Marilyn Monroe personified Hollywood glamour, a 50’s sex goddess. But behind her glamorous past, lives a sad and lonely girl. Marylin was born Norma Jeane Mortenson on June 1st, 1926 in Los Angles California. Before she was born her father abandoned the family, she would never know the true identity of her father. Norma Jean spent most of her childhood living in foster homes and orphanages, after her mother suffered from psychological problems and was eventually committed to a mental institution. Poverty and sexual abuse occurred very early in her life which must have left many an emotional scar on this fragile sensitive little girl. Marilyn married at 16 years old but was divorced after a few years. As we all know Marlyn became a the biggest star when she grew away from her sad upbringing, but it seems her painful past and her early years where forever haunting her. Marilyn’s life was cut short by an accidental overdose.
The first place to start in chart analysis is with the Ascendant, which is the first sign on the chart. Leo is rising in Marilyn’s chart, the first house being the house of identity, shows Marilyn’s attraction to glamour and the theatre, Leo is the sign known for it’s dramatic performances. It is extremely important for a Leo Ascendant to stay true to their own identity, fire signs rising on the Ascendant shows a person who needs to express themselves, dramatically. With a Leo Ascendant, she needs to express her own creative talents. Leo looks out and and seeks admiration, and the image Marilyn projects is that of the Leo, warm, and radiant and with an emotional vulnerable fragile look (Neptune in 1st).
Marilyn’s needs to shine for herself, not for an audience to admire her. A powerful sense of self would have given her strength, which would then enable her to express her more sensitive personality factors, without being overwhelmed by emotions, although the Sun in 11th can have more difficulty shining for itself as we have the “audience” here and the need of her Leo asc for approval from others/society. A Leo Ascendant needs to make an impact on the environment, there is plenty of charisma and personal power. The world can be perceived as a stage on which to perform.
The Sun is in Gemini in the 11th house, may show how she needs to express herself through communication, socializing, and running around doing many different activities. Sun in Gemini has a friendly nature with many interests. Gemini has a flirtatious nature with a strong need for variety. Marlyn’s development in life was focused on group involvements, and a dream of a better future (11th house Sun). A sense of identity can be found in social, humanitarian, or political activities. Friends and social contacts become very important, she has to have a social circle, but on some level with her Moon/Saturn aspect there is still a deep sense of lonliness. Mercury the planet of communication also conjuncts Marilyn’s Sun, from the 10th bringing in her aspirations/goals being achieved through her friends and contacts.
Moon in Aquarius needs to express individuality, and feel free to interact with many people, this emphasises her communication needs and other social contacts i.e Gemini placements (11th) . Aquarius when paired with the Moon may emotionally try and rationalize feelings, this would have been difficult due to Neptune aspecting the Moon. Marilyn has very good social skills and knows how to interact with other people instinctively and feel connected through friendships/groups and through her own individuality, and uniqueness, although partly she may sacrifice a part of herself in her deep need to belong. With the Moon in Aquarius she may also use her friends and social contacts as a way of avoiding intimate relating. The Moon Conjuncts Jupiter, in 7th so she can be more sensitive to public opinion and this expands her need for the public, and socializing, there can be a need to be what others want her to be. Some 7th house moon’s can feel married to the public.
On a psychological level a person with Moon in 7th she can look for the idealized image of mother through the partner. Marriage may be sought early on in life for the security it offers. Marilyn has her Moon square to Saturn in 4th Scorpio, and this restricts her in finding emotional happiness through partners because of her melancholic dissatisfaction stemming from her deep roots, the past. There is difficulty in breaking free of the past. Marilyn can be uneasy with intimacy and feels inadequate in this area. 1st house Neptune can create emotional confusion, and a fragile emotional nature needing and yearning for an ideal home and mother (Moon/Neptune). On a very deep level of Marlyn’s emotional being she feels a deep loss and sadness and longs to escape from harsh reality, using her drinking and other addictions.
Overall Marilyn’s chart shows an social person, with emotional difficulties. Her Nodal path (direction of the soul) shows Marilyn has her South Node in Capricorn – 6th and her North Node in Cancer 12th showing a need to take care of her spirit and soul, she needed to learn how to connect to her emotional and feeling nature, to nurture others and allow herself to be nurtured. Maybe by getting involved in a charitable cause or other large institution focused on healing.
