This is a subject that I have first hand experience of.
My first marriage was a loveless match, it was purely a business arrangement.
We both have Uranian 7th house themes, so it’s perhaps not surprising that we engaged in an unconventional situation.
My ex wife had Mars in Aquarius in the 7th opposite Uranus. She was a lesbian, who had just ended a relationship with the true love of her life.
Interestingly her lover had Mars conjunct Uranus in Leo in the 7th, their Mars placements were in opposition to each other.
I have Uranus exactly on the Descendant.
We were business partners, having begun our careers in hands on healing two years previously.
It’s fair to say that this was more my calling than hers, which was reflected in the fact that I was already working full time at it with many clients, while she had just a small handful.
The idea to get married came from her, it was a calculated move to ensure financial security for herself because we had no agreement to stay together in business otherwise.
I agreed because with the Sun and Moon in Capricorn in the 12th house and Venus conjunct Saturn, I had long since come to terms with a life without love and wanted to place all my energies into my healing work and my astrology.
Our marriage of convenience was no secret, all our friends and family were fully aware of the nature of our relationship.
It was very British – ” Upstairs, Downstairs And Nothing In Between “.
I rang the registry office and booked their last remaining slot before Xmas with the required three days notice. I believe we must hold some sort of record for the most hastily arranged and ill considered wedding in history.
I didn’t even do an election for it. And it shows.
No astrologer in their right mind would even buy a Mars bar with both the Ascendant and Moon in the final degree of a sign.
But this is what happens if you don’t elect your wedding day – the Universe will take a look at your relationship and choose a suitable moment for you.
To be fair to myself, this was during a period of 5 years in my life when I had put my passion for astrology on the back burner, in order to focus on my healing practice.
I did of course realise that Pluto was exactly conjunct my own Venus but didn’t clock that transit Venus would be there too.
But both falling in Scorpio in the 8th house indicates that this marriage was purely a financial arrangement.
Granted Jupiter was in the 7th house but in Virgo and its square to Mars exactly on the Midheaven shows the focus firmly placed on my career.
A Yod involving the 10th house Capricorn Sun ( closely conjunct my own ) and Ascendant focusing on that 6th house Void Moon shows that the whole thing was focused around my healing practice.
But perhaps the real affection killer was the Moon’s opposition with Saturn.
It goes without saying that the marriage was never consummated.
I guess I would have to call it my Anne of Cleeves moment.
Anne of Cleeves was Henry VIII’s 4th wife.
After his 3rd ( Jane Seymour ) died in childbirth, Henry wanted to marry once again to ensure the succession. His chancellor Thomas Cromwell suggested Anne of Cleeves, who was seen as an important ally in case of a Roman Catholic attack on England, and urged by the complimentary description of Anne given by his courtiers, the king agreed to marry her.
Much in the way that a football manager might quickly regret a new signing that he had only seen on video, Henry agreed to marry Anne largely on the strength of somewhat flattering portraits of her that were shown to him.
Obviously no one bothered to elect this one either, because there’s another Void Moon.
With Mars in Libra conjunct Saturn and opposite Neptune the wedding chart showed that Henry just did not fancy her and Anne did not argue, confirming that the marriage had never been consummated.
Unlike her namesake, Anne came out of it reasonably well with her head still in conjunction with her body and a nice house in Lewes.
Of course by this point Henry was an old hand at divorce, having basically invented his own religion in order to get his first one.
He’d petitioned the Pope to annul his marriage to Catherine of Aragon. This fell on deaf ears, not least because he had asked for dispensation to marry her in the first place because he claimed her earlier marriage to his brother had not been consummated.
The Moon wasn’t Void for Prince Arthur’s marriage to Catherine of Aragon, but with it conjunct Neptune in Capricorn in the 12th house and quincunx with Saturn, it might as well have been.
The Moon’s rulership of the 6th house showed the possible reason for the marriage not being consummated would have been Arthur’s poor health.
But it’s questionable whether it was or not.
The pressure from both countries on Catherine to maintain the alliance with Spain would have been immense so it’s likely that she would have claimed her marriage to Arthur had not been consummated, even if it had.
A Sun / Pluto conjunction in the 9th which showed that this marriage was arranged purely for diplomatic links with Spain opposed Mars in Gemini in the 3rd house and formed a T Square with Uranus in Pisces, suggesting an unusual ending and Catherine’s remarriage to Arthur’s brother.
It is actually very difficult to research famous marriages that were not consummated because as a rule both parties are heavily invested in claiming that they were.
But marriages of convenience were common in royal circles for diplomatic reasons and the pretence was kept up while one and sometimes even both parties continued their own love affairs in private.
In some cases these marriages were smoke screens in order to disguise the ruler’s true sexuality.
Edward 11 was almost certainly gay and made little attempt to hide his relationship with Piers Gaveston.
His marriage to Isabella of France was a thinly disguised attempt to cover for this despite the fact that he fathered four children with her.
