Gwen Stefani and Gavin Rossdale's Astrological Synastry Part I

Let’s just cut straight to the chase. Gwen and Gavin lit the damn house on fire everywhere they went for, like, 20 years. Gwen’s Sun/Mercury/Uranus in Libra was the celestial fairy dust that helped her shine as a truly unique beauty and artistic talent. With his Scorpio Ascendant conjunct both Sun and Neptune, Gavin was eye-wateringly hot and a killer musician. Despite the public’s prying eyes, a love-child (Daisy Lowe) and a breakup (or two), Gwen and Gavin’s partnership blossomed into something that seemed rock solid: marriage, babies, trips to Disneyland, and weekly visits to her parents’ house. 

So, what the hell happened? Turns out Stefani’s confessional lyrics were this couple's emotional weathervane: many of her songs hinted that the relationship had a dark side and when we look at their synastry and composite, we can see theirs was a complex romance that was never going to be easy breezy. Not even close. 

You'll need a glass of wine for this one, and maybe some Tricky playing in the background (Gwen and Gavin's make-out music of choice back in the day).

“I threw a party just as an excuse to hang out with her. We drank a bunch of hurricanes and went around the French Quarter. We had our first kiss that night” -Gavin Rossdale

Are any of us surprised that Scorpio Sun/Mercury/Ascendant Gavin carefully orchestrated the seduction of Ms. Stefani in the flame-lit alleys of New Orleans? Pluto rules Gavin’s chart and New Orleans is a Scorpio-ruled city, so it was the PERFECT setting to kick off their romance. What might shock some people is that Gwen’s Mercury and Venus are both in the Plutonic 8th house, so this girl knows a thing or two about what it means to think, attract, speak, and act as intensely and obsessively as a Scorpio does when she is in love. Gwen probably felt pretty comfortable with all this Scorpio magic swirling around her! Gavin’s Pluto also conjuncts Gwen’s Venus in Virgo. Gwen has mentioned in interviews that Gavin low-key stalked her in the beginning of their courtship and I don’t doubt it with this aspect’s obsessive, must-have-you-at-any-cost vibes. As the Venus, Gwen may have felt like a moth to Gavin’s flame, drawn to him against her highly intuitive Moon in Cancer instincts. 

This Venus-Pluto conjunction promises bucket loads of passion and Gavin’s Moon conjunct Gwen’s Mars in Capricorn adds fuel to the fire. The Moon/Mars conjunction spells extreme baby-making attraction between these two. As the Mars, Gwen probably always had a primal desire to have children with Gavin. Moon conjunct Mars definitely revs up a couple’s astro magic in the fertility department and I’m not surprised Apollo was spontaneously conceived when Gwen was 43. On the dark side, when these two had disagreements (and there were probably a few) Gavin felt Gwen's rage on a cellular level and it most definitely gutted him.

Sun/Moon contacts can be a classic sign of romantic potential and sure enough Gwen and Gavin have a double dose: Gwen’s Cancer Moon trines Gavin’s Scorpio Sun and Gwen’s Libra Sun squares Gavin’s Capricorn Moon. The trine is lovely and supportive: Gwen’s emotional body really wanted to nurture Gavin. Unconsciously, Gwen got what Gavin's ego needed to shine and she provided the emotional support to help that happen. This trine probably made Gwen feel ooey-gooey because it cast her in the role of supportive girlfriend, which, as a Cancer Moon, might be one of her favorite roles to play.

The square between Gwen’s Sun and Gavin’s Moon also provided a dose of attractive friction at the beginning of their relationship, but hints at something trickier in their dynamic. Whenever Gwen acted out as her most basic Libra self, it may have rubbed Gavin's just-the-facts please Capricorn Moon the wrong way. This aspect also makes me think that whenever Gwen acted to advance her ego (say, by making major career moves), it may have made Gavin feel emotionally insecure. Gavin has shared that being around Gwen's success kept him "humble", but I wonder how hard he had to work on making sure humility didn't spiral into a Capricorn Moon's knee-jerk feeling of self-doubt.

