Evel Knievel (born Robert Craig Knievel) was a legendary motorcycle
daredevil stunt performer who became famous in the late 1960's
and 1970's, and died at age 69 in 2007. In 1971, he set a world
record by jumping over 19 cars. He is known for pioneering 'ramp
to ramp jumping,' without which there would be no X Games
today. During his career he broke 37 broken bones, which earned
an entry in the Guinness Book of World Records as the survivor
of the "most bones broken in a lifetime."
Here is his natal chart with his birth data taken from a birth
certificate according to the Astrodatabank
website. Notice that he has an exchange of signs, or what's
also called a khala parivartana yoga between 1st lord, Saturn,
and the 3rd lord, Jupiter.
Evel Knievel's Natal Chart
His chart is an excellent example of how the classic Jyotish
texts can sometimes be taken literally. My Jyotish
guru, K.N. Rao, often encourages students to take the classic
texts liberally, not literally. This is the
best advice I've ever heard regarding interpreting the classic
texts, since they often give exaggerated or outdated outcomes.
For instance, the person will "own 100 elephants,"
or will be "praised by the king," or
some such irrelevant outcome for modern society. If you take
those outcomes liberally, and understand their essence,
then you can apply them for today's society. Otherwise, they're
useless. Knievel's chart is an exception where you don't have
to modify the classic text - taking it literally works just
fine. See the following quote by sage Mantreshwara in the Phaladeepika
about a 3rd and 1st lord exchange:
“When the lord of the 3rd house and that of the ascendant
are connected by their mutual exchange of places and are strong,
the native shall be brave, valorous, friendly to his brothers
and capable of performing daring acts."
- Phaladeepika, Ch.16, v.7, (translation by S.S.
Sareen)
This more than aptly describes the daredevil Knievel. In addition,
the quality of courage is enhanced in his chart because not
only is his ascendant lord, Saturn, placed in the 3rd house
of courage, and in exchange with 3rd lord, Jupiter, but Saturn
is aspected by Mars, the planet of courage. Mars is also in
the 3rd house from the Moon further reinforcing this courageous
quality. Notice also that the 3rd lord, Jupiter, is debilitated
in Capricorn. This may appear to be weak, which would be contrary
to the definition of the yoga since the planets need to be strong.
However, the parivartana yoga forms a neecha bhanga raja yoga
due to Jupiter's exchange with its debilitation lord, Saturn.
Knievel basically launched his stuntman career during his Venus-Jupiter
dasha followed by his Venus-Saturn dasha, which extended from
9/11/1967 - 7/12/1973. These sub dashas activated the parivartana
yoga, and gave him considerable success. Notice also how well
positioned the maha dasha lord, Venus, is for being visible
in the public eye, as the yoga karaka 5th and 10th lord placed
in the 11th house. The following Sun dasha from 7/12/1977-7/12/1983
was not very successful, and represented his decline due to
injuries. The Sun is the debilitated 8th lord in the 10th house
of career. He retired as a stuntman in March, 1981.
Besides being a courageous person, Knievel was also a performer
and the 3rd house is the house of performing arts. A connection
between the 3rd and 1st and/or 3rd and 10th lords can often
be seen in the charts of actors, musicians, and performers of
all kinds.Let's face it, it takes guts to be on stage
as a performer so it's natural that the 3rd house represents
both performing and courage. Studies show that most people's
biggest fear is not death, but public speaking. Marc Boney's
excellent astro-profile article, Hollywood
Nights: Acting and the 3rd House, gives convincing evidence
of the correlation between the 3rd house and acting with examples
of over 35 Hollywood celebrities.
Jane Fonda's Natal Chart
A good example of a Hollywood actress with a very similar chart
to Knievel is Jane Fonda, who was born 10 months before him.
She also has Capricorn ascendant with the same parivartana yoga
between Jupiter and Saturn. However, she doesn't have the supportive
influence of Mars, the planet of courage, that Knievel has,
which is key planet for becoming a daredevil stuntman. The question
then is: Is she also brave, valorous, and capable of performing
daring acts like sage Mantreshwara says in the Phaladeepika?
One could argue, yes. Besides being an actress, which some would
say is brave enough, she has been an outspoken feminist and
political activist. For example, she has put her reputation
on the line to speak out for civil rights, and against the Vietnam
and Iraq wars. An amusing point about Knievel as that as a troubled youth
he was given his stage name, Evel Knievel, after sharing a jail
cell with a man named 'Knofel'. The clever jail keeper looked
at the pair and started calling them 'Awful Knofel'
and 'Evil Knievel'! The name stuck, but Knievel later
changed the spelling to Evel to avoid being considered 'evil'.
He wasn't evil, he was just bold and loved pushing the limits
of what he could accomplish as a stuntman. Sometimes he was
successful and sometimes he crashed horribly, defying death
itself, which led his stunt events to become highly publicized.
The following video interviews are particularly interesting
from this perspective since he talks about facing death and
his absolute lack of fear.
An interesting side note is that before Knievel became successful
as a stuntman, he sold insurance to provide for his wife and
kids. One time his boss, W. Clement Stone, suggested he read
a book, Success Through a Positive Mental Attitude,
which his boss co-authored with the famous, Napoleon Hill, author
of Think and Grow Rich, which has sold over 60 million
copies. Knievel ended up crediting much of his eventual success
to following the principles of positive thinking contained in
Stone and Hill's books.
Here are a few videos of Evel Knievel. The first two are
parts 1 and 2 of an interesting interview on the Dick Cavett
show in August 1971 (scroll forward to avoid the TV commercials!).
The second of these has footage of his famous crash in Las Vegas
at the Caesar's Palace. The third video is a successful jump
over 17 vans and trucks in Portland in 1973:
Evel Knievel's Natal Chart
