Silvio Berlusconi has led an extraordinary life, but a quick glance at his birthchart would be hard to explain it. Usually the combination of Sun, Moon and Ascendant gives a fairly reliable character portrait, but Sun Libra, Moon Pisces and Virgo rising does not obviously point to the larger than life figure that has dominated Italy for the last 40 years. That combination would suggest a cooperative, sensitive, retiring soul who works hard but lets others take the credit for their efforts.

Noone would recognise Berlusconi from that portrait. The Sun is in the 1st house, close to the Ascendant, a placing that suggests  someone who is good at setting their own agenda but that goes nowhere near to covering a three time prime minister, major media mogul, owner of the country’s biggest football club, casanova associating with women less than half his age and all round charismatic figure who is seldom off his own front pages. Surely Berlusconi should be a Sagittarius with a very strong Jupiter. For this we have to look at the T Square.

The Tsquare is an aspect pattern of great power and focus involving three planets when two are in opposition and another is ninety degrees to both of them. In this situation, the tension generated by the pull of the planets in opposite directions looks for release through the 3^rd one and does so powerfully. The planet, sign and house at the apex  of this formation becomes very important in the person’s life and he will be compelled to express this energy. Berlsuconi has a Tsquare that points to Jupiter in Sagittarius and this is the configuration that has both entertained and dominated Italy for so long.

Carla Berlsuconi is Silvio’s ex wife, she has the Sun in Virgo, Moon Aquarius and Pisces rising. Where Silvio’s Sun is rising, Carla’s is setting in the 7th house. The Capricorn Astrology Research Project of over 20,000  charts of public figures has proved that celebrities are far more likely to have their Sun rising than setting. The Sun in the 7th house indicates a person who is generally concerned with or dependent on other peoples activities and needs in order to pursue their own drives.  Cooperation and relationships are the most important themes. In simple terms the 7^th house is the house of the marriage partner so Carla’s life is dominated by her marriage.  

Her Sun is conjunct Mars which usually creates a lot of passion and energy but its also conjunct Neptune. Neptune can be an inspiring and creative contact which enriches the spirit but it has a dreamlike quality and is not something to rely on for long term stability. Neptune conjunct the Sun in the 7th house does suggest a kind of soulmate experience that is slowly undermined over time by the partner having affairs.

Carla also has a very close opposition between the Moon and a Venus / Pluto conjunction that would suggest that affairs of the heart and feeling would be rather turbulent and particularly responsive to Pluto transits.

There are numerous contacts between Silvio and Carla’s charts but the outstanding one is that Carla’s Sun / Mars / 7th cusp – Ascendant opposition is at 15 – 20 Pisces / Virgo and falls exactly on Silvio’s T Square. As this T Square, includes Silvio’s Moon, Carla would be an extremely attractive proposition to him, embodying and fulfilling his needs but also her life is very strongly tied to his fate. A man’s Moon aspected to a woman’s Sun has always been a classic marriage contact in Astrology, the fact that this one involved Ascendants and T Squares shows that they were soul mates, each needing the other to trigger the major themes in their life.

For Carla, Silvio’s Jupiter works as a T square apex for her Sun/ Mars – Ascendant opposition, which indicates that his power and status would be a big attraction and takes her whole life onto an entirely different level showing her destiny to be part of the family circus. Carla’s chart clearly shows the importance of Pluto in affairs of her heart, so when Pluto came to conjunct her Sun / Mars  and oppose her Ascendant between October 1964 and August 1967, this would all come to a head and marking the watershed period of her life. Naturally Carla and Silvio married during this time in May 1965.  

Pluto was not aspecting Silvio’s Sun at this point so the wedding would not be the major event in his life, but of course his Sun is in the 1st house not the 7th like Carla’s. For Silvio this transit falls neatly onto his T Square making it very important but perhaps more as staging post on his great Jupiter in Sagittarius quest.

