R.I.P. Vesta Williams, vocalist extraordinaire

One of my favorite singers Vesta died of a possible drug overdose Thursday, September 22, 2011. She was born December 1, 1957, in Coshocton, Ohio. I have used a noon chart since I don't have a birth time.
EXTRAORDINARILY GIFTED

Last night, Karel , my go-to weekend radio host on KGO talk radio out of San Francisco, gave Vesta a beautiful tribute. He was her publicist back in the day and a friend for life. Karel called Vesta an extraordinarily gifted singer and kind person who was also a good mother to her child. He said she worked constantly in the biz providing back-up, songwriting, doing commercials and jingles, and had just signed a new recording contract.

A HISTORY OF DRUG USAGE
Karel admitted they did serious drugs together, but said she had stopped as far as he knew. He also said she used prescription drugs like a typical 53-year old woman--Premarin, Ambien, etc.-and he knew because he saw them in her medicine cabinet. He hopes, he said, that it wasn't drugs but won't know until the toxicology reports come out. He said he was absolutely sure that it wasn't suicide, that she had much to live for, including the new contract. In any case, he asked, however she died, why should we look at her or anyone else as a lesser human being because of that? I think we forget that black entertainers, singers and artists serve as racial ambassadors, i.e. the Michael Jacksons, Duke Ellingtons, the Vestas of our world opened doors of goodwill for many black people whom people of other races didn't understand or had never met. No matter their flaws, I respect and thank them for giving their lives to their art and for us.

PERHAPS A GRAND TRINE [depending on her time of birth for the moon position]

Vesta possibly has a wonderful grand trine in her natal chart of Sun 9° Sag, Moon 5° Aries, and Uranus 11° Leo. This great fiery configuration brings great good fortune, vivacity and tons of energy, also probably a flashpoint temper. She had a string of hits in the 80s. However, her trine is tempered by Saturn conjunct the Sun at 15° Sag. Saturn puts the brakes on just when things are getting good.

100 LB. WEIGHT GAIN FOR A WOMAN WHO WAS 5'3"

Once she reached her first success pinnacle, she gained 100 lbs.; at 5'3" that was a major setback as a performer. She said in interviews, "After the shows, I was wearing the House of Waffles out." She has Venus square Jupiter, an indulgent and sweets-loving aspect that is responsible for weight gain; that Jupiter sq. in Libra can give kidney problems if there is imbalance. She said the weight gain stopped her career cold. She lost the weight but through admittedly unhealthy shortcuts, once losing 30 lbs. in three weeks. Excesses like this are the province of Jupiter which gives abundance, excess, good nature, good times, but too much is too much.

QUINCUNX BETWEEN TRANSITING JUPITER AND NATAL SUN

At her death, transiting Jupiter at 9° Taurus was exactly quincunx Vesta's natal Sun. Quincunxes are illness aspects. By helping others who are ill or doing charitable works for the less unfortunate, we can mitigate the effects of the aspect. The only problem is the outer planets-Jup, Sat, Ur, Ne & PL-are slow moving. It's hard to stay away from bad habits for long periods of time unless one has incredible discipline and motivation. Several people have commented that Vesta didn't look well on her last TV appearance on The Monique Show two months before she died. Vesta had the asteroid Vesta in Aries at 6° Aries, giving credence to her Moon being closeby. This is what neptunecafe.com says about Vesta in Aries:
Vesta in Aries gives a strong independence streak. One becomes self-motivated in work, and thrives when advancing one's own ideas or projects. Under stress, one can become too self-absorbed or fixated on personal goals to the detriment of maintaining intimacy with another. Supported by favorable aspects, Vesta here can be highly motivated to accomplish great deeds.

