Murder synastry- Selena Quintanilla-Perez and Yolanda Saldivar.

Today I found myself thinking about the murder of a celebrity that took place when I was a child. I have no idea why I was thinking about it, but I do know now that astrology can answer many of the questions I had back then, with great clarity.

Selena was a beautiful Mexican-American singer, whose death by shooting catapulted her to even greater fame. She was shot by the manager of her fan club, Yolanda Saldivar, who had recently been accused by the singer of embezzling funds. The killer is still in prison today, hated and vilified by legions of people shocked by Selena’s death.

It is a crazy story. There were rumours of an intense relationship between the two- perhaps a little too intense. Saldivar is an unattractive-looking woman, who was rumoured to burn votive candles to Selena, to have her bedroom covered in posters of the singer. She was said to have left fifteen voicemail messages on the singer’s answerphone before they met, begging to be allowed to set up her fan club. No wonder the story got to be so big- these titillating hints of lesbian obsession were deeply shocking and engaging in the nineties, especially to what can be a relatively conservative community. Even I want to know the truth! What is it? What really happened? Who was obsessed, was it jealousy, lust, greed?

To find the answer to these questions, let’s begin by looking at the charts individually.

I have no birth time for Yolanda Saldivar, so the information I can glean from her chart is relatively limited. However, I think I have found quite a lot:

She is a Virgo, with the Moon in Virgo as well. She also has heavy Libra energy. This is someone who wants to be well-regarded, seen as perfect. Her Moon is conjunct Pluto, the North Node and trine to Neptune. Despite the stabilising influence of a nice trine to Saturn, this person may be out of the loop emotionally. There is a black hole of worry that eats away at her. That Moon is crying desperately for approval- perhaps for her own mother’s approval- and gets lost in its own projections and concealments. Anyone who does anything around Yolanda does it for reasons she herself is damn sure about, Yolanda knows that so-and-so did not smile at her this morning because she secretly hates her, just like her mother secretly hated her. And she will go crazy trying to figure out ways to change how that person sees her.

Moon-Pluto will always have intense, love-hate relationships with other women. There can be terrifying meltdowns and fits of rage. The inner world is intense, and full of many secrets.

Her Sun in Virgo forms the focal point of a T-square to Jupiter and Mars. Jupiter is in domicile in Sagittarius, and forms an opposition to Mars in Gemini- which is one of the signs of detriment for Jupiter. Jupiter forms a sextile to Venus in Libra, and a trine to Uranus in Leo.

This could definitely be someone with narcissistic traits. They want to live large, shine, and have lots of nice things- and they deeply believe in their own righteousness. However, they go completely the wrong way about asserting it. They might be drawn to inflate the truth, and dominate others with their views and beliefs- while failing themselves to live up to them. For this person, all that matters is that they *seem* great, and that they can persuade *themselves* of their own greatness. The inner compass itself is crooked and confused. The Virgo energy in connexion to all of this will lead this person to cook, clean, bow, scrape, be a servant to everyone- and if this does not meet with the recognition and the gratitude that the person requires in order to feel worthy, that touches on an inner sore spot and triggers a cataclysm of rage that feels fully justified to this individual.

Saturn square to Venus and Mercury definitely points to jealous tendencies. Saturn is in domicile as well. Under all the concealments and toadying and hankering after wealth is someone who deeply believes they are unworthy, at their core. It is sad to see, as this person could indeed have creative gifts as well. Perhaps that is why she attached herself so strongly to a creative light, one that shone so much brighter than hers?

Now for Selena’s chart!

The first thing I notice here is Venus in Pisces at the apex of a kite configuration, in the first house. The North Node is in the first, as well- while the Sun is in Aries (ruler of the first house).

This is someone who shines incredibly brightly to others, but is almost dysfunctionally trusting in others, as well. There is so much Venus energy here! With a grand Earth trine, comfort and sensuality is a perogative. This person just wants everyone to have a good time, they DO enjoy the admiration of others- they don’t want any quarreling or discomfort. That Aries Sun will stick its nose out and get into fights, however- and it won’t back down easily. This is a fun-loving person who prefers to turn her back on ugliness and conflict.

The Moon in Sagittarius is like this as well- refuses to look at ugly realities, likes to look on the bright side and have a good time. Moon in Sag can be self-righteous, overly blunt and perhaps a little callous- which is well reflected in Mercury RX in Taurus conjunct the Sun in Aries. This might be someone who can come out with some harsh words.

