Katie Holmes is apparently suffering from post-partum depression, according to news reports – particularly ironic because of the criticism last year by Tom Cruise of Brooke Shields for seeking help for the same problem. A recent report in Parade magazine described Katie Holmes as “dazed, passive and vacant.” The whirlwind of the last year of Katie’s life must feel overwhelming.
Katie’s birthchart shows some interesting planetary configurations that have been touched off over the past year. She has both Moon and Jupiter in Leo, showing a strong need for admiration and attention and a need to develop the personal ego. Her Venus is in Scorpio, indicating someone who has strong passions and emotions, and craves intensity in relationships. Yet her Moon is square to Venus, a configuration that often indicates a conflict between the maternal archetype (Moon) and the sexual nature of the goddess Venus. Women with these conflicts tend to have difficulty integrating these two archetypes and tend to swing from one pole to the other. In addition, Katie’s Venus is conjunct rebellious and independent Uranus, showing that she craves freedom and resists convention. The combination of Venus in Scorpio, which craves an intense bond, with Uranus sets up an inner conflict that is difficult to manage, particularly for a relatively young person who may lack a deeper level of self-understanding.
Uranus also squares Katie’s moon, accentuating the fiercely independent streak. Katie’s parents have said that she was the most headstrong of five children – strong willed and independent, traits that we have not seen lately in the soon-to-be Mrs. Cruise. Reports are circulating that Cruise has put Katie on an intense regimen to lose the baby weight, and that Katie has left behind her old friends and converted to scientology. One might almost think she has been brainwashed.
At the time that Katie met Tom Cruise last year, she was at the first stage of a major challenging transit of Neptune to the Moon square Venus/Uranus system. (Neptune in Aquarius opposing Katie’s Moon and squaring her Venus/Uranus.) Neptune is the planet of spirituality – the planet that calls on us to blur the boundaries of our everyday reality and realize that there is a world of spirit beyond our mundane reality. Neptune transits can be amazing times of spiritual transformation – but the challenging transits tend to bring out the more negative characteristics of Neptune which are confusion, illusion and deception. Under a challenging Neptune transit like the square or opposition, particularly when it hits a sensitive point in the chart like Katie’s Moon/Venus/Uranus square, we are prone to fantasy and easily deluded. One can only imagine Katie Holmes, the young actor with photos of Tom Cruise on her walls as she was described last year in Vanity Fair, being asked on a date by that very gentleman (the timing of which, after the Vanity Fair article, is suspect – rumors abound that Mr. Cruise was seeking a young girlfriend to help boost his ratings among that highly desired demographic). Transiting Neptune opposed Katie’s Moon exactly between April and June of 2005 (making a “station” which has a powerful influence), corresponding exactly with the frenetic courtship that included the famous Tom Cruise jumping incident on Oprah’s couch. Neptune made a second hit to Katie’s moon back in February and will make another “station” (where it will appear to stand still in exact aspect to Katie’s Moon) from September through December of 2006. Between these Moon events, however, Neptune is closely working with Katie’s Venus/Uranus conjunction as well.
Katie is also being affected by Chiron this year – transiting Chiron is making a square to Chiron in her birthchart. When Chiron returns to its place in the birthchart (the conjunction) it tends to promote healing, but in the “hard angle” challenging aspects like the square and opposition, it tends to draw painful situations that force a transformation of the event in order to heal that situation. Chiron also brings out emotions and tears are very common during this transit, as tears and weeping tend to clean out the emotional system. This cycle began in February of this year, and will hit for the second time in August and conclude towards the end of the year.
Chiron in Katie’s chart makes a square to Jupiter, showing that by nature she tends to doubt (Chiron) her ability to create her own world view (Jupiter), and that religious experiences (Jupiter) can bring about painful situations (Chiron) for her. Transiting Chiron is also affecting Jupiter in Katie’s chart, which is setting off this issue for her and forcing her to face the insecurities that lead her to seek inner answers from outer sources. Ultimately this process will be incredibly healing and bring great strength, but the next six months will be very difficult for her.
As if this weren’t enough, transiting Uranus (change, rebellion) is opposing Katie’s Saturn (stability, structure), shaking up the very ground that stabilizes her, and Saturn will conjoin her Moon for a single time in August, causing her a sense of being overburdened and isolated. This cycle has just begun, and will hit for the second time in August and conclude early next year. There are rumors that Tom and Katie have entered into an agreement that they will stay together until August and I hope that she will be freed by then – her planetary cycles for the end of the year beginning in September look much more expansive, with Jupiter creating a more liberating influence and Saturn adding stabilization which will help to prepare her for the exact conjunction of Pluto to her Sun (see earlier article). As Jeffrey Kishner writes, “Transiting Uranus opposing natal Saturn usually implies a separation, (1) because the opposition itself is a make-or-break aspect, a decision point, a culmination; and (2) Uranus wants to break away from the authority of Saturn. Saturn rules her partner, and of course Tom Cruise has a reputation for being controlling (Saturn). Since Uranus is transiting her eighth house of other people’s money as well as secrets within a marriage, perhaps August would be a good time to take the money and run. With Saturn transiting her Moon and Uranus transiting her Saturn, there is definitely a theme of separation going on.”
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