astrology of bettie page
Bettie Page was an icon of the changing face of female sexuality in the 1950’s. She was a model and an actress and will be forever remembered as the queen of pin up
BIOgraphy
Born in 1923 during the depression, Bettie had a challenging early life but was interested in fashion and beauty and would copy modelling poses with her siblings. She described her mother as unloving and her father a predator who molested her and her sisters.
The family led a transient life and when her dad went to prison, her mother struggled to afford to care for the girls and they spent time in an orphanage. Despite these setbacks Bettie obtained an arts degree and got her first modelling job in 1947.
In 1950 at age 27 she met a photographer who made her a portfolio and she moved to New York and rose to fame!
She won Miss Pinup Worldwide in 1955, but by 1958 at 35, she retired from modelling and moved to Florida. She only modelled for 7 years but would leave a legacy for years to come.
Bettie struggled with finding stability in relationships and was married 3 times. She met man in Florida after she quit modelling, but she said his passions were TV and burgers and they didn’t have much in common. In 1959 she fled from a violent dispute between them and stumbled on a church- literally finding God and being ‘born again’ as an evangelical Christian. She married for a third time in 1967 and 11 years later they divorced. She was depressed with violent mood swings.
Later in life she was incarcerated in an institution for committing a violent attack and diagnosed with schizophrenia.
When she was released in 1992, she was surprised to find out she had become a pop icon. She led a simple life after this, focusing on her religious commitments and listening to country music. She died in late 2008 following a stroke and pneumonia.
“I want to be remembered as I was when I was young in my golden times… I want to be remembered as the woman who changed people’s perspectives concerning nudity in its natural form.” - bettie page
notable features of bettie’s Natal chart
Her Ascendant in Pisces is descriptive of her personality, health and life trajectory.
Her nature was idealistic, her expression fantastical and magnetic. Her Taurus Sun adds sensuality, Moon in Cancer a sensitive soul.
The Ascendant is conjunct Uranus a planet of disruption and the story of her life is both exhilarating and tumultuous.
Uranus on the Ascendant squares a Moon/Pluto conjunction in her 5th house. She was exciting and edgy and shook up the sexual paradigm of the time, introducing kink and fetish to the mainstream. Its likely that she struggled to find emotional stability and a sense of safety in her relationships due to early life trauma.
Venus rules sex, beauty and seduction and is strongly placed in her 1st house in Pisces, the sign of exaltation. First house planets have a lot to say about the individual character and Venus in Pisces describes her enigmatic, personal aesthetic for which she was well known and adored.
The South Node is classically a challenging point in a chart and can indicate a part of life we struggle and our loss or destruction. For Bettie the South Node is in her 1st house and conjoins Uranus and Venus which suggests that while she was revered in society as a sexual icon, her personal life would provide situations of loss that would knock her down. Venus also rules the 8th house, so while her sex appeal was her signature it was also likely to a source of mental anguish.
Natal birth chart
Jupiter rules her Pisces Ascendant and is placed in the 9th house. One of the natural significations of the 9th house is religion, which is fitting because Christianity was a central focus of her life.
Ascendant ruler Jupiter in Scorpio is retrograde, Bettie played a role in expressing sexual taboos on the world stage, but later in life struggled with religious guilt for being a sex symbol. Once she left the limelight she found solace in religion and lived a modest life out of the public eye.
Jupiter trines the 1st house, her faith was a cornerstone of her nature and may have helped her to find stability, healing and forgiveness as she navigated an erratic life.
Challenges in the family and relationship sphere were significant for Bettie.
The Ascendant ruler Jupiter opposes Mercury, ruler of the 4th house of home and family.
Mercury also rules the 7th house of her partnerships and is therefore opposed to Jupiter representing Bettie. She had troubling and adversarial relationships with her parents and her partners throughout life.
Jupiter and Mercury square Neptune in Leo in her 6th house. Mercury rules the 4th and her Lot of Father and its square to Neptune can describe her dad as mentally unstable.
Jupiter rules her 10th house of career and squares Neptune in her 6th.
Bettie had a talent at putting on a good show, but she didn’t walk away from fame rich, as she aged she struggled with money and physical and mental health.
