Part 2, Marilyn Monroe: The Romantic Revolutionary
In late 1954, Marilyn negotiated with Mocambo Club management to have her favourite jazz singer, Ella Fitzgerald, perform after initially being rejected. With Jupiter in Aquarius, and Aquarius on the 7th house cusp, she was was a master at publicity and used it to push social justice and to further the careers of her friends and lovers. Photograph is from November, 1954. Getty Images, Bettmann.
The Altruistic Friend: 7th house Jupiter + Aquarius on the 7th house cusp
"I owe Marilyn Monroe a real debt. She personally called the owner of the Mocambo, and told him she wanted me booked immediately, and if he would do it, she would take a front table every night. Marilyn was there, front table, every night. The press went overboard. After that, I never had to play a small jazz club again."
- Ella Fitzgerald, Ms. Magazine interview (1972)
Aquarius is posited on the cusp of Marilyn’s descendant, or 7th house, making her generous, rebellious, and progressive in her dealings with people. Her formative (4th house) years were defined by the plutonian and saturnian influences of sexual abuse, mental illness, and poverty, which made her forward thinking and incredibly enlightened in her adulthood. With Saturn in Scorpio in the 4th house squaring her Aquarius Moon and Jupiter in the 7th, it is no surprise that her sense of justice was mostly expressed in her intimate relationships and friendships. In late 1954, at the beginning of the civil rights movement, Marilyn took it upon herself to use her power and privilege to ensure her favourite jazz singer, Ella Fitzgerald, was booked for a week at the famous Mogambo club; a venue that initially rejected her. Jupiter, the planet of luck, expansion, and generosity, is also placed here; bestowing upon her the gift of the ‘Midas touch’. This one act of kindness led to financial and commercial success for Ella during the tumultuous peak of the civil rights movement and long thereafter. People with this placement are fun, joyful, and share their abundance with loved ones, and are rewarded for their selfless acts of generosity. Jupiter in Aquarius also gave Marilyn a knack for controlling publicity and for drawing attention to causes. This is a placement for fame and rebellion; making as many friends as she did enemies.
Marilyn with her second husband, Joe DiMaggio, 1954. Joe was a traditionalist and wanted Marilyn to retire from the film industry. With Aquarius on the 7th house cusp, she prioritised her freedom and individuality over conventional married life. Their marriage of only 10 months ended in divorce after he physically assaulted her in a fit of rage. They remained friends for the rest of her life, and rekindled their romance in 1961, shortly before she died, under the condition that he relinquish control of her and she could enjoy an open relationship.
Unorthodox Love in Conservative Times: 7th house Aquarius Moon conjunct Jupiter
“She was everything. Whatever anybody was, she had a little of it. It was a disastrous combination of powerful impulses in every direction. All within the same woman...She’d been much better off today. ”
-Arthur Miller (third husband)
Having Aquarius, the sign of the rebel and revolutionary posited on the 7th house cusp of relationships is not the most intuitive placement. To also have Marilyn’s Aquarius Moon here made her impulsive and unpredictable in her marriages. Deeply empathetic to the needs of others, and also desperate to have the most intelligent and beautiful version of herself mirrored back to her through lovers and friends; this contradicts the Aquarian nature. She moved in various elite social circles in order to prove to herself that she was intelligent, and had intimate emotional and sexual relationships with people she felt validated that.
