Ian Wright

“I can remember clearly seeing my stepdad manhandling my mum.  She was so small.  We were all living in the same room, so my brother and me would have to turn away.”

~ Ian Wright

Football pundit and former professional footballer Ian Wright has been on our television screen this week with a documentary about children affected by domestic abuse in childhood.  Now that we are coming out of lockdown, we are becoming aware of how it has enabled the growth of domestic abuse.  According to the Big Issue this week, “In the last year, 1.6 million women experienced domestic abuse, and in 90 per cent of cases there’s a child present.”

Birth Chart

With the Sun exactly conjunct Mercury in Scorpio and sextile Scorpio’s ruler Pluto, Ian is very driven and emotionally intense.  We cannot properly evaluate his Moon aspects, as we do not have a birth time, but we know that he had an unhappy childhood.  The Moon represents the mother and the relationship with the mother, and his mother told him all the time that she wished she had had a termination in her pregnancy with him.  His step-father subjected him to deliberate cruelty.

His mindset, as depicted by Mercury, is quite complex.  He fell behind in school (Mercury square Saturn), but clearly has some mental quickness (Mercury exactly sextile Uranus).  In addition, Mercury is exactly trine Chiron in his birth chart, which indicates problem-solving skills.

His Venus is unaspected:  when in the documentary he was asked by a specialist in child domestic abuse what his Inner Child would have liked to have, he replied “Love”.  Therefore, the unaspected Venus may point to this neglect in early life.  Mars in Sagittarius trine Jupiter means he can be very enthusiastic (like a puppy dog), but sometimes that can spill over into anger.  Sun in Scorpio is passionate, so the combination is intense.  Mars squares Uranus, which is an electrical energy, which can be explosive at times.

Mars loosely squares Pluto, and that is the classic square you would expect to see in such a background, though it shows up in a wide aspect.  It is volatile, and someone who has this (and may have been the victim of others in childhood) needs to harness, channel, and somehow control its force.

Mars square Chiron completes a Fixed Grand Cross, formed of  Mars opposite the Moon, and Uranus/Pluto opposite Chiron.  The Grand Cross is one of the most difficult features you can find in a birth chart, and shows that he had a lot to contend with growing up, and in adulthood until he realized what he needed to work on.

On top of that, he has Uranus conjunct Pluto in Virgo, an anarchic energy common to people who were born in the mid-1960s.  A saving grace is that with Neptune trine exactly the North Node, he can earn respect through his karmic mission.  Pluto is also exactly sextile his North Node, and part of his karmic mission has been to face his shadow (Pluto) and work to transform it.  The North Node trine Chiron indicates that he may also have a healing mission.  A Grand Water Trine formed of Neptune, the North Node and Chiron may compensate to some extent for the Grand Cross.

Life and Career

Ian grew up as the youngest of three brothers, and his older brother Maurice tried to shield him from some of the abuse from his step-father.

His school teacher Sydney Pigden (“the first positive male figure that I had in my life”) saved and nurtured him, put him on the road to literacy, gave him responsibilities, and guaranteed him football time in return for good behaviour in the classroom.  To this day, Ian gives profuse thanks for the role Mr Pigden played in his young life.  On Desert Island Discs, he said “I know he loved me.  I don’t know why he chose me. I’m glad that he did. Once he come in, everything was so much better.”

He was keen to become a footballer, but initially failed several trials.  It was not until the age of 22, when he was signed up for Crystal Palace, that he became a professional footballer.  Jupiter was sextile his natal Jupiter at that time, a transit of success, the signing of his life.  In his interview in the Big Issue this week, he says of that time:

” It was the biggest surprise I’d ever had in my whole life.  I wasn’t expecting it at all… When I signed it felt like coming out of a very dark room… I felt very enlightened and shining.  I can’t explain how I felt. It was like a burst of sunshine.  It changed my whole life, there and then.  It was the first time in my life when I was in control of where I was going.”

He thrived at Crystal Palace, becoming a record-breaking goal scorer, and subsequently moved on to Arsenal.  The transits for his transfer to Arsenal at a record fee were fuelled by a positive Uranian wave: Uranus exactly sextile his natal Sun/Mercury (a big break), Uranus trine his natal Uranus, and Uranus sextile his natal Chiron.  He also played for England, a role which his younger self could not have dreamt of.

After retiring, he became a television personality and football pundit on Match of the Day.  Poignantly, he tells in the documentary how his stepfather would make him face the wall during Match of the Day, a programme which was revered by him.

In 2019 he appeared on I’m a Celebrity Get me Out of Here! in the jungle, where he lost his temper under the pressures of the show, and vowed to take stock and address his issues.

