Charlie Sheen Astrology: Sagittarius Moon, the 4th & 8th houses & Sabian Symbols

We inherit many things. The color of our eyes. A preference for the taste of coffee over tea. A predisposition to act on impulse. The list of traits passed down a family line is long and varied.

Turns out, we receive an astrological inheritance as well. Charlie Sheen is no exception. 

Was he compelled to ride the rollercoaster of addiction because of his astrological hand-me-downs? 

In a word, no. That’s not how life works. That’s not how astrology works, either. 

Could he have become a bucolic wine farmer, tilling the soil of his micro-vineyard in Malibu like his brother actor Emilio Estevez (Taurus Sun/Virgo Moon)? Honestly, this would have been a reach too. 

When we look at the astrology of heredity and addiction, we begin - where else - in childhood and, of course, with the moon.

Charlie’s Moon is in Sagittarius...

Moon in Sagittarius children are nurtured with freedom - they are encouraged (forced? cursed?) to roam - physically and mentally - from a young age. Emotionally, they are raised to pursue adventure - jump first and philosophize later. 

With his Moon in Sagittarius, Charlie grew up, quite literally, on the road. 

Let’s let his father, Martin Sheen, a gifted actor and storyteller (no surprise, Martin has his Sun, Moon, and Mars in Leo with Mercury Conjunct Chiron in the 6th house of work & career) tell the story of Charlie’s itinerant childhood..

“We’d wrench them out of school and take them to faraway places and they would object, you know, they had friends, they had investment in their studies and in their communities,.. and we would just foreclose that, ‘No, dad’s got a job, we’ve got to go, pack it up, let’s go.” - Martin Sheen

Charlie spent 6 months on the set of Apocalypse Now in the Philippines at age 11. He spent a month in Mexico. A year in Spain. Every time his dad got a job, they moved. And Martin Sheen worked A LOT. He has starred in over 100 movies shot all over the world. 

Are Lunar Sagittarians made to feel secure in their early years? Not really. 

Stability and security are not the goal of the Moon in Sag childhood. 

They are centaurs, after all; For people with Moon in Sag, the emotional priority is galloping toward the horizon with a head full of dreams.  

Some astrologers believe that the Moon symbolizes the qualities (and quirks) of the mother. 

When the Moon is in Sagittarius, the mother may have been physically present but perceived as restless & inconsistent. 

She is not the mother of, say, a Moon in Cancer or a Moon in Taurus -  two moon signs blessed with mothers who were viewed by their children as the embodiment of maternal devotion. 

Will the mother of a Moon in Sag be available to provide emotional nourishment?  Maybe. It depends. 

Sagittarius is a mutable sign, so she’s a shape-shifter. 

If emotional nourishment is straight talk, then yes. 

If emotional nourishment is insisting their children be honest and ethical, then absolutely. 

The mother of a moon in Sag is optimism personified; when the chips are down, she will give you a chuck under the chin and push you back into the ring. 

Many astrologers see the kind of rollicking instability in the growing up years symbolized by having Moon in Sag as potential kindling for “problems” later in life.  As adults, people with Moon in Sag may spend their whole life outrunning their feelings.

Don’t forget Sag is half horse; Newborn horses are expected to stand within an hour of being born. People with Moon in Sag may have been expected to run too far, too fast, too soon because, well, they had to. They were expected to. And so they did. 

On the surface, though, Charlie’s childhood should have been manageable, right?

Father and son (and siblings) traveling the world together. A mother who insisted on exploration, optimism, and looking on the bright side. Shooting Super 8 movies in still-feral Malibu in the 80’s.

What, then, went so wrong? 

Well, a couple of things. Let’s start with the 8th house. 

Where our moon is parked in our chart - which house I mean - gives us a picture of the emotional itch that must be scratched. It gives us a sense of what area in our lives we are going to retreat to, again and again, for emotional satisfaction. It is also the place where we experience the most emotional ebbs and flows. 

Plainly-speaking, the house where our moon lies is the place where we find perpetual emotional unrest. 

Charlie’s Moon is in the 8th house. The house of Pluto. The house of Scorpio. The house that wreaks of death. 

