and shady. Diminished lights reveal the artist’s favourite earthy colours – black, brown and red. 
From the shadows two paintings mysteriously emerge and captivate the spectator. 
It feels easy to understand Caravaggio’s world. 
Standing in front of the “Salome receives the Head of John the Baptist” the viewers grasp immediately that a murder has been committed. 
Only three figures and one head are in the painting. Actually half-figures surrounded by threatening blackness. The murderer  has a “boxer’s broken nose”, redness on his chicks and his torso is strong and muscular. The brute holds the head by its hair and clutches his sword with the cruel pride of a job well done.
An old woman with a wrinkled, sorrowful face and praying hands peers over the head of the dead man. 
A beautiful girl in front of her grips the tray on which the murderer is placing the head. She desperately tries to avoid looking at it. There is some guilt and regret in her facial expression and some awkwardness in her half-turned body. 
The head on the tray conveys terror and cruelness coming from the meticulously painted white-yellowish lifeless face, wounded ear and flowing blood. 
A light from a single source, external to the painting highlights the faces and hands enhancing the dramatic effect. 
If art lovers like detective stories and thrillers like me  – they have it all: drama, mystery, threats, barbarism and sorrow, beauty and ugliness. Like real life. 
It does not matter whether the religious story and/or the religious characters are known to the audience. The human story unfolds and the observer participates in it. 
Martin Scorsese, the Hollywood director of the movie “Killers of the Flower Moon” felt “Immediately taken” by the “cinematic effect” of Caravaggio’s art and regularly visited the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York to study his work.
Many film-makers and photographers have studied and adopted the painter’s unique way of contrasting light and darkness. 
 
Caravaggio’s art has been resurrected like a mystical Phoenix. 
The painter not only moved the European art towards the new Baroque Age of the 17th and 18th centuries but in some strange way Caravaggio influenced two contemporary art genres that even did not exist two century ago.
 
 
An interesting fact in this connection  is that Caravaggio’s patron in Rome, 
Cardinal Francesco Maria del Monte, who helped catapult the artist to glory was a very educated and progressive Renaissance man. 
He enthusiastically supported new trends in art and science.
 
 
 
In his Palazzio he kept a telescope given to him by Galileo Galilei who as we well know was distrusted by the Church and the Inquisition but enjoyed the protection of the visionary Cardinal. 
 
 
 
When blackness threatens, be a Cavaraggisti, create your own light!

The last and lost Caravaggio

It was one of those coincidences that I call destiny. 
Destiny as in a pleasant surprise.
 
Netflix presented a new adaptation of the Patricia Hammersmith’s novel “The talented Mr Ripley” by the director Steven Zaillian in the spring of 2024. 
The version contains 8 black and white episodes with the brilliant Andrew Scott in the role of Tom Ripley. 
 
In one of the episodes the considerably less talented and much richer character Dickie Greenleaf introduces Tom Ripley to the Italian painter of the 17th century, Caravaggio (“The Seven Works of Mercy” in a church in Naples). 
Later in the series Tom appreciates the work of the artist in Galleria Borghese in Rome and in the final episode Caravaggio’s spirit mysteriously appears trying to escape the chasing Maltese Knights.  
 
The presence of one of the greatest masters of the Renaissance 
in a 2024 movie magically coincided with the exhibition of 
his last painting ” The Martyrdom of Saint Ursula”
 in the National Gallery in London. 
 
The history of the painting is as twisted and troubled as the life of its creator. 
In spring of 1610 the Genoese nobleman Marcantonio Doria, through his business agent in Naples,  commissioned Caravaggio to compose a religious canvas on the subject of Saint Ursula. 

At this time the artist lived in Naples as a fugitive, waiting for the Pope to pardon him for the murder he committed four years earlier in Rome. 

Caravaggio worked fast and delivered the commissioned art work to the agent on time. 

Now we know that the agent Lanfranco Massa left the picture of Saint Ursula in the sunshine for a day in order to send it to his employer “perfectly dry” then he shipped it to Genoa in May 1610. 

And then the painting vanished. 

