The first thing I notice is that the majority of their planets are on opposite sides of the chart. This is very common in people we are closest with, because the houses where our planets are is where we are able to express the energy that planet gives us, and if we have whole halves of our chart empty, we seek out other people who provide energy to those areas. Ben’s chart is bottom heavy, and planets in the bottom hemisphere (called the “northern hemisphere” in astrology) are the ones we feel most comfortable with, and that we use to seek inner satisfaction and fulfill our own wants and needs. Now, Matt is top heavy, and in the top half of the chart (called the “southern hemisphere” in astrology) planets are more easily able to network and make connections to other people for success, because these planets are easily “seen” and related to by others. I definitely feel like where Ben has the creative drive and motivation, Matt was able to work better with people and negotiate- together, they blossomed. It’s a perfect example of why people end up with people who have planets in the opposite hemispheres than they do, because it creates that type of whole where both people are able to do what they comfortably do, and be able to get things done in all areas of the chart.
Ben is a Solar Leo and Matt is a Solar Libra. I always say that Aries and Leo’s get along best with air signs (particularly Gemini) because air signs are oblivious to fire sign’s egos. In this case, Ben’s Sun is in it’s rulership in Leo, and is very much a “me, me, me” planet and as we should all know, Libra’s are all about “You! You! You!” Matt also scores additional points in the co-dependency department for having his sun in his 8th house, which is where we merge our lives with other people’s- it’s also the house of business partnerships. Matt feels much better being supported by the “safety net” of someone else, and Ben is much more self-assured and confident in what he does so he makes a good net. It makes Ben feel good because Leo’s, surprisingly, love to be needed and feel important to another person. Many Leo’s take on leadership roles very naturally because they easily get people to look up to them and then fall for their own flattery. Either way, it’s a perfect balance because both of their sun’s are getting what they want from the other.
Also in good synastry are their moons. As a rule, Capricorn and Scorpio go well together, but in Lunar positions, this is an even better rule- why? Because the moon basically hates being in both signs the most. The moon is emotional, creative, and needy, so while it seems like it would pair well in Scorpio, it is actually in it’s fall because Scorpio, while having the most intense emotional experience, also has the hardest time expressing itself because it sees vulnerability as weakness, and the moon wants to be vulnerable. It’s getting nowhere with Capricorn either, where it’s in it’s detriment (fall & detriment are the two harsher dignities) because Capricorn doesn’t appreciate emotion and doesn’t feel there is an “appropriate” way to express it.
The more and more charts I look at, I swear to God, almost all truly successful people in entertainment have a personal planet or rising in Scorpio. My theory is that Scorpio is drawn to acting because it can express all of it’s intense emotional drama under the guise of a character, therefore loopholing ever having to be truly vulnerable. And as a water sign, of course, Scorpio is creative and there’s no denying, while we’re at it, that there is always something seductive about Scorpio. So for our Lunar Scorpio Ben, who has his moon in his 5th house of creativity, self-expression, and yes, sex- basically where we go to experience all things we enjoy- it makes sense that the moon would naturally have a desire for expressing itself through it’s feelings. And that works out well for Leo Sun who loves to garner the attention (pun intended?).
During my wikipedia research, I read the following statement about Matt: "Due to his mother's 'by the book' approach to child-rearing, he had a hard time defining a self identity, and as a result gravitated to role-playing." I think this statement perfectly sums up his moon in Capricorn, in his 12th house and here's why: The moon rules over mothers/motherhood and will give clues into our relationship with our own mother, and the sign of Capricorn was originally the sign of the mother in traditional astrology, because ancient cultures saw the work a mother does as the most influential over our public image. The 12th house is hard to explain; it's a mystic house and the last house of the chart, therefore representative of the "last stage" of life, where we discover the meaning of our life, it's where our karma is kept, where we go to heal our souls, but also where we discover hidden secrets about our lives. Planets in this house are one's whose energy is largely ignored by the individual but easily seen everyone else. When you pull it altogether, you can see how this placement relates to his mother being restrictive in order to set him up on a strong life path, yet, he doesn't feel connected to that identity, because the moon is what we use to reminisce on our past and discover how that has led us to who we are, but Matt's is hiding from his conscious self in the 12th house... because the outside world sees it so easily, he is able to emote very well in any role without having to actually feel any attachment to the character. This is very similar to the way that Ben's moon in Scorpio in the 5th house functions as well- both moons are in signs that do not allow for the type of emotional expression the moon craves, yet land in houses that make them very visible to the outside world.
