Christmas is over and the start of a new year is just around the corner. The days before the New Year is often a time of reflection and somberness as we review the year. And what better way to do that but ruminate over the complicated nature of our families astrologically?

Astrologers who specialize in natal chart readings have noticed that clients typically have the same or similar placements, aspects, and patterns to their family members, especially their parents. The authors over at the Astrology Club website have outlined some common family astrological inheritances:

• A prominent sign or house (lots of Leo/5th house)
• The total or near-total absence of certain signs
• Interlaced signs, rulers, or elements (dad has a lot of Aries, child has a strong Mars or fire element)
• Rising signs that echo a parent’s sun sign or stellium
• Rising planets that echo a parent (mom has a lot of Aquarius, child has Uranus rising)
• Shared chart aspects (sun conjunct Venus, moon in aspect to Pluto, moon on the ascendant, etc.)
• Related aspects (mom has Mars conjunct Mercury, child has Mars trine Mercury)
• Shared retrograde patterns (parents and children have the same planet rx, or have several planets rx in general)
• Shared or opposite lunar nodes (family lineage karma)
• Planets conjunct or aspecting lunar nodes (karma between family members)

Some of these criteria are a bit redundant so here is my slightly modified version:

• A prominent sign, house, planet, or element or the total/near total absence of these things
• Interlaced signs, rulers, or elements
  • E.g., Dad has a lot of Gemini placements and the child has a strong Mercury or is dominant in air
  • E.g., A parent has a lot of lunar energy and the child has a Cancer rising, angular Moon, or the Moon in either an essential dignity or debility
• A parent’s Sun, Moon, rising, or stellium is replicated in the child’s Sun, Moon, rising, or stellium
• Shared retrograde patterns
• Shared or related aspects
• Shared or opposite lunar nodes
• Planets aspecting the lunar nodes

In honor of “All I Want for Christmas Is You” charting back at number one on its 25^th anniversary, we will be examining the Queen of Christmas’s family tree, Mariah Carey.

Just FYI, the information I found on Mariah’s family varied quite a bit depending on the source, so some of what I write about may not be entirely accurate.

Prominent signs: Aquarius, Libra, and Cancer

Mariah has three prominent signs permeating in her family line: Aquarius, Libra, and Cancer. Aquarius is especially strong on her maternal side as Mariah’s mother Patricia has an Aquarius Sun and Mercury which she herself inherited from her Aquarius father (his Mercury is in Capricorn). Patricia’s own mother had her Saturn domicile in Aquarius. Mariah’s paternal grandfather could have also had an Aquarius Saturn or a Pisces one along with a potential Aquarius or Pisces South Node. Mariah’s paternal grandmother likewise possibly had an Aquarius South Node. Aquarius pops up once more with Mariah’s older brother Morgan possibly being an Aquarius Moon if he was indeed born in 1960. Mariah’s sister Alison could have a retrograde Saturn in Aquarius if she was born in 1962. If she was born in 1961 then her retrograde Jupiter is in Aquarius instead. Interestingly enough, however, Mariah herself does not have any Aquarius in her chart. If Nick Cannon is truly a Gemini Ascendant, most websites only put his Midheaven in Aquarius. Their twins also do not have any Aquarius influence either. Nick’s youngest son with Brittany Bell does have his Mercury in Aquarius, though.

In the context of Mimi’s family lineage, she comes from an ancestry that is very group conscious and oriented. Her family is likely sociable and friendly but in a detached, cool way. They like to be involved in a lot of social gatherings but do not expect to get too close to them right away. Despite this sort of removed emotionality, Mariah’s family is very forward thinking. This can translate into having liberal beliefs but not always. There is a concern for where humanity is heading and if the laws and structures in place are indeed just and fair. But again, that doesn’t always mean one is progressive. Instead, Aquarius can also manifest as a sign that is only looking out for the advancement of and/or blockages to the groups it belongs to.