I got thinking more deeply on the Cinderella fairytale and what the deeper psychological portrayal of the story is all about. I feel some of the themes of envy and suppression which are portrayed in Cinderella strike a deep chord within me. Most people know the fairytale of Cinderella and the rag’s to riches story, but do we always look at the symbols and meaning embedded in these very familiar tales we were told as children.
It is said that within every fairytale lies a hidden lesson in psychology, there have been many books now written on the meaning behind the fairy tales and each of them taking a look at what is really being shown to us in these tales. Fairy tales are dramatic and the stories are often about magic and godmother’s transformation, real evil villians and they seem far removed from our own daily reality and experience of life, but it is the essential meaning inherent in the story which keeps being told in a variety of ways is were we can gain our wisdom and knowledge through these timeless tales. In the tale of Cinderella she lost her mother at a young age, and her father now a widower meets another woman who is also widowed and has two daughter’s of her own. The new wife hates Cinderella for she is graceful, kind, beautiful and speaks eloquently, and this makes her other two daughters look even more ugly in comparison, for they display ill manners, spitefulness, manipulative behavior just like their mother. The mother’s approach to her own daughter’ s is very manipulative she pushes them into attaining her status and power, she doesn’t ask what the daughter’s want for their own lives, all she is concerned is with how she appears in society, she only wants her daughter’s to get with a prince because he his wealthy and powerful and to her he an object who will enhance her own power and status in the village.
The father in the story dies and so Cinderella has an absent male figure in her life and has to live with her step mother and stepsister’s. The step mother in this tale particularly dominates the whole story. There is a lot of envy and rivalry in the main part of the story, (in astrology Venus relates to rivalry read part two). The step mother and sister’s envy and of being threatened by Cinderella do everything in their power to disempower her, to damage and degrade her. Cinderella is their servant, she has to do all the household duties, clean the floor, cook, sew the clothes, work outside. Yet through it all Cinderella doesn’t complain she cheerfully goes about her duties, and still appears beautiful even though she is poverty stricken and has to wear shabby clothes. This acceptance of her work with no anger directed towards her step mother and sister’s seems to make her step family even more bitter towards Cinderella. Throughout the whole of the story is a very unconscious devouring female energy directed towards Cinderella. Cinderella lives with her step family accustomed to living as a servant being surpressed all the time right into womanhood, she works hard and never complains.
In the village the son of the king decides to throw a ball, and the stepmother and sister’s in the household are invited. Cinderella spends all day working hard to get everyone ready for the ball, the sister’s mercilessly teasing Cinderella throughout laughing at her clothes and how she is not good enough to attend the ball and meet the prince. When all the family set off for the ball, Cinderella is left alone in the house she sits beside the cinders and begins to cry. When she lifts her head up from crying she’s amazed to see in front of her a fairy godmother, who knows exactly what she is wishing for and makes plans to help Cinderella go to the ball. The beautiful dress the carriage and glass slippers were given to her on one condition that at the stroke of midnight the spell would be broken and she would return to wearing her old clothes again.
When Cinderella arrived at the ball everyone was captivated by her but especially the prince who kept dancing with her all night. Time soon caught up and the bells began to chime at the midnight hour, Cinderella had to rush off an leave, as she was running the prince tried to follow her but could not catch up with her all he could find was a glass slipper that she left behind.
The Prince had fallen in love with Cinderella and announced the next day that he would marry the woman who’s foot fitted the glass slipper. The prince sent his men around the village to find the owner of the shoe. Many women tried to squeeze into the glass slipper but it did not fit. Perhaps psychologically the shoe represented the perfect fit for the prince his ideal mate, and many women tried to fit into this role by squeezing themselves painfully into a shoe that was not going to fit in the hope that they would attain prince charming, the shoe was only Cinderella’s individual fit. On some level this may represent our own individuality and to recognize urselves as unique and not try to force ourselves into someone else’s shoes.
