Talking Trash: Taylor, Kanye and Kim…

I have to admit that I am not a ‘Swiftie’ and have never heard her music but undoubtedly Taylor Swift is a phenomenon. Her extraordinary 2023 tour earned an estimated $1.4 billion (BBC), the film of the tour, likewise. What stood out to me was her thoughtfulness, giving her staff huge bonuses, sending cash to the food banks of cities she played in, supporting charities.

I wondered what her horoscope would show. Not what I expected, to be honest. OK, the Sagittarius Sun shows the love of glamour, large crowds and exuberance and could describe how warm, friendly and downright nice people say she is.

But notice, the Sun is unaspected, something I’ve seen before in hugely famous musicians (Beyonce, for example, I discuss her chart in Goddess Astrology ). I take this to show there is the performer (especially that Mars on the Ascendant) and Sun in Sagittarius in the 1st house, the businesswoman, she has four planets in the 2nd house of money in Capricorn showing her astute business brain, ambition and financial acumen. Earning money from music is shown by the Mercury/Neptune, both performance and glamour (Neptune) and songwriting (Mercury). Her sunny, upbeat, optimistic Sun in Sagittarius is alone, this is her secret self, which is both hidden (unaspected) and centre stage (first house fire sign) which may explain her warmth on initial contact. Interestingly, she has nothing on her MC which usually shows fame. So, is it all about the money? That emphasis on the money houses, 2nd and 8th (Moon, Jupiter and Chiron in Cancer in the 8th) and Mars rising in Scorpio.

Her chart does show extraordinary wealth, her Scorpio/Capricorn planets the usual markers of ambition and money and power-seeking. The most important planet in the chart as chart ruler and also Almuten is that dignified Mars in Scorpio. Mars in Scorpio shows tremendous will power, determination, drive, energy and sometimes ruthlessness. Certainly she decided early on what her life path was going to be and began both the determined (Mars) and slowly and steady (Capricorn) career path.

Scorpio is the sign of the hidden and taboo, Scorpios often have lives full of challenges and great success and setbacks. No one can reinvent themselves like a Scorpio, one symbol for the sign is the phoenix who rises from the ashes reborn.

Taylor’s path has not been smooth and particularly the men in the music industry have taken her on. They made the mistake of underestimating her, as older powerful men often do young women. They generally came out the losers. This is where her Mars and Scorpio Ascendant come into their own. Scorpios don’t like to lose, they rarely do as they will fight on until the bitter end, even if it hurts themselves. And they never forget.

In 2009, Taylor won the MTV award for best female video, she was 19, unusual for a cross-over artist, she began her career in Country music. While making her acceptance speech Kayne West jumped up on the stage and talked for six minutes about how Beyonce should have won the award. Taylor stood there dumbstruck. Beyonce later won the best video of the year which is considered more prestigious. Kanye was 32 at the time and a huge figure in music. Taylor said his album was the first she bought as a child. Imagine your great hero doing that, particularly when you were still a teenager. Apparently, Taylor went backstage and cried and was joined by Beyonce ( a friend of Kanye) came to comfort her and cried too. Taylor had to perform later on and did so, slightly trembling at the end of the song.

So, what does the astrology show? I do not have the exact time but it was around 8pm.

As we don’t have the exact time, the Ascendant and MC may not be correct, however notice combative Aries rising and Mars weak in Cancer conjunct the IC shaking those foundations. Mars, at 12′ Cancer is conjunct Taylor’s Chiron and opposite Taylor’s stellium in Capricorn.This is an attack on her career (Mercury in Capricorn ruling her MC) in public. One thing Capricorn hate is public shaming and this was a humiliation in front of an estimated 9 million people.

And what of Kayne? He was a huge star at the time, although his fame has tarnished a little since then.

