Jean Harlow (March 3, 1911 – June 7, 1937)

While working on Dolly Parton’s birth chart yesterday, I wondered if she had based her look on any particular actress. Lots of them came to mind, but none of them fit exactly. Jean Harlow is the best known for her ‘bad girl’ image, so I thought I might look at her.

This timing is considered ‘excellent’, so who am I to argue? Venus would be at the right age when Harlow died (26). Besides, that Yod (Finger of God) pointing at the Libra Ascendant looks mighty interesting. There is one additional inconjunct linking Uranus and Pluto.

Mercury Inconjunct Ascendant

You are likely to have some problems, but not serious ones, in communicating with others. The problem is that people’s first impression of you may not fit in with what you say or your manner of thinking and speaking. People tend to hear what they expect to hear, and they may not listen to you as carefully as they should. So you will have to be as clear as possible and insist that others listen to what you are really saying. If others do not understand you, it is up to you to set them straight.

This pattern also works in reverse in that what you say may make people respond in ways that you can’t accept. For example, you may be outspoken and frank but dislike it when others are, preferring to be treated gently and sensitively.

This aspect can be a sign of nervousness, so it will help to keep every part of your life in order, because clutter and confusion will make you feel even more nervous and scattered. Some people with this aspect want to have everything organized and are upset by disorder because they intuitively understand that disorder is bad for them. Even if you are not aware of this, it is true for you too.

Saturn Inconjunct Ascendant

With this aspect you probably have a rather serious attitude toward life and other people. It may be quite difficult for you to simply go out and have a good time. You want to be serious and to spend all your time performing significant tasks. This attitude may have developed because you were discouraged from enjoying yourself when you were younger.

You need to be encouraged to believe in yourself and to recognize your personal strength. You have to be helped to realize that you as an individual are worth a lot and that you need to get some satisfaction from life as much as the next person does.

You may find it rather difficult to express yourself to other people. This is another expression of your lack of self-confidence, which will change if you get positive emotional support from the people around you.

Uranus Inconjunct Pluto (1892-1894 and 1911-1912)

This aspect indicates changes in the world of the people who were born at these times, changes that were difficult to understand because they were very revolutionary but subtle in many ways. The people born during the first period experienced the consequences of these changes through having to fight in the First World War. The second group reached maturity at the time of the Great Depression. Both the First World War and the Depression were expressions of the breakdown of the nineteenth-century world order that was dominated by Western Europe.

Is There a Common Element?

I had two other blonde bombshells in mind when I first thought about Dolly’s predecessors in the world of entertainment: Mae West and Peggy Lee. Neither of them fit her profile (and they both lived during some of Dolly’s life). But putting all four birth charts together did give me a glimpse of ‘something’.

Peggy Lee, Jean Harlow and Mae West line up their Nodal axes between 11° and 14° Taurus/Scorpio. That’s interesting. And Dolly and Peggy Lee have conjunct Virgo Ascendants. Even Dolly’s North Node is conjunct Jean Harlow’s Midheaven and Mae West’s Moon. Dolly’s Moon is conjunct Peggy’s Saturn. So there are some common elements. But not so perfectly clear as to give me the ‘a-ha’ moment.

Dolly herself admits that her image is based on a hooker she saw in town, when she was young. So there you go.

Ha!