It is not unknown that Mariah’s mother was disowned from her family for marrying her black father. Aquarius can be selective in who it champions for. You either belong to the group or you do not. Saturn “rejects and excludes.” Using Uranus as the modern ruler, Patricia’s choice to interlope with a black man was very “unconventional” and shocking to her Irish-American family. Patricia’s parents could have saw her as rebelling or asserting her individuality in an unsavory way. Or she could have been perceived as being a hippie or “brainwashed” by the leftist influences that were going on during the time they married (the 1960s). Patricia notes in an Oprah interview that “her mother made her pretend she wasn’t married. When she came to family events, she had to come alone and pretend she was single.” Life was rough for the Carey’s as they had to move a lot due to the racial violence they faced, especially when they moved into an affluent neighborhood, which included people blowing up their car, poisoning their dogs, and shooting a bullet through the window. Mariah remembers feeling isolated and alienated from her environment due to her racial background.

….And I always felt kind of different from everyone else in my neighborhoods. I was a different person ethnically. And sometimes that can be a problem. If you look a certain way everyone goes, ‘White girl,’ and I’d go, ‘No, that’s not what I am.’

Mariah Carey on her mixed background in a 1991 Jet interview

I felt different from my mother, and I know I wasn’t exactly like my father. I didn’t really feel like I had one strong person to relate to.

Mariah Carey on her complicated feelings of being biracial

Libra

Libra also features rather prominently in Mariah’s heritage. Her dad, Alfred, had his Sun, Mercury, and Venus all in Libra. On Mimi’s maternal side, her grandfather had his Saturn and South Node both in Libra. His wife, Ann, had her Venus and North Node in Libra, perhaps signifying some karmic energies between the two. Nick Cannon’s family on his paternal side also contains some heavy Libra action too. His father James had his Venus in Libra. James’s mother, Corine, had both her Mars and Venus in Libra as well. Nick himself has a stellium with his Sun, Moon, Pluto, and Saturn all in Libra. Mimi either has both her retrograde Jupiter (1969) and retrograde Uranus in Libra but nothing else. If her brother Morgan was born in 1965, he only has his Mars in Libra.

Libra is different from Aquarius in that it wants close, one-on-one relationships with people. It is ruled by Venus, after all, a planet that looks to bring people together and reconcile and love. This sign being so pronounced in Mariah’s family line seems to suggest that relationships and falling in love is very important to her ancestry. As was mentioned above, Mariah’s grandparents rejected her mother when they found out she married a black man. Her mother stayed married to him for around twelve to thirteen years until Mariah was three. That is no small feat, especially given the racial tensions at the time. However, this divorce only began a long history of severed (Mars) ties within Mariah’s family. For one, only she and her brother lived with their mother while their sister Alison lived with their father after the split. Mariah says she eventually grew distant from her father, which she regretted once he passed. She tried to reconnect with her siblings at his dying request but, as seen from the headlines over the years, things still seem very estranged between the three. The very strong Saturnian energy that runs in Mimi’s family likely explains these tense relational ties. Nevertheless, seeking out love and companionship is something that also flows deeply in Mariah’s family.

I was in love with him, and I felt [marrying him] was the right thing to do.

Patricia Carey on marrying Alfred

Cancer

Finally, Cancer is the last sign that pops up notably in Mariah’s family tree. Her father had a Cancer Moon and Cancer retrograde Pluto. Alfred’s parents were part of the Neptune in Cancer generation. His mother Addie could have also possibly had Jupiter and the North Node in Cancer as well. The Cancer trend continues on Mimi’s maternal side where her grandfather and grandmother also had a Cancer (or Leo) Moon. Her maternal grandmother Ann was also a part of the Neptune in Cancer generation as well. Morgan either has his Mercury (1960), Venus, Mars, North Node, and Moon (1964), or nothing (1965) in Cancer. Alison either has her Moon and Venus (1961) in Cancer or nothing at all in Cancer (1962). If Mariah was born in 1969 her Moon is also in Cancer.

