‘Don’t complain, don’t explain’ does not apparently appeal to the Beckham family as a rule to live by. Yet more toe-curling brickbats have emerged with an Instagram (where else??) post by son Brooklyn slinging mud in various directions mainly at mother Victoria.
It would be tasteful to throw a veil over the gripes and swipes except that family dramas are always a draw and there will be resonances for many who have trodden the path of tricky mother/daughter-in-law spats.
There are details and charts in past posts (see in search) but on reviewing them afresh one intriguing common thread throughout several is the occurrence of yods with an apex Pluto.
Much of the blame has been aimed at the Victoria-Nicola mismatch and it is true that both are forces to be reckoned with. Victoria, 17 April 1974, has a cool Air Grand Trine of a hard-edged Mars Saturn in Gemini trine an Aquarius Moon trine Uranus, with Uranus opposition her Aries Sun – emotionally detached, unpredictable, uncompromising and fairly ego-centric with a driving planet Sun.
While Nicola, 9 January 1995, has a highly-strung, can-be-fanatical Sun, Uranus, Neptune in Capricorn with a power-house and extraordinarily difficult, tough-minded and controlling T square of Mars opposition Saturn square Pluto, Venus, Jupiter.
Victoria’s Sun sextile Mars Saturn are inconjunct Nicola’s coercive Pluto forming a yod. So a relationship that will alter both of them for good and ill. Bulldozer meets brick wall.
The relationship charts between Brooklyn, 4 March 1999 7.48pm London, and both parents also have a Pluto apex yod – power and control are built into their bond. Though in truth Brooklyn’s relationship to his father looks in many ways more stressed than with his mother. His father’s Taurus Sun sits in Brooklyn’s 8th and opposes Brooklyn’s Mars in Scorpio, with David’s Mars conjunct Brooklyn’s Pisces Sun so a scratchy, fractious chemistry on both sides – competitive and impatient. David’s evasive Neptune is conjunct Brooklyn’s 3rd house overly-forceful-in-communication Pluto so that would not help to clear up muddles.
Both parents’ Pluto sits on Brooklyn’s Ascendant so he would feel they were controlling his image.
An over loaded Pluto trekking through all these relationships will make for a trapped atmosphere on all fronts with too much control and too little respect for individuality.
Not that the Brooklyn/Nicola relationship chart looks like a bundle of laughs either – with a suppressive composite Mars opposition Saturn in a Half Grand Sextile to Pluto and to a Uranus Jupiter Venus conjunction. Since it is all earlyish degrees it will be under pressure from mid 2026 through for the next two or three years.
Their wedding chart, 9 April 2022 6pm Palm Beach, repeats the same pattern as their relationship – which oddly is usually the case as if happy couple unknowingly pick a date that matches their chemistry. In this case with a bad-tempered Mars Saturn conjunction and Pluto opposition a Cancer Moon square Sun, hinting at family tensions.
I would worry marginally about Brooklyn since he seems caught between a rock and a hard place. He does have tr Saturn moving to oppose his Sun/Moon midpoint at 28 degrees Virgo within a few days. This has several possible meanings. One is coolness or separation in a close relationship. Or a shift in the way parents’ are seen with critical Saturn shining a light on flaws. In politician’s chart it can also indicate a dampening of popularity or lowered public respect.
Though he does have his Progressed Moon just into his 1st house starting a new cycle in his life which will pull him away from the past.
ADD ON: Tr Pluto is also conjunct his 4th house Neptune which will be significant. Sakoian & Acker are spot on for Neptune here: – confused family relations and chaotic domestic environment. Family secrets and mysteries regarding the home life are common. Neurotic problems arising out of difficulties with parents. Added to which Brooklyn has his Neptune square Saturn in Taurus in his 7th magnifying an overly sensitive, can-be-paranoid tendency.
The family and personal identity are deemed inseparable so separating out as an individual means abandoning the family.
Spare thought – what on earth was Victoria Beckham thinking selecting that silver nightie as an appropriate wedding outfit? Not a good look for mother of the groom.
Jupiter in Cancer seems to have highlighted celebrity family dynamics recently – the Peaty Ramsey conflict is another. Even Prince Andrew’s exclusion from the Royal Family. Brooklyn has no earth in his chart except Saturn in Taurus which makes a destabilising square to Neptune, and he has been criticized for being directionless. His interface with DB is quite challenging – Brooklyn’s Pluto is in a tight inconjunct to DB’s Sun. BB’s Pluto is square is natal Sun in Pisces suggesting he is really struggling with feeling completely overshadowed or overwhelmed by his father’s identity. Quite a difficult chart. It is interesting to hear of Kai Rooney recent footballing success suggesting someone not so intimidated by his parents fame and success.
