Originally, this was going to piece an analysis of Jim Thorpe, especially regarding Mars as it relates to his chart. However, I then got it into my head to submit a post to the astrology carnival on blogcarnival.com so I had to switch my subject from a Gemini to a Cancer (the theme this month was “the Moon”). Instead of looking at the greatest all-around male athlete, I’ll be discussing the greatest all-around female athlete.
Mildred Ella "Babe" Didrikson Zaharias
We’ll just call her Babe Zaharias…it’s easier.
The Babe (so nicknamed after hitting five home runs in a single ball game) was, like Thorpe, both a multiple Olympic gold medalist in track and field and a professional athlete. She played both basketball and baseball and was reportedly excellent in tennis, diving, roller-skating, and bowling. However, her greatest mark was made as a professional golfer, a profession she dominated until her death at the young age of 45. She was the first female golfer to play in the men’s PGA (beginning in 1935), and the last woman to do so until Annika Sorenstam in 2003. At one point, she won 17 amateur titles in a row, a feat that has never been duplicated. By 1950 she had won every golf title available.
I managed to find a horoscope on-line for the Babe including both the time and place of birth. Unfortunately, it used the year 1914 as her birth year, and per the Babe’s baptismal certificate and tombstone, her actual year of birth was 1911…a fairly significant difference.
Mrs. Zaharias (her married name) was indeed a Sun-sign Cancer, and had the Moon in Cancer as well (conjunct the Sun within two degrees). That’s about as Cancer as they come. For the non-astrologers out there: Cancer, the sign of the Crab, is ruled by that other great luminary of the night sky: the Moon. Of the planets an astrologer reviews when analyzing a chart the Moon is on a pretty equal footing with the Sun…while the Sun represents the ego and identity of a person, the Moon represents “what lies beneath,” the subconscious and emotional life of a person. The Sun is the Father and Yang; the Moon is the Mother and Yin. Since the Babe’s Sun is in Cancer, the dispositor (the planet that governs, controls, and colors) is the Moon…and the Moon is in its own sign, Cancer. And it is conjunct the Sun. With this kind of lay-out we are looking at a person with a powerful ego-identity, linked and in synch with her subconscious-emotional identity. Pretty heady stuff considering that emotions are what we use to power pretty much everything we do…they're generally what gets us out of bed in the morning.
Add to this the fact that the Sun and Moon are both in the 10th house and the Sun is conjunct Pluto…well, this is an identity that is going to explode with volcanic force into the world and make a mark that everyone recognizes.
“Before I was in my teens I knew exactly what I wanted to be: I wanted to be the best athlete that ever lived.”
- Babe Zaharias
So here is a soul with a tendency or inclination towards greatness in the world (it doesn’t hurt that Jupiter in Scorpio trines her Sun and Moon…this just makes confidence...and obssessiveness!...come naturally). Now some of the non-astrologers reading this blog may be wondering what the Cancer-type personality is all about.
It’s the money, honey.
Well all right, that’s not literally true (though Cancer LaDainian Tomlinson’s recent refusal to appear on the new Madden NFL game was certainly attributed to the appearance fee and not to any “Madden Curse”). But Cancer IS about security. Cancer is the Mom of the zodiac, and Mom needs to be able to build a nice secure nest to raise and pamper (not spoil!) her children. Security is important for this, and money makes Cancers (and most folks) feel more secure.
Cancers are also sensitive, emotional creatures. There is a good reason for their sign being the Crab…they need a hard, cold shell to protect all that soft, sensitive meat inside them. Cancers are big softies, but they are easily hurt (emotionally speaking), so they protect themselves. Again security (“protection”) is important.
On the other hand, Cancer’s basic nature is not to cower and skulk…they are a cardinal leadership sign. This is the sign of the Matriarch (mom, again) and they motivate and assemble their “family members” through their high-powered emotional energy, generally willing and able to do what’s best and necessary for their “tribe.” I add the quotes to emphasize that Cancer’s protective aura doesn’t just extend to blood relations; Cancer will mother whomever she adopts into her community circle.
Babe Zaharias co-founded the LPGA.
So why the heck would she ever decide to make a lifetime out of athletic achievement? Why not just settle down as a “real” mom and raise a family? This is a woman that didn’t live to see the 1960’s, after all.
