We’ve all experienced heartache. What gives Taylor Swift her gift of sharing her experiences and getting such a tremendous audience response? Her Sun in Sagittarius in the 5th house makes her a troubadour as well as a philosopher about love. And her Mercury conjunct Saturn in Capricorn allows her to take a step back and reframe her past. But I think the most important element in her horoscope is Venus sextile Mars, which makes her a natural expert on love and sex, affection and heartbreak.

On November 22, 2015, Swift won three American Music Awards, including Song of the Year for “Blank Space,” which she co-wrote. This song, about the highs and lows of a new relationship, perfectly expresses the energies of her Venus in Aquarius in an out-of-sign sextile to Mars in Scorpio.

Taylor begins by telling her new guy that she can show him “incredible things – magic, madness, heaven, sin.” The incredible, magic and heaven relate to Venus in otherworldly Aquarius, while madness and sin reflect passionate and gritty Mars in Scorpio.

With “Look at that face” and “I can read you like a magazine,” she considers his Venusian appearance and personality, and offers, “let’s be friends,” since Aquarius is the sign of friendship. Yet she knows that he could be her “next mistake.” Still, her Mars in Scorpio has piqued her curiosity and she’s “dying to see how this one ends.”

In the refrain, Taylor repeatedly contrasts her Venus and Mars. Will the relationship be “forever” (Venus in fixed sign Aquarius) or “go down in flames”? (Mars in Scorpio, a sign that must see actions to their possibly painful conclusions.) She wonders if the “high” (Venus) will be worth the inevitable “pain” (Mars). She admits her ex-lovers (Scorpio) might say she’s “insane” (Aquarius) but that she loves “the players” (Venus sextile Mars). She knows they’re both “young” and “reckless” (Venus sextile Mars) and could take things “way too far” (Mars in Scorpio) with the possibility of being left “breathless” (Venus in air sign Aquarius) or with a “nasty scar” (Mars in recuperative Scorpio).

Many other images in the song reiterate the contrasting Venus-Mars themes: “Rose gardens filled with thorns,” “a nightmare dressed like a daydream,” and her feeling that “boys only want love if it’s torture.”

In the end, though, Swift understands her Venus-Mars contradictions, and is willing to try again. “I’ve got a blank space, baby, and I’ll write your name” nicely sums up her Venusian need for relationships as well as her ability to take another Martian chance.