Glad that Neptune is leaving Pisces next week, it has made everyone delusional, Beckhams and Trump included.
It was a non-conventional choice for a mother-of-the-groom, and tellingly so.
Meant as a reply to @Linda.
Not very insightful perhaps but I find it interesting that he’s a mutable sign between 2 cardinal ladies (Aries and Capricorn). Moon opposing Venus is also telling. I divorced my ex husband mainly because of his interfering mother. When that happened I had transit moon/Lilith opposite my natal venus. Being old enough to have lived the 90s, I remember how Brooklyn was everywhere. To be fair, he doesn’t give me Harry/Meghan vibes. Perhaps Victoria is frustrated because he chose a wife she can’t control. Nicola has more money and access to even more expensive lawyers. That must be hard to swallow.
Neptune can often be as devastating as Pluto in its effects.When I had transit Neptune on my IC, I was sent away to boarding school, aged 10 which appropriately was near the sea. I hated it, was deeply unhappy and I believe it caused or certainly exacerbated my depression and anxiety. The IC/MC is a parental axis too, so for me the Neptune transit marked the separation from my parents and was traumatic. It was certainly not an easy transit.
Have to agree – Neptune square my natal Neptune was deeply difficult, lots of loss, confusion and a sense of not being able to find solid ground emotionally despite making efforts. And also not being clear what was real emotionally – so continuous second guessing.
Ditto. Neptune transiting second house. Much confusion and financial loss after the sudden collapse of two separate property transactions.
All started off promisingly enough, then the transaction slipped through my fingers at the 11th hour with two separate buyers pulling out for flaky reasons. Saturn also transiting 2nd house, no doubt exacerbated the situation.
I have Neptune in 4th on my IC and after deciding that I no longer wished to spend any more Christmases with my family my daughter asked me why I was avoiding them, to which I replied “history”. With Chiron in 8th compounding the repeated wounding by those supposedly ‘close to me’. I still have contact but now at arm’s length and that feels so much better.
“Victoria, 17 April 1974, has a cool Air Grand Trine of a hard-edged Mars Saturn in Gemini trine an Aquarius Moon trine Uranus, with Uranus opposition her Aries Sun – emotionally detached, unpredictable, uncompromising and fairly ego-centric with a driving planet Sun.” – Marjorie
I was interested to see Victoria’s Aquarius Moon. The Solar Eclipse on 17 February is just two degrees away from it, square tr Uranus, suggesting a shake-up emotionally, and perhaps at home too? When David Beckham married Victoria, there had been a Solar Eclipse on 16th February at 27 Aquarius, right on her Moon, when she was heavily pregnant.They married on 4th July, 1999 amidst the Saturn in Taurus square Uranus in Aquarius aspect that was moving towards exact later that month. Baby Brooklyn attended his parents wedding (!), featuring in various photos taken on the day for ‘Hello’ magazine. The Beckhams had done a deal with the celeb magazine, so Brooklyn’s press exposure and ‘branding’ presence began when he was a few months old.
And re Victoria’s evening dress for Brooklyn’s wedding reception – I thought it was a very ‘lunar’ dress, being shiny satin and lunar silver grey. The style was very popular in the late 90’s, curiously. Victoria’s celebrity beginnings referenced?
The original David and Victoria wedding – thanks VF for reminding me – was styled on the Disney film of Robin Hood, with a woodland theme including woodland fairies and apples (Venus). Ahem. For some reason the couple changed into vibrant purple (Jupiter, royalty) outfits to cut the cake at the reception. Perhaps there are hints of Midsummer Night’s Dream too, and the fairy king and queen – Oberon and Titania? And then mischievous trickster sprite Puck upsets the whole sweet apple cart with some unsettling family patterns……
And re Midsummer Night’s Dream….Oberon and Titania quarrel over her adoration of a ‘changeling’ Indian boy in Act 2, scene 1 of the play. Archetypes may be springing into life in the Beckham’s story!
“For Oberon is passing fell and wrath
Because that she, as her attendant, hath
A lovely boy stolen from an Indian king;
She never had so sweet a changeling.
