Beneath the Sparkle

ASTRO-PROFILE MEGHANMARKLE

Deborah Houlding

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Deborah Houlding

MEGHANMARKLE: BENEATHTHE SPARKLE

There’s powerful drama in Meghan Markle’s horoscope, andpotentconfigurations expressedthrough contradictory themes. With a regal1st house Sun in Leo, ineasy sextile to Jupiter – strong by angularity on the IC – Meghan might consider a ‘behind the scenes’ role, but never a back-seat one. The expansive nature of thatSun-Jupiterdynamicmixes charm, attractiveness, radiance,andconfidencewithan aura of cordiality, and gives instinctivealignment with appreciation of one’sownself-worth

“I think the biggest part of being a girl boss in the office, at home or anywhere you go is just knowing your value ”– Meghan Markle

A prominent champion of women’s rights, falling into ‘girl-boss’ mode is easy for Markle, although some who experienced her ‘bossiness’ complain about a domineering attitude and lack of sensitivity Long-standing (disputed) allegations of bullying staff and precociously demanding privileges are breaking news again this month, with the release of Tom Bower’s darkly titled biography, Revenge.

Whether true or exaggerated by the ill-will of those that have been close to her, Meghan’s horoscope does show that an affable air masks strong will and tenacious determination, and that leanings towards self-preservation are underpinned by (possibly justified) fears and insecurities. With her MCruler, Mars, fallen in Cancer in the debilitating 12th house, both the suffering and employment of adverse propaganda and negative manipulation seem embossed into matters of public persona. And with Mars conjunct Uranus on the cusp of the 11th house in her 2022 solar return, more shocks and experiences of betrayal from friends are set to emerge in the year ahead. There are plenty of joyous themes in the solar return too, but let’s first consider why her natal chart is not portraying Meghan as the light, breezy, Libran-Moon character the popular media astrologers would have us believe

Despite her bright vivacity, comfort with celebrity, and easy, open manner of expression before the camera, the ‘under the Earth’ emphasis of Megan’s nativity shows a much deeper and introspective person than appears on the surface. All her personal planets are within 90° of each other in the (mostly sunken) eastern hemisphere: she is essentially inward-focused and looking to work ‘ on herself’ and through her own interests, although there is no doubt that marriage to Harry is tremendously important, with her 1st-ruler Moon conjunct the 7th-ruler and dominated by it (the 7thruler could hardly get more ‘princely’ than being the most superior planet, exalted, conjunct Jupiter)

“Overall I came across the impression of a woman who was very intelligent, very determined, very ambitious, but also ruthless”– Tom Bower 1

“ I just didn’t want to be alive anymore and that is a very clear and real and frightening constant thought ”– Meghan Markle

And yes, she is very Libran, butoh sovery Saturnian Libran – Saturn, in its own exaltation and term, is the hour ruler and the most dignified and powerful planet in her chart, disposing her Moon and angular Jupiter as it dominates them by conjunction, in sextile to her Sun and partile sextile with Mercury, which it disposes by term and face. Of all the angles, only the 7th cusp is governed by a strong, dignified planet, showing the phenomenal influence Harry has in her life – Saturn is a perfect significator for him, since it rules his Capricorn ascendant and dominates his nativity by its placement on his MC (at 12° Scorpio, which in close sextile toMeghan’s MC-ruler, Mars). But enough about Harry –he isn’t the reason for her strong and powerful Saturn, he isjust one of the manifestations of it.

Before looking at other Saturnian manifestations, consider the Saturn-Jupiter conjunction that the Moon brings focus to, which had perfected a few days before Meghan’s birth, at 5°16 Libra British astrologers made a fuss about that conjunction at the time, because it roseontheascendant of the marriage of Prince Charles and Lady Diana six days earlier. At the wedding event, the Moon was conjoined to Mars, which was on the MC at 8° Cancer, squaring the ascendant and Saturn-Jupiter conjunction with a very unpleasant aspect Still, the media astrologers of the daywaxed lyrical about the wonderful omenthe Saturn-Jupiterconjunctionpresentedfor the future of the monarchy – and the thrill of this beingin sextile to an impending total solar eclipsein the royal sign of Leo! (The eclipse fellat 7°51Leoon31st July 1981 – two days after the royal weddingbut exactly upon its ascendant, and four days before Meghan’s birth).At such a happy time, no astrologer seemed to want tomention the possibility that a solar eclipse in a royal sign presaged a shadow event for the monarchy.

It'sworth keeping that solar eclipsein mind when considering how Meghanplaces herselfwithin the British royal family. She was born at a time when, superficially, everything ‘in the air’ was lovely, pretty, jubilant and flower-filled, but the happy merriment was false, external, masking inner discontent and emotional anguish that weighedheavy beneath the surface.