Two months later Caravaggio was dead. 
Therefore “The Martyrdom of Saint Ursula” acquired the status of “the last painting” and also “the lost one” for nearly four centuries. 
Until 1980.  
The story began when an art historian Vincenzo Pacelli received a tip-off that the state archives of Naples kept papers of the Doria family (Remember, the Genoese Prince). 

Indeed, Pacelli discovered two letters written by the already mentioned agent Massa to his boss Doria dated 11th and 27th May 1610. 
The letters undoubtedly confirm that Caravaggio painted ““The Martyrdom of Saint Ursula”. 
Pacelli and Fernando Bologna, an art historian, with interest and expertise in the works of Caravaggio, wrote an article about the discovery in a quarterly journal Prospettiva  specialising in ancient and modern art history in 1980. 

The true identity of the author of “the lost painting” was revealed to the world. 

Where was the painting located during these long 370 years? 

Understandably, after exposure to the sun, the canvas arrived in not very good condition in Genoa in 1610. 
It stayed with the Doria family until some of the family members moved back to Naples in  and took the painting with them in 1832. The masterpiece belonged to the interior decoration of their Palazzo Doria D’Angri for years.

 At the beginning of 20th century the villa was acquired by a family called Romana-Avezzano. In 1963 the picture of Saint Ursula was displayed at an exhibition in Naples, somehow “undercover”, as it was credited to another artist.

In 1973 the painting was bought by the Banca Commercial Italiana as the work of one of the Caravaggio’s followers, Maria Preto (1613- 1699) from Calabria. 

In 1999 Banca Commercial Italiana merged with Banca Intesa Sanpaolo and the masterpiece of Caravaggio found its new owners. 
They organised public access to the painting by displaying it  in the Galleria d’Italia on Via Toledo in Rome.  
 
 
 
 
If you missed the exhibition in London this summer, fear not, you have an excuse to jump on a plane to Rome to meet Caravaggio. 
 
If not, I will post a series of articles about the life and work of this exceptionally talented and restless man who propelled art to the new era of Baroque. 
 
 
At the end I will ask like Dickie asking Tom “Do you like Caravaggio?”.

Finding freedom when trapped

Liberating oneself from constraints is a tough task. 
Nelson Mandela, who had extensive knowledge on matters of liberty and imprisonment famously said  that freedom “is not merely to cast off one’s chains.” There is much more to it. 
 
Unexpectedly, the exhibition “Michelangelo: Last Decades” organised by the British Museum, London has added some deeper layers to the paradox of being free when trapped.

The genius of the Renaissance,  Michelangelo, held strong professional opinions. 
He believed that sculpture was a supreme art and identified himself as a sculptor. Michelangelo ranked painting inferior and disliked it. 
The artist even wrote a poem about the misery of painting: “My painting is dead…I am not in the right place – I am not a painter.” 

Talented and successful people like Michelangelo routinely make enemies. 
His well-known distaste of painting inspired the influential architect, and Michelangelo’s rival, Donato Bramante to set a nasty trap for him. 
Bramante convinced Pope Julius II to commission the artist to paint the vault of the Sistine Chapel – a Herculean project, designed to ensure Michelangelo’s failure. 

The ceiling of the chapel consisted of a thousand square metres and the painter had to compose around 300 figures. 
The sculptor had little knowledge and skills of fresco technique, nevertheless  his work would be judged against the brilliance of Rafael who was working on another project in The Vatican at the same time. 

Without doubt, Michelangelo was “hacked”. He could not refuse the Pope’s commission. Others would inevitably compare his work to the mastery of Rafael. 

What do you do in a situation like that?
 