Mariah’s maternal grandparents’ charts (top) along with her sister and brother’s charts (bottom)

Cancer is the mother of the Zodiac. It is feminine, nocturnal, cardinal, and watery. This sign is concerned about creating an identity that reflects its emotionality and spirituality. It likes to nurture others and be nurtured. It is rather sensitive but tries to hide it with its hard-exterior shell. But often its sensitivity, thoughtfulness, and capacity to care are its strengths. It is typically for these reasons (and others) that the Moon is domicile in Cancer. So, what I said about the aloofness that runs in Mimi’s family line is tempered by, or even undercut by, a strong undercurrent of emotions that may or may not be expressed. With a lot of Marsian energy of the Scorpio kind is also rather strong in Mariah’s family, it is likely that emotions were repressed a bit until they exploded and thus couldn’t be ignored any longer. The additional prominence of Aquarius and Libra could suggest that they often tried to brush things under the rug and pretend to kiss and make up to keep the peace and avoid more difficult matters. Cancer in this equation, however, possibly denotes a real effort that could have been made to repair familial ties and maintain some sort of semblance of a healthy family. Everyone likely at some point greatly cared for one another but things simply did not work out as planned. Now these once strong ties have eroded beyond repair and it seems more practical to keep some distance instead.

That [the divorce] made me feel very anti-marriage. I thought that I’d never marry. Everyone wishes they had the Brady Bunch family. But it’s not reality.

Mariah Carey reflecting on her childhood

Prominent Planets/Interlaced Rulers: Saturn, Venus, Mars, and Moon

Given the types of signs that were prominent in Mariah’s family, it is not shocking to find that Saturn, Venus, and Mars, and the Moon are also notably present as well. Saturn is something I am fascinated by in Mimi’s family as it tends to either be domicile (Capricorn and Aquarius) or exalted (Libra) but in her own chart it is either in fall (Aries; 1969) or peregrine (Taurus; 1970). There is a lot of Capricorn and Aquarius [Saturnian] energy (Sun, Moon, Mercury, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn) in Mimi’s family as well, while only her Midheaven is allegedly in Capricorn.

Saturn is a malefic planet, the greater malefic to be exact, that can either be moderately or excessively so on average if it is in a day or night chart, respectively. If Mimi is a Taurus rising genuinely, then Saturn is only at moderate malefice for her as her chart would be a day one. Even so, this level of malefice does not always remain that way depending on what is going on in an individual chart.

Regardless, such strong Saturnian energy in her family suggests that obstacles and general hardships in life is a generational thing for them. Both sides of Mariah’s family have immigrant backgrounds. Although it is likely her Irish side had an easier time coming to and adjusting to America than her father’s Venezuelan side, packing your entire life up and moving to a completely different continent is very hard. There are many things you have to give up and numerous legal roadblocks you have to face, which Saturn can manifest as. Saturn in general signifies rather unfortunate things such as imprisonment, long-lasting punishments, accusations and exposures, deceit and secrets, and orphans. Additionally, Saturn rules anxiety, depression, and poverty. How wonderful!

But some of these significations did come up in Mimi’s life. After her parents divorced, her mom struggled as a single mom working as a freelance vocal coach. The unstableness of her work schedule and income caused Mariah and her brother to move around a lot growing up. Things eventually turned up by the time Mariah was a teenager, but it is obvious that the energy of Saturn weighed heavy on her young life, which is not unusual for those who have Saturn in the 12^th or 1^st houses.

When you live in a middle-class or upper-middle-class neighborhood but you’re living in a shack, it just puts you in a weird position.

Saturn in the 1st house

I didn’t have one neighborhood. We didn’t own a house, and we didn’t have a lot of money. A lot of times, I did not feel like I fit in. That was a frightening period for me.

Saturn in the 12th house, Moon and Imum Coeli in the 3rd house

I never had any financial security. I dreamed of possessing things. Lucky for me I had my music to hold on to as a goal. It was like ‘These people may not think I’m as good as them, but I can sing!

Saturn conjunct retrograde Venus in the 12th house

Venus

Venus is the planet of love, but it also signifies music and the fine arts. Both sides of Mariah’s family have very strong Venusian energy as the diurnal Venus ruled sign of Libra shows up considerably in her family line. Taurus, the nocturnally ruled Venus sign, makes an appearance as well, but not as strongly as Libra. Mariah’s mother for example has a Taurus Moon and Uranus. Patricia’s father had a Taurus Jupiter (and exalted Pisces Venus). Mariah’s father Alfred had a Taurus North Node as well. So, although Mariah’s birth time is contested like her birth year, it would not be shocking if she truly was indeed a Taurus rising because of all of the Venusian energy she was born into. Mariah even married into a Libra dominated family when she wedded Nick as has been mentioned previously. But Mariah herself does not have a lot of Venusian placements outside of her hypothetical rising sign. In both years she is said to be born in, she only has 3-4 placements in Libra and Taurus. Additionally, her Venus is in Aries in both where it is in detriment. To make matters worse, if she was born in 1969, her Venus would have been retrograde and conjunct the malefic Saturn, causing even more debilitation to the planet.

