AiSTROLOGY - Madonna's cross-connections in the horoscope
Cross-connections in the horoscope
- using the example of pop star Madonna
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Madonna Louise Ciccone, 16 August 1958, 07:05 AM EST, Bay City, Michigan, 43n36, 83w53, source: astro.com/astro-databank/Madonna
Madonna
Louise Veronica Ciccone
was born the third of eight children of Italian-American parents. According
to the wishes of her strict Catholic mother, who died when Madonna was five
years old, she should have entered a religious order as a novice. She did
not get on well with her stepmother, the former housekeeper.
After leaving school in 1976, she received a dance scholarship and
came to New York 'with 35 dollars in her pocket'. She attended a ballet
school there and at the same time earned money as a dancer, saleswoman,
waitress, acted in porn films and was a backing singer. As a 'material girl
in a material world' (song title), she entered into numerous relationships
of convenience with those musicians, dancers, designers and disc jockeys who
could further her career.
Her first record 'Madonna' established her
worldwide success - like the following albums, it was a million-seller.
Apart from her great ambition, tireless work ethic and discipline, Madonna
is also the product of a clever marketing campaign that consciously
capitalized on a newly blossoming 'Marilin Monroe craze'. The mixture of a
kind of saintly figure (global hit: 'Like a virgin') and seductive whore did
not fail to have an effect.
Her career as an actress, on the other
hand, has been a mixed bag: alongside successes and critical acclaim, she
has also had to put up with disastrous reviews. Nevertheless, Madonna is one
of the most successful artists of all time, with over 300 million records
sold and an estimated fortune of one billion dollars.
"You astrologers really
always think around five corners!" - this was the benevolent comment
from an interested layman when I tried to explain to him how I arrive at an
(accurate) interpretation. He was right. To the outsider, it may seem almost
self-torturing how many factors a conscientious astrologer moves back and
forth in his head until he finally comes to a concrete judgment. Is this
mental acrobatics even worth it?
Astrology beginners are happy when
they have halfway understood the signs of the zodiac and the planets so that
they can then amaze their circle of friends with groundbreaking insights :-)
But this happiness doesn't last long. Because if you really want to know
your way around astrology, the next step is to get to grips with the houses
and house rulers. For some, it gets more and more exciting. Some people give
up in exasperation...
What are cross-connections?
By cross-connections, I mean
interactions between the life areas of the twelve horoscope houses.
The houses that are sensitive to location and birth time in particular allow
for individual interpretations. The radix horoscope can be understood as a
snapshot, as a piece of 'frozen' time quality. And this inevitably gives the
framework of the houses an overriding significance.
Such
cross-connections can be derived from aspects for example.
Let's take
Mars
-
Uranus 
-
square in Madonna's horoscope:
Without taking the houses into account, a Mars-Uranus square means roughly the following:
Assertiveness (Mars) is difficult to reconcile with eccentricity (Uranus), deviation from the norm. -> Impulsive, unexpected action, a strongly fluctuating level of activity, lightning-like discharges of energy, rebellion against convention, a love of conflict and innovation - these are common interpretations of this aspect.
Now let's consider the houses:
- Mars
is in the 9th house, Uranus
is in the 12th house.- Mars
rules the 8th house
(Aries
) and the 3rd house (as the traditional ruler of Scorpio
).- Uranus
rules the 6th house (Aquarius
)
.The explosive power and eccentric energy potential of Madonna's Mars-Uranus connection therefore unfolds in the following areas:
- 3rd house: How do I look? How do I move? How do I communicate? - My physical appearance.
- 6th house: How do I stage myself, how do I portray feelings? How do I work? How do I fit in and adapt?
- 8th house: What is binding and absolute for me? What is my personal ideology? What do my firm partnerships focus on?
- - 9th house: What image do I enjoy? How do I represent my ideas to the outside world? Am I able to present my attitude to life convincingly?
- - 12th house: What role do I play in public / in the media? Where am I inscrutable / complex? What is my approach to art, religion, spirituality?
Two things stand out here:
Firstly, both planets are above the horizon. Where a planet stands is ostensibly the stage on which it appears like an actor. Madonna's eccentric assertion according to her Mars-Uranus square takes place on the public stage!
Secondly, four of the five houses touched are in variable/falling houses in which something is represented or conveyed. Only the 8th house, which is about Madonna's personal convictions or binding relationships, is an exception. So this is primarily about external impact.
Another cross-connection is the link between the house in which a planet is located and the house in which it rules. In the case of Madonna, for example, Mars is in the 9th house and rules the 8th house. In addition to what has already been said, the themes of these two houses are particularly strongly interwoven. To show how this dynamic works in a biography, all such rulers of X in Y relationships in Madonna will now be briefly interpreted. But first a little technique:
Creating a list of rulers
We first determine where the planets are standing in
Madonna's natal chart. Most of the planets are easily recognizable at first
glance. Only with Mercury
and Pluto
(at
the Ascendant) and Jupiter
(in front of house cusp 3) we should take a closer look. Some astrologers use a
rule of thumb here, which states that the area of 5 or 3 degrees in front of a
house cusp is basically already assigned to this house.
