Grab your popcorn and remote, and sit down with our convenient Astro-Guide to watching the critically acclaimed Netflix documentary series on all-star David Beckham (a.k.a. Golden Balls), and his wife Victoria Beckham. The series boasts an impressive 100% rating on ‘Rotten Tomatoes’. Whether you have watched the series before and would enjoy a re-run, or watching it for the first time, this four-part Astro-Guide written to accompany the series is for Astrology enthusiasts, but we will include the die-hard Manchester United fans, and those who only know Becks as eye-candy too, as we read the language of Astrology between the lines as the story unfolds.
Spoiler Alert: If you are still wanting to watch the series in your own time without using our Astro-Guide, and don’t want to know what is revealed in the series, stop reading now!
The Netflix documentary series was directed by Fisher Stevens, with Co-Executive Producers David Gardner and Gary Neville, and was filmed over the course of two years.
This article is the first of a four-part Astro-guide, and focuses on the first episode of the Netflix documentary series ‘Beckham’. The first episode begins with the title “The Kick”, and this defines what makes David Beckham so special in the world of football, from early on in his career, and why everything about him became a sensation thereafter. The stage is set August 1996, London, the first Game of the Season for Manchester United, Beckham is twenty-one years old. In a nut-shell, he kicks a goal from within his own half just on the half-way line and scores. Gary Neville said Beckham had practised it in training every day before that day. Sir Alex Ferguson said he had never seen it done before. Many players have tried to repeat it since then, but only a handful have succeeded. Irrespective, it made the world sit up and take notice of a very young Beckham, and much rested on him to scores goals from then onwards.
David Beckham was born on 2 May 1975, at 06:17 AM, in London, United Kingdom, to his parents Sandra and Ted Beckham. As we cast a look at his natal chart we observe a 12th House Taurus Sun, Sabian Symbol: ‘Window Shoppers’: “Some people dream and dally; others live with a constant, restless inner demand for movement towards success.”, [~James Burgess]. His Mercury, and potentially his Ascendant too, are also in determined hard-working Taurus; Trine his Midheaven in practical, level-headed Capricorn conjunct his natal Moon, which along with his Ascendant is Trine Pluto in Libra in the 6th House of work and service. Furthermore, a favourable natal Mars Trine Saturn aspect imbues him with an assertive, disciplined nature. Taurus Mercury is in mutual reception to an Out Of Bounds Venus.
Much is discussed about them being a tight-knit family, with a strong work ethic. Victoria later mentions this is one of the things that attracted her to him. Even in 2023 Beckham was posting on Instagram that his Mum was cooking breakfast while he was doing the dishes. His Mum was a hairdresser who worked from home, and young Becks would help her with hospitality keeping her clients happy. Incredibly sweet for a young boy, as hospitality is such a Venus theme, and we see this carried through the series with Beckham tapping honey from his bee-hives, cooking and grilling food for his wife and children. This phenomenal devotion to family, however, is also not surprising with his IC and 4th house in Cancer – family is everything.
We saw in 2022 when Queen Elizabeth II passed away, a visibly emotional Beckham, who received his OBE from her, stood in queues for hours alongside hundreds of thousands of the general public to pay his respects to her. Hardly surprising as an empathic, sensitive 12th Houser in Pisces.
David’s father, Ted Beckham, was obsessed with Manchester United, and bought Beckham a new Manchester United kit every Christmas. Beckham mentions “His obsession was bigger than mine”. David’s father was a gas engineer who worked seven days a week, and would only drive a red van to support this team.
Coming back to his natal chart focusing on Venus, Venus’ astrological significations include, beauty, harmony, sensuality, relationships, values, and valuables. Similarly, in the series we get to see photos of a golden-haired boy in his youth, and in adulthood, how he dresses, his love of glamour. At the 18th minute into the first episode, David admits with a smile: “I like nice stuff”. Astronomically, Venus’ relation to beauty can be seen when it is at its greatest elongation, how bright and dazzling it shines, as well as the patterns created with its five-point retrograde golden ratio cycle, over a period of eight years. (“Beyond The Solstice By Declination” [~Leigh Westin]). As a side-note, Venus can go out of bounds in Taurus, Gemini, Cancer, Scorpio, Sagittarius, and Capricorn. Venus cannot be found out of bounds in Aries, Leo, Virgo, Libra, Aquarius, or Pisces. [~Maighdlin Kelly]
Astro-databank gives his birth time a Rodden Rating of ‘B’ (Biography), which they deem a fairly reliable rating. Should this time be correct, and please note no exercise or discussions of rectification have been observed, so whether David Beckham’s Ascendant is at 27°Tau26’ it would be within orb or an applying or separating conjunction with Fixed Star Algol.
