Chantelle and Preston: Venus Retrograde

Ultimate Big Brother is now airing on British television screens, in the fight to crown the number one winner of the whole series. The finale is occurring under the current Jupiter-Uranus conjunction, signifying the large television event. All the old housemates returned under the current Mercury Retrograde period in Virgo. The period for many people is introspective and we can evaluate and revisit the past. The return of Chantelle and Preston was awkward to watch in the beginning, they were previous contestants on celebrity big brother 6. Chantelle was an ordinary girl picked from obscurity and thrown into the house with celebrities, under the disguise that she was a celebrity too. Preston, a member of indie group, Ordinary Boys also joined the show. The couple fell in love in the BB house and shortly after were married on the 25th August 2006.

Ten months later, on 27 June 2007 they announced in a joint statement that they were ending their marriage. "After much soul-searching and tearful discussions we have sadly decided to end our marriage," they said in the statement. “We hope we can always remain friends and still love each other but we both think we put so much pressure on one another to make our marriage work that it has ended up destroying our relationship. No one else is involved in our decision." The couple insisted their relationship was genuine and denied they had rushed into marriage. “We know people will think we married too quickly on the back of Big Brother but the truth is that, what anyone thinks, we did have a whirlwind romance but we were genuinely in love with each other at the time and we will never regret our time together. We both believe in marriage and we never treated our vows or our commitment to each other lightly. We've spent hours and hours discussing whether we can salvage our marriage, give it another go, try harder, anything rather than give up. But we now both agree that we should go our separate ways. We are both young and we still have our lives in front of us. The last two weeks or so have been very upsetting and sad for us and our friends and family and we appreciate their support."

In July 2007, it was rumoured in the Daily Mail that the couple had moved back in together. However, it was then reported that Preston was dating again and the former couple only communicated to discuss business matters. The rumours of the final breakdown to their marriage were confirmed on 21 November 2007, when London's Reuters News Agency announced that Houghton had been granted a decree nisi at First Avenue House, on the grounds of her husband's admitted unreasonable behaviour. Preston did not contest the petition, and neither appeared in court for the ninety–second hearing. They were given their decree absolute certificate six weeks later. By Wiki

The show has seen them reunited once again and in the same setting that they first fell in love. The meeting is stirring painful memories for Chantelle and she is regretting the collapse of the marriage. She looks the most distressed by the situation and has broken down in tears in the diary room. It is believed that if she could rekindle her romance with Preston, she would. I was interested enough by their love story and separation to take a look at their natal charts. Astrologically both Chantelle and Preston have the planet of love, Venus, retrograde. According to Dane Rudhyar:

The same type of analysis applies for the case of Venus retrograde; with this difference, however, that Venus and Mars are retrograde only for a short portion of their synodic cycles. The average cycle between two superior conjunctions of Venus and the Sun last 584 days (about a year and 7 months) , and its retrograde phase - during which the inferior conjunction occurs - only about six weeks. This is the shortest time a planet spends being retrograde relatively to the length of its complete cycle; which means that its rarer for a person to be born with Venus retrograde than with any other planet retrograde.

Basically a retrograde planet is one that appears to be moving backwards in its orbit when viewed from our perspective on earth. The retrograde movement of Venus suggests past relationships re-visited due to unresolved issues. A re-evaluation of values and re-assessment of love appears to be a significant theme in this situation. It is obvious that they both need to resolve whatever feelings they still hold for one another. Venus rules love, relationships, harmony, desires and also rules over all forms of beauty. The relationship under review, may help them both move forward, with or without each other. Coincidentally, Chantelle is also re-gretting some of the beauty treatments she has had done and is considering re-ducing her breast size. Astrology Carol Rushman, Predictive Astrology, warns about getting beauty treatments under transiting Venus retrograde and this may also apply to those with natal Venus retrograde.

I advise my clients against any type of beautification process when Venus is retrograde, particularly cosmetic surgery. Even permanent waves, hair colouring, hair styling, and hair cutting can be unsuccessful. My daughter and I went to have our hair cut on the day that Venus was retrograde and we both cried all the way home because we got such bad haircuts. We had each wanted a trim, but we both went home with very short hair.

I looked at Chantelle’s transits and Mercury R is currently moving through Virgo, the sign of her natal Venus. She also has a natal Jupiter-Uranus conjunction in Sagittarius, it is the same conjunction she shares with Cheryl Cole, another reality star turned pop star who has become very popular and had amazing opportunities come her way. Chantelle‘s life was similarly changed overnight. Jennifer Aniston has a Jupiter-Uranus conjunction too, in Libra. She was about to give up on her acting career and then transiting Jupiter returned to her natal Jupiter-Uranus conjunction and she won the part of Rachel in the phenomenally successful sitcom, Friends. The conjunction of these two planets can herald great opportunities. My father (died in 97) was born with the same conjunction in Cancer. He had the opportunity to teach football in Australia, but he turned it down. I could have been Australian and not English. My uncle emigrated over there and loved the place. There can be amazing, good luck but the individual may pass it up.

The current Jupiter-Uranus conjunction in Aries is trining her natal Jupiter-Uranus contact and it also trines her natal Mars in Leo. So currently she has great opportunities, optimism, and luck. The grand fire trine can, however, be too optimistic and it would be hard for her to stay grounded during this phase. Wonderful things may come and they can pass just as quickly, but she is in a good astrological phase. Transiting Neptune is also forming an exact opposition to her natal Sun and she is less than realistic at this time. Neptune tends to cloud judgment and bring a period of confusion into our lives. You can fall apart when Neptune transits the Sun and sometimes we have less of a hold on self-reality. Chantelle has been dissolving into tears and looks confused by the situation. The transit sometimes involves “giving up” on a man (Sun), but the romantic in me hopes that isn‘t the case. The Sun represents the solar and masculine principle and often describes the men we are relating too, it is like forming a relationship to a part of ourselves. She may over-idealize (Neptune) him at the moment and she is less able to see the flaws in him. Sun-Neptune can also mean that she is unusually sensitive around men at this time, and one in particular. Transiting Saturn in Libra (definition of relationship) is currently trine Chiron so whichever way the relationship goes this could be a time of healing old wounds.

Preston has transiting Saturn trine his retrograde Venus, this is the transit we looked at when Sienna Miller and Jude Law got back together and re-formed a relationship. I am hooked to the relationship and Big Brother is like that fly on the wall situation where you get to watch it all from a distance. I have really felt for Chantelle, and I hope it all ends happily, or at least has some final resolution.

Carol Rushman’s prediction:

When Saturn transits Venus a relationship needs to be understood. Partnerships are strengthened or ended under this transit. You will work on learning about what is needed and expected from a partner. New, lasting relationships can be formed. Sometimes a person from your past will resurface and want to interact once more.