CHECK OUT VESTA SINGING "CONGRATULATIONS" ON YOUTUBE

Still Bill: a from-the-heart patriot, Bill Withers

Bill Withers, singer/songwriter, burst onto the pop music scene in 1971 with his No. 1 record "Ain't No Sunshine" - followed by "Grandma's Hands," "Lean on Me," "Use Me," and in 1979, "Just the Two of Us." All of these songs have become American classics and have been covered by many other singers and musicians. Bill had a very successful performing and recording career from 1970 to 1985, when he began a hiatus of sorts which has lasted to the present day, choosing to concentrate on family.

He recently released a film, Still Bill, in which he pointedly addresses his reasons for stepping out of the limelight [not only family, but also his lessened need to be affirmed as a performer and his disillusionment with the recording industry]. Royalties have made him comfortable, a euphemism used by his wife in the movie and, I've noticed, by people who are modest about their wealth. Much of the movie is filmed in his home and recording studio overlooking a panoramic Los Angeles. In the movie, he sends a son off to law school and watches his daughter record her work; he seems happy and grateful that his shot at the top had a memorable impact and gave him a nice life.

LOVE OF ALL KINDS

After watching Still Bill, I was compelled to cast Bill's chart. His songs/lyrics always impressed me as wonderful, plainspoken, vulnerable, idiomatic, metaphoric, homespun, and they stuck in my head. My son, whom I raised as a single parent, loved "Just the Two of Us," and once turned to me and said, "That's us, mom." Bill Withers' songs are not restricted to romantic love but encompass the tenderness of familial, companionate and patriotic love.
THE PATRIOT

I was not at all surprised when I saw his birthdate as July 4, 1938. More than a few patriots who have captured the hearts of the American public were born with their natal Sun conjunct America's natal Sun.

Anyone born July 2nd-6th has the potential to embody something uniquely American. George W. Bush [July 6], Sylvester Stallone [ July 6], Calvin Coolidge, movie mogul Louis B . Mayer, conductor Mitch Miller, Ann Landers and her twin Abigail Van Buren, Neil Simon, George Steinbrenner, Geraldo Rivera, financier Michael Milken, anti-war activist Ron Kovic, and First Daughter Malia Obama were born July 4th. Bill served nine years in the Navy, further marking his patriotism.

Stationed abroad, he developed his singing and songwriting. When he returned, he moved to LA to pursue music, making toilets for Boeing 747s while composing songs in his head. Mars rules mechanical ability, ego, aggression, sexual drive, individuality, survival, courage, competition, war, stamina, and vigor.

STELLIUM

Bill's Sun conjunct n. Mars, a marker of tremendous energy and self-assertion, is part of a stellium in sensitive, feeling Cancer: Sun, Mars, Mercury, Pluto and Chiron. This heightens the impact of whatever he initiates and the impact of events happening to him. Stelliums [I have five placements in my 5th house] get magnified impact from transits, either good or problematic. Chiron, the Wounded Healer, shows in the soothing wisdom in his lyrics.

FOCAL POINT

The Sun-Mars duo gets further dominance because it is the focal point of two geometric patterns. In the first, it forms a T-square with a Moon-Saturn opposition. This is an aspect of tremendous tension; involving the Moon, it points to a hardscrabble childhood. The youngest of 13 children in a coal-mining town, Bill was three when his parents separated and 13 when his father died. In Still Bill, he talks of being ridiculed as a child because he stuttered. Also, he was asthmatic. Yet he celebrates these roots in his lyrics and in interviews. A hearty survivor.

MINI-TRINE

In the second geometric pattern, the Sun-Mars also sextiles Uranus [innovation] which trines Neptune [creativity, illusion, sorrow, deception]. Sextiles relate to friends, neighbors, childhood activities, opportunities, as well as Mercurian matters like writing and hand dexterity. Mini-trines are helpful and often involve friends giving good advice or a leg up. Clarence Avant, a powerhouse for artists and black music, signed Bill in 1971, and appears in Still Bill talking positively about Bill.