To find out whether a planet
is already counted as belonging to the following house, we measure the size of
the house in which it is exactly located and check whether it is in the last
sixth: Mercury and Pluto are technically at the end of the twelfth house, which
has a size of just over 27 degrees. One sixth of the twelfth house would be
about 4 1/2 degrees. So if a planet is less than 4 1/2 degrees from the
Ascendant, we believe it already belongs to the first house.
This is clearly
the case for Mercury, as it is less than 3 degrees from the Ascendant. On the
other hand, we assign Pluto to the twelfth house, as its distance from the
Ascendant is 6 1/2 degrees. What about Jupiter? The second house measures 28 1/2
degrees, one sixth of which is 4 3/4 degrees. Jupiter, however, is only 4 1/3
degrees away from the house cusp 3 and therefore already belongs to the third
house.
In the case of Madonna, the 5 degree rule
of thumb mentioned above would lead to the same result for all three planets
because the houses under consideration are approximately 30 degrees wide.
However, especially in the case of very narrow and very wide houses, we strongly
recommend determining the sixth more precisely.
We therefore note: Mercury is in the first
house for our interpretation, Pluto is clearly in the twelfth house and we
assign Jupiter to the third house. The remaining planetary positions are
obvious.
Now to the question of where the planets
rule, which is not so easy to answer - at least for beginners. Let's take the
Moon
: as an
example: the Moon is considered the 'ruler' of the horoscope house whose initial
line/apex falls in its conjoined sign Cancer
.
In Madonna's case, the Moon is the ruler of the eleventh house, as the house
cusp 11 lies in Cancer.
In Madonna's horoscope, all twelve house cusps
lie in different signs, which simplifies matters. In many birth charts, the
distribution is not so even, i.e. certain zodiac signs have two house cusps,
while others have none at all. If a zodiac sign is completely enclosed in a
house, the associated planet is considered to be an equal co-ruler of that
house.
This results in the following list of rulers for Madonna's
horoscope:
Madonna's ruler dynamics briefly
interpreted
With the help of a few highlights on Madonna, I would like to illustrate
how aptly the cross connections between the house position of a planet and
its ruled house can reflect the life themes of a person:
1 The Moon is in the first and rules the eleventh house (Cancer).
Madonna feels like a 'virgin' (Moon in Virgo, see also the chaste plans of
her deceased mother = Moon). However, her instinctive (1st house) femininity
(Moon) is out of character and is the reason for her highly individual role
in public (Moon as ruler of the 11th house).
2 Mercury is in the first and also rules the first house (Virgo).
In her libidinousness and her physical-instinctive needs (1st house), which
are characterized by the sign Virgo (emotional adaptability,
economic-material flexibility), Madonna is initially self-sufficient (the
ruler planet Mercury is in its own house). For example, she doesn't
necessarily need a partner to feel instinctively at ease, so it's no wonder
that her respective lovers seemed to be rather interchangeable at times.
3 Mercury is in the first and rules the tenth house
(Gemini).
However, her basic dispositions (1st house) are also clearly aimed at making
a career and gaining public prominence (10th house) in the Gemini way
(physically agile, youthful and shrewd). However, Mercury forms a square
aspect (90 degree angle) to the house cusp 10 ruled by itself, the Medium
Coeli. So there are also failures here, which should only fuel Madonna's
ambition even more.
4 The Sun is in the twelfth and rules the twelfth house (Leo).
Madonna's actions (Sun) unfold artistically on the public stage and in the
media (12th house), otherwise she might actually have ended up in a convent
(also 12th house)! In her artistic self-expression she is completely
independent (the Sun rules her own 12th house). This allows her to defy
convention, anticipate contemporary trends and never allow herself to be
pinned down to a particular pattern. Her later activities in particular
demonstrate this.
5 Venus is in the eleventh and rules the second house (Libra).
The place where Madonna likes to make contacts, find approval and appear
attractive (Venus) is her social position (11th house). She achieves this
not least with the help of her aesthetic (Libra) body (2nd house). However,
her contact behavior also serves directly to earn a living (2nd house) and
also helps her to achieve a kind of 'we-feeling' which she had to miss
painfully due to her damaged family roots (ruler of the second house in the
11th house, Venus/Uranus constellation).
6 Venus is in the eleventh and rules the ninth house (Taurus).
With her provocative contact behavior and very individualistic self-image as
a desirable woman (Venus in the 11th house), Madonna also wants to convey
something of her personal philosophy of life (9th house): 'I am a material
girl, living in a material world'. The social environment (9th house) of a
large family living on the income of a car mechanic may well have been
dominated by material themes (Taurus in the 9th house).
