Techniques in Astrology: Finding Lady Gaga’s Ascendant

Lady Gaga in 2010

Lady Gaga in 2010

The outrageous Lady Gaga is being sued by a former personal assistant for putting, well, outrageous demands on the amount of time and range of duties foisted on the hapless assistant. The assistant was paid a measley $75,000 per year for duties ranging from handing Gaga towels in the bathroom to managing the fashion diva’s wardrobe. The assistant claims that she wasn’t given breaks or at times, time to sleep and that she is owed over $380,000 dollars in overtime.

People who work for you are sixth house matters, but there is one problem in discussing this in Lady Gaga’s chart. We don’t know her birth time. Though there are several birth times bandied about on the internet, no one in particular seems reliable.

So what is to be done? Rectification! Under the principle that certain things happen when the planets hit certain places in the birth chart, an astrologer will matching life events to astrological events. Most, though not all, of this work revolves around fixing the angles, the ascendant and the midheaven in particular.

Physical Characteristics of the Ascendant

Often in rectification we look first to the physical characteristics of the subject to try to narrow down the Ascendant since the ascendant often dictates facial and body features. Fixing an ascendant by body features is tricky business. While the ascendant does have a say in what features we notice, the Sun sign and other personal planets can influence how you look. For instance, this astrologer has a Taurus ascendant that would indicate stocky frame but as an Aquarian I was taller than the other girls, (and some of the boys!).

Her facial shape is most decidedly oval, with oval, heavy lidded eyes and a longish nose. This could indicate a Virgo or Gemini ascendant, though with a Gemini ascendant you would expect small, triangular eyes. She self describes her eye color as green, though the eyes often appears other colors from time to time. There is speculation that since she is of Italian descent her eyes and hair are naturally brown. However she is also of German descent, so that any eye color is possible. If she were naturally a brunette with brown eyes and with her short frame you would gravitate to Virgo as the ascendant. However you can’t discount that heavy bodied thigh area and her almond shaped eyes, an indication of Sagittarius ascendant.

But one thing that is most noticeable about Gaga is that she is a virtual shape shifter. Though her costumes are provocative, you never see her in the same look twice. Even her eye color changes! As someone who has the same kind of hazel eyes, ones that seem to change from green, to blue, to grey on any given day and one who has a Pisces for a moon, I’m going to venture that Pisces is a very interesting idea for an ascendant for Lady Gaga. Pisces on the ascendant would put Jupiter there square Uranus on the Midheaven explaining the megasized personality that mesmerizes her audiences.

“I used to get made fun of for being either too provocative or too eccentric, so I started to tone it down. I didn’t fit in, and I felt like a freak.” Said Gaga of herself. This self-description fits people who have Uranus on the Midheaven or the Ascendant.

This statement seems to rule out a Virgo ascendant, who is conservative in tastes and conventional in dress and not the least bit provocative, at least outside the bedroom.

So we’ve identified two possible ascendants, Sagittarius and Pisces. Let’s check those possibilities to see if they fit with the events of Lady Gaga’s life. Note that it is not my intention to use every life event, since many of them do not have specific dates attached to them. Indeed, one of the problems of rectifying Gaga’s chart is that events listed, especially in Wikipedia, have sweeping dates dates such as “in this year she moved to LA”.

Sagittarius Asc Gaga Moves into own apartment

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The Sagittarius Ascendant:

Sagittarius on the ascendant would put Uranus there too, an appealing idea since she is undeniable shocking and unusual in the way she presents herself. Lets check the life events to see if this fits.

Wikipedia tells us that in the summer of 2005 she left home and got her own apartment. In the Uranus rising chart transiting Pluto would join the natal Uranus but in the third house. This could indicate some life shattering event, perhaps involving a sibling, but not an event such as a child leaving the nest.

