It’s a sad observation about human beings that we often “don’t know what we’ve got till it’s gone”. And this applies just as much in astrology as any other field.
With our own transits, it can be hard to see their true meaning when we are in the middle of the experience, only to fully be able to evaluate their impact on our lives once they are over.
This same assessment can apply to a whole life, we can gain a better understanding of someone’s natal charts once they have completed their sojourn on earth.
My criterion for choosing which articles to write is not simply about an astrological connection. If that was all that was required I’d have done billions of them. I’m always on the lookout for an interesting and different angle.
I’d looked at the chart for the first episode of Friends before, but couldn’t find such an angle. One thing that did seem odd that Saturn was in the 11th house of friends.
Now we know.
This year is Friends’ Saturn Return. And we have lost the character with the most Saturnine theme in the cast.
It’s often the case that the chart of an actor who is known for one role in particular will contain elements that describe that role.
And Matthew Perry often made connections between the character of Chandler Bing and his own.
The tight opposition between the Moon in Scorpio in the 4th house and the 10th house Saturn covers this very well.
Chandler was born to Nora Tyler Bing, an erotic romance novelist, and Charles Bing, a gay female impersonator and star of a Las Vegas drag show called “Viva Las Gay-gas” as Helena Handbasket.
Moon in Scorpio in the 4th house anyone?
His parents announced their divorce to him over a Thanksgiving dinner when Chandler was nine years old, an event which gave him trauma and now he refuses to celebrate the holiday in his adulthood.
Moon opposite Saturn?
Chandler is notoriously sarcastic. He attributes his sarcasm as a defense mechanism he developed due to his parents’ divorcing when he was a child.
More Saturn.
He is the highest earning member of his friends’ circle on account of responsible income management, having learned the value of money from a young age. Chandler works in “statistical analysis and data reconfiguration,” but loathes it, although it pays well.
Saturn in the 10th house.
Since Matthew Perry’s tragic death last week, there has been an outpouring of grief but also an acknowledgment that it was his character that elevated Friends above the ordinary.
This could be seen from the chart of the show in that the key theme is the opposition between the Taurus Moon and Ascendant and the Venus / Jupiter conjunction in Scorpio in the 7th house.
Which fits right onto Matthew / Chandler’s Moon / Saturn opposition.
Perry’s death would obviously hit all the cast members hard, perhaps particularly Chandler’s wife Monica, played by Courtney Cox who would be going through her own Saturn Return.
Courtney / Monica has the same Moon / Saturn opposition as Matthew / Chandler and there was a sense that their characters were quite similar.
We don’t have a birthtime for Monica, but her struggles with childhood obesity, challenges with romantic relationships and complicated relationship with her mother, fit well with the Moon in Virgo conjunct Uranus and Pluto and opposite Saturn.
Monica’s brother Ross played the lead romantic role in Friends.
Again we don’t have a birthtime for David Schwimmer but his Sun / Venus conjunction in Scorpio sits right on the show’s Venus / Jupiter in the 7th house ( obviously the key theme of the show ).
Ross’ complex relationship with Rachel drove the show for 10 years and is shown by the T square with a Saturn / Uranus opposition focused on an apex Moon in Gemini.
For Rachel Green / Jennifer Aniston the course of true love is not a straightforward one.
Saturn conjunct the Descendant is an indicator of someone finding it difficult to get what they want in. relationships.
The ruling Venus in Aries opposite Jupiter suggests plenty of action but the Moon / Pluto’s tight square aspect looks anything but settled.
The fact that Rachel’s Moon is exactly opposite Ross’s Saturn shows all the near misses and breakups.
Joey Tribiani is portrayed as promiscuous and dim-witted but good-natured, as well as very loyal, caring, and protective of his friends. He is a food-loving womanizer who has had more luck with dates than any of the other group members.
The womanising probably comes from the tight square between the Leo Sun and the 5th house Scorpio Mars.
The dumb Joey is to do with the Mercury in Cancer square to Saturn.
Carrying on with that theme, Phoebe Buffay is portrayed as equally dumb but ditzy.
Lisa Kudrow’s T square with Mercury opposite Saturn suggests as much.
The focus onto an apex Moon in Scorpio in the 5th house certainly explains her guitar playing. This is the placement of Smelly Cat.
It’s a fact that the best comedy comes from the characters shortcomings and day to day mishaps. So Saturn provides far more fuel than you might expect.
Every one of the Friends cast has Saturn in challenging relationships with other important chart factors.
But Matthew Perry’s Saturn was the toughest.
Perry was honest about his addiction issues. He details 15 trips to rehab, 6000 AA meetings and at one point he was told by his doctors that he had a 2% chance of surviving.
An exact Sun / Neptune square aspect ( less than 1/4 of a degree ) would tick that box.
His death from a heart attack was a shock but probably not that surprising.
As with any aspect involving one of the outer planets, the energy would be particularly prominent when it made another transit to the same body.
Transit Neptune was in his 8th house quincunx ( both house and aspect associated with death ) his Sun when he died.
On top of that Matthew died on the day of an eclipse at 5 Scorpio / Taurus hitting his own Moon / Saturn opposition.
And of course the Friends’ Moon was 5 Taurus.
I’ll Be There For You could never be forever.
Posted on 31st October 2023
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