I haven’t been following Royals (or any kind of celebrities) very closely or following them at all until recently. But, when I heard about Princess Catherine’s new campaign, #ShapingUs, I just had to look at her astrology… and here are my findings. Before we start, real quick:
Disclaimer: I am a strong proponent of keeping people’s privacy intact. However, astrologers across the world and time have always decided that people of public interest are the exception to the iron-clad rules around sharing people’s charts, birth information, or interpretations of their charts: especially if they’re involved in politics or humanitarian causes. Because that exception and the reasons behind it make sense to me, I’m comfortable with sharing information about Princess Catherine in this article (her birth information is on public record anyway).
That being said, she’s still a human being with a right to her privacy, so I will not include interpretations that would refer to her private life, health, relationships, etc., regardless of what I see. This is due to ethical reasons, not lack of ability as an astrologer.
Image Credit: Wikimedia, Londisland. Free use
Who is Catherine, Princess of Wales?
If you’ve been living under a rock (which I myself frequently do when it comes to royals, politicians, celebrities, and the like, so no judgment!) then you might not know who this is I’m talking about.
Catherine, recently crowned Princess of Wales, is most commonly known as Kate Middleton. She’s married to the heir to the British crown, Prince William, and mother to three children. The title Princess of Wales was bestowed on her after King Charles’s ascension to the British throne after Queen Elizabeth II’s recent passing, and since then she’s almost uniformly referred to as Princess Catherine, rather than Kate. I’m not entirely sure if this is due to etiquette or her personal choice, but I’ll refer to her as Catherine, Princess of Wales/Princess Catherine out of respect going forward.
What is #ShapingUs?
For the past ten years, Princess Catherine has been focused on building and spearheading a new campaign that’s focused on early childhood development, specifically from pregnancy to the age of five. At the campaign’s center is the desire to build awareness of how many adult mental and physical health issues are a direct result of early childhood development. The campaign’s intent isn’t to raise the pressure on young families or mothers, nor is it meant to box in people with difficult childhoods as “lost causes.” But rather, it’s geared towards raising awareness so that society as a whole can work together to help children and create nurturing and healthy environments for the youngest and their caretakers so that the generations to come have an easier path to happy and holistically healthy lives.
#ShapingUs is hosted by The Royal Foundation Center for Early Childhood which is spearheaded by Catherine, Princess of Wales, and the campaign was launched this week in Leeds.
Princess Catherine’s Birth Chart
#ShapingUs and Princess Catherine’s focus on early childhood development as well as motherhood is deeply intertwined in her natal chart… to such an extent that it inspired me to drop what I’m doing and write this article.
First of all, Catherine, Princess of Wales, was born on the 9th of January 1982 at about 7 pm in Berkshire, England (UK). Her Sun is in Capricorn conjunct her South Node (Ketu) in her sixth house of service, daily routines, work, and a lot more than we won’t be getting into as noted in the disclaimer earlier. Princess Catherine’s Moon is in Cancer, opposed to her Sun and conjunct to the North Node, Rahu. This is in her twelfth house (all according to Whole Sign). Lastly, her Ascendant (or Rising) sits at 19° Leo, inconjunct her Sun.
Right away, we see Princess Catherine’s status as a Royal and her immense focus on helping people as well as the topics of motherhood and early child development that she’s so fascinated by.
The twelfth house is the house of selfless, altruistic focus on other people, it’s the house of mental health, larger systems that can’t be mapped out in easy ways, and worldwide, extreme fame. In the twelfth house, we find individuals who leave a mark well beyond their lifetime, whose creations are so potent that they become known long after the person themselves has been forgotten. A great example would be the founders of Alcoholics Anonymous whose creation (that happens to be particularly 12th house in topic) spread across the globe and is now part of pretty much everyone’s common knowledge. However, do you know the names of the founders? Probably not.