“On September 3, 1965, in New York City, at 10:58 p.m., I was born dead.”

This is the opening line of Charlie Sheen’s autobiography. He had the line picked out a long, long time ago. Of course he did (Virgo Sun/Leo Mercury). 

With his Moon in the 8th house, Charlie’s comfort zone is intensity, which means he needs- not just wants - but really, really needs to look at the undercarriage of life - even if it means obliteration, especially if it means dancing on the edge of the volcano between life and death. 

Emotionally, Charlie is going to open Pandora’s box, again and again. It’s not a choice. It’s a compulsion. 

With his Moon in Sagittarius, what could go wrong, right? Either way, it will be an experience. 

Charlie will reach toward the frays of his own consciousness (with or without drugs) FIRST and try to reason out why he did it later, but, first, he’ll make a list of rules (Virgo Sun)- an ethos, if you will (Sag Moon), just to keep everything fair & balanced (Libra Venus):

“At my parties, I always said, ‘Park your judgement at the door. No pain in the bedroom. And no one can die. Those were good rules.”- Charlie Sheen

The 8th house also rules our inheritance and psychic abilities.  With the moon residing in the 8th house there is an increased chance Charlie inherited something spooky from his mother or maternal line.

Personal planets in this house mean we can cut through people’s psychic bullshit pretty quickly.

With his Moon in the 8th house, Charlie “just knows” things that most people don’t. Yes, he is a natural-born intuitive, just like his Mom. 

Maybe that’s what Martin Sheen meant when he said Janet Sheen was the scariest woman he had ever met. 

“She is the most scrupulously honest human being I have ever encountered. I was fortunate enough to marry the scariest woman I'd ever met. She did not know how to lie. It was impossible. For me, the truth was a sometimes thing. For her, it was eternity. She would always call me out, thank God.” - Martin Sheen 

Did Janet call Martin out because she just knew the truth? Probably. 

The gift is frightening not only for the person being psychically undressed, but also for the empath. Having keen insight into people’s pain, truth, and vulnerability can be overwhelming. Without the tools to manage it, many empaths seek physical (or psychological) isolation. Many are looking for chances to finally feel nothing because they are so used to feeling everything. 

Before we leave Charlie’s Moon in the 8th house, let’s talk about sex.

Would it surprise you that Charlie wrestles with a certain sense of sexual unrest? 

The Moon is changeable. She is needy. In the 8th house, she seeks emotional security through (compulsively) changing sexual partners and going to sexual extremes to suck out (fleeting) emotional fulfillment. 

In summary, Charlie’s Moon in Sag in the 8th house is a woodburn pile. It’s smoldering in that patch of the backyard that is gross and swampy and just will always grow nothing but brown grass. 

What I’m saying is: this aspect really, really doesn’t need to be soaked in lighter fluid. 

But, it is, unfortunately.  His Moon is opposite Jupiter. 

Let’s just say people with this aspect are not known as pillars of emotional restraint. 

Charlie’s thirst for all that life has to offer is unquenchable (Moon in Sagittarius) and with the Moon in the 8th house these appetites are often not….wholesome. When the Moon opposes (or squares off) with Jupiter, we also see these habits transform into compulsions.

Ready for more astrological karma? Charlie’s Moon is square Chiron. 

Chiron points to our unprocessed trauma and, thus, our biggest opportunities for self-healing. 

With his Moon grinding against Chiron we see the root (well, at least ONE of the roots) of Charlie’s behavior could be a need to escape feelings that may include one or all of the following: 

• Feeling as if he was not nurtured enough & being plagued by feelings of rejection and/or abandonment. 

• Never finding the reassurance and validation he is constantly seeking (Leo Mercury/Libra Venus)

• Going to great lengths to AVOID rejection (Libra Venus) because it is a trip wire for his hypersensitivity

We will keep bruising and bloodying ourselves with Chiron’s hard edges until we heal this wound..until we find a way to soften its hold on our psyche…until the day comes when we are willing. 