More than anything, this is an extremely honest person. There is no deception in this chart, which is in stark contrast to the other chart. That Moon in Sag trine Mercury RX in Taurus and that Sun in Aries doesn’t know how to be dishonest, and Jupiter RX conjunct Neptune RX in the 12th house may be somewhat overly proud of the fact, while at the same time preferring peace to conflict.

There are definite power struggles in this chart, as well. The Moon forms the focal point of a T-square to Pluto and Venus- Selena also suffered problems with her mother, although not to the extent Yolanda Saldivar would have suffered them. There is almost an internal, eternal battle within this person who *knows* the truth in a situation, but would find it much more peaceful to ignore it. Maybe speaking out and being a loudmouth got this one in trouble as a child. This dynamic plays out throughout life as power struggles with women, mirroring the initial power struggle with the mother. Pluto opposes Venus as well, which further underscores this dynamic. Her whole generation would have played push and pull, cat and mouse with her.

Mars in the 12th house is a lot of concealed anger. With the square to the Sun, this is someone who can blow up when she is not able to channel and control it through the trine it makes to Pluto. Aries is known to have a short fuse.

On the day she was shot, what did she say to Yolanda? I bet those were some pretty tough words, that cut the killer to the core by revealing her deceptions…

Now for the actual synastry!

What a mess! First of all, I notice Mars square Venus in a tight orb- Selena being Mars, Yolanda being Venus. Mars is, of course, Selena’s ruling planet. It is also poorly placed and its energies somewhat locked, when in the 12th house.

This, to me, definitely represents an unequal dynamic, something that started out well but ended up becoming uncomfortable. For Selena, it possibly began to bring up some hidden anger and resentment that she felt uncomfortable expressing, which would have started to sour the relationship.

The 8th house overlay is very telling, as well. Yolanda’s Sun, Mercury and Venus all overlay Selena’s 8th house, which contains Pluto and Uranus. Selena was already prone to intense, controlling dynamics in her life and this definitely fits the bill. The 8th house represents shared resources, so there is definitely money changing hands between the two- definitely illicitly, given the tendency for this to happen in Selena’s life indicated by the two malefic planets here. Uranus in the 8th can, incidentally, also indicate a sudden death.

Selena’s 8th house Pluto is conjunct Yolanda’s Sun. Yolanda’s Moon, Pluto, Uranus and North Node all fall within Selena’s 7th house- which contains Selena’s South Node. In some way or another, Yolanda is conceived by Selena to be her perfect friend, the one she is dreaming of. Her nature feeds the star’s Venusian qualities, and helps her feel at ease and supported. Perhaps Yolanda’s toadying nature pleased the star’s Leo south node, which can represent a deep need to feel admired and appreciated by others.

Selena’s chart ruler (Uranus) also squares Yolanda’s Saturn, and conjuncts her ruling planet of Mercury. This is mirrored by Yolanda’s Uranus trining Selena’s Sun, and squaring her Saturn. These two definitely brought fame and infamy to one another- through Selena’s sudden death at Yolanda’s hands, represented by Yolanda’s ruling planet conjunct Selena’s chart ruler in Selena’s 8th house of death, sex, secrets, shared finances.

Mars square Pluto is an aspect of violence. Pluto is controlling, Mars is violent- in very general terms. Selena, being Pluto, did have power over Yolanda. She was actually her boss, which Yolanda would have resented, under her facade of “born to please, born to serve”.

When Selena laid down the law and asserted her power, Yolanda (given her issues) would have blown that all out of proportion. Her Mars at 29 degrees does struggle to express itself, but when it does- can hit like a tornado. This woman telling her bluntly to her face that she lied, cheated, stole- would have represented all the unworthiness she strove desperately to conceal, coming up and threatening to drag her down.

A lot of these aspects are seen as sexual aspects, but I do not think there was necessarily anything sexual between the two. The two Venuses are inconjunct- meaning they find very little common ground with one another’s personal sense of beauty. Mars square Venus, Mars opposite Moon indicate a difficulty in reaching one another in this particular way. Although it may scandalise some of my readers, I will say that both charts reveal a possibility that either could be into women- a 12th house Mars and 8th house Uranus and Pluto (for Selena) point to secrets around sexuality and somewhat “different” sexual desires. For Yolanda, I don’t have quite enough information to call it, although Moon-Pluto just on its own can represent obsessive relationships with women.

Yolanda says to this day that she has information about Selena, some kind of secret. She said once that it was in a safety deposit box in Mexico, which turned out to be a lie. Maybe she knows that Selena liked girls? Maybe not her… but some girls, perhaps! Perhaps Yolanda may be gloating over that, telling herself internally that it is worse to be gay than it is to be a killer, and therefore she isn’t quite as bad as others think she is!

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