On March 27, 2022 millions watched Will Smith’s outburst at the Academy Awards when comedian and host Chris Rock poked fun at Will’s wife, Jada Pinkett-Smith. While most who witnessed the event (live or on post-event social media recordings) quickly concluded Will’s behavior was unbelievable and unacceptable, as an astrologer, I immediately questioned ‘what the heck is going on astrologically’ that would make the very likeable and popular (and usually known for being nice) Will Smith react the way he did?
Whether or not Chris Rock knew Jada has a medical condition (that’s another story), Will, we could say, reacted quite bullish, like a lion protecting his den, totally impulsive and from his own feelings without consideration of the overall situation and environment. Perhaps he could’ve chosen to react in a way that would’ve shifted the ‘verbal attack and slap’ to more humor with a corrective comment to Chris Rock to acknowledge his attempt at humor.
But Will felt what he felt and reacted from there.
Looking at the shadowside (the qualities that create negativity, suffering, and difficulty to self and/or others) of Will’s natal nakshatras alone, we can readily see underlying conditions. Let’s face it, we have to go to the darker side since that’s the basis of the situation at hand.
The shadowside of Will’s Ascendant nakshatra Rohini is one of “bullheadedness”, someone who would “win the kingdom but lose the Soul” as Dennis Harness states in his book, “The Nakshatras”. Will’s Mars (the planet of action and reaction) is in Magha nakshatra defined yet again with “someone who’d win the kingdom but lose the Soul”, in the case of Magha, due to self-doubt and attachment (loyalty to what one is defending- Mars, in this case Will’s wife Jada). Mars rules Will’s 7th House of the spouse and is located in friendly and kind Leo (the Will we hope to see again). But Leo is also known to be self-absorbed and the reactions of the moment were from a place of self-absorption albeit with good intentions (protecting a loved one). Will’s Mars is located in his 4th House, aspecting the 10th House of the public/the stage. Jupiter is conjunct Will’s Mars and can create great optimism, energy, and charm. Jupiter is in Purva Phalguni nakshatra which shows a narcissistic side and impulsiveness, arrogance, and pride.
Will’s feelings were involved so we need to look at the Moon. His natal Moon is in the often well-balanced Libra. And those who watched the situation unfold, saw Will’s initial response to Chris Rock was with a chuckle, a smile. It was after seeing Jada’s response (obviously disliked and felt hurt by it) when Will’s Mars jumped into action to defend her. Yet consider Moon in the 6th House in Will’s natal chart. Here we can expect emotions to create issues that stir up conflicts in every day life if not handled maturely. The Moon is also conjunct Mercury, so expressing himself (Mercury) comes from the emotional heart (Moon) or can be fluctuating with emotional instability when provoked, especially if it involves women or his wife. We see this with Venus conjunct Moon-Mercury also. Venus rules women in general, or in this case Will’s wife Jada.
The Moon is in Vishakha nakshatra where we can find bitterness and resentment, feelings of betrayal or disappointment. Vishakha is ruled by Jupiter which is conjunct Will’s natal Mars, so there’s an underlying link to Mars from the Moon’s nakshatra– meaning his actions are ruled by his emotions. Even more so, Venus-Mercury are in Chitra nakshatra which is ruled by Mars. Chitra gives a strong ego, self-centeredness (adding fuel to the fiery nature of his natal Mars in Leo), and the reactive knee-jerk quality of “replying without forethought and then waking up at the eleventh hour to try to rectify one’s utterances and realizing it’s too late”.
Now the Sun rules Leo and is the dispositor of Will’s Mars and Jupiter. The Sun is in its own nakshatra Uttara Phalguni, which is another source of bullheadedness, stubbornness, and being critical. Natal Sun is conjunct Ketu who happens to be in the Moon-ruled nakshatra Hasta– and with Hasta, “the importance of controlling the immediate environment is emphasized”. We see here that with the underlying link to Mars-Jupiter through the nakshatras that the Moon-Mercury-Venus 6th House expression was triggered but Will reacted with the impulse and force of Mars-Jupiter.
With Mars-Jupiter before the Sun (self), followed by the Moon (in order of house position in Will’s natal chart), we can see that innately Will may spring to action with passion or defensiveness (Mars) and grace or righteousness (Jupiter), putting himself (Sun) ‘out there’ before considering the consequences, then having to contend with, heal, and/or apologize from an emotional outburst (Moon) and deal with his feelings around his reaction and what resulted.
This brief observation was based entirely upon Will’s natal chart (the natal planets and nakshatras). The transiting planets and dasha timeline weren’t even factored in. It’s amazing how much can be seen from the birth chart alone and how much detail we can get from understanding some basic meaning of the nakshatras.
With all that said, Will is so much more than one weak and troubled moment. He has had a long, successful career in Hollywood, has been known for decades as a highly personable, friendly guy, and whether or not there are relationship issues, he and Jada have been married for twenty-five years, which is almost unheard of in Hollywood. It will be interesting to see if this highly public and highly unacceptable behavioral moment will affect their relationship or not.
Birth data used for Will Smith’s Chart: September 25, 1968 Philadelphia, PA 21:47.
Photo courtesy wikipedia