Although we can’t be sure of the time of his marriage, royal weddings tended to be conducted at noon, and this produces a chart with the Moon in the final minutes of Aquarius in exact conjunction with Pluto, also square to Saturn.
Which is definitely not the kind of launch you would wish for your nuptials.
Another king of England thought to have homosexual leanings was Richard I. He spent much of his time as king on crusades, leaving his younger brother John in charge of England. It is said that Richard developed a close relationship with King Philip II of France. Eyewitnesses said that both Kings ‘ate from the same plate … and that their beds did not separate them.’
Richard’s wife Berengia was known as the queen ” who never set foot in the country “. Richard died childless and there were doubts that the marriage was even consummated.
The Sun’s opposition to Saturn in their wedding chart would suggest it wasn’t and the T square formed with an apex Jupiter in Pisces showed that Richard was much more interested in fighting the crusades.
There were also questions about his namesake, Richard 11, who some claimed was in a relationship with Robert De Vere.
His marriage to Anne of Bohemia was childless.
The Sun in the wedding chart is square to Saturn.
Richard 11 was widely considered to be a weak and effeminate king who was deposed by Henry Bolingbroke ( Henry 1V ).
Mars is conjunct Uranus in Libra suggesting his preference might have been for men.
One English king who almost certainly was gay was the quaintly named William of Orange, much to the chagrin of generations of Ulstermen who equally quaintly called themselves ” Billy’s Boys “.
When we run through the list of monarchs we always refer to this reign as the double act ” William and Mary “.
Perhaps this is appropriate since it’s fairly likely that Mary preferred the company of women.
Their wedding chart contains a T square with both the Moon and Venus involved with Saturn.
It goes without saying that they had no children.
Of course the pressure on royals to maintain the pretence of heterosexuality would have been immense in those days.
It still is today.
One of the many worst kept royal secrets is that King Sally’s youngest brother Edward is gay.
His wife Sophie Rhys Jones is quietly referred to as Edward’s Beard because their couple status acts as a convenient mask.
Their wedding chart bears this out.
A T Square with a Venus / Uranus opposition focusing on an apex Saturn is a classic ” no sex please, we’re British ” with at least one of them looking in the other direction.
These arrangements aren’t confined to the British royal family however.
For many years great Hollywood hearththrobs had to hide their true preferences behind ” lavender marriages “.
As Rock Hudson’s fame increased, ” so did speculation that he was gay, which was not only a career-killer then, it was a crime. Rock desperately needed a wife in order to quiet the whispering and to kill off the rumours.
He had the perfect candidate for marriage — Phyllis Gates. She was not only his manager’s secretary and Rock’s longtime pal, she was also gay. Phyllis readily agreed to the ruse. She and Rock were married in Santa Barbara in November 1955.
Their marriage soon became rocky as Phyllis became increasingly worried that Rock’s affairs with men would wreck his career and kill her cash cow.
They divorced after three years.
Again there is a Saturn influence in their wedding chart as it’s conjunct the Sun.
Venus in Sagittarius in square to the Jupiter / Pluto conjunction would also indicate that Rock wasn’t that great at hiding his true sexuality.
” The bedroom escapades of actress Barbara Stanwyck were the subject of rumors and conjecture. When it became clear that the stories of Stanwyck and her female lovers and Taylor and his male lovers were more than rumors, MGM ordered them to get married. At the conclusion of the wedding ceremony, Taylor refused to kiss Stanwyck and went home to his mother’s house for the night. “
The Sun conjunction with Uranus points to an unusual relationship but it’s the T square that puts any possible conjucture beyond doubt.
A Mars / Pluto opposition focusing on an apex Mercury / Venus / Saturn conjunction is about as incompatible as you can get.
The Moon in Pisces opposite Neptune maintained an illusion which the couple remarkably kept going for 12 years.
In most of these cases both couples got something from the relationship, whether in terms of financial security, status or, in the early royal marriages, to save their own lives.
For me, I recognise that I sacrificed the possibility of having a loving relationship with anyone else in order to focus on my work, a true Saturnian path.
At the time, I assumed this sacrifice was for life.
But now I know that Saturn was always acting in my long term best interest because at the age of 63 I fell in love with my true soulmate. Although a Sun / Moon Aries, she has them both conjunct Saturn.
With Saturn, everything comes to those that wait.
And now I have everything I could ever possibly have dreamt of.
In the thirty plus years since my first wedding, I have never made a major decision without electing the most auspicious time first.
I’ve since often wondered why I didn’t do that the first time round but have come to the conclusion that Astrology itself didn’t want me to.
Because one thing is for sure, if my first marriage had been anything other than one of convenience, I would never have had the time to do all my research.
It goes without saying that the timing of my second wedding was elected to the very minute.
So if you are planning to get wed yourself and wish to avoid the emotional desert disaster of my first but enjoy the sheer blissful love of your life connection of my second, it’s best to get the time and date elected.
Posted on 14th August 2023
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