THE HIATUS

What interests me most is the hiatus, his leaving show biz and the limelight, and his storied feuds with record industry execs trying to alter his music. He was quoted in The New Yorker of 3.8.10: "“You gonna tell me the history of the blues? I am the goddam blues. Look at me. Shit. I’m from West Virginia, I’m the first man in my family not to work in the coal mines, my mother scrubbed floors on her knees for a living, and you’re going to tell me about the goddam blues because you read some book written by John Hammond? Kiss my ass.”

Well said, Bill. Perfect manifestation of the Sun/Mars and his Mercury conj. Pluto in Cancer. Nobody's going to tell him.

HIS FIXED STARS

For the astrological indicators for the hiatus, I turn to his fixed stars.

Jackass star dies in fiery crash: Mars active, I would think.

R.I.P. Ryan Dunn, red-haired reality television personality and daredevil best known for being a member of The Jackass Crew (June 11, 1977 – June 20, 2011). Born in Medina, Ohio, he died in a fiery car crash, drunk, his speed around 130 mph.
His natal Mars/Uranus opposition in fixed signs, Taur/Scor, suggests wild but channelled behavior. He'd been friends since childhood with collaborator Bam Margera. a manifestation of his Sun conjunct Jupiter in Gemini, the sign of the 3rd house of siblings, early learning, short journeys, and the lower mind. Dunn was overweight, jovial, excessive, talkative and, above all, publicly daring.

His Pluto, retrograde at 11° Libra, received the nearly exact Saturn transit at his death. An astrologer might have told Dunn to lay low during this transit; it's a long transit-end of October 2010 until beginning of August 2011. But people have a hard time curtailing longstanding behaviors for months at a time unless they're in jail or a hospital bed. With his fixed sign emphasis [Saturn, Venus, Mars, Chiron and Uranus] came a hard head. Financial and professional success as a daredevil and a risk taker reinforced risky behaviors.

His success, financial fortune and appeal lay in his exact[partile]conjunction in Taurus of Mars, Chiron and Venus at 4°. But tr. Jupiter neared that conj. by 1°. Followers of comedians might remember Chris Farley's chart with Jupiter, that planet of often deadly excess, exactly on his Asc. at birth. Too much of a good thing...

Caught: James "Whitey" Bulger

James "Whitey" Bulger was arrested June 22, 2011, with his companion Catherine Greig, in Santa Monica, Ca, where he had been living quietly since at least 1995. His long submersion as a fugitive was made possible by Neptunian cash, complicity and companionship.

He was said to have "set up safe deposit boxes, containing cash, jewelry, and passports, in locations across North America and Europe including Florida, Oklahoma, Montreal, Dublin, London, Birmingham (UK) and Venice. In December 1994, Bulger was informed by retired FBI Agent John Connolly that sealed indictments had come from the Department of Justice and that the FBI was due to make arrests during the Christmas season. In response, Bulger fled Boston on December 23, 1994, accompanied by his common law wife, Theresa Stanley." Thus began his flight from the underworld of organized crime in Boston into the netherworld of the fugitive.

Before even examining his chart, I'm expecting a strong Neptune because of his elusiveness and infamy, and all the duality in his life. He was elusive to his would-be captors for nearly 16 years, an informer for the FBI on the Mafia, head of his own Winter Hill Gang, a drug trafficker, bookmaker, and loan shark. Absent a birth time I've set up a noon chart. The U.S. FEDERAL DECENNIAL CENSUS gives his birth date as Sept. 3, 1929, in Boston.

