Billie Jean King

Mars (Retrograde) in Gemini

Facts First

Mars will enter Gemini on August 20, 2022, at 12:56 AM PT, the sign where Mars will go through an important phase in his synodic cycle, or his movement in relation to the Sun. On Halloween, Mars will station retrograde at 25° Gemini and will spend 75 days retracing his steps through the sign of the Twins, until he finally turns direct at 8° Gemini on Friday, January 13, 2023. (If that date sounds ominous, keep in mind that it also marks National Rubber Ducky Day!)

The current cycle started in another Air sign, at 15° Libra, on October 8, 2021, and will end at 25° Scorpio on November 18, 2023, when the Sun catches up with Mars.

Mars Behind the Woman

Tennis champion, activist, and entrepreneur Billie Jean King was born when Mars was retrograde in Gemini, as a part of a synodic cycle that had started in Libra.

Mars is in Billie’s 6th house where he is said to be in his joy. This Hellenistic consideration indicates that the 6th house, or the house of Bad Fortune, contains a lot of themes that have a Martian flavor to it, such as accidents and injuries, which she experienced a lot, but also an incredible amount of power and effort fueled by an outstanding fighting spirit. She soldiered on during matches while running a fever and suffering from severe allergic reactions. Despite six knee operations, recurring breathing problems and chronic infections, she continued her tennis career. Mars is accompanied by Billie’s 1st house ruler, a persistent and enduring Saturn who describes her character well. Together, Mars and Saturn can certainly make things happen with determination, in particular in the 6th house which is oftentimes associated with toil and sacrifice.

“I am going to be No. 1 in the world.” - Billie Jean to her mother.

Saturn as the ruler of the 1st house also points to her given name ‘Billie’, a unisex name which perfectly fits a double-bodied sign like Gemini. We could see it as a powerful omen for a life dedicated to gender equality. She was named after her father, Bill, who was serving in World War II at the time she was born, so it looks like warrior God Mars had a say in it too.

Photo by Gage Skidmore

Billie’s equal rights activism came to life through the indignation she felt when she found out that women received much less prize money than men. With the 1st and 2nd houses connected through the same ruler, Saturn, closely involved with Mars, some of Billie’s ambitions play out in the financial area. The lunar nodes on the 2nd and 8th house-axis speak to a tension between what is hers and what belongs to others. As Billie’s Mars-ruled Sun so appropriately indicates in the 11th house of allies and networks, she founded several sports organizations and created the Women Sports magazine. Her earnings eventually became larger than any female in history before her. She is a resourceful entrepreneur!

Together with eight other women she rebelled against the huge gender pay gap. This is where Gemini’s ruler Mercury comes in. He is in the 12th house which corresponds to the archetype of the outsider, the outcast.  Regarded as outlaws, the women were almost expelled from the US Lawn Tennis Association. With the Sun in Mars’s sign Scorpio, and Mars’s trine to the quintessential female planets Venus and the Moon, both in the sign of the Scales at the top of her chart, Billie’s sense of purpose is tied to a thirst for defending women’s rights and fighting for justice. She promised herself that if she could ever become number one, she would change the world. The ability to bring about great changes affecting future generations is also expressed by the sextile between the slower moving traditional planets Jupiter and Saturn.

“I felt a tremendous amount of responsibility.” – Billie Jean King’s Helm ruler Saturn speaking, in the context of women’s rights

Mars is an excellent signature for the cut-throat tennis player Billie showed herself to be. She unapologetically expressed her emotions, her anger and disappointment with her performance, as well as her heavenly enthusiasm when she was in the zone and felt unstoppable on the tennis court. She never made it a secret that she disliked “the country club snobbism” associated with tennis. In the 1960s, her unvarnished competitiveness was perceived as “unwomanly” by some. It might interesting to note that six out of seven traditional planets are located in masculine signs in Billie’s chart.

The Battle of the Sexes

Top tennis player Bobby Riggs claimed that the women’s tennis game was inferior to the men’s game. Billie refused to participate in a match against him but changed her mind after he easily won against Margaret Court. The humiliating match was called “Mother’s Day Massacre”. Billie just had to do something about that!

“I’m taking this match very seriously. I love to win. I welcome the responsibility and the pressure. Bobby had better be ready.” - Billie Jean King

She was not off to a good start but changed her tactics during the match thanks to her strategic Mars. She cleverly made Bobby do all the running, which finally exhausted him. Billie won the match on September 20, 1973, when Venus closely opposed Mars in the sky. Both planets also happened to be in one another’s signs. Venus, who was known as Inanna in Babylon, was often portrayed as a warrior. When we compare those transits to Billie’s Solar Return chart for that time period, we see transiting Venus and Mars both making a tight aspect to Billie’s Solar Return Mars. In the Solar Return chart, Mars is in the 5th house of sports and games. Transiting Venus and Mars are on the 1st and 7th house axis. Women versus men!

She was bound to win as revealed by this Solar Return chart which puts both of the benefic planets, Venus and Jupiter in the 2nd house of money. She won $100,000 in this winner-take-all match, which is the equivalent of almost $667,300 today. The prize money may have been an extra incentive but to Billie “It was a matter of life and death.”

Reversal of fortune

Retrograde planets oftentimes suggest setbacks, or potential dramatic turns of circumstance. In Billie’s chart, retrograde Mars is ruled by a 12th house-planet, pointing to the theme of loss and therefore underlining the possibility of a sudden reversal of fortune.

Billie fell in love with Larry King and they got married in on September 17, 1965. By 1968, however, as eclipses agitated Billie’s natal Moon, ruler of the 7th house of relationships, she started developing sexual feelings for women. This was taboo and homosexuality was still criminalized in many states. She hated living a lie but close friends discouraged her to come out.

In May 1972, when the lunar South Node moved into the 7th house, she met Marilyn Barnett, who became her live-in assistant, taking care of King’s every need. The 6th house has another signification that has not been mentioned yet, namely employees. Mars in the 6th makes a trine aspect to Goddess of lovers Venus. Billie had an affair with Marilyn that lasted about a year. Billie had no idea about the amount of trouble this would bring along. Mars is ruled by Mercury in the 12th house of hidden enemies and self-undoing.

When the relationship ended, Marilyn refused to leave Billie’s Malibu house and demanded alimony. Billie paid her a large sum of money and let her stay in the house rent-free but that was not enough for Marilyn. It is interesting to pay attention to the journey of the lunar nodes as eclipse points here. In April, 1981, during Billie’s nodal return on the financial 2nd and 8th house axis in her chart, Marilyn filed a suit, demanding half of King’s earnings during the seven years she had lived in the Malibu house, and lifetime support. The news of Billie’s lesbian affair caused a terrible public drama. Notice how Saturn and Jupiter are both transiting her 10th house, signaling changes to her reputation.

Marilyn lost the case and was eventually evicted from the house, but Billie owed an incredible amount of money to her attorneys and lost some important contracts due to bad publicity. She was forced to play tennis again at age 38 to fill the hole left behind by the South Node in her 2nd house. The 6th house of Bad Fortune is a place of endless drudgery where nothing ever comes to completion. Billie had several injuries but kept playing. She finally was able to quit the game in December 1983, around the lunar eclipse over her natal Saturn, with the transiting North Node on Mars.

All this time, she remained married to Larry, until she filed for divorce in 1987. As the ruler of the 7th house of marriage, the Moon, copresent with a strong and friendly Venus suggests, they are still good friends to this day.