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 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.
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Neptune and the Price of Fame: Part One
The recent passing of Whitney Houston has caused many astrologers to reexamine her horoscope. Born with the Sun in Leo, conjunct Venus and trine the Moon and Jupiter, she has what many would consider a fortunate chart. These aspects describe a person born with substantial artistic gifts who will have both the self-confidence and the luck necessary to make the most of them. There is little question that Houston manifested these qualities to the maximum degree.
Of course, there are several other things going on in Houston’s chart that aren’t nearly so positive. I’m going to focus on the square between her Sun and Venus and Neptune. Aspects between Venus or the Moon and Neptune are fairly common in the horoscopes of women who become “stars” in our popular culture. (Other contemporary examples include Beyonce, Angelina Jolie and Britney Spears.) Neptune rules glamour and all its glitzy allure. People with strong Neptune aspects are often particularly susceptible to this allure and a lucky few sometimes get the chance to embody the seductive charm of Neptune for an entire generation.
Of course, with Neptune, nothing is quite what it seems. When we look closely at the trappings of Neptunian glamour we realize that it is a sham and that the “stars” that we worship are just as human we are. Since the aspect between Venus and Neptune in Houston’s chart is a hard square and since she was also born with Mercury conjunct cynical Pluto in no-nonsense Virgo, she had a keen awareness of this falsity.
For Houston, being the embodiment of Neptune was not a privilege; it was a burden. She balked at the effort required to maintain Neptune’s glamorous front. She bristled at its deceptions and unreality. For Houston, Neptune stood in the way of her being a real human being. And since Neptune was also square her Sun, her identity, her sense of self, became lost in Neptune’s seductive intricacies.
Houston was one of the lucky few granted to full benefits of Neptune’s gift of glamour but she was unable to deal with what this gift did to the rest of her life. For her, the price of Neptunian fame was too high. In my next article I will compare Houston’s horoscope with that of another pop diva from the same generation; someone who was also born with Neptune square Venus but who handled the aspect in a very different way.
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An Astrological Glance at Ryan Gosling
It seems that everywhere you look you see a picture of or a reference to or a movie starring Ryan Gosling. In the past two years alone he has had lead roles in five high profile films: Blue Valentine, All Good Things,The Ides of March, Crazy, Stupid Love and Drive. Even though Gosling has been acting since he was a child, his recent success has been meteoric.
I don’t generally attempt astrological profiles unless I have a complete horoscope but when I saw Gosling in Drive wearing a scorpion emblazoned jacket (and playing a decidedly Scorpio-like character) I decided to make an exception.
Ryan Gosling was born Nov. 12, 1980 in London, Ontario (according to Wikipedia and the Internet Movie Data Base.) He has the Sun in Scorpio and the Moon in Capricorn. With just this information I can see that he is an ambitious, extremely focused and somewhat calculating individual who is serious about everything he does. With the Sun in Scorpio, he has emotional depth and gritty determination. Add to this the famous Capricorn work ethic and you have the basic ingredients for success in any field.
Gosling’s Mars/Venus profile is, on the other hand, is not nearly so serious. He has Mars in Sagittarius with Venus in Libra making him the The Starry-Eyed Love Child. Gosling has been paired with several famous women – Sandra Bullock, Rachel McAdams and Eva Mendes, to name a few – but the relationships have not lasted. With this Mars and Venus combination he is much more adept at courtship than commitment and it may be a while before he decides it’s time to settle down.
Even without a birth time, we can see transiting Saturn at work in the progress of Gosling’s career. His first big hit movie was The Notebook. It was released in 2004, the year that transiting Saturn squared his natal Saturn. Then, in 2010, when Gosling made his successful return to making movies after a three year hiatus, Saturn was conjuncting its natal place.
Gosling will have to wait until 2018 for the next Saturn aspect to his natal Saturn but, with the Moon in Capricorn, he not likely to fritter away his time. His horoscope, at least as much as we can see of it, indicates that he is a person who puts more faith in hard work than luck and this attitude should keep him at the top of his profession for quite a while.
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Guest Post: My Better Half
Linda here. I want to give kudos to "Lobster for Leos, Cookies for Capricorns," by Sabra Ricci. Ricci is an astrologer/chef who has combined her passion & expertise in both areas and pull together a noteworthy cookbook. With over 200 pages, this cookbook has a something that will please the palate of each astrological sign. But it's more than just a cookbook. It also contains information about each Zodiac sign and how that person responds to being "on duty" in the kitchen, their favorite foods, foods that are best for them, etc.
I'm a Taurus, so I immediately turned to that section. Her descriptions for Taurus, the Taurus body, troubled body parts (thyroid --- that's me!), and favorite foods was spot on. It was as if I had written the information based on my own life and loves. Incredible. The eight recipes for Taurus included food I already love and cook with, as well as some combinations I had never really considered, but now simply must put on my shopping list!
I've already tried her Zucchini Bread with Toasted Brazil Nuts today. It is amazing! I will definitely be baking that again. Brazil nuts are said to contain lots of selenium and zinc, which have health benefits for the thyroid. The next recipe I will be trying is her Butternut Squash and Wild Rice Pilaf, which, I believe, I will match up with some baked salmon and asparagus.
If you're interested, Sabra Ricci has a Facebook page and also contributes to some astrology and tarot websites.
Heading back now for my second slice of zucchini bread ...
Guest Post: My Better Half