What Does It Meme? Double Rainbow and the Explosive Popularity of One Man’s Spiritual Experience

January 8th 2010, Yosemite Bear (aka Hungrybear9562, aka Paul Vasquez) stepped outside his home and was blown away by a breathtaking double rainbow. Seven months later, owing to a spot on the the Jimmy Kimmel show, the video went viral, vaulting Mr. Bear into sudden Internet stardom. The video has been viewed on YouTube over 5 million times spawning various parodies and auto tune renditions. No idea what I’m talking about? Check it out here. The most common reaction to the video is that he, our stand in avatar for the rainbow experience is on drugs. He has said in interviews that he was not under the influence of anything at the time other than the power of the rainbow itself. I believe him, and here’s why.

Upon viewing Double Rainbow for the first time, I immediately thought “This dude has got to be a Pisces.” He was so uplifted, so moved by the transcendent power of a simple rainbow. Anyone who can allow himself to just trip out like that has got to be a Pisces. After hearing how affable he was on the radio the other day, I decided to email him and ask for his birth info. He obliged and sounded excited. Was I ever surprised when I saw September 5th in the body of the email. A Virgo?! I’ve been into Astrology for at least 17 years and I still forget that guessing sun signs is about as accurate as throwing a 12 sided die. The sun is just part of the picture. So what was it that I picked up on?

Yosemite Bear has a very strong Neptune signature in his chart. He has a kite formation with Jupiter in Pisces as the focal point. It opposes his Sun conjunct Pluto which makes for an intense individual. Remember the part where he says “It’s so intense!”? Well, so is he. This placement in Virgo gives a nature-y spirit.

He was unsure of his birth time, giving me an estimate between 2 am and 6 am, so I pulled charts for every hour in range. I am favoring the 2am chart for several reasons. It gives him Cancer rising which puts his chart ruler the moon in Scorpio. This is another indicator of intensity. It also points to a seeker of synchronicity as our friend Julian Winter pointed out on the boards a while back.

This tendency is evidenced in one of the more popular quotes from the video. “What does it mean?” He asks more than once of the rainbow. The 2am chart also puts his moon closer to Neptune, making a conjunction (it’s wide conjunction but I’ll take it.) This would indicate someone who is at home with intense transcendent experiences. Tripping out over nature on his lawn is his bread and butter.

It also puts Mars in his 12th house. This is a mars that thrives in altered states and seeks out spiritual ecstasy as a modus operandi. Put all that together and each point in the watery Grand Cross has a connection to the Neptune major scale (Neptune, Pisces, and the 12th house. Jupiter may also be considered here as the co-ruler of Pisces.) So my initial impression wasn’t that far off. I think the reason he immediately gets labeled as a doper is because a lot of people deny their Neptune. They deny the part of themselves that can get high off a rainbow and immediately disregard someone who can. Well, that and also he has some other videos where he is admittedly high in them, so… I still think he was genuinely feeling the rainbow.

This is not an authoritative chart rectification, it is only an intuitive hunch on my part. Without a birth certificate or certain knowledge of birth time we cannot know for sure. But there is one final piece of evidence that says to me, were I to attempt a chart rectification I would begin with the 2 am chart. On July 4th, the day this thing exploded all over the web, transiting Uranus and Jupiter were in tight applying conjunction to the theoretical midheaven. That spells sudden widespread notoriety in my opinion.

How about you? Seasoned chart readers and amateurs alike, I invite your interpretations. What do you see?

click to see the chart full size

 

19 thoughts on “What Does It Meme? Double Rainbow and the Explosive Popularity of One Man’s Spiritual Experience”

  1. Wonderful analysis, Nota!

    Hah, I’m a heavy-neptune Virgo myself. And yeah. I can sympathize with him. I’ve never felt the need to try drugs because, well, I’m normally a little bit loopy.

    Also it strikes me that you mention his intensity. It’s a generational aspect, but maybe pluto and uranus by his sun have something to do with that as well as his Scorpio Moon? (Which is nearly conjunct Neptune, I notice.)

  2. Wonderful write-up, Nota! Thanks! And that was really cool that he was willing to give you his birth info and was open about it.

    I have to say that I still get pretty excited when I see a rainbow in the sky, and I will excitedly point it out to anyone around me (double rainbows are even cooler). But my reaction has a different flavor, as I’m much more Plutonian and Mercurial than Neptunian.

    And I see he’s another member of the Uranus-Pluto conjunction in Virgo generation.

  3. I wouldn’t discount Virgo. I think Virgo energy has the potential to be a highly spiritual sign although it’s often not expressed. Modern ppl often live in their heads and many aspects of modern culture reinforce the idea that the body is not spiritual – so our spirituality can be ungrounded and completely deny the earthy Virgo part.

    In regards to the rest of the chart, Jupiter is also opposite sun, dignified in Pisces and comfortable in the 9th house (of religion/philosophy) so it bears a strong influence.

    Thanks for sharing and getting the birthdata!

