With the lauded re-recording and re-release of her album “Red,” Taylor Swift reminds us that she reigns supreme when it comes to spinning pain into solid gold.
What do the stars say about the artist and the many men who have loved/inspired/emotionally tortured her?
Read on.
Sun in Sagittarius
Taylor’s Sun is in Sagittarius. Ruled by the planet Jupiter, the fun-loving drunk uncle of the zodiac, Sagittatius energy is expensive, optimistic and adventurous. Sagittareans are seekers, always looking for new horizons, higher learning, spiritual transcendence and — in the case of T. Swift — fresh bros.
Swift’s resilience in the wake of relationship endings is emblematic of her Sagittarius Sun. These folks can’t help but believe that good things are on their way and life is bound to get better. Swift herself acknowledges that arch in the song “Begin Again,” reportedly inspired by her relationship with Conor Kennedy. It is precisely that kind of blithe optimism that keeps her a perennial player in the game of love. Cue Steve Earle’s “Fearless Heart.”
Sagittarians seduce with their bon vivant approach to life, promising that a relationship with them will be akin to a storied road trip, complete with quirky pit stops, caramel nonfat lattes, a varied soundtrack and a highly enviable vintage car.
Pack your bags, burn your hesitations — right?
Moon in Cancer
That freewheeling, easy-breezy high-road-taking is a bait-and-switch, folks. Beneath the surface and way back in the shadows lies Taylor’s crustacean Cancer Moon. In astrology, the Moon represents our emotional needs and how we go about getting them met; it relates to the kind of nurturing we did or didn’t receive as children. It’s the soft underbelly, marshmallow center of the human condition and, in the sign of Cancer, it is at its most sensitive. These people want intense emotional connection and a sworn blood oath that you’ll never leave. So real is this fear of abandonment that those with Moon in Cancer are prone to adapting themselves to match the needs and preferences of their partners.
Because the Moon rules Cancer, it is very much at home in this placement. It’s wearing a Snuggie and ready to passively-aggressively manipulate you into staying in for the night for the rest of your life.
At its highest expression, Cancer energy is creative, caretaking and deeply romantic. At their most indulgent, Cancer Moon natives tend toward masochistic nostalgia, endlessly idealizing or overanalyzing past love affairs. Though their relationship lasted just three months and ended over 10 years ago, Taylor apparently is still writing new verses about Jake Gyllenhal. Further evidence of Swift’s pangs for the past can be found in the song “Style,” where she rhapsodizes the aesthetic of her failed relationship with Harry Styles.
The modality of Cancer is to return and return again. Yet Swift has capitalized on this somewhat pained placement by channeling it into music that serves not only as a balm for her, but sonic medicine for the masses.
Mars in Scorpio
Mars is the planet of war, and within the birthchart it governs our approach to sex, ambition and conflict. Tay Tay’s Mars is in the formidable, “vengeance as an art form” sign of Scorpio.
Mars in Scorpio views people as either enemies or allies, with exes falling firmly in the latter category. These natives take nothing lightly and put a lot of effort into ensuring others feel the weight of the pain they have been made to suffer. Beyond revenge, Scorpio energy seeks transformation, often spurred by trauma and/or loss. The alternative totem for the sign of Scorpio is the phoenix, and no one lives to light it up, watch it burn, write it down and rise above like our girl.
Taylor has a long and illustrious history of transmuting the raw material of her relationships into song. She called out John Mayer by name and a list of personal failings in her 2010 song “Dear John.” Further in keeping with her Scorpionic tendencies, Swift plays the long game. Her fervent fan base is still trolling that dude a decade later, greeting his entry to TikTok with slings and arrows.
Perhaps the worst punishment in the playbook of Mars in Scorpio is erasure. Fittingly, Swift has a stable of exes including Tom Hiddleston, Calvin Harris and Eddie Redmayne who have been weighed, measured and found unworthy of immortality through music.
Stars align
In her latest, closely guarded relationship with actor, collaborator and sweet Pisces baby angel Joe Alwyn, it seems Swift has met a man whose hunger for depth, search for song and commitment to companionship match her own.
Whether they are made to last or built to break, we wait with high hopes, red lips and eager ears.
Astrologer Reda Wigle researches and irreverently reports back on planetary configurations and their effect on each zodiac sign. Her horoscopes integrate history, poetry, pop culture and personal experience. She is also an accomplished writer who has profiled a variety of artists and performers, as well as extensively chronicled her experiences while traveling. Among the many intriguing topics she has tackled are cemetery etiquette, her love for dive bars, Cuban Airbnbs, a “girls guide” to strip clubs and the “weirdest” foods available abroad.