David Bowie's Astrology by Zoe Moon

DAVID BOWIE'S ASTROLOGY by Zoe Moon

I loved David Bowie's music as did most of the world, and it was no surprise when pulling up his chart that you see he has the standard Sun Square Neptune found in most composers/musicians' charts, nor that he was an Aquarius Rising, the sign of the innovator and visionary, or that the ruler of that vision, Uranus, sat in the writer and communicators sign, Gemini. I looked to see that it faced a past life and that the words and ideas he was pulling through for us came out of some ideas he'd strongly championed in a past life that he was just not quite through with yet. That was interesting. There was also a Finger of God pointing to it so it was fated that he would bring a message with impact and that really, in so many ways, as the chart ruler, he was the message. 

Here's David Bowie's birth chart for those of you who like to see the story. 

He was born with a Sun/Mars conjunction in the 12th house Capricorn. That means the two energies infused each other, that he would be courageous, combative, passionate, and motivated and some of this would be self-undoing, some of it would tie in with that past life, some of it would be karmic, and some of it would just be straight up about the rulership of the 12th house: music, art, film, poetry, romance, addiction, healing, hospitals, and spirituality. 

There is always something mysterious about people with their Sun in the private, magical 12th house because we can't see them clearly, something is hidden, something we can't put our finger on and they tend to have this private side that they protect, (Johnny Carson, David Letterman and Keanu Reeves come to mind with 12th house Suns). 

It seems upon delving into Bowie's spiritual side that he did have a leaning towards some esoteric and sometimes dark and hidden pathways, quoted in Rolling Stone magazine, Feb 12, 1976, "Rock has always been the Devil's music, you can't convince me that it isn't. . . I believe rock and roll is dangerous . . . I feel we're only heralding something even darker thank ourselves." He claimed an interest in the Golden Dawn, Aleister Crowley and Satanism at points in his life, as well as taking an interest in Buddhism and Christianity at other points. He was quoted in 2003 saying, "I’m not quite an atheist and it worries me. There’s that little bit that holds on: Well, I’m almost an atheist. Give me a couple of months."   So whether he lost or found his soul upon these paths is for him to know, I won't go further into this side of his life out of respect for 12th house privacy but you certainly see it via his lyrics and imagery and most definitely in his last release as he grappled with the idea of death. His quest to understand his spirit was continual. 

What would he be known for? Sagittarius on the Midheaven with the ruler, Jupiter, in the 9th in Scorpio meant he would be known for something in the higher mind arenas: media, publishing, global interests, travel, education, weddings, political impact, religious impact, or law, and this would be resonating with Scorpio sexuality, power and transformation. The sign of Sage, being in the end, the sign of the teacher. 

Would he marry? Well, this technique is not as accurate in a man's chart as in a woman's but in Bowie's case I believe it holds water. We look to the Moon in a man's chart and his made 2 classical connections. So we verify by looking at the ruler of his marriage house door, that would be the Sun, which also made 2 connections, both having a 3rd conjunction. So he married twice. Or did he? More on that 3rd conjunction in a minute. The first marriage represented by Chiron, the wounded healer, in Scorpio and the 8th house. This marriage would be about wounds and healing or facing of wounds based on sexuality, a drive to power, finances, reproduction, and triangles, leading to divorce (all Scorpio/8th house matters) and it would also be the birthing of the mystical guru of sorts, the other side of Chironic energy at work here. 

David with first wife Angie 

The second marriage partner was represented by Venus in Sagittarius in the 9th house. Venus ruler of beauty and love in the sign and house ruled by media, travel, foreign, multi-cultural, legal, wedding, religious, political, and educational themes. I'd say this seems to define the two marriages as we know them. 

David with second wife Iman 

His Karmic past life node sits exactly on his Juno Goddess of Marriage. So both marriages were past life relationships reborn for these reasons. So why do I question 2 marriages? Because he also has the conjunction to his Moon and the ruler of his Moon, the Sun, as a possible 3rd relationship. So it may be that there was a relationship that shadowed him throughout life that we are not privy to, and whether this is about someone he was always connected to or about his relationship with the characters he built for himself (his alter egos) I cannot say, but it is fitting with his mysterious 12th house Sun so we'll leave it at that. 

