Suzanne Heywood has a life story to marvel at, overcoming extreme parental neglect of her education and safety, to self-teach herself from correspondence courses and make it through to Oxford and Cambridge, thence onto a high level career along with a happy marriage and three children. Aged seven she was pulled away from a normal existence by her father’s dream of sailing round the world – which turned into a dangerous ten year odyssey. He wanted to be a hero and her mother wanted to be with him – the two children were an afterthought and an inconvenience.
Homeschooling by her increasingly hostile mother never happened and Suzanne and her younger brother’s complaints about being scared, homesick and hungry were brushed aside. Eventually they were dumped in New Zealand when Suzanne was 16 without money or support systems and she phoned Childline in desperation. Her father did return and paid their trip back to the UK. Eventually she married Jeremy Heywood, the former Cabinet Secretary, who tragically died in his late fifties of cancer.
She was born 25 February 1969 and is a Sun Pisces square Mars in Sagittarius and Neptune in Scorpio, inconjunct Uranus Jupiter – which manages to encapsulate oceanic and adventurous experiences at the behest of an over forceful father with his head in the clouds. But what marks her chart out as resilient in the extreme is a forced-to-be-self-reliant Saturn in Aries conjunct Venus on the focal point of a yod to Pluto sextile Neptune (Mars). Such a Saturn demands great sacrifice and resourcefulness as well as maturity to get the better end of it.
After much scrabbling around I found her parents’ birth dates from a company check. Her father, Gordon Cook, 10 July 1938, is a Sun Mars in Cancer square Saturn in Aries, which is hard, unsentimental, verging towards cruelty. He also has Uranus in Taurus trine Neptune sextile his Sun Mars, so would be a go-getter, keen on adventure and not always sensible or open to argument. His Jupiter is conjunct Suzanne’s Sun so there would be a sliver of good feeling.
Her mother, Mary Cook, died in 2016 though not before threatening to wreck her husband Jeremy Heywood’s career if Suzanne wrote her childhood memoirs. It also emerged along the way that mother was the instigator of the NZ dumping exercise since she couldn’t stand her teenage daughter. Born 20 August 1941, she was a Sun Leo square Saturn in Taurus conjunct Uranus. Her Mars in Aries was conjunct Suzanne’s afflicted Saturn Venus for an unfriendly chemistry with mom’s Saturn Uranus opposition Suzanne’s Neptune Mars. Star-crossed, a bad mix and impossible on the closeted existence on a sailing boat.
When the ill-fated voyage ‘of privilege’ as her parents described it, started in 1976, tr Saturn in Cancer was square Suzanne’s Solar Arc Saturn Venus for sadness and loss; tr Uranus was trine her Sun for change; and tr Pluto was conjunct her Solar Arc Uranus Jupiter, upheaval and adventure. When she was finally free ten years later tr Uranus was square her Pluto for a radical upheaval; tr Uranus was trine her Saturn for positive change and her Sun and Moon were both being challenged by tr Saturn and Pluto as she cut the parental chains that bound.
Horrifying and uplifting at the same time. The resilience of the human spirit – in some lives – is astonishing.
Thank you for this inspiring story Marjorie and thanks to all that commented.
Heartwarming to say the least.
Marjorie, you mention mars in cancer in her father’s chart as being hard, sentimental verging towards cruelty. Is this because it is square saturn in aries or because of the house it is in, or both? I seem to remember that Meghan Sussex has mars in cancer which was interpreted as making her very demanding, as well as it occurring in various other charts recently. One way or another it seems to be problematic. Does it always cause tension, if not cruelty?
Thank you.
Mars in Cancer on its own can be overly-excitable – fire plus water, a boiling combination. It can be moody and aggressive/argumentative at home. Suzanne Heywood’s father had it conjunct his Sun and in a hard square to a hard Saturn in Aries – his own childhood experiences would have toughened him up and left him unfeeling about others. He was unkindly treated as a child and he did the same to his own children. Really almost a triple effect of Sun, Mars, Saturn with Pluto lurking nearby.
I have often wondered about that Mars square Saturn Moon in MM’s chart – not an idyllic childhood and it will have left its scars.
Hi Marjorie,
Can I ask a question? My sister was born in April in 1969 so just a couple of months later than Suzanne, and she also has Saturn in Aries on the focal point of a yod to Pluto sextile Neptune – not conjunct Mars though.
