Incarcerated for over half a century, cult-leader Charles Manson’s protégé and co-perpetrator Leslie van Houten has been released on parole. While in prison since the murder she committed aged 19, she has finished a master’s degree in humanities and participating in a range of mental health and self-help programs.
Two things intrigue me – what kind of chart indicates an entire adult life behind bars and what was Chiron’s input?
She was born 23 August 1949 5.51am Los Angeles, with her Virgo Sun and Saturn sitting on her Ascendant square Chiron exactly on her IC with Moon Pluto in her 12th.
Chiron on the IC points to the wound being in the family leading to feelings of rootlessness and insecurity with a need to people-please to be accepted – a classic cult mark. Squaring her Saturn and the Sun would only add to her sense of worthlessness leading to self-destructive behaviour and an intolerance of vulnerability or weakness. One description of Saturn square Chiron is ‘locked in a self-imposed box. Carrying depression as a wound. Carrying loneliness as a wound.’
Talk about attracting what you most fear.
Manson, 12 November 1934 4.40pm Cincinnati, OH, had his Chiron at 8 degrees Gemini, exactly square her Saturn – so he tapped deep into her issues.
[For previous Charles Manson post see 20 November 2017; for previous Van Houten 1 December 2020.]
The other self-destructive partnership still in headline-grabbing gear is the endless saga of Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie’s ill-fated match.
As with all matters astrological there are always several factors involved. In their case Pluto – with the relationship chart having a composite Sun opposition Pluto which makes for a possessive and controlling match which eventually splits with a long-drawn out hostile, bitter battle. His Pluto squares her Sun natally and her Pluto squares his Mars – all set for an endless bout of toxicity. Plutonic relationships are about transformation – they arrive for a reason in each individual’s life to precipitate a change. Once the lesson has been learnt and the transition to a deeper self-understanding accomplished there is no longer a need for the Pluto tie and they can split. The Jolie-Pitts have clearly not quite got there yet. See previous post 17 August 2022.
Chiron of the unhealable wound is described as an animal cowering in a cave lashing out in pain. Pitt’s Chiron is conjunct Jolie’s Black Moon (no idea what that means but doesn’t sound healthy) and square her Neptune and Sun. Her Chiron squares his Venus Moon in Capricorn.
It is a karmic bond with his wound being attracted to her darkness (which she has in spades from a traumatic mother and childhood with a Moon Mars opposition Pluto.) His Moon Venus conjunction and Jupiter in his 4th suggests a supportive childhood which may have exacerbated her own sense of unworthiness from the mess in which she grew up. Chiron square Venus in synastry can also bring up accusations that the Venus half is profligate with money – which is partly what this recent bout of accusations vis a vis their once jointly owned Provence winery is about.
Will it ever end? The 2024/25 Solar Eclipses will be shaking up her Mars Moon in Aries opposition Pluto which might lay a few rays of daylight in. But with tr Pluto moving through her 7th for another decade and a half she’s unlikely to find relationships mellow -quite the reverse. Their relationship chart will grind on under immense strain for another three or four years yet.
ADD ON: Looking at other incarcerated Manson followers Chiron does loom large.
Patricia Kernwinkel has Chiron sitting on her Ascendant and conjunct Charles Manson’s Scorpio Sun Venus.
Susan Atkins has Chiron conjunct her Midheaven and conjunct Manson’s Sun Venus.
Robert Beausoleil has his Chiron conjunct his Sun widely conjunct his Ascendant and conjunct Manson’s Sun.
Charles Watson has his Chiron conjunct his IC and Manson’s Chiron is square his Sun.
All birth data on ADB. Manson fed into all those deep wounds and created havoc.
Brigitte–Much appreciate your having a look at my father’s chart, albeit sans birth time. What you say definitely rings true. On the surface, my father was very sociable with lots of friends and Libran charm, but the pain from his childhood was deep and intense….never went away….he took it with him to his grave. Thanks again for your insights.
You’re welcome.
Marjorie: Unfortunately, I don’t have my father’s birth time or birth certificate. I can only imagine that Pluto, Saturn and Chiron were hard at work in his fourth house. His stepfather was an absolute monster. You have reminded me how important it is for children to keep track of and preserve their parents’ records. Thanks.
Brigitte–Your post brings to mind my late father. His mother was a teenager when she gave birth to him–out of wedlock. His father virtually disappeared soon thereafter. Like all too many women–especially of that era–his mother was dead-set on finding a man, one that would marry her despite her challenging status as a single mom. Well, she found one and he turned out to be a nightmare for my father. He wanted no part of the little boy she was raising,
completely ostracizing him in favor of the children he and his new wife eventually had. My father was an outcast and his mother could have cared less, wanting to please her husband at all costs, even if it meant ignoring her first-born child. My father was a tortured soul as a result of his severely dysfunctional childhood. I’ve often wondered what his 4th house looked like and his chiron placement/aspects. He was born on October 22, 1919 in Savannah, Georgia. I am a complete ditz when it comes to anything remotely resembling math, so I can’t do horoscopes, etc. Anyway, it is unconscionable, to say the very least, that adults, parents no less, could inflict such mental and emotional suffering on an innocent child. Just can’t fathom the cruelty of it.
