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Designer Kate Spade, whose handbags can be seen everywhere, has died of an apparent suicide at the age of 55. A fashion designer for many years,in 2006 she sold the successful company that she started with her husband in 1993. Their more recent endeavors had not been as well received.
I recently did a session for a client who was very depressed and wanted to know if her chart showed a tendency towards suicide. The fact is, while a chart can show whether an individual will suffer from depression and what form that is likely to take, how they manage their suffering is not something we can see in the chart. We can see whether someone has the strength to actively fight for their health and turn their life around, but we can’t predict whether or not they will actually do it.
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Kate Spade’s chart (set for noon, no birth time available) does show the potential for psychological issues. Emotional intensity (Pluto square the Moon) adds to a deep sense of abandonment as illustrated by stressful aspects from Chiron (soul wounding and healing) to both the Moon and Pluto. Uranus (radical behavior) is involved too in that system, which can sometimes suggest a tendency towards anxiety and a highly sensitized nervous system. The fact that her Moon was in happy Sagittarius suggests that it would be difficult for her to delve into her unhappiness and would instead attempt to fly beyond her problems.
Ms. Spade’s chart was also weak in the fire element; her Sagittarius Moon provided motivation and drive but was challenged by Pluto and Chiron which could drain her confidence and made it more difficult to express the natural Sagittarius confidence. Her Mars in Leo was a strong fire significator, but it was squared by Neptune, a watery planet, in the water sign Scorpio which suggests a similar drain of the fire and motivation of Mars in Leo. Scorpio, though a water sign, is ruled by Mars traditionally so there is a Mars conflict built-in that makes the natural expression of Mars more of a challenge.
As I’ve written before many times in these pages, the lack of a fire element can be a challenge and lead to physical health problems as well as mental issues. Her Capricorn Sun would tend to drive her towards achievement and fulfilling her worldly goals, but a severe load of worldly pressure on a delicate nervous system would necessitate some sort of remediation, if not from pharmaceutical medication than from some kind of self-medication.
It’s terribly sad that Ms. Spade made the choice to end her life. But the important thing to note here from an astrological perspective is that fate may deal us a difficult hand, but it does not define our destiny. That is something which we create in every moment, with every breath and every choice.
Her Mars was in Leo? Fire!
Yes but her Mars was squared by that Venus/Neptune conjunction in Scorpio. Scorpio is a water sign but it’s ruled by Mars, so that adds a fiery quality that isn’t there with other water signs. So she has this strong Mars but it’s dampened by Venus/Neptune and then she has all of this psychological stuff churning about. It’s a difficult pattern to be sure.
She just projected freshness didn’t she. And all the work to do that is immense day after day.
How can you say a sag moon is weak in fire?
I believe its more that the things Spade had in Fire signs were not the most positive/powerful state they could be in. Certainly the Moon would be happier in a Water sign. The Moon almost always acts as a wet blanket for any Fire sign that ends up there.
Perhaps Saturn sextile the moon may make the otherwise lighter Sag moon more serious and less cheerful. Capricorn Sun and mercury attest to her success, but also can make someone a worrier, and unable to relax as does the Virgo/Pisces opposition. I wonder if Jupiter conjunct Chiron could exaserbate her pain as well. Such a sad end to someone who gave us so much with her talent.
In my attempt to simplify the astrological discussion I wasn’t clear enough about the fire problem in Ms. Spade’s chart. I’ve rewritten it:
Ms. Spade’s chart was also weak in the fire element; her Sagittarius Moon provided motivation and drive but was challenged by Pluto and Chiron which could drain her confidence and made it more difficult to express the natural Sagittarius confidence. Her Mars in Leo was a strong fire significator, but it was squared by Neptune, a watery planet, in the water sign Scorpio which suggests a similar drain of the fire and motivation of Mars in Leo. Scorpio, though a water sign, is ruled by Mars traditionally so there is a Mars conflict built-in that makes the natural expression of Mars more of a challenge.
The art of astrological interpretation is not always simple. Someone who has a very strong Mars with challenging aspects to Mars or other fire signs that make it difficult to express that fire element becomes weak in the fire element.