Bruce Willis

[Jim Eshelman]

March 19, 1955, 6:32 PM CET, Idar-Obserstein, Germany (A)

Bruce Willis is in the news this week: His daughter announced that he's retiring as an actor because he's been diagnosed with aphasia, a cognitive impairment that impairs or blocks one's ability to use language - to understand it and to use words. Aphasia usually is caused by head damage such as blows to the head or stroke (but also has other causes).

Willis' chart is worth study, not necessarily for this detail as for its atypical structure: It's unusual to have so few strong, individual factors in a nativity. Aside from his being a Pisces - the actor, the malleable figure, the great love of sensation and drama - he is an unusually pure example of Sun and perhaps should be kept as a favorite example of the solar personality. To be more specific, with his exactly angular Sun (0°35' from Descendant), he has nothing else foreground, no close (Class 1) luminary aspects, and only fairly wide and soft Class 2 luminary aspects. He has no staggeringly close non-luminary aspects, either, though some are close enough to emerge as his strongest drivers. He seems driven most by relationship (by love and connection). He's not the typical Piscean actor prone to masks - his own face is the face of actor Bruce Willis - but it's as if the absence of other very strong driving forces increases his Piscian malleability.

Here is his chart summary from TMSA:

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Pl Longitude   Lat   Speed    RA    Decl    Azi     Alt     PVL    Ang G
Mo 08Cp23'30" 02N36 +12°43' 304°10' 17S04 303°53' -45°40' 129°03'  26%  
Su 04Pi13'19" 00N00 +59'39" 358°29' 00S40 268°18' + 0°35' 180°35' 100% F
Me 08Aq16'16" 01S46 + 1°19' 335°01' 12S17 278°43' -23°23' 156°23'  11%  
Ve 23Cp12'06" 00N08 + 1°10' 319°44' 15S32 289°21' -35°26' 142°58'   3%  
Ma 20Ar41'18" 00N34 +41'22"  42°10' 16N49 243°42' +41°24' 224°31'  16%  
Ju 25Ge46'27" 00N29 + 0'33" 111°36' 22N27 135°23' +56°30' 294°56'  50%  
Sa 26Li46'16" 02N27 - 1'50" 229°08' 15S37  55°20' -44°18'  49°52'   7%  
Ur 29Ge32'55" 00N32 - 0'41" 115°38' 21N54 130°15' +54°07' 298°55'  43%  
Ne 03Li30'24" 01N46 - 1'23" 206°17' 08S59  72°35' -25°41'  26°45'  47%  
Pl 00Le41'43" 10N32 - 1'12" 150°55' 23N09  93°36' +34°01' 325°56'   1%  
------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Class 1 Aspects         Class 2 Aspects         Class 3 Aspects     
Ve sq Ma 02°31' 88%      Mo sx Su 04°10' 67%       Mo op Ur 08°51' 20%  
Ve op Pl 02°57' 88% M    Mo sq Ma 05°28' 44% M     Su tr Sa 07°27'  1%  
Ju tr Sa 01°00' 98%      Mo sq Ne 04°53' 55%       Me op Pl 07°35' 40%  
Ju sq Ne 01°50' 94% M    Su oc Ma 01°28' 63%                            
Sa tr Ur 02°47' 85%      Su tr Ur 04°40' 59%                            
Ur sq Ne 02°09' 91% M    Me tr Ne 04°46' 57%                            
Ne sx Pl 02°49' 85%      Ve sq Sa 03°06' 82% M                          
                         Ma sx Ju 05°05' 52%                            
                         Ma op Sa 05°21' 60% M                          
                         Ju co Ur 03°46' 85%                            
                         Sa sq Pl 03°55' 71%                            
------------------------------------------------------------------------
                              Cosmic State                              
Mo Cp-   | sx Su 04°10'    sq Ne 04°53'    sq Ma 05°28'M   op Ur 08°51'    
Su Pi  F | sx Mo 04°10'    oc Ma 01°28'    tr Ur 04°40'    tr Sa 07°27'    
Me Aq  B | Su Pi-
         | tr Ne 04°46'    op Pl 07°35'    
Ve Cp  B | Su Pi+
         | sq Ma 02°31'    op Pl 02°57'M   sq Sa 03°06'M   
Ma Ar  B | Mo Cp+
         | sq Ve 02°31'    oc Su 01°28'    op Sa 05°21'M   sx Ju 05°05'    
         | sq Mo 05°28'M   
Ju Ge-   | Mo Cp-
         | tr Sa 01°00'    sq Ne 01°50'M   co Ur 03°46'    sx Ma 05°05'    
Sa Li+ B | Mo Cp+
         | tr Ju 01°00'    tr Ur 02°47'    sq Ve 03°06'M   sq Pl 03°55'    
         | op Ma 05°21'M   tr Su 07°27'    
Ur Ge    | sq Ne 02°09'M   tr Sa 02°47'    co Ju 03°46'    tr Su 04°40'    
         | op Mo 08°51'    
Ne Li    | Su Pi+
         | sq Ju 01°50'M   sq Ur 02°09'M   sx Pl 02°49'    tr Me 04°46'    
         | sq Mo 04°53'    

