Barbie, the Actors’ Strike, Venus Retrograde

Friday July 21st 2023

The Barbie movie is going to be this summer’s blockbuster — you know it. It’s been released when Venus, surely Barbie’s very own planet, is stationing, ready to go retrograde in Leo on 23 July. Leo is the actor’s sign, and we’re seeing a hella lot of actors in pink at the moment. When Venus stations, we can be prone to fits of nostalgia, or silliness, or both.

I never knew Barbie was a Pisces — launched on 9 March 1959 at a toy fair in New York City. Apparently, there was a brunette version as well, but maybe blond Barbie despatched her. However, it does kind of work: Pisces is the sign of imagination and fantasy, of course, and then there are Barbie’s feet. She is stuck on permanent tiptoes, her feet at an excruciating angle, ready to slip on a pair of high heels. Pisces rules the feet, and many a fish-girl has a bit of a thing for shoes, or finds walking a little awkward. It’s interesting that the other Hollywood fish-girl had a launch this summer too, Ariel. Maybe the Venus Retrograde will help her too.

 

Barbie was born on a New Moon, at the moment that Venus in Aries was conjoining the South Node in Aries. The South Node is a place of dissemination, or in this case multiplication. She was the first (Aries) of her kind,  but she was about to be duplicated over and over again. She represented Venus, or at least a version of her. Venus in Aries is said to be in “detriment” traditionally, that is functioning weakly. A pretty pure example of how traditional ideas about the meanings of planets can really lead you astray, because Barbie’s Venus is powerful. She is all about the Venus, even if she doesn’t have a vagina. Barbie, as any girlchild knows, has no need of Ken. Girlfriends and clothes: yes.

And like many Pisces, she is in receipt of many projections, in her case millions, because we, who have loved her or hated her, project our dreams on to her. That is often the nature of a Pisces Moon. For small children, that little plastic doll is real, imbued with spirit, but unlike many other toys, Barbie is so duplicatable. She’s never Dogger, the inimitable stuffed toy in Shirley Hughes’ lovely book. In general, a child is not attached to one particular Barbie, but may LOVE “Barbie”, and even own multitudes of Barbies. She is a work of art in the age of mechanical reproduction. Like all Pisces, Barbie is simultaneously one and many.

The Actor’s Strike

The Venus Retrograde in Leo also speaks of the actor’s strike. They are the Venus in Leo crew, artists of the silver screen, withholding their services. Interesting to watch what happens around 13 August when the Sun and Venus conjoin, and 4 September, when Venus turns direct, for this one.

Of course, the actors are doing us all a favour with this strike because AI is coming down the track fast, represented by Pluto in Aquarius. When Pluto settles into Aquarius — the opposite sign to Leo, and a sign of technology — we may not be able to control the power of this new technology, so best to act now. With Saturn, the planet of rules, in dreamy Pisces, we might get some rules in place before the fantasy gets completely out of control.

 

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  1. Denise says:

    In the US, ‘Oppenheimer’ is getting roughly equal attention, and makes for an interesting pair – dubbed “Barbenheimer”. Many people are planning to see both films. Julius Robert Oppenheimer – April 22, 1904, with Sun opposite Uranus and Pluto opposite Saturn.