How the Planets Show Up in Your Love Life

Venus is about to enter Libra and love is on my mind. I wanted to share how each planetary archetype can show up in your love life. Venus and the Moon are the primary focus when starting to delineate what a chart has to say about romantic relationships. And that is completely fair, as the Moon and Venus tend to show up quite loudly in interpersonal relationships. But each of the planets can play a key function in describing the quality of your relationships, how you show up in them, what you desire, etc. You have all of the planets in your chart, after all, and you are bringing ALL of who you are into a relationship too. This archetypal briefer is also good for getting a grapple on the sign these planets happen to be in for you. For example, do you have Venus in Gemini? Then the archetypes of Mercury can play a large role in your romantic relationships, as Mercury rules Gemini. Even more, we all have a 7th house in our charts, the house that describes one-on-one relationships. If you have Saturn in the 7th house, looking only to the placements of your Moon or Venus, which may not be in your 7th house, can keep from you crucial information about how Saturn shows up in love. Let’s get into each planet, the traditional 7 first, rounded out with our 3 modern planets.

Sun: The Sun describes how we can feel seen in relationships. The Sun in your love life may ask that your relationships allow independent growth, that your partner even encourage this growth. These relationships provide and require nourishment for both individuals to go off and be their most authentic selves. In relationship, the Sun plays a role in understanding the self through the other and incorporating all that you experience into the refinement of your character. The Sun wants you to find someone who spotlights your spark.

Moon: The Moon describes our inner most and sometimes subconscious needs for comfort and security. The Moon in your love life shows up as automatic impulses to protect and nourish the feeling body and foster emotional wellbeing. In relationship, the Moon seeks to get these foundational needs met through the other, and through the bond of the relationship itself. The Moon also describes the instinct we have about others, and the sometimes-magical leap of logic it takes it fall in love or get swept off your feet. The Moon wants you to find someone who sees the true you, and who nourishes it.

Mercury: Mercury describes our cerebral processing, our communication style, and how we mentally organize our way through life. Mercury in your love life can show communication style, the topics that matter to you, and the most basic perceptual way you see the world. In relationship, Mercury wants to plan, to bounce ideas off of people, to feel understood and uniquely intelligent, and to banter in ways that support conflict-resolution and connection. Mercury wants you to find someone who can meet your mind.

Venus: Venus describes what we find attractive, what we value, the style of relating we have, and the temperament behind your social self. Venus in your love life obviously shows you what you love, not only in another person, but what you love in a relationship, in courting, in flirting, etc. Venus also shows what you love in yourself, what needs to be valued and cherished by the other person. In relationship, Venus describes how we relate to others—if we need space, if we need gifts or if we need physical affection. Venus wants you to find someone who truly loves and values exactly what you bring to the table. 

Mars: Mars describes passion, how we actually put action behind what we value and desire, how we find it. Mars in your love life can show what activates you, what triggers a need to chase or be around a person. Maybe it is their mind, maybe it is how they interact with children, maybe it’s purely sexual. Mars galvanizes us into action. In relationship, it can show us why excitement waxes or wanes, what angers someone, our comfort-level with danger or spontaneity, and/or the physical component of attraction. Mars wants you to find someone who makes you feel alive.

Jupiter: Jupiter describes our high mind, faith systems and beliefs. It also shows us where we like to feel expanded, perhaps where we have a talent, or what we need in order to stoke joy and awe. In relationship, Jupiter wants to grow, to take up space, to share worldviews and culture. Jupiter as a planet associated with philosophy can also show us the worldviews we vibe with in another, and Jupiter as a planet of academia can show up as partners who share a similar educational background. Jupiter seeks wisdom through partnerships and requires a teachability in us. Jupiter wants you to find someone who you can learn from and with.

Saturn: Saturn describes our relationship to discipline, long-term planning, and the ability to withstand challenge and lack. In relationship, Saturn seeks reliability. Saturn is called relationship glue. It is a planet that enjoys firm foundations, of which no relationship worth its salt is ever without. Saturn is also the planet of boundaries and respect, of long-term viability, and monogamy. Saturn wants you to find someone who sticks with you through thick and thin, and respect your needs.

Uranus: Uranus describes excitability and fascination with the other. Uranus is akin to Cupid’s bow—out of nowhere, you have become lovestruck. Conversely, Uranus can also describe our desire for space, autonomy, and cooler more informal bonds. In relationship, Uranus requires a long leash, either in physical spaces, or in mental ones—Uranus loves a radical idea and the forward momentum of thought. Uranus wants you to find someone that lets you color outside the lines.

Neptune: Neptune describes our ideals, our imagination, and our personal fairytale and fantasy. If you relate, Neptune is the planet that dreams of marriage far before it’s ever a viable option. Neptune is a planet that dissolves, requiring a sense of merging and devotion in relationships, whether sexually, emotionally, or spiritually. Neptune heals and can look for healing in others which is sublime when it works out. Other times, Neptune enters in as a sense of distorted reality, or as the victim-savior complex. This is where those Saturn boundaries act as antidote. Neptune wants you to find someone who reminds you of the magic in the world.