Sagittarius Ascendant Lady Gaga signs with Def Jam

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Again Wikipedia tells us that Lady Gaga was signed to Def Jam in September 2006 with the intention of having an album ready in nine months.However, she was dropped by the label after only three months an unfortunate period of her life that would later inspire her treatment for the music video for her 2011 single “Marry the Night”. This event marked a shattering of career goals and the ending of her personal relationship with producer Bob Fusari. She moved back into her parents house at this time. In the Sagittarius rising chart Pluto is moving off of Mars. Though Pluto moving off of Mars indicates a severing of ties with a lover, there is no connection to 10th house or career issues.

The Sagittarius/Uranus rising chart just doesn’t fit two illustrative life events.

Pisces on the ascendant:

Pisces Ascendant Gaga gets her own apartment

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Life event one–June 2005 Gaga moves into her own apartment and pursues career goals.

In the Uranus conjuncts the Midheaven chart, Uranus highlights the need to “do her own thing”, especially in career matters. Transiting Mercury and the Sun hit her Chiron opposite her 9th house Saturn. This is the time that she leaves school with opposition from her father. Her father agrees to pay her rent for a year with the proviso that she returns to school if things don’t work out within one year.

So far, the astrology fits the Pisces rising chart.

Second life event:

Gaga loses Def Jam Contract

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Lady Gaga was signed to Def Jam in September 2006 with the intention of having an album ready in nine months. However, she was dropped by the label after only three months; an unfortunate period of her life that would later inspire her treatment for the music video for her 2011 single “Marry the Night”. The month after Gaga returned home for the Christmas Holidays, her boyfriend and music producer, Rob Fusari, dumped her in January of 2007.

In the beginning of 2006 the transiting Sun conjuncts her natal Saturn which opposes her natal Chiron highlighting the entrance of a new mentoring relationship with producer Rob Fusari. Venus conjuncts the Midheaven which brings in the career opportunity. While the blow up of her professional and personal relationship was a blessing in disguise, it hit her emotionally on that sensitive Saturn/Chiron opposition with transiting Jupiter conjunct that point and squaring transiting Uranus. This Uranus sat with the ascendant. She was told she was “not good enough” which reaffirmed the Saturn/Chiron sentiment in her natal chart. No wonder she wrote about this event and turned it into a hit!

Life Event 3—Chart Topper

Lady Gaga hits the charts!

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In the beginning of 2009 Gaga released two songs, “Just Dance” and “Poker Face”. These songs were sleeper hits transforming Lady Gaga from a second string songtress into an “A List performer.” This transformation is evident with transiting Pluto and Mars hitting her creative Mars/Neptune combination. Venus transits her Natal Jupiter finally triggering financial success.

Life Event 4–Rob Fusari files a lawsuit against Gaga

Fusari files lawsuit

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This is one event where we have a date, March 17, 2010. Three years and some months after Fusari called it quits with Gaga, and after she made it big without him, Fusari files a 30 million dollar suit claiming that Gaga reneged on an earlier contract which gave him royalty and merchandising rights.

On the date that the time this suit is filed transiting Jupiter conjuncts the ascendant on her natural Mercury (contracts) challenging (square) her natal Saturn.

Personal Assistant files lawsuit

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Life Event 5—Personal Assistant files Lawsuit

The story broke on December 25, 2011 a Sunday, so the closest to that date the papers could be files is on December 23, a Friday. On this day the transiting moon crosses over Saturn in the ninth house, representing the legal process and/or lessons through the legal process. Remember this is the Saturn that is opposite her Chiron, the planet of wounds. Mercury, is the lawyer, and on this day, Mercury conjuncts the Saturn.

The Pisces ascendant tell a story of the importance of the Saturn/ Chiron opposition in her chart, linking it with paternal control and legal issues. It hints, along with her strong Pluto/Moon combination in her eighth house of transformation a lack of definition of personal boundaries. With Leo on the sixth house, which naturally confers a sense of domination over people who serve her, yes, Gaga indeed crosses the line when it comes to her employees.

So all things taken together a Pisces ascendant certainly seems to fit the short timeline of Lady Gaga’s personal life. Of course we will never know for sure until someone shows her birth certificate.

What do you think?

Photograph published under a Creative Commons License as described by Wikimedia Commons.

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