[Jim Eshelman]

His strongest aspect is one I only see because I have close 10° multiples turned on. I may return to this looking at his Novien but, for now, I just want to mention that Mars at 20°41' Aries is in nearly perfect aspect to Pluto at 0°42' Leo. Mars-Pluto is pretty descriptive of this long-time action figure.

But TMSA helps us dig through his nativity more conventionally. Taking a few moments to do that: He's a Pisces-Capricorn, what I call "a Pisces with a Capricorn style." It fits. An interesting aside: Haley Joel Osment is also a Pisces-Capricorn, which puts a whole new spin on the movie Sixth Sense and makes me want to rewatch it again. (Sixth Sense is easily a Pisces-Capricorn movie!)

Sun is precisely angular. Willis has classically played strong masculine roles (Gary Cooper is one of his idols), but not as much in the rough-and-tumble Mars sense as in way of quietly conveying he's in charge, always evident warmth. (There is more to get her.)

No hard luminary aspects exist closer than the 4°53' Moon-Neptune square and 5°28' Moon-Mars mundane square. These, of course, fit his temperament and his film image quite well. Moon, though in detriment, has moderate aspects to Sun, Mars, and Neptune that describe his character and his characters persuasively.

However, it's his Venus that especially draws my attention. Venus has the ONLY close aspects of an inner planet. (His closest aspect is Jupiter trine Saturn, reflecting his business investments.) Venus squares Mars and (mundanely) opposes Pluto. It also has a nearly Class 1 square to Saturn (and they are in mutual reception). Here is Venus' cosmic structure from TMSA:

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Ve Cp  B | Su Pi+
         | sq Ma 02°31'    op Pl 02°57'M   sq Sa 03°06'M   

Venus, though background, is especially important as a dignitary of his Pisces Sun. The strong Venus-Mars square shows his evident passion for most things. Venus-Pluto shows the relationship drama that has defined him in several ways. His divorce from Demi Moore had a shaking, shaping impact on him and he seems always to have carried grief from that. In simple terms, his Venus is a very big deal in his life and it easily shows has severely challenged: An astrologer working with him and this chart would need to focus on this to understand the forces shaping him through his life.

Though Venus is background at birth, he has lived most of his successful adult life under a very strong Venus. Relocate his chart to Brentwood, CA and see Venus on MC. It fits him in a textbook way.

Mars is a similar strong presence in his chart, even though it, also, is background. Here is its cosmic state:

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Ma Ar  B | Mo Cp+
         | sq Ve 02°31'    oc Su 01°28'    op Sa 05°21'M   sx Ju 05°05'    
         | sq Mo 05°28'M   

Mars becomes stronger in LA but not exactly prominent, so we'll stick with its native condition. Moving quickly past the obvious fitting puns of Mars in Aries in 8H for the phrase "die hard," Mars is especially strong due to his Capricorn Moon. Mars does very well in Aries. Its strongest aspects are to Venus and Sun, which is quite positive; the other aspects are mixed. Overall, this is a strong, positive Mars active in many ways in his chart but not likely to get its full expression until he left his birthplace for somewhere it was less suppressed.

Willis' Jupiter has lessons for us: By a simplistic look, we might treat it negatively (detriment, malefic aspects), but a literal closer reading gives a different view:

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Ju Ge-   | Mo Cp-
         | tr Sa 01°00'    sq Ne 01°50'M   co Ur 03°46'    sx Ma 05°05'    

Reading this too quickly, I probably would have read it as Jupiter in detriment with close aspects to two malefics and judged it difficult. However, the Jupiter-Neptune is an easy, positive fit for his career and the partile Jupiter-Saturn trine - his strongest natal aspect - is especially positive for wealth from investment and hard work. While Willis has been one of the hardest-working actors in Hollywood (nearly 150 TV and film roles, constantly rolling out one film after another), much of his wealth also comes from investment deals: His pay for being an early Planet Hollywood spokesperson was in stock, and he got 3.3% of that vodka company for being its public face. This is the kind of thing his Jupiter suggests should, indeed, be the source of wealth

[Jim Eshelman]

But what about the aphasia?

I don't see it clearly in his nativity. Sure, Pisces is the anti-Virgo, and if any sign is going to symbolically be the antithesis of acute mastery of language it would be Pisces, but this is too broad: Piscians aren't known for this problem particularly.

