ASTRO★LORE: ISSUE #01

The astrology behind millennial girlhood’s most polarizing and unfiltered storyteller

“So you know what, Marnie? I don’t need to play by your rules anymore. Okay? I don’t want to walk with you to the far away Rite Aid, to pick up your Cipro prescription. And I’m sorry I don’t want to go to Serendipity, and drink Frozen Hot Chocolates, with your uncle’s girlfriend, who is a stewardess, named Elodie.” — Hannah Horvath, Girls

Before we get into Lena Dunham’s birth chart, it’s important to consider the cultural moment Girls was born into. For millennials — or better said, the Pluto in Scorpio generation (born between 1983 and 1995) — this era coincided close to the beginning of Pluto’s journey through Capricorn, marking the start of our generation’s Pluto sextile.

Astrologically, this was a period of intense upheaval surrounding themes of ambition, power structures, career pressure and financial instability, all while many of us were just shy of graduating with college degrees and being abruptly launched into adulthood during one of the most uncertain economic and cultural periods imaginable.

FIU Graduation 2012

Still, this turned out to be a time of profound transformation surrounding power, adulthood and the realities of building a life from the ground up.

Personally, the year 2012 is one I’d prefer to forget: Saturn was concluding its journey through Libra (and had just entered my 12th house), the South Node was sitting right on top of my natal Venus in Gemini in the 8th house, and Pluto was making a direct opposition to my natal Cancer moon, also in my 8th house.

(If you’re not fluent in this brand of unhinged astrology, the cosmos basically came in like a wrecking ball on my entire life. Hindsight is always 20/20, and I wouldn’t change a thing, but my God… I hatedddddd 2012!)

Anyway, I remember turning on the TV after my mom begged me to watch this new 30-min HBO series she couldn’t stop talking about. “Valerie, you’re going to love this show,” she’d say over and over.

That was the first time I saw Girls, and everything from its hyper-relatable growing pains to its deeply self-destructive array of leading ladies was strangely soothing to my rocked nervous system. Guess it takes one to know one.

Instagram @lenadunham

As for Lena Dunham — creator, writer, director and chaotic genius behind Hannah Horvath — she was on the verge of a career breakthrough that would ultimately leave a lasting mark on pop culture, and the astrology surrounding the premiere of Girls makes it crystal clear in retrospect.

Even without an exact birth time, the astrology of this moment says a lot and, without putting anyone into a box, I can humbly say, as a consulting astrologer for over a decade, that Dunham could very well be a Leo Rising

For starters, when Girls premiered in the spring of 2012, Jupiter was moving right between her natal Taurus Sun and Mercury, amplifying her voice and public visibility, while the transiting Sun in Aries sat directly over her North Node of Destiny.

Again, if Dunham is in fact a Leo rising, Jupiter would’ve been approaching her 10th house of career, publicity and reputation at the time, while the North Node activated her ninth house of publishing, storytelling and cultural influence: themes that would eventually become a part of her legacy.

I also want to add that individuals born with Leo Rising are often born with their Midheaven (10th house of career) in Taurus, making their legacy impenetrable & enduring to the test of time.

Perfect example? Artists like Marilyn Monroe, Tina Turner, Melissa Joan Hart, Mary-Kate & Ashley Olsen, Demi Lovato, Selena Gomez, Martin Scorsese, Eddie Murphy and Uma Thurman (to name a few) were born with Leo rising paired and a Taurus Midheaven.

Instagram @lenadunham

Whether through their artistry, beauty, comedy, storytelling, or sheer staying power, there’s something undeniably lasting about their imprint on the world. Their work tends to linger far beyond the moment that introduced them, almost as if they were cemented into the collective memory of a generation.

But the Midheaven isn’t solely associated with career and reputation; it can also