The easiest way is to try to avoid it. 
Michelangelo sincerely declared that Rafael was a much better painter than him and suggested his appointment for the task.
This did not work. 
Full of resentment, Michelangelo firmly negotiated the parameters of his task. 
The sculptor declined to employ the fresco method popular at that time and invented his own unique technique. 
He also dismissed the fresco experts brought especially from Florence to advise him and used just four assistants for the less important parts of the paintings. 
Michelangelo locked the door of the Chapel and allowed two workers to be there with him. 
The artist also disapproved of the scaffolding erected by Bramante and built “an ingenious system of mobile scaffolding”. Finally, he announced that he was going to paint not only the ceiling of the vault but also the walls. 
The work commenced on 15th May 1508 and the Chapel was opened to the public four years later on 31st October 1512. 
The project was a major “suck”.  
Michelangelo wanted to abandon it many times. 
His relationship with the Pope was fraught with difficulty and caused many crises and arguments. 
Mould appeared on the walls, spread to the paintings and damaged them.
 Michelangelo had to paint standing on the scaffolding, reaching up to the ceiling and craning his neck for more than 12 hours a day. 
It probably was unbelievably claustrophobic in this small place between the ceiling and the scaffolding with paint running down on him endlessly. 
The physical demands and burdens of the work led to serious health problems for years to come. 
Still, Michelangelo endured and emerged victorious from the trap.  
In a letter he wrote “ I worked harder than anyone who ever lived. I am not well and worn out with this stupendous labour, and yet, I am patient in order to achieve the desired end”. 
 
For centuries, the world has cherished the “desired end” as truly divine.  
 
 

The “freedom” 

could be 

the choice to stay in the game, 

push through 

and give your best in the face of despair.

 

Mercury as a ruler of astrology

I should not blow my own trumpet but it does feel good to do so. 

During my astrology study I have often heard that astrology is ruled by Uranus. Even though some arguments could be made in this direction, personally I am hesitant to accept this statement as being the whole story.

Perhaps people repeat this tired stereotype without really thinking it through or they are compelled  by the flattering image of the astrologer as an unorthodox genius. 
In my opinion, a strong case could be made that astrology is ruled by Saturn and Mercury. Recently I have written about Saturn’s rulership of astrology in my post “Why could Saturn rule astrology?“ 
https://www.natterwithnina.co.uk/why-could-saturn-rule-astrology/. 

Meanwhile Mercury went retrograde and the rear event of Jupiter’s conjunction with Uranus in Taurus occurred. It brought about a big crises in my faith in astrology.
Fortunately, Mercury turn direct two days ago and I decided to listen to one of my favourite astrologers Rick Levine talking about the houses in the chart. 
Amazingly, he confirmed that astrology could be governed by Saturn and Mercury. He also talked about modern astrology, the astrology of nowadays and the future. 
https://youtu.be/dcu05EJEK3s?si=_EYms9gISlCsu5Hv
With this encouragement I will proceed to share my thoughts about the possibility of Mercury being an astrological governor. 
My main arguments are based on the neutral nature of Mercury and its acceptance and easiness with paradoxes. 
Mercury is impartial. Mercury does understand that basic astrological elements such as planets, signs, houses and aspects do not exist on the shaking ground of “good” and “bad`’, “benefic” and “malefic”, “feminine” and “masculine”, “positive” and “negative”. 
 
He deals with data without entering  into the disputable areas of morality and outdated classifications. 
 
 
Yet, remember, Mercury is the God of communication and learning including divination. 
 
He was the only God who could go to the underworld, traveling with the souls across the River Styx and come back.
 
 
 
Mercury understands that paradoxes are the essence of life. 
Paradoxes can make it exciting. Paradoxes can make it hard. 
Paradoxes make “putting people into boxes” redundant. 
 
Mercurial genius thrives on the ability to find the common ground between polarities, unfamiliarities, unknown terrains and to suggest feasible solutions or at least workable explanations and directions. 
 
Astrological art highlights the paradoxes in the chart, tries to make sense of them and to take guidance from them. 
Astrology is stratospherically more than producing long lists of key words, explaining what the single elements mean or using the last technological tool. 

It seems that the question of how well astrologers see and explain the charts’ paradoxes have significant weight.
I believe a high degree of virtuousness is a rare quality and in my experience only a few astrologers and teachers have achieved it. 
The good news is that when they have acquired the mastery in question they cannot hide it. It works like magic.
 
 
 
Someone will argue that it is the strike of Uranus. 
 
Maybe, but I doubt it. 
 
That is Mercury giving you the message to embrace paradoxes and even to try to make friends of them.  

GOOD MORNING!

We say “Good morning” every time we meet each other and probably do not think about the wisdom in the phrase.

It is as simple as all truths – life is good when mornings, afternoons  and evenings are good.

Oh yes – and nights too. 
 
I struggle to define good.
Let’s say good is what everyone thinks and feels good. 
We do not know straightaway that our day is good. 
 
