George Lucas, Star Wars, and the Laws of Karma

by Steven Forrest

Star Wars logo
 Source: Original: The Walt Disney Company, Suzy Rice, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.

As Obi-Wan Kenobi explains to Luke Skywalker in the first Star Wars film,

The Force is what gives a Jedi his power. It’s an energy field created by all living things. It surrounds us and penetrates us. It binds the galaxy together.

I remember being mesmerized by those words the first time I heard them. I realized that Obi-Wan had just spoken in a way that resonated with me a lot more authentically than any doctrine I had ever heard in churches while growing up. I think a lot of people felt that way, and still do. Star Wars epitomizes that mythic power as few other movies can.

Some films entertain. Others change the world. Even people who look down on Star Wars as childish or ridden with clichés must still recognize that it struck a chord as few films ever had before. Now, almost half a century after the premiere of the first film in the series, retroactively titled A New Hope, its characters remain cultural archetypes, and the vocabulary it created has entered the collective dictionary.

What must it feel like to give birth to something so primal? I’m not thinking so much of the technical production of the films — the brilliance of the actors, costume-makers, and camera people. I’m not thinking of the way the movie’s special effects mark a B.C./A.D. line in cinematic history. What I’m thinking about is a time long before cameras rolled or anyone called out for “Take One” and silence on the set. I am thinking about the initial experience George Lucas had in “dreaming the dream.”

Where does creativity come from? Ask any artist in any field. Not one of them knows the answer. Suddenly — pop! — there’s an idea in their head. Later, their skills and craft come into play. They polish the vision, worry over it, repent of parts of it, connect the dots, and eventually turn it into something that can perhaps beguile other people. But that seed moment of inspiration? No one can control it, manufacture it, or predict it. It’s a gift from God, or the product of the unconscious mind, or evidence of generosity of angels or muses. Take your pick. Whichever model you prefer, clearly George Lucas got the platinum version. Many artists touch us, but few give birth to a vision so incredibly powerful that it alters the way humans imagine themselves.

From what profound depths of Lucas’s soul did Star Wars arise? How far had the tendrils of his consciousness delved into the collective unconscious? How could he bang a psychic gong that would still be ringing in our ears half a century later?

Star Wars: A New Hope debuted on May 25, 1977, but the story starts earlier — much, much earlier, as we will soon see. According to an article in The New Statesman (1), in January 1973, after completing his successful 1950s film, American Graffiti, Lucas began to give birth to the tale that would become Star Wars. Pretty much right up until the end of the shooting in early 1977, he was still tweaking the storyline. It’s those four years of struggling to entice the tale forth from his unconscious that I want to explore here — but let’s start, as astrologers always should, with his natal chart itself.

Release of Star Wars, May 25, 1977; 10:45 a.m. EDT; Manhattan, NY, USA (40°N46^, 73°W59^).
 Source: Astrodatabank

Initially, there are no big surprises here. With the Sun, the Ascendant, storytelling Mercury, and chart-ruling, artistic Venus all in Taurus, we can easily see his iron-willed persistence in bringing A New Hope to fruition despite vast resistance from the studio system. That he had a mission in the world is nicely underscored by the Moon’s presence in the 10th house, and that it’s in Aquarius, aided and abetted by a 1st-house Uranus in Gemini, echoes the groundbreaking, iconoclastic, and revolutionary nature of his public work.

All of that is basic astrology. It’s not where I want to focus. As an evolutionary astrologer, I’m interested in fathoming deeper waters. I am curious about George Lucas’s ancient soul. What had he incarnated to learn? Where had he come from before he was in his present physical body? The answers lie in his unresolved, ripening karma — and it’s from there that I believe the Star Wars legend arose.

In a nutshell, I believe that in a prior lifetime, George Lucas had actually lived a story quite parallel to the tale of Luke Skywalker, Han Solo, Princess Leia, and the rest. I believe that, in a sense, he was remembering more than creating. More deeply, I believe that his four years of struggle to bring his karmic memories to the surface in the form of a film script amounted to an act of personal healing and catharsis.