However, the adjective 'material' has a number of other meanings: material
in the sense of 'getting down to business', and material-physical-sensual,
i.e. not spiritual! Madonna is an eloquent testimony to this tension between
a deeply religious biological mother (fourth house Sagittarius) on the one
hand and a father (fifth house Capricorn) who is more oriented towards hard
realities, together with a stepmother (Moon in Virgo) who is probably more
practically oriented.
7 Mars is in the ninth and rules the eighth house (Aries).
Madonna's appearance as a pop star was characterized by a certain fighting
spirit (Mars in the 9th house) and the power of her slogans, which were
delivered with an almost religious sense of mission. Like a missionary or
advertising strategist, she communicated her unambiguous (Aries), simple
beliefs and also some taboos (8th house) to the outside world and in this
way achieved a broad impact (9th house). She thus acquired the image (9th
house) of a sex (Mars) symbol (8th house).
Here is a more detailed interpretation of this constellation, an excerpt
from the birth chart analysis
AiSTROLOGY:
"...Your way of publicly representing points of
view and also the path to your personal 'philosophy of life' is driven by
the need for unambiguity, absolutely valid principles, an almost magical
profession of faith with which you sweep others along. You consolidate your
own beliefs precisely by making an impact on the outside world, convincing
others and creating an 'image' in your social environment.halte.
You have a good deal of missionary spirit in you, even if you may package it
in a tolerant and loving way. Contrary to appearances, a missionary is
usually plagued by greater temptations than is the case with ordinary
mortals. Traveling and successfully converting others, his 'sense of
mission' and charisma, helps him not least in overcoming his own doubts of
faith.
Whether you are more of a 'moralizer' or even a kind of 'sex symbol' (this
also corresponds to this constellation!), whether you actively proselytize
or seem to become a cult figure for the values and desires of a social group
without doing anything yourself: Your ideas and beliefs (regardless of their
content) always have a certain broad impact. Others buy into what you may
not be so sure of yourself!
Paradoxically, this is often the case with people who grew up with foster
families whose socialization was fractured, which initially made it
difficult to consolidate principles and bonds. Your charisma, the ability to
convince not necessarily with words alone, but with your entire charisma,
should not go unused.
Advertising and propaganda, religious or political public relations work are
just a few suggestions for this. However, you should also bear in mind that
you yourself may be very susceptible to simple and seemingly compelling
ideological formulas.
Once you have adopted
beliefs with the greatest emphasis, you may lack the critical distance to
abandon doctrines if they turn out to be misguided."
Source: AiSTROLOGY birth chart interpretation Madonna, p. 31
Madonna's complete birth chart interpretation
can be found
here.
8 Jupiter is in the third and rules the fourth house (Sagittarius).
This constellation goes in a very similar direction to the previous one:
Madonna represented something (3rd house) that she really felt inwardly
(Jupiter rules the 4th house). This is why she seemed very authentic to many
fans. Others, on the other hand, found her self-portrayal to be exaggerated
and artificial - an example of how ruler relationships can sometimes be
reversed: Appearance / 3rd house then does not serve one's emotional
identity / 4th house, but rather it appears as if one's emotional life is
focused exclusively on 'effect'.
9 Saturn is in the fourth and rules the fifth house (Capricorn).
Due to the death of her biological mother, Madonna's emotional life contains
a strongly melancholic component (Saturn in the fourth house). Her father
(Saturn as ruler of the 5th house, Capricorn) inevitably took over her
mother's role (4th house) and probably also gave her a certain amount of
support (Sun trine Saturn). At the same time, this sad turning point in her
life may have laid the foundation for her musical talent and her ability to
express herself creatively (5th house), which she is known to have always
worked on in a very disciplined way (Saturn).
10 Uranus is in the twelfth and rules the sixth house (Aquarius).
Madonna's unconventional and always provocative (Uranus) appearance in
public (12th house) paradoxically fulfills the function of being able to fit
in (6th house: Aquarius). For them, their public role in the 6th house means
both work and an outlet to release emotions.
11 Neptune is in the third and rules the seventh house (Pisces).
This Neptune position is often said to be unclear and blurred (Neptune) in
expression (3rd house) or it is suspected that the horoscope signifier is
easily overlooked. This is hardly true in the case of Madonna as we know
her, and with Jupiter in front of cusp 3 it is also astrologically unlikely.
As Neptune can also stand for the media, among other things, Madonna's
career was an ideal opportunity for her to present herself physically. It is
well known that she always sought contact (Neptune rules the seventh house)
with people with whom she could present herself effectively in the media.
12 Pluto is in the twelfth and rules the third house (Scorpio).
Becoming a kind of idol (Pluto) on the public stage (12th house),
essentially with the help of one's own gender-ideal appearance and perfectly
practiced movements (3rd house: Scorpio), may not succeed straight away for
everyone with this constellation. Madonna has realized it, according to her
motto
I hope that this article has
made the fascinating world of astrology a little clearer for you and
thank you for your interest.
Your astrologer Werner Völkel from Nuremberg, Germany
aistrology.de
Copyright Werner
Voelkel 2025
Reproduction for private use and linking expressly permitted!
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