Brigitte Bardot

The French actress, model and later animal rights activist Brigitte Bardot became the great female sex icon and symbol of the new liberated woman of the 1960's. She was born Brigitte Anne-Marie Bardot on September 28, 1934 in Paris, where she grew up in a Roman Catholic middle class family. The young Brigitte took ballet lessons and gained at the age of 13 admission to the Conservatoire de Paris, where she practiced ballet for three years. She also began working as a model and in 1950, 15 years old, she graced the cover of the well known magazine Elle, which attracted the attention of a young filmmaker named Roger Vadim. Thanks to him, Brigitte got movie roles, at first in light-hearted romantic movies.

In 1952, 18 years old, she married Vadim, who belonged to the "new wave" of French and Italian directors. Brigitte Bardot got the lead role in his acclaimed film And God Created Woman (1956), which became her breakthrough and made her famous worldwide. A series of films followed in the 50's and 60's, including the The Truth (1960) and Le Mépris (1963), directed by Jean-Luc Godard and the Western parody Viva Maria! (1965) with Jeanne Moreau, directed by Louis Malle.

With her beauty and sexual charisma Brigitte Bardot at once became a symbol of the 1960's great sexual liberation. In addition to the screen her image was seen everywhere, on posters, magazine covers and in celebrity stories. She also appeared as a singer with several recordings.

Her marriage with Roger Vadim lasted until 1957. Other marriages came to be with actor Jacques Charrier (1959-62) and the German photographer, author and industrialist Gunter Sachs (1966-69). Her current husband is Bernard d'Ormale, since 1992.

In 1973 - at the age of 38 - she withdrew completely from the world of cinema and the entertainment industry and instead started using her celebrity status to actively assert and protect the rights of animals. In 1986 she founded The Brigitte Bardot Foundation for the Welfare and Protection of Animals. Consistent with this, she has also switched to becoming a vegetarian. The past decade there has been some negative attention around her because of her provocative statements against the Muslim immigration in France. Several times she has been fined for "inciting racial hatred".

When in 1999 she had of one of her autobiographies published (she has written several), interestingly she gave it a title with an astrological allusion - Le Carré de Pluton ("The Pluto Square"). We shall soon see what she was referring to.

Her birth chart looks like this:

Brigitte Bardot, 28 September 1934, 13:15, Paris, France

(Source: Astro DataBank)

The most prominent sign is Venus-ruled Libra with the Sun, Midheaven, Mercury and Jupiter. As one might expect, Venus - the planet of female beauty and sexuality – has a central role in her horoscope. And of course, this female sex icon was born on a Friday - Freya/Venus/Aphrodite's day! Venus rules her Midheaven (career and fame) along with the Fifth and Sixth Houses of creativity and self-expression and work and everyday life. It disposes the Sun, Mercury, the Ascendant-lord Jupiter in Libra and the North Lunar node ruler Uranus in Taurus. Venus herself is in Virgo, the sign of perfection, and is also "Ptolemaically" unaspected, i.e. without any significant aspects with other traditional planets. It lives its own "wild" life within this famous female media icon of sexuality. Still there is one aspect to an outer planet - a wide conjunction with Neptune, the planet of film, dance and music, also in Virgo.

The Sun in the Venus-sign Libra forms an equally wide conjunction with the Venus-ruled Midheaven and in the Tenth House of career and fame. Venus via Libra disposes Mercury in close conjunction with the successful and expansive Ascendant-lord Jupiter. Mercury and Venus are in mutual reception, i.e. in each other's signs and thus support and color one another. Like Venus herself the Venus-disposed Sun is largely unaspected - it lives its own carefree life within this symbol of the liberated woman.

The Ascendant in Jupiter-ruled Sagittarius displays enthusiasm and idealism. Life is one big adventure. Since Jupiter itself is in the Venus-sign Libra in the Tenth House, the Ascendant ruler may be said to represent Venus, which thus in a way rules the entire horoscope. Jupiter is in an exact conjunction with Mercury and together they demonstrate the public (Tenth House) magnified (Jupiter) media image (Mercury) of the sex symbol and goddess of love (Venus' sign Libra).

But Jupiter/Mercury in Libra in the Tenth House also mirrors Brigitte Bardot's strong commitment to animal rights. She publicly and verbally defends (Mercury in the Tenth House) the vulnerable animals in a legal sense (Jupiter). This commitment is also reflected by the Moon in conjunction with Chiron in Mercurial Gemini in the Sixth House, which is also of human relationship with animals. Also Venus and Neptune in the Mercury-sign Virgo reflect her commitment to animal rights (Ninth House of legal matters). And so does the Grand Trine between the Sun, Chiron and the North Lunar node.

The image of the sex icon is strengthened and deepened in a very powerful way by the planets in the Eighth House of sexuality - Saturn in Cancer, Mars, the South Lunar node and Pars Fortunae in Leo. Creative and dramatic Leo shows confidence and likes to make an impression on the environment. Mars is forming a trine to the Ascendant in Sagittarius. Both Mars in Leo and Pluto in Cancer in the Eighth House ensures strong instincts and passions. Mars is disposed by the Sun and rules the Fourth House. Pluto is disposed by the Moon and rules the Eleventh and Twelfth Houses.

