Stars on Ice

Zip Dobyns

The recent winter Olympic Games held in Lillehammer, Norway are reported to have been witnessed by one of the biggest TV audiences in history. As all of our readers probably know, the figure skaters were among the top stars, with U.S. sports fans especially watching the drama of Nancy Kerrigan versus Tonya Harding. In past contests in the U.S. and in Europe, Nancy has edged out Tonya repeatedly. The personal rivalry came to a head in Detroit, MI on January 6, 1994, when Nancy was attacked and hit on her right knee by a man after a practice session. Tonya’s ex-husband and bodyguard and the assailant have all confessed that they planned and carried out the attack. They have also claimed that Tonya was involved in planning the attack. Tonya denies any knowledge of it until after her return from the Detroit competition.

After the elimination of her principal rival, Tonya won in Detroit which made her eligible for the U.S. team that went to Lillehammer. Nancy was given a place on the U.S. team on the basis of her past record, despite her inability to compete in Detroit, and she recovered from the injury to her knee sufficiently to come within .1 of a point of winning the gold medal in figure skating. She was in first place, but at the last moment she was edged out by a fantastic 16-year old skater from Ukraine named Oksana Baiul. Tonya came in number 8 after a soap opera series of challenges which included threatening to sue the Olympic committee if they denied her a chance to compete and nearly missing one performance in Norway due to a problem with the lace on one of her skates.

A majority of the U. S. citizens who were polled think that Tonya was involved in planning the attack on Nancy, but since the law says that individuals are presumed innocent until they are proven guilty, it did seem necessary to let her skate in the Olympics. She came home to Portland with a potential trial hanging over her head, and, soon afterwards, claimed that she was attacked one night while on her way home. As Nancy was signing contracts worth millions of dollars with Disney, Campbell soup, and Revlon cosmetics, Tonya was facing a bleak future. She has devoted her life to skating, and has few prospects for commercial sponsors or exhibition performances.

We are fortunate in having accurate birth data for both of these rival skaters. Nancy Kerrigan was born on October 13, 1969 at 5:17 P.M. in Woburn, MA. Her data comes from Francis McEvoy. Tonya Harding was born just one year and one month later, on November 12, 1970 at 8:22 P.M. in Portland, OR. Her data comes from an astrologer in Portland. It is rumored that Tonya is interested in astrology and has consulted local practitioners.

There are some fascinating parallels between the charts of the two rivals. Both were born with the Sun conjunct Jupiter in one of the signs which can manifest in either partnership or competition; Nancy in Libra and Tonya in Scorpio. Both are identified with letter ten in our astrological alphabet. Nancy has Aries rising and Mars is in Capricorn in the tenth house. Tonya has Cancer rising with her Moon closely conjunct Saturn plus Aries in the tenth house. Note that the one-ten combination is said twice in both charts. Nancy’s Ascendant ruler is in both the sign and the house of Capricorn while Tonya’s Ascendant ruler is conjunct the number ten planet (Saturn) and the number one sign is in her tenth house. Both women are highly ambitious and competitive, identified with reaching the top. Both have worked extremely hard to develop the skill which put them near the top of the skating world. Nancy has a little more Libra while Tonya has a little more Scorpio, but both women have at least two factors in each of the signs. The Libra emphasis is often associated with physical beauty and it can be smoother and more tactful than Scorpio, but Nancy can also be blunt, critical and snobbish as TV viewers discovered when some of her “private” comments were picked up by a nearby mike during her Disney World appearances.

The “natural” rivalry is also apparent in the two charts. Their Mars in cardinal signs and their Vestas in fixed signs are square each other within one degree. Nancy’s Moon on Tonya’s Sun could have marked a supportive relationship, but it opposes Tonya’s Moon-Saturn-Juno conjunction. Tonya’s Pluto opposes Nancy’s Ascendant and squares Nancy’s MC while Nancy’s Pluto opposes Tonya’s MC and squares her East Point. The conflict aspects in cardinal and fixed signs and houses are a common indication of power struggles. When competition is properly handled as a game, with fair play and standard “rules,” it can be a healthy part of life. When the need to win overrides integrity and respect for the rights of others, the power drive is being carried too far.