The twelfth house is also directly involved when it comes to mental health issues, addictions, humanitarian work, hospitals, prisons, mental health faculties, retreats, spiritual places, and anything involved with refugees. It’s called “the House of Undoing” and the “House of the Invisible” in ancient astrology as literally anything that’s hard to see and almost impossible to control is signified here. It’s particularly highlighted in the charts of many activists, humanitarians, and world-leading politicians.
Having personal placements here allows a person to have an outstanding amount of empathy for others, specifically people who are disadvantaged or lost, forgotten, or exiled from the masses. Famously, Diana Spencer, the previous Princess of Wales, lived out her 12th house Neptune in Scorpio by showing compassion to and working on the behalf of survivors of landmines and AIDS patients. At the time, AIDS patients were definitely exiled.
Princess Catherine’s interest not just in charitable organizations (which is twelfth house), but also mental health (which is also twelfth house material) is a direct result of her natal Moon-North Node conjunction in her 12th house. On top of that, her Sun in the house of daily service, work, and health (the sixth house can be connected to f.e. becoming a health provider or professional caretaker) amplifies this interest and ties it to the 12th house through the Sun-South Node opposition to the Moon and North Node.
But wait – why am I going on about the Nodes? The Nodal axis, a.k.a. the North- and South Node, are points of destiny. The general idea is this: you’re born knowing the South Node. Whatever the symbolism stands for, you’re already really good at it, it’s easy for you. But because you’re so comfortable here, you naturally seek growth as a person by going to the opposite pole (the North Node) and integrating the new things you learn with the old ones. So, wherever your North Node lies, you’ll feel incredibly drawn to it. It’s your destiny to be there: that’s what it feels like.
In Princess Catherine’s case, her North Node is conjunct the Moon, which means that part of her purpose is caretaking. The Moon stands for our ability to care for others as well as our emotional and unconscious reality… perfect for the job she’s currently doing, no? But it goes even further. The Moon also stands for mothers, parenting (specifically mothering), nurturing, our home environment/environment of comfort, early childhood, and children. So, Princess Catherine’s literal destiny is the campaign she’s been working on for 10 years and now launching.
To make matters even more specific, her North Node and Moon are sitting in the sign of Cancer (which is ruled by the Moon, so we’re having a really super-charged combination for the North Node-Moon conjunction here). Cancer is also a significator for parenthood or mothering, nurturance, pregnancy, children, and caretaking. Cancer is also a water sign that’s highly involved with emotions, the home, nuclear families, grandmother-to-mother-to-daughter inheritance, and the homeland.
This shows in Princess Catherine’s decision to tie her project to the Royal Foundation, a Great Britain-exclusive organization, even despite international interest in the results. (Though, to be fair, I wouldn’t know if she’d have been able to lead an organization that is deliberately international – at the end of the day, it doesn’t much matter.) While there’s probably no problem if international governments or charities try to copy information, findings, or the intent behind #ShapingUs, it's meant to change Great Britain first and foremost, which fits her chart. (And makes sense given the fact that she’s a representative of the British crown).
It also shows why the focus of #ShapingUs is childhood, rather than one of the million other causes she could have picked: to make matters even more obvious, her natal MC in her 10th house in Taurus is in opposition to her 4th house Scorpio Jupiter, Ceres, and IC.
The MC (or Midheaven) is your highest calling on earth and the pinnacle of what you can achieve in this lifetime. It’s also a significator of a career or life purpose, as well as your public image, persona, and what you’re known for by people who haven’t met you. In aspect to fourth house planets, it’s connected with… family. Your home. Psychology. In connection with planets in Scorpio, it’s again tied to mental health, topics around trauma, pain, and wounding (among other things). Dwarf planet Ceres adds another significator for motherhood, parenting, and small kids as well as pregnancy, and there we go.
The actual Midheaven’s position in the 10th house and Taurus also adds the fact that Princess Catherine is basically the boss of the entire organization. She isn’t working somewhere as a lackey, though her sixth house Sun makes her incredibly gifted at working towards other people, rather than just taking charge and demanding a bunch of stuff. This MC allows her to lead and do what her Sun does best, which is humbly including the wisdom of other experts in their fields and taking care of employees and co-workers as (mostly) equals. The Taurus placement also highlights physical health, which is part of Princess Catherine’s focus.