Mars, a planet suggesting upheaval is in her 4th house, home and family life was unsettled and caused her a lot of pain.
Mercury the ruler of the 4th house sits in the 3rd, in aversion and unable to see in manage things in the home. The family did not set up a stable home, they wandered from place to place.
Bettie has an exact Moon Pluto conjunction in the 5th house.
Her sensitive Cancerian girl next door Moon, meets powerful Plutonian presence, in the 5th house of sexuality.
Moon/Pluto trines the ascendant, the struggle is personalized and intense, chaos walks beside her.
The Moon in her chart is uncomfortable bed buddies with Pluto, God of the underworld adding invasive themes that correspond to the dark underbelly of life.
The Moon can describe many things in a chart. our way of life, needs, emotions, our mother and nurturing style or lack of it in our early years.
Moon/Pluto is square Saturn in the 8th house of anguish and death.
We have already discussed that the Moon/Pluto is likely to reflect her challenges with her mother.
Saturn in aspect to the Moon brings in the father, especially in night charts and points to a painful relationship. She is a night birth and Saturn is her malefic contrary to sect.
These contacts between the Moon/Pluto and Saturn remind us that her greatest life challenge was overcoming family trauma.
The nodal axis represents loss and gain, decrease and increase, past and future, which in Bettie’s chart, is square the IC/MC foundations/career.
She had a special fate, a destined role to play and a tumultuous life!
the astrology of a challenging 55th year
Using the technique of annual profections, at age 55 Bettie enters an 8th house year of her life.
This suggests 8th house topics such as anguish, fear, death, pain and sometimes inheritance or money from other people may feature that year.
Venus rules the 8th house in her birth chart and becomes the planetary ruler of the year, Because Saturn is placed in the 8th natally he is also activated at age 55.
To see what that year might bring about we also need to check where Venus is placed in the natal chart.
We find Venus well placed by sign but conjunct Uranus and South Node which are destabilising.
The ruler of the 8th house in the 1st can suggest when activated that 8th house topics like fear, death and anguish come to the native.
Which they invariably did that year of her life.
Natal Chart comparison with solar return for age 55
In the solar return we see Libra on the ASC and Libra is her natal 8th house. In this already challenging 8th house year the solar return also suggests that 8th house topics will be arising for Bettie. It is no surprise this year was the year she would stab her landlady!
Interestingly Venus and the South Node return to Pisces conjunct as in the natal chart. But in the solar return they land in the 6th house, a downfall which would impact her health wellbeing.
Saturn whos is activated that year, rules her natal 12th house, which corresponds with hospitals, imprisonment and mental disturbances. Also, if we profect from the sect light (Moon in her chart) we end up in the 12th house of imprisonment again.
Considering her natal chart, activated Saturn squares Moon/Pluto which makes this a very challenging time for Bettie.
Mars in the solar return squares her natal Moon/Pluto and opposes natal Saturn from the 2nd house.
Plus natal Mars who rules the 2nd house squares Saturn in the solar return.
As the 2nd house is about money and assets I do wonder if this fight with her landlady was over money?
Unfortunately for Bettie, this is an example of a solar return chart on fire, unlocking the natal promise in problematic ways!
So she ends up in front of a judge who classifies her as insane and puts her in an asylum for 10 years.
Activated Saturn in the SR 12th house and opposite her natal Ascendant, shows defeat by a known enemy resulting in imprisonment and mental health decline.
1992 a year of freedom, recognition and adjustment
in 1992 at age 69 Bettie is released from over 10 years in a mental facility and discovers that she is an icon!
She enters a 10th house profection year which can correspond with career topics, fame or notoriety. In 1992 Jupiter became the profected ruler of the year.
Natal comparison with solar return year of release from institution
In the natal chart Jupiter is in Scorpio retrograde in the 9th opposite Mercury square Neptune and this Jupiter rules her natal 10th house of honours.
Jupiter in Scorpio speaks to her being known as a sexual icon and this is remembered this year in the public eye when the profection reaches the 10th house and Jupiter is activated.
The Solar return ASC comes to Scorpio which is her natal 9th house where we find Jupiter who rules her 1st house and her fame, the 10th house.