Finally the Prince’s men reached Cinderella’s home and the ugly sister’s tried on the shoe in vain. The men asked if any other women lived in the house, they said only their servant Cinderella who’s foot would definitely not fit the glass slipper, how could it. But Cinderella was ordered to try on the shoe as all women in the village were. Cinderella came in sat down and easily slipped her foot into the shoe, the sister’s looked on in disbelief, and Cinderella brought the other shoe out of her pocket. The prince was called and everyone realized she was the beautiful princess. And despite of all the cruelty that her step mother and stepsisters had inflicted on her. Cinderella showed no malice ad she would forgive them all. The end of the tale is where she marries the prince her (male) powerful authoritative side and the conjunction was made of her male and female side uniting (Sun and Moon in astrology). In some tales of the story her step family where brought to the palace to live and they were very grateful and let go of their malice towards Cinderella and their hearts became good and even their faces became more beautiful.
And they all lived happily ever after……..ding dong, ding dong, ding dong.
The end.
I wonder what Cinderella’s chart would look like, quite possibly her Moon and Venus would be aspecting Pluto perhaps. Moon in aspect to Venus has often been stated as an aspect of rivalry between mother and daughter. As the mother loses her looks extreme jealousy of the daughter’s youth and beauty can cause the mother to bring the daughter down. This is an extreme case but it does happen, look at the fairytale of snow white which was even more extreme as Snow whites stepmother wanted her dead so she could be the fairest of them all.
Mirror mirror on the wall…..
Part 2
The Astrology
Venus in mythology was sometimes referred to as the “dark one” because of the the tragedies which resulted from her passions. Aphrodite in myth would create terrible punshments when she was not the revered one, or acclaimed as the most beautiful. In society today female rivalry exists and the Cinderella story is one tale of it. Remember the rivalry which went on between Naomi Campbell and Tyra Banks, Naomi feeling threatened and jealous that another black model had entered onto the scene, and she turned into a super bitch, her female envy turned up to the extreme. Although admittedly she is like this to a LOT of people. Reportedly she made Tyra banks modelling life hell, many times the model has been left in tears by what Naomi Campbell was doing to ward off her “female rival”. If we peer psycologically into Naomi Campbell’s horoscope map, we see she has Venus in Gemini conjunct Mars and both square to Pluto. Mars square Pluto can be extremely competitive, and ruthless in it’s attempts to win both these planets are associated with Scorpio and Mars with competitive Aries. Individuals withthis aspect may use their power constructively or destructively, add in Venus and in comes the competiveness linked into her female energy, how she feels as a woman, Naomi with Mars in Gemini can be extremely fierce and argumentative as Gemini is an air sign she can be very abusive verbally, there is a lot of rage contained in Mars square to Pluto. Gemini is the sign of the twins and it is strange to see this battle between opposities fight it out. Similar to the myth connected to Gemini with the twins castor and pollux one of whom is divine and the other mortal, in the crossing of the hero’s thresh hold in myth there is the confrontation with the dark twin. The issue of rivalry seems to appear in Gemini’s life whether through a sibling or a friendship, again astrology’s myths find a way of appearing in the reality of our lives just like fairytales. Naomi made sure her female rival was not going to defeat her. Although career wise the underdog didn’t fare badly, Tyra Banks having her own shows, like America’s Next Top Model, yet if you watch an episode of America’s next top model you will see the jealousy, fighting, and competiveness. The bitching behind eachother’s backs. Naomi Campbell even today still gets in the news for her abusive antics.
A look at what Venus represents in the natal chart:
The glyph for Venus is a circle with a tiny cross under it, and some say this symbol looks like a mirror. Venus is the symbol for female, it connotes spirit, over matter. Venus symbolizes the need in which to share with another. Venus is the urge to be desired. Venus allows us to recognize we are in relationship with others, and by comparisons seeks to discover the similarities.
Venus represents the core essence of the feminine nature. As the embodiment of grace and harmony, Venus cultivates beauty through the arts and social graces. She endows a natural elegance and refined aesthetic taste. The degree to which we love something determines their worth to us. The greater the value something holds for us, the more we are prepared to give.
