Beauty, Sex Appeal and Astrology (Part 1): Aphrodite

Chalk it up to my 8th house Mercury or Scorpio Moon, but I've had something of a life long obsession with Hollywood sex symbols. Everyone from Rudolph Valentino to Rihanna has captured the full extent of my attention and imagination.

The very idea that someone could be so revered, cherished, and even, in some respects, deified for their raw, unbridled magnetism is utterly fascinating to me. How is it possible that one person could hold so much power and influence over others simply because of their looks? How does a single person generate such an insatiable need in others? And, furthermore, what is sex appeal? How does it function within each of us, and how are some people able to better access and wield it than others?

In this series, I hope to provide some deeper clarification to these questions by way of examining certain astrological aspects in the charts of some of tinsel town's most celebrated bombshells. The focus here will specifically be on female sex appeal, as it is primarily women who (for positive or negative reasons) seem to leave the most indelible marks on society with their sexuality.

When looking into which astrological placements could imbue someone with "sexiness" (assuming that sex appeal is an instantly-recognizable "it" factor, and not solely in the eye of the beholder), one will quickly discover that there are a few tried and true planets that always come into play: Venus, Mars, and Pluto. It has been written time and time again that any combination of these three, or the contact any of them may make to your Sun, Moon or Ascendant will create that aforementioned "it" factor, which leads to oozing, intangible sex appeal. And while this is certainly true, there came a point in my research where I wondered if there was a missing link; if there were factors beyond Venus, Mars or Pluto contacts that might could tongues wagging.

That's when I discovered asteroids.

Apart from the classics (Chiron, Juno, Vesta and Ceres), asteroids are still relatively "new" in terms of their metaphysical usage, and, as such, astrologers' opinions surrounding them vary greatly. Researching them is something of a crap shoot, given that information on their impact is scarce, or often very fatalistic. The general consensus seems to be that they are to be looked at as a "secondary" influence to any aspects made to signs and houses by planets. However, in my own studies, I've found that many hold just as much relevancy as any planetary effect. Not only do asteroids paint a wildly accurate snapshot of one's life, but they can add a little extra flavor to the birth chart, too. Personally, discovering which asteroids have influenced my own chart and the charts of friends, family members and associates has allowed me to fill in gaps that were left previously unaddressed.

If you'd like to find out where your own asteroids sit in your chart, visit astro.com and head to their chart selection page. Scroll down and click on the "asteroid name/number list" and fire away (the asteroid we will be discussing in this article, Aphrodite, is listed as 1388).

And who is Aphrodite? She's the ancient Greek goddess of beauty and sexual love. In astrology, her Roman counterpart (Venus) is used to determine and describe our sensuality, how we attract others, what we value in life, the types of things/people/places we're attracted to, how we like to dress, and how we prefer to give and receive romantic love.

Aphrodite's influence is somewhat different. Whereas Venus is sweet and affectionate, Aphrodite is hedonistic and free. She's a beautiful, boy-crazy bohemian, confident, proud and utterly liberated by her heart-stopping sex appeal. She not only delights in attention from the opposite sex, but she thrives in it. Needs it. And men are more than willing to oblige in that need. Her powers of seduction are unparallelled due to her beauty, confidence, and forthright love of sex. She can be classically romantic, sure, but for her, the essence of romance lies not in hand-holding and sweet nothings, but in passionte, wild, hours-long sexcapades.

Aphrodite also has a darker side: a tendency towards laziness, vanity, self-indulgence, and a noncommittal attitude about relationships. Her placement in our charts shows us how we express that wild, feminine, hedonistic side of ourselves, as well as the kinds of women we pattern our own Divine Feminine nature after; women we idolize, attempt to emulate, or secretly wish we could be.

For my research, I analyzed the natal charts of 18 different celebrities of today and yesteryear, known and revered far and wide for their beauty and/or sex appeal: Brigitte Bardot, Elizabeth Taylor, Marilyn Monroe, Jayne Mansfield, Sophia Loren, Farrah Fawcett, Raquel Welch, Julie Newmar, Hedy Lamarr, Mae West, Jean Harlow, Megan Fox, Charlize Theron, Beyonce, Kim Kardashian, Meghan Markle, Margot Robbie, and Rihanna. Among them, I found Aphrodite to be a key and crucial player.

She seems to be in her full power when situated in or near the angular houses (1st, 4th, 7th, and 10th):

* Brigitte Bardot has Aphrodite in the 1st House
* Jayne Mansfield has Aphrodite in her 4th, square her Ascendant
* Sophia Loren has Aphrodite in the 1st House, conjunct her Ascendant
* Jean Harlow and Megan Fox both have Aphrodite in the 10th House
* Charlize Theron has Aphrodite in the 1st House, trine her Midheaven
* Meghan Markle and Julie Newmar have Aphrodite trine their Midheaven
* Mae West has Aphrodite biquintile her Ascendant

This makes perfect sense, given that the angular houses (specifically the Ascendant and Midheaven) are where the influences of aspects and planets would be felt most strongly by others; the palpable energy of this asteroid is super-charged when placed here. The multitude of 1st House/Ascendant contacts point to where Aphrodite impacts the stars' physical appearances, bestowing them with beauty, elegance, and sexiness.