But regardless of her own Venusian status, however, Mariah’s strong Venusian heritage likely explains her own attraction to music. Music is often assigned to Taurus over Libra because Taurus rules the throat and thus singing. Taurus is also the Venus ruled sign that is concerned about what feels good to them, not what feels good to others in a union. Therefore, people with Taurus placements often seek out things that make them connect with their body and give them sensual pleasure. Mariah has stated several times over the course of her career that music was her solace, a place she went to express herself and find inner peace. She showed an aptitude for singing at a very young age. Her mother notes that Mariah was captivated by her signing and could replicate the sound exactly, indicating she had perfect pitch at just 2/3. Besides singing around the house and with her mother, by the time Mariah was a teen she got into songwriting (which can potentially be attributed her 1969 Pisces Mercury, as this placement is very fanciful with words and has a love of music and the arts) and even had a writing partner who would go on to help her co-write the songs to her first album. Despite the passion, though, Mariah’s music ability was kept somewhat secret during her school year days even though she was getting coaching from her mom and had an after-school job as a singer on demonstration records at a few local studios in Long Island.

With Venus in the 12^th house, this is not unusual. Planets here tend to be obscured and hidden on some level. A person may feel insecure about the matters that pertain to these planets and thus keep any interest or talents in those areas a secret. However, the fiery passion that is typical of Aries helped Mariah keep going on her path to be a singer which eventually came into fruition when she signed to CBS Columbia Records in 1988. Her eponymous debut studio album Mariah Carey was released on June 12, 1990 to critical acclaim that skyrocketed her to fame.

I’d hang out with my friends and go to parties, and just be stupid and goof off, but when I was at home, I was listening to music and writing songs. Girls grow up constantly talking about having babies. I talked about music.

Venus in Aries

I always do the melody first. Sometimes I have an idea for a lyric. If I’m collaborating with someone, I’ll direct them in the direction I’m going chordwise, because I get all these melody ideas and then I lose them if I don’t have someone really good on keyboard right there with me. That’s why I tend to collaborate because I lose ideas by the time I figure out the chords. All these melody ideas just go.

Mariah Carey on how she collaborated with Walter Afanasieff to compose songs together reflecting her potential 11th house Pisces Mercury

I was using my upper register…what happened was at the end of it, I did these vocal flips. When I was doing it, my voice split and went into a harmony. If you hear it, it splits. I was saying, ‘Get rid of that,’ but everyone was saying ‘No way, we’re keeping that.’

Mariah Carey on how she experimented with her voice on her first album, showing that a debilitated and/or retrograde Venus did not hinder her when it came to singing

Mars

Mars “severs and separates.” It is the opposite of Venus literally and conceptually. Mars ruled signs always oppose Venus ruled signs (i.e., Aries opposes Libra, Scorpio opposes Taurus). Mars represents war, fighting, and anger. Mars also more widely represents the loss of good things, lies and deception, and hopeless situations. Venus is about companionship, reconciliation, and harmony. Therefore, when Mars shows up, it indicates very blunt, often passionate, aggressive energy that is persistent in what it wants. What is interesting, however, is that Mars is the lesser malefic in astrology. But as mentioned earlier with Saturn, depending on the sect of the chart, Mars can be at moderate or great malefice if it is in a night or day chart, respectively. For Mariah, it’s her most malefic planet since she presumably has a day chart.

Within the context of her family lineage, powerful Marsian energy on the more positive end can suggest that she comes from a background of very hardworking, focused people, which is also indicated by strong Saturnian energy as well. They can make something out of nothing if they are determined enough and put the work in to make it happen. But on the more negative side, Mars can be undisciplined, impatient, and thoughtless. Mars can be too willing to jump into things and situations without all the facts or a backup plan and thus often gets into dangerous circumstances they can’t always come back from. Mars can be destructive, both to others and itself, and sometimes cannot stop until the threat is eliminated.