Venus also confers the gift of being able to see differences and similarities, and the capacity to view one thing in relation to another. Venus symbolizes our urge to co-operate and share with others, our desire to give and harmonize, to love and be loved. How easy or painful it is to give of ourselves to another person is shown by Venus in the birth chart.
Planets contacting Venus will describe what supports or gets in the way of our being able to achieve this co-operation and harmony. If we project Venus onto other people it shows we have no capacity for self love and cannot feel worthwhile unless loved by another. How we seek and attract others and the way in which we value ourselves, in turn has a strong bearing on appearance, how we dress, do our hair and generally try to make ourselves look as attractive as possible.
Venus indicates our capacity to find a sense of joy in our lives. The extent to which we feel ourselves to be worthwhile, and to which we think we are capable of giving pleasure and enjoyment, are indicated by this planet. People who are not positively connected to Venus tend to feel ugly and worthless, unlovable and undeserving of happiness. They do not appreciate their own bodies or have a sense of being loved and contented.
According to Sue Tompkins ” The experience of passionate feelings for another represents the antithesis of feeling safe and secure. When ‘in love’ feelings of jealousy and insecurity can so easily be aroused, and feelings of safety and security fly out the window. The degree to which we may or may not feel threatened when the object of our desire so much as talks or looks at another person is largely based on the extent to which we do or do not feel OK about ourselves. The equation roughly goes: insecurity plus desire equals jealousy.
The psychology to be associated with Venus can result in either war or peace. On the one hand the astrological Venus describes our urge for harmony and peace and our ability or not to achieve this. In Venus mode we find points of agreement and similarity, here we are prepared to give in. Here we want to equalize and balance and are willing to yield. The principle of co-operation is key to the planet and also to the success of all relationships.
The function of Neptune is to dissolve boundaries, to mix the material and the non material. Through our Neptunian function we glimpse other dimensions and higher states of being, entering into a magical, indefinable world. Neptune has been called the higher octave of Venus, whereby personal love is transmuted to universal love. Neptune will tend to refine whatever energies it comes into contact with in the natal chart. It will seek to refine, cleanse, to erase imperfections or defects. Planets touched by Neptune are rendered both purer and more difficult to get hold of.
Neptune dissolves our ego boundaries and beckons us to transcend the limitations placed upon us by external reality. Our sensitivity and perceptions are heightened, taking us in the world of dreams, seductively inviting us a realm of unlimited possibilities. Psychologically Neptune represents our vision of perfection our ideals. For most of us this will be our fantasy world, our escape route from reality, which we find in sleep and dreaming. Some will seek this through drugs or alcohol, or through make believe worlds of theater and the movies, music others will find it through religion.
The ability to discern and appreciate subtly is one of the main gifts of Neptune. This is one of the reasons why those whose charts are touched by this planet are often very creative and artistic. For the artist whether, the fine art, music or drama, is usually someone with a heightened perception of form colour or sound. Neptune is a symbol of the sea of collective feeling which moves us from below to immerse ourselves in the mass. Liz Greene in her book relating talks of Neptune having a healing experience because through it one discovers respect for the unconscious and develops a more balanced perspective on the role of the ego.
On the individual birth chart, Neptune symbolizes the urge towards sacrifice of the personal “I” , and sacrifice of personal feeling toward to the collective feeling of life. Neptune gives us a strong urge to merge with something greater than ourselves and induces a sense of yearning for the unseen and the intangibles of life. Neptune is more concerned with fear than Saturn, because the uncertainty that we experience with Neptune can undermine our sense of reality. When we are in the grip of Neptune we may experience hypersensitivity, difficulty in adjusting to the demands of the everyday world, vagueness and illusion.
