Camelot Was Built On Confluence

Now JFK and Jackie must be one of history's most famous couples. The era in which they were the President and First Lady was referred to as Camelot. The stuff of legend. When elected JFK dedicated himself to nobly fighting the common enemies of mankind:- tyranny, poverty, disease and war. But how did the Camelot tag come about? It was not till after his death that the association happened and the person who began it was his widow, Jacqueline Kennedy. By ironic co-incidence two days before the asassination, there was a ball at the White House and Camelot was played. She quoted the lines as favorites of the President and said- "There will be great Presidents again, but there will never be another Camelot".

Yes, but what has this to do with 'Confluence' I hear you ask? Well just about everything is my immodest reply! Let's do some basic checking shall we? John Fitzgerald Kennedy was born May 29, 1917 and Jacqueline Lee Bouvier was born July 28, 1929. Their birth years were twelve years apart, which you should know by now makes them 'Confluent' for 10 months out of a possible 12 in every 'Life Cycles' 'significant year' (ie. 19/24/31/36 and 43 in their case). That's the closest match I have presented to you so far. Now we all know they had relationship difficulties, due mostly to JFK's philandering and Jackie's overspending, so how exactly did their relationship work and why could it be considered so special?

In a forgotten corner of her correspondence Jackie wrote a note to a Newport friend, that in 1949 (as a College Junior) she had just met Jack Kennedy. This was in their combined 'Years of Broken Pathways' (at 19/31). So they met when 'Confluence' was present. Her description of him was:- "a charming, confident,and handsome but insistent flirt, to whom she responded with indifferent amusement, yet absolute attraction." As a blueprint for their marriage it was very close. Even though they went on separate journeys for a while, it was again in their combined 'Years of Revolution' at 24 and 36 that they married in Sept. 1953, in the society wedding of the year. So here was 'Confluence' again when they marked the transition to marriage.

Jack was quoted as saying:- "I'd known a lot of attractive women in my lifetime....but of them all there was only one I could have married...and I married her." They also had to immediately face Jack's severe back pain, caused through a war injury, that was to result in two potentially life-threatening operations not long after. 'Confluence' can sometimes mean facing mutual dramas, be they physical danger or emotional hurt. Even though they shared a close and supportive family life, his affairs took their toll. There is no more poignant quote about their relationship than this one:- "Jackie was a woman full of love and full of hurt. They were two private people, two cocoons married to each other, trying to reach into each other. I think that she felt that he, being so much older than her, that it was up to him to reach more. But he couldn't."

However things took another and more positive turn in their next period of 'Confluence'. When was this? I'd like you to actually tell me. OK, how's it done I hear some ask? Just add seven years to the last period of 'Confluence' (in 1953/4), because the 'Year of Broken Pathways', at either 31 or 43, is seven years later than their last combined 'Year of Revolution'. So that makes it August, 1960 to end May, 1961. No prizes for guessing what their combined challenge was at this point. Jackie, even though pregnant, had helped in the campaign and her knowledge of languages was beneficial. It was a narrow victory and she was one of the youngest First Ladies.

It has been written of this time that "they fell in love all over again" as they had to face both the campaign and gaining respect in the top job. It was said after a year in the White House:-"the dynamic of their relationship was changing and there was a more consistent pattern of expression of mutual love and devotion." There was also no doubt that Jack needed her comfort and advice especially after the Bay of Pigs.

I'm going to let Jackie have the last word, because nothing sums up the power of 'Confluence' like this does. Everything about their relationship was the veritable definition of what I mean by the term 'Confluence'. If your relationship has it, as well as mutual respect and admiration and the capacity to forgive, then you are truly blessed.

During the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962 Jackie said :- "If anything happens, we're all going to stay right here with you," she remembers telling her husband. "Even if there's not room in the bomb shelter in the White House. ... I just want to be with you, and I want to die with you, and the children do, too – than live without you." May the cycles always bring you good fortune.