Kanye & Kim: last train to Splitsville

“I still think I am the greatest,” Kanye West once said. In this respect, at least, his ego shared the same heights as Donald Trump’s. But as events this month have revealed, we see how the myth of Icarus can play out in different ways for different people. For Trump, it was hubris that got him into the White House, and hubris that emboldened him to break every norm of the Presidency, the consequences of which brought him crashing to Earth in the November election.

For Kanye the landing may be softer, but the pull of gravity was equally inevitable. Aside from their outsize egos, the curious similarity between the two men was that the Presidency undid them both. Trump gained it and blew it; Kanye wanted it but had nothing other than his music to offer America. Allegedly, his irrational political ambition was the final issue that eroded whatever support Kim Kardashian had previously afforded him.

As of the New Year, talk of their impending divorce was out in the open, although their marriage had probably been on shaky grounds for at least a year, likely dating from the time when Kanye began showing signs of mental aberrations.

But was their marriage ever a solid relationship? If we hold it up to the light of jyotishical analysis, it always looked pretty flimsy, and there are many reasons why this celebrity pair were destined to part ways.

The strength of Kardashian’s horoscope is evident on first sight. Ruchaka yoga formed by Mars in her Scorpio ascendant gave her a hot body, charisma and a competitive spirit that she channeled into her career. Indeed, her sheer attractiveness would always pose a problem for marital instability, not because she sought it, but because suitors for her affections would be drawn like bees to a drizzle of warm honey.

Her almost-full Moon in Pisces participates in several yogas. As 9th lord in mutual aspect with 4th lord Saturn, it forms an esteemed Raja yoga. As 9th lord in mutual aspect with 2nd lord Jupiter, it creates a Dhana yoga, along with the simpler Kesari yoga. Jupiter and Saturn, her 5th lord and 4th lords, respectively, come together in the 11th house to form yet another Raja yoga.

Her 10th lord Sun and 12th lord Venus are in mutual reception, thereby creating a Parivartana yoga, which along with Mars and Saturn, help rescue her debilitated Sun and elevate it to the level of a Neecha Bhanga yoga. Venus in its own nakshatra in the 10th, undisturbed by any malefic, also constitutes Amala yoga.

Kanye’s chart has its own strengths, but they are less obvious than hers. Although his birth time isn’t known for certain, I have on a separate occasion made my case for the unverified birth time of 08h45. (See my article Kanye West: the mouth that roared, on my website, and in my book Stellar Astrology Volume 3.)

The salient feature of his chart is the association of Mars and Venus. They form a mixed-condition Dhana yoga via his 5th and 11th lords because the two are in graha yuddha, a planetary war that suggests a problem with respect to lovers or kids. In addition, Mars and Venus also form Viparita yoga, since they rule the 6th and 12th houses, and are influenced only by 8th lord Saturn, the whole of which implies reversal of fortunes and misfortunes.

Compatibility

Although most jyotishis can use their astrological software to calculate the traditional Dashkoot scores for any couple, this can lead to inconclusive results, whether in the form of a good score for a troubled relationship, or a bad score for a stable relationship. As they say, beauty lies in the eye of the beholder, and perhaps it also depends on what the individual is looking at.

A simpler method, which allows the jyotishi to highlight and discuss potential areas of pleasure vs pain, is one wherein we construct a 4×4 grid involving each of the couple’s four critical factors – ascendant, Moon, Sun and Venus – and display the relative sign count from one to the other in the traditional manner. For the record, the positive patterns are 1/1 (associates), 3/11 (secret friends), 5/9 (open friends) and 7/7 (opposites); the negatives are 2/12 (secret enemies), 4/10 (contrasts) and 6/8 (open enemies).

Compatibility grid: Kanye West & Kim Kardashian

Although this gives us 16 points of comparison, that alone will not suffice because sometimes, as has happened here, there are eight (8) positives and eight (8) negatives, which in and of itself says little, even if only because it happens all the time.

However, if we follow the “spine” of this 4×4 matrix, observing the diagonal from top left to bottom right, you’ll see in bold the relative sign positions for the couple’s ascendant, Moon, Sun and Venus inter-relationships. These are the key factors:

• * A comparison of ascendants highlights compatibility regarding observable mundane activities, eg, domestic roles and responsibilities, food preferences, lifestyle issues, diurnal vs nocturnal patterns, interactions with each other’s family and social circles, etc.
• * A mutual comparison of the Moon in each chart will highlight mood and empathy, emotional nurture and, critically, communication.
• * A comparison of mutual Sun interaction will identify what in a business context would be called “mission, vision and values.” For individuals this translates as ethics, morals, hopes, dreams, ambitions, political and religious beliefs, etc. For instance, some people crave wealth and fame, while others want family and a spiritual life.
• * Last but not least, comparison of a couple’s mutual Venusian interaction will reveal affection in all its forms, eg, touching, kissing, hugging, sex.