We could now goin manydirections exploring parallels and continuations of dharma, karma and drama between Meghan and Diana, or Meghan and Wallis Simpson, the earlier American divorcee forwhom Edward VIII abdicated the throne in 1936 Wallis Simpson’s Moon, at 21° Libra, had an exact Mars opposition and exactly aligns with Meghan’s Plutoat 21 Libra Wallis’s Jupiter, at 8° Leo, falls exactly on the degree of the solar eclipse that was bracketed by the royal wedding that took place a couple of days earlier, and the birth of the womanwho wouldhave her own royal wedding 36 years later. Thirty sixyears later: three Jupiter cycles passed before Meghan married her prince, who came in the form of an exalted Saturn. The wedding of Harry and Meghan took place as the north node returned to 8° Leo, reactivating that 1981 eclipse, which bore the imprint of Wallis’s Jupiter. Diana was Jupiter ruled natally, born under the preceding Saturn-Jupiter conjunction of 1961; aged 36 herself when she died so unexpectedly. Jupiter returns bring big prospects for expansion, but those who have Jupiter dominated by Saturn natally never experience such events without itsominousshadow.

Could some grand Orphic melodrama be playing out via various lives that are woven together in the fabric of the cosmos? Astrologically we would have to conclude so – I have not even begun to detail the many ways in which the experiences of Diana and Meghan united, even though they never met. Meghan, in fact, has British royal DNA in her own genes, as her page on Astro.com reports her father’s line of descent from King Edward III, the 14th-century king who led England into the Hundred Years’ War with France. (Descendants of his 12 children contested the throne for generations, climaxing in the Wars of the Roses in the 15th century.) Is this relevant? Who knows.

My purpose was really to draw your eye to the dominating influence of Saturn in Meghan’s nativity: a particularly loaded planet because it is not only the attention-grabbing 7th-ruler but also the ruler of the 8th house, of “feare and anguish of minde” (CA, p.54). Then look again at the miserable state of her debilitated 10th-ruler: a naturally malefic planet in the worst state possible, seemingly moving on from the square of Saturn-Jupiter, but about to be presented with all the issues those planets embody through the applying square of the Moon, from Libra, another sign of Mars’s debility.

Now we get some sense of the hopelessness, fear, perception of prosecution, and out-of-her-depth feeling that can surround Meghan at times; and how these appear to come from sinister directions, and hidden, background forces. There are many indications of conflict surrounding her, but these are not battles that she is able to confront and deal with directly. When Mars-in-Cancer-12th type people need to fight, they do it subtly, indirectly, perhaps ineffectively, perhaps dirtily. Mars is an active planet for Meghan (Moon’s applying square) but not an effective one. Meghan uses her Mars behind the scenes, but not to her strength, and whilever she locks into that Mars she remains trapped in the cycle of feeling victimised yet being accused by those who mistake her defensiveness for aggression. According to Alcabitius, Saturn in a night-time chart offers signification of the father. Meghan’s painful relationship with her father is well documented, and this nativity clearly speaks of broken-hearted, trauma-filled 4th house themes Besides the presence of Pluto within it, 4th-ruler Venus is debilitated in its sign of fall, acting as a very ineffective dispositor of Saturn. Its placement on the 3rd house cusp shows the strange letter-writing relationship between them is part of long-standing remoteness and not some novel experience that occurred after marrying Harry. Her parents divorced when she was six years old, during the period in which Uranus conjoined her natal Neptune, and no doubt those feelings of abandonment, disturbance and confusion continue to surface and haunt her at times when she feels besieged and alienated from support. With Mars and Saturn so badly connected in her nativity, Meghan ought to learn how to prepare for times when they get activated by bad transits. It was in January 2019, as transiting Saturn opposed her natal Mars, and transiting Mars opposed her natal Saturn, that pregnant Meghan came very close to acting on a decision to commit suicide. At the same time, the Sun joined Pluto as it transited her descendant, so there was a perfect line-up of catastrophic transit connections in her chart. Thoughts of Diana, and not wanting Harry to suffer the sudden death of a pregnant wife in the way that he

Deborah Houlding

Deborah Houlding

suffered the sudden death of his mother, provided a bridge between impulse and realisation, and she reached out to Harry to help her through the period on 19th January, as Mars came to the 11th degree ofAries on hermidheaven, allowing her to break through and expose the hidden torment. Meghan’s bombshell interview with Oprah Winfrey was recorded on 7th March 2021. At that time Pluto was still within 2° of her descendant and Saturn was in the 10th degree of Aquarius, directly opposing her natal Sun. With herSun on the midpoint of her afflicted MC-IC rulers, evaluating these traumas are part of Meghan’s route todiscovering herself. Venus on the 3rd cusp, disposed by combust Mercury, shows she gets some relief by sharing her heartaches with the media, but Venus being in fall and aspectingMars in fall leaves susceptibilityto media attacks, even when part of the media swings in her favour.

Despite all the evidence of charm, beauty, celebrity and popularity, Meghan’s chart is difficult, with its many points of vulnerability and strain But that Saturn, challenging as it is, provides anextraordinary feature of her chart – a detail that could lead to incredible endurance and strength, providing she realises that her chart shows a need to withdraw from public gaze on a regular basis, and providing she can learn from its lessons and master its trials.

It seems she is wising up nicely: “As you get older, you become more comfortable in your skin and comfortable in saying no to things...I’ve also learned that saying no is just as valuable as saying yes. It’s something that, I think, comes with age and really having a sense of your self-worth. And then you make choices based on that.”– Meghan Markle

DeborahHoulding

ExtractedfromSkyscriptNewsletter,#1,August2022

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