The Permanent Wound: A (Revised) Natal Chart Reading of Pete Campbell

"When it went away, he was heartbroken, and then he realized everything he already had was not right either, and that was why it had happened at all. And that his life with his family was some temporary bandage on a permanent wound."
Pete Campbell, from “The Phantom” (S5E13)

If you've seen Mad Men, then you probably know Pete Campbell for his quippy one-liners, his elegant and strong-willed wife, or perhaps for his radically receding hairline. He quickly became one of my favorite characters on the show, and I maintain that his character arc is one of the most fascinating to watch. Pete has delivered us some iconic moments--some that led me to wonder what the stars were thinking when they made him. According to Wikipedia, Peter Dyckman Campbell was born February 28th, 1934, in New York City. No birth time is given, but part of the fun of astrology is deciphering such mysteries.

I began my quest using a noon birth time, a technique that I find useful as the moon can only be 6 degrees off at the most, since it moves about 12 degrees in a 24-hour period. Beginning with a noon chart for Pete produces a Cancer rising, which is where I originally had the most inclination to believe his ascendant lies. However, Pete Campbell ruled by a rejoicing moon in the 3rd? Opposite a rejoicing sun in the 9th? This is not a man with rejoicing luminaries, I’m sorry. Furthermore, a birth time earlier in the morning would produce a Leo moon, which makes a lot more sense for Pete due to reasons I will get into in a moment. 

While fiddling with this chart to locate a suitable birth time, I made a fascinating discovery: when the timing is such that the asteroid Chiron (our deepest pain as a gateway to our deepest wisdom) is on the Imum Coeli or IC (the bottom of the nativity, representing our roots and our inner worlds), this also aligns Pete’s Venus in Aquarius directly conjunct the ascendant of the chart at 8° Aquarius. Well shit, I guess that’s as good a time as any when loosely rectifying the chart of a fictional character, I thought. 

So there we have it: Pete Campbell, an Aquarius rising ruled by a domicile Saturn in the 1st house, with a 7th house Leo moon and a 2nd house Pisces sun. His Mercury is retrograde in Pisces, conjunct his Mars, and a freshly stationed Mercury at that. I believe we can see this configuration reflected in Pete's sometimes unconventional ideas, which do not always produce the results he desires (see also: the Chip ‘n’ Dip incident, or the time where he pitches his own copy to a client over dinner and nearly gets fired; or when he ‘discovers’ the idea of marketing to the Black demographic and it is NOT received well). Pisces is a place of confusion for Mercury, which can feel a bit like the heart’s impulses ruling the processes of the mind. Furthermore, with Mars, the planet of action (ruling Pete’s 10th house of reputation), exactly conjunct this struggling Mercury, we can see how his lack of a strong internal compass continues to get him in trouble.

When Pete’s Mars and Mercury bring out the worst in him, we can see it in his self-pitying and adulterous behavior that is painstakingly illustrated as no more than an attempt to soothe his insecurities. Mercury rules Pete’s 5th house of pleasure, and the scene in season 5, episode 5, where a gorgeous, young, blonde sex worker is trying on different personas to try and tempt a deflated Pete was difficult for me to watch, because it was Pete at one of his lowest moments. It wasn't his first time paying a sex worker, but this time was different because he was only doing it as a function of his job and he felt judged for it by Don, the one person whose approval he sought the most. It was Pete resigned to his fate and projecting his shame onto others (7th house South Node, anyone?).

Gold Nuggets is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

The ruler of Pete's sun (Jupiter) is in his 9th house of Libra, holding court over his 2nd and 11th houses. I find this fascinating as the 9th house rules long-distance travel and Pete ends up expanding his worldview (9th house), networks (11th house), and ultimately his income (2nd house) through traveling to Los Angeles and eventually moving to Wichita, both far outside of his homestead of New York.

Venus in Aquarius rules Pete’s 9th house, as well as his 4th house of family. Venus in Saturn’s diurnal sign is indeed far-sighted, though perhaps not as materially invested in the future as Venus in Capricorn. Pete, in the earlier seasons of Mad Men, can see his entire path laid out before him, both in family and career, and he need only walk the path to fulfill his destiny (1st house North Node, anyone?). However, just because it’s what’s expected of him and what looks best—remember, Venus is conjunct Pete’s ascendant, so he innately understands the value of appearances—doesn’t mean it’s actually going to fulfill him. Appearances aren’t wholly unfulfilling to Pete, either. He does have a Leo 7th house, after all, and we see a bit of this later on in his brief stint as a bachelor in California, flaunting his gorgeous, Barbie-esque girlfriend to anyone who will spare a glance. Rest assured, Pete wants a partner he can show off, but his primary wounding is his inability to commit to the less than glamorous parts of relationships—this is why he resisted Trudy’s wishes to move to the blue-blooded countryside of Connecticut for as long as he possibly could. An acre of suburban solitude is not nearly as glamorous as 1,200 square feet of cramped Manhattan real estate, in Pete’s eyes.