Presumably similar themes of resilience, self-reliance, resourcefulness etc. would be relevant for my sister.
I’m curious – astrologically speaking, does it happen that within any given year, there are clusters of people who have very similar planetary configurations and therefore similar challenges and strengths?
For sure. That Saturn in Aries from May 1968 to April 1969 will appear on a Yod for all those born then including Will Smith, the late Helen McRory, Brendan Fraser, Ashley Judd, Jennifer Aniston, Marilyn Manson.
Some years produce more prominent people – not necessarily happier. This particular configuration can be quite punishing for some producing self-defeating behaviour.
FWIW – her mother’s birthdate of 20 Aug 1941 is twinned with Slobodan Milosovic – probably says it all.
I’m usually very hesitant to share personal details online but this hit extremely close to home. Like Ms. Heywood, I’m a Sun Pisces with a Gemini moon, with both my mother and father sharing the same birthdays as Ms. Heywood’s mother and father (though different years). My Cancer father was also reckless and irresponsible (though simultaneously affectionate and nurturing) while my grandiose Sun-Pluto in Leo mother also couldn’t stand my sister and I. She would banish my sister to live on the streets at 15 with her abandonment of me following a few years later (it’s now been decades since I’ve seen or heard from her). I’m now in my mid-40’s and only started university a few years back and am finally set to graduate later this year. Seeing yourself reflected in someone that you could potentially look up to has enormous value so thank you, Marjorie, for your astrological insights that offer some of us a bit of hope. To that regard, in response to your earlier post (re: Diane Abbott) about the benefits and limitations of identity politics and bearing witness to another person’s/people’s struggle, my own journey tells me that if there’s just one person that can “see you”, that the ability to leave the past behind becomes much easier.
Thanks for sharing your story, Ava. I suspect you’re stronger and more resilient than you give yourself credit.
Ava – glad to hear you’re making something of yourself.
Have a look at current transits to your own chart. A few years back, I got to know a guy who was about 20 years younger than me. I came to realise he was socially / emotionally clueless as I’d been at his age. When I looked at my own chart, I found my natal chiron was being transited and this was showing me how much I’d grown and could be more confident in myself.
Thank you both Nicole and GnarlyDude :). Astrology has been one of the many tools that I’ve been utilizing as part of my growth and transformation.
GnarlyDude – I have three transits from Chiron right now in my chart: sextile my natal moon (Gemini), trine my natal Neptune (Sag), and opp my natal Pluto (Libra). While I have some understanding of what each of these mean, I always appreciate other’s perspectives (if you’re willing) to help widen the aperture of my own astrological understanding…
I can’t really tell you too much other than Chiron is the “wounded healer” – the centaur who healed others but could never heal himself. When I had transit Chiron opposite my Pluto, it brought me into contact professionally with a woman who acted just like my toxic ex had done. So after a couple of dealing with this woman, I made my excuses and opted out. 2nd parse she returned and I just ignored her. But, it’s not about her, it was about understanding what I was allowing to happen that didn’t warn me off earlier.
With your chart having moon, neptune, pluto in a mini grand trine; their actions are linked together. Gemini moon, being air sign, doesn’t want to feel emotion unless its positive. Neptune doesn’t want to deal with stuff so will go for denial and is important because it rules your sun. The libra pluto won’t go too deep either and wants to keep everything on an even keel.
Maybe chiron’s transit is giving you an opportunity to get in touch with actually process and feel any trauma you have buried? If so, that can be very painful but will release you if you do the work.
Thank you GnarlyDude, I’m glad I asked and I appreciate your interpretation. I’m reluctant to use Marjorie’s space (or any online public space) to explore my own psyche (any more than I already have) so I won’t bore you with too many more tales of woe. That said, I will add that between having a Scorpio Asc and Pluto making close contacts to my Moon, Mercury, Venus, and Mars in my birth chart (with all that that means!!!), excavating my trauma hasn’t just been a part of my life, it IS my life All three of these transits to Chiron are just getting started so I’m not too sure yet how they’ll show up but again I appreciate you sharing how Chiron showed up for you. It gives me some broad strokes as to what I might expect. Until then, I’m waiting out Neptune’s conjunction to my sun.
Around and around we go….
Ava, Thank you for telling your story and don’t worry about taking up space for a personal story. You deserve a hearing and applause for your courage. Personal stories are what astrology does best and we can all learn from each other’s trials and tribulations.