The moon, more than any other planet, can be critical in understanding who we are and how we relate to one another. I am not surprised to see Gwen’s Moon in Cancer opposite Gavin’s Moon in Capricorn. This aspect shows that Gwen and Gavin may have been polar opposites in their emotional needs and daily habits. I remember reading an interview with Gwen where she casually mentioned that she and Tony Kanal (Moon conjunct Moon) drink tea all day, while Gavin had one cup at breakfast and that was it. That is a silly example but it shows how opposite Moons in synastry can work on a daily basis. Although Gwen and Gavin are both tea drinkers, they drink it completely differently--they are on opposite ends of the same spectrum! The upside to this aspect is that Gwen and Gavin may have felt more emotionally “in balance” by being with each other. Gavin’s stiff upper lip Britishness (Capricorn Moon) probably got the TLC it desperately needed from Gwen’s nurturing Cancer Moon and Gwen’s topsy-turvy Moon in Cancer probably felt steadied by Gavin’s Capricorn Moon. 

I also love that Gavin’s Moon in Capricorn conjuncts Gwen’s Ascendant. Moon in Capricorn can signify a childhood that had a lack of “mothering”, whether or not mom is actually around. Gavin has shared how traumatic it was to lose his mom when his parents divorced. In fact, Rolling Stone did a profile on Bush in which Gavin tellingly mused that his inclination to form platonic female friendships could be traced back to his anxiety about women leaving him. Hooking up with true blue Gwen was probably extremely emotionally significant for Gavin. The combination of Gwen's Moon trining his Sun and the Moon/Ascendant aspect tells me that meeting Gwen made Gavin feel like he finally had a soft place to fall. For straight men, the Moon also represents the wife. Gavin probably felt very strongly from an early stage in their relationship that Gwen’s stable, responsible, in-it-for-the-long haul Capricorn rising personality was a good fit for him emotionally. With the loss of his mom, Gavin really needed a woman he could depend on and this aspect shows that Gwen made him feel rock solid in the knowledge that she would never desert him. There is a lot of emotional rapport and sympathy between these two, and I think this aspect definitely had a hand in helping them ride out turbulent times. Her Moon is trine his Ascendant too, which has the same flavor as the conjunction, but is milder and more subconscious.

Although they have a lot of positive aspects between them, Stefani’s love planet (Venus) is hit hard by oppositions, squares, and conjunctions from Gavin's Saturn, Uranus, and Pluto, which tells me that Gwen probably needed a crash helmet to weather the storms of her romance with Mr. Rossdale. 

Gavin’s Venus/Mars in Sag squares Gwen’s prim Virgo Venus. This creates the kind of attractive friction that can fuel the romantic and physical side of a relationship early on. His Venus in Sag squaring her Venus in Virgo meant that they were initially fascinated by each other’s  “otherness”: Gavin’s wild sensuality and free-wheeling approach to relationships (gay lover? check. love child? check. hordes of exes? check.) may have felt delightfully different set against Gwen’s more prim and idealistic version of romance. On a more basic level, Venus influences our preferred past times and aesthetic tastes. With this square, it is no surprise that when Gwen and Gavin met their bands' musical influences and their individual fashion choices were wildly different. Venus also symbolizes our values in relationships. With their Venus’ in a square aspect, you can bet Gwen and Gavin needed to learn each other's love language. Wild Gavin needed to straighten up to hang with Gwen's perfectionistic Venus in Virgo and Gwen had to give Gavin a loooong rein to keep his Venus in Sag around. More easily said than done!

Gavin’s Sag Mars is also squaring Gwen’s Virgo Venus, which tells us they probably had a Cat-Mouse romantic/sexual dynamic, which is hot at the beginning, but not so fulfilling as time goes on. When they met, Gwen wanted Gavin physically for sure, but she may have also found herself instinctively fighting their physical connection--he may have come on too strong for her at times! Of course, with his stellium in Scorpio, Gavin probably sensed his natural directness was flustering to Gwen and treaded lightly. With this aspect, I also wonder if over time Gavin felt thwarted or frustrated by Gwen’s ever-so-subtle sexual ambivalence towards him. His lusty Venus/Mars conjunction in Sag gives an extremely strong (some might say reckless) desire nature and would not do well with all this pent up sexual energy. He may have felt like a tiger in a cage at certain points in their sexual relationship. Gavin’s Uranus also lands a bomb of a conjunction on Gwen’s Venus, helping to electrify all the psycho-sexual frisson between them.

Next time, we will explore the Rossdale's decision to get married and the heartbreaking dynamics that led to their separation, including Gavin's alleged affair with Mindy Mann. After all, divorces don't happen overnight, right?

After learning more about their synastry, which No Doubt song sums up their relationship dynamic the best?