Arnold Schwarzenegger's Horoscope from two perspectives: Laetitia Kanafani and Jeff Jawer



In applying the two author’s suggested interpretations to the birthchart of Arnold Schwarzenegger, we look to the Intercepted House polarity – 4th House- Libra and 10th House-Aries, as well as to the Duplicated House polarity – 2nd House-Leo and 8th House-Aquarius. Laetitia Kanafani’s writing outlines her finite understanding of what she refers to as locked energy of planetary influence contained in Intercepted Houses, as well as her conception of how to unlock those energies. She
pleads to the interpreting astrologer, “we should not minimize the influence of an interception” but rather to take it seriously. Jeff Jawer, however, recommends taking the negative implications of interceptions with a grain of salt, arguing, “that a planet’s energy is inhibited by the tri-section of semi-diurnal arc is quite a stretch.”2
In this birthchart, Kanafani’s restrictive notion that Intercepted Houses are locked can be immediately rebutted by the Mars- ruled Aries 10th House. As no planets reside there, we look to Mars as the character who is playing out the 10th House scene. According to Kanafani, this Marsan energy would be “blocked and delayed in its expression.” However, Mars is in fact the singular distinguishing and defining quality of the native, and seems to have been quite naturally expressed by him throughout his life and career. One would certainly not refer to the native’s Pisces-Cusp Midheaven for the rocket-like success and talent he enjoyed in his early body-building career and then throughout his enduring action-hero movie-star roles. I’m not catching the Piscean nature of Conan the Barbarian.
Notwithstanding the internal/hidden associations of the 12th House, where the 10th House dispositor resides, it can be interpreted that the 12th is the House that, by definition, rises – emerges, grows, gains, accumulates. Mars’s applying conjunction to Uranus here provides a lightning-bolt quality to this warrior energy. Mars is also square to the Midheaven which can be seen to bring about the “fight” that is required for one to attain the level of career success that the native has in two extremely competitive fields (body-building and movie- star’ing). Further, Mercury in rulership in the same House no doubt lays out the plan, and points Mars in the best possible direction for the roar and blast of ignition that is necessary.
Shifting focus to the native’s Duplicated House axis, we look to the 2nd House-Leo and 8th House- Aquarius. Kanafani posits that it is the Duplicated Houses of the birthchart wherein additional burden and an over-load of planetary energy is expressed. The native must then consciously re-direct the excessively-energized Duplicated House resources – its first House Cusp – to the following House Cusp, thus unlocking, or employing the ability for the native to express and utilize the energies of the Intercepted Houses in his life.
In 2nd House-Leo, we can see Saturn in a very tight applying conjunction to Pluto. (Sounds familiar, eh?) We know from current mundane experience that the energy of Saturn-Pluto is essentially impenetrable. Yet the native has consistently and with massive success penetrated the domain of his 2nd House – his earnings, values, and material security. Additionally, the center-stage spot-light influence of the Sun (also in its rulership) highlights this area of life which is also in quadruplicity with the 10th House of career. Perhaps a heaping dose of a natural-born, boisterous Sagittarius South Node adds some fuel to the fire.
In opposition to the Saturn-Pluto merger sits Fortuna in the 8th House of Aquarius. Of course, the Part of Fortune signifies, among other things, the native’s 25 yearlong marriage with Maria Shriver, American royalty as the niece of President John F. Kennedy. The opposition of Fortune to the Saturn-Pluto conjunction would certainly point to the marriage’s ultimate messy ending involving 8th House issues. Nevertheless, in the realm of 2nd House matters the native seems to have remained unscathed.
I find appealing Jawer’s concept of a gradated shift of meaning between House environments. I would call it a Soft-Cusp – where a cinematic-type ‘dissolve’ of one area of life into the next creates a soft transitioning into the following scene of planetary action. Kanafani, on the other hand, regards the House Cusp as if it is a horoscopic Berlin Wall – as I imagine the majority of astrologers do as well; a hard stop/start point at which the environment ascribed to a particular House ends, and the next House/environment begins. Ultimately, as Jawer notes, “no single system has demonstrated universal superiority.” With that said, this writer’s mutable-water-dominant signature will always lean toward “movement of the mind” over “rigid rules,” in regard to House Division and to life in general.
1 Note for all references to “Kanafani”: Kanafani, Laetitia; Interception: What Can Be Found In The Secret Drawers of the Chart, from Astrology and Numerology – June 9, 2013 2 Note for all references to “Jawer”: Jawer, Jeff; House Cusps and Systems from ISAR International Astrologer, p 43 – April Issue, 2013 / Originally published at www.StarIQ.com © Melissa Greener & Waxing AstroLogic; October 5, 2020 Originally submitted for Kepler College Professional Certification in Natal Astrology
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