For years upon hearing the name “Elon Musk” this word pops into my mind: fake.

Knowing very little about Musk or his businesses, I have no rationale for this thought. He’s a rich businessman, a supporter of new technologies (electric cars) and idealist goals (space travel). I don’t know why I have it. Long overdue, I explored Musk’s horoscope to determine what gives me the feeling he’s not genuine in some way.

Intelligence

Using the Astrotheme chart which in which the time of birth is not confirmed there are definitely the markers of innovation and intelligence:  Cancer sun and Mercury which have an amazing memory; Virgo moon which is analytical in the extreme; Saturn in Gemini which is mental discipline; Mars in Aquarius which is the motivation for innovation.

A loose grand air trine of Saturn and Venus (in Gemini), Mars (in Aquarius) and Uranus (in Libra) also speaks to intelligence and the interest in following what the crowd is doing and being part of the times. The air trine is social which the Cancer (water) sun is seeking to belong.

Intelligence, I believe, is not a rare quality. Beauty – the kind we see in the movies – is much rarer. I have the pleasure of working with intelligent people and often there’s a desire to be the most intelligent. Intelligence, like other qualities, has variety. With his air trine and Virgo moon, Musk has the traditional analytical intelligence. With sun and Mercury in watery Cancer, he also has the intuitive kind and is probably an amazing story teller.

Air and water want to connect with the world around them, through ideas and emotions respectively. Possibly the fake sense I get is Musk’s desire to be part of the crowd, part of whatever is the current fad or trend.

Mars

Each horoscope has a pattern, a theme if you will. There is one theme that stands out a flashing light in Musk’s chart: a lone Mars.

Mars in Aquarius means that Musk wants to share the ideals of the group. If the times are about innovation, he’s about innovation. If the times were about something else, he would probably share that as well. We all do that to some extent.

What’s interesting about his Mars is that it is somewhat detached from the rest of the chart. Mars makes aspects but the chart has the ladle pattern with Mar as the handle. While wide in orb (geometric degrees), Mars forms with sun/Mercury (Cancer) and moon/Pluto (Virgo) an aspect called the yod.

Many astrologers will kick out this assessment, but I’ve always used a 29-degree orb. Example, when Uranus starts transiting Taurus and the world runs out of toilet paper, if you have sun, moon or Saturn in Taurus from 0-29 degrees, you’ll have more reaction than say someone with one of those planets in Gemini. Taurus maintains and monitors stuff and the world lacking stuff will make it nervous even out of orb. When the transit is in orb, then you, too, run out of toilet paper.

So, back to the Musk’s Mars. The yod as an energetic configuration provides an inner sense of “must.” He must be innovative. With his Cancer sun and moon in Virgo, Musk could have been an innovative chef or health researcher. He’s chosen the more public face of the day’s technological focus which can be difficult for the Cancer sun which wants to hide in its shell and the Virgo moon which is anxious.

There’s only one planet in fire – Neptune in Sagittarius so Musk doesn’t have natural confidence. It’s the acquisition of knowledge and innovation that supports his confidence. The more I know, the more I share the goals, the more I become a leader.

More than an innovator?

Possibly what’s driving the feeling of inauthenticity for me involves a few natal aspects and transits.

In the natal horoscope, Moon in Virgo (analytical) squares Neptune in Sagittarius (visionary). Astrological squares internal tensions that motivate us to move when we’d rather sit in front of the television. No squares, no action. But this square reminds us that when genius and delusion are separated by a thin line. Musk seems to have a good balance here. With his Twitter move, I see Neptune in Sagittarius and misunderstanding about what’s really occurring in “social” media.

Transiting Neptune in Pisces created a T-square, many years ago, in the 2010s, to the moon and natal Neptune. Neptune’s influence is not something easily seen: it’s both spiritual and escapist. Neptune is mystery and deception. Neptune is the wonder of consciousness and the shifting images that sway and influence us.

Transiting Pluto in Capricorn created a T-square to Musk’s sun/Uranus square back in the early 2010s as well. According to Wikipedia, most of his innovations/ideas were in play by then. According to the Musk net worth chart from that page, his net worth did not substantially increase until around 2019, the beginning of the recent pandemic – that’s interesting.

What I may be feeling is that sometime back in the 2010s Musk’s genius may have met outside forces that influenced his motivations. Musk’s interests are the generally the interests of government and as we saw in early 2020 when Mars, Jupiter, Saturn and Pluto aligned in Capricorn, government control has increased substantially, mostly aided by technology. We are learning drip by drip (or byte by byte) how our technology giants are assisting authoritarian governments who create “open air” prisons of electronic surveillance.

Saturn is now transiting Aquarius and is conjunct Musk’s natal Mars in Aquarius. Saturn and Mars combined can create negative and sadist energy if not funneled into strict discipline toward clear goals. For Musk, this again is an outside influence trying to suppress innovation and his desire to share in the goals of humanity.

I’m still not clear why I was getting the feeling of inauthenticity for a public figure I am unacquainted with. Possibly as Musk’s interests would logically not be ignored by governments of the world, it may be some underlying mistrust of his true, or forced, motivations.

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