Certainly we can’t say for sure what motivated the Babe without actually discussing things with her. Being born in 1911, she would have lived through and probably remembered the Suffrage movement and women gaining the right to vote in 1920. Who can say what influence her own mother was for the young Mildred? I don’t have that information available to me.
I can say that her Mars was in the sign of Aries…the Babe was a born fighter. If she had been born earlier she may well have been a Suffragette herself; having seen the culmination of the movement, she instead applied her energies to other competitive arenas.
In addition, her Mars is trine to Venus in Leo. The placement of Venus represents a person’s essential needs…what they feel they need to do, and what they will feel compelled to do, either constructively or destructively. The Babe’s placement of Venus in Leo gives an inclination to express one’s own personal creativity, to shine like a star. For some folks this might appear as a need to seek attention or gratify their own ego, and it’s possible the Babe had a touch of this in her. Being in trine to her Mars means the two went hand-in-hand together…her competitive desires gave her a channel to express herself, and her way of expressing herself gave her an arena for her competitive desires. Couple that with her emotional attachment to being “the Greatest,” and what do you get?
“You know when there's a star, like in show business, the star has her name in lights on the marquee! Right? And the star gets the money because the people come to see the star, right? Well, I'm the star, and all of you are in the chorus.”
- Babe Zaharias
Mrs. Zaharias also had Uranus in the 5th house…the section of a horoscope that governs creative expression. Whatever her particular type of creative expression, it would be unique, disquieting, and explosive.
Okay, okay…lest I leave you with the impression that all one needs to succeed is having a big head, let me bring this one back to earth. The essential need to shine, the desire to compete, and emotional attachment to recognition and achievement (10th house Pluto) could all have been met more easily then by striving to become the world’s greatest athlete. Mildred could have landed a rich husband and competed with the other country club wives for who could throw the most outrageous or extravagant dinner parties, for example. She probably would have been quite good at it.
But the Babe had some heavy issues relating to exploring boundaries, especially those of her own inner resources (Saturn in Taurus in the 9th conjunct her North Node). Learning to discipline herself wouldn’t have been easy (Saturn square to that Leo Venus…a hard aspect and one that can suck the fun out of the glory). But it was necessary for her soul.
“The formula for success is simple: practice and concentration then more practice and more concentration.”
- Babe Zaharias
Her parents did emigrate from Norway to the U.S. and she may well have got some of the “adventurous-explorer” temperament from them. Again, it’s difficult to guess without having an actual sit down with Mrs. Zaharias.
Anyway, one last point as I wrap this up. The Babe came to golf late in life…not that 24 is too old to learn to golf (I’m over 30 and just swung my first club a couple years ago!). But this is a woman that had already made marks in track & field, basketball, and baseball...heck, she once pitched an exhibition game for the Cardinals! Why would she pick up a completely new sport, practice to the point of excellence, and then go pro?
It’s got to be the money, honey.
If she were in her prime today, she’d probably be in the WNBA. This is a woman who received All-American status in basketball, who is reported to have taken a job as a secretary just so she could play on an “industrial team” in competitions organized by the Amateur Athletic Union (this is at the age of 19, mind you, and she did type 86 words per minute before word processors). But there was no real pro basketball for women of the time; just the chance to earn chump change in the occasional exhibition.
And baseball? The short-lived All-American Girls Professional Baseball League wasn’t founded till 1943. By that time, the Babe was 32 and had already won her first Western Open in golf (1940); having just earned back her amateur status in 1942 and having already started making a name for herself in golf, there was no going backwards.
Golf gave the Babe a way to both achieve recognition and to earn the financial security so important to the Cancer personality. It is estimated she was receiving a six-figure income in her later years, including endorsements and appearance fees. When asked about the possibility of retiring in 1950, she said:
“As long as I am improving I will go on, and besides, there’s too much money in this business to quit.”
The more security a Cancer has, the more they feel the freedom to express themselves emotionally, and they do have so much to express. From articles written after her death, it appears that her attitude and demeanor changed greatly as she became the top player of the golf circuit, becoming considerably more relaxed and sociable, even with rivals, and she was actively encouraging to younger female golfers.
From wikipedia:
Charles McGrath of the New York Times wrote of Zaharias, "Except perhaps for Arnold Palmer, no golfer has ever been more beloved by the gallery."
Who doesn’t love a big mom?
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