  4. Nice piece nota, was wondering since I am a young student. Does his saturn out there like that, serve as his anchor, keeping him grounded, as in keeping truly neptuntoonian without drugs? Keeping that kite from totally flying off into never never land. But in a quirky way since it is in Aqua.

  5. Hungrybear9562 was born on the 60s
    i like people Uranus-pluto

    money is not life, babyboomers Pluto-saturn kill the feelings.
    Saturn square venus 4th house
    he is so grateful to be alive.
    I see so much happiness to be free.
    He saw the rainbow and realize.

  6. Chiron (dubbed the “Rainbow Bridge” between inner and outer planets by Barbara Hand Clow) also conjuncts that Jupiter. With a Chiron return and Neptune not far behind, this is just the beginning, I wager! Great post(s) BTW!

  7. oawwwww! I dont know I cant think I started to cry before he even started himself on the video. My chest feels very intense!

  8. I am a triple Virgo(Sun, Asc, Mercury). I can totally relate to that intensity and “what does it mean?” spiritual stuff. Only it is very private expression and in front of people I pull off a mask of nonchalance. I also know a lot of Virgo with that same hidden-intensity at work only when left alone. Whenever i find something exceedingly amazing its like electricity running through my nerves and most of the time I can’t speak or go haywire, shrieking if alone. My composed triple Capricorn(Sun, Mercury, Mars)husband finds me too hot handle almost all the time we are alone(together for 8 years).

    Virgo gets very bad press in modern astrology. Critical, picky, fussy, freaky, loner. I am not surprised that Nota, i assume though practices astrology, surprised to hear his sun-sign. After that she searched for Neptunian influence in his chart.Virgo alone was not up to the mark for her satisfaction. Since its an earth sign, Virgo is boxed up with Taurus and Capricorn’s ground-rooted earthiness. Which is a huge mistake by modern astrology. In ancient astrology Virgo had wings, which indicates an earthy life with a mind and soul reaching for the higher purpose.

    I wasn’t very surprised as I watched the video first, as i am alone in my room, shrieked and laughed and cried with him, made a mental note to show my husband and tell him, “see there are people who like me can match my intensity”(he thinks though you’re too moved you must control your emotions) and then read the article and found out that “wow” he is a Virgo…and to my amazement it surprised an astrologer.

    By the way my moon is in Capricorn.(does very little to hinder my inner-passionate sun.)

    One thing more, people often forget along with stomach(which is the butt of so many astrological jokes) Virgo rules the nervous system too. The sign of Virgin comes from there. The inner consciousness, mind/soul is nervous system and of-course its closed…closed from the world.

    Greta Garbo(Virgo) quote would sum it all up for me…..
    “There are many things in your heart you can never tell to another person. They are you, your private joys and sorrows, and you can never tell them. You cheapen yourself, the inside of yourself, when you tell them.”

  9. Yes, Proserpina, I think Virgo is the most misunderstood sign on account of their tendency to keep things private. There are things about Virgo the rest of us will never know.

  10. I should clarify that I wasn’t shocked to see Virgo specifically. I was just a little surprised he was any thing other than Pisces because I had read such a strong Pisces vibe from him.

  11. Thanks for this, Nota. So interesting. It was hard to watch his video because it seemed so personal (and, ahem, sexual), but I get that he believed in what he was seeing, and probably wasn’t on drugs.

    I’m late to this blog entry, so hopefully no one else will read this, :o, but my own double Pisces, Scorp moon conjunct Neptune can relate. I had to take a close friend to the hospital when she was having twins. They decided to try to make their debut during 5 o’clock rush hour traffic. We passed a double rainbow on the way (I’m not making this up) and I was so excited. I knew it was a sign that everything would be ok. I still bring this up as an amazing sign of protection for her girls, but she just looks at me with her Scorpio look – you know…

  12. @belle, love the twin story with the twin rainbows!

    and I agree, I dont believe that he was on drugs. My first response above was emotional, I really felt the energies. Its funny how people did or did not get it from the various youtube comments. Had to laugh at the “dont give this guy any skittles” yeah life is the best high isnt it!

    Some of my most ecstatic moments have been experienced in nature so I relate. Life in an urban environments is not *as* conducive to feeling open and connected in such spontaneous way. It’s really cool he was able to share his moment online.

    Nota your chart read is right on! and thanks!

  13. Ok, after watching this guy in his interview, let me clarify and say I canNOT relate. LMAO

    I love this post, though, Nota, and I love that you brought this to our attention. 🙂

  14. :). I haven’t seen this before. I have had a rough month. This made me so happy I was laughing and crying right along with the guy. I have *never* seen a rainbow that projects all the way to the ground like that.

    Thanks for linking it. I have Neptune on the Moon also at an 8 degree orb and I’ve heard nothing but terrible things about it, so it was good to see a happy manifestation.

  15. proserpina. i feel the same 🙂 my body is very sensitive – the nerves very raw, very linked to my emotions and stress. it’s been a steady, lifelong project of mine to learn about the world, learn about spirit, learn about cultures, learn about EVERYTHING because my ability to reason/my intellect is the best chance i have from detaching from the overwhelming sensations and stimulations of being in a living body.

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