When a planet is contacted by Neptune, we often give away whatever the planet represents. We become a victim or martyr. If we constantly sacrifice ourselves for others, we run the risk of identifying with the redeemer figure. At it’s most afflicted Neptune can become very unstable, bringing self deception, loss of will power, gullibility, dishonesty, and flight from reality. Neptune can distort our grip on reality so that we lose all sense of who we are, leaving us at the mercy of powerful unconscious currents. Uranus and Neptune challenge the boundaries and world view of Saturn, because of the erosion of boundaries, in the world of Neptune one feels a part of everything
There is no longer any separation between self and not self. All becomes one, and one is all. While this feeling of oneness is key the mystical experience as one has to lose oneself in order to merge with the divine, at the individual level it can be very difficult, because unless one is an enlightened soul, inevitably one feels lost and anxious in a universe characterized by nothingness. Neptune teaches us about the illusory nature of reality and the only true path to ecstasy and transcendence lies within us Sometimes it is only through disillusionment and suffering that we realize that the world can never satisfy our longing to be connected to the divine. When we internalize our spiritual longings we are able to make legitimate sacrifices in order to get closer to our true nature.
Pluto is linked with our least conscious part, our “underworld”, and with our unconscious drives. It is the generating form that reproduces and creates new forms such as the metamorphosis of the caterpillar, which shrouds itself within a chrysalis and then sheds to become a butterfly. Pluto is associated with physical and spiritual birth., with death and resurrection. It symbolizes old patterns that hold us down and need to be eliminated if we are to grow and develop.
Once the old shell of the personality is freed, we can develop the identity, we have chosen for this life. Pluto appears to be operate through experiences which happen to the individual, and which in some way force us to undergo a death of some kind. There is always a rebirth after death and the new form is always greater than the old. Pluto is especially significant in the sphere of relationships, for it is n this sphere that so many people undergo emotional deaths and rebirths. Pluto is also connected to sexuality, in the way that the sexual act symbolizes, the death of the individual separateness in the experience of the other, and the new creative life force running through both of them.
The creation of new life will always bring a death of some kind, psychologically the procreation of a child will inevitably produce this type of change in the psyche, one has changed from the child into the parent, who has given birth to a child, and a new phase of life has begun. When Pluto contacts a planet or other point in the chart it seems to deepen and intensify those things that the planet represents. With the hard aspects the expression of Pluto will seems to be at odds with the other planet. Pluto often seems to bury or kill the other planet. When a planet touches Pluto often we feel as though the things signified by that planet have been violated, invaded, taken by force, we may feel persecuted and powerless.
Pluto the lord of the underworld symbolizes all that is unseen, unconscious and invisible. Those things that are hidden are always the most powerful, the way that the most unconscious parts of our psyche are potentially the most dangerous. Pluto’s job is to strip away all that has outgrown it’s usefulness and bring to light anything that has been repressed by our psyche: our feelings of unresolved anger, jealousy, greed, envy, and loathing. It forces us to come to terms with the darker more instinctive side of our nature.
Pluto on a larger scale symbolizes what is taboo in society issues of abuse, crime, violence and murder all fall under Pluto’s domain. Victims of crime feel ashamed. The abuse or shame is kept buried. Through such experiences a person becomes mistrustful and frightened and fiercely protective of themselves. The function of Pluto is to give power to our life’s purpose. It compels us to recognize the root causes and to explore hidden depths, so that we may emerge from the darkness into new life, transforming ourselves when the time is right.
Psychologically Pluto represents the compulsion to deal with whatever may be troubling us at a subliminal level, whatever has chained us to our past patterns of behavior, so that these may be consciously acknowledged and dealt with. Pluto is a symbol of the urge towards self transformation, there exists with the psyche an impulse towards growth. A although all this is an undoubtedly painful process, slowly something emerges in us that promises a new lease on life. And here is Pluto’s gift, opening up hidden resources of wisdom, and enabling us to acquire a rich storehouse of inner experience. Pluto represents soul growth and transformational experiences, and the symbolic death process that is involved may ultimately result in clarity, growth and profound capacity to live life to it’s fullest.
Pink’s chart is an interesting horoscope, naturally you expect to see a “rebellious” chart. Classically there are rebellious aspects within her horoscope, which describe her outrageous character, yet alongside this rebellious spirit lies a more conservative and serious side to her personality, the outspoken opinionated side often shows publicly through her attacks and criticism of the president (on the album I’m Not Dead). Pink has some very strong opinions on other celebrities in the media, the president, animal rights etc.
