Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?

While looking at my current transits and progressions all I can do really is to gasp. For reasons that will remain undisclosed, I am instantly reminded of the old Bette Davis/Joan Crawford Horror movie from the 1960s called Whatever Happened to Baby Jane? As a kid I remember Bette Davis as epitomizing everything that I was most afraid of growing up to be. Now, when I look in the mirror, a couple months shy of turning 50 I'm seeing something pretty scary. I think that, due to failing eyesight, I am even starting to paint my lips in over the line...


Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?
Premiere: Oct. 26, 1962 New York, NY
Opening: Oct. 31, 1962, U.S. (no time? I used 8:00 pm)

Sun 4 Scorpio; Moon around 17 Libra; NN 4 Leo

What better placement for a Horror Movie than Sun in Scorpio? For the National Premiere, well scheduled on Halloween night, the Sun (Drama) was actually conjunct Neptune (Film) in Scorpio (Shadows). Halloween has probably never really been able to live up to those 1960s Neptune in Scorpio years when some of the Goblins were really real. (Okay, okay, so they were actually just the old time face lifts that stretched Bette and Joan's facial muscles back into Bandanas over their skulls). As Neptune rules Movies and Scorpio rules all things that go bump in the night (as well as at the IRS and Wall Street) how appropriate that a Horror Movie would be made during this time? The Leo North Node, of course, doesn't hurt the picture one bit.

The contents of the movie which is about two aging ex-movie stars whose careers have ended years before. The one was a Child Star whose career ended with puberty (Bette) and the other was successful as an Adult and her career was cut short by a crippling car accident. The two are living together in isolation in a house, Joan is dependent on Bette for support and Bette is so full of resentment and jealousy and guilt about her sister's condition that she serves her sister rats for dinner. Nothing on screen is more psychotic than Bette Davis in this role.

So, since this is the Chick Flick from Hell I was very curious to look first at the classic indicators for Women in a chart. These are the Moon and Venus. Venus rules sisters as well, along with Mercury which rules siblings in general. Awesome astrology here through Moon, Venus and Mercury. For the premiere, the Moon was conjunct Mercury in Libra which is Venus' sign. Libra rules vanity and envy. What better night to premiere a movie about vain sisters than on a Libra Moon that's paired up with Mercury? The audience was in the same state of mind.

And then we look further into these same aspects and see that Venus herself is in the sign that takes envy one step deeper to jealousy. That, of course, is the sign of Scorpio. Things are getting darker here, very scary. Scorpio rules resentments, vindictiveness, deep passions that go unexpressed.

Then we look at how prominently these 3 planets are placed in the chart. All three stick out like sore thumbs. All 3 are unaspected by major aspect to other planets. This means that their presence can't flow with the other energies in the chart. The Moon is conjunct Mercury but the two are sitting there by themselves. Venus is also unaspected and totally haywire because she is Retrograde. Venus rules a person's feeling of being both loving and lovable and also shows his/her popularity. When she's constipated in Rx motion she sort of turns on herself. Totally appropriate for two old women who have lost all connection to the world, especially after both having been super popular and successful as movie actresses in the past. They've experienced a big fall which makes their situation even more difficult. Again, the entire audience would have been affected by these aspects on the night that the movie showed and it's just an interesting coincidence that the story projects these traits!

Looking farther into the chart we see that there is a Mars-Saturn opposition placed over the Nodal Axis in Leo-Aquarius (respectively). First off, A Leo North Node is just great for movie makers as Leo rules Drama. Mars conjunct the North Node suggests a fight and aggression. Great for conflict. Psychologically Leo North Node seems to need too much attention. It wants to move toward the spotlight. It is ruled by the Sun and shows that the need for being center stage has to balance with the need to be part of the crowd/audience.

Psychologically, Mars rules competition & youthfulness which describes where Bette Davis' role. She is stuck in her child's mind. Joan is stuck in her crippled body (Saturn literally rules bones) She seems to suggest Saturn. Mars is youth and Saturn is maturity. Saturn wants control and Mars acts without control. During the whole movie there is this tension (opposition) between these two forces. They express themselves through Leo/Aquarius which represent the conflict between Egotism and Group Involvement. At the end of the movie she reveals that ... oh I won't spoil it. Anyway, Bette's insane and abusive and all the blame seems to be on her until Joan comes clean at the end of the movie. Saturn rules guilt. Together they have been stuck in an abusive relationship in their decaying home for years in an unresolved fight over who is most popular and successful.

Another interesting aspect is a big opposition between Jupiter-Chiron in Pisces and Uranus-Pluto in Virgo. Outer planets are slow moving and show the generational attitudes of a generation. An opposition is actually the perfect setting for Horror especially in the signs of Virgo-Pisces as they are here. Pisces, obviously rules all things that can't be seen or understood clearly. At the opposite end, Virgo rules sensibility and middle ground. Both are feminine signs. A while back I took a class on writing screenplays for Horror movies and, as the class was taught I was struck by how "Virgonian" a Horror movie protagonist must be (I was going through a phase of painting pictures of women screaming, and the teacher was really good which is why I was sitting in a Horror Writing class. If you ever have a free week-end and want to sit through a magical class take a screenwriting class from Robert McKee. He lectures non-stop for 2 or 3 days in the most entertaining, insightful and organized way. )

During the class McKee showed the movie Alien and then gave a scene by scene explanation of how Horror is portrayed through the film. Sigourney Weaver's character is the perfect Virgo Hero. For one, she is, along with her co-workers, an employee on a cargo ship. Her drama has to come while she is on the job. On another level, McKee explained, she is the one who survives because she maintains the most sensible and realistic, most grounded character of everyone on the space ship. She doesn't flip out, she knows when to act and when to hold back.

I always tend to think that Virgo is the most reasonable sign (unless in a sibling relationship that is where they are absolutely horrible people) and figure that the Uranus-Pluto audience probably craved these ugly horror movies more than audiences from other times. In Baby Jane, I suppose we could assume that Joan Crawford's character is the Virgo character and Davis' character, well, I don't know what sign she would be except as said before she is stuck in a Mars state. And, personally, I sort of think that in the case of this movie, the audience, especially the women who grew up with jealous sisters, are the true survivors.