Algol is generally considered malefic, bestowing destructive elements on an individual’s life, but Algol should not necessarily be so feared. Algol is often found in charts of radical artists and entrepreneurs, such as Picasso and Princess Diana. This can be attributed to the fact that Algol is an eclipsing variable Star, usually bright but dimmed when eclipsed.
Algol was not at Minima on 2 May 1975 when David Beckham was born. Algol was only mid-eclipse on 3 May 1975, at 15:35 in the UK, and would have remained faint for a few hours centred on that time. [~Sky and Telescope]. Therefore, the negative influences of Algol would not necessarily be associated here, but instead the higher spiritual manifestation as a “spiritual beacon of light”: “The native is sober, serious, patient, talkative, and has high preferment, honours, and success in their careers.” […] “Honor and preferment. A splendid and illustrious life; glorious, mighty and commanding nature; fame, busy with many activities, bountiful resources, well known or feared in cities and regions. Prosperity from youth and in own city. The natives possess much, are very rich, have estates in various towns and cities, are lovers of the countryside, and are skilled in building houses.” [~Jamie Partridge, Astrology King]
David and his mother spoke of how he would spend all his spare time out in the garden practising his ball skills, otherwise dreaming and drawing pictures of football, when he couldn’t be outside in bad weather. David was not good at school, and he says as much himself. A 12th House Mercury can do that, being bored with practical learning, prone to daydreaming, interested instead in imaginative, creative expression. But coming back to his obsession and dedication to kicking a ball, we are reminded that Out Of Bounds Venus individuals “are full of talent and devotion”, [~Maighdlin Kelly], and that Pluto in the 6th House individuals tend “to have a strong sense of focus and determination. They have a deep need to succeed and can be quite ambitious. They are driven to achieve their goals and can often be found working hard and pushing themselves to their limits.” and “a deep need for personal power and control in the work environment. These individuals are likely to be driven and intense, often pushing themselves to the limits to achieve success. Their approach to work can be obsessive, and they may face power struggles with colleagues or authority figures.”
Furthermore, a Midheaven at 26°Cap33’ denotes Beckham as hard-working, someone who watched his Mum and Dad work hard till 23:00 at night, and he goes on to say he knew hard work is what it would take for him to become a successful Professional footballer. David Beckham always had talent from a very young age. His father would challenge Becks to hit the ball on the crossbar of the goalposts, and it would cost his father a fortune the amount of times he got it right. But despite his talent he was always one of the hardest workers on the field, someone who never gave up, and this is very evident in his perseverance when he was benched by Glenn Hoddle in 1998, and again by Fabio Capello in 2007, (but we will discuss that more in ‘Episode Four’s instalment of this Astro-Guide). Beckham’s focus, determination, dedication, and perseverance saw him keep on training no matter what was thrown at him.
David Beckham’s Moon 29°Cap51’ a critical anaretic degree is conjunct his Midheaven. His Mum supported him throughout this career attending most of his games. She was there on the field the day the Manchester United Scout saw David. She received the telephone call from Sir Alex Ferguson inviting David to Manchester United.
Sir Alex Ferguson (1986-2013) was a Father Figure to him, and they met when David was 12/13 years old, shortly after Ferguson became Manager of Manchester United. Ferguson’s aim was to build a Football Club, not just a Team, and therefore he focused on developing young talented players, like Beckham. September 1992 David played his first ever match for Manchester United. Traditional Astrologers will appreciate this as being the planetary period Venus for him, which governs financial prosperity, presenting opportunities for material gains and social recognition. At the time Beckham joined Manchester United, they had not won the League in 25 years, with Ferguson’s drive they eventually go on to become League Champions. In 1994 David was 17 years old when he scored his first goal with his hero Eric Cantona, a dream come true and a special memory for him to have been able to celebrate it with him. Cantona described Beckham as an artist with a canvas, being able to place the ball anywhere he wanted it to go.
