RBG and Antonin Scalia: An Unlikely Friendship

The two, now deceased, justices of the Supreme Court, Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Antonin Scalia had an unusual, yet true friendship. They managed it in spite of being most often on the opposite sides of the Court's decisions. For RBG the issue that was of prime concern was the equality of women. To her equality meant that women should be in charge of their bodies. She wrote: "The state controlling a woman would mean denying her full autonomy and full equality."

Antonin Scalia certainly had no such concerns. He never strayed far from the teachings of the Catholic Church which are based on a patriarchal society of 2000 years ago. From that perspective women were just reproductive vessels to be used by men. Yes, there seems to be an elevation of the Virgin Mary in the Catholic Church, which could just be a cover-up for the fact that Mary was an unwed pregnant teen. They sold the virgin birth really hard and it stuck. How could an intelligent man like Scalia buy into these irrational teachings?

Scalia labelled himself as an "originalist", someone who interprets the Constitution as if it was 1787. There was no equality for women or people of color then. For Scalia the ideal society was in the past. The past was his security blanket. Life would be perfect if we could just live by the rules of the past.

And yet, Scalia and Ginsburg found common ground, and maybe even affection for each other. What did they really have in common? On the surface they shared love for opera. There was even an opera written about them.

But what if we dig deeper? What did they have in common as it relates to their personalities? Can Astrology shed some light? Do they share similar energies? And why did they disagree on so many legal matters? The Astrological Natal Charts are shown below:

What can immediately be seen in both charts is the emphasis on the Pisces-Virgo opposition. Both have Sun in Pisces and Neptune in Virgo. They also both have planets in Aries, Aquarius, Scorpio and Cancer. These similarities can be seen in the table below:

  Sign                                    RBG                         Scalia

Pisces:                   Sun, Venus, N.Node           Sun, Saturn

Virgo:                 Mars, Neptune, Jupiter            Neptune

Aries:                Mercury, Uranus, Eris            Mars, Eris

Aquarius:                    Saturn                         Mercury, Venus

Scorpio:                        Moon                                  Moon

Cancer:                         Pluto                                   Pluto

With sharing of so many of the same energies it is not surprising that RBG and Scalia would feel a degree of compatibility, shared interests and feelings. But whereas RBG's Sun in Pisces was flanked by the amiable energy of Venus, Scalia's Sun was in conjunction to the austere Saturn. Rules and social structures were of paramount importance to him. The opposition of Saturn to Neptune for Scalia meant that the other-worldly side of Neptune had to give way to rules and structure. Catholicism with its old institutions and complex rules appealed to his nature. He had trouble accepting Mass in English and preferred to attend services in old Latin.

For Scalia the planet Pluto on the Midheaven is in high focus. It is at the tip of a T-square with Uranus and the Moon. Uranus in Taurus is a rather placid type of energy concerned with physical security. The Moon in Scorpio is about protecting the family which means that Scalia will advocate in public for what he believes is pro-family. With his Mars in Aries, he was quite combative. He applied a lot of pressure on his fellow judges to persuade them to vote his way. No one advocated conservative views as forcefully as he did.

Unlike Scalia's, Ginsburg's Uranus is in the fiery sign of Aries and also square to Pluto. She is more of a true revolutionary and a reformer. Ginsburg's Saturn is in Aquarius which means that she has a broader view of social structures. But since her Moon is also square Saturn she will consider family stability in her decisions. She has been described as a "cautious reformer".

Even though Scalia's Mercury and Venus are in Aquarius, his thinking is not progressive. This is likely because the conservative Pluto in Cancer is quincunx to Mercury and Venus. Scalia's Pluto is enhanced by the exact quincunx to Jupiter which makes the Cancer energy even stronger. Cancer is concerned with the family and it seeks safety in the past. 

Ginsburg's Mercury is in the fiery independent sign of Aries and quincunx to Mars which makes her brave enough to take more progressive positions. Her Mercury is also in conjunction to Eris, which means that she will not shy from expressing her views. She said: "Dissents speak for a future age."