In a closer examination of Nancy’s chart, we can see the indications of success in the material world in her trines and sextiles between earth and water factors. Earth shows our ability to cope with the material world while water shows the ability to nurture others or to accept help from others. Nancy’s chart is mostly a natural zodiac with the signs in their own houses. Her close Venus-Pluto conjunction in double Virgo is sextile her Scorpio Moon; her first house Saturn trines Juno in double Capricorn as well as Pallas and the MC more widely; her eleventh house Ceres in Capricorn sextiles Neptune in double Scorpio. The lunar nodes in earth and water are sextile-trine Mars in double Capricorn. The emphasis on Virgo and Capricorn shows Nancy’s willingness to work hard while the water fits the help she receives from others, including returns from past efforts. The latter can include a partner’s income or inheritance or return on investments, etc. In Nancy’s case, it is taking the form of lucrative contracts for public appearances and advertising.

The element of fire is a key to one’s energy level, confidence, enthusiasm, and creativity. Aries rising with Chiron on the Ascendant is a strong identification with the fire drive. Chiron, like Jupiter, is fire, and the element is strengthened by a midpoint structure connecting the Sun and the two fire planets, Mars and Jupiter. The Sun is octile the midpoint of Jupiter and Mars within one degree, producing a more emphatic combination than the wide square of Mars to the Sun. When Nancy’s chart is calculated for Lillehammer where she gave what was described as the best performance of her life, her local Ascendant in 0 Leo trines her natal Ascendant and Chiron becomes her most elevated factor. Chiron’s long T-square to natal Mercury and Pallas fits the immense media attention and the issue of fair play which pursued the two rivals. On February 25, 1994, the final night of the figure skating contest, Nancy had P Mars exactly on her local Descendant in a sextile to P Chiron, P local MC squared her natal Mars, and P local Ascendant was quincunx natal Mars to further feed the fire.

Other local aspects in Norway included Nancy’s MC exactly trine her natal Moon, but her local MC was also quincunx her natal Sun and octile her natal Saturn. The gold slipped through her fingers but she brought home the second place silver medal and a rosy financial future.

The best we can say about Tonya is that she tried. The legal cloud hanging over her must have produced enormous emotional pressure, though her whole history seems to have been a series of crises. Where Nancy’s chart is mostly a “natural” zodiac with the signs in their own houses and thus usually easier to integrate, Tonya has a majority of her signs in houses that square them. The Taurus-Scorpio oppositions fall in the Leo-Aquarius houses, producing a full fixed cross which is often a sign of power struggles in the life. The tension may manifest through money, possessions, pleasures, love relationships, etc., and Tonya seems to have struggled with all of them. She had a series of step-fathers, some of whom were abusive. The water trines in her chart show a desire to be taken care of, but the Sun on Jupiter, the Sagittarius, the loaded fifth house and general emphasis on the fixed quality show her resistance to being controlled by others. A clear example of Tonya’s ambivalence toward being dependent is shown by the Mars-Uranus conjunction (a passion for personal freedom) in a sign of partnership (Libra) in a house of dependency (the fourth which carries the same meaning as Cancer). The message is repeated by the Cancer Ascendant in a square to Mars, a combination that is equivalent to a cardinal T-square with the first house and planet, the fourth sign and house, and the seventh sign.

Tonya’s close conjunction of the Moon and Saturn connects the two keys to parents and is often an indication of problem parents. The Moon is theoretically the “unconditional” love parent who cares for the helpless infant because it needs the care. Saturn is theoretically the “conditional” love parent who gives us what we have “earned” to teach us what we can do, what we can’t do, and what we have to do. When the Moon and Saturn are in each other’s sign or house or conjunct each other, the parents may be similar to each other or one parent may be playing both roles or they may alternate in the two roles. There is always the danger that one role will be inadequately handled. If the Moon is manifested more strongly, the child may be over-protected and only learn to be responsible and realistic after the parents are gone. If Saturn is manifested more strongly, the child may never receive unconditional love. He or she may feel forced into early self-reliance, into adult responsibility, without a chance to be a child. In Tonya’s case, the latter seems to have occurred.

For close to nine months prior to the Olympics, Tonya’s P Moon formed trines to her stellium of natal and progressed planets in Scorpio. Trines are unrelated to ethics. They simply say that the individual is in harmony with herself in the areas of life symbolized by the factors which are involved. The water signs in fire houses indicate great emotional intensity with the fire wanting to express the passion and the water holding back for security reasons so often the emotions are very volatile. The inner harmony of her positive aspects added to the immense strength of will shown in her natal chart were manifested in Tonya’s determined fight to get to skate in the Olympics. But they were not enough to produce a winning performance despite P Moon trine P Jupiter, P Chiron trine her Norway MC, P local Antivertex sextile natal Mars, P Venus conjunct her local East Point and natal Sun on her Lillehammer natal Antivertex. If “good” aspects guaranteed success, Tonya should have done better than 8th place. Guessing details is risky astrology.