The fact that Taurus, Ceres, the Moon, and Cancer are all in the mix also explains why she doesn’t just call to help the children and leave it at that: this is a holistic focus on families and caretakers of children, which can be anyone from a mom to a dad, grandparent, much older sibling, educator, nanny, etc. This is a campaign that’s led by, includes experts from, and is meant to provide service to many different groups of people, including but not limited to professionals in child-rearing and child-care. This makes it pretty unique for such a large-scale organization.
The presence of the tenth house, Capricorn (via her Sun and South Node) and several other placements add the highly organized, systemic approach that takes a dream of nurturance and makes it something that can be achieved through a political, multi-modal, monarchy-led, experts-driven, and sustainable organization.
(And as a reminder, the twelfth house, sixth house, fourth house, Scorpio, and other placements we haven’t yet mentioned but will get into later bring the focus to mental health.)
So, if it’s so obvious why Princess Catherine would pick this topic and code of conduct, why did it take her so long? Well, the answer is visible through her natal chart as well. To summarize, it took so long because she wanted to do it the right way.
Astrologically, Princess Catherine is a high achiever with perfectionist standards for herself and a work ethic that focuses on thoroughness, strategic thinking, an appreciation for rules, and a focus on the long game. This woman likely thinks things through a lot, chooses the sustainable approach as often as she can, and only starts something if she’s sure it’s the right thing to start, and the right thing to outlive her. Astrologically, her chart indicates someone who doesn’t care about things that obviously won’t be around in the next 30 years… Astrologically speaking, Princess Catherine wants to invest and create only things that will make a difference in centuries to come, if possible.
Part of where we see this is her Sun in Capricorn (conjunct her South Node, which takes this principle and amplifies it to the nth degree). However, we also see it through her Saturn placement: it’s in Libra, conjunct both Pluto and asteroid Pallas, and more importantly, it’s squaring her Nodes and Sun-Moon opposition.
Saturn is the ruler of her Sun and South Node anyway, so it’s highly prominent in her chart. Add to that that the planet is particularly strong in Libra, and then place it in one of the most intense aspect patterns regarding the Sun, Moon, and Nodes: and you’ll see a very defined effect on someone’s life path and personality. Saturn is the reason for her work ethic and also, her very polite, etiquette-conscious speech and fashion, and part of why the passage of time makes her more and more liked by the public of Great Britain. It can also be a significator of her job as a soft-power politician (which she technically is as a Duchess and then Princess of Wales). This is particularly prominent for her due to her Saturn’s conjunction with Pallas and Pluto, as well as her Leo Rising.
More interestingly, Saturn operates the following way: it. Slows. You. Down. And when it’s done slowing you down, it slows you down even further. And for a change: it’s going to slow you down.
The reason this happens is that Saturn is the part of all of us that wants us to build a solid foundation. You do things the right way, or they’re going to blow up in your face. I like to compare it to those ancient Kung Fu masters from all the movies: they make you wash the dishes three years before teaching you the first move, make you practice the beginner’s stuff ten more years after you think you perfected them, and they really get on your nerves with discipline and perfectionism… but in the end, you’re pretty much the best Kung Fu practitioner out there. That’s Saturn.
In Princess Catherine’s case, everything she does and will do in her desire to help people raise and support children healthily, support parents and specifically mothers, and create a mentally and physically healthy society to come will therefore be slow going. Each step will be meticulously planned, nothing will be left to chance, nothing will be left unchecked by a committee of experts that come together from various fields in a long-term partnership within her foundation.
How do I know that? Well, both Saturn and her MC are ruled by Venus, which sits conjunct her Mercury and asteroid Destinn in her 7th house in Aquarius. A.k.a.: this foundation works through a collaboration for a humanitarian intent (Aquarius) that’s made of geniuses in their respective, highly diverging fields (the conjunction to Mercury in Aquarius) that are considering this goal to be part of their personal passion and their destiny (asteroid Destinn). It’s a long-term committed partnership of a group of people from different fields (7th house in Aquarius). Plus, her Sun in Capricorn in the sixth shows that this is her preferred method of working.