From Pluto near the Eighth House cusp is formed a T-cross squaring Uranus in the Venus-sign Taurus in the Fourth House and the Jupiter/Mercury conjunction in Libra in the Tenth House. Which Pluto square then does her autobiographical book Le Carré de Pluton ("The Pluto Square") refer to? The background to the book's title is supposed to have been a period of difficulty in the summer of 1979 when she had consulted a spirit medium, who among other things stated that Brigitte Bardot in an earlier life had been the Queen of France, but that she now had to go through a difficult period characterized by a Pluto square.

Bardot has the planet Pluto at 25° 53' in Cancer in the Eighth House. At the time she visited the spirit medium (in 1979) transiting Pluto was going through Libra in her Tenth House and was approaching a square to its natal position in Cancer. The exact Pluto square would occur a few years later – on September 25, 1982, shortly before her 48th birthday. By all accounts, it was this coming Pluto square that the spirit medium was referring to, and which would later inspire the book title.

The book Le Carré de Pluton is about her strong commitment on behalf of all the world's animals. 1973 was the year when she retired from the movie world and it was in October that year that transformative Pluto was transiting her natal Sun at 04° 40' in Libra (the transit was exact on 7 October 1973) and nine years later (in 1982) occurred her Pluto squaring, when transiting Pluto was at 25°53' in Libra, 90° from its natal position. It was during this transformative Pluto period that Bardot's dedicated commitment to the rights of animals grew and took shape. One can say that it meant a transformation (Pluto) from celebrated actress and sex symbol to a deeply committed and often controversial animal rights activist.

These transformative and transformational energies very prominent already in her birth chart. As already mentioned, Pluto in Cancer in the Eighth House is in a T-square to Jupiter/Mercury in Libra in the Tenth House as well as Uranus in Taurus in the Fourth House.

With the great emphasis on Venus and Libra in her horoscope one might expect that Brigitte Bardot would be a balanced, harmonious and diplomatic person, but instead she has proven herself to be combative and controversial with statements that have upset many and which have repeatedly led to her being sentenced to pay considerable fines. The explanation is found in Jupiter/Mercury's opposition to Uranus and square to Pluto. There is a strong desire to change the world and denounce injustice but also an unwillingness to listen to the views of others and maybe even a paranoid tendency to see sinister motives of others. There is a suspicion and a provocative attitude that is not always willing to see the whole picture.

Mercury squaring Pluto may cause some difficulty in thinking positively and with clarity and Jupiter's square to Pluto can reflect a swing between too much and too little self-confidence. The opposition to Uranus reflects the strong will to change things but also a tendency to throw out her arguments without wanting to listen to the other party.

So these are difficult aspects that probably explains some of Brigitte Bardot provocative and controversial statements in animal rights issues, and perhaps especially in the case of the Muslim immigration to France, statements that repeatedly have brought her to court accused and convicted for "inciting racial hatred".

At the same time the horoscope reflects great sensitivity and compassion, especially as expressed through the Moon's conjunction with Chiron in the Sixth House and the square to Neptune in Virgo in the Ninth House. Here we sense the great idealism and compassion and protection of all the world's animals. There is, of course, a risk that these aspects might go overboard and become too unrealistic.

The Moon in square to Neptune may indicate a possible problem with her mother in the early years but mainly it reflects Bardot's own role as a mother. Her only child, with the second spouse, Jacques Charrier, was taken care of by their relatives. She had hardly any contact with her son. It seems almost as if her maternal feelings were transferred to the beloved and cherished animals. The Moon's placement in Gemini near the Seventh House cusp also shows her difficulty to settle down with one partner. Men have constantly shifted in her life.

If we take as a step back and look at the horoscope as a whole, we can conclude that the Air element predominates, followed by Fire and Earth. Cardinal and mutable signs dominate. Of the houses dominate the Sixth of work, health, daily living, as well as caring for animals, the Eighth of transformation and sexuality, the Ninth of the widening of views, but also the safeguarding of rights, and finally the Tenth House of career, publicity, and fame. Of the quadrants dominates the third (Houses 7-9), of the the hemispheres the western and southern, suggesting a person where interaction with others is important as is successes in public life. The Moon phase is waning, reflecting a desire to share her own experiences.

Moon-disposed Pluto in Cancer on the Eighth House cusp seems to play a special role in this sensitive and passionate woman's life, as well as the transiting Pluto's journey through the Eighth, Ninth and Tenth Houses. On her sixty-eighth birthday, on 28 September 2002, Pluto in the sky transited her horoscope's Ascendant and if she lives until she is eighty-seven years she will reach her Pluto opposition in 2021.

If we finally look at Pars Fortunae which is in Leo in her Eighth House in conjunction with Mars, we sense that her good fortune is in the strong passion (Mars, the Eighth House) and in standing up as a shining example (Leo) but also that her self-fulfillment on a deeper level probably lies more in the transformative journey she makes (Eighth House with Pluto on the House cusp) perhaps through several lives, as indicated by the South Lunar node in Leo ("the Queen of France"), which is also in the transformative Eighth House.