On 25th May, the last Oprah Winfrey show will be broadcast, ending a most remarkable career. Since 1986, the Oprah’s show has been a fixture on US television, and the host has become a household institution loved by all. Whenever a person is recognisable just from her Christian name, you know they have “made it”. Oprah certainly made it, from literally rags to riches, from a poor Mississippi family to become probably the most recognisable TV host on planet earth. I look at the astrology of a lady who embodied the American dream.
Oprah was born on 29th January 1954 at 19.50 in Kosciusco, Mississippi in the United States. She has a humanitarian Aquarius Sun, backed up by a free and easy Sagittarius Moon and a precise Virgo Ascendant. Her Sun and Venus are virtually exactly conjunct, just one minute (60th of a degree apart) in the 5th house of entertainment. Aquarius conveys a star quality and Oprah shines with it, kind, fun loving, sociable, sympathetic, popular yet independent and a bit detached, as all the great interviewers have to be.
This merged Sun Venus is quindecile Pluto in the 10th house, square Saturn in the 3rd house and sextile Moon in the 4th. These three planets tell the story of Oprah’s upbringing. Her Sun/Venus is very afflicted by Saturn and Pluto; in astrology the Sun represents the father. Here Pluto is retrograde in the 12th house, hidden away and Saturn square the Sun shows a difficult, cruel upbringing. Oprah was the product of a short relationship and she was brought up in poverty by a single teenage mother, she never knew her father. Oprah suffered sexual abuse as a child from members of her family, again Pluto in the hidden 12th house square to Mars in Pluto’s own sign of Scorpio representing abusive actions of a sexual nature affecting her. With Mars in the 3rd house we know that the abuse came from her local environment, from those close to her.
The one thing when she was young that everyone noted about Oprah was her confidence in speaking and performing. Obviously when we look for communication, we look to Mercury. Oprah’s Mercury really is the centre of her chart in the wide conjunction to Sun/Venus,every other planet on the chart in some way feeds into this conjunction. There is a trine to Jupiter in chatty Gemini – here is curiosity in the purist form, needing to know everything, asking questions and a general interest all kind of media. Jupiter is in the 10th house of work and career and also opposite the Moon, so there is emotional involvement her work and an international element too. Oprah’s personable style has influenced hundreds of copycat shows all around the world. The Moon in Sagittarius sextiles into it from the fourth house; she is proud of her roots, protective of her own family, her Afro American roots and nation and heritage. Oprah will have many friends, is always out for a good time, laughing and joking has plenty of optimism and a philosophical side to her nature, she will empathise with those with problems and will attempt to them cheer up or provide a shoulder to lean on. Pluto makes an opposition with Mercury giving Oprah a forensic mind, delving into the depths to find out the truth in any situation; she is a natural investigator and a forceful powerful speaker able to influence people with the force of her own convictions, however she will rarely if ever reveal her own motives or weaknesses. Neptune is also trine to Mercury in the second house, it is in a imaginative mood and often people with this placing will make money through creative pursuits. Here is an idealism about the use of money. With the Sun/Venus/Mercury in social, humanitarian Aquarius and Uranus in the Aquarius ruled 11th house, there is a huge pull to helping people. Oprah has probably been the most generous black American woman ever, her charity foundations contributing $80 million to various causes.
I think the key to her was the sympathetic, yet direct and emotional way she treated her guests, the first chat show host to strike a chord especially with the women of the world. One look at her closest midpoint (which is exact) shows the point. Neptune (associated with TV and creative pursuits) sits exactly at the midpoint of Moon and Ascendant (the combination of her emotions and her public face). Emotions particularly strike a chord with women. One other point to note. Oprah’s Moon almost exactly hits the US ascendant, there is a direct link between her emotions and the American psyche, an almost perfect fit – she was born to communicate with the US people and for them to respond favourably to her.
It is interesting that Oprah’s media career started as Neptune was in the last degree of Sagittarius and she announced her stepping down from her show after a glorious career as Neptune hit the last degree of Aquarius. I have noted how many famous women passed away as Neptune hit the last degrees of a sign (see Elizabeth Taylor, Geraldine Ferraro this month). Here is another leading lady leaving the spotlight, this time stepping down from daily TV, a different manifestation of the same aspect. Indeed Oprah was a special talent who rose to the top through sheer talent and enthusiasm.