I’ve always liked Princess Margaret, long dead as she is- and horrible as she definitely could be. I like the fact that she was a beautiful and also highly *difficult* woman. If you have the good fortune to be graced with beauty, you definitely shouldn’t be a doormat. Hers was a role that was merely decorative- the “spare” to the heir, as she once so wrly put it. I am very glad she obviously wasn’t content with that alone, and had the ability to be assertive in what must have been at times a dull and dreary existence.
Most of my readers surely know that she was the younger sister of Queen Elizabeth II. She was always seen, by the press, as the more beautiful and more daring sister of the two. This was charming and exciting when the Queen was still a princess, but gained a bunch of frosty frowns from a conservative society once she became Queen. However, although Margaret turned her back on a romantic entanglement that would have lost her her HRH status, she kept making waves.
Margaret was especially famous in the sixties for her scandalous love affairs, her hobnobbing with the likes of Mick Jagger and Marianne Faithfull, her lavish parties on the hideaway island of Mustique. I suppose it would be hard for the world’s press to look away from a beautiful princess who is up to so many devilish shenanigans. However, the hard partying began to take its toll, and soon things began to look a bit sad and faded. She had married a bisexual photographer, they made fools out of one another and eventually got divorced. As the years wore on, she became more and more reclusive until she died in the early 2000s. She never shut herself away entirely, however- she always took a strong interest in the arts, especially ballet.
What interested me about her chart was the fact that she has her Big Three (Sun, Moon and Rising) in their signs of domicile- Sun in Leo, Moon in Cancer, Ascendant in Aries. Once I saw this, I had to take a closer look. No wonder she made such a splash in life!
There are two things that draw my attention here right from the beginning. The first of these is Moon-Pluto in Cancer in the fifth house. The Moon sextiles Mercury, but otherwise makes no other aspects.
Moon-Pluto is an indicator of extremely intense emotions, and the Moon in Cancer is of course in domicile. Here is someone who feels deeply- painfully deeply. They also have a double shell around themselves- not only the shell of the crab, but the shell of the scorpion as well! This person could wound, sting, bite and hurt when cornered, or when she felt cornered. No two ways about that, and I believe she would have had intense insights into people’s characters. With the Moon-Pluto conjunction sextile a penetrating and insightful Mercury in Virgo in the 6th house, this is someone with a deep and perhaps hyper-rational perspective into people’s truths. I think she could judge quite intensely with this combination, especially with the Moon-Pluto being in a fixed house. However, did she know that her judgements of others were based on the judgements she made about herself?
Moon-Pluto in the 5th, especially for a Leo, would assuage itself emotionally through the acclaim of others- but also through the creative arts. Here is, as well, the desperate drive to be a mother- and she was, a very loving mother to her children. I think those children would have been very much HERS as well, not her husband’s, not anyone else’s! She would have made sure that they grew up empathetic and creative, much like herself.
The second thing I noticed is that her chart ruler is in the third house, trine a sixth house Neptune in Virgo, sextile a sixth house Leo Sun and square that Virgo Mercury. This is someone with a very great intelligence, that can sometimes be frittered away in bad habits- maybe drinking or overeating. Neptune is conjunct the Sun, and we know that her father’s death affected her greatly. Maybe she was never very easy in her mind, and that Mars square Mercury (ascerbic and aggressive remarks) was only the attempt to regain control over a sense of self gone completely out the window… Between her Sun conjunct Neptune and her Moon conjunct Pluto, she is emotionally volatile with an unhealthy ego infected with the projections and attitudes of anyone near her. She feels she has no purpose in life.
Saturn is in Capricorn in the tenth house trine Neptune, the Sun and opposite Jupiter in Cancer in the fourth house. Here is a firm indicator of tremendous ancestral wealth (Jupiter in Cancer in the 4th) and enormous public resposibility (Saturn in Capricorn in the tenth) crossing the person’s life, for good or for ill. Saturn is being supportive to her Sun, although her escapist Neptune dissolves its effects somewhat. This person becomes more of a tabloid illusion than a being of fact.
Venus is in the 7th in Libra (along with the South Node) opposite Uranus in the 1st. This person’s strong individualistic streak will absolutely drag her away from her comfort zone, which is the nice marriage and everyone around her pleased and happy. She is too much of a tyrant and a tearaway in her own energy to stay settled in ambiguity- which is what her soul needs in this lifetime, as indicated by her North Node.
Chiron is in the first house, in Taurus. I only use very close orbs for Chiron, so I’m not going to count anything as aspecting it. Tradition, the Hierophant, has a real grasp on this person’s drive for change and to express themselves creatively and intellectually. It is as Gore Vidal once said- “she is too intelligent for her station in life”. However, as Chiron is not merely the wound that never heals but the wound that heals others- she is able to use her spotlight to nurture and influence the world of the arts, the deep desire expressed by her Moon-Pluto, her Leo Sun conjunct Neptune and her Libra south node.
Looking at essential dignity, there are so many extremely strong planets here. Saturn, the Moon, the Sun, Mercury, the Ascendant and Venus are all in their sign of domicile. In her character, these are the forces that shine the most brightly. If we are going to ascribe essential dignity to Neptune, it would make sense for Neptune in Virgo to be in detriment, especially in the sixth house.
She has a T-square to her Jupiter in the fourth, and that Neptune afflicts her Sun and her Saturn- as I have already noted. This, to me, is highly telling. Not only do we have someone who is highly proud of her station in life despite being anchored down by it- we also have an inveterate cynic. Hugely and enormously sensitive as she would have been, perhaps cynicism is the only way to survive in such an environment, once the death of the father makes the doom of one’s future certain.
Green Lady Astrology 