Kayne is a Sun Jupiter in Gemini making a mutable T Square with the Moon in Pisces and Neptune in Sagittarius. Mutable signs have trouble with boundaries, they flow in and out of situations. Sun Jupiter can bring fame and fortune, but there is always the possibility of over-expansion, over optimism, mania and arrogance, they can begin to believe their own publicity. Kayne for all the bluster is more sensitive and emotional than he projects, with a Cancer Ascendant and Pisces Moon. His relationships with others shown by the 7th house ruler, Saturn in Leo, are characterised by vanity (Leo), control issues (Saturn) and money (2nd house). He demands respect and obedience in a heavy handed way. His Mars in Taurus gives a bullying quality, especially where his career is concerned (Mars rules his MC) and like Taylor’s Mars, it is in a fixed sign, although with much less dignity. His Mars is conjunct Taylor’s Lilith, (the place of female rebellion) perhaps he saw her as defenseless young woman and wanted to smash her down with his heavy duty Mars to assert his dominance.

They have other synastry. Kayne’s Chiron is conjunct his Mars and Taylor’s Lilith (his temper may be his downfall) while Taylor’s Ascendant and Mars are opposite his Mercury in Taurus in the 11th house. Her identity (Ascendant) and power (Mars) are attacked by his words (Mercury) in front of their peers (11th house). Kayne literally took her voice as he snatched the microphone from her. In a similar way, Taylor’s Chiron in Cancer in the 8th is conjunct Kayne’s touchy Ascendant, suggesting a fated and wounding encounter.

It was not a good look, an older man taking the stage from a slight looking teenager. Taylor went backstage and cried, Beyonce joined her and cried too see here. The resultant hubbub painted Kayne as a bully, the subtext was that the award went to the white girl and not the black woman, a not uncommon occurrence in the music industry. Kayne did call Taylor to appologise a few days later and Taylor accepted the apology saying the love and support she had received after the incident made her strong enough to accept his apology.

However, in true Scorpio fashion, Taylor did not forget. A year later, (September 12th 2010) Taylor sang her song Innocent at the MTV awards which it is suggested was about Kanye,

‘Who you are is not where you’ve been…you’re still an innocent…Life is a tough crowd…32 and still growing up’

Kayne withdrew his apology, remember that Saturn in Leo, tarnished pride and hanging on to hurts (Saturn). On 9th February 2016 he sang Famous from his new album on his show.

‘I feel like me and Taylor might still have sex. Why? I made that bitch famous.’

Answering to the backlash, Kayne said he had run the lyrics by Taylor in a phone call and she had accepted them.

That same month, Taylor won her second Grammy for album of the year. In her acceptance speech she said,

‘I want to say to all the young women out there, there are going to be people along the way who will try to undercut your success or take credit for your accomplishments or your fame. If you just focus on the work, and you don’t let those people sidetrack you, someday when you get where you’re going, you’ll look around and you will know that it was you and the people who love you who put you there’.

In that month, February 2016, when Kayne released a new album and Taylor won her second Grammy, Neptune was at 8-9′ Pisces opposite Taylor’s MC, Taylor was the first woman to win two Grammys for Album of the Year. Saturn was at 14/15′ Sagittarius opposite Kayne’s Sun Jupiter in Gemini and closely conjunct his Neptune at 14’42 Sagittarius, suggesting lies (Gemini) and delusion (Neptune) about his power (Sun Jupiter) and a reality check (Saturn). Chiron was separating from Kayne’s Moon at 18′ Pisces showing a wounding (Chiron) of his emotional life (Moon).

The plot thickens here. Kanye was then married to Kim Kardashian who had secretly recorded the phone call between Taylor and Kayne, which, Kim said, showed Taylor knew about the lyrics and that the whole thing was a publicity stunt by Taylor. Why a two-time Grammy winner would need Kayne’s help is unclear. To my mind, it highlights the Mars-Lilith connection (Taylor’s Lilith in Scorpio Kayne’s Mars in Taurus) where Kayne wants to dismiss Taylor as an object to be fucked as a way of de-powering her in the time old manner of little dick misogynists, while Lilith is having none of this. To extend the Lilith metaphor, there started a social media hate campaign started against Taylor calling her a snake.

The video did indeed show a call between Kayne and Taylor, but the word ‘bitch’ was not mentioned. So who was telling the truth? and was this all a great publicity stunt or wounded male pride on the lose, with his woman defending him?

