An American Scandal: Tiger Woods’ Marital Infidelity

If there is one icon that the American public has come to idealize above all others in the realm of celebrated athletes, golfer Tiger Woods stands alone at the top of the mountain. A Capricorn with Virgo rising and a Sagittarius Moon, he has evolved into an international corporation unto himself and recently became the first athlete to surpass a billion dollars in earnings from his tournament victories, golf course design, and endorsement contracts.

The astrologer sees that his Neptune, the planet governing both idealization and scandal, is conjunct the USA Sibly chart Ascendant, exact to 02′ of arc. Additionally, Mr. Woods’ 24° Virgo Ascendant is conjunct the USA Neptune. His ability to have become so powerful can be attributed to a natal square between the Sun and Pluto, and it is precisely this same aspect that has allowed a hidden and ruthless darker side of his nature to co-exist in his life. Mr. Woods has been exposed for behaving in a self-destructive way as a sexual predator even while he was married to a beautiful wife and had become the father of two children.

In the early morning hours after Thanksgiving, with transit Uranus in stationary square to his natal Moon, and transit Mercury in exact opposition to his natal retrograde Mars, Mr. Woods got into an argument with his wife over allegations published in the National Enquirer of an extra-marital affair with a New York nightclub hostess. Progressed Saturn is conjunct his progressed MC, exact to 03′ of arc, as his fall from grace occurred.

According to reports, while he was texting the other woman, his wife confronted him, the cell phone was broken in a physical struggle as she tried to place a call to the mistress, and then he was hit in the face by his wife who subsequently chased him out of the house, brandishing a golf club that then was used to smash two windows in his car as he attempted to drive away in a panic. He erratically crashed his car into a fire hydrant, and then into a neighbor’s tree, winding up unconscious on the pavement with bloodied lips.

Thus began a tragic American scandal that grew over the next several days from non-stop Internet news reports alleging as many as seven additional extra-marital sexual affairs, fueled by a gossip-prone Full Moon at 10° Gemini and Sagittarius on the following Tuesday. That Full Moon was conjunct Mr. Woods’ natal Neptune and his closely safeguarded private life was exposed to the public with all of its sordid details in a shocking, chaotic, and sudden way as Uranus stationed direct while exactly squaring his natal Moon.

The natal Sun-Pluto square that has now disgraced Mr. Woods had progressed to the trine during the last two years and it has been reported that in 2007, he was observed by National Enquirer reporters having a sexual tryst in an Orlando parking lot. To suppress that news from going public, Mr. Woods agreed to a photo shoot for a magazine owned by the parent company of the Enquirer. What is of interest to astrologers about this time period is that in 2007, his progressed IC (private life) conjoined his natal Mercury (media).

Astute astrologers will observe that the midpoint of progressed Sun and Pluto had come to 12°32′ Sagittarius at the time his secret life unraveled into scandal, conjunct his natal Neptune by 02′ of arc. The recent lunar eclipse of August 5th, at 13° Leo-Aquarius, had exactly conjoined his progressed Sun, coinciding with his last Mars return.

Insight into the essence of Mr. Woods’ nature can be obtained by a careful study of his rising degree. From Sepharial’s translation of La Volasfera, for Virgo 25° we find:

Crossed swords, over which is seen a crown.

It indicates a person of a military, aggressive character, and who will take things by force and cut his way through life by dint of energy and executive ability. He will have many and powerful enemies, but will overcome them. Yet peace will not abide with the man of war, and the native, while gaining fame, will lose his happiness in life. It is a degree of AGGRESSION.

And from Charubel, Virgo 25°:

A golden ball suspended from the ceiling of a circular hall.

This is very mystical; there is something about this person that he never makes known. At the same time it is that which lends a charm to his life; it endows him with a power to fascinate those who may be favoured with his company.

During this era of its progressed Venus in detriment in Aries (1993-2019), American culture has descended into a sorry state of vulgarity and coarseness. This year, as the progressed Venus and Mars reached their opposition while in mutual reception, and in detriment, for the first time in American history, one feels as if the sexual values in our society have evolved into a disturbing and dysfunctional amorality.