Pluto: Pluto is a planet of control, transformative experiences, and crisis-induced regeneration. In relationship, Pluto is first and foremost looking for intensity, the kind that penetrates the soul, the bone marrow. Pluto brings in a type of all-or-nothing attitude that can both acquaint the relationship to its own strength or destroy the relationship all-together. Pluto requires unapologetic honesty and tends to draw out the ugly parts of the individuals in the relationship. Those focused and willing to transform these ugly bits together are rewarded with life-changing intimacy. Pluto wants you to find someone who will hold your hand to hell and back.

The Houses as Famous Films

I was thinking about how Harry Potter/Hogwarts is the perfect encapsulation of 9th house themes: magic, the hero's journey, traveling far from home, learning new things and getting that coveted acceptance letter, adventures, etc. Then I started to think if there were other films that could come to represent the significations of the other houses and why.

This is just a fun exercise to start thinking more about the houses, so feel free to comment your own below, to disagree, agree, or just ponder the resonance.

Here's what I came up with and why:

First House: It feels lazy to start out on this note, but, literally any biographical or autobiographical film. When the life, personality, identity and purpose of a person is front and center, it's a first house "me"--oriented film. Any film with a protagonist, really, has to be a first house film because we are the leads of our own stories. For the purposes of this post, a film like The Perks of Being a Wallflower about the formative years that shape identity, or even Identity Thief, a comedy about literal identity theft, are what came to mind.

Second House: Confessions of a Shopaholic. Well, this is easy. The main character has a shopping problem, and the entire movie is about how she mismanages her money, and places disproportional importance on material things. Of course, this lands her in debt, there a foibles around her misplacing and selling expensive goods, bartering, and otherwise is a cute and campy film about how one uses their belongings. I also thought of Hustlers--a group of women out to get rich and subvert the status quo against the backdrop of The Great Recession (2nd house - 8th house polarity).

Third House: Neighbors. For this house, it would have been easy to find a film about writing or a vlogger or siblings. But if there is any house a raunchy family comedy belongs to it's the third. In this film, a fraternity moves next door to a normal suburban family with a new infant daughter. Hijinks ensue. The people who live next-door to us is a third house signification, as is trickery, and petty sibling-like rivalries (frat brother, sorority sister)

Fourth House: Home Alone. This film, from what I remember, is literally about the home, defending it from invaders. The home itself is a character in the film. But it also touches on themes of family, how we fit in in it, how we dislike or learn to appreciate it. The alone in Home Alone is also a nod to the privacy of the 4th house--our inner-most psychology, our private life, who we are when no one is looking.

Fifth House: Leaving Las Vegas. This is more a cautionary 5th house theme. A man who goes to Vegas to drink himself to death, and meeting up with a woman who enables it, while he enables her and her own vices. Vegas kind of symbolically represents, to me, the exacerbation of human pleasures: where people go famously to shop, eat , drink, gamble, have fun. I also thought of The Hangover. (LLV also reminded me of the self-sabotage of the 12th, but via doing 5th house things).

Sixth House: 9 to 5. The title of the move itself is a 6th house theme--boring day to day work, clocking in and clocking out. Though the film has feminist themes that are far broader than the 6th, the impetus for the characters' disillusion and plot to kill their boss comes from office life--having a slave-driving and misogynistic boss and feeling unfulfilled. I also thought of Office Space and The Devil Wears Prada, where the work environment played heavily in the plot.

Seventh House: Like the first house, a seventh house film feels ubiquitous and hard to pin. Relationships to other people is the underpinning, for example, of every romantic comedy. For this house I searched for films told through second person narrative with an omnipresent narrator, and landed upon the film Life Itself, where we get to know the characters not through their own words, but through the words and perspective of an onlooker. This is a seventh house theme, where our lives can be distilled through the perspective of another, or an objective counter-person. The film itself (pun intended) is about the intricate web of coincidental relationships formed to other people over generations as a result of a tragic accident.

Eight House: Now You See Me. Illusions, magic tricks, and diversions are an 8th house theme to me because it replies upon keeping people in the dark, unable to know how or why things happen. There can be a line drawn from this to the occult, which is a famous 8th house theme. In this film, magicians use their savvy and mystique to redirect money--out of the bank accounts of corrupt rich people, and into the hands of people in their audience. (Also: The Prestige).

Ninth House: Harry Potter, as explained above.

Tenth House: The Founder. Any movie about building a massive empire carries with it the aspirational themes of the 10th house. Of course there are smaller ways we accomplish 10th house things, but they aren't movie material! This movie is about how Ray Kroc built up what we know now as the omnipresent McDonald's chain because of his franchising idea and emphasis on efficiency. He moved from struggling salesman to billionaire.

