27 Club

Prince Rogers Nelson has died

Prince astrology chartThe artist formerly and presently known as Prince died yesterday in his Minneapolis studio at the age of 57.  The cause of death is unknown (an autopsy is planned for today and this article may be updated after that happens).  A plane that Prince was on last week made an emergency landing so that Prince could receive medical treatment for what his publicist said was the flu.  Prince had been battling health problems for many years: he was epileptic and had recently been using a cane to get around.  It is reported that he needed both hips replaced but his religion (Jehovah’s Witness) precluded that as an option.

The astrology chart of Prince Rogers Nelson tells an interesting story of a powerful yet troubled individual.  Born under the lighthearted sign of Gemini, Prince had a strongly Plutonic thread running through his chart.  Scorpio was rising (ruled by Pluto), Pluto opposed the Moon and conjoined the Midheaven,  and his Sun was in the 8th house (ruled by Pluto).  Where Gemini is flexible and fluid, Pluto is powerful and intense and when Pluto predominates in the chart as it does here there is a need for the individual to travel through the darkness of the underworld of the psyche in order to gain wisdom and a high level of personal power.

Saturn, the ruler of self-doubt and pressure to achieve, was retrograde which signifies a higher degree of self-criticism, and it opposed his Sun which is a potent driver towards success and a relentless critic at the same time.  His softhearted Pisces Moon would have been rocked by the intensity of Pluto, and the dichotomy between his emotional softness (Moon) and this tremendous Plutonic force of continual transformation […]

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By |2023-02-28T15:22:33-05:00April 22nd, 2016|People|21 Comments
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Amy Winehouse, dead at 27

Amy Winehouse dead The number of musicians who have died at age 27 (putting her in the sadly named “27 Club”) has just increased by one.  Amy Winehouse died Saturday July 23 of a drug overdose at her home in London.

I profiled Amy Winehouse back in 2007:

Amy Winehouse is a Virgo (see chart), the sign known for its reticent and modest behavior which just shows how little validity Sun Sign astrology has. There is another brand of Virgo which some call the “Radical Virgo” in which the famous Virgo powers of analysis and perfectionism are combined with other elements in the chart to create a more reactionary personality. Amy’s chart shows six planets in fire signs which keep her locked forever in a battle between the conservative side of her Virgo nature and the urge that the fire element evokes for a freer life.

Her Sun is squared by Neptune, the planet that dissolves the boundaries of ordinary reality. While this combination stimulates tremendous creativity, there can also be difficulty establishing boundaries and confusion over one’s own identity as defined by the Sun. Neptune conjoins her Moon which is another significator for creative brilliance as well as musical ability, but again there is a struggle to keep one’s feet on the ground. This strong Neptunian signature often suggests an individual who is either a saint or a drunk as the desire to transcend reality can go in either direction. …

This conjunction of Jupiter and Uranus is opposed by Chiron, a small planet in the Kuyper belt that signifies the Wounded Healer. When in a difficult aspect to other planets, Chiron indicates a deep psycho-emotional wound that doesn’t heal, but which ultimately serves as the guide […]

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By |2023-02-28T15:23:18-05:00July 23rd, 2011|People, Saturn Return|3 Comments
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The 27 Club and the Progressed Lunar Return

Progressed lunar returnI found this article in a link from Astrococktail about the frequency of musicians who have been found dead at age 27.  Most of us know about the potentially problematic experiences of the Saturn Return at age 28, but this was a connection I had not thought much about.

Before each Saturn Return we all experience something called the Progressed Lunar Return which occurs when the Progressed Moon returns to its place in the natal chart.  (The progressed chart marks the passage of time and the evolution of the natal chart as we age and evolve.)  The Progressed Moon takes 27-28 years to complete the cycle around the natal chart, and it generally marks an opening of the emotional body that can be exhilarating or painful, depending on the chart and the way the individual handles challenges.  The Progressed Lunar Return prepares us for the Saturn Return the following year.

Here are just a few examples of the musicians in the 27 Club:

Brian Jones (2/28/42, time unknown), original member of the Rolling Stones, died July 3, 1969 by drowning.  His natal Moon was extremely stressed by a conjunction of Saturn and Chiron, and at the time of his death transiting Saturn was exactly square to that difficult triple conjunction that included his natal Moon.

Jimi Hendrix died about six months after his Progressed Lunar Return, with transiting Saturn was crossing the IC of his chart (the cusp of the Fourth House which in some systems is connected to death).  The Moon in Hendrix’s chart was not particularly stressed, conjuncting Jupiter which typically confers a positive and confident attitude, but that Moon/Jupiter conjunction made an exact square to the Midheaven of his chart and it is likely that his career (Midheaven) pulled […]

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By |2018-11-27T16:50:05-05:00May 25th, 2009|Death, People, Saturn Return|Comments Off on The 27 Club and the Progressed Lunar Return
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