Kim may have wanted to help Kayne but their synastry tells a different story. Kim has Saturn at 3’41 Libra very closely opposite Kayne’s MC at 3’59 Aries. She is helpful at home (IC) perhaps by grounding and protecting him (Saturn dignified in Libra) but restricts his career (Saturn). It appears Kim wanted to wound/destroy/break Taylor and the social media campaign was her weapon. Kim’s Uranus is conjunct Taylor’s Ascendant/Mars showing an explosive, destructive relationship. Kim’s Neptune is conjunct Taylor’s Sun showing deception, Taylor did not know the phone call was being recorded-which is illegal in the USA and Kim’s claim it vindicates Kanye is untrue. Kanye did not mention the ‘bitch’ lyric. Kim’s Chiron (16′ 41 Taurus) is closely opposite Taylor’s Pluto (16′ 30 Scorpio) which suggests a lose-lose battle or a Pyrrhic victory between them. A photo of them faux ‘making up’ was taken in 2015 (August 30th) at the MTV awards, Kim looking remarkably like a troll, is towered over by Taylor (what was her publicists thinking?).

Kanye’s misogyny continued. He released the ‘Famous’ video which shows Taylor (as a statue) in bed with him. Kayne’s Uranus at 6’16 Scorpio is conjunct Taylor’s Lilith (cutting her down to size online). His Mars/Venus is opposite her Lilith at 2’02 and 1’47 Taurus respectively suggests there was some attraction between them (at least on Kayne’s behalf). Kayne’s Chiron adds to the mix at 4’10 Taurus a really close opposition of 20 minutes of arc from Taylor’s Lilith at 4’20 Scorpio. All these fixed signs holding on, plotting revenge and wounding themselves (Chiron) in the process.

On July 17th 2016 Kim released a video of the call between Kayne and Taylor, where they do discuss the lyrics of the song, but Kayne, who sounds super creepy, does not include the ‘bitch’ lyric which is what Taylor objected to. Sex between them apparently was not an issue, Kayne’s Venus Mars in Taurus can be super seductive.

On that day Mars the aggressor was at 24′ Scorpio conjunct Taylor’s Mars/Ascendant at 25’/26′ degrees. This was a wound, an attack on her very self and particularly her image. ‘Bitch’ as a symbol for Mars in Scorpio, I think so! This Mars was also conjunct Kim’s Uranus, fighting back, aiming to destroy through technology (it was released on Snapchat) she claimed it was done to protect Kanye, but Kim’s Mercury at 19′ Scorpio is conjunct Taylor’s Pluto at 16′ so perhaps jealousy had a little more to do with it. Kim was trying to destroy (Pluto) a rival who arguably by then was more famous/richer and certainly younger than she was. Or even more prosaically, Kim did it for her own publicity/career motives (Mercury rules her MC). All publicity is good in the world of reality TV.

Is this the end of the spat? Nope. Taylor’s Scorpio Ascendant and Mars doubtless want the last word or to totally destroy the enemy…by this time, 2016 Taylor’s star has risen and Kayne’s and Kim’s are waning…remember all Taylor’s Capricorn planets (Uranus, Mercury, Neptune, Saturn), Capricorn plays the long game, their careers are marathons not sprints.

For Capricorn, shame is a live issue, they are terrified of public humiliation. Kanye and Kim had called her a liar, the worst attack possible. Taylor released her album Reputation (a word for image conscious Capricorn) 10th November 2019 (10 years after the MTV debacle). The Sun was at 17 Scorpio (conjunct Taylor’s Pluto) Mars was at 23′ Libra conjunct Kayne’s North Node, Saturn at 16′ Capricorn had just passed over Taylor’s Capricorn planets (presumably when she was writing the album) and was heading to Kayne’s Descendant (the place of open enemies) at 18′ Capricorn. Uranus at 4′ Taurus was worrying all the Taurus/Scorpio planets of Taylor (Lilith at 4′ Scorpio) and Kanye (Venus, Mars and Chiron in Taurus and Uranus in Scorpio) with shocks, aggression and technology. Neptune was conjunct Kanye’s Moon at 16′ Pisces causing poor judgement.

Before the album’s release, Taylor did a teaser campaign featuring a serpent (she was called a snake by Kim’s supporters). Serpents, of course, are a symbol for Scorpio.

