A fun spin on serious cosmic stuff! Wendell C. Perry has 40 years experience studying astrology and how it impacts personalities & relationships. He's written two books & published articles in astrology magazines. He's happy to share this website so that you, too, can have fun with astrology to help you in everyday life!
In previous articles I have discussed the importance of the cycle of Saturn. It is also the subject of my book, Saturn Cycles: Mapping Changes in Your Life. As Saturn moves around the zodiac it forms aspects with the place it occupied on the day of your birth. Every 28 years it returns to that place. Every 7 years it makes a 90 or 180 degree aspect to that degree of the zodiac. These aspects mark important transition points in your life. They also test us, both in terms of our abilities and our character.
One celebrity who is currently experiencing one of these periods of transition is George Clooney (click here to see Clooney’s horoscope.) Clooney was born with Saturn at 29 degrees of Capricorn. Right now Saturn is moving retrograde at 29 degree of Libra, in a nearly perfect 90 degree square to its natal position.
The changes that coincide with Saturn transits are often quite public. There could be a major shift in your career or in your relationships. The great triumphs of our lives often occur during these Saturn aspects. So do the most painful defeats. However, these changes can also be quiet and personal, like an intimate conversation that alters your entire outlook on life or a seemingly unimportant event that becomes the catalyst for a much larger realization. For Clooney, transiting Saturn is in the secretive 8th house, so the changes it brings may not be immediately evident.
At this point we don’t know what form Clooney’s present Saturn transit will take. His movie, “The Descendants” was well received and he was nominated for an Academy Award but Oscar night was not his night of triumph. Nor is there any indication that he is ready to abandon his well-documented bachelorhood. And yet, Saturn always leaves a mark and, at some level, important changes are percolating.
Saturn has not yet completed its aspect to Clooney’s natal Saturn. It went retrograde (started moving backwards relative to the earth) in early February just 21 minutes of the arc away from an exact aspect. Saturn will continue its retrograde motion until June and then complete the aspect to Clooney’s Saturn in early October. Between now and October Clooney will be facing significant challenges and making important, life-changing decisions. He will be tested and it will be up to him to pass Saturn's tests.
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Mars, Pluto and the Monster Within Us All
We all have moments when we play at being monsters. Maybe it when we’re watching a bloody action or disaster movie. Or maybe it’s when we’re playing a video game or an on-line role playing game. For just an instant we put ourselves in the shoes of the “bad guy” or exult at imagined scenes of fiery destruction. We know it’s forbidden, even evil, but that only adds to the pleasure.
What we are doing in these moments is exploring, in a harmless way, the purview of Mars and Pluto. Mars rules aggression and physical exertion. Pluto is the planet of extremes and deep, transgressive desires. We all have a bit of Mars and Pluto in our natures. When Mars and Pluto are connected by strong aspects in our horoscopes these "monstrous" tendencies are more pronounced and, sometimes, they can get out of hand.
In rare cases Mars, Pluto aspects can manifest themselves in activity that is, by any measure, monstrous. You find these aspects in the horoscopes of many serial killers (Ted Bundy,John Wayne Gacy and Columbine killer, Eric David Harris, for example.) But the majority of people with these contacts in their horoscopes find far less destructive ways of expressing this energy. They may the person who simply can’t walk away from an argument. Someone whose aggression is a bit too intense. Someone who revels in making extreme, bombastic statements regardless of who they offend or hurt.
This brings us to Rush Limbaugh. Limbaugh was born with Mars opposed to Pluto. (Click here to see his horoscope.) Limbaugh current hassle over remarks he made about Sandra Fluke is hardly the first time his commentary has gotten him into trouble. Many will remember when Limbaugh accused Michael J. Fox of exaggerating his Parkinson’s symptoms in order garner support for stem cell research. Over and over, during his long career, Limbaugh has been willing to say “monstrous” things in order to make a point.
Now that Mars has picked some speed in its retrograde motion, its influence on individual charts is not so toxic. Throughout January and for most of February, Mars was between 20 and 22 degrees of Virgo, creating havoc for anyone with the Sun, Moon, planets or angles (Ascendant, M.C. etc.) at these degrees or at a 90 or 180 aspect to these degrees. Now Mars is moving along (backwards) at a clip of about one degree for every two or three days. Its aspects still create problems but they tend to pass more quickly.
Let’s take a moment to review what Mars retrograde did during its slow sojourn in January and February.
On the Hollywood front the most visible calamity was the breakdown of Demi Moore as retrograde Mars crossed her Descendant (opposite her Ascendant) at 22 degrees of Virgo. Also, we have the breakup of supermodel Heidi Klum and her singer husband, Seal. Klum has Saturn at 22 degrees of Gemini (square to Mars) with Venus nearby at 24 degrees of Gemini.
Of course, for some people the influence of this transit has not been so heart-rending or destructive. Some manifestations have been more like irritations. There’s Ellen Degeneres, who has Saturn at 22 degrees of Sagittarius (with her natal Mars nearby) square to retrograde Mars. She had to deal with protests for homophobes regarding her being selected as a spokesperson for J.C. Penney. And then there’s Amanda Knox who had retrograde Mars square her Moon at 21 degrees of Sagittarius. She was informed during this transit that Italian prosecutors will continue to appeal the dismissal of their case against her.
In my last entry I discussed the horoscope of Whitney Houston and the influence of her Venus square Neptune aspect. I also discussed how aspects between Venus or the Moon and Neptune are frequently found in the horoscopes of women who become pop culture icons. (Click here to see the horoscope of Whitney Houston.)
For Houston, the price of Neptunian stardom was her own identity and this proved to be a poor bargain. But there are other pop stars who seem to have no difficulty dealing with Neptune’s dubious allure. One outstanding example is Madonna. (Click here to see the horoscope of Madonna.)
The similarities between the horoscopes of Whitney Houston and Madonna are striking. Both have the Sun and Venus in Leo. Both have Mercury conjunct Pluto in Virgo. And both have Venus in a close square to Neptune. And yet, few celebrities have handled their notoriety with the panache of Madonna. By constantly reinventing herself, by maintaining her confidence and control, she seems to have mastered the vagaries of Neptunian glamour in a way that Whitney Houston could not.
This includes Neptune's ugly shadow, the dark side of Neptune’s glitzy, pop culture appeal, drug and alcohol dependency. Just as Neptune blurs the boundary between what’s real and what is an illusion, it can also cause us to confuse substance-induced numbness with happiness. For Madonna this has not been a problem. For Houston it most certainly was. Though the role drugs played in her death is, as yet, unknown, it is generally assumed that years of drug and alcohol abuse had taken a ruinous toll on her body.
So, what astrological factor caused these two women, similar in many ways, to react so differently to Neptune’s gift of pop culture fame? One significant factor is that Neptune square’s Madonna’s Venus but not her Sun (as it does in Houston’s horoscope.) Madonna expressed Neptune’s glamour through her sexuality. The deceptive, boundary-collapsing influence of Neptune may have played havoc with her relationships, but it never invaded her core identity.
The closest aspect to Madonna’s Sun is a trine to Saturn, indicating self-discipline and reinforcing Leo’s concern for dignity. While Houston spent much of her life wrestling with Neptunian illusions of who she was and what she really wanted, Madonna treated has her fame like a business and has remained remarkably practical and down-to-earth in the midst of all Neptune’s numinous luster.
Of course, aspects don’t tell the whole story. Our horoscopes may define the problems with which we will struggle but it is by our own efforts that we win or lose those struggles. As I described in my previous article, Whitney Houston’s horoscope provided her with many gifts. It also gave her challenges. In the end, she let those difficulties overwhelm her gifts.
