(5 December 2012) On 23 November 2012, the song "Gangnam Style" by the South Korean singer Psy became the most watched video in Youtube history, eclipsing the old record held by Justin Bieber. It now has more than 850 million views and seems likely to hit 1 billion soon enough. The song has reached number 1 in 30 countries all over the world. By contemporary measures, it may be the most popular song in human history. The fact that this global music craze originates from South Korea is reminder of how our 21-st century world is changing as cultures evolve to reflect a faster pace of life and communication.
As an astrologer, I was curious to know if there was anything special about his horoscope and whether it might reflect his musical talent and incredible success. Psy was born Park Jae-sang on December 31, 1977 in Seoul, South Korea. We don’t know his time of birth but there may still be something noteworthy in the arrangement of the planets on the day he was born. For any success in the arts, one would expect Venus to be prominent in some way, since it rules beauty and aesthetics. Mercury, the planet of communication, is also often strong in the horoscopes of people who share ideas in any form, whether they be artistic or intellectual.
I have cast a chart for noon in Seoul and have placed the Moon in the 1st house for a Chandra Lagna chart. This is the standard way of approximating the horoscope when the birth time is unknown. Since the Moon is the fastest planet in the sky, it becomes a sort of stand-in ascendant. One of the first things we notice about this chart is that Psy was born the day before a Mercury direct station. That makes his Mercury very powerful since it had barely any velocity as it was about to end its retrograde cycle and return to normal forward motion. People born near planetary stations, whether direct or retrograde, will tend to have special aptitudes and abilities in the areas described by the planet. A person with such a good Mercury will tend to gravitate towards situations and careers where he actively communicates with others. Of course, being born near a Mercury station doesn’t make one a singing star, but it is nonetheless a favourable planetary trait.
But what about that Venus? It’s conjunct the Sun in Sagittarius in the 5th house from the Moon. The 5th house symbolizes intelligence so that fits well in a general sort of way for someone who has an intelligent application of his Venusian artistic impulse. Venus also rules the sign of Libra which is in the 3rd house, and that is another plus for a creative career. Many artists and creative people will have some association between the 3rd house of creativity (literally: the hands) and the 5th house of intelligence. Venus is also the ruler of the 10th house (Taurus) which symbolizes career and status. The conjunction of the 10th house ruler, Venus, with the ruler of the 1st house, the Sun, is a classic yoga for success and fame. The Sun is extra positive in this place because it rules Leo which is the 1st house in the Chandra Lagna chart. Overall, we can see a very strong planetary yoga for success in the arts where the ruler of the 1st house is placed in the 5th with the ruler of the 3rd and 10th houses. Psy’s artistic sensibility has a better chance of becoming a successful career because this Sun-Venus conjunction occurs in Sagittarius, which is ruled by the planet Jupiter. In this chart, Jupiter is very well placed in Gemini in the 11th house of gains and income and aspects both the Sun and Venus by opposition aspect. This connection between the creative and artistic factors in his chart and the 11th house of gains means that Psy’s artistic and communicative talents have a better chance of yielding real results. Some people may be artistic but for various reasons never make a living through art. In this case, we can see there the planetary arrangement here is more conducive for career success in the arts.
But Venus, the planet of music and art, actually enjoys an additional hidden strength in his chart. Just as there are stationary planets in longitude (e.g. Mercury turning direct at 27 degrees of Scorpio), so, too, do planets go through declinational stations. Planetary longitude gets all the attention in astrology and describes the horizontal X axis in the sky. But the vertical Y axis is also sometimes important. Planets can be parallel in declinations and this can encourage a greater mutual influence on one another. But what is often missed is that planets go through a horizontal cycle of being above and below the horizon. The Sun reaches its maximum declination on June 21 at 23 degrees North at the time of the summer solstice. This is also the date of its declinational station, when it stops ascending in the sky and begins its long, slow descent into the winter solstice on December 21. As it happens, Psy was born on the exact day that Venus reached its maximum southern declination of 23 degrees and 38 minutes. Psy was born on the same day as a Venus declinational station. These declinational stations happen only twice a year and give a huge boost to the energies of the planet in question. The fact that Psy was born on a powerful Venus (art and beauty) declinational station makes perfect sense since he has become a successful singer and musician.
Another dimension to this Gangnam Style phenomenon is revealed when we look at the planets when the song was released on July 15, 2012. Again, we don’t know the exact time the release occurred, but a noon chart offers some intriguing hints as to why this song has swept the world. Gangnam Style was released on the day of a close triple conjunction of the Moon, Venus and Jupiter, along with Ketu (South Lunar Node). The conjunction occurs in Taurus, an artistic sign that is said to be ruled by Venus. The resulting chart is very strong for a successful artistic project since all three of the Moon, Venus and Jupiter are considered benefic planets. Venus is strong by virtue of being in its own sign of Taurus, while the Moon is very strong because it is exalted in Taurus and it sits alongside Venus and Jupiter. The presence of Ketu here is interesting since it lends a certain unpredictability to the matter. Ketu is often seen as a destabilizing planet that coincides with situations of change and re-organization. One of the effects of the success of Gangnam Style has been the recognition that the world is changing and we are closer than ever to a "global culture". We finally seem to be on the verge of realizing what Marshall McLuhan termed the "global village". Perhaps that sense of culture shift is related to the role of Ketu in the conjunction.
If anything, this chart of the song’s release offers a suggestive reminder of the importance of horoscopic elections when planning to embark on a new project. Does it really matter what time and date you release a song, incorporate a business, get married or apply for employment? It seems a bit incredible to think that it does and honestly, I’m a bit agnostic on the matter for practical reasons. There are so many astrological variables in play, and our knowledge of astrology is still quite limited, the idea of deliberately choosing a time to begin something new is still a highly speculative enterprise. But it’s seeing charts like this that makes it highly unlikely to be a simple coincidence. A song that became a massive hit is released on the same day that an exalted Moon (popularity) conjoined Venus (art, music, culture) and Jupiter (success) and Ketu (re-organization, change). It’s hard to think that is mere coincidence. In addition, we can see that Mercury (communication) was stationary retrograde the day before and formed an exact 60 degree aspect with Venus. The Mercury-Venus connection here is that much more reason to take these electional charts seriously.
We can see some clear and simple astrological reasons why the song would be successful for Psy. At the time of the song’s release in July, all those good planets in Taurus were transiting his 10th house again using the Chandra Lagna technique. The 10th house represents career and status and Jupiter transits to this house are renowned for corresponding with career advances, rewards and public recognition. Jupiter gets a nice boost from the Moon and Venus and ratchets up the probable effects of the Jupiter transit.
Skeptics like to argue that astrology is so open-ended and vague that it is possible to see whatever one wants to see in the horoscope. That may sometimes be the case when the chart is over-interpreted in vague psychological generalities. But that’s less likely in this case where we have focused on more narrowly-defined life outcomes such as career aptitudes and levels of achievement. As we have seen in Psy’s chart, there are several very strong and statistically improbable planetary patterns that all point to artistic success, both for himself and for his song, Gangnam Style.