Speaking of the 12th house, Ben carries his Venus and Saturn there. Venus is playing by altered 12th house rules because it's in such a tight conjunction to his ascendant, which is the main door to our chart where we let people in and alternately, let ourselves out. Venus is a charmer, our social leader, who picks our friends, picks our lovers, and the planet we use to love others. So, in the 12th house, but tightly aspected to the ascendant, Ben exudes that natural Venusian charm, yet, when we look at the areas of his life under Venusian rule, we see how it is still under 12th house rule with most of his personal relationships exploding into public view, despite his otherwise best efforts to remain "private." And in a lot of ways, over the years, the public has witnessed him learning those Venusian lessons as they can only be taught in the 12th house- painfully. Saturn is the real problem in this house, because you don't exactly want the planet who is trying to give structure to your life hiding from your consciousness in the 12th house. It creates feelings of guilt, like you're not doing something you're supposed to be or behaving the way you're supposed to be, and with Saturn in Gemini, the structure you need in your life feels even further away because Gemini is incapable of holding up any real structure or purpose because it's always curious, always changing, always persuaded by others. I think this is a very visible position for those of us on the outside, because despite that Ben is a decent enough guy, he's done a lot of charity and humanitarian work, and let's not forget him calling out Bill Maher- but despite all of that, as his ex-girlfriend Gwenyth Paltrow said he "makes life tough for himself. He's got a lot of complication" and I think we all see that, he is unruly in many ways and there is a sense that he can become unhinged rather easily.
I saved the most interesting notes on their charts for last. Let's start with Matt and his kite aspect. The grand trine in his kite takes place between the moon, Saturn, and the Mars/Pluto conjunction, all in Earth signs, making it the least active of all the possible grand trines because Earth signs are already so active at taking care of business. What makes it interesting is what rounds out the complete Kite aspect, Neptune on his midheaven and a bucket pattern chart chart that is led by retrograde Saturn in his 3rd house. Neptune is a generational planet that rules over the entertainment industry and all glamour industries because Neptune is all about smoke & mirrors, nothing with this planet is ever how it seems. It's dreamy & imaginative, always opening up our minds to the incredible possibilities of how high our dreams can soar, but with this comes the down side, like how we use our fantasies to delude ourselves and escape our realities. It's only natural that someone with Neptune landing directly on the door to our "life path" would be drawn to a profession that allows for both achieving your larger than life dreams, but also allows "professional escapism" by being able to have a career that is based around slipping in and out of characters. Ben's Neptune is located in his 5th house, close to the "door" of his 6th house. As I said, the 5th house is where we express ourselves and show our creativity and love to the world, so to have Neptune there also gives Ben more of a pull towards using imaginative stories or characters as a means of expression. The main difference to me is that Ben has proven success behind the camera as well, because he can feel closer to any and all characters and storylines and see their creation and how he wants them formed. Matt is better in front of the camera because Neptune is at the top of his chart where WE see and feel the characters he plays the best.