The goddess was also prominently placed in the 8th and 11th Houses of these charts:

* Liz Taylor and Mae West have Aphrodite in the 8th
* Marilyn Monroe, Farrah Fawcett, Hedy Lamarr, and Kim Kardashian have the goddess sitting in their 11th Houses

The 8th is the House of mysterious, intense, unbridled sexuality, adding a darkly seductive quality to Aprhodite's lustful nature. Liz Taylor's dark locks and piercing violet eyes fit nicely here, as does the tendency she had to experience intense, short-lived affairs in relationships (her multiple marriages and relationship with Richard Burton immediately come to mind). Mae West also had her fair share of relationships, one of which was a marriage she attempted to keep secret, which is very reminiscent of the 8th House.

The 11th House is related to media, technology/the Internet, networking and social connections. Kim Kardashian, a former socialite, was among the first to reinvent social media as a means of marketing and commodifying her beauty and sex appeal. In the cases of Marilyn, Farrah Fawcett and Hedy Lamarr, the media was obsessed with each of them, and all three used this influence as a means to construct a character with which they could re-brand themselves, hiding their sharp minds and intense wit behind the veneer of a sultry, blonde bombshell.

Aphrodite also seems to show up prominently in aspect to the stars' Sun or Venus signs:

* Brigitte Bardot - Aphrodite square Sun
* Beyonce - Aphrodite square Sun
* Marilyn Monroe - Aphrodite sextile Venus
* Sophia Loren - Aphrodite trine Venus
* Megan Fox - Aphrodite opposite Sun
* Kim Kardashian - Aphrodite conjunct Sun
* Meghan Markle - Aphrodite square Sun, trine Venus

With the Aphrodite-Sun contact, the legend and lore of the goddess is directly linked to the sense of and expression of self. As such, beauty, sex appeal, elegance, and a tendency to be revered (or despised) by others for their sensuality and personal magnetism embody who they are at their very core. They exude an untouchable, almost intimidating aura, and others respond to them as if they are Aphrodite personified. They come across to the masses as though they're from a different world, completely and totally out of reach, and some may even -- on an internal level -- expect people to treat them accordingly (I find this to be especially true of Beyonce, Kim Kardashian, and Meghan Markle).

This apparent conceit is simply the outward manifestation of a deep, unshakable pride, an intrinsic understanding of the power of their sex appeal, which could be qute off-putting to those who prefer to express their sexuality in a more private, subdued way (notice how the way the public responds/responded to most of the stars mentioned above is split between either intense love or intense hatred). Such a close and inherent connection to Aphrodite creates a deep (and warranted) appreciation for their looks, creative abilities, sociability, and sexuality. These are people who know they're sexy, and love it. They need the exchange of flirtatious, sexual energy between themselves and others in order to feel confident and fulfilled. And, beyond that, half of the time they just can't help it; the sexual energy seems to roll off of them in waves. This could be the friend who always has a new date on their arm, the girl who only wears the shortest skirts, or the guy who's always at the bar, turning his seductive sights on a new target.

Similarly to those with Aphrodite in their 1st house or aspecting their Ascendant, women with this aspect may exhibit the more voluptuous physical attributes of Aphrodite. They may find themselves deeply attracted to rugged, sexy, rough-and-tumble bad boys and bad girls who resemble the aggressive Ares, the god of war, with whom Aphrodite had an intense but ill-fated love affair with (again, think Beyonce with Jay Z, Kim Kardashian with Kanye West, or Meghan Markle with Prince Harry, who definitely lived out his rough-and-tumble bachelor days before Meghan made him an honest man).

Regarding Aphrodite-Venus aspects, this placement seems to inflate and intensify the goddess of love's very essence. Here we have the two sides of Venus meeting as one: beauty, charm and romanticism combining with passion, confidence and pure eroticism. The result is an amplification of the native's Venusian qualities, such as creativity, a passion for the arts, sociability, diplomacy, rampant sensuality, and an unshakable sense of confidence in their feminine power. This influence is obvious with the breathtakingly sultry Sophia Loren, or Marilyn Monroe, who was always fully self-aware and in control of the unabashedly-sexy character she created, embracing her inner Aphrodite with total abandon for all the world to see. As in the case of Meghan Markle, she was charming and self-assured enough in her womanhood to date and then go on to marry a prince. Need I say more?

Aphrodite-Venus natives may be in love with love itself, especially if Aphrodite is in one of the more romantically-intense signs, like Leo, Scorpio or Pisces. While the potential for an expansive, dreamy love affair is certainly present, curiously, they may also exhibit an unwillingness to commit. Just as Aphrodite was obssessed with men and couldn't seem to settle on just one, these natives may experience similar obsessions with the many, many objects of their desire (the same goes for those with Aphrodite-Sun placements). Men with this aspect may find themselves sexually drawn to people who are beautiful, voluptuous, flirty, confident, noncommittal, and maybe even a bit self-involved (think the classic, vain-and-beautiful-cheerleader archetype).

As mentioned previously, the downside with any prominent Aphrodite placement is that there lies the potential to rely on others too heavily due to indolence, or, simply because you can. If the native chooses to exhibit the lower-vibrational qualities of Aphrodite's power, there may be a tendency towards vanity and a lack of personal accountability because things come so easily to them. Others are so incredibly magnified by and drawn to these people that they have the ability to get whatever they want, whenever they want it.

The gift of this placement is the potential for leadership qualities, the ability to rally others around your ideas or cause, or to otherwise use your influence as a tool for helping people.

Don't forget to check back in and join for me Part 2!

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