Saturn-Neptune in Leo People
John F. Kennedy (29/5/1917)
J.F. Kennedy (Gemini) is the second American president who was assassinated on the list-so that could be a message for presidents to watch out When Saturn and Neptune conjoin. JFK as he is known was seen as the golden boy of the Kennedy dynasty in the United States who was poised to save America in the early sixties and lead them into a modern era. He possibly had satyriasis, and became sexaholic. Then tragedy struck. The violence of his public killing and the messy cover up that went with it still reverberates very loudly today with question marks hanging. On that day in Dallas, 22nd November 1963, not only was J.F.K experiencing a Nodal Reversal on the Capricorn-Cancer axis, which is very fated, he also had Uranus/Vertex/Pluto on his Moon in Virgo but transiting Saturn in Aquarius was actually square to Neptune in Scorpio so it had something to say.
François Mitterrand (26/10/1916)
Mitterrand (Scorpio) was the leader of the ‘socialist’ party in France during the 1970s, longer than previous presidents. He was an opponent of De Gaulle. As a young man he was involved in the Vichy Government during WWII which was accused of cooperating with the Nazis in the round up of French Jews, but he later joined a faction that split off so avoided the accusations himself. This adaptability meant he switched views expediently to stay ahead, with his eye on power. He became that common hybrid the ‘moneyed-socialist’. His presidency was beset by numerous scandals. Often they involved his mistresses but there were also a couple of suspicious ‘suicides’ of ministers in his government and the admission of an illegitimate daughter. He had Pluto on his MC. The Saturn-Neptune conjunction was at the apex of a T-Square with Jupiter (associated with political careers) and the Sun/Moon across signs Libra/Scorpio and that trines the Pluto on the MC.
Susan Hayward (30/6/1917)
Susan Hayward (Cancer) was a tough girl from Brooklyn called Edith Marrener. She wanted to be a star but was rejected frequently so she polished up her accent to talk more smoothly and then took on Hollywood. She was said to be arrogant and a ‘tough cookie,’ yet she was also frugal but wore a mink coat as a symbol of her success which she relished. She was known for her volatile temper and excessive drinking (Moon square Uranus trine Sun/Pluto). She was punished for refusing lightweight roles, but worked hard on her acting and was highly regarded as a professional. She was bold enough to portray a feisty alcoholic woman- a role made for her- but avoided by most other actresses and even a murderess in ‘I Want To Live‘. Her Saturn-Neptune is in Leo but conjunct Venus across signs in Cancer. Neptune’s placement in Leo is often a marker of the glamorous film star.
Betty Ford (8/4/1918)
Betty Ford (Aries) was the ‘First Lady’ wife of US President Gerald Ford who took over when Nixon resigned in 1974. She was born Betty Bloomer and her father died in what could have been a suicide. Troubled by addiction to prescription drugs and with a growing drink habit she was not aware was actually ‘alcoholism’ (her Moon in Pisces opposes Mars in Virgo), she descended into ill health almost to point of no return. Then she pulled herself out of it and restored her health and established a clinic for rehabilitation to help others do the same. This candour and courage in facing her problems head on and going public with it gained her much respect. She even revealed she’d had cancer and a mastectomy. Her Saturn-Neptune is square to Mercury in Taurus, hence the boldness in speaking out.
Muriel Spark (1/2/1918)
Muriel Spark (Aquarius) brings in her own words a challenge to the mind’s eye in her stories. She spent time in Africa in her youth and then after divorcing her husband struggled for money in Kensington with a young child. She was editor of the Poetry Review at a young age. She had an original voice with an off-the-wall Catholic sensibility. She converted to Catholicism in 1954. 'The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie' (1961) is a classic of its kind but all her other novels like 'Memento Mori' and 'Girls of Slender Means' can be just as funny and devilishly provocative. She hated ‘timid’ writers so more than compensated for that by taking risks in her writing. She was allowed her own room at The New Yorker. This puckish quality and the sheer economy of words gives her work an unmistakable edge. She was spiky and acerbic to the end. Her Saturn-Neptune is opposite the Sun in Aquarius so perhaps all the snapping tension in the writing came from that- the ‘spark’ as it were? But the Moon/Mars in Libra square to Pluto in Cancer probably helped.
Shirley Jackson (14/12/1916)
Shirley Jackson (Sagittarius) was one of the great supernatural horror story writers. She also claimed to be a witch of a kind, often just to deter people from bothering her when she was doing her work (Moon square Venus). She wrote trivia too but has a special liking for horror and said “I delight in what I fear” (Pluto opposite Mars/Mercury). The Haunting (1963) is a film based on her novel of the same name. It set the standard for this kind of supernatural house story and has been freely copied in repeated film versions but the Wise (1963) version has never really been equalled. And her short story ‘The Lottery’ (1948) which appeared in The New Yorker is held as the model of powerful short story telling in Creative Writing schools and anthologies across the USA. It certainly touched a deep nerve about all that is hidden under the surface of the collective psyche. She was fiery as she had Sun, Moon and Ascendant in fire signs. Her Saturn-Neptune conjunction, also in the fire sign of Leo is square to Jupiter in Aries.
© Kieron Devlin, Proteus Astrology, 20th May, 2025