POW! There it is, Neptune at 1° Virgo, conjunct his Leo Midheaven at 29° Leo, both placements close to a New Moon Sun/Moon combo at 10°/13° Virgo. This busy combo in Virgo, a sign of efficiency and competence, inconjuncts his n. Uranus The Outcast, the rebel, at 10° Aries [partile=exact, giving it a strong position and influence in his life]. An inconjunct often points to incompatibility, something that is missing, absent. When his father lost an arm {Mercurial] in an industrial accident [Virgo rules the 6th house of work], Bulger, the oldest son, had to help with the daily bread.
Coulda been a contender Unlike his younger brother William who became a prominent politician and president of UMass, Whitey was the Southie gangsta early on. But his life had a strongly Neptunian caste: he became a mythic figure, ran a huge operation, stole millions, traveled abroad, had numerous glamorous companions-all part of the nebulous glamour of Neptune. The watery planet also dissolves partnerships, fortunes, whole towns [remember Katrina]. What comes in goes back out, like the tide. Now supposedly FBI and other corrupt officials and police are on tenterhooks: Will Whitey betray them and spill the beans? In mob mythology loyalty is key. But a Neptunian's loyalty can switch in a heartbeat.
Well-aspected Venus in Leo Handsome as a young man, Bulger has a Venus with no difficult aspects and sextile his Mars/Mercury conjunction in Libra [helpful, active friends and siblings], and trine his Uranus in Aries. This Venus gives him a taste for extremely attractive ladies, but they must travel well and fit in with his unusual lifestyle. Theresa Stanley, with whom he'd had a common law union beginning in 1969, fled with him. After three years she returned to Boston and her children. Greig, another girlfriend, replaced her.
He's a partnership person Having a partner was important to his criminal enterprises and equally important in his submerged life. Pictures of Greig show that she dumbed down her looks, stopped dyeing her blond hair and let it go white. Greig might have been a courier for Bulger, visiting and retrieving his money from some of the safe boxes. for which crimes she could be charged.

People with a pronounced or elevated Neptune require great sacrifices from those around them. The Mother Theresas and Martin Luther Kings and other gurus compel us to escape the boundaries of our quotidian lives and follow them to a greater place. Or, they lure us into drugs, crossing the line between legal and illegal, or sad love affairs. If he did strangle barehanded two girlfriends of henchmen as alleged, these men paid the Neptunian price: glamour, glitz, grief and sorrow.

Patrick Nee said after joining ranks with Whitey: "Whitey and I were now officially partners and nobody at that table could ever have possibly imagined how this treacherous fuck would treat his partners" [ A Criminal and an Irishman 132]. Treachery is Neptune's special gift.

Why was he caught from an astrological viewpoint? 1] his Saturn, at 23° Sag, is being punched in the groin by the transiting North Node. Time to pay up, Saturn says, whether we want to or not. Both of his oppositional axes are being hit. His very lively and outspoken Mars/Merc conjunction in Libra is opposed natally by Uranus at 10° Aries. Saturn moving through Libra is balancing the scales.

2] Saturn by transit on his 8° Libran Mars [drive, ambition, healthy aggression] opposes n. Uranus this week. Slow-moving Saturn, at 8°-11° Libra in October 2010, triggered the sensitive spots. I disbelieve news reports that the FBI got a tip recently from a woman abroad that led to the capture. More likely they've had him in their sights for some time and began pinning it down last October, probably closely watching Greig's movements to and from the cash.

Mars trine Jupiter is the great lucky aspect for gamblers and risk takers of all walks of life. When you've got this bad boy in your chart, you can go a long time on sheer luck. But Jupiter opposes Saturn in Bulger's natals. That's the societal aspect. When social norms change, the person with this aspect falls out of favor. Jup-Sat contacts are common in politicians' charts. When we look at his life, Bulger really was a politician-he bought influence and paid off cops. Infamously, he's said that Christmas is for cops and kids; he spread $$$ to both. I would think that when the South Node crosses Jupiter at 14° Gemini late Nov-early Dec., 2011, poetic justice will prevail. The form it takes with the Gemini-Sag axis of siblings, higher courts, religion is intriguing. Brother William might sacrifice again for his older brother. A deathbed confession to a priest could appease his victims' families. He's a New Moon person. They make 180° changes all their lives. He can make another one.

A psychopath is a person with an antisocial personality disorder, manifested in aggressive, perverted, criminal, or amoral behavior without empathy. Bugler's actions, like many who kill indiscriminately, are psychopathic. Yet, something has to be righted as his violent chapter of wrong comes to its close. It's likely the court will decide, not Bugler.