by Zoe Moon
At the week of his passing both co-rulers of his chart, Mars and Pluto, had just come to a stop in the astrological sky and Retrograded within 24 hours of each other, on Sunday the 17th and Monday the 18th of April. Mercury, which ruled his body/Sun was slowing down to Retrograde on the 28th. So most of the personal planetary energy tied to his body was pulling back and in a weakened position. So let's take a look at what was going on at his passing. I spoke about these points on my radio show here on blog talk radio 8pm eastern, Thursday, April 21st, if you want to hear more about it. We look at these items first to get an idea of what was occurring:
1) Ruler of Death in Prince's chart is Mercury. Gemini on the door to death can mean a younger death if the Sun is so configured. Prince has his Sun in the house of Death so it would be a theme for him to deal with literally or figuratively. This placement being one of death and transformation, personal sexual empowerment and power. So what was Mercury doing? It had stationed to go Retrograde, putting it in a weaker or reversal setting and in square to his natal Chiron which is about wounds and healing. Then I look at the progressed chart and here Mercury is at the 29th degree of Cancer, a critical degree which means stronger energy and it was upon Juno the goddess of marriage and semi-sextiling Pluto the planet of death and transformation so he was in a year of his life where the potential is heightened.
The Transiting Birth Chart on the day he passed.
2) Ruler of the 'End of All Matters' in Prince's chart is Uranus. Uranus had transited into an opposition to Jupiter for the one time in his life so he was facing something big with another person and it could tip the balance with what would occur. This is a once in 84 year moment. This placement was also putting pressure on Uranus from Chiron that wound and with Pluto the planet of death and transformation. In the progressed chart Uranus had just reached the 4th degree of Libra which put it into alignment with Mercury the ruler of death in his chart for the first time in 30 years. Again it seems as though a key person is part of this story with Prince in his final scene.
The progressed chart on the day he passed.
3) Saturn: In Prince's chart Saturn was at the opposition to his Sun positioned in the 8th house of Death and transformation. Saturn is a limiter, an ender of things or sets up structures and long term situations, it is a final planetary energy and one that is serious when dealing with it. When we all undergo our Saturn opposition to our vital life force energy once every 29 years we are tested with situations that bring other people into our world to show us what is working and what is not. It can also take a toll on our physical energy since it lags and sometime fails under the alchemical weight of the lead of Saturn. Saturn was weakened or reversing in its retrograde phase and moving into his 1st house of identity and physical being. Saturn at this point was also doing the same thing to his Rising degree in a semi-sextile, also noted in aspects at death. The Rising being half of your physical persona, the Sun the other half, so Saturn was really doing a job on both at the same time. Progressed Saturn was in Aquarius, the sign ruling the end of all matters and it was within 4 degrees/a 4 year build-up to Chiron the wound. It also sat near the mid-point between transiting Pluto and Chiron.
4) Pluto: in Prince's chart Pluto Retrograding was sending Pluto back to inconjunct his Sun in the house of death and transformation for the last time in his life, the shift possibly pushing him towards this transition. Pluto was at 17 degrees, his Sun at 16 so it had been hammering him between the end of January and the first week of March at the 16th degree, then started to let up just a bit but then stopped and turned around on Monday to start coming back for another round. Pluto in inconjunct is a very testing and sometimes fatal aspect to the Sun. Since his Sun is found in the house of Death at birth one could surmise this would be a challenging period. His progressed Pluto, planet of death and rebirth, was at the Sabian Degree called: AN EAGLE AND A LARGE WHITE DOVE CHANGE INTO EACH OTHER. (This made me think of 'When doves Cry')
5) Look at the Sun, Rising and Moon: in Prince's chart we've already touched on the Sun and Rising so let's look at his Moon. In this week the transiting Moon is building to a Full Moon at 2 degrees of Scorpio. He has Neptune sitting at the 2nd degree of Scorpio in his birth chart. So he was having a rare Full Moon upon his Neptune. Neptune is the veil between worlds and can bring a focus on drugs/ prescriptions, chemicals, substances, flu-like issues in the body, fluid problems, delusions, and a hard time pinning something down. It is positioned in the house that rules these same things and both are in the sign that rules death and transformation. At this point it made an alignment with his birth moon at 2 degrees of Pisces that sits in the house of the end of all matters. The transiting Sun had just passed over the karmic south node (loss) in the house of health opposite this position of Neptune in the veil between worlds zone, illuminating it. His progressed Moon had just progressed into the house of health for the first time in his life and in Aries was ruled by Mars which had just Retrograded on Sunday, weakening it or bringing reversals. Here it locked onto another Karmic point called the Vertex also at 27 degrees bringing something fated to the event. It also now began a 2 year inconjunct with Pluto, planet of death and transformation. I would also add that the ruler of health in his chart was Mars and in progression it had come to the end of the 25th degree putting it upon orb of a malevolent star associated with beheadings, losing one's head, choking, strangulation, hanging, and other things fixed upon the throat. This may have had a literal affect upon his body or it may have played into emotions of feeling suffocated or choked out of something at the time, not a pleasant energy to deal with.