However, any progress made will actually reach its goal to help people, and it will be sustainable. So, while each step takes longer than she might like, and while a lot of this will happen behind the curtain and away from the public’s knowledge, it’ll eventually become highly, highly successful, and very, very, VERY resilient. Why? Because Saturn is so involved, and if you do things the right way, then Saturn comes and makes it better than you could imagine. You just have to put in the elbow grease and patience first. Also, Jupiter in Scorpio is in a tight square to Saturn- and MC-ruler Venus, which gives this the potential to be even more successful than it already would be with just Saturn in it.
Now, let’s talk about potential pitfalls along the way… and another reason why this may have taken so long.
Princess Catherine is a natural leader according to her chart (Leo Rising among other things), but she wasn’t necessarily comfortable with that part of herself from birth on. A lot of Princess Catherine’s chart shows a comfort zone in following a perceived expert’s or boss’s lead and learning the ropes to a T before even attempting to get out there and try something herself. She also probably really wasn’t comfortable with getting any sort of spotlight for herself for a long time: which, of course, inhibits leadership energy, or even the desire to lead anything. In general, Princess Catherine really loves working together with others on an equal basis… and she brings humility and an awareness of her own limitations, as well as other people’s zone of genius to the table. That can keep you from taking charge and initiating changes, or at least slow you down in the process of doing the above.
Tellingly, the t-square between her MC, her IC-Jupiter-Ceres conjunction, and her Saturn’s and MC’s ruler Venus – which is a chart pattern that’s massively tied to this project and the results – show a very difficult reality: despite Princess Catherine’s preferred and natural code of conduct of listening to others and making decisions in groups, she does have to lead the project she wishes to see in the world… or it fails. She has to be a true boss not just in name, but also in providing direction, taking her share of the spotlight, taking her share of applause, and providing boundaries to the experts she works with. She also has to believe in her zone of genius, especially if others may have differing opinions from her, or the project goes stagnant slash fails.
Fortunately, her Leo Rising shows that the Princess a) became royalty (Leo is literally aristocracy and the king – and no, it’s not just the Leo Rising that led to this), and b) give her the charisma, warmth, and leadership capabilities to see this project through – as well as any other projects she may have.
Photocredit: Wikimedia Commons, Ricky Wilson; RL Wilson Photography; Fair Use
Further Predictions on #ShapingUs and Princess Catherine’s professional future
It’s my guess as an astrologer that the #ShapingUs we see it right now is just the tip of the iceberg. As time goes on, Princess Catherine will likely attempt to use her resources and the campaign's sustainable achievements beyond “building awareness” towards “creating changes” in the structure of Great Britain. I could imagine that her focus could expand/narrow down to pregnancy support, especially for mothers with post-partum depression or mental health issues during pregnancy (including but not limited to addiction recovery of pregnant people and/or parents of young children, maybe even addiction recovery for newborns born of addicted mothers).
Personally, I do not believe that we will see many changes within that are directly associated with Princess Catherine. The way her chart is structured, I believe that any projects she does will be well-thought-through, slow-going, and well-planned, which means that she won’t make the mistake of doing too much at once – and therefore, not doing justice by the things she’s doing. She also won’t rush things but do them well (which also means that progress takes more time).
I could also imagine that she’s always setting up her projects in a way that would allow for a seamless change-of-hands in management for when she and her husband become King and Queen consort… and that a lot of the progress she worked towards behind the scenes will become visible only after her ascension to the throne and then be associated with different management. There also is the potential within her chart of the ascension to the throne coming “quicker than she expected.” (The focus being on her expectation). This is of course not a clear time frame, as it can be anything from as far away from today as King Charles’s nineties, to as quickly as next year. (I have my suspicions, but that’s beyond the scope of this article.) Anyway, I would be surprised if she doesn’t plan way into the future for her charities to make sure her projects stay what she wanted them to be even if after she became Queen, and can’t stay involved in the same way. Of course, that degree of future planning takes away from the energy she has for present efforts.
