Stephen King: Horror

Stephen King, has this to say on why we like horror: "I think we are all mentally ill; those of us outside the asylums hide it a little better- and maybe not all that much better, and after all. We’ve all known people who talk to themselves, people who sometimes squint their faces into horrible grimaces when they believe no one is watching, people who have some hysterical fear of snakes, the dark, the tight place, the long drop….and of course these final worm and grubs waiting patiently underground. When we pay our four or five bucks and seat ourselves at tenth row centre in a theatre showing a horror movie, we are daring the nightmare".

King believes fairy-tales take away the shades of grey… it urges us to put away our more civilised and adult penchant for analysing and become children again, seeing life in pure black and white. Horror movies provide psychic relief; it’s the invitation to lapse into irrationality and even outright madness. Stephen goes on say "That love, kindness, and loyalty are all emotions we applaud. The status qua, what is socially acceptable. We exhibit these emotions and society reinforces it. While other less acceptable emotions are put away. If we share the brotherhood of man we also share the insanity of man".

I found the movie Carrie (written by King) to be particularly disturbing, one of the horror films which really gets under your skin. The transformation of Carrie didn’t have a happy ending, and the movie I still find creepy today, and there are so many horrors out now that every surprise is expected, and the music clues you in when something scary is about to happen. The movie is psychologically unnerving, and all dues to Sissy Spacek, she was amazing in this role. Carrie in the movie had telekenesis, and I was reading about the power to move objects with your mind in Liz Greene’s book The horoscope in Manifestation. The discussion turned to poltergeist activity and then the movie Carrie, quote below.

Audience: Since we are on the subject of the supernatural, could complexes have anything to do with poltergeist activity.

Liz:That is another area in which the psychoid nature of complexes may be evident. The energy of the complex is operating independent of the individuals physical body. The complex is running loose, autonomous and telekinetic. On a subtler level, the same principle is in operation when someone prangs your car on the day transiting Mars is square to your Uranus. The other driver may also have a transit of Mars to Uranus, or a natal Mars-Uranus square. Where has that person come from? How did they wind up just behind you in the traffic queue?

Audience:But poltergeist activity is much more dramatic.

Liz: Yes, but I think it is the same dynamic. The most popular theory of poltergeist activity seems to focus on “disturbed” adolescents, whose powerful emotional energies are in some way connected to the moving objects. No one knows how this happens, but it is generally agreed that there is a young person, often pubescent, at the centre of all this activity. Do any of you remember the film Carrie? Sexual energy in an adolescent can be incredibly powerful. If it is totally blocked from consciousness, it may well have the power to affect material objects. I cannot “prove” what I am saying. It is merely speculation. But if anyone has a better suggestion, do let me know.

Stephen King

Astrologically King has got his vivid imagination and writing ability from his Sun in the analytical sign of Virgo which is diposited by his Mercury-Neptune conjunction in Libra. Mercury-Neptune is well known for it’s imaginative faculties. The Sun in Virgo squares Uranus in Gemini - some astrologers believe Uranus should be exalted in the sign of the twins because, it enhances mental ability. The Sun-Uranus aspect is tight in his natal chart, and involves the two Mercury ruled signs (Gemini and Virgo), he expresses himself through intellectual innovation. Uranus rules a collective influence of new ideas. King certainly likes to shock, and scare the living hell out of us at the same time (laughs). The Sun in Virgo orders his environment and can be an introspective sign.

Family Background

As a young boy King's father suddenly left the family without warning while out buying cigarettes (Sun-Uranus). King apparently witnessed one of his friends being struck and killed by a train, though he has no memory of the event. His family told him that after leaving home to play with the boy, King returned, speechless and seemingly in shock. Only later did the family learn of the friend’s death. Some commentators have suggested that this event may have psychologically inspired King’s dark, disturbing creations, but King himself has dismissed the idea. King used drugs for a period of time, but sought help and has since been sober. King was involved in a bad car accident and needed five operations and physical therapy.