“You have to be willing. Only you can save your own life.” - Charlie Sheen

So, we’ve turned Charlie’s moon inside out - excavated it almost entirely.  Part of Charlie would be aghast; Moon in the 8th house people very much prefer to keep everything they can undercover. On the other hand, the other part of Charlie (the Moon in Sag part) is very into pursuing and uncovering the truth. He’s famously admitted to being HIV positive and having sex with men while high on crack.

And, why not? People are only as sick as their secrets.

But what of the Sun? What of Charlie’s father? 

The astrological story is predictably not so great, so let’s start with the bright spots, ok?

Leo (the Sun) rules Charlie’s 4th house of family & upbringing. Leo is the performer. His father was an accomplished actor. Charlie grew up on filmsets. All of his siblings were/are actors. His mother was an artist. 

Leo may rule his 4th house, placing the Sun (his father) under the spotlight, but, unfortunately, the spotlight reveals a father who was pretty bruised up (Sun opposite Saturn, Sun conjunct Pluto, Sun opposite Chiron) 

Charlie Sheen’s father Martin Sheen is a brilliant thespian who was also an alcoholic. Charlie’s brother Emilio Estevez remembers his father being a “terrible drunk” that “scared all of us”. Martin Sheen even suffered a heart attack on the set of Apocalypse Now brought on by one particularly intense drinking bender. 

So, how did Leo ruling his 4th house of home and family NOT end with Charlie feeling like he was the crown prince in this pride of lions?

You see, ideally, if the ruler of the 4th house (the Sun) is well-aspected, the family would have supported Charlie stepping into his power, talent, and creativity, paving the way for all of his natural gifts to sparkle in the sun. 

And make no mistake, Charlie has the gift - in spades, in fact. He is a Gemini Rising (gifted communicator and brainiac) with a Mercury-ruled Virgo Sun and Leo Mercury - here we have an actor, performer, raconteur through and through. His 5th house of creativity is overflowing with the magic, mystery, and brilliance of Sun conjunct Pluto, and Sun conjunct Uranus. He is magnetic (Mars conjunct Neptune). He has the type of charm that doesn’t quit (Venus in Libra). 

Ruled by Virgo, Los Angeles is HIS town. Unfortunately, Charlie adopted all of his hometown’s bad habits. 

With his Sun opposing Saturn and Chiron, Charlie probably felt that there was something about him that just wasn’t going to measure up to his father’s expectations for him. 

He felt he wasn’t up to snuff from the very beginning. 

With the ruler of his 4th house in Leo so severely challenged, Charlie probably felt like his parents didn’t believe in his abilities, didn’t encourage his self-confidence, and maybe didn’t do what they could have (should have?) done to help him hone his talent. 

So, now, we understand how we got the adult version of Charlie - the hungry ghost version. 

“Feeling like an afterthought in those vibrant settings lit a fire in me you could see from the f---n moon. My inner bear had officially been poked.” - Charlie Sheen

So, is heredity destiny? Let’s let Sabian astrology have the final say. 

Charlie’s Sun is at 11 degrees Virgo. 

The Sabian metaphor and symbol that corresponds to this degree of Virgo are the following.

A Boy Molded in His Mother's Aspirations for Him

Were there “great expectations” placed on Charlie from the very beginning? According to Sabian astrology, yes. However, his parents’ expectations for him and whether or not he was worthy of his family’s artistic legacy were never the point. The Sabian message here is that Charlie’s lesson is to transcend the need to be parented entirely. 

The Sabian metaphor for 11 degrees Virgo is about being unafraid to be an individual. It is about cutting the apron strings and calling in what you want from the realm of infinite energy on your own terms. 

There is no inheritance that Charlie is beholden to. He can (and should) walk the path revealed to him by his inner guidance. It may be lonely, but it is his. 

Charlie appears to be sovereign to himself now. He’s sober (again). Let’s see how this goes…

Epilogue: Sabian Astrology was developed in the 1920s by astrologer Marc Edmond Jones and clairvoyant Elsie Wheeler. In their sessions, Elsie intuitively channeled a unique symbol for each of the 360 degrees of the zodiac. Each image has its own mystical interpretation and can be used for personal growth and deepening your astrological readings. Below are three perfect picks if you're interested in exploring more!