Some of you are perhaps familiar with the methodology of evolutionary astrology. If so, you’ll recognize it at work here. If not, you’ll soon get a taste of it. I know that “past lives” can seem like a fuzzy concept to some people — that, at best, reincarnation is something that’s hard to prove one way or the other. (See box below.) One of my aims here, besides thinking about George Lucas, is to demonstrate evolutionary astrology at work in a practical way. From now on, I will proceed strictly from our established principles of analysis — nothing will be made up or forced to fit. There will be some loose ends — but not many. (2)

Georg Lucas, May 14, 1944; 5:40 a.m. PWT; Modesto, CA, USA (37°N38^, 121°W00^); AA: birth certificate.
 Source: Astrodatabank

Everything starts with the Moon’s South Node. That, along with its planetary rulers, describes George Lucas in a prior lifetime — a past life whose karma has now ripened for resolution, which means we will be able to discern its effects in this lifetime as well. His South Node lies in Aquarius tightly conjunct his Capricorn Midheaven. That Midheaven (MC) position tells us that in a prior life, Lucas was a public figure — perhaps someone with a sense of mission or a calling, with his life defined by a role he played in his community. The fact that the South Node lies in Aquarius marks him as an outsider — a person who existed in tension with the mainstream of his society despite being in a position of visibility and authority (conjunct the MC).

Put two and two together. George Lucas was once a rebel leader. That term is simply a straightforward synthesis of Aquarius and the Midheaven. It marks our beginning point of analysis.

I usually suggest a 10° orb for aspects involving the lunar nodes. The Moon is only 14 minutes beyond that — close enough that it’s fair to call it part of the picture. Anything that is in conjunction with the South Node is part of our prior-life identity. This gives Lucas a double dose of that rebel Aquarian energy, and it also adds a lot of emotion to the mix. The Moon is the Great Mother, so it conveys a caring note and a highly protective one. There are always strong attachments to “home” and “nest” and “family” implicit in the Moon. Was George Lucas defending something that he loved in that prior life, perhaps his home or his people? To do it, did he have to stand up to authority and rebel against its rule?

Aquarius is classically ruled by Saturn, while modern astrologers often prefer Uranus. I advocate using them both. In the formal methodology of evolutionary astrology, the planetary ruler of the South Node represents the person in a prior-life context, just as does the South Node itself. It also adds new details and dimensions. Both Uranus and Saturn are in Gemini, powerfully indicating speech — and also improvisation in the face of rapidly changing circumstances. Uranus is in an angular house and trines the Moon, which in this particular case gives it a bit more centrality than Saturn. Placed in the 1st house, Uranus indicates a theme of leadership and decision-making — which reinforces what we’ve already seen in the light of the South Node being in the public 10th house.

Neglecting Saturn would be a mistake, even though its role is less central. It’s in the 2nd house, which classically is related to money. More generally, we can relate it to the material basis of survival — and in civilized times, that quickly brings us back to money. In times of extremity, the 2nd house is about food and shelter, along with protection from the elements and other mortal dangers. Saturn of course indicates lack — so George Lucas, in his prior lifetime as a “rebel leader,” was in a fragile material position. He lacked necessary resources. He had to struggle to cobble them together for himself (herself — who knows?) and presumably for the “rag-tag” band of rebels whom he led.

So much that is resonant with the outline of the Star Wars plot is obviously echoed loudly in all of this, and there is still more to come. Once again, I want to emphasize that everything you’ve read is simply a mechanical, step-by-step application of the widely published principles of evolutionary astrology — nothing is being forced to conform with the film’s storyline.

Next we consider planetary aspects to the South Node or to its rulers. Such aspects illuminate actual circumstances that confronted the person in the prior life. In practice, I always begin with squares and oppositions. Those hard aspects spell out the challenges that were faced, and thus generally convey the plot of the tale. Uranus makes no major hard aspects at all, which doesn’t advance our understanding in any obvious way — except perhaps by referencing a sense of the protagonist’s emotional isolation. The phrase “it’s lonely at the top” comes to mind.