You would need his time of birth to find out – it might be on his birth certificate if you have it.
I completely understand. I never had children mostly because I always felt that life is too painful to bring them into this world. I have Jupiter squaring my Chiron, so amplifying the wound/pain. At this point, I think a lot of the harm done to children by dysfunctional parents is out of survival and stress, not necessarily intentional. My father was wildly dysfunctional but I was loved deeply, at the same time. I think if a child is shown love by even one adult I’m their life, it gives them lifelong protection. Women were desperate back then when your father was a child. They still are in different parts of the world. Desperation & stress makes people behave badly.
I just glanced your father’s chart without a birth time. He had both Venus & Mars conjunct his Saturn. Just one of those is a colossal challenge (in my observations). He had two massive restrictions in place. His life was very hard & painful, I’m imagining. Unrelenting.
Really interesting insights, Marjorie.
Thank-you.
I have a double whammy of hard Mars-Pluto in synastry with my mother. My father was divorced with two small children and he re-married my mother. I believe her motivation for wanting to get pregnant was to push out his children from his first marriage. My mother has had the motherhood experience from Hell and she deserves it. She weaponized her two pregnancies in order to harm other existing children. At 44, our Mars-Pluto aspect is losing its pull & I feel incredible having survived her abuse with my inborn sunny disposition still in tact, amazingly. I also have Chiron in the 4th and the wound remains but the pain doesn’t. Now it’s more like a scar.
I also have Chiron in the 4th, opposite Sun and exactly opposite MC. Home was not a happy place. I always put my troubles down to losing my mother, but I came to realise that my Dad was a nightmare long before she died and continued to be long after. Sun in 10th opposite Chiron in 4th.
I never knew what I wanted to do with my life. I could never see where I belonged. I’ve muddled through my professional life with some successes, but always with doubt. The exact Chiron opposite MC makes it hard to see your worth out there in the world.
I felt I took the burden of my father’s generational trauma. It bothers me that my daughter has a close Moon/Chiron conjunction. I’d hate to think she has the burden of mine.
I have Sun in the 10th also. I’m sorry to hear that combo has burdened you too. I have Uranus in the 10th as well. So despite being in exile from both sides of my extended family, I don’t see it as a misfortune, necessarily. My family members, quite frankly, aren’t very intelligent. I’ve always been different, but my life aside from family dysfunction has basically been a blast. Jupiter in Leo squaring my Sun in Scorpio. I’ve had incredibly painful burdens but outrageously awesome blessings as well. I too have bounced from careers/jobs but at this point in life, I’m proud of the variety I have lived & no longer ashamed because I’ve never fit in. I’m resourceful as Hell after walking through those fires.
So interesting Brigitte. I also have Uranus in the 10th, conjunct my Libra Sun. My Libra moon is in the 10th too conjunct Uranus. My husband and I share a Libra moon conjunct Uranus! Just as well.
Neither of us has close connections to extended family, sometimes I feel wistful for a sense of belonging and then I’m glad I don’t have the burden of family ties and responsibilities. I’m free. My family story set me on the road young. I’ve lived, worked, and traveled all over the globe and had a good old time too! Thank you for reminding me to count my blessings!!
I was 34 when my Dad passed. Our relationship had greatly improved by then, through distance, and I loved him dearly, he was my father and mother too. He must have had some real shit going on when I was young, to behave the way he did, we never talked about it and I’ll never know.
I wanted to share this also, I have that Sun on the 10th and I had a wonderful relationship with my Dad. He was my father and mother. He died when I was 32 and although I loved him dearly, it took time to see that he failed to protect his children from my mother. She was monstrous and he allowed her to harm us. I’m still unraveling his behavior 13 years after his death.
I just met someone I had my Pluto in Libra conjunction the person’s Venus at the end of Virgo and he had his Pluto conjunct my Sun, but it only lasted 3 months. It was him who ultimately decided to split. At the beginning I was wary of this relationship as he was a bit too young for me, but he insisted. And it ended by him accusing me of having a contagious sexual illness and I getting paranoid plus being misdiagnosed by a doctor. Not having much luck with doctors this year. I believed my date because he is from the medical field. This caused so much stress that I also lost my job which was already shaky.
Very sorry to hear this Monika. I hope you are able to bounce back from the ugliness of the relatioship and recover professionally.
Marjorie – thanks for looking at Van Houten, I was just reading about her. It struck me that she’s born exactly a month before Bruce Springsteen who you profiled last week. The contrast in how they’ve spent their 53years is a gulf. Him bringing joy and happiness to millions through his music, hers is an adult life for the most part wasted. I was expecting to see some 12th house planets so not surprised, the Pisces descendant won’t have helped with boundaries and the Mars in 11th in Cancer seems perfect for a cult.