Fall and Redemption of Darth Vader – There’s still good in him!
George Lucas, the writer and director of Star Wars, commented that he chose an actor who had that much needed presence of the Dark side to play Anakin Sky Walker and that Hayden Christensen was very good in sustaining an undercurrent of this Dark side. and that’s why he was chosen for the role.
Anakin throughout the saga, becomes seduced by the power of control. His lust for power grows, and grows, more and more. Harbouring deep seated feelings for not being recognised by the Jedi Council, he becomes increasingly impatient and angry, and starts to lose himself in hate, self pity and inevitable suffering. A part of him goes, asks what am I doing? But the dark side in him prevails and justifies it is for the good of Padmé, for the Republic, for the Universe… beloved Padmé says to him, “I only want your love”.
He replies, “Love won’t save you… My new powers will”.
During the story Padmé becomes pregnant with his child, as Anakin has a nightmare where beloved Padmé dies at child birth. Having lived through not being able to save his own mother from dying, the fear of losing his beloved woman was unbearable, and the dark side became ever more so tempting for him. It comes to a point where Padmé desperately tells Anakin “You are breaking my heart… You are going down a path I cannot follow… Stop! Stop now, came back. I love you!” as he notices that their friend Obi-Wan is accompanying her, paranoia and jealousy take hold of him, and he tries to kill her. She survives at first, but then dies right after giving birth to their twin children, Luke and Leia. By trying to guarantee he would never lose her, Anakin indirectly actually kills his beloved.
Padmé’s last words were “There is still good in him”.
Years later, their son and daughter’s actions take hold as part of the Resistance against the Dark side, the Light side of the Force, and become extensions of the love that was between their parents. Later in the saga, Darth Vader and Luke encounter each other in a fight, where Darth Vader tells Luke he is his father, and ends up cutting his son’s right hand. yet later confides with his sister Leia, with the same certainty as his his mother had on her death bed: “I can feel… There is still good in him”.
A time comes for Luke to face his father again, but this time also in the presence of Darth Sidious (Emperor Palpetine, the great Sith Lord). Sidious tries to seduce Luke to the Dark side, but he resists and fights Vader, a true heroes quests to fight the dark /monster within. At one point he cuts his father’s right hand as well and this is when he realizes, that he he was also taken by anger and hate, unconsciously going down the same path as his father through vengeance. He stops. Looks at his father with compassion, throughs his sword away, and affirms he will never turn to the Dark side. With Darth Sidious then about to kill him, the good in his father, Darth Vader comes forth. He kills the dark lord and saves his son. Through his son’s compassion, the love of Padmé reaches him and he is redeemed. The great villain, whom everybody thought was the big evil monster with no heart, was actually a guy who had lost everything in life, and by trying to control it all, he made many fatal mistakes, destroying all and what was precious to him. The villain was in fact a victim himself, a man just trying desperately to regain his humanity. About to die, Vader-Anakin asks young son Luke to help him take his mask off, so he can reveal his true self, yet tells his son that he has already saved him:
“Tell you sister you were right about me” as he dies as a true Jedi again. The chosen one eventually does destroy the Sith and brings balance to the Force.
Padmé Amidala – Jedis and Samurais
WhenNatalie Portman first incarnated as Padmé Amidala, in Episode I, her second BML return was taking place in Scorpio, as she was 18, Born June 9, 1981.
The name of the character deserves some consideration here:
Padmé comes from Sanskrit meaning lotus – the flower which, in the midst of mud, in the depth of a swamp, blossoms. It is part of the mantra Om Mani Padme Hum, which can be translated as the jewel in the lotus. Amidala in some languages is how you spell amygdala, a structure in the brain that controls emotions, shown in research to perform a primary role in the processing of memory, decision-making, and emotional reactions, as part of the limbic system. The amygdalas function is related to storing, encoding, and interpreting emotion.
And here we can also listen to Yoda’s words to his younger friend Obi-Wan: “Do not assume anything… Clear your mind must be if you are to discover the real villains behind this plot”. The real villain was Palpetine, the phantom menace – an unknown, mysterious threat to the galaxy, who was pulling the strings to generate paranoia and conflict.
This reference to Star Wars and it’s characters can be taken to help us uncode the movement of BML through Scorpio: for to examine and decode our emotions properly, calming our minds, and listening to our hearts on a deeper level, we can better filter emotions and tune into a greater trust, help keep our faith alive, and trust there is still good in world. This trust must be our guide as we travel through the galaxy in such exciting times of transformation. From the inner depths comes what is precious, from which the lotus is bound to blossom.
BML concerns us with issues of life or death, and represents the survival instinct, by which a samurai or a ninja is able to move in the dark. The samurai touch to Star Wars draws inspiration from the work of Akira Kurosawa, an import influence to George Lucas, and another native with BML in Scorpio. Such dramatic and visceral intensity is found in Akira Kurosawa’s films, which are either samurai epics or heartfelt dramas – epitomising BML in Scorpio indeed. As Oliver Stone once said, “He had action plus psychology, and he was good at it”. This master of masters in film making comes from a real samurai lineage and became a director during the middle of World War II in Japan and the pressure of censorship. Kurosawa (1910-1998) remained passionately devoted to his work throughout his life, inspiring many with his destructive impulses and the sense of fatality magnificently converted into creative expression.
Again these example show how best to deal with our own intensities during this time frame. Passion and desires are strong, so we must choose well, to what and to whom we devote our energy, being all the more aware of power mongers and sex vampires, and our own self-destructive impulses. Yoda teaches us to “Train yourself to let go of everything you fear to lose”. Sometimes, this guideline might be taken in rather exaggerated ways by those born with BML in Scorpio. As they try to avoid the pain of loss and the danger of the unknown, they kill of the possibilities before they even come to fruition – especially, if something too precious is on the horizon, that triggers off the memory of fear and loss. It becomes easier for us to let go and trust when we come to realize, that, that which is ours can never be truly lost, that we will never lose our real treasures.
It is like Yoda explains: “There is no try; do or do not”. It’s up to you to own what is in your heart and act. Once we truly listen to our hearts, we had better follow it to stay connected to the universal force. Now more than ever, it is a time to live fully, by surrendering to the ways of the Force, the most powerful and transforming force in the whole of the Universe – Love – for it really is always within us.