In the case of Kanye and Kim, their compatibility grid reveals stumbling blocks in three areas: domestic and mundane aspects of life, communication, and belief/value systems. As consolation, their sex life would appear to have been satisfactory. In cases where only one or two other areas are in jeopardy, sex can be the “glue” that holds a couple together or facilitates the kiss-and-make-up phase, but when all three of the other factors are problematic, sex typically isn’t enough to keep the relationship alive.

Dasha/bhukti in D1/D9

As in every life, karma plays a role, whether in the form of latent psychological characteristics or in the manifest consequences of actions performed. A study of the rashi chart (natal horoscope) and the navamsha (9th divisional) reveal the prognosis for success or failure in primary relationships, while the dasha/bhukti sequence provides the key to such timing.

As of this writing, Kim Kardashian is in her Ketu dasha, Saturn bhukti. In her D1, Ketu in the 3rd house gives results for (a) Jupiter which aspects it, (b) Saturn its sign dispositor, and (c) the Moon its nakshatra dispositor. As bhukti lord, Saturn gives results for itself, of course, but also the Moon, its nakshatra dispositor. Thus, the Moon and Saturn become focal points for discussion. Since they are in sambandha (via mutual aspect) across the 5th/11th house in her D1, this encourages us to speculate that, from her perspective at least, the romance has gone.

If we switch our focus to the D9, we see dasha lord Ketu in a positive house, but its dispositor the Moon has gone to a negative house, therefore a mixed era (2015-2021 inclusive) for her relationship. As for bhukti lord Saturn, it’s also in a positive house but debilitated, although the aspect of its dispositor Mars provides a form of neecha-bhanga. Overall, this merely suggests stress in relationship, not necessarily its dissolution.

As for Kanye, he’s in Mercury dasha, Jupiter bhukti. In his birth chart, both planets occupy the 12th house. Even Rahu, whose bhukti ran from mid-2018 to the end of 2020, points back to the 12th house via its sign dispositor Mercury. Indeed, the role of Mercury and Rahu are just part of a larger pattern that speaks to psychological issues, a topic I also addressed in the article cited earlier.

I won’t explore the ramifications of Kanye’s dasha/bhukti sequence within the context of his D9 since the uncertainty of his birth time makes any such arguments moot. Remember, a birth time discrepancy of 10-15 minutes can result in a sign change of the D9 ascendant, such that a planet’s position could change from positive to negative house, or vice versa.

Suffice to say, Kanye’s current dasha/bhukti sequence speaks to loss, isolation, and potential confinement beyond what has become “normalized” under Covid-19 circumstances. Not a happy time.

Marriage and transits

Kim and Kanye were married on May 24th, 2014, in a star-studded wedding in Florence, Italy. I’m not aware of the birthtime so I’ve simply calculated the chart for noon at that locality, and then rotated it into a Chandra-lagna chart.

The wedding took place on a Wednesday under a full moon. So far, so good. But aside from being full, the Moon was on the nodal axis and afflicted by the Sun and Saturn, both of whom are exalted and therefore potentially harmful. Saturn is especially troublesome, because it’s also retrograde, and therefore doubly powerful. Jupiter’s aspect on the Moon provides a little relief, but that’s it.

Now observe the transit of Saturn, which entered its own sign Capricorn on January 24th, 2020. From that position, Saturn now aspects both the Moon and its dispositor Venus, generically the two planets that symbolize nurture and romance in any relationship. And from that point on, the honeymoon was pretty much over. Ironically, this particular timing puts it firmly in the category of a “seven-year itch” wherein the regular squaring and opposition of transiting Saturn to its natal position at the outset of any event will provoke challenges to whatever status quo has been established.

Technically, this doesn’t happen to their wedding chart until February 2022, but in the world of celebrity legal separations, these things do take a lot of time to sort out and finalize. In any event, the writing is now on the wall, although for some it was already written in the stars.

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Alan Annand studied with Hart deFouw. He’s a graduate of the American College of Vedic Astrology and a former tutor for the British Faculty of Astrological Studies.

He’s also the author of several books. Kala Sarpa is a first-of-its-kind reference text on a unique pattern in jyotisha that is not discussed in shastra yet is part of India’s rich oral tradition. Stellar Astrology, Volumes 1-3 offer a wealth of time-tested techniques via biographical profiles, analyses of world events, and technical essays. Parivartana Yoga is a reference text for one of the most common yet powerful planetary combinations in jyotisha.

Aside from his Montreal-based crime novels, his New Age Noir crime series (Scorpio Rising, Felonious Monk, Soma County) feature astrologer and palmist Axel Crowe, whom one reviewer has dubbed “Sherlock Holmes with a horoscope.”

Websites: www.navamsa.com, www.sextile.com

You can find his books on Amazon, Apple, Barnes&Noble, Kobo and Smashwords.