Football was, however, not enough for Beckham. He was at a time of his life when he felt compelled to make changes, felt an urge to try new things, and to explore all his options. That is when he signed brand contracts, and chose a different Agent to represent him than whom Sir Alex Ferguson wanted him to sign with. At the time, no other footballers were doing brand campaigns and advertising sponsorships. Beckham’s fame and visibility was eclipsing the rock stars of the era. Beckham signed a contract with Adidas for £50,000, and typical Taurus loyalty and stability, he stayed with them, did not hop around, and the same typical Taurus materialism saw him immediately spend the full £50,000 in one go by buying an M3. His loyalty is no doubt the reason why people stand with him for life, hence him being able to pull off the coup of the century of being able to sign Messi for Beckham’s football club in Miami.
Beckham’s colleagues (Roy Keane, Phil Neville, Gary Neville) chided him for his extravagant spending, where they instead were saving for a rainy day. David’s Jupiter 10Ari32’ is within orb of Fixed Star Algenib (ambition, vanity, financial success). The Manchester United Receptionist spoke of the fan mail young David received, a Royal Mail Bag a week, with girls sending him underwear, and Eric Cantona spoke of the circus of people advising them how, and on what to spend their money, that it would require conscious effort to keep their feet on the ground. They felt the fame didn’t change Beckham, except for one person, Sir Alex Ferguson, who didn’t approve of David’s media profile and pop image, or the Agent he signed with. Beckham says it got to the point where he did not want anything to do with Beckham. Ferguson had the attitude the Team came first over everything else in life. David’s Manager would have preferred him married to a local girl who wasn’t a superstar.
David Beckham noticed Victoria Adams while watching the Spice Girls on TV, and immediately said out loud to Gary Neville that she was the girl he was going to marry. How many people get to say things like that and actually end up with the person? Well, a Venus Conjunct South Node synastry does. In Astrology that is Past Life Synastry, the kind of synastry that talks of being past life lovers, with deep karmic connections. Not difficult to believe when Victoria is quite emphatic about how she never liked football and still doesn’t like football. The attraction was obviously mutual only between each other. David still to date has the train ticket she wrote her phone number down on for him the day they met.
In March 1997, David met Victoria, and the rest was history as they became the celebrity power couple known as ‘Posh and Becks’, who to date have nearly usurped the British Royal Family in popularity as Brit culture.
Victoria talks about how she saw David with his parents in the players lounge, and how she liked that he was close to family as she was. Victoria Caroline Adams was born on 17 April 1974, 10:07 AM, in Harlow, England, United Kingdom. Her parents also worked really hard, although her father drove her to school in a Rolls Royce in the 80’s, which Becks teases her about, as she refers to them as coming from working class parents. Victoria said she was shy and bullied as a child, so receiving all the media attention afterwards was a novelty at first. She was the sensible Spice Girl, and was not the type to obsess over footballers, although she jokes that she “stalked” David. She claimed, without wanting to sound arrogant, that she did not need his adulation or his money, as she had those things herself as a Spice Girl.
They both said they just really fancied each other from the start, and David said he immediately knew there was something between them, and that the relationship would move really fast. As mentioned before, Victoria’s 21°Gem0’54” South Node is applying conjunct David’s 21°Gem18’ Venus, Sabian Symbol: ‘A Barn Dance’: “As we emerge out of the self-centredness of early childhood, we learn that we need to balance give and take in how we connect with others. […] We should not take gregariousness for granted; […] We are encouraged to share passion, to reveal our nakedness of feelings, and the vulnerabilities and strengths that give us our special characteristics. If we restrict what we offer, we necessarily limit what we can receive. It is pointless and self-defeating, raising caution as greater than trust, fear greater than love.” [~James Burgess].