In the first single from the album, Look what you made me do. Taylor sings:

‘There I was giving you a second chance / If only you weren’t so shady / But you stabbed me in the back while shaking my hand / And therein lies the issue / Friends don’t try to trick you / Get you on phone and mind-twist you,”

The stage for her album tour had a massive cobra centre stage. Taylor said in an interview:

“I learned that disarming someone’s petty bullying can be as simple as learning to laugh…In my experience, I’ve come to see that bullies want to be feared and taken seriously. A few years ago, someone started an online hate campaign by calling me a snake on the internet…I can’t tell you how hard I had to keep from laughing every time my 63-foot inflatable cobra named Karyn appeared onstage in front of 60,000 screaming fans…”

A lovely Sagittarian response…laugh at the bullies.

But Taylor’s troubles with men in the music industry (and their wives) continued. Taylor had an even more desperate fight on her hand with her record company. Having become very wealthy, Taylor’s masters for her first 6 albums were a very valuable asset and were owned by Big Machine Records which was bought by Scooter Braun in 2019 for $330 million. Taylor had wanted to buy the masters from Big Machine but in a secret deal they were sold to Braun. Taylor was furious. In July 2019 she put out a post on Tumbler calling them out. Kelly Clarkson advised Taylor to re-record these six albums (13.7.2019. 23:30) making Braun’s purchase worthless. Taylor agreed as Braun, a friend of Kanye, had refused her permission to perform her old songs in a Netflix film and during the AMA awards when she was named singer of the decade. Whoever owns the Masters calls the shots, permission has to be sought (and paid for) to sing your own music.

Big Records and Braun fought back saying none of this was true, Taylor’s fans and friends in the industry had been attacking the two for their behaviour towards Taylor. Like her fight with Kayne, things turned nasty. Braun released a live album from 2008, Taylor went public saying the album did not have her approval and it was ‘shameless greed’. Braun removed all Taylor’s original albums from Spotify only his recordings were available. Swifties refused to stream them instead circulated old links to her original albums.

During 2019-2020 Uranus was transiting Taylor’s Lilith by opposition (between 4′-7′ Scorpio) and Saturn was moving slowly through her Capricorn planets, her Saturn return was in January 2019, Saturn hit her Chiron (15’03 Cancer) in October 2019. Saturn return is when we ‘grow up’ and build the life we want. Taylor, catapulted by Uranus had to fight for her artistic survival. The ‘owner’ of her masters and hence her songs could do anything they wished with them. That lack of agency was intolerable for a feisty Sagittarius and an enemy earning millions from her music certainly would be unbearable to Scorpio/Capricorn. It would have been a ‘fight to the death’ for her.

Cutting his losses, Braun sold the master to an investment fund for $300 million November 16th 2020. Apparently, Braun was sensitive to all the criticism directed towards him. Before the masters were sold, Taylor’s people were in negotiation with him but refused to sign a NDA undertaking not to say negative things about him. Bullies have feelings too! Taylor refused this ridiculous and unprecedented move by Braun and the masters were sold to Shamrock who did contact Taylor before they bought them and said they had to sign a NDA not to speak ill of Braun.

Taylor began to re-record the six albums. The first one, Folklore, sold over a million copies on release (the original in 2008 sold 242,000 copies) while Red (Taylor’s version) sold 1.94 units versus the 220,000 originally sold.

In her 2020 album, Midnights ,Taylor’s song, Vigilante Shit calls Braun out and suggests her revenge was ongoing. She attacked his soon to be ex-marriage.

“She needed cold hard proof so I gave her some / She had the envelope, where you think she got it from? / Now she gets the house, gets the kids, gets the pride / Picture me thick as thieves with your ex-wife”

and legally,

“While he was doing lines / And crossing all of mine / Someone told his white-collar crimes to the FBI / And I don’t dress for villains / Or for innocents / I’m on my vigilante shit again”

Braun’s high profile client Arianna Grande has left his management company and Justin Beiber may also be on his way out, his destruction may be complete or ongoing, time will tell.

And Kayne? His star is tarnished after announcing he was a Trump supporter, an anti-Semite and suggesting American slavery was a choice. His marriage with Kim ended in divorce.

The moral of the story as Taylor observed recently,

“Trash takes itself out every single time”.