One of my guilty pleasures is watching Bravo reality shows. They are the soaps of this generation. I find myself as I watch guessing each cast member’s Human Design Type and marveling at their bad behavior. Of course, these women are being paid to express themselves on a low frequency so I really can’t blame them. The best (and worst) cast members lack the ability to self reflect and go through their lives in a wounded, reactionary state. Others, are clearly too self aware to be good reality television. These are the cast members that frankly do not last. Unless, of course, they come up with some other way of entertaining the audience.

Erika Girardi has been on another level. She has always been overly protective of her image (probably in fear of having a negative impact on her husband’s reputation) to the point where she seemed cold and unfeeling rather than reactive and emotional. She was smart enough to know that her inability to be an ‘open book' meant she had to deliver as a cast member in a different way. So her strategy has clearly been to present an entertaining, over the top depiction of wealth and glamour. If you can’t deliver the drama of an 80’s soap opera, deliver Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous. An equally popular pop culture obsession in the 80’s.

Little did she know that by putting her considerable wealth on display, she was incriminating herself and her husband.

Now, I acknowledge that I am in the minority when I say I think she was clueless about the nefarious, criminal behavior of her husband. But after looking at both of their charts, this is my hot take; I don’t think she knew.

Of course there is no way for me to know for sure what went on behind closed doors between Erika and Tom Girardi. Is it possible I’m wrong? Of course. But I can look at both of their charts individually and in relation to each other and make certain observations. From what I can see, I would be very shocked to find out Erika knowingly spent any victim’s settlement money on herself. I just don’t see that as being in line with her chart even at its lowest expression.

The Human Design chart is a new way to look at astrological definition through the lens of the I-Ching, the Chakra system, The Kabbalah Tree of Life, and quantum physics. It is an amazingly comprehensive look into a person’s personality along with how they energetically interact with others.

According to Erika’s chart she is highly principled and if someone she cares about crosses a line, she will without a second thought cut them off. This is simultaneously the energy for marriage and divorce. Someone with this energy is very committed to their partner until they are not.

She also has the energy for integrity and doing the right thing even when it is not what everyone else is doing. Meaning she is not one for caving to social pressure.

With her Mars definition, she is very attracted to ambitious men with high principles. I think it is safe to say that when they met, Tom Girardi presented as an ambitious, successful lawyer who fought big business for the little guy. So she was of course very attracted to him despite the age difference. She was clearly very proud of him and what he had accomplished during his career.

Human Design charts aside, she was very young when they met and got married. They had a May/December romance compounded with an electromagnetic connection in their composite chart which created a theme of providing and receiving support in the relationship. The fact that her definition reflected providing support and his definition reflected receiving support may have created a tendency for Tom to over compensate since he was in the traditional role of the older, wealthy partner. 20 years later, Tom would of course continue to be in the habit of protecting Erika and withholding details about money problems. He was in charge. He supported her financially and she furthered his image of a highly successful man with a gorgeous young wife on his arm. They had their roles to play.

Tom has the classic definition for sales in his chart which often has the tendency to do whatever it takes to close the deal, even if it means playing fast and loose with the truth. This energy will do anything to win, especially with the additional definition in his chart which makes him deeply competitive.

Tom also has the potential for blaming others for his bad behavior or when things go wrong. This expression of self love can lead to the inability to find any fault with himself, only others. So it would be very easy for him to convince himself he wasn’t doing anything wrong.

I can imagine his unwillingness to share his situation with Erika would result in him continuing to shower her with money and moving heaven and earth (along with client trust funds) to make that happen, simply to save face; to preserve her image of him.

They also as a couple have a challenging electromagnetic theme in their composite chart nicknamed The Verbal Gunslinger. They have the intuitive ability to say exactly what the other needs to hear to feel better. That’s the high expression. The low expression is having the innate knowledge of what to say to each other that will be the most cutting and hurt the most. Unchecked, this dynamic can be very painful.

With the energy of Revolution defined in Erika’s chart by the North Node and Mars, I think she found out what was going on with Tom and did not think twice about walking away from everything and divorcing him. Finding out that he was behaving in a way that crossed the line of her principles would result in a very quick, decisive revolt.

I have no way of knowing when she found out, but according to her chart she is also highly logical and focused. So once the decision was made, she would have been inclined to be very methodical in how she coordinated her move. Which is in line with how she described waiting for him to leave for work and quietly moving her belongings out without his knowledge.

In the end, I don’t believe Erika would have been stupid enough to flaunt her husband’s wealth if she had any idea how he was getting the money. He was so caught up in his lies and in protecting her image of him, he wouldn’t tell her to stop flaunting his wealth on national television.

And this is what may have ultimately led to his demise.