I would expect Mercury afflictions and, while one could read his Mercury aspects as suggesting this, they aren't all that strong:

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Me Aq  B | Su Pi-
         | tr Ne 04°46'    op Pl 07°35'    

Sure, Mercury-Neptune fits (but its a wider trine). Same for Mercury-Pluto (a rather wide opposition). One could also note the Mercury-Uranus mutual reception (Uranus is in Gemini). None of these bespeaks a life-defining feature.

I do see the probable root in his secondary progressions. It's not clear when the aphasia occurred or what its causes were, though LA Times says it's been worrisome on movie sets for several years. His Progressed Mars (in Gemini, no less) is almost 3° past his Midheaven and 1°30' past square to his Sun. I suspect that he had a head injury, stroke, or infection sometime since about 2017 that is the underlying cause. The timing seems about right. As this is a progression rather than transit, it likely was an innate vulnerability and something "naturally developing" from the course of his life, an incident rather than an accident.

He natally has Mars in Aries (and, for that matter, Saturn in Libra). This shows innate vulnerability to areas in the Libra-Aries parts of the body, which includes the head (but also, say, the kidneys). So there was also a weakness, though nothing is obviously triggering it.

I'm surprised it isn't move obvious in his natal, though. His mundane Mercury-Pluto conjunction is closer in LA (under 3°), though it's also far less background. I'm not clear of the causes this time.

The timing is clear enough, though; however, like the foregoing it is inferred more than outright stated. Transiting Pluto is square his Neptune right now - remolding his construct of reality and shifting how he sees his life - and this week was the exact Saturn square to natal Saturn, a place where people make significant life changes or pivot to different choices (such as retiring, in his case). He just turned 67 and is worth a quarter of a billion dollars so, of course, there's no reason for him not to retire, but notice that the decision to make a life-change is what's obvious more than the medical affliction.

He just had a birthday and, presuming he spent it in Brentwood (it doesn't sound like he's travelling much lately), it's at least a busy, "stuff is shifting" chart. (Moon square natal Jupiter is quite good!) What I notice most, though, is natal Neptune on IC (where it gets transiting Pluto's square closely). This means that natal Neptune has been near the angles for several years, getting closer until this year it's partile. This is probably been the growing concern on movie sets of his increasing problems with lines and language.

Here is his new SSR:

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Pl Longitude   Lat   Speed    RA    Decl    Azi     Alt     PVL    Ang G
                           Transiting Planets                           
Ma 15Cp10'27" 01S04 +45'05" 312°58' 18S43 245°52' + 1°50' 182°00'  99% F
Pl 03Cp09'17" 01S52 + 1'08" 300°43' 22S21 249°29' - 9°40' 169°42'  96% F
Ve 17Cp40'22" 02N06 +59'12" 314°34' 14S59 247°54' + 5°18' 185°43'  91% F
Mo 24Vi37'06" 02N52 +13°50' 199°14' 05S02  16°18' -60°02'  80°48'  79% F
------------------------------------------------------------------------
                            Radical Planets                             
Ne 03Li30'24" 01N46 - 0°01' 207°10' 09S18   0°23' -65°15'  89°49' 100% F
Ur 29Ge32'55" 00N32 - 0'41" 116°37' 21N44  72°05' +12°32' 346°51'  98% F
Mo 08Cp23'30" 02N36 +12°43' 305°07' 16S51 251°45' - 3°09' 176°41'  97% F
------------------------------------------------------------------------
tMo sq tPl 01°06' 98% M
tVe co tMa 02°30' 88%
----------------------                                                  
tMo sq rJu 01°09' 97%                                                   
tMa sq rNe 02°11' 91% M                                                 
tPl op rUr 02°51' 84% M                                                 
tPl sq rNe 00°21'100%

One detail if note is his Sun in the immediate background. These are years that one pulls back, years that "who one is, how present one is" takes a back seat to other considerations. But the strongest factors are natal Neptune 0°11' from IC (squared by Pluto) and a near-partile Moon-Pluto mundane square near angles.

[Jim Eshelman]

One final look: The Novien.

In my own work I've settled into judging the Novien quite valid but rarely necessary. The nativity is nearly always good enough and gives us more than enough to work with. I'm bugged, though, that a native vulnerability to cognitive damage is shown. We do find this, though, in the Novien. I've already noted (just from the natus) that he has a strong Mars-Pluto aspect in the Novien and - aside from many other fascinating things (not the least of which is a Cancer Novien Moon for an actor whose breakout role was in a lunar-titled TV show) - we find the following interaction of natal Mercury and Novien planets:

6°12' Aqu - N Mars
6°16' Leo - N Pluto
8°16' Aqu - r Mercury