What energy was death in David's chart? Venus ruled death for him. Venus perched up in Sagittarius making positive aspects to planets in his 7th house of relationship. So as sad and difficult a fight with cancer is for anyone going through it, it can be said that beyond that he would have what might be considered an artistic or beautiful death (Venus), one shared via the media and globally thanks to the Sagittarius placement. He'd have good partners and specialists at the time of death and would find a swelling of love from audience. The body part ruled by Sagittarius is the liver so it makes sense that death would be associated with this organ. Sagittarius also rules foreign places and people so he could have met death on foreign soil or at the hands of someone from another land, there are several different scenarios that could have come into play via Sage=law, media, religion, politics, education, travel, or foreign situations contributing. 

Saturn had just started it's transit for the first time in 29 years through Sagittarius and over this ruler of death in December 2014 and would be traveling in this sign until the end of 2017, not to return for another 29 years. But it continued to impact his ruler of death here up until the day he passed with the week he passed being the last of the 10 degree orb to this ruler before Saturn moved on out of orb. Saturn is about endings and time (Father Time). 

Pluto, the planet of death and transformation, was now at 15 degrees Capricorn, nudging David's Sun/Mars vitality and identity energy, weighing down on his body with very powerful impact, a once in 240 year moment. But it was the progressions that we find locking in tipping the scales and divining the timing of such transitions. Below you can see the progressed Solar Arcs: 

The Solar Arc IC 'end of all matters', having passed over death and transformation birth chart Pluto a year prior and still within orb. Solar Arc Mercury, ruler of the IC 'end of all matters' and chart ruler Uranus, at 17 degrees, sextiling birth Sun/body, an opportunity alignment and the only year in his life to occur. Solar Arc Chiron, the wound, locked upon his birth chart Mars/Sun the only year in his life, affecting his blood flow and body. His Solar Arc door to the house of death now at 13 degrees Sagittarius, aligned with birth death and transformation Pluto and passed over by once in 29 year transiting Saturn of limits and endings, again a once in a lifetime combo. Venus, ruler of death in his chart progressing in to oppose death and transformation birth Pluto. The North Node of Destiny and Karmic South Node both at the door of the 21st degree, casting his natal Jupiter, ruler of his Midheaven/direction of his life, at the midpoint for the first and only time in his life. I could go on, you see how much was triggering. Bowies Progressed / Solar Arc chart: 

I would like to insert one aside here; death and a gathering of activators tied to death in an individual chart can happen once in a lifetime or more than once, there can be a couple periods throughout the course of a lifetime when such an amassing of triggers lock in. At these points a door opens, sometimes the person will face their own mortality by fighting a disease and winning or being declared technically dead after some event but then rousting back to life, sometimes there will be a dark night of the soul which brings a more symbolic death and rebirth and one of these times will bring the actual death. This is why you should not predict death since it can be touched upon in these other ways. It's rare for sure when this many activators lock in and thank goodness for that. This was such a door for David. 

For those of you who are not yet aware of the Sabian Symbols they combine astrology and psychic impressions and I use them from time to time when looking at something more in a birth chart. These Sabian definitions were channeled for all 360 degrees of the zodiac by Marc Edmund Jones and Elsie Wheeler in 1925 by Marc writing a zodiac degree on each of 360 cards and putting them out of order face down in front of Elsie who would then get a psychic image and would describe what she saw. They then tied these images to each degree of the zodiac in order and what came out were these amazing Sabian Symbols which to this day add so much accuracy when interpreting a chart. You just look up the degree your birth Sun or Venus or whatever is upon and round up to the next number and then go read what it means. So if you want to know about your ego/body you read the Sun, if you want to know about love you read for Venus, etc. Back in the 50's Marc asked astrologer Dane Rudhyar to give his perspective for each of these Sabian Symbols and it is this that I will quote from below as well as giving my input (Zoe Moon's). 

 1) David's chart ruler, Uranus, sat at the Sabian Symbol for 19 Gemini. This is the ruler of David's life chart, the visionary energy in the sign of the communicator. The Symbol Title and interpretation: "A LARGE ARCHAIC VOLUME REVEALS A TRADITIONAL WISDOM. Interpretation: Contacting the all-human planetary Mind underlying any cultural and personal mentality." So this is the energy that was foremost for David, pulling on past volumes of information and bringing forth that wisdom, contacting the all-human planetary Mind. Rudhyar also called this 'seed knowledge' which is interesting since David's ideas seeded so many others over the years with other artists. 