We may suspect it but we realise the goodness of the day with some delays. 
 
A strong sign of a good yesterday is a good morning. 
 
More good mornings more good yesterdays. 
 
More good yesterdays more good mornings. 

Blow water 吹水

 
 
 
I had not heard the term “blow water” until last Saturday. I definitely could drink water, boil or freeze it, swim in it, admire the beauty of it but why on earth would I need to blow it?

At first hearing the phrase sounds like a “wellness” term of 21st century – the urge to avoid dehydration by drinking at least 2 litres of water daily goes so excessively wrong that the water-saturated body must blow the surplus. Really!?
Then, I thought about whales. Everyone has seen the iconic pictures of whales blowing geysers of water in the ocean. Scientists believe that whales were land mammals which have evolutionary adapted to the life in the ocean in search of food. Obviously they were very successful in their advancement – they can grow up to 15 meters and weigh around 35 tones. 
Whales have one or two blowholes on the back of their head. These blowholes are their nostrils. The animals come to the ocean surface and without lifting their head they contract their muscles, open their blowhole(s) and inhale air. 
 
Whales can keep the air in their lungs between 7 and 30 min (sperm whales even up to 2 hours), use 90% of the inhaled oxygen (compare to 15% of humans) and exhale it again through the blowhole. The exhaled air is warm from its body heat and it is released into the much colder temperature of the oceanic environment. So it condenses immediately and voila, the whale “blows water” which can reach 9 meters in the air.
 
It appears then that “blow water” is linked with something existential such as breathing and staying alive.
 
 
The next part of the story is that not only air but also mucus and oils and other bodily fluids emerge from the whale’s nostril and it stinks! Imagine having a cold and blowing your nose. Oph! 
 
Yet it is a process of cleaning, healing, releasing and eventually relaxing.
The most fascinating fact which hugely enriches the experience of the whale watchers is that different species of whales have specifically designed blowholes. 
As a result, the shape of the “blow water” enables specialists to recognise the species. 
For example, the sperm whales (toothed whales) blow water in a shape of geyser. The humpback, blue and grey whales (baleen whales) have two blowholes on their head and create an astonishing heart-shaped cloud.
So, watch how human “species” blow water – you could probably find your tribe.  
 
 
Finally, I walked the path most traveled – I looked at the translation of the Cantonese  (Hong Kong) term “blow water”. 
The English translation is to chat, to talk casually, chit-chatting. “Blow water” is this informal chat when you do not notice that time flies, the chat about nothing and about everything, the chat that connects qualities visible by hearts and eyes. 
It is the song of the humpback, the song of the sea. 

“Even the stars think I am superior”

I was researching for my article “Why could Mercury be a ruler of astrology?” when I came across a relatively recent Swedish survey about the correlation between the belief in astrology, intelligence and personality traits. 

 

The conclusions of the survey confirmed the thoughts I was having all along since my journey through astrology began. Coincidently, my March visit to an astrological “conference” in London provided me with empirical evidence for the likelihood of the survey suggestions.

 

In a nutshell – the study found that strong predictive factors of a deep belief in astrology are narcissism and low intelligence. 

 

The survey included 264 participants, most of them (87%) young women between 25 and 34 years old. They were recruited through social media (Facebook). The team acknowledged the limitations of the survey design (lack of random sampling, limited age and gender group, lack of information about the level of astrological knowledge and a short version of the scales used). They also indicated that more data should be obtained and analysed in the future. 

 

However, the results of the survey are important for all of us who have an interest in astrology. 

 

Firstly, the link between belief in astrology and low intelligence really appears biased. How could exceptional mathematicians, physicists and astronomers such as Ptolemy, Newton, Copernicus, Kepler and Einstein who were fascinated by astrology be called people of low intelligence?! They definitely and absolutely were not. 

 

Where is the catch then? It is in the lack of critical thinking. Astrology’s “pop” face is the columns in the lifestyle and fashion magazines and websites, the predictions on YouTube, the endless online astrological courses, etc. Nothing wrong with all of that if you take these forms as entertainment and small talk. People try to make money, so the more simplistic it is the better. We all want to hear exceptional, dramatic, positive predictions especially in moments of uncertainty and public or personal crises and decisions. 

