Josh Brolin – Mars Pluto and the will to survive

A Mars Pluto family legacy could have cut actor Josh Brolin’s life short as he started on drugs aged nine and was an alcoholic over the next four decades. He emerged with distinction in the Coen Brothers’ No Country for Old Men (2007) and was nominated for Best Supporting Actor in the biopic Milk (2008). More recently he has gained recognition for playing Thanos, the destroyer of worlds, in Marvel’s Avengers franchise and in Dune. 

 His destructive childhood was down to his wild-child alcoholic mother, a Texan wildlife activist, of whom he was fond, despite her irresponsible behaviour.  He writes in a new memoir, “I was raised to be a man and drink like the male equivalent of my mother.” His father James Brolin, now married to Barbra Streisand, was largely absent until his teens. The title From Under a Truck is a reflection of his mother’s drinking habits.

 He admired his mother and identified with her. “You know, she was a pain in the ass. I mean, there’s nobody who would contest that — nobody — but you don’t not want her around,” he says with a shrug. She made “everything a little more powerful, a little more vivid”. She died at 55 after a stormy fight with a younger boyfriend, whom she chased after drunk and crashed her car into a tree.

 Josh finally got sober in 2013.

 Born 12 February 1968 10.22am Santa Monica, California,  he has a Sun Mercury in Aquarius square Neptune and inconjunct Uranus Pluto in Virgo; with Uranus Pluto opposition Mars Chiron in Pisces. Neptune would make him a dreamer, perhaps addiction-prone. The inconjunct give him a sense of strain as if he could never quite get himself on track. And the gothic Mars opposition a 5th house Uranus Pluto is truly difficult – volatile, explosive, hugely frustrated, attracted to high-risk. A career in the performing arts was probably his saving grace with his Pluto in his 5th house also on the focal point of a yod to his Sun sextile North Node. His 4^th house Leo Moon is sparsely aspected being only trine a 12^th house forced-to-be-self-reliant Saturn in Aries. His Venus in the 9^th squares his North/South node axis and let him in childhood to retreat into reading books as a compensation for the craziness and risk of his life.

 He has a talented Half Grand Sextile from his Mars opposition Uranus Pluto, sextile/trine Venus and Neptune.

 When he finally got sober in 2013 tr Uranus was conjunct his Solar Arc Sun with both conjunct his 12^th house Saturn; and his Solar Arc Mars Chiron was sitting exactly on his natal Ascendant.

  His father, James Brolin, 18 July 1940 11.10 am Los Angeles, has a 10^th house Cancer Sun midway between a creative 8^th house Uranus trine a 12^th house Neptune and Sun opposition a Capricorn Moon. Notably he has Mars Pluto conjunct in Leo in his 10^th which squares Jupiter Saturn in Taurus – so very Fixed and utterly determined.

 His mother Jane Brolin, 19 October 1939, Texas, was a Sun Libra opposition Saturn in Aries square Pluto perhaps square a Capricorn Moon; with her Pluto opposition Mars in Aquarius. Quite what brought her together with James is not clear since their relationship chart is starkly difficult with composite Sun trine Mars Saturn which is turn squares Pluto – a constant tussle for control and the upper hand, and aggravated.

  For all she was a nightmare mother, her Venus fell on Josh’s Descendant for an affectionate link; her optimistic Jupiter opposition Neptune fell across his volcanic Mars opposition Uranus Pluto lifting some of his angst; and her Pluto was conjunct his Moon for a strong bond. Their relationship chart had an ever-forgiving composite Sun opposition Jupiter.

 His relationship with his father is more doubting and edgy. James B’s Mars Pluto falls on Josh’s Moon creating a tense bond. With James’ Jupiter Saturn falling on Josh’s Ascendant for a constant swing between positive and the opposite.

  What an entangled intergenerational tangle. He says of his father that he evidently picks a certain kind of women and that Barbra Streisand is the ‘least severe.’

 Streisand, 24 April 1942 5.08am New York, is certainly a robust personality with  Taurus Sun Mercury in Taurus square a Moon Pluto in Leo – with James’ Mars Pluto conjunct her Moon, Pluto so not all marshmallows and cream. But it clearly works and the relationship chart has an easy going Jupiter Uranus trine Neptune, an affectionate and possessive Venus and Moon Pluto contacts.

 One astro-oddity which I have seen before is that Josh Brolin has his Moon in the 4^th which might suggest a more nurturing bond with his father rather than his mother. Prince Harry has it – with a similarly unpredictable mother. In some cases despite closeness to the mother, the father is seen as representing stability and giving foundations to life.

Human beings sure are complicated. And the capacity of some to overcome a mind-bogglingly damaging childhood is astonishing.