The Immediate Future
The ongoing transit of Uranus in Taurus (which means Uranus through her 10th house) over the next 3 years is likely going to lead to much innovation and unexpected changes within her career and her capacity as a leader and boss… which will obviously affect #ShapingUs as well as her “job” as Princess of Wales and Queen in Waiting. Uranus will square her Ascendant on and off throughout 2023, which will further impact the way she leads others and is seen by the general public. She’s also really going to step up as a voice of the people in ways we haven’t yet seen before as we’ll see an increase in her confidence with Uranus transiting her 10th house. Once it leaves for her 11th, in about 3 years, her career and public image will likely become more stable and less impacted by curveballs (though some other changes will likely happen that she initiates or co-creates).
Jupiter will also bring much luck to her and her organization: conjuncting Chiron in February of 2023, Jupiter brings an uncommonly high focus on mental health issues (especially in early childhood) and even physical health issues that will result in a success that will eclipse any other type of press about Princess Catherine in the long run. The passage of Jupiter through Aries will boost her organization in multiple ways, including through Jupiter’s opposition to her natal Saturn and Pluto. May 2023, Jupiter then enters her 10th house where it’ll spend a year and also highlight where there’s more work to be done for her and bring more opportunities… but it’ll likely bring high success and publicity to #ShapingUs on top of that. The publicity will also stay throughout Jupiter’s transit through her 11th house in Gemini (another year in length) as well.
Obviously, the beginning of 2023 also brings with it two other extremely important transits. Saturn is about to enter Princess Catherine’s house of mental health issues, trauma (other things), and power – but that doesn’t mean she’s going to struggle, as her organization deals with trauma and mental health issues. So, this transit of Saturn through this house (that also includes Pisces, the sign of compassion and helping others), likely boosts her organization’s power in palpable ways… and really helps her step into her confidence while being a great training ground for her later role as Queen of Great Britain.
The second important transit is Pluto entering Princess Catherine’s 7th house in Aquarius in late March. Pluto will dance around between Capricorn and Aquarius until November 2024, when he’ll enter her 7th house in Aquarius for good. This really speaks to her job as Princess of Wales picking up speed and her taking on more power through her role as a foreign dignitary and, essentially, diplomat. It’ll also call for more independence from her organization as well as her exercising more power within it: a.k.a., it’s time for her to lead the experts even more while creating structures that allow her to have a job and a life away from the organization, without the organization crumbling.
In Conclusion
The future looks bright for the Princess of Wales and #ShapingUs. This is definitely one of the times when someone steps into their destiny in the absolute best ways possible – both in intention and method of achieving said intention.
Mental health issues are a pandemic in modern-day societies. The struggles of families with small children – and the needs of children under the age of five – have been largely ignored or at least highly underestimated in society for a long time, which makes it the perfect focus for Princess Catherine’s astrological blueprint… it also makes this focus of hers a true gift to the world that will help millions.
I’m excited to see the future of #ShapingUs, as it has the potential to impact children on a worldwide level (even though the organization is based in and focused on Great Britain, the results of their good work aren’t going to stay there), and it carries the promise of being something that changes the world in ways that are beneficial and palpable to many. Due to Princess Catherine’s astrology, I really see this as a project that could lead to something, rather than become something we put in the “nice try, but waste of time” box so many other well-intended organizations fell in. #ShapingUs may even become more than promised, though that won’t be overnight… but it gives me hope for the future of humanity.
All in all, I hope you enjoyed the article on Princess Catherine and #ShapingUs! If you liked it, please share it with a friend or let me know by sending me a message! You can also subscribe to my newsletter if you'd like… and if you’d like to know what I can get out of a chart if I’m not heavily editing to preserve someone’s privacy, here’s how you can book a session.
Until then,
Alexandra
Comments