The Astrology Behind the Kanye West - Taylor Swift Feud

Note: This article originally was published in NCGR eNews.

by David Perloff

I saw an article in the Boston Globe about Secretary of State John Kerry’s appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live on February 16. For some reason, Kimmel asked Kerry about the bad blood between music superstars Taylor Swift and Kanye West. Kerry said that he’s not sure if anyone could help repair their relationship.

“I’m not even sure the best Secretary of State could get a cease-fire between them,” Kerry said.

That got me curious about looking at their charts. Pretty interesting….

  • Kanye has a tight Mars-Venus conjunction in Taurus, which exactly squares Taylor’s Venus in Aquarius.
  • Taylor has a four-planet stellium in Capricorn, all within nine degrees. Kanye’s Pluto in Libra squares that stellium. (More on that below.)
  • Kanye’s Sun in Gemini makes a one-degree inconjunct to Taylor’s Pluto in Scorpio. [With that two-way Pluto connection, they have definitely been involved in power struggles.]
  • Taylor’s potent Mars in Scorpio makes an exact opposition to Kanye’s Mercury in Taurus (30 minutes of arc). Taylor is hardly the helpless damsel in this ongoing war!
  • Taylor’s Sun in Sagittarius makes a four-degree opposition to Kanye’s Gemini Sun.

So, plenty of astrological irritants to go around.

What started the feud was Kanye leaping on stage on the night of September 13, 2009 at the MTV Video Music Awards. Nineteen-year-old “country singer” (as she was known then) Taylor Swift was giving her acceptance speech, after winning for Best Female Video. Kanye took the mike from her, and let the audience know who he thought should have won. (More on that below.) The very public Kanye-and-Taylor drama has continued ever since, up to and including Taylor’s acceptance speech at this year’s Grammys on February 15.

Was there anything about that night of September 13, 2009 that could have triggered all of this for Kanye and Taylor? Not surprisingly, the astrology of that night ties in directly to their charts.

  • The transiting Sun in Virgo was squaring both Kanye and Taylor’s Suns.
  • Transiting Mars was in Cancer, exactly squaring Kanye’s Pluto, and opposing Taylor’s stellium. In the middle of that stellium is Taylor’s Neptune. So we had Kanye’s Pluto, Taylor’s Neptune, and transiting Mars all at 11 degrees of Cardinal. Looking at the video for when Kanye took the microphone from her, it did seem like a Mars-Pluto assault on her dream-come-true Neptunian innocence. Adding to that vulnerability, transiting Mercury and Pluto were making a T-square with her natal Moon in Cancer. The transiting Moon was in Cancer that night, and the reaction to the incident was overwhelmingly supportive of Taylor.
  • Taylor Swift is talented enough that she would have become a big star without this night, but there is no doubt that this incident did propel her into the spotlight at that time. The night of the MTV award, transiting Jupiter was conjunct her North Node in Aquarius (less than one degree).

Some bonus astrological connections:

The person Kanye thought should have won the Best Female Video award that night was Beyoncé for “Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It).” Kanye was right in that it is a great video, and later in the night, it was selected as the video of the year. Well, Beyoncé’s chart ties in as well.

  • Her Mars is at one degree of Leo, tightly squaring Kanye’s Mars-Venus at 1-2 degrees of Taurus, and opposing Taylor’s Venus at 1 degree of Aquarius.
  • And that September 13 evening, transiting Mercury was conjunct Beyoncé’s natal Mercury at 2-3 degrees of Libra, tying in strongly to Taylor’s Moon. When Beyoncé won her award, she called Taylor Swift on stage so that she could complete the acceptance speech that Kanye cut short.

And what about John Kerry? Don’t you think it unusual for a sitting Secretary of State to be asked for his opinion about a celebrity feud? Kerry was born at a full Moon. His Sagittarius Sun is conjunct Taylor’s Sun and his Gemini Moon is conjunct Kanye’s Sun.

Birth data (all from AstroDataBank):

Taylor Swift, December 13, 1989 at 08:36 a.m., Wyomissing, Pennsylvania (Rodden rating: DD)

Kanye West, June 8, 1977 at 08:45 a.m., Atlanta, Georgia (Rodden rating: C)

Beyoncé, September 4, 1981, 10:00 a.m., Houston, Texas (Rodden rating: DD)

John Kerry, December 11, 1943, 08:03 a.m., Fitzsimons, Colorado (Rodden rating: C)

David Perloff