It is publicly known Pink’s early home life was not a peaceful one, her parents split up and divorced when she was still very young. Pink’s natal chart shows that on some level she feels she is notgood enough and has very deep feelings of inadequacy and low self worth. The Sun/Saturn feels like who she is needs to be defined, maybe her individuality was not recognised and her own sense of personal importance was not seen for who she really was, she may find authority figures have criticised her and she will most likely criticize her self, and carry a heavy burden. Part of the purpose of this aspect is to build for herself a sense of her true identity Venus is Conjunct Saturn in Virgo and this can show someone who hasdifficulty feeling loved, part of her may feel she will only receive love from her parents if she behaves in a way they find socially acceptable.
The more opinionated side of Pink comes through her Jupiter/Uranus square, this aspect can cause conflict and an individual with this planetary energy may have views which are very individualistic and different. Jupiter/Uranus want a lot of space and freedom. There is a strong streak of originality. Jupiter expands the planet it contacts and this may lead to a very big need to rebel. Uranus can be very non conformist. There can be a concern for the truth, and she may like to make shocking political statements, which shake up people’s beliefs. Pink has supported many animal charities and hates to see injustice done.
Uranus is a fixed planet and there is always the parable of becoming too fixed and fanatical about her beliefs. Pink also has the Saturn/Neptune aspect in her natal chart which symbolizes that her dreams and artistic expressions need to be grounded and materialized. it can also be an aspect which can give her a practical compassion through service of some kind perhaps. The aspect is often found in the charts of artists and musicians, where the artist gives form to the collective expression of dreams, hopes, and feelings.Pink also has a Virgo stellium with the Sun, Mercury, Venus and Saturn all occupying this sign. The grouping of planets is being squared by nebulous Neptune, so she is very sensitive to collective longings and ther is also a part of her that longs to escape, toreturn to more innocent times. Pink’s is working on her sense of identity as both Saturn and Neptune aspect her Sun. Pink may haveidealised her father but he might not have really been there when she needed a solid role model in her life.
Leo symbolizes pride, dignity, and courage (together with a rich sense of drama) describe this most colorful of zodiac signs. Leo’s association with the Lion – a universal symbol of power and authority, says a lot about this particular sign, for the king of beasts possesses an innate dignity and nobility. The Lion often carries himself like royalty. The truth is that the link with kingship lies in the zodiac conflict between Leo’s most noble intentions and the raw power of it’s instinctual nature. Leo is learning to recognize through creative effort, the centre within. Leo has the capacity to bring warmth and light to other people, he is the performer of the zodiac, with an instinctive flair for drama. The key to understanding Leo is to recognize his strong need for self expression. Leo needs to shine and be the brightest. Being a fire sign, he is concerned with the discovery and fulfillment of future possibilities.
Leo is striving to develop self confidence, not to be inhibited in the way he expresses his energy. Leo can overwhelm others with the strength of his self expression and radiant personality. Leo rules the heart connecting the sign to the virtues of man such as courage, love, loyalty and generosity. Arrogance is something this fire sign can indulge in, often without realizing it. A stumbling block to true social integration is his tendency to feel superior to others. Leo represents the search for self through the creative urge and a desire to affect the immediate environment so that it reflects favourably the individual identity of the ego. Leo has a strong need for personal recognition, and loves to be admired and impress others with his talents and abilities. But don’t be fooled by the proud lion for although on the surface he appears to have strength and resilience, he can be easily wounded by criticism. Leo hates to be unloved and under appreciated. The sign is the principle of love which first began to develop in family orientated Cancer. Leo needs to learn about the importance of self love, and of being genuinely good to himself without guilt or apology. When people don’t notice him he is deeply hurt. The ability to be objective is not one of his strongest points. Objectivity is what we associate with Leo’s opposite sign Aquarius.
Leo has a problem conceiving why the world doesn’t revolve around him, the sign is of course ruled by the Sun, who shines the brightest in the sky. Leo needs to feel important, and to find a sense of self esteem. Leo will do anything to earn other people’s approval, he has the ability to live creatively and grow or radiate in whatever direction his talents lie. Leo is ruled by the heart and we all need to live from the spirit of the heart to express our true potential, to achieve our individual purpose in life.
julierimmer
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