Anne Brigman: Sagittarius Sun/Sagittarius Moon
Soul of the Blasted Pine, 1906
Happy Solar Eclipse New Moon! Anne Brigman was a Sagittarius Sun/Sagittarius Moon, like today’s astrology. Anytime someone was born with the same Sun + Moon means they were born on or near a New Moon—carrying that energy with them throughout their lives.
Brigman was known for her nudes of women, and for being a part of the Photo-Seccession, (a movement promoting photography as an art form led by Alfred Stieglitz and F. Holland Day—before this movement photography was struggling to be considered art.) Obviously she was a Pictorialist, and her work was printed in Stieglitz’s Camera Work three times. Her work was exhibited and celebrated all over the place during her life, and she published a book of her poems and photographs called Songs of a Pagan. It’s exciting to see a woman turning the camera on herself and family and friends to create their own nudes, to be seen as art, rather than be a subject of a male photographer and the male gaze. She was considered a bohemian, and while we weren’t using the word feminist when she was working, I think retroactively her work could be seen through a feminist lens.
Her Sagittarius Mercury, Sun, Saturn + Moon are evident in her wide-flung travels. Born in Hawaii, she moved to California, married and divorced a sea captain, traveled all over with him, and opened a teaching school in Berkeley (Sagittarius has a focus on education). She was also a mountaineer, embodying that Sagittarius trait of wanting to be on the move, explore the world, see what’s out there.
Anne’s Moon + Saturn were almost exactly conjunct, and while we can’t know how she expressed or held back her emotions to those close to her, we can see that her very controlled work evokes emotions—Pictorialist photography feels nostalgic and dream-like (the Moon), but in the darkroom is very controlled (Saturn), requiring a lot of touching up and detailed, time-consuming work.
Her Venus falls between the asteroids Niepce and Daguerre, and her ruling planet Jupiter is conjunct Pluto in Taurus, suggesting her work would be powerful, life-changing, sexual, and outdoors. Taurus is so much about our physical body and surroundings, something that was celebrated throughout her work. The asteroid Photographica in Scorpio is also opposite her Jupiter, emphasizing the stripped-down sensuality in her work.