The type of Marsian energy in Mariah’s family is Scorpio, which is the nocturnally ruled Mars sign. In Scorpio, Mars is very cunning and resourceful. As a result, Scorpio avoids many of the problems Aries experiences because by being fixed, Scorpio at the very least knows how to gauge its energy better before getting into something. As a water sign as well, Scorpio has very keen psychic abilities that allows it to be guided by its intuition and higher beings that may better help steer Scorpio in the right direction. But one advantage that Aries has is that the warrior energy of Mars is directed outwardly towards others than inwardly towards itself. Scorpio, according to astrologer Kevin Burk, “tends to hold onto old pain and emotional issues, picking at the scabs and keeping the anger alive, although buried very deep beneath the surface.” Therefore, Scorpio can sometimes be a ticking time bomb because some individuals don’t know how to let those emotions go and embrace the healing powers of transformation.

Both of Mariah’s parents have their Mars in Scorpio, making it domicile. Her dad additionally had his South Node in Scorpio. Mariah’s sister has a fallen Scorpio Moon (1962) and Neptune. Her brother has his Neptune in Scorpio as well. Mariah’s parental grandfather had a Scorpio Uranus. Mariah herself could have a Scorpio Moon and retrograde Jupiter if she was born in 1969 or simply a retrograde Neptune in Scorpio if born in 1970. But most of Mimi’s Marsian energy comes from all of her Aries placements (Sun, North Node, Venus retrograde, and Saturn [1969]; Sun, Mercury, and Venus [1970]), a sign her family seems to lack. Her dad had a retrograde Aries Uranus. Her mom has an Aries Venus that she likely gave to Mariah. Mariah’s parental grandfather potentially had an Aries North Node. Likewise, her parental grandmother could have had an Aries Jupiter and her maternal grandmother an Aries South Node and exalted Capricorn Mars. This can indicate that even with an alleged 12^th house Sun, Mimi is much more forthcoming and outwardly expressive of her desires than her family who may tend to hold back, if not work in the shadows and brood over things. This may or may not explain the rift between Mariah and her siblings (although all three of them have fire Suns and, therefore, big egos). But perhaps where Mars shows up most painfully in Mariah’s life was in her first marriage.

At just 23/24, Mariah was married to Tommy Mottola, 44, the head of Sony Music Entertainment, the parent company of Columbia Records, and the man who gave her her first contract at 17/18. Scorpio is on Mariah’s 7^th house of marriage and close relationships, and unfortunately Mottola fits all the classic stereotypes of the sign: he was abusive and obsessive. Mariah details in a 2005 interview with Aliya S. King that, despite the over the top glamorous wedding, she “running down the beach, miserable, crying and alone” on their honeymoon. She goes on to say, “My relationship with my husband was not a physical relationship. It just wasn’t…. That relationship shaped who I am. It beyond shaped me. I still have nightmares about it.” If Mariah was indeed born in 1970 then her Mars would be in 1^st house conjunct her Ascendant by less than 1 degree. With the 7^th house ruler in the 1^st, her partners will always have big impact on how she sees and carries herself. Since Mars is her most malefic planet, her marriage to Mottola unfortunately teared her down instead of built her up.

As the CEO of the record label she was signed to, Mottola likely felt a particular ownership over Mariah which was certainly exacerbated by the fact that Mariah was a mixed woman 20 years his senior who had a troubled upbringing. He had bodyguards around her constantly, even when she used the bathroom. He would apparently wiretap her phone and had people follow her when she left the mansion. “I had to get permission to leave [the house],” Mariah said back in 2016 on her E! reality TV show titled, Mariah’s World. “I used to wish, hope and dream that someone would kidnap me. I never thought I’d get out of there.”

He dictated how she dressed and what type of music she produced. This particular part of their power struggle was seen in the public as it wasn’t a secret that Mariah wanted to go in a more RnB/rap direction in terms of her music and dress sexy and act while Mottola wanted her to keep doing ballads and be covered up. In a Cosmopolitan interview back in July, Mariah illuminates how Mottola tried to shape and warp her: “There was a conscious effort to keep me as this all-American, whatever that means, girl. It was very ­controlled. There was no ­freedom for me as a human being. It was almost like being a prisoner.” If Mariah was born in 1970, her Saturn and Mars conjunct, indicating that Mottola (as signified by Mars) tried to limit and constrict her movements in their relationship. In a 20/20 interview in 1998, the year they divorced, Mariah states that there was not a rulebook he kept around that dictated what she could or couldn’t do, but the implication was there. His actions (Mars) told her loud and clear how she should tread in life.