 2) Being an Aquarius Rising, David had a secondary chart ruler, Saturn. So the Sabian Symbol for his 7 Leo Saturn is: "THE CONSTELLATIONS OF STARS SHINE BRILLIANTLY IN THE NIGHT SKY. Interpretation: The power of basic spiritual values which refer to man's common humanity and to all enduring archetypes." Rudhyar asks, " If man projects his basic human nature upon the star-filled night sky, is it not just as logical to say that the universe projects its own forever-evolving patterns of order upon human nature? In either case we deal with archetypal factors which endure through a long series of generations." Again, between these two chart rulers we see David inspired by space, the stars, the planets, and his creating heroes and personas against this backdrop. 

3) David was Rising at 4 Aquarius. "A HINDU YOGI DEMONSTRATES HIS HEALING POWERS. Interpretation: The disciplined use of spiritual energies in restoring the natural harmony disturbed by man's inharmonic attempts to transcend nature through mind." Rudhyar states, "Civilization implies a process of transcending compulsive and rigid biological drives while making use, in a refined and mentalized way, of what it cannot control. The goal of a true civilization — Western civilization being to a large extent a caricature of it — is the development of a humanity composed of self-motivated and responsible individuals freely associating according to harmonic patterns in order to produce a vast spiritual chord of consciousness fully actualizing the potentialities inherent in the archetype, MAN. The process of individualization and civilization is full of dangers, and for a very long time it is obsessed by karmic shadows, the results of individual and collective deviations and perversions." So now you see the 2 rulers of this Rising degree and the Rising degree itself, all 3 defining the basic story of who this individual was and what he was working with to actualize his vision. 

4) How did his ego come into play? Well, since David had a Sun/Mars conjunction I have to list both together to understand his ego: 

A) SUN at 18 Capricorn: "THE UNION JACK FLAG FLIES FROM A BRITISH WARSHIP." 

B) MARS at 17 Capricorn: "REPRESSED WOMAN FINDS A PSYCHOLOGICAL RELEASE IN NUDISM." 

Wow, now that's an interesting ego mix! I think you can figure that one out yourself but for me it's easy to see him; flying the flag from a ship sailing towards battle, (an Englishman doing battle with the establishment/inside the establishment), but in the garbs of a woman or in the nude (the divine feminine, free, or exhibitionist), you can see David smiling. We can, from an astrological viewpoint, also add that Capricorn is the businessman so he did have that drive and ambition to make it so, and in the 12th house there was a lot going on behind the scenes to make it all reality. 

5) What was his DESTINY? His North Node of Destiny sat at 12 Gemini: "A NEGRO GIRL FIGHTS FOR HER INDEPENDENCE IN THE CITY. Interpretation: Liberation from the ghosts of the past." This is a Destiny involving overcoming prejudices and preconceptions. It would occur through Gemini which rules communication so he could write, think, sing and talk about it and find ways to live it as an individual overcoming narrow mindedness and discrimination in all of its forms. We saw him step up to the plate with this regarding race and gender throughout his lifetime and I for one can't recall another artist who so refused to be pigeon-holed as did Bowie with his ever revolving and evolving personas, in constant liberation from his past. 

6) How would his music flow? Neptune rules music and in David's chart he had Neptune at 11 degrees Libra. The Sabian title is: "A PROFESSOR PEERING OVER HIS GLASSES AT HIS STUDENTS. The Interpretation: Problems attending the transmission of knowledge in a special cultural setup. It implies a humorous approach to what man's mind can accomplish and being able to transfer to the young generation the vast sum of knowledge accumulated by the past." In Libra it would involve partnering with others who would balance him, fellow artists, writers, producers, and audience, and in the second decan of Libra it would involve the Aquarius vibe of originality, freedom, gender bending, and the visionary rebel. 

You know this is just a small slice of a complex and divine artists life energy pattern, there is so much more and I could keep writing and interpreting but for now I think this gives a glimpse into a very complex and entirely unique man's journey. I hope I did it justice. His music plays the whole world over, a true trailblazer of the Aquarian Age. Thank you David Bowie, from 'starman' to 'blackstar', it was in your stars. ~Zoe Moon

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