Venus retrograde came hard and came early for Ariana Grande.
Within three days of confirming her split from husband Dalton Gomez, news outlets reported that our Cancer queen has moved on and found love with her redheaded “Wicked” co-star Ethan Slater.
Sources say the couple, who met on the set of the forthcoming Broadway adaptation, have been dating for months.
Both are/were navigating estrangements from their respective spouses (Slater is married to but separated from his high school sweetheart Lilly Jay with whom he shares a son, born in January 2023) and seem to have found solace and spark in one another.
Grande’s relationship history, (detailed in the banger “Thank You, Next,”) includes former flames and fiancees Graham Phillips, Jai Brooks, Nathan Sykes, Big Sean, Ricky Alvarez, dearly departed Capricorn Mac Miller, Pete “Big D- energy” Davidson, and Mikey Foster. Grande married Dalton, a Leo real estate agent, in a secret ceremony in May 2021.
What do the stars reveal about the new new romance between Ari and the stage star best known for playing sentient sea dweller Sponge Bob Square Pants? Read on to learn more.
Sun in her fun house
Born June 2, 1992 Slater’s sun, Venus and Mercury fall in Gemini and synastry wise, all fall in Grande’s fifth house of pleasure, play, creativity and fun.
This is a cozy, heavy petting, mugs of cocoa, flannels and feelings kind of connection. In astrology, the sun is the self, Mercury indicates how we commune and Venus how we express love.
With these planets/placements in Grande’s fifth house it is clear Slater is bringing human touch, genuine curiosity and soul baring conversation as offerings to the hallowed altar of AG.
TBH folks, there is no finer rebound for our girl than a redhead who can serve to show her what she was starved of in her marriage.
Keep in mind that the fifth house is the land of flings not forever so while these two might burn bright and hot for one another there’s little evidence to suggest long term sustainability.
D–k daze or made to last?
There is no finer rebound for our crab queen than a redhead who can serve to show her what she was starved of in her marriage.
Grande is in the midst of her Saturn return, a time of seismic change and personal evolution that ushers us, with a fair shake of upset, into adulthood.
Add to it that transit wise, this Venus retrograde in Leo is activating Grande’s eighth house of sex, death and transformation, calling on her to go in and go deep when it comes to matters of intimacy and secrecy.
She’s shedding skins, burning boats and radically flipping her own script and Slater may be just the match and the ink she needs for this phase of phoenix-ing.
Grande’s Saturn in Pisces squares Slater’s Venus in Gemini, and his Saturn in Aquarius squares her Venus in Taurus, a doubling down of a not so easy dynamic.
As Cafe Astrology notes, “This relationship may begin with a strong feeling of comfort and compatibility, over time, some very challenging dynamics are likely to surface.
The Saturn person, fearing the Venus person’s withdrawal of affection, loyalty, or respect, can easily become critical or demanding of the Venus person.
In response to Saturn’s critical demeanor, Venus may withhold affection. A vicious circle can quickly occur.”
Since, this aspect is two fold in this synastry chart, both this initial compatibility and long term complication are amplified.
Moon struck
Alas, Slater’s birth chart is not listed online and since he’s recently made his Instagram profile private I can’t reasonably ask him or his mom.
The moon changed signs on the day he was born so our man is either a late degree Gemini moon or an early degree Cancer moon.
Should the reality lean towards the latter there’s a chance of a sun/moon connection/conjunction between Slater and Grande, a natural and beneficial yin/yang, masculine/feminine, two halve of the same whole energy that feels comfortable and supportive to both parties, like a bespoke sports bra.
If our man is a double Gemini, sun and moon, (and bless his bones if he is) his moon in Gemini would trine Ari’s in Libra, a favorable, free flowing, drunk in love kind of aspect.
Interestingly, Slater has Chiron, the point in the birth chart that indicates our deepest wound, in Grande’s seventh house of partnerships.
This dynamic is one of epiphanies, triggered transformation, profound patching up and closure of all kinds. As 12andus.com explains, “Chiron person (Slater) shows House 7 person (Grande) how relationships and partnerships can be vehicles for healing.
The House 7 person (Grande) may come to see past traumas and wounds in a new light, putting things into perspective or finding closure on past relationships thanks to Chiron person’s influence (Slater).
Through this relationship both can come to work through past patterns of isolation or codependency.”
Coming together to combat codependency and begin a heart forward, centered self rewrite of the book of love? A profound and timely gift for both parties.
Right on, write on babies. Here’s to you, together or apart, and ever in service of the next step in your personal evolution.
Astrology 101: Your guide to the stars
Astrologer Reda Wigle researches and irreverently reports back on planetary configurations and their effect on each zodiac sign. Her horoscopes integrate history, poetry, pop culture and personal experience. She is also an accomplished writer who has profiled a variety of artists and performers, as well as extensively chronicled her experiences while traveling. Among the many intriguing topics she has tackled are cemetery etiquette, her love for dive bars, Cuban Airbnbs, a “girls guide” to strip clubs and the “weirdest” foods available abroad.