If Mariah was born in 1969, her Mars would be in her 8^th house in Sagittarius. The 8^th house is a hidden house. With a retrograde Neptune in her 7^th house, which also ruled the 11^th house (the 11^th house represents the audience/consumers of your creative output), many people only saw the glitz and glam of her marriage, her “rags to riches” story. But behind closed doors in that 51-acre mansion, which included two swimming pools and a recording studio, that Mariah nicknamed Sing Sing after the infamous prison in upstate New York, Mottola was suffocating and isolating Mariah. They went to therapy to “sort out” their marital problems, but Mariah argues that therapy was simply a tool to psychologically play with her. “They [the therapists] did nothing for me because I couldn’t talk about myself and my own issues from childhood. It was a just a tool to get into my head.” Scorpio is a very analytical sign that likes to examine and dissect things under a microscope. Mariah was Mottola’s specimen.

Ironically, however, Mottola notes in his memoir, Hitmaker: The Man and his Music, co-written with Cal Fussman, that his therapist repeatedly told him to not pursue Mariah because she was far too young and thus not his equal agewise, mentally, emotionally or professionally. And yet he spends many passages shifting the blame on her, even after admitting that “[i]t was absolutely wrong and inappropriate for [him] to become involved with Mariah,” stating that she was “flirtatious from the moment I set eyes on her” and that she asked him to marry her.

“I thought: Life is short. Fuck it. This is what I feel. This is what I’m going to do,” Mottola writes. “I went off with Mariah without thinking about the possible consequences and repercussions, or the effect that both might have on my children.” He was 40 and married in 1970, the year Mariah was potentially born in, with two children at the time. And like a typical abuser he says, “If it seemed like I was controlling. I apologize. Was I obsessive? Yes. But that was also part of the reason for her success.” Mariah was 17/18 when he signed her to his label. She finally left the company in 2000 and signed to Virgin Records.

Moon

Some of this darker Scorpio energy bleeds a bit into the powerful lunar energy in Mariah’s family. As was mentioned before, many people on both side of her family have a domicile Cancer Moon, which includes her dad and maternal grandparents. Her mom has an exalted Moon in Taurus. Mariah (1969) and her sister (1961) both either have their Moon in Cancer or Scorpio. The Moon represents the Mother and our feelings. And although the Sun may reign supreme in Western astrology, the Moon is truly where we tend to act and react from as humans are primarily emotional despite common thinking. With either such powerful or challenged Moons (the domicile and fallen positions, respectively), it is no surprise that Mariah’s childhood was so bumpy. In an interview with People magazine, Mariah states that all of the racism her parents endured while married “put a strain on their relationship that would never quit. There was always this tension, and they just fought all the time.”

When they divorced, her father tried to make an effort to see his other two children on a weekly basis, but that eventually stopped as he took a new job at Washington, D.C. It is not surprising then that Mariah was the closest with her mother, which a Cancer Moon often demonstrates. “My mother was very inspirational. She made me feel special and reinforced my belief in myself and my talent,” Mariah said in an interview with Modern Woman magazine. But despite that love, Mariah’s mother couldn’t always be there for her as a single mother. Patricia made Mariah’s older brother Morgan watch her, but that wasn’t always a foolproof plan that worked every time. Instead, there were many times Mariah was alone. “I would feel very vulnerable and sometimes scared. I was alone a lot, and so I had time to think. I learned to be independent,” Mariah said once. “I was like a young adult by age five or six. I was a mature grown-up,” she said in a different interview. But how independent and mature is a child?

By 17/18, Mariah was living in New York, trying to get her music career off the ground. As the story goes, Mottola listened to Mariah’s demo tape and signed her to Columbia Records in 1988. In the years since their divorce in 1998, Mariah makes note of how the age difference between the two set up an unhealthy power dynamic, with Mottola as the oppressor and her as the subjugated person. But she didn’t realize this was the nature of her marriage until she met other people in the industry closer to her age who were living much different lives than her—freer lives. That’s when she started to put the pieces together and take steps towards leaving.