And jealous Oberon would have the child
Knight of his train, to trace the forests wild.
But she perforce withholds the lovèd boy,
Crowns him with flowers and makes him all her
joy.”
Brooklyn’s dramatic ‘kidnap’ story years ago was created by Brand Beckham and their then publicists to give the News of the World a big enough story so they wouldn’t run what they had on the Rebecca Loos affair (it was still a secret). They used their baby to keep David’s image pristine when he was/is anything but. Rebecca Loos is the tip of an enormous iceberg.
Victoria’s Venus on Brooklyn”s Sun and his commentary about his mother ( dressed entirely inappropriately, I agree) dancing with him like a lover and not a mother is one of the threads of this that bothered me the most. That’s not an accusation a son throws out lightly about his mother. Brooklyn was a child when David engaged in his numerous affairs in his marriage to Victoria and sometimes that alienation of affection can lead to boundary crossing, with mother’s looking for affection in their sons/ children, emotional or otherwise.
I suspect there is more to all of this, maybe a part that can’t be fully articulated yet, but recent videos show David being quite handsy with his daughter Harper and my personal opinion ( I also looked at the synastry between father and daughter) is there are significant problems in that family unit.
Thank you Ariel, this has always been my take on that family.
Mother in law in era where world is chasing eternal youth
Snow white fairy tale
“Mirror, who’s fairest of all ?”
I commend Brooklyn! His parents seem extremely narcissistic. Important to break up with that for one’s sanity’s sake.
“All happy families are alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way”
Leo Tolstoy : Anna Karenina
Victoria’s Chart – I agree with Majorie about the silver nightie and Mother-in-Laws having to tread carefully. It is the Bride’s and Grooms day, not the parents. That is the day you watch them marry and start a new partnership, without you in it! . You then need to let go. Victoria’s Mercury and Sun in Aries, with her Mars/Saturn in Gemini( Mercury’s ruler) , does indicate a very forceful outspoken Mother hen. She is boss of her brood. Especially as Saturn’s ruler Capricorn is ruler of the 10th house, there is a strong Mercury/Saturn theme in her chart making her want to control. Also if Cancer is the ruler of her Chart, then maybe she will find it difficult to let go of her children at the best of times. Her Moon ruler of Cancer is sextile her Sun, another strong aspect of her being a strong matriarch. What is interesting is her Sun/Uranus opposition, as this may be a stressful fault line in her chart, as on the one hand she will need freedom of all constrains, yet with her tenth house Aries Sun, she needs to control. With Nicola’s Uranus sitting on this Sun/Uranus midpoint, maybe it is reminding her of what she once had, her eldest loving someone else and change? Which maybe a Sun/Mercury, sextile Mars/ Saturn finds hard where her family is concerned. I not sure how she would have coped with this Sun/Uranus opposition has she been stuck at home all day broke with children! Her Moon/Mars midpoint is also on her Sun. The marriage set quite few emotions into play! As Neptune is in the house of children and ruler, of the 12th with a Pluto in her 4th house of home.
I was thinking about the Beckhams themselves when they married. It was all very regal and Leo and they sat on golden thrones iirc – quite a bit of ego on display.
You should take into account that the wedding was in Florida and that photo looked as though they were inside a marquee. Either way, I think she looked quite nice. And it was in the evening, which requires a different fashion mindset than than a late morning wedding followed by a lunch in a hotel. If you are dressing for evening, then evening dress is required. Which you notice that David Beckham is wearing. Anyway, I would reserve judgement until I had seen what the other guests were wearing.
Invitations usually specify, the dress that would be appropriate. And if it doesn’t, then you can’t be surprised if others go their own way.
Marina Hyde has written a good article in Guardian and podcast video on Youtube – pointing out that Brooklyn is probably right to feel his life has been commodified by his parents who sold details of the pregnancy, the first photos etc, etc. She points out how the Beckhams were some of the first on this bandwagon which coincides with Neptune entering Aquarius (an era when anyone could have their 15mins of fame). One can only hope that transit Pluto through Aqua will start to dismantle more of the talentless.
Brooklyn had his natal 4th house Neptune in Aqua being transited by Pluto yesterday, so it’s like the scales have fully dropped from his eyes about his upbringing and he’s been empowered to make the break from the family.
Thanks for pointing this out. Neptune in the 4th is interesting – since much is sacrificed for the family and there is a pull between personal identity and the family. Standing on his own two feet and not being a Beckham must be scary.