The Astrology Of Rosie O’Donnell’s Heart Attack

Rosie O’Donnell, the well-known comedienne, suffered a heart attack this week at the age of 50. I have profiled Rosie in these pages before, especially about her “Mars problem” as I call it:

It’s no secret that the most brilliant comedians are often depressed and angry individuals who release their frustration through comedy, and Rosie O’Donnell is no exception. Rosie was born with the Sun in Aries, the sign that is ruled by the god of war. The Aries influence is dynamic and inspirational but can also be rebellious and impulsive. Rosie O’Donnell exhibits all of these character traits.

Mars in her chart, the planet that rules her Aries Sun, falls in the mystical and adaptable sign of Pisces. When the fiery god of war (Mars) is expressed through the watery sign of empathy and the subconscious (Pisces), there is a tendency for unconscious resentments, anger turned inward into depression. In addition, Pisces tends to shrink from conflict so Mars in Pisces can produce passive aggressive behavior that doesn’t confront a problem directly but instead is outwardly peaceful (Pisces) but subtly sabotages a situation.

Mars in Rosie’s chart is conjunct Mercury, the planet of communication and transmission of ideas, a combination that links her aggressive instinct (Mars) with her thoughts and words (Mercury). Because Mercury is also in sensitive Pisces, Rosie is extremely empathic and compassionate to those around her, but she can also become a warrior (Mars) with words (Mercury) when she is crossed. Both Mars and Mercury are conjunct Chiron, the god of wounding and healing, which suggests a hypersensitivity that can be very reactive.

This Mars/Mercury/Chiron combination is opposed by Pluto, the planet of power and transformation. When the god of war faces off with the god of the underworld, there are power struggles and a sense of frustration that both generates a tremendous amount of physical energy but also can lead to an underlying rage. Mercury in opposition to Pluto shows an individual with an intensely probing mind who can become overly obsessive. Because in Rosie’s chart her frustration and rage is difficult to express through the watery Pisces influence, she carries that frustration around within her where it leaks out at inopportune moments, such as Rosie’s recent feuds with Donald Trump and Elisabeth Hasselbeck.

Rosie is in the middle of her Chiron return right now – the planetary cycle of Chiron that occurs for everyone when they are 50-52 and Chiron in the sky returns to the same degree as it is in our individual charts. Chiron cycles tend to bring out issues that need resolving – it is known as the “wounded healer,” but more than that I like to call it the Soul Healer” because as these old wounds are wounds of the soul as well as the psyche and their healing helps us to advance in our soul evolution as well as personal development.

Our resistance to this evolution can create problems for us, both psychological and physical and nowhere is this more true than in Chiron cycles which are often associated with health problems. It’s commonly said that “after 50 the body goes downhill” – astrologically, this is due to the shifts that occur at the Chiron return.

For Rosie, this is made more complicated by the fact that her Chiron is part of this major system in her chart as described above, so when Chiron returns to its place in her chart it is also transiting her Mars, and opposing Pluto where soul surgery is necessary. This is an intense time that requires a great deal of internal work to navigate.

Uranus is working on Rosie too with an awkward (inconjunct/quincunx) aspect to the Mars/Chiron/Pluto system. Uranus is electrical in nature, and because the pumping of the heart is an electrical process, challenging transits of Uranus can sometimes interfere with this mechanism and create heart difficulties where there are energetic blocks.

For Rosie O’Donnell, and others with the kind of pent-up rage that is the hallmark of a chart like this, regular physical activity is critical so that the energy that builds up can be released in a positive way. Rosie is overweight, but in my view this is a symptom of the Mars problem rather than the source of the health problem since the Mars problem causes frustration to build up to a point where it needs to be addressed in some way, and many of us turn to food for that release.

The fact that Rosie didn’t take her chest pains seriously and didn’t know she had had a heart attack until she went to the cardiologist the next day could show that this kind of stress is more familiar to her. Stress is indeed a killer, and I hope that she takes advantage of this event to do some critical inner healing work.

Disclaimer: I have no medical training and nothing in this article is intended as medical advice.

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The astrology of Rosie O’Donnell’s heart attack