Eleventh House: The Social Network. This one is fairly obvious! It is about the creation of Facebook, and touches upon the inception of a company that connects people worldwide. Ok, Camille, this is lazy--I hear you thinking it. Milk, the story of openly gay politician Harvey Milk who was a springboard for gay rights and helped San Francisco turn into the LGBTQ+ mecca it became. Stories of social movements, politicians, campaigning, and human rights belong to the 11th house, or where we go to make changes in and simply participate as members of the human community, be it a city or the world at large.

Twelfth House: Inception. This movie famously blurred the lines between what is dream and what is reality, and explored the human subconscious and how it motivates decision making. It also had themes of extradition, or moving to a foreign land to avoid arrest, themes of loss and suicide, and visually portrayed how the human mind collects memories and trauma.

What do you think? Of course many of these films can fit elsewhere, as can other unmentioned films fit here as well.

The Astrology of Weight Loss ft. Adele

This post has nothing to do with my opinions on her weight loss, or her weight at all. No value judgments. Just objective observations ft. astrology.

1. Some predispositions for indulgence/weight issues for Adele: Sun conj Jupiter in Taurus (Lizzo has this as well, and so does food-loving comedian Jim Gaffigan), and Moon in Sag. Much is said of the Taurus appetite, but Jupiter is the planet of true indulgence, going overboard, etc. Now put all that in Taurus... Her Moon in Sag (Jupiter again) is also in her 6th house of diet. Her 2nd house (which rules over material possession and sustenance i.e. food) is Leo, ruled over by this Sun. So there is a theme of using food to feel secure, deriving confidence from 2nd house themes. Jupiter/Sun also opposes Pluto, so eating for a sense of control.

2. Adele started her weight loss journey during her Saturn Return, as all big changes tend to happen during this period! Her natal chart, rated B (so more than likely reliable), has her Saturn in Cap in the 7th sitting in a direct opposition to her ASC in Cancer. So anything that happens to Saturn invariably affects her appearance as well. Adele also celebrated a divorce during this period, freeing her up to work on herself. Saturn is the planet of restriction, and its transits have a lot to do with weight loss. Thin and grim planet.

3. Adele was in a 6th house profection year when she started her weight loss journey, finished a 7th and 8th house year, and is now in a 9th house year, having celebrated her 32nd bday a few days ago. The 6th house year is where we can establish new health routines. Her ruler of the 6th, Jupiter conj. her Sun, and her Moon, in Sag, were all planets at play. The Moon being comfort, Sun being identity, and Jupiter being excess--perhaps Adele had a realization about her health and weight and her relationship to food. The Sun in the mix, very visible in the 11th, means, of course, opinions from the public at large about her. Her weight loss is very much an identity overhaul, for better and worse.

Everyone undergoing their Saturn Return experiences a 6th house year. That is why Saturn Returns often become about getting better, healthier, and establishing productive habits. That is why Saturn Returns are also often about responsibility and duty--themes of the 6th. Planets and rulers of the 6th very by chart, as do the flavors of the SR.

3 cont'd) Adele's 7th house year was a compounding activation of Saturn. She was in her SR, in a Capricorn 7th year, with Saturn in Capricorn. With Mars in Aquarius, Mars was also activated because Saturn rules Aquarius. Mars adds in the willpower component,. It also trines her Venus, so the pursuits of Mars aid in feeling beautiful for her. And then when she entered her 8th house year, Mars was activated again, ruling over her 5th house Scorpio (remember her Pluto Jupe opposition above), and her 10th house Aries. Her 8th house year, 2019, is when she would show off her results, posting sporadically to Instagram. That's a 10th house activation. Maybe the 5th house activation is that she was always photographed at parties, at the beach, and just having hella fun.

4) Adele has Venus in Gemini opposite her Moon in Sag. That's kind of an obvious indicator that her relationship to food and her sense of beauty and esteem are always at odds. She's stated that she's felt very insecure about her weight. Venus in the 12th can also be why her love life is often very private, but also why she chose to undergo this transformation privately. Some celebrities opt for the all-in show n tell approach.

5) She lost weight with the Sirtfood Diet. This is just so hilarious to me. This diet allows red wine, dark chocolate, olive oil, and other very rich foods. DO NOT TAKE AWAY WINE AND CHOCOLATE FROM A TAURUS!!! These are all foods that contain the protein sirtuin. Sirtuins work on the body's inflammation response (Jupiter Venus tings). Its reportedly "inspired by nature" and also includes foods such as kale, walnuts, barely, coffee--aka things that grow from earth. Very Taurus.

6) The Nodes. The North Node in Cancer was transiting her 1st house, while the SN in Capricorn was transiting her 7th. The clear manifestation of this was her divorce. But NN playing in the 1st is a growing sense of confidence. The Cancer seeps in with care and nurturing of yourself, which can be done through food and activity and health, but also an intangible self-love. Cancer is also a vulnerable place, so her posting pictures of herself was an act of bravery, especially for a celebrity. Putting more emphasis on who you are as in individual versus who you are in a relationship. SN in Capricorn for her could also mean retreat from public life, as Capricorn can be where we accomplish and do business things.

All the best to her xx