In the solar return the ruler of the year Jupiter is in the 11th house which is hopeful and suggests a release from imprisonment.
Unfortunately Jupiter is in Capricorn in fall and square to Mars in her natal chart, while she is free she is struggles to readjust after being imprisoned.
Pluto on the solar return ascendant square to Saturn, makes for a powerful and intense year. This 1st/4th house connection in the solar return expresses itself in the natal chart through the 9/12th houses. It can be connected to the challenges of coming back home after being imprisoned. As well as the difficulty she experienced as a devout Christian feeling guilt about being celebrated on the public stage again as a sex symbol.
Jupiter the activated ruler of the year also rules the 2nd house in the solar return. This year Hugh Hefner helped her to use this brief return to the limelight to get access to some money for her fame. Unfortunately Jupiter in both charts is in quite poor condition which meant while it was an improvement to her circumstances, it was modest and came with stress. Shown by the Moon in the 2nd house of the solar return square to Mars.
the last year of her life
Toward the end of 2008 Bettie had a stroke and ended up on life support in Los Angeles.
This was her 85th year of life, she was in a 4th house profection year which activated topics of home, family, origins and the end of life (grave).
The 4th house is ruled by Mercury who becomes the planetary ruler of the year. Mars is inside the house and is also activated.
In the solar return we see Libra ruling the first house. Libra is her natal 8th house and like the above example it means that 8th house topics including death and anxieties connected to mortality are coming up for Bettie this year.
Mercury, her ruler of the year is in the 8th house of death in the solar return, combust the Sun.
The Sun rules her natal 6th house of illness and points to her heart as a weak spot.
Mars, the other planet activated by profection is in the solar return 10th house conjunct the MC and opposite Jupiter.
In her natal chart Jupiter represents her life and vitality and Mars brutally opposes it in the solar return, both in signs of their planetary fall suggesting weakness and decline.
Her natal ascendant lands in the 6th house of the solar return, suggesting illness that year.
Venus ruling the ascendant in the solar return year is in Aries squaring Jupiter ruler of the 6th. This could point to some blood sugar or kidney problems that may have lead to her heart condition. She had a stroke on the 6th December 2008
Top left: Natal chart Top Right: SR of last year of life Bottom Left: Monthly return last month Bottom Right: Death chart
Her final month of life
In her monthly return taken from 22nd of November 2008 we find Leo rising on the Ascendant.
This is her natal 6th house of illness and as we have already seen Leo rules the heart.
The Sun in the monthly return is conjuct Mars and it squares her natal ascendant which is a risk to her life, especially as Mars is activated this year. Thus the Sun with Mars in this chart may signify a cardiac event.
The South Node, indicator of decay and endings is conjunct her ascendant in the monthly return.
Uranus has recently returned to its natal position in the 1st house this year of her life which brings the possibility of a sudden unpredictable change and again a threat to life.
Uranus in the monthly return is opposed by Saturn in detriment who rules the monthly profection and is thus activated.
When we mix Saturn and Uranus on and opposing her natal Ascendant this can signal a sudden catstrophe that ends up death.
Mercury in the monthly return squares Neptune which can correlate with the cause of death, pneumonia as well as her falling into a coma after the heart attack.
the day of her death
Exploring the transits of the night she died and paying special attention to Mars, Mercury and Saturn the activated planets for that month/year.
The ASC of her death lands in Leo, corresponding with her natal 6th house of illness, the South Node is in there.
Saturn and Uranus are opposed and conjunct the natal nodal axis.
On the evening of her death the transiting Moon applies to T-square between both Saturn and Uranus and conjoins with the IC- the grave.
By derivative houses Pisces becomes her 8th house at her time of death, which is natally her 1st house of life and vitality.
Activated planets Mercury and Mars are both combust and weakened.
The Sun being combust and ruling her Leo Ascendant at the time of her passing is another marker of death.
The Moon representing the physical body is opposite Mars with the Sun and Mercury in Sagittarius, a hot unpredictable combination.
Sun, Mercury and Mars are also T-square to Saturn and Uranus, indicating harm and separation of energy from physical form.
Finally Mars with his sword is at the bending of the nodes (North & South) indicating permanent change- death.