Jupiter in the 7th house of partnerships indicates fame and recognition through associations and love affairs. Her second husband, Joe DiMaggio, was the most famous athlete in the world; her her third, Arthur Miller, was the most famous playwright. While the magical and boundless Neptune of her first house attracted the prestigious and mysterious, it was Jupiter in her 7th that permitted her to make love to them. Jupiter is the kinder, benefic, patriarch of the solar system. Unlike the restrictive and sometimes cruel Saturn, this benevolent masculine energy blesses one with wealth, fame, and mind-expanding lessons in love. However, having Jupiter conjunct, or ‘bound’, with Marilyn's unpredictable Aquarius moon, exaserbated the unstable and manic aspects of her personality, resulting in bitter divorces. Unfortunately, it also attracted powerful people who sought to use her for her fame, prestige, and her body. They were often intellectuals; people she believed could teach her how “to be wonderful”, as she put it. For example, Arthur Miller famously announced their engagement to journalists on national television before privately proposing to her. Marilyn was caught off-guard and had to navigate several awkward interview questions about an upcoming wedding she was not even planning for. It’s been speculated that he used his relationship with Marilyn to improve his image after being subpoenaed by the house Committee on un-American Activities for his left-wing connections.
Marilyn with her third husband, Arthur Miller, in 1956. With Jupiter in the 7th house, she attracted partners that were members of the social and intellectual elite. But with her moon in there as well, she needed her feelings mirrored back to her and validated through friends and partners. Not the most intuitive placement for what is usually and very independent and free-thinking Aquarius moon. Their marriage ended in divorce in 1961. Photograph by Milton Greene.
Marilyn’s Aquarius Moon in the 7th house made her radical and ahead of her times; desirous of true love, minus the ‘boxing-in” and labels. To have this detached Aquarius Moon placed in the house of partnerships is counterintuitive, especially during such an oppressively conservative era. People with the Moon in the 7th house are highly empathic, caring and nurturing towards their friends and lovers. They can only see their self-worth when it is mirrored back to them through these relationships. This is demonstrated in Marilyn’s complete dependence on her friends and mentors, specifically her acting coaches Lee and Paula Strasberg. Her marriage to Arthur Miller, a member of the intellectual elite, was as much a romantic partnership as it was a working one, with him rewriting mediocre scripts and causing rifts between her business partner Milton Greene. It was very important that Arthur reflected back the best version of herself, and for her to be perceived as intelligent by him. In a 1987 interview Arthur stated,“The best of her, she thought, was in my eye. Therefore, the hope she had was with me for that time in her life.” But in 1956, shortly after their marriage, Marilyn found a notebook detailing how he was disappointed and embarrassed by her; a betrayal she never recovered from. An Aquarius Moon in the 7th house of partnerships is a painful placement as it wants artistic freedom, independence, and to take the road less travelled; and yet it desperately needs validation and approval in order achieve it.
Marilyn with her acting coach Lee Strasberg in 1961 for the Actors Studio Benifit. Photo is from The Marilyn Monroe Collection.
The Svengalis, Paula and Lee Stransberg : Aquarius Moon + Aquarius on 7th House Cusp
“He (Lee Strasberg) made people more dependent on him. There are teachers who teach so that the student no longer needs them. Then there’s the teacher who teaches so the student can never do without him. The second kind was Lee Strasberg.”
-Arthur Miller (third husband)
Marilyn’s 7th house placements made her vulnerable to Svengali/Trilby dynamics with people she perceived as powerful and intellectual, particularly to older men. Her Aquarian desire for independence, justice and to rebel, as well as the need to have it approved of by others, is evident in her dependence on the Strasberg family. Her acting coaches, Paula and Lee Strasberg, were Svengali figures in her life; cultivating her unique talent, applauding her for rejecting mainstream Hollywood, but also making themselves indispensable to her. The abuse and rejection she faced in one institution (Hollywood) primed her for the exploitation within another (Broadway). It is well documented that Marilyn poured a lot of money into the Actors Studio, and she even left Lee Strasberg most of her estate and personal effects after she died. Marilyn, being infamous for her lateness and extreme anxiety, had her ego stroked by Lee. He envisioned her as Lady Macbeth, much to the shock of her peers who realised that, while naturally talented, she lacked the experience and discipline necessary to perform live on stage. Her directors, Laurence Olivier, Billy Wilder, George Cukor, and John Huston. openly criticised the Strasbergs for perpetuating her insecurities; she was as addicted to them as she was alcohol and barbiturates in the last few years of her life.
