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Divorce placements in the chart may reveal signs of struggle in a relationship but shouldn't deter you from finding love.
By Leslie Hale — Written on May 31, 2023
The birth chart is a roadmap of our life that indicates where we're likely to succeed and where we may struggle in life. This includes relationships, including the potential for divorce which shows up in the natal chart.
Common divorce placements in the birth chart
Following are some of the most common divorce placements. While these transits are indicative of divorce, this does not guarantee a divorce is imminent. Don’t let fear ruin the possibility of finding lasting love.
Let’s say you have one or several of these transits. If your partner's chart is complementary in synastry, things may still work out. Also, people stay together for a variety of reasons including children, financial reasons, and religion or simply because they don’t want to divorce.
In other words, if you want to marry, believe you have met your person and the relationship is not abusive, you should not automatically let a fear of failure prevent marriage but rather seriously consider all possibilities.
1. An intercepted 7th house
According to Astrologer and TikTok creator Alyssa Sharpe, an intercepted seventh house, the house of marriage, is one indicator of a potential divorce. An interception occurs in the chart when you have a house larger than 30 degrees and engulfing an entire sign. The sign would be totally enclosed in the house; therefore it does not appear at the beginning of the house.
2. Hard Venus placement
Sharpe explains that "the condition of your Venus" can be another indicator of divorce, using her own chart as an example.
“Another thing to look at, Sharpe continued, is the condition of your Venus.” Pointing to the chart again she said, “This Venus is in its detriment in Virgo and conjunct to Mars, meaning that this person (me) has a really hard time not working for love and being unable to rest and unconditional love, creating a need for divorce.”
As Sharpe states in her video, the condition of Venus in your chart matters a great deal. She states that Venus is in its fall in Virgo, but it is at its detriment in Aries and Scorpio which can also make love more difficult and lead to separation and divorce.
In addition, Venus square any of the outer planets (Uranus, Pluto, Neptune or even Saturn) can also make relationships harder and be indicative of divorce or a difficult love life. Venus square or opposing Mars is also a common indication of a potential divorce. This transit can indicate conflict, tension and disagreements with a partner. A person with this aspect can operate more off of their passions than logic and reason.
Retrograde Venus is not so much an indicator of divorce as it is difficulty in relationships that may prove to be unhappy on a more frequent basis than someone with a direct Venus. It can show a lack of love and happiness and marital problems can occur since feeling unloved often leads to divorce.
3. Saturn in the 7th house
“The last is if you have Saturn in your seventh house," Sharpe states, "which is a huge indicator of divorce.” Saturn in the seventh house can not only indicate divorce but it can also indicate problems finding a marriage partner in the first place.
Unless Saturn is making a positive aspect, such as sextile or trine Venus, the Sun or another planet, if the individual does marry, the marriage often proves to be cold and eventually ends. Since Saturn is a plodder, the relationship could remain but there could be little emotional attachment.
Alternatively, the individual with this placement could marry later in life or marry someone who is substantially older. The same goes for Capricorn if it rules the 7th house. If this is the case, you would have a Cancer Ascendant.
4. Uranus in the 7th house
The native with this placement can be prone to divorce because the individual typically desires significant freedom, whether they realize it or not. At times this can also indicate an individual who has a difficult time attracting a stable partner and potential partners may come and leave suddenly. At best this aspect indicates a marriage where both parties enjoy freedom in their own individual ways. This can include living in separate residences or having multiple partners or some other non-traditional arrangement.
The degree to which Uranus, the planet of upheaval and freedom, plays out depends on the aspects it makes in the natal chart. Uranus trine Venus, for example, might indicate a relationship that began as love at first sight, whereby Uranus in the seventh opposing or square Venus or any other planet would be far more disruptive.
5. Neptune in the 7th house
Neptune placed in the seventh can be prone to divorce because individuals with this aspect tend to over-idealize those they love, placing them on a pedestal, at least in the beginning. They typically give too much and when their partner does not live up to their ideals they become disenchanted or even depressed and seek relief.
At times this aspect can also lead to a partner that is disloyal, entertains others, engages in affairs or has substance abuse problems. At other times this placement can also indicate a person who cannot make up their mind or cannot commit to any one person.
If Neptune in the seventh makes positive aspects to other planets in the chart, the marriage may have a better chance of working while harsher aspects from Neptune in the seventh lean more toward divorce or unhappiness.
6. Pluto in the 7th house
This placement can indicate a person who often attracts impossible partners, such as in the case of Whitney Houston, whose marriage to singer Bobby Brown played out in the tabloid pages. This was truly a case where she couldn’t live with him, yet couldn’t live without him — which is often typical with natal Pluto in the seventh. In Houston’s case, Pluto in the seventh was also conjunct Mercury and Uranus. With Pluto in the seventh house, an individual is seldom completely satisfied, and they are driven by the need to have more control and personal power over their own life since they may attract controlling partners.
As is the case with other transits in the seventh house, positive aspects to Pluto would help the union, while harsher aspects would lean more toward destructive behavior and divorce.
7. Ruler of the 7th house afflicted
If there are no planets in the seventh house it is necessary to look at the ruler of the seventh. Let’s say the ruler of the seventh house is the Moon which would make the Ascendant Cancer. The Moon opposes Pluto and squares Venus creating a T-square, which pulls in the energy of all of these planets. This would show an individual who is highly obsessed with the idea of love and may have the belief that ‘love will conquer all,’ regardless of the basic nature of the partner.
If the seventh house ruler is afflicted by harsh aspects or retrogrades, especially involving Venus or Mars, there is a greater chance of divorce.
Leslie Hale is a professional astrologer offering personal astrology readings worldwide by phone, WhatsApp, or Zoom.