Fatherhood

Ian has eight children in all, from three different mothers.  He strived to be the father he wished he had had, and not to be the step-father he had.  Two of his sons are professional footballers.   Again from the Big Issue interview:

“…my oldest son Shaun means so much because the experience I had with my stepfather made me decide I wasn’t going to let that happen to Shaun.  When I started going out with his mum, I knew I wanted to treat him like my son.  He is my son… all I wanted was for Shaun to have a better upbringing in respects of having a stepdad than I did.”

Documentary

In the documentary Ian Wright: Home Truths, he starts to learn to forgive. He visited his old school and spoke to the staff about how they would deal with the disruptive behaviour he displayed while there.  He spoke to others who had abusive childhoods in the documentary, and those trying to bring about healing.  He is grateful for having created a loving family around him in adulthood, anxious not to pass down the same pattern to his next generation.  He takes away from this investigation that “I didn’t realize the abuse you get is not your fault.”  His current transits include Uranus sextile his natal Chiron in Pisces, a time to suddenly emerge as a Healer.  The documentary is still available on iPlayer

Aspects

Venus entered Gemini in the small hours of this morning in the U.K. and seems to have at least brought a favourable change in the weather.  Although Venus is most at home in the sign it left (Taurus), there is a lightness and freedom of heart with the new placement.  It brings a more mental focus to relationships, and increasing communication around love, art and money. Your diary is likely to be full of engagements during the period that Venus travels through this sign, which takes us up to 2nd June.  We’ll all be social butterflies, deftly spinning plates in social circles!  Certainly more than we were during lockdown.

Tomorrow, Monday 10th, Mercury conjoins the North Node in Gemini, bringing karmic information and communication of a subtle but revealing nature.  Follow the cues and clues – they may provide added interest to your creativity and acquisition of knowledge.

Mercury then forms a sextile with Chiron, and this can bring a satisfactory outcome in the arena of communication.  For example, something you might have been told was impossible finds a way through, and a problem may turn up with a solution.  This may be particularly true for health conditions.

Tuesday (11th) brings us a New Moon at 21 degrees Taurus – this is a new beginning for all Taurean related interests, and a chance to focus your intent on these for the next month.  You may take inspiration from looking at artworks or gardens.  You are helping to build the New Earth, as they say in New Age circles.  It is a fresh start for cooking, gardening, art, music or money.  Make the most of this wishing Moon.

Mars sextiles Uranus in the early hours of Wednesday (12th), which promises dynamism for the day.  Engineering especially benefits from this aspect, but that also includes social engineering.  Electricity and Astrology are other areas which can be stimulated by this combination.  Cars, mechanics, mechanical goods and household appliances may receive a boost or a renewal.

Gains can be consolidated in the evening, with Mercury trine Saturn, which will help you apply your mind to exacting tasks and documentation which may be outstanding.  It favours list-making, planning, and practical productivity.  Constructive serious conversations can also take place under this aspect.

A sublime aspect occurs on Thursday (13th) with the Sun sextile Neptune.  This aspect gives you the best chance of creating beauty and inspiration in your life, conferring spiritual harmony. It also prepares you for the mellow mood of the big event of the week astrologically, which is Jupiter’s entry into Pisces late on Thursday evening.

Jupiter into Pisces

Jupiter enters Pisces at 22.36 Hrs on Thursday 13th.  This brings a more emotional and devotional focus, with growing spirituality.  The forthcoming year ahead belongs to Pisceans!

During the last few months, Jupiter and Saturn have been in Aquarius, bringing a bittersweet experience to the area of your chart (the House) into which they fall.  Coupled with this, Saturn squaring Uranus has brought a clash between the old and new.

In the air sign of Aquarius, you can see this in the fortunes of the air industry.  While the industry has been hard hit and curtailed (Saturn), the quality of the air has improved through the decrease in carbon emissions (Jupiter).  We have a long way to go, as Greta Thunberg pointed out in her recent documentary, but this is an example of the push-and-pull phenomenon of Jupiter working with Saturn, and Saturn colliding with Uranus.  Saturn will continue to push against Uranus for the whole of this year.

In moving to Pisces (and it will return for some time from July to Aquarius), Jupiter will be in a comfortable sign (it originally ruled Pisces, before Neptune came along).  It will also eventually conjunct Neptune, bringing a new quality to our compassion and spiritual understanding.  So during the next year Jupiter will quite likely be in the same segment (House) of your birth chart as Neptune, and be working to subtler and more refined ways of being, especially for that area of your life.  Your inner resources will come to mean more to you.  So Thursday evening will bring a new beginning of sorts, and a new inner focus.  If you are Sagittarian, you may have a slight change of personality, too.

The week in bullet points:

  • Today – social light-heartedness
  • Tomorrow – karmic information and problem-solving
  • Tuesday – new beginning
  • Wednesday – electrical dynamism; mental discipline
  • Thursday – creative inspiration; new inner focus and compassion

 

Date: May 9th, 2021 · Comments RSS · Tags: Sport