As Tonya’s P Moon moves across her natal MC in the spring of 1994, she will have to deal with the law. The MC and Saturn are the same principle. P Mercury is in the Saturn sign with a trioctile to natal Saturn and Moon and it will move into a square to P Chiron in the Saturn house to reinforce the message. A report card is coming.

The new asteroids provide still more repetition. Through much of 1993-4, Tonya’s P East Point (one of our auxiliary Ascendants) holds a conjunction to both natal and P Karma along with a square to natal Mars. P Urania (similar to Uranus) continues to oppose Tonya’s natal Ascendant. P Saturn and P Juno (like Pluto) are conjunct each other with long oppositions to Jupiter as well as quincunxes to Starr and to Olympia which was named for the site of the original games. The quincunx tends to show separations, whether we just change the details of our activity or we let go the past and move in really new directions. In Tonya’s case, the aspect could indicate her being forced to give up her ambition to become a star by winning an Olympic medal.

Other asteroid aspects included Tonya’s P Antivertex opposite Icarus (with its overreach tendency) and Makover (which can be a key to change). P Chiron holds a long conjunction with Europa, so perhaps Tonya will be able to succeed there eventually. P Chiron is also opposite Fama in Tonya’s fourth house. Her reputation in the U.S., her homeland, is pretty negative at this point. One of the more intriguing aspects is Tonya’s P Ascendant conjunct both natal and P Freud. In light of her traumatic childhood, some psychotherapy might be helpful.

As our readers know, the personal name asteroids are frequently fascinating. We have asteroids named Nancy, Harding, and Tanya. Though Tonya spells her name with an “o,” she pronounces it like Tanya and it seems to be working for her. Among other relevant aspects, P Venus is square natal Harding and P Harding is square natal Venus (which was retrograde at birth and has not yet returned to its natal place). P Harding is also quincunx Karma and P East Point, trine Mars, and trioctile P America. The latter aspect fits her current rejection by many Americans. P Tanya is just starting a conjunction with natal Sun, so issues involving power, self-esteem, and fame or notoriety are likely to continue. P Nancy has been quincunx Chiron for several years, fitting the competition between Tonya’s ambition (the tenth house Aries) and Nancy’s success. This last aspect is about to end as is their public competition as Nancy goes commercial. Tonya’s P Ceres opposite her natal Nancy repeats the message.

Nancy Kerrigan also has many appropriate asteroid aspects. Her P Neptune reached the one-degree orb of a trine to her natal Nancy as she gave her masterful performance in Lillehammer and embarked on a lucrative commercial career. The water trines are great for royalties and residuals. P Nancy continues in a long sextile to Uranus and it is conjunct Tonya’s Lillehammer MC! Nancy certainly did come out on top of Tonya. P Tanya is conjunct Nancy’s P south lunar node, pointing to lessons for one or both individuals. P Harding opposes Nancy’s natal East Point, another appropriate aspect for their competitive relationship. And, to cap the climax, the midpoint of P Tanya and P Harding is opposite Saturn and square P Nancy! I keep asking “how does the cosmos manage that?” The day that Nancy won her silver medal, her Lillehammer Quotidian Ascendant was on the Tanya/Harding midpoint, opposite Saturn, and square P Nancy. Natal Karma finished a grand cross in fixed signs. Just as some very nice aspects did not bring success to Tonya, some conflict aspects did not keep Nancy from a stunning performance though she was denied the gold medal. Quotidian angles move about one degree a day, circling the zodiac in a year.

Many other aspects could be mentioned, but one of the most dramatic was the foreshadowing of Nancy’s receipt of the silver medal. Nancy’s P MC from her Massachusetts birthplace was conjunct La Plata, Spanish for silver. And, even more amazing, her defeated rival had her P MC conjunct her P La Plata. Since Tonya never had a chance at a medal, the synchronicity of the shared pattern seems to be another sign of the karmic interweaving of these two lives.

We have only the birth date for Oksana Baiul, who captured the gold medal at Lillehammer: November 16, 1977. She was born somewhere in the Ukraine. She may be about to make a big splash in the U.S.

For those who would like to study the chart of the attack on Nancy Kerrigan, it occurred on January 6, 1994 at 2:38 P.M. in Detroit, MI. The stellium in Capricorn, Mars, Venus, Sun and Mercury, was conjunct Nancy’s natal Mars within four degrees, and transiting Saturn and Pluto were octile Mars. The combination certainly could have signaled a much more serious threat to her personal well-being. Though the injury to Nancy’s knee was painful, it did not stop her from a superb performance at the Olympics. Other aspects in the attack chart included a close Moon-Jupiter conjunction which squared Nancy’s natal Vesta—an asteroid associated with work and health.

