Family Patterns - the Fondas (Part 1 & 2)

8 Sep 2009 | ©2009 - 2025  Tanja Ristovski
Astrological Counseling in Vienna

After reading about childhood experiences of Jane Fonda I was intrigued to look at horoscopes of her family members. I will follow here the configurations that vividly show how parental unresolved issues impact their children.

Astro-Databank supplies for AA rated birth time of Peter and Jane Fonda. There is no birth time information for Henry Fonda and Frances Ford Seymour , so I do not consider Moon, Ascendant and Midheaven in their charts. Frances Ford Seymour was a NYC socialite and had troubled private life. Jane Fonda reveals in her biography that her mother was sexually molested as a child. Frances Ford Seymour committed suicide at age 42, leaving 12 year old Jane and 10 year old Peter orphaned.

Frances Ford Seymour's horoscope

Mars and Venus conjunction in Gemini suggests cerebral focus on relationships, need to be appreciated for communication skills and versatile intelligence. AriesPoint=Venus/Uranus suggests intensified need for affiliation and love, that seeks endorsement for personal grace and worth in public. With Mars sextile both Jupiter in Leo and Saturn in Aries, having Sun in Aries, we can anticipate that it was easy for her to satisfy this need for ego-recognition on social level. Mars in Gemini could alert to anxious mindset. In the same time, Saturn in Aries conjunction Mercury emphasizes parental controls, or suppression, and lack of recognition in early home that imprints in the mindset and could indicate depression.

Her chart shows also :
Saturn= Mars/Jupiter midpoint, a shadow of early home (probably father figure) diminishing the confidence and energy.
Neptune=Jupiter/Pluto - some kind of suppression, defensive act of imagination or sacrifice related to her resourcefulness and personal power. Neptune configured with the Node alerts to mother's influence.
Mercury=Neptune/Pluto midpoint repeats indication of the defenses or escapist behavior, some kind of suppression within communication, "communication is other than it appears" and, "nervous irritability" as well.

Uranus quindecile Jupiter holds a sense of " forcing one's luck" , sense of obsession within strong focus to foster optimism, confidence and to brake out of suppressing patterns that obstruct fulfillment of her needs. Sun=Jupiter/Uranus emphasizes once more this quindecile and suggests her seeking to find recognition and affirmation within what F. F. Seymour envisioned as " luck and success" , that was certainly colored by her early traumas as well with gender roles and social imperatives of her time and place.

Synastry between mother and daughter horoscopes

Mother´s Jupiter-Uranus quindecile (with Sun at the midpoint) falls on Jane´s DC & Pluto on one side, and on Mercury retrograde in 12th house on the other side. Her Sun squares Jane´s Pluto - Jupiter opposition. Pluto is the ruler of her 10th, Jupiter in Aquarius on Ascendant rules her 11th.

Mother´s occupation with herself (Aries emphasis manifestation within the context of trouble) is dynamically related to Jane´s seeking the response and appreciation within social filed, outside of the family, finding her ways to be socially significant (engaging in humanitarian/social causes) and establishing perspectives for herself in public projection (through acting, activism). This will compensate for lovability and self-worth concerns.

Pluto quindecile Mercury in Jane´s chart suggests feeling misunderstood and difficulty with communicating innermost thoughts and needs. This is related to her ability to find fulfillment in personal relationships (Pluto is in 7th, mercury rules 8th and 5th), and with learning to acknowledge and communicate her needs privately.

The shadow of mother´s unresolved issues, her inclination to depression, her self-centered way of seeing the things (which was certainly a defense pattern, even though inefficient), was felt by young Jane strongly : Saturn and Mercury conjunction of the mother is configured with Jane´s Sun square Saturn that pictures Jane´s relationship with father, particularly what was lacking in the relationship. Jane Fonda wrote in her autobiography that she, little girl in the midst of disturbed family life, blamed her mother for her parent's divorce.

Henry Forda natal chart

Henry Forda´s chart shows one particularly intensive undercurrent drive through the picture of Mars retrograde quindecile Venus retrograde in Aries and Mercury.

Here we see strong focus on relationships that should, ideally, confirm his personal importance and value. But retrogradation and initially subconscious nature of quindecile makes fulfillment difficult. (We must not forget that aspect configurations picture the conditioning that mostly takes place in childhood and through the interaction with parental figures).

The midpoint picture shows strong involvement of Saturn in Pisces with this quindecile. Aries Point = Venus/Saturn and Aries Point = Mercury / Saturn suggest conditioning that suppresses emotional expression, imprints in the mind, and could indicate depression. Saturn = Venus/ Neptune , Saturn = Mercury/Neptune and Venus = Pluto/Saturn. Here we have idealistic and romantic outlook under pressure and control. Here is fear and inhibition, cutting one self off from intimacy. One would have to discover in discussion with Henry Fonda how this pattern established in the first place, but it certainly has to do with defenses related to deep self-worth anxiety. Saturn = Mars / Pluto suggests great energy that will be best expressed through hard work within professional ambition.

"He was married for five women, the second of whom committed suicide, and for much of his adult life fought off impulses toward anger and impatience with his children." (from "Henry Fonda" by Kevin Sweeney)

Father and daughter natal chart comparison

Henry Fonda´s Venus / Saturn and Mercury/Saturn midpoints square Jane´s Sun and conjuncts her Saturn. As it is mentioned previously, Sun -Saturn square pictures her relationship with the father. She certainly felt strongly father's emotional incapability, which affected her self-worth. Sun rules her 7th and is in 11th house, and Saturn rules1st and 2nd - this impact will play out in her relationships.

Father´s Saturn that is, as we have seen, involved in the picture of emotional frustration and difficulty, and as well in the picture of ambition and work, conjuncts daughter's Mars, ruler of her 3rd house - her mindset, her reasoning and judgment. The 3rd House holds also Uranus, the ruler of the 1st, and the picture suggests anxiety about own distinctiveness, not only in the light of troubled early home, but also in the light of famous father. With this configuration , and having Sun in Sagittarius, we can expect that she will communicate her opinions, and that they become important part of her identity.

In this context of parental impact upon children, I find interesting to quote an article in Washington Post , May 3rd 2005, on occasion of Jane Fonda´s biography: "It's not until Fonda starts working on this memoir that she returns to her mother. In between, she goes from riding horses in Greenwich to the New Wave of filmmaking in Paris, from protests against the Vietnam War (the infamous photo of Fonda in Hanoi) to body sculpting in the fitness studio (the famous home video of Jane Fonda's Workout), from "Barbarella" and "Klute" to "On Golden Pond" (with her Distant Dad, Henry Fonda) and "Coming Home," from the heights of fame to the depths of bulimia, from trying to please her three husbands to finally, as she puts it, pleasing herself."

And also Jane Fonda´s words, from the post titled "Missing My Dad" on her blog: "There have been days during these weeks of rehearsals when I seem incapable of doing the same thing over and over…even twice, never mind for 4 years! I wonder how he (the father) was able to do it. I want to please him…still. Do we ever get over this need to please the parent we were closest to?"

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