Under Construction

Examples of Endurance - Cheryl Strayed

The beautiful thing about going alone is that every triumph is yours, every consequence of every mistake is yours, everything that you have to figure out is on you - Cheryl Strayed

Index

Cheryl Strayed's background

What makes Cheryl Strayed such a great example?

Cheryl Strayed's background

Cheryl Strayed was a wild walker and writer of the memoir Wild, that was also made into a film starring Reese Witherspoon.

Information sourced from Wikipedia.

Cheryl Strayed (born September 17, 1968) is an American memoirist, novelist, essayist and podcast host. The author of four books, her award-winning writing has been published widely in national magazines and anthologies. - Wikipedia

Strayed married Marco Littig in August of 1988, a month before her 20th birthday. They divorced in 1995, shortly before she started hiking the Pacific Crest Trail. During this time she also studied at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis, where she received her Bachelor of Arts degree, graduating magna cum laude with a double major in English and Women's Studies. - Wikipedia

Her memoir Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail details her 1,100-mile hike on the Pacific Crest Trail from the Mojave Desert to the Oregon-Washington border and tells the story of the personal struggles that compelled her to take the hike. - Wikipedia

In March 1991, when Strayed was a senior in college, her mother, Bobbi Lambrecht, died suddenly of lung cancer at the age of 45. Strayed has described this loss as her 'genesis story'. She has written about her mother's death and her grief in each of her books and several of her essays. - Wikipedia

In June 1995, despite a lack of hiking experience, recent divorcée Cheryl Strayed leaves Minneapolis, Minnesota, to hike 1,100 miles of the 2,650-mile Pacific Crest Trail on a journey of self-discovery and healing. During the hike, Strayed reflects in flashbacks on her childhood in Minnesota and memories of her mother, Bobbi Grey. Bobbi's death from cancer sent Cheryl into a deep depression that she tried to numb with heroin and anonymous sex, which eventually destroyed her marriage to her husband. After finding out she was pregnant, Strayed got an abortion and resolved to hike the trail to redeem herself. - Wikipedia

On day 62 8 August she got to Oregon, and on September 15, after hiking for 94 days, Strayed reaches the Bridge of the Gods on the Columbia River between Oregon and Washington, ending her journey 4 years 7 months and 3 days after her mother's death, 'doing it on her own' (becoming the woman her mother raised). - Wikipedia

What makes Cheryl Strayed such a great example?

The chart shown is Cheryl Strayed's birthchart, and at first glance there is nothing much to say about it; there are no particularly interesting features, barely any close aspects that would cause transits to take on complex meanings; it is, as with the majority of charts, ordinary, although it could be argued that her natal Mars is square Neptune, though I consider 3 degrees to be quite a loose connection. How then can Cheryl Strayed be a great example ?

NB. Because we do not know a birth time for Cheryl, we have to discount any aspects involving the Ascendant, or the Moon.

The answer to that question makes an interesting point about Astrology: Astrology is not a two dimensional practice; it is never enough to consider a chart in isolation, i.e. there are always transits going on for any individual, at any moment in their life. For Cheryl, the transits give us an idea how and why this magna cum laude student went off the rails for a few wild years, and possibly indicate how it was that she was able to find herself in the wilds, when so many of America's 'Soft White Underbelly' do not. NB. that is a deliberate plug for a series of Youtube videos that it would do everyone good to view.

The nearest aspects Cheryl has natally are

Sun sextile Neptune

Sun conjunct Pluto

Mercury conjunct Venus

Mars square Neptune - 3 degrees off

Saturn inconjunct Sun

Saturn inconjunct Neptune

With Astrology, it is always debatable how wide an orb should be allowable when considering an aspect. Generally, I consider 1 degree to be exact, 2 degrees to be significant and 3 or more to be separate entities. There are two considerations, I think: Firstly, do the planets relate to a single walk of life? And secondly, do they relate to events happening together? The point is that all planets, and all events, are related, wherever they are and whenever they happen. They are connected by the World, and connected by you, and by time. It is just that the more meaningful the connection, the closer it is, in one way or another.

Looking at Cheryl's Mars and Neptune, we see two planets seated in different walks of life - in square aspect, so rather unconnected. For Cheryl, Mars functions elementally right down to a personal level of the single degree, so is always 'on', she's a doer; Neptun though, functions naturally for her at the relational level of the tri-degree, so finds expression in her close ties. NB. her Neptune is not necessarily on her Ascendant.

19880817 Cheryl Strayed with Marriage transits

The first major event we know of is Cheryl's marriage to Marco Littig in 1988.

The chart shown is Cheryl's birthchart, together with the planetary positions at the time of her marriage to Marco Littig around the outside. Aspect lines [traditional] are between the transits and birthchart.

Looking at the transit aspects, particularly the Grand Trine formed by the addition of Saturn and Uranus, it suggests that Cheryl had what are often called 'Daddy issues'. What does that mean? Really, that she is questioning what love is [the transiting Moon highlighting her Mercury conjunct Venus], probably in the light of her parents' stormy marriage. Also that she wants to do things [Sun conjunct Mars]. The strong involvement of Saturn and Uranus suggest a volatility caused by knowing, from past and current experience,

Transiting Sun [about to be] conjunct natal Mars

Transiting Mars conjunct natal North Node

Transiting Saturn and Uranus trine natal Mars

Transiting Saturn and Uranus trine natal Saturn

19910127 Cheryl Strayed with Diagnosis of Mother transits

In 1991 Cheryl's mother Bobbi died suddenly from cancer, just 50 days after diagnosis, leading to Cheryl going wild for the next four years. This is in no way a judgment on her behaviour, she says herself that she wanted all those things, and it is the nature of Mars to desire action of all kinds, and Neptune has the capacity to fuel Mars with endless wants.

The chart shown is Cheryl's birthchart, together with the planetary positions at the time that her mother was diagnosed with canceraround the outside. Aspect lines [traditional] are between the transits and birthchart.

Transiting Venus opposite natal Mars

19950522 Cheryl Strayed with Starting the Pacific Crest Trail transits

After 4 years of excess, Cheryl commenced her thousand mile trek along the Pacific Crest Trail.

The chart shown is Cheryl's birthchart, together with the planetary positions at the time of starting the Pacific Crest Trail around the outside. Aspect lines [traditional] are between the transits and birthchart.

Transiting Mars conjunct natal Mars

20120320 Cheryl Strayed with Publication of Wild transits

In 2012 Cheryl published her autobiography, Wild.

The chart shown is Cheryl's birthchart, together with the planetary positions at the time of the Publication of her autobiography around the outside. Aspect lines [traditional] are between the transits and birthchart.