Now, to look at some of the prominent degrees of his chart for some insight into his character, taken from the Sabian Symbols, with quotes from Dane Rudhyar in interpretation:
Princes Sun: The Sun is about one's ego and physical presence in situations: "THE HEAD OF A ROBUST YOUTH CHANGES INTO THAT OF A MATURE THINKER. KEYNOTE: The transformation of physical vitality into the power to build concepts and intellectual formulations through which knowledge can be transferred. We have a picture of a process of quiet and steady metamorphosis of biological energy into mind-power, which can be seen symbolically as the yang way (between yin-yang). The symbolism may seem old-fashioned today, but the two contrasting approaches to communication of new experiences remain evident, however one wishes to symbolize them. What we see pictured is the transformation of emotions into mind, of instincts into thoughts - a process of MENTAL METAMORPHOSIS." Again with that youthful vitality, the child at the center of the stage but a child with deep thoughts or the adult mind to match it.
Princes MIDHEAVEN/PLUTO (what he would become known for and the power/sexuality of Pluto. Both his career midheaven and Pluto sit upon the same degree together): "AN UNSEALED LETTER. KEYNOTE: The realization by the individual that all thoughts and all messages are inevitably to be shared with all men. This symbol seems at first quite puzzling; when it has been thought of as an isolated symbol, it's essential meaning has not been apparent. The fact that a letter is unsealed does not imply a trust that other people will not read its contents, but rather the idea that the contents are for all men to read. The letter contains a public message in the sense that when man has reached the stage of true mental repolarization and development he has actually become a participant in the One Mind of humanity. Nothing can really be hidden, except superficially and for a brief time. What any man thinks and deeply realizes becomes the property of all men. Nothing is more senseless than possessiveness in the realm of ideas. If God speaks to a man, Man hears the word. Nothing can remain permanently "sealed." It is made clear to us, and particularly to the inherently proud Leo type, that all that takes form within the mind of a man belongs to all men. Communication and SHARING must always prevail over the will to glorify oneself by claiming sole possession of ideas and information." So he was out there sharing his word and known world-wide for it via the creative energy field of Leo.
Princes Rising: The Rising denoting our personality: "A WOMAN, FECUNDATED BY HER OWN SPIRIT, IS "GREAT WITH CHILD." KEYNOTE: A total reliance upon the dictates of the God-within. In contrast to the outgoing smile of the girl in the preceding symbol, here we see the result of a deep and complete concentration reaching to the innermost center of the personality where the Living God acts as a fecundating power. This reveals the potency of the inward way, the surrender of the ego to a transcendent Force which can create through the person vivid manifestations of the Will of God. This brings to us the realization of normally hidden potentialities in the average human being of our day. Faith in the Divine is shown here being concretely justified. The human person becomes a "mother of the Living God." This is THE TRANSPERSONAL WAY of existence. It is the way that leads to creative mutations." I could see Prince as someone very excited about the birth of his creative ventures and in touch with his divine feminine nature.
Princes Moon: The Moon being one's emotional nature: "A SQUIRREL HIDING FROM HUNTERS. KEYNOTE: The individual's need both to ensure his future subsistence and to protect himself from aggressive social elements. The squirrel not only has to hide and store food for the winter, but to be on the lockout for the dangers involved in gathering this food supply. Social processes always cast strong shadows, The individual is never certain of being safe among his fellowmen, once the process of individualization — with its negative aspects, competition, social aggressivity and greed — forces the breakdown of the organic tribal state of mankind during the archaic ages. This warns of the dangers of life in society during an era of exacerbated individualism, when violence is a possibility never to be dismissed. The need for SELF-PROTECTION and caution is ever present." I think this makes sense when we think of how private he was emotionally, or how protected he kept his feelings.
Princes North node of Destiny: "A CROWDED SIGHTSEEING BUS ON A CITY STREET. KEYNOTE: The fundamental human eagerness to expand one's social horizon and to experience the results of collective achievements and new ways of life. In this symbol we are dealing with a group-experience of a vast collective achievement, a city. Individuals coming from a variety of places and backgrounds "commune" in new awareness of a greater whole of human existence, an organized whole with its own rhythms of multifarious activity. New feelings and an expansion of consciousness result. The process of "initiation" into collective values is now reaching the feeling nature. This refers to the first realization of what a larger whole of existence — a more encompassing frame of reference — implies, in very concrete and perhaps startling terms. What is at stake is A WIDENING OF EXPERIENCE." So he got to be the sightseer and the one that the crowded bus was coming to see, an adventure at the core of his Destiny. May God speed him home.
Zoe Moon Astrology (c)copyright 2016 All Rights Reserved
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