And furthermore, why should Pete commit to anyone’s ugliness when nobody (except Trudy, who deserved better) would commit to Pete in his ugly moments? This is the permanent wound the moon in Leo carries: loving others at their worst but only feeling loved when you’re at your best. If we examine the moon placement as an indication of one’s relationship to nurturing and being nurtured, we can definitely see Pete's Leo moon opposing Saturn in Aquarius as a reflection of his impulse to perform for love—especially his mother’s love, which he never gets—or approval from others, both temporary bandages. It seems that as Pete ages (he is well into his thirties by the end of the show), he exhibits more Saturnian qualities, including an unwillingness to pretend for anyone’s acceptance anymore—especially Don’s, which he never gets.

Over time, I think Pete grows into his Leo moon in a lovely way. In the series finale he is warm and kind to Peggy, whom he has had a strained relationship with for most of the show, and he lets her know how much he truly admires her. This is a man who has made the decision to leave New York, start anew with a company that truly values him, and get his family unified again, and his Leo moon is warmly illuminating his 7th house of partnerships at last. Pete's arc in the show is one of my favorites because he finally resolves to be the husband and father his family deserves, but only once he releases himself from the shackles of Don Draper, and sets off for a new life in Kansas. This is a radical change for a man who once said "if I'm going to die, I want to die in Manhattan."

Speaking of change, Pete's birth chart contains Saturn in the 1st house: the passage of time as a prominent part of his appearance. Pete's physical transformation is perhaps the most obvious evidence of his ascendant ruler, which is a domicile Saturn, but it’s also in a night chart, where Saturn is not always an ally. The smooth-haired groom-to-be with a schoolboy attitude we meet in the first episode is worlds apart from the almost-divorced, visibly weathered businessman (with an even more weathered hairline) we see boarding a corporate jet in the final episode. It's easiest to witness these changes by referencing Pete's look in the first episode of Mad Men and comparing it to his style in the final season: much more reminiscent of the 70's, and that iconic hairline indicating he's not a schoolboy anymore.

With Jupiter, the ruler of Pete’s sun, tightly squaring Pluto in his 6th house, there’s a very obvious and tense connection between his sense of self and the constant sense of unrequited obligation he feels in regard to nearly everything his life demands of him, including his dementia-ridden mother. His mother does not love him, but he craves her approval regardless (because Pete is human, after all). Trudy’s “don’t go to the well, there’s no water there” may very well be my favorite line of hers in the entire show, because Trudy, ever the emotional rock for Pete, reminds him that no matter how much he achieves or whatever professional heights he may reach, he will never receive his mother’s approval — or his father’s money. A Jupiter-Pluto square can reflect  fluctuations in wealth or resources, and with Jupiter ruling Pete’s 2nd house of resources and income, on top of his weakened Mercury ruling his 8th house of inheritances, it’s obvious that what Pete’s natal promise delivers is much different than the promises of his bloodline. Ultimately, he is forced to create his own success and his own wealth without them, and the end result of this is a man revolutionized.

One other thing that caught my eye when looking at Pete's chart is the angular T-square between his Saturn, Chiron, and moon. Pete’s eternal and internal tension is between who he comes from (4th house), who he is expected to be for others (7th house), and who he actually is (1st house). He got his first ever job at Sterling Cooper through family connections, but Pete feels he got in from his own merit (L8 and L10 conjunct in the 2nd). At first he seemed to only be there to maintain his new wife’s Upper East Side lifestyle, both of them treating the job as something that could be replaced with ease. However, as Pete began to contribute more to the company — and suffer more personal losses on its behalf — he grew hungry for recognition and respect. I think he also began to let himself believe he couldn't be successful anywhere else; perhaps there would always be a Don Draper there to sabotage Pete's hard work. Remember, Pete’s Scorpio Midheaven is resourced by his Pisces Mars, which is conjunct his retrograde Mercury in Pisces. The Martian areas of his chart will take on some of the qualities of this Mercury, which we see very clearly in the way there is always a judgmental, contrarian, Mercurial shadow (Don’s fake Gemini ass) over Pete’s entire career, up until he decides to leave Sterling Cooper for good. This, perhaps, is the first time we see Pete making a decision that resolves the tension of his angular T-square, through the unification of his identities: as a husband, as a father, and as a businessman. I like to imagine that he and Trudy lived up the 1970s in affluently rustic Kansas fashion, raising Tammy with ponies and vacations and two parents that (might) still love each other.

Ultimately, Pete Campbell's birth chart tells the tale of a person who could've (and perhaps should’ve) been handed everything in life, but wasn't, and how he had to forge his identity and his own version of success outside of the standard of success he'd been conditioned to aspire to through his pure-bred lineage and upbringing. Don’t get me wrong, Pete was not always the most lovable or respectable character, and his problems are extremely privileged problems, but his story remains one of self-creation against the odds. The permanent wound of Chiron in the 4th house is one that requires intergenerational healing, and the healing that comes from and through Pete’s Chiron may simply be the fact that, while he doesn’t get to die in Manhattan, he does get to die a rich man, something his father failed to do. Go figure.