Meanwhile, we do see Saturn making a solid square aspect to Neptune in Libra and the 6th house. A leader, by definition, has followers — and the classic 6th “house of servants” describes them. The Saturn–Neptune square — remembering that Saturn as the South Node ruler represents Lucas in the prior life — suggests that these followers created problems for him, perhaps through Neptunian flakiness or Libran indecision. The trine of Neptune to the South Node, along with its Libran quality, does, however, suggest that they loved him.

Where the drama emerges most clearly is with the two opposition aspects to that South Node. They describe what confronted Lucas in this prior lifetime — what he was “up against,” in other words. Pluto jumps out, but don’t miss Mars! That Mars opposition is out of modality, but less than six degrees from exactitude — it’s powerful. Concretely, Mars suggests the possibility that Lucas was faced with war or other forms of violence. At the very least, it implies fierce competition. That’s all quite relevant, but where I really get goosebumps is thinking about Pluto opposing his South Node. The “brick wall of reality” which George Lucas faced in that prior lifetime was nothing less than “the lord of the underworld” — the “god of hell,” so to speak. In present-tense astrology, Pluto can represent all the psychoanalytic virtues of honesty and emotional authenticity, but here, seeing it in a hard aspect to the South Node, it emerges as the symbol of all our worst nightmares.

George Lucas in 2009
 Source: nicolas genin, CC BY-SA 2.0 , via Wikimedia Commons

In introducing Pluto to my clients for the first time, there’s a catchphrase I’ve been using effectively for forty years: “If Darth Vader were a psychotherapist …” Everyone laughs, of course, but the metaphor still conveys the notion of a mental health professional who specializes in “tough love” rather than hugs. Here, however, in this past-life context, there is no well-intentioned therapy — only dark, implacable opposition of a sort that employs psychological insights to destroy or control. I can’t help but think of that supremely dramatic moment when Darth Vader says to Luke Skywalker, “I am your father, Luke.” Has anyone “in therapy” ever had a psychologically charged statement hit them harder? Poor Luke!

Topping off the imagery is the fact that Pluto lies in Leo the Lion — the “king of the beasts” — and thus it is a reference to worldly power and those who wield it. In some sense of the word, this prior-life oppositional figure “wore a crown.” On a slightly more technical note, Pluto is out of bounds at 24° South declination, adding a potential note of “rule-breaking” to this “Darth Vader” persona, perhaps in the form of true criminality.

Who and what stood in mortally antagonistic relationship to George Lucas in a prior lifetime? Evil empires, anybody? Dark emperors? Clearly he was up against something Plutonian — something for which “Darth Vader” serves as an excellent metaphor.

Stand back for a moment. How many times has the archetypal heart of the Star Wars tale been enacted in human history? Think of outgunned rebels taking a stand against a corrupt power, or colonies in rebellion, or persecuted minorities fighting back. Sometimes they win, sometimes not. I don’t know if that long-ago version of George Lucas won or lost, but I am confident that he once lived out that same archetypal story, and that he lived it in a leadership role. Given the usual odds, I suspect that he lost — and that it was precisely that same bitter, unresolved trauma that ripened karmically in this lifetime.

I also believe that the powers and the passions that he released in himself by “remembering the past life” are what propelled Star Wars into the mythic stratosphere — and I believe that would be true even if Lucas himself had no idea about what was actually happening for him psychically during the four-year period when he was “writing the script.” Such catharsis works, and “believing in reincarnation” is not a requirement for it to do so. What is typically a requirement is simply telling the story. Stories have been a way humans have healed themselves, collectively and as individuals, since we were sitting around campfires in the Olduvai Gorge.