Tiger Woods’ progressed Jupiter is currently at 19° Aries and exactly conjunct that USA progressed Venus in detriment. Somehow, through this tragic scandal that has disgraced him as a husband and a father, and has ushered his wife into sorrow and despair as her spouse stands accused of multiple infidelities, a moral lesson is playing out in our society.

Countless reputations of the famous and powerful have been tarnished by scandal as the USA progressed Midheaven has been squared multiple times by transit Neptune. This year, with Jupiter and Chiron both conjoined to Neptune and in square to that progressed MC, the irrational obsession with scandal in our culture has spun completely out of control. The new Internet media is largely to blame for this insatiable appetite for gossip. One sees that the USA progressed MC is spending a year passing through the May 2000 Grand Conjunction (Jupiter conjunct Saturn) degree of 22° Taurus.

The astrologer observes that at the time of the third and final conjunction of Jupiter and Neptune on December 21st, transit Chiron will be precisely conjunct the USA progressed Mercury, exact to the minute of arc. Chiron, symbolizing shame, humiliation, and disgrace, will have its light translated by the Moon to the alignment of Jupiter and Neptune. One hopes that a soul-searching in American society will take place and the value of restraint, proper standards of journalism, and the right to privacy will be reaffirmed.

To understand the relationship between Mr. Woods and the United States of America, one consults the Davison Time-Space chart cast for their two births. Here we find a hidden and intercepted 12th-house triple conjunction of Venus, Mars, and Pluto, the latter planet at 22° Taurus and conjunct the Grand Conjunction degree of May 2000. A more apt symbol for a hidden and predatory sexual addiction by a person of wealth cannot be imagined. Remarkably, Mercury (ruling the media) is conjunct Woods’ natal Descendant (ruling marriage).

The Davison Moon at 25° Cancer will be opposed by the upcoming solar eclipse on January 15th, and the Davison Mars in detriment in Taurus is conjunct Mr. Woods’ 9th-house cusp of morals and ethics, exact to 04′ of arc. That January eclipse will also be conjoined by Venus at 25° Capricorn, closely conjunct Mr. Woods’ natal Mercury and the U.S. Pluto, and astrologers would expect this scandal to persist in the media until mid-January.

Neptune will turn retrograde on May 31st while holding a stationary square to Mr Woods’ natal Venus at 28° Scorpio. One suspects that his problem with sexual addiction will become a national dialogue. This aspect is notorious in astrology for sexually transmitted diseases and one hopes that his poor wife has not been infected from his promiscuity. This is not a hopeful sign for either his marriage or for his finances. Reports are circulating that he has offered his wife a revised pre-nuptial agreement in the amount of $80 million in order to try and keep his marriage and the children together as a family.

The Saturn transit over Mr. Woods’ Ascendant, and now through his first quadrant, informs us that a 14-year chapter of his life has ended with Saturn above his horizon (Saturn transited his Descendant in 1995-1996), and that he has begun an inward journey to find his soul as Saturn transits below his horizon for the next fifteen years. The first Uranus-Pluto square in June 2012 will be at 8° of cardinal signs and in exact aspect to his natal Sun.

As the waning square of Saturn, exalted in the sign of justice, Libra, and Pluto in the sign of social status, Capricorn, forms in the heavens, the astrologer ruminates as to whether any individual who has reached the pinnacle of success in society, but who has abused his power and authority along the way, will now be chastened and brought down to earth. The progression of Mr. Woods’ Midheaven into its conjunction with progressed Saturn not only symbolizes his fall from grace, but also teaches the astrologer about the importance of the progressed angles.

Natal Sun square Pluto is an aspect of loss, death, and rebirth. Whether Mr. Woods will have to lose his family in order to transmute into a better human being is known only to God. His children are both less than three years old and, in the end, one hopes that he can restore himself as a husband and a father and be there to love and help raise his children.

© 2009 Robert P. Blaschke