Gwen Stefani and Tony Kanal's Astrological Synastry

Gwen is a rock goddess with a perennially broken Moon in Cancer heart. As a pop culture junkie with a love for astrology, I have always been fascinated by her oh-so-human romances. In this series, we will take a peek behind the velvet curtain of Gwen's love life.

For this first installment, let’s pour ourselves a freshly brewed cup of PG Tips (Gwen's beverage of choice!) and take a peek at the synastry between Gwen and her first love: No Doubt Bassist Tony Kanal.

"I was in love and obsessed with Tony, and he knows that. As soon as he opened the car door I was like, 'I love him. I don't know why."- Gwen

No duh! This is what a Moon conjunct Moon (in Cancer) and Sun/Venus conjunction both ways (in Virgo + Libra) will do to you, especially when Tony’s swoop-in-and-change-everything-in-an-instant Uranus conjuncts Gwen’s Sun/Mercury/Uranus in Libra! 

As a Cancer Moon myself, when you “know” you know. Whether it's a person, situation, or environment, people with Moon in Cancer have this sort of witchy capacity to “feel” when things are right (an ability that will haunt Gwen in her relationship with Gavin Rossdale. More on that here). With his trust-your-gut Cancer Moon, Tony probably felt the same way about Gwen (maybe with a little less Uranian electricity). These two were "home" to each other and probably felt like family very quickly. If we look closely, we can see the commonality in their most basic habits and preferences: Both Gwen and Kanal were vegetarians from an early age and reportedly drink tea all day long. The enmeshment of Moon conjunct Moon can even be seen in Gwen's early style choices! She easily blended the Indian aesthetic of saris and bindis (tokens of Kanal's Indian heritage) into her early No Doubt looks. If you look back at photos and interviews, there are so many clues they were sympatico on a lunar level!

Beyond the yummy Moon conjunction in lets-get-married-and-have-babies-right-now Cancer, the mutual Sun/Venus conjunctions that we see in their synastry shows that each of them where “it” for the other from the jump. Tony was (and still is?) what Gwen wanted in a guy and vice-versa! At its core, this is a best friend aspect and probably gave Gwen and Tony a multitude of shared interests. The cherry on top is their Mercury conjunct Mercury in, you guessed it, Libra. When they started getting to know each other, Gwen and Tony probably had long conversations full of creative sparks and artistic inspiration. Gwen has mentioned that Tony was her go-to guy when it came to writing her early music and I don't doubt it!

If I could sum up Tony’s effect on Gwen it would be a blend of security (Moon conjunct Moon), flat-out adoration (Sun conjunct Venus both ways), and artistic inspiration. Tony’s up-for-anything, non-conforming Uranus landing smack on top of Gwen’s Sun/Mercury/Uranus in Libra was a major astrological green light for Gwen to let her artistic talents and eccentricities step into the daylight. Turns out, Gwen had a few aces up her sleeve in that department.

And that’s why we stayed together for such a long time: because he was such a good friend to me that he could never hurt me. Even though he was already killing me, just by me knowing he didn’t want to be with me.”-Gwen

Tony and Gwen seemed to have it all going for them! Although we will never be quite sure what contributed to the break up, I think there were several layers to why this love morphed into a friendship.

First, Gwen’s partnership-obsessed Libra Sun squared Kanal’s solitude-loving Cancer Moon. Could it be that Gwen’s knee jerk Libran desire for closeness at all costs made Tony’s privacy-needing Moon in Cancer feel a bit, um, trapped after seven years of attached at the hip togetherness? A Sun square Moon feels tantalizingly foreign at the start, but can ultimately be a too-awkward fit for some in the long run. 

I also wonder how well the intense emotional mirroring shown by Moon conjunct Moon in Cancer worked for young Mr. Kanal. Moon in Cancer can flit through a million moods in a very short period of time and two Cancer moons conjunct one another can amplify the high highs and low lows that are naturally part of this placement.

Kanal’s touchy Moon in Cancer might have also felt lampooned by the square coming from Stefani’s Capricorn Mars. The Moon/Mars square shows that Tony and Gwen were extremely attracted to each other and were drawn by the promise of getting their respective needs met in the relationship. Tony's Moon in Cancer wanted Gwen to be a safe harbor for his sensitivities. Gwen's Mars in Capricorn needed Tony to work diligently toward creating a stable, long-lasting relationship with Martian urgency. The square tells me that they may have constantly struggled to squeeze out what they wanted from the other. At the end of the day, Kanal was probably left feeling torn up by the demands placed on him by Gwen, while Gwen felt she could never satisfy Tony emotionally and never felt catered to in the direct and must-have-it-now way that she needed. Ouch! This aspect tends to drag out irrational, hysterical reactions (the kind that have no off button) from both partners and that must have been super uncomfortable for them both, but particularly for Tony (as the Moon).

In the end, Tony broke it off. If "Excuse Me, Mister" and "Sunday Morning" are to be trusted, he may have pulled a classic Moon in Cancer move when we are under duress: go into hermit mode emotionally until the storm has passed. 

Growing No Doubt

After the loss of their romance, what was left? Turns out, a whole lot! Their friendship was fueled by art and music: Gwen and Tony have so much Libra magic circulating between them that it’s no surprise they remained artistic best friends with an eye for musical perfection. Gwen’s dreamy Neptune and powerful Pluto (both in Libra) are conjunct Tony’s Mercury. Being around Gwen encourages Tony’s artistic imagination in ways that are both idealistic and intense. I think the multitude of Mercury conjunctions in artistic Libra have kept Tony and Gwen coming back for more from each other musically through No Doubt. Below is an awesome 8 min documentary showing their obvious chemistry.

Who did they end up with? 

Kanal eventually chose steady-eddy Taurus Erin Lokitz to settle down with. What’s interesting to me is that she has so many personal planets in Aries that square his super-sensitive Cancer Moon and that oppose his Mercury and Venus in Libra. This planetary energy between them makes me wonder whether he was looking for more of a challenge all along, rather than the tied-up-with-a-bow relationship he shared with Stefani. Maybe he needed some friction to keep him on his toes. If so, he certainly got it with Erin!

We will get into Gwen's Persephone-esque relationship with her future ex-husband Gavin in our next installment.

What did I miss, you guys? What astrological connections did you have with your first love?

*Editorial Note: Although we don't know Kanal's exact birth time, I tried a range of AM, noon, and PM birth times for him and they all showed a Moon solidly in Cancer.