There are two big subjects that deserve a quick mention here, even though space limitations prevent me from exploring them. First and foremost, evolutionary astrology provides specific remedies for these karmic afflictions. They are built into the Moon’s North Node. Leaving them out in a counseling session would be a massive blunder, but they are not so immediately relevant to our purposes in this article. The second big subject is that when karma ripens, it always leaves its fingerprints on the circumstances of the present life. Here, let me simply allude briefly to the “evil empire” of the Hollywood film industry, which very nearly prevented Star Wars from being made — but “the galaxy was saved” by one heroic figure in the form of Alan Ladd, Jr., former president of 20th Century Fox, who believed in Lucas and supported the making of the film.

One more question — what about timing? Why did this karmic healing happen when it did? The deep answer is simply that Lucas was ready, but naturally there were astrological correlates for the event. Specifically, we can consider transits, progressions, and solar arcs triggering exactly the same structures that we’ve been discussing. That’s when the evolutionary doors open.

Remember, Lucas was slowly birthing the Star Wars screenplay during a four-year stretch starting in January 1973. Right at the outset of that period, on December 28, 1972, his progressed Mercury in Gemini (stories!) trined his karmic South Node — it was time to tell the tale.

George Lucas Biwheel,
 Inside: Lucas natal, outside: Progressions, May 25, 1977
 Source: Astrodatabank

On May 16, 1973, that same “storytelling” progressed Mercury made a trine aspect to his Neptune — I am sure the visions became more compelling around then. Between May 1975 and January 1977, both solar arc Mercury and progressed Mercury made sextiles to his natal Pluto. During that same period, both also formed conjunctions with his natal Uranus, which, as the ruler of his South Node, represents Lucas. All of these events suggest psychological (Pluto) liberation (Uranus) via storytelling (Mercury).

By solar arc, Neptune triggered the lunar nodes with a square aspect that was exact on January 2, 1975, but perhaps in practice ran a year on either side of that date. Meanwhile, transiting Uranus, the South Node ruler, was extremely busy — it squared his lunar nodes, squared his Pluto, and squared his Moon, all starting toward the end of 1974. That sequence of groundbreaking Uranian aspects finished up in the fall of 1977, shortly after Star Wars had made George Lucas a legend in the history of filmmaking, not to mention a zillionaire.

That is the outward story. The inward one is that, in so doing, George Lucas healed something deep in his heroic, battered soul. His story has now been told, and even given a happy ending. For anyone, that’s an important step in getting beyond tragedy and loss — or at least stopping them from sucking the life out of us any longer.

Meanwhile, little keeps us more stuck in the past than a story we’re dying to tell but has been kept bottled up inside us — even if the story is many centuries old.

Chart Data and Sources
Charts use Placidus houses and the Mean Nodes.
George Lucas, May 14, 1944; 5:40 a.m. PWT; Modesto, CA, USA (37°N38^, 121°W00^); AA: birth certificate.
Release of Star Wars, May 25, 1977; 10:45 a.m. EDT; Manhattan, NY, USA (40°N46^, 73°W59^). A: data from Sy Scholfield from The New York Times on that date.

References and Notes:
1. “Starting Star Wars: How George Lucas Came To Create A Galaxy,” The New Statesman, May 25, 1977.
2. All these techniques have been published before and taught directly to at least two or three thousand astrologers. For a deeper step-by-step overview of them, have a look at my book, Yesterday’s Sky: Astrology and Reincarnation, Seven Paws Press, 2008.

Published in: The Mountain Astrologer, Capricorn Sol 2024

Author:
Steven Forrest is the author of several astrological bestsellers, including The Inner Sky. His work has been translated into many languages, and he has traveled worldwide teaching his brand of choice-centered evolutionary astrology — an astrology which integrates free will, grounded humanistic psychology, and ancient metaphysics. He won the 2018 Regulus Award for Education. In 2020, he opened the Forrest Center for Evolutionary Astrology (www.forrestastrology.center).

© 2024 - Steven Forrest

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This article was published in The Mountain Astrologer, Capricorn Sol 2024 and can be purchased here.

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