JFK Jr. and Carolyn Bessette Kennedy Synastry Analysis

In light of the resurgence of interest in this couple since the premiere of Love Story, I thought I’d delve into the synastry chart of JFK Jr. and Carolyn Bessette Kennedy today.

If you enjoy this kind of astrological content, be sure to follow along and let me know who you’d like me to cover next!

So first off, there are many  indicators of this being an incredibly karmic relationship—karmic meaning, these individuals have known each other before. Likely throughout many lifetimes. Most likely in an intimate way. And they’ve come back to work through the issues they were unable to resolve in these previous lifetimes.

In this synastry analysis, John is the inner ring (blue) and Carolyn is the outer ring (red).

The first aspect that caught my eye is John’s South Node conjunct Carolyn’s Saturn:

The South node is where we’ve been—both lessons mastered and behavior we’re ready to outgrow.

And Saturn acts as an alarm bell in the birth chart—a point of limitation, restriction, hard lessons, and what we are called to deal with in this lifetime. It’s considered karmic because this placement can show us where we have fallen short or mishandled responsibilities in previous lifetimes.

When the South Node touches another’s planet in a birth chart, the energy is very familiar but one or both partners can feel held back. 

And when the South Node touches Saturn, the South Node person can hold back the Saturn person in the lower evolutionary state of their Saturn journey—fears, lack of discipline, lack of structure when the Saturn person is supposed to garner discipline, structure and mastery in the Saturn placement.

By the same token, the Saturn person can attempt to act as a strict taskmaster to the South Node person in order to help them grow out of certain behaviors and attitudes—only for their attempts to not be taken seriously by the South Node person. 

If not consciously worked on, both individuals can be held back by this position and get stuck in somewhat of a karmic loop here.

The next major karmic indicator is Carolyn’s South Node conjunct John’s Sun:

As discussed, the South Node is life experience mastered that we’re ready to move away from and lower vibrational tendencies.

And the sun represents the ego, will, the fulfillment of your potential.

With this position, John’s ego tends to bring out the behaviors and attitudes that hold Carolyn back.

Now, while Carolyn is comfortable here and John’s energy is incredibly familiar to her, this relationship has the potential to keep her inclined towards her South Node energies.

But this conjunction can also illicit Carolyn to tap into her inner strengths and talents that can propel her towards her North Node, as the strengths of the South Node are to be used for movement and growth towards the North Node.

Yet, if John is inclined towards the lower vibrational tendencies of a Sagittarius sun—chaotic behavior, commitment issues, inflated sense of ego, rude in the name of honesty…Carolyn is more likely to be held back in this relationship.

Lastly in the realm of true karmic indicators, John’s Saturn is conjunct Carolyn’s Sun in Capricorn:

Now, Saturn represents what we’re supposed to grow towards through discipline and consistent hard work, and the Sun represents who we intrinsically are in this lifetime. 

This aspect can be particularly hard for the Saturn person. The Saturn person may easily feel insecure in the presence of the Sun person, because the Sun person already embodies what the Saturn person is supposed to learn in this lifetime. 

Unless the Saturn person can adequately humble themselves and realize there’s a lot to be learned from the Sun person, it’s likely that the Saturn person will feel insecure in the Sun‘s  presence. In turn, they may turn to  criticism, coldness, and nitpicking of the Sun person.

In this face of this energy, the Sun person can feel like the Saturn person is throwing cold water onto the warm rays of their Sun.

Now, moving onto some personal planet aspects that give more flavor and understanding to the types of karmic behaviors John and Carolyn were attempting to work through in this relationship…

We know that fights between the two were pretty frequent, and at times, explosive. One aspect that CAN be indicative of this energy includes Carolyn’s moon conjunct John’s mars:

This is a very charged aspect between these personal planets that indicates incredible sexual attraction and intensity, but often with some degree of volatility.

It’s particularly potent in a heterosexual relationship, or a relationship where the more feminine individual is represented by the moon (in this case, Carolyn) and the male or more masculine individual is represented by Mars (John)—It’s emotional sensitivity meets raw drive and passion. You may be able to see how this would make for a sexy energy.

The challenge with this aspect is that passions often extend to more than just sexuality, but arguments that can turn heated and feel very personal.

Carolyn can feel like John isn’t careful or thoughtful enough with his actions. Like he doesn’t take her feelings into consideration before he acts. And when Carolyn confronts John with her feelings, he can get angry.

Mars on the moon can sometimes feel like agitating the wound or pouring salt in the wound of the Moon person.

And John can feel like his actions are overly-scrutinized and that Carolyn is overly sensitive to his actions. 

The second personal planet aspect I’d like to mention is Carolyn’s Mars square John’s Mercury:

This aspect is more clearly indicative of toxic or volatile fights than the Moon-Mars conjunction alone.

Now Natally, Carolyn’s Mars is conjunct her ascendant—which makes her a very driven, action-oriented and perhaps at times aggressive individual.

Squaring John’s Mercury indicates that there is tension between the way Carolyn shows up in the world and the way John thinks.

And with Carolyn’s mars in Aquarius in the 1st house, Carolyn likely had a strong streak of individualism, nonconformist and at times downright rebellious energy. 

John’s Mercury in Scorpio makes him more introverted and secretive about his innermost thoughts and with Carolyn showing up in the world with an Aquarian-style Martian energy, he probably took offense and felt a loss of a sense of control in the relationship dynamic with her.

Uranian, Aquarian energy can be very unpredictable and Scorpio does not always like to deal with the unpredictable. Scorpio likes outcomes they can anticipate.

And as Scorpio and Aquarius are both fixed signs, neither one wants to budge from their modus operandi.

Some fights probably revolved around John criticizing Carolyn’s style of action, and Carolyn wanting John to loosen up in what she perceived to be rigid and tightly controlled thinking. 

One last topic I wanted to touch on was a part of their synastry that seems to allude to their tragic and most unfortunate end.

Close friends of JFK jr. have said that they believe he had a “death wish.” He was constantly engaging in extremely physically risky undertakings, a number of which had gotten him injured and professionals had advised him not to get involved with time and time again.

Now, this is pure speculation. But perhaps with his Scorpio Mercury in the third being conjunct Neptune, death (which is ruled by Scorpio), and the glamorization or fantasizing of death, viewing death as an escape, was on his mind, even subconsciously. Glamorizing, fantasy, escape, the subconscious— these are all realms of Neptune. Perhaps this possible “death wish” was subconsciously affecting his decision making:

I also have to mention, given how they both died, I find it very peculiar that his Mercury-Neptune conjunction in Scorpio lands in Carolyn’s 9th house of long distance travel…

John was piloting his plane with Carolyn and her sister onboard over the waters by Martha’s Vineyard when the crash occurred. 

Could his possible “death wish” have been a determining factor in her untimely death aboard that plane? I just find the fact that their synastry echoes what happened with that plane so interesting. It really goes to show astrology really leaves no stone unturned. 

Overall, an absolutely fascinating synastry. Let me know what couple or individual you’d like me to cover next!

J.P.