David’s Descendant is also in Scorpio, which points to someone looking for an intense committed relationship with deep bonding, with someone who can typically help him understand life on a deeper level and teach him how to transform himself and face adversities. David admits as much about Victoria while being interviewed for the Series. Their Plutos are separating by conjunction; hers in the 4th House, his in the 6th House. With David’s Pluto aligning with Victoria’s 4th House/Pluto, this speaks of a deeply transformative and intense connection within family dynamics and emotional security. This aspect can bring both positive and challenging experiences. On the positive side, this alignment suggests a powerful soul connection, deep emotional bonding, and shared understanding of each other’s emotional needs. However, it can also bring power struggles, control issues, and intense emotional confrontations. The key is to navigate these challenges with open communication, mutual respect, and a willingness to grow and transform together.”
Victoria’s Manager told her in the beginning that they needed to keep their relationship under wraps. Out of necessity to lay low, they would meet in carparks, and so their first kiss was in a BMW in a carpark, and Victoria immediately says that it is not as seedy as it sounds.
They elaborate further about how they would talk for hours on the phone. So typical of Venus in an Air Sign, Gemini (David), expressing affection through intellectual communication, and feeling love and closeness through verbal sharing, especially when the receptivity is from a sympathetic, sensitive Venus in Pisces (Victoria).
Manchester United played Liverpool on Saturday, 19 April 1997, in Anfield, an important match to clinch the League title. Victoria would phone David 3am in the morning before the big game, but David Beckham would perform like a pro the next day on the field, with Manchester United winning 3-1. No-one back then, his mother, his friend Gary Neville, could understand how he did it – to get up at the crack of dawn to play a match at 11:15, when he had been up talking to Victoria on the phone all hours of the early morning. But, we know – with his Pluto in the 6th House, and his Capricorn Midheaven and Capricorn Moon, and his Mars Trine Saturn, these tell us how he could perform like that, despite the karmic synastry of the simultaneous love-story unfolding in his life. David would drive 4 hours to spend 20 minutes with Victoria, or fly in tiny little aeroplanes to get to her, or drive hours to London to see her for only 7 minutes, even with the paparazzi stalking them constantly.
In 1997 David won the “Young Player of the Year” award, and soon after he received a phone call from the England Team Manager, to join the English national football team. We note that transit Jupiter was conjunct David’s Midheaven on 6 January 1997, signalling a time of prosperity, recognition, achievement, and professional progress for Beckham. To get picked to play for his country, to get to play at Wembley, where his Dad had taken him to watch games as a child, was a dream come true for an emotional Beckham. To top it all, to get the phone call from Glenn Hoddle as England’s Team Manager, who was another childhood hero of Beckham’s, was indeed a special moment for him. Then England got through the qualifiers to the 1998 Soccer World Cup.
On 24 January 1998, David and Victoria announced their engagement, (with the first of 15 diamond rings he has given her over the course of their 25-year marriage to date this year). This was also the same day transit Jupiter was squaring his Taurus Ascendant – not the “who” to give, but the “how” to give without expectation, which also makes one think of his Venus Sabian Symbol “A Barn Dance” once again: learning to give and take, and become vulnerable. David said he didn’t know how strong Victoria was, but that he liked that about her, and called her “a pain in the ass”, he mused he may have wanted her “to look after me”. The interviewer says, “You must have felt safe with her”, and he replies, “Yeah, I did”. Once again, we feel the comfort and familiarity of the South Node Conjunct Venus synastry between the two of them.
Their engagement coincided with David focussing on the 1998 Soccer World Cup in France, and Victoria embarking on a World Tour with the Spice Girls. David asked Hoddle, England’s Team Manager, if he could go see Victoria, as he had not seen her for 7-8 weeks. Beckham seems to think Hoddle agreed. To be fair, other players had their wives and girlfriends at the training camp at the time.
While David was out with Victoria, he was photographed wearing a black and white Sarong over a pair of black pants. His father said it looked okay, others thought it would not go down well, and it became a huge media frenzy of controversy. Venus Out Of Bounds – “Venus is also the way that we express ourselves, whether that be artistically or otherwise, or the way we dress, or how we appear to others. Venus when unbound is free to explore and go beyond the usual social restraints on our personal self-expression, and enthusiastically go off road to take creative risks.” (~Lauren Howard Coleman). David’s Venus at 21°Gem18’ was Out Of Bounds at a Declination of +25°16’38”N at birth. Venus would cease to be Out Of Bounds for him in 2007 at the age of 32.
