Astrology of Famous Seducers

People with great sexual power – who aren’t afraid to use it – fascinate us with their audacity. They are extreme forces of nature. So what makes a legendary seducer? We’ll take a look at the charts of Mata Hari and the Marquis de Sade to see what makes them so compelling.

Alluring Leo
She was a notorious courtesan, exotic dancer and convicted spy. Her legendary mystique and eroticism captivated an array of wealthy lovers. She was a free spirit who walked her own unique path – until she was arrested and convicted of espionage. Accused of being a spy for the Germans and responsible for the deaths of thousands of soldiers, Mata Hari was executed by a firing squad.

So how did an aspiring kindergarten teacher, who later suffered from personal tragedy, remake herself into the ultimate femme fatale? Her chart reveals all. . . .

Mata Hari, the name she adopted during her rise to fame as an exotic dancer in Paris, was born Margaretha Zelle on August 7, 1876. She was a Leo, with her Sun, Mercury, Mars and Uranus in electrifying conjunction, which intensified her brazenness. Dramatic Leo is the sign of the entertainer. Probably the most striking influence is that of Uranus, which gave her a wild, unconventional streak – and a promiscuous nature. Nudity wasn’t a problem, either. Mata Hari was destined for the stages of Paris, where she performed a form of striptease until she was wearing only a jeweled bra and some beaded trim on her head and arms.

Leo also rules children, hence her desire as a young woman to become a teacher. In an intriguing forecast of things to come, she gave up on that ambition because of the advances made by the school’s principal. Capitalizing on such advances later on would become her forte.

Her talent for assuming different personas – she often claimed to have an exotic background – came from her Moon in imaginative Pisces. However, a conjunction to Saturn, the planet of hardship, was influential in her marrying an abusive man, whom she later divorced, and the deaths of her two young children.

The powerful configuration most responsible for both her provocative lifestyle and her death as a traitor was a T-cross involving Pluto, Jupiter and her Leo placements. Jupiter, the planet of luck, was in Scorpio, the sign of sex. If “femme fatale” were a job description in a chart, then Mata Hari certainly had it. But it was Pluto, the planet of death, rebirth and subterfuge that transformed her from school teacher to exotic dancer to convicted spy. As for the latter, she was accused of betraying military secrets confided to her by her lovers, who were high Allied officers. However, Pluto is also the planet of revenge, and there’s some controversy over whether she was really a double agent, or even a spy working for the French. Whatever the truth of her death, her life was extraordinary.

Cruel charisma
Needless to say, the person who inspired the term “sadism” had a formidable cruel streak. But that didn’t stop some women from finding him irresistible. Born on June 2, 1740, in France, the Marquis de Sade was a writer of often violent pornography and an advocate of unrestrained personal freedom and pleasure. His sexual licentiousness sent helpless servants running from their posts and prostitutes complaining to authorities about his abuses. For these abuses and other crimes he spent many years of his life incarcerated in numerous prisons – and in an insane asylum.

The combination of Sun in Gemini with Moon in Virgo, two signs ruled by brainy Mercury, indicate an intellectual nature that is emotionally detached. His one sensitive influence – Venus in Cancer – is overpowered by a conjunction to cold-hearted Saturn. Moreover, his Mars in angry Aries is in conflict with Saturn and Venus, which heightened his violent disposition.

Still, his Gemini wit and Mars-in-Aries machismo gave him a strong charisma. His first wife stayed with him for many years, but later divorced him after one of his many incarcerations (and perhaps because he’d had an affair with her sister). His second marriage was to a former actress with a young son. She lived with him for a time at an asylum after his family declared him insane. At the end of his life, he had a liaison with a 13-year-old for four years until his death.

Perhaps the fantasy of being a legendary seducer is better than the reality. Well, maybe just a touch of their sexual mystique wouldn’t be so bad.