All of Matt's planets are in the upper half of his chart, except Saturn which lays opposite all of them in his 3rd house. This creates a bucket chart pattern, where all the planets on top are having their energy forced through the "handle of the bucket," which is Saturn. This position also represents his restrictive upbringing, as planets in the 3rd house reflect the experiences of our childhood and Saturn is the planet of restrictions, but it's in retrograde which changes it's effects just a bit, giving the rulemaker planet more of a rebellious streak- so it makes sense that he would use acting as a way to rebel against the cookie cutter path (and his moon is in Trine with Saturn, so these two planets are working together). Since all the other planets are pushing their energy through Saturn, it's the "leader" of his chart- the planet that gets sent out ahead of the rest to scope everything out- this is even more true in his third house, which is the house we use to learn and communicate ourselves to the outside world, so planets in this house naturally venture out in that regard anyways. Before he gets involved in anything, he does set out to find out what the rules are and takes failure or setbacks very hard and very personally. To have Saturn as the ONLY planet in the personal houses of your chart, trying to lead the way, isn't actually all that great, because it leads with a lot of insecurity, caution, and self-doubt, which just adds to the complexity of the planets in the top half needing other people's confidence in them, so they can feed that confidence to Saturn and take the pressure off in feeling solely responsible for something.
For Ben, his main aspect is his T-square, where Venus opposes Jupiter, and they both square Pluto in the 4th house, making Pluto the "apex planet" that all of Venus and Jupiter's conflict is expressed through. What's interesting here is that Pluto is like, our fate- it's destructive because it knows that in order to rebuild something, you must completely destroy what was there before and it brings us our long-term changes through being destructive of our outdated patterns. It's a turbulent planet and it's the last one we feel because it's the furthest away so it's pull takes the longest to be achieved, it's a subtle deconstruction and reconstruction that we rarely notice as we are living it, but see clearly in hindsight. What is interesting in Ben's chart is it's location in his 4th house of home and family as he has spoken before about the struggles in his early life stemming from his father's alcoholism, rehab, and recovery- and this is a "fate" he followed himself, going to rehab in 2001 for reported alcohol abuse. Obviously both of these things were a show of Pluto's long-term transformations, dark habits that consume us, hurt our family, and eventually, Pluto leads you down that path of destruction and once you hit bottom, you begin to rebuild better and stronger.
Venus in his 12th house opposing Jupiter in his 6th house is actually a loose, out-of-sign aspect as Venus is in Cancer, and Cancer's natural opposition is Capricorn, but Ben's Jupiter is retrograde in Sagittarius, only two degrees from Capricorn. All oppositions are about finding balance between the two purposes that the planets represent. Jupiter is the planet of luck and expansion, and it's place on the chart will show where we are "given" the most in life. In his 6th house of work and health, it signifies someone who will be successful in the tasks they do and have a lot of opportunities stem from that. With Jupiter sitting across from Venus, who is already touchy as shit in the 12th house, it can't offer Venus any of it's gifts- optimism, spiritual growth, or luck. This sets Venus up for problematic relationships, makes it harder for Venus to feel grateful for love and it's relationships. This is something he must feel balance between- the success of his productivity and the strength of his relationships- and when it's not there, the stress created by the conflict of Venus and Jupiter is pushed through each planet's square to Pluto, which then begins a "self-destructive" cycle, which is happening where? In his 4th house of home and family. (Fun fact: Jennifer Garner also has Saturn & Venus in her 12th house, Pluto in her 4th house, as well as a Cancer ascendant. I would assume this is HUGE in why they're relationship has lasted so long- similar demons.)
To conclude: They have Suns that work well of each other, Moons that are in similar uncomfortable places, both "unemotional" but driven, and where Ben is more creative for inner satisfaction, Matt does better in groups/social satisfaction. Both have Saturn placements that cause insecurity and unwanted guilt, and their charts, when put together, fill out nicely, with a planet in almost every house.
Things I learned about Matt Damon while doing this post: He went to Harvard, he founded two non-profits: H2O Africa Foundation & the Not On Our Watch Project, he is an ambassador for ONEXONE, a spokesperson for Feeding America, and a huge supporter of the amazing Elizabeth Warren.
Things I learned about Ben Affleck while doing this post: He studied Middle Eastern affairs at Occidental College, he founded and contributed to SO MANY non-profit organizations and initiatives that to name them all would be too much work, he had to get his teeth capped to star in Armageddon, and he was born in Berkeley, CA!.
I can't believe this is my 14th astrology post. Have you guys learned anything?