In an 1999 interview for Interview magazine, Dimitri Ehrlich directly asks Mariah about the age difference in her marriage and she says that “a lot of [her] choices have been to do with [her] own issues of not feeling safe as a child and feeling a sense of stability.” Ehrlich asks if Mottola was sort of a father figure to her and Mariah agrees: “I didn’t have a strong male figure in my life on a day-to-day basis. So I think that whole [marriage] situation, a lot of it stems from a place where I was out there alone as a really and I always felt like the rug could be pulled out from under me. [With Tommy] I felt safe and I felt a sense of family. It just didn’t work out because it became too suffocating.” She goes on to say how acting allowed her to get more in touch with herself, as being in a controlling, abusive relationship, she learned to shut herself down emotionally.

If Mariah was born in 1969, both her Moon and retrograde Jupiter are in Scorpio in her 7^th house. With the Moon in the 7^th, a lot of her emotions are tied to her significant other, for better or worse. If Mottola was mad or upset, then Mariah was also mad and upset, but due to the fixed nature of Scorpio, that didn’t always mean she could express those same emotions he did. It could have very well been a dynamic where only Mottola was allowed to be openly emotional while if Mariah showed any hint of sadness or melancholy, it turned into a nasty argument. (Mottola has his Mars in Gemini and Mercury conjunct Uranus, after all.) Mariah was just supposed to be the little bird in the cage that looked pretty and sang ballads on command. Mottola provided the food, money, and luxuries (Jupiter in the 7^th house, especially as the ruler of the 11^th and 8^th houses).

But Mariah was thankfully able to break free and she has thrived since. Although divorced once more, she had beautiful twins out of the union, Moroccan and Monroe.

Today, music still seems to be Mariah’s solace as many of her songs over the decades detail the emotional highs and lows in her life. The lyrics to Butterfly (1997) and Side Effects (2008) are particularly poignant.

 
 Butterfly

 When you love someone so deeply
 They become your life
 It's easy to succumb to overwhelming fears inside
 Blindly I imagined I could
 Keep you under glass
 Now I understand to hold you
 I must open up my hands
 And watch you rise 

...

I have learned that beauty
Has to flourish in the light
Wild horses run unbridled
Or their spirit dies 

Side Effects

I was a girl, you was a man
I was too young to understand
I was naive, I just believed
Everything that you told me
 
Said you were strong, protecting me
Then I found out that you were weak
Keeping me there under your thumb
'Cause you were scared that I'd become much

More than you could handle
Shining like a chandelier
That decorated every room
Inside this private hell we built
And I dealt with it like a kid
I wished I could fly away but instead

I kept my tears inside 'cause I knew if I
Started I'd keep cryin' for the rest of my
Life with you I finally built up the strength
To walk away don't regret it
But I still live with the side effects
 
Wakin' up scared some nights
Still dreamin' 'bout the violent times
Still a little protective 'bout the people
That I let inside
Still a little defensive
Thinkin' folks be tryin' to run my life
Still a little depressed
Inside I fake a smile and deal with the
 
Side effects
Side effects
Side effects
Side effects 

Some of the songs on the new album [E=MC²] discuss a certain time of my life that was so intense. I grew up with such dysfunction that I was just used to it. I assumed that I didn’t have a right to be a happy in a personal life. …But I look back at it now and I feel that part of that was my fault, for allowing the relationship to linger — or, dare I say, fester — for so long. I knew that I needed to be singing and expressing myself, or I never would have gotten through that period. …On my new album, the song ‘Side Effects’ says, ‘Kept my tears inside, ‘cause I knew if I started I’d keep crying for the rest of my life.’ It’s really true. At that point in my life [during my marriage] I didn’t cry because I had to be so emotionally cut off to deal with it.

Mariah in a 2008 Parade magazine interview discussing how the songs on her E=MC² album, specifically Side Effects, reflect her painful marriage to Mottola

And this concludes part one of a series of posts that will examine Mariah’s astrological tree, and the end of 2019! What placements did you inherit from your family? Let me know in the comments below, and have a happy 2020!

Read part two below!

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References

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