Catherine Zeta Jones and Michael Douglas announce that they are to split.

It is not often that celebrity couples stay firmly together and one of the most enduring in Hollywood have decided to split up and take a break from living together. Catherine Zeta Jones and Michael Douglas were married in the year 2000 and if you look at a composite of their birth charts then you can track from the time that they got married all the way through to now when they are splitting up.

Catherine Zeta Jones – Seeking help following a tough year

One has to have some sympathy for the year that Catherine and her husband Michael Douglas have had to endure. Michael has ben battling throat cancer and now she has checked into a clinic to have bipolar disorder treated. As ever in astrology, it is possible to see the consequences of the stresses and strains of life as the planets circle the natal horoscope. Today I take a glimpse at Catherine’s chart, and I will explain astrologically why the planets are currently ganging up against her.

Catherine Zeta Jones was born on 25th September 1969 in Swansea, Wales at 14.40 hrs. She is a Sun Sign Libra with a gentle impressionable Moon in Pisces and a happy go lucky Sagittarius Ascendant. There are several main features on this chart, namely a grand trine, a multiple t-square and a stellium of 5 planets in the 9th house. With this stellium combined with the Sagittarius ascendant (which is associated with Jupiter and the 9th), there was always an indication that there would be a great emphasis in her life of an international nature, she would make her mark on the world. The chance of fame and fortune for her was increased as the Moon sits conjunct the Aries point, within 2 degrees of 0 degrees Aries). Whenever an important planet is conjunct 0 degrees of a cardinal sign (Aries,Cancer,Libra or Capricorn) it always a sign that somewhere along life’s path, there is the potential that one could well be in the spotlight, or there would be the chance for fame or notoriety.

The Sun is a very full 9th house, conjunct to Uranus, in wide conjunction to Pluto, Mercury and Jupiter. With it sitting in the middle of the powerful Uranus Pluto conjunction that shaped the 60’s generation, Catherine is a very intense (Pluto), independent (Uranus) lady who had a great desire to be someone special (Sun/Pluto). Mercury and Jupiter in the 9th house indicates a great thirst for knowledge, interested in the big picture rather than on details. You also might expect with Mercury conjunct Uranus that Catherine would have a clever, insightful mind. All this normally would point to her doing well at school however with Uranus in the 9th house it tends to indicate that the child’s education would be interrupted. Catherine’s school progress was always affected by her burgeoning acting career and  she left school before taking her final exams to pursue her dream of working in theatre and film, so she had to go to a private institution to catch up on her studies.

I have looked at several actors and actresses in previous articles and almost always, Neptune which rules the film and TV world is very much highlighted. With Catherine there is no exception and there are a couple of avenues where her energies are directed to creative arts. The 9th house conjunction is “anchored” in opposition and in Jupiter’s case by quindecile to the Moon in the communicative 3rd house in creative Pisces ruled by Neptune. The Moon here shows need in a chart, and the overriding need for Catherine with the Moon affecting all of the planets on the chart except Saturn was to be creative and to communicate these emotions and creative urges. The Moon in Pisces is tender hearted and fragile yet the emotions that Catherine would experience would be intense and over the top (Moon/Jupiter), transformational (Moon/Pluto), personal (Moon/Sun) and unpredictable (Moon/Uranus). It is also musical and unsurprisingly Catherine sang as a child onstage with the Church amateur theatre group, and did tap dancing and ballet.

The Moon, the store of all this emotion forms a t-square with Mars at the point, widely conjunct the ascendant and a wedge pattern trine with Neptune which makes a sextile back to Pluto. Looking at Mars first, Catherine will be a pro-active type of person and a lady always in a hurry, with the connection between the warrior planet and the ascendant. In Capricorn, Catherine knows that personal success is hard won, and she will work diligently to achieve all her goals. She will have a serious attitude to keeping herself in shape and Mars would push her to make the most of her creative talents and would intensify her desire to make an impact internationally. I can imagine with squares from Mars to the Moon, Mercury, Uranus, Sun and Pluto that Catherine could be a difficult person to be associated with. Don’t be fooled by that jovial, Sagittarius ascendant, Catherine would be difficult and irritable with a nasty unpredictable temper if the mood took her, and quite difficult to live with in general.

Mars is part of a grand trine formation with Venus in careful Virgo in the hidden 8th house and Saturn in the 4th house of home. Grand trines are insular in nature, there show show a store of self-sufficiency against the troubles faced in life, something you can turn inwards to when things are going wrong elsewhere. Mars trine to Venus is romantic and harmonious and with Venus in careful Virgo in the 8th house we can say that Catherine would be careful and selective with whom she would have a relationship with, but once she made up her mind, that relationship would be deep and meaningful. Catherine takes her permanent relationships very seriously.

Saturn part of the grand trine is retrograde. This is always an indicator that the love from the father was missing in some way; either her father was away for some time, or he was overly harsh and strict. Saturn sitting in the 4th house does suggest that Catherine’s home-life was probably strict and rather conservative in nature. The Moon/Uranus/Pluto/Sun/Jupiter) opposition also say that the parents may have been at cross purposes (Sun opposite Moon), she probably had an controlling (Pluto) unpredictable (Uranus) unpleasant mother although it would have been a well to do house (Moon quindecile Jupiter). I can imagine that the love required by a child from the parents was in very short supply to the young Catherine. There are two exits from the self contained grand trine through the hardworking Mars and through a square from Venus to dreamy Neptune. In essence when things were not quite right with either her relationships or at home, she would throw herself into things that she did love by furthering (Mars) her dreams of creativity  (Neptune) in an attempt  to try to escape from the pain.

The Moon/Pluto/Neptune wedge shows an insatiable drive to be creative however with the Pluto/Mars in the Virgo/Pisces health axis of the chart and Neptune ruling Pisces, the potential for emotional (Moon) breakdown (Pluto) has always existed in her chart. Any challenging transit to this axis would trigger these stored up emotional problems, transits that in the last year have hit home.

Catherine’s natal chart of late has been battered by some pretty nasty aspects. As I explained earlier, whenever the Moon/Pluto axis was activated by a big transit then her emotional health would suffer. Sure enough Uranus has been conjunct to her Moon and opposite her Sun and the rest of the 9th house stellium for the past year or so. Cancer which the Moon rules is intercepted in her 7th house of permanent partners and this indicates the the shock news (Uranus) of Michael her husband’s illness has hit her hard. Not only has this been affecting her but Jupiter which heightens her emotions so much through the natal quindecile has had depressing transiting Saturn in conjunction for the past few months. Jupiter through Sagittarius rules the chart as it is on the cusp of the ascendant, so her whole persona has been affected. Transiting Neptune is opposing Catherine’s natal Venus, putting a cloud over her relationships, bringing worry and confusion. The combined effect of these heavyweight aspects have dragged emotional Catherine into severe depression. One good thing for Catherine is that pro-active sensible Mars. Rather than dragging her down any further, Catherine has gone out to seek help to get her though the problems. She has had a distressing year and I hope both her and her husband who is continuing to recover from his cancer scare have a better time of things as the Saturn and Uranus conjunctions move away in the coming months.