During this Saturnian period of his life, of being less likely to receive recognition, following the sarong fiasco, Glenn Hoddle said in an interview that David was not focused on his football. Beckham said that killed him, having his professionalism being questioned, by someone David had respected all his life. Hoddle benched Beckham for the Tunisia game. Beckham’s Mum said she put Hoddle on her Hit-List, of people who upset her. In a post-match interview, Beckham he said he could not say much, but that he was desperate to play. David recalls how in training he would simply take free kick after free kick, again pointing to his natal Pluto in the 6th House, natal Capricorn Midheaven/Moon, and natal Mars Trine Saturn. Newspapers were running headlines that he was trying to prove Hoddle wrong. All the other players on the team were shocked by the decision and could not understand why Beckham was not playing, while the fans in the stadiums were shouting during games for Beckham to come back on. Gary Neville said David was focussed on his football, but David had to admit he did not cope well when separated from Victoria. In the Columbia match on 26 June 1998 at the World Cup Beckham scored one of the Goals.
Then, the Argentina game on 30 June 1998, THE game that dropped England out of the World Cup on penalties. The night before the match Victoria telephoned David and told him that she had taken a pregnancy test and that she was pregnant! She said they were both extremely happy, and he admits he wanted to be with her after receiving the news.
Rivalry historically between Argentina and England has always been intense, and then during the World Cup match, Diego Simone bumped into Beckham. Uncharacteristic of David Beckham, he kicks Diego in retaliation/frustration, and gets sent off the field, for the rest of the game and the tournament, with a Red Card. We read David’s Progressed Chart for 30 June 1998, and it shows his progressed Mars was now in aggressive, combative Aries, from having been in Pisces. Furthermore, transit Mars on 30 June 1998 was Conjunct his progressed Ascendant, now in Gemini. Transit Jupiter entered his natal 12th House on that same day, signaling a change of perspective from then on in his life and career.
The whole of England never fully forgave David Beckham for kicking Diego and getting the Red Card, being sent off and missing the rest of the game. England drew with Argentina 2-2, but lost on penalty shoot-out, and England was out of the 1998 World Cup. Becks becomes the fall guy. His father said people should realize England could have won on the penalty shoot-out, but no-one ever wants to focus on that. Interestingly, some might say England should have won the World Cup that year considering the quality of players they had on that Team.
Following the match again Hoddle made several negative comments directed at David Beckham during the interview aired on television, which added unnecessary fuel to the brewing national tension and hatred towards Beckham. He, and including his family, were soon receiving death threats, which resulted him going through a period of his life he has never fully forgiven himself for.
The aggressive backlash of David Beckham towards Diego was uncharacteristic of Beckham’s character known up until that time. The aggressive backlash of the English public towards Beckham was also unprecedented and extreme. Sadly, but not surprising, given his Mars had progressed into fiery, hot under the collar, Aries, and that transit Mars was Conjunct his progressed Ascendant at the time, indicative of aggressive responses from open enemies. Interestingly, Victoria was also approaching her Mars Return within days of this date, on the 4th of July 1998. One can only wonder what fireworks went down between them that day. Beckham going home in disgrace to a vengeful, aggressive home crowd, and with the pregnancy of their new baby to celebrate.
Episode One of the series ends here, and the next Episode Two is titled “Seeing Red”.
If you enjoyed reading this first instalment of the four-part Astrology Enthusiasts Astro-Guide to the popular Netflix Documentary Series, ‘Beckham’ – Episode One, then look forward to receiving the rest of the Astro-Guide that accompanies Episode Two, Episode Three, and Episode Four of the series once available or by popular demand, by sending an email request to cigno.astro@gmail.com.
Written by Deborah-Anne Swanepoel – Cigno Astro ©
For Astrology South Africa
21 January 2024
Image Credit: Mike Fanshawe CC BY 3.0: David and Victoria Beckham, 2019
Bibliography: James Burgess, Jamie Partridge – Astrology King, Alexander Kolesnikov, Carmen Turner-Schott, Sky and Telescope, Tanaaz Chubb