As usual, the asteroids were stunning. The MC of the attack chart was conjunct P Harding in Tonya’s chart. The Ascendant of the attack chart was opposite natal Portland and square natal Tanya in Nancy’s chart. Nancy’s P Portland was conjunct her MC calculated for Detroit. Nancy in the attack chart was conjunct P Nancy in Tonya’s chart. Harding in the attack chart was conjunct the true south lunar node and Tanya was just over the one-degree orb I use from a conjunction with the north node. Portland in the attack chart was just coming to Nancy’s natal Venus-Pluto. Olympia in the attack chart was on the midpoint of south node and Saturn which I consider an important key to lessons. There is more, but just reading lists of aspects gets tiresome even when they are offering a dramatic confirmation of a meaningful world. Character creates destiny, and the sky offers us a mirror of our character.

Late note: As this issue was about to go to the printer, Tonya Harding plead guilty to “obstructing justice” and was sentenced to 3 years probation, a $100,000 fine, 500 hours of community service, creating a $50,000 fund for the Special Olympics, reimbursing the county $10,000 in costs, and resigning from the U.S. Figure Skating Assn. and team.

Postscript on Tonya Harding

I received the current Data News from Lois Rodden after the Pisces Mutable Dilemma had gone to the printer. The original birth time for Tonya had come from Paul Wagoner through Edith Custer. Paul got the data from his newspaper. Gary Lorentzen, a Portland astrologer and ice skater, was told by another skater that Tonya’s mother said that Tonya was born between 8 and 9 A.M. I suspect that the time is 8:22 A.M. and the newspaper in error put P.M., but we do have to consider it “dirty data” until we have more information.

I was surprised by the Cancer Ascendant which is produced by the P.M. time. Sagittarius makes much more sense. There were appropriate angle aspects for the major events but a 12-hour time shift flips the MC to the same degree of the opposite sign so we still have MC aspects. With the morning time, Tonya’s P MC is opposite her P La Plata (silver) for the Olympics, which definitely fits better than the conjunction. Nancy won the silver medal with her MC conjunct La Plata and Tonya was separated from it with the opposition from the MC—her career and status. Using the morning time, Tonya’s P MC is also quincunx Gaea (earth), P Juno, and P Saturn which are highly appropriate aspects.

Calculating Tonya’s chart for Lillehammer with the new time puts her Scorpio stellium in the sixth house with Neptune and Mercury in one-degree orb quincunxes to her local Ascendant. Pluto is exactly square the Lillehammer Ascendant though P Mars has a grand trine to the north lunar node and the local Ascendant. She did fight for and win the right to skate in the Olympics. The P local Antivertex opposite P Jupiter, P local East Point quincunx P Mercury, and P local MC quincunx Pluto, and opposite the south lunar node are all separation aspects which fit her loss of her hopes for a medal. P L MC also squared Mercury and P L Ascendant squared La Plata and her birthplace P MC and opposed her birthplace Antivertex. These angles certainly fit the tension Tonya was feeling.

One of the angle aspects which seemed appropriate in the P.M. birth time was P Ascendant on Freud. In the A.M. chart, Tonya’s P Antivertex for Portland is opposite Freud as the court orders her to undergo a psychological evaluation. When the morning chart is calculated for Detroit, the scene of the attack on Nancy Kerrigan, Tonya has her P Nancy conjunct her Detroit MC and square her P Detroit Ascendant! Also, the morning chart brings the natal Moon back to 11 Taurus to a T-square to Tanya at 10 Scorpio and Harding at 10 Aquarius. P Moon was quincunx P Uranus for the attack in Detroit and quincunx natal Mars and square P Sun for the contest in Lillehammer.

As is always the case, many more aspects were present but enough have been cited to make a reasonable case for the A.M. birth time. The Portland astrologers will probably produce more definite information in time. Lois Rodden also provides the data for Nancy Kerrigan’s mother, acquired from Frances McEvoy. Brenda was born on February 2, 1940 at 8:05 A.M. in Somerville, MA. Lois also provides the birthplace of Oksana: November 16, 1977 in Dnepropetrovski, Ukraine, 34 E 59, 48 N 27.

Copyright © 1994 Los Angeles Community Church of Religious Science, Inc.

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