There was one more major turning point in Carla’s life again triggered by Pluto. At the end of 1984 Pluto was at 4 degrees Scorpio and created its own T Square with 90 degree aspects to Carla’s Moon and Venus, staying there until August 1986. This would inevitably trigger the threat made by Pluto’s conjunction to Venus and opposition to the Moon at her birth. Silvio Berlusconi began an affair with Veronica Lario in the early 1980s, but the sudden upheaval came when this relationship produced a child, Barbara, born on July 30th 1984. Barbara Berlusconi’s Sun is at 7 degrees Leo, conjunct Carla’s Venus / Pluto and opposite her Moon, so naturally her birth would be the issue to trigger the big change. Carla and Silvio divorced in 1985.

Veronica Lario Berlusconi has the Sun at 27  degrees Cancer and like Carla, in the 7th house. As we know the 7th house is the house of marriage and people with the Sun there tend to find their lives are dominated by marital themes and are dependent on their partner’s activities and needs in order to pursue their own drives. Are we seeing a pattern here ?

Veronica’s Sun is conjunct Uranus, another planet associated with change  and disruption ( Carla’s Sun was conjunct Neptune ). Pluto made its only aspect to Veronica’s Sun in 1982 – 3 so the early years of her relationship with Silvio marked the watershed of her life just as it had for Carla. Silvio obviously has this effect on his women.

Veronica also had a powerful effect on Silvio, this was probably because they both have T Squares involving the Moon in the same areas of mutable signs and particularly as Veronica’s Moon is conjunct Silvio’s powerful apex Jupiter. Silvio would therefore see Veronica as an even more fundamental part of his life’s quest and so jumping ship would be the obvious move. Veronica like Carla has a Moon – Venus opposition and would see exactly the same things in Silvio that his first wife and probably many of his other women do, although perhaps not seeing what the rest of us clearly see. Silvio married Veronica in 1990.

Veronica and Carla also share a Moon  – Venus opposition. Surely the same thing couldn’t happen again. Pluto was in Veronica’s T Square during 2004 and 2005, so she could have experienced particular marriage problems at this point. Certainly from the beginning of 2007 she was making public statements about her husband’s undignified behaviour and a divorce settlement was agreed at the end of 2012.

How do you define the watershed moment in someone’s life. For most people, like Carla and Veronica its very obvious, For Silvio there have been so many major moments that it would seem hard to choose. When you look back on a lifetime the turning point was probably the first breakthrough into a field that defined the rest of the life.  

There are two transits in Berlusconi’s life for Pluto to the Sun and like so many other people in public life, these transits have marked the beginning and end for him. The first and most important because everything else followed on was in 1973 – 4 when Pluto was conjunct his Sun. Berlusconi made his first entrance into the world of media by setting up able television company ” Telemilano ” in 1973.

Pluto moves very slowly and was at 5 degrees Capricorn in 2010 – 11 making the second contact to his Sun ( a square aspect ).  In February 2011 Berlusconi was charged with paying for sex with a dancer between February and March 2010 who was under the age of 18. He was also charged with attempting to cover up the relationship. He has since been found guilty  and sentenced to 7 years in jail and banned from public office. He is likely to appeal and the sentence will not be enforced until the result of an appeal is known. In November 2011 he resigned as Prime Minister due to the economic problems faced by Italy.

One hard to ignore fact about Silvio Berlusconi was that he was actually elected Prime Minister of Italy on no less than 3 occasions. The first time was in May 1994 which lasted only 9 months as the coalition that had made the Berlusconi cabinet possible collapsed. Pluto was not in evidence here, there was a strong Saturn transit but Capricorn research has decided to keep it to one planet alone. Pluto did make an appearance in the 1996 elections which Berlusconi lost when it was in square aspect to his Mars.

Berlusconi’s second victory in May 2001 was much more signifiant in terms of his life as his premiership lasted for 5 years and it was during this period that he became a global political figure. Pluto was in square to his Moon for 2000 – 2001, so in astrological terms this would be one of the three biggest turning points of his life.

The third victory came in April 2008, when Pluto created a T square to Berlusconi’s Ascendant and Midheaven, in itself the 4th biggest turning point in his life but also as an indicator of the problems that were just around the corner and surfaced powerfully when Pluto squared his Sun 2-3 years later.

Pluto’s aspects to the Sun have marked the major turning points for Carla and Veronica  and in Silvio’s case the beginning and end of him. With Silvio Berlusconi, however, you never know. If it wasn’t for the fact that it was Pluto, which usually acts with great finality, we might still be expecting a Berlusconi comeback.

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