 

However, in my opinion everyone must wear the hat of a critical thinker when it comes to astrology. You need to have knowledge of mathematics, physics, astronomy and psychology in order to understand the astrological tradition and not to accept foolishly what is thrown at you. For example, are you going to give credence to the shallow categorising of people by their Sun sign and avoid the complexity and vagueness of the astrological symbols? Do you think the astrological theory of planetary dignities and debilities have a place in the 21st century or we need to rethink it?

 

Secondly, the strongest indicator of a deep belief in astrology is a narcissistic personality. The authors of the survey  gave some possible explanations of the phenomenon – the “self-centred worldview, the cultural aspects of millennials which may emphasise the uniqueness of individuals, the positively framed astrological predictions”. 

 

I was not at all surprised by this finding in the study. Attend any astrological conference, school, classes, retreats and online readings and you will find the narcissists telling you who you are and how you must live your life. You cannot help yourself thinking that if they are so good at reading the planetary energies and riding their waves why are they not the richest, happiest, most successful people in the world. Instead, in front of you is someone who could do better with their personal grooming, improving their language and speech and who could present new perspectives instead of repeating cliches. 

 

Maybe the stars choose who they speak to. 

Why could SATURN rule Astrology?

The straightforward answer is because astrology is a practical dream. And practical dreams are ruled by Saturn. 
 
 
When you go out on a clear night and look up at the sky with its beautiful and mysterious stars you can easily spot (with an unaided eye) a non-twinkling point of light – that is Saturn. 
If you go further and use binoculars or a telescope you can see the rings of Saturn and at least the biggest one of its moons called Titan. 
You may think that as a planet which has such a bad reputation in “pop astrology” Saturn portrays  doom and gloom in astronomical photographs. 
Brace yourself for a huge surprise. 
Saturn is the most photogenic planet in the solar system. It has a golden glow, its tilt and rings are unique and magnificent and its moons so pretty. 
 
Now, despite the picture quality of Saturn’s rings, they inevitably bring the idea of constraint and limitation. Cage can be a prison even if it is a golden cage. 
 
Let’s look deeper into the matter. 
 
Saturn is an old planet. It was formed 4.5 billion years ago when the whole solar system was built. 
Research* recently showed that the rings of Saturn are relatively modern – they were formed between 100 and 200 million years ago. 
 
* research by NASA, University of Durham, University of Glasgow
The scientific hypothesis** is that one of Saturn’s moons came very close to the planet and was completely destroyed. 
99% of the resultant debris “ended up swallowed by the giant gas planet”. 
The remaining pieces formed the rings. 
The researchers called the lost moon Chrysalis because it ”blossomed” into the rings as a chrysalis transforms into a butterfly.
 In other words “ Saturn does not ask you to give up your dreams just to make them real”***
** Jack Wisdom, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
*** Steve Forrest, Evolutionary astrologer
 
 
 
So, as restraining as they seem, structure and hierarchy have a great place in astrology. 

Look at the natal astrological chart. It is a structure – a wheel which is divided into 12 segments and every planet has a place in the segments. 

The angles divide the zodiac wheel into quadrants and the aspects rule the conversation between the planets. 
If you are a beginner in astrological study you need to go through the hierarchy of acquiring the astrological knowledge and skills.

You could not begin with learning about aspects or progressions if you do not know anything about planets, zodiac signs or houses and so on. 
 
 
Here it is another perspective – if you feel that astrological study is too hard and stop going somewhere in the ground or first floor of the building of astrological knowledge please do not assume that you are an astrologer. 
It is a proven fact that your knowledge and skills are shallow. 
 
 
This fact is not discouraging. It is a Saturnian fact about reality and personal responsibility. 
If you are happy to operate in the realm of superficial astrology then do it. 
It is scary to look never climb to the top floor but that is where Saturn has a golden glow and its rings are stunning. 
There is one more benefit of Saturn as a ruler of astrology. 
The serious and practical planet with a no nonsense approach to life helps you enormously to recognise and avoid self-proclaimed astrology teachers and gurus, “established” astrological schools, and professionals with “practice and clients”. 
Go for the best quality and pick Saturn as a strict but real master of making your dreams come true.