JUPITER AS A RELEASE AT DEATH
We live in a world that tends to see death as a total negative, a wipe out. However, I need to say that I'm a passionate Nichiren Buddhist and embrace its tenets that (1) every person has an enlightened core or buddha nature, and (2) that life is eternal, and death is a part of life. It happens, we come back, it happens again, we come back again. How we come back and in what circumstances is determined by how we've lived.
I've often seen charts for the day of death where Jupiter, the planet of expansion, has been active. I would think for many elderly, for persons with terminal illnesses or, yes, in this case, where one is in the grip of addiction, that death is a release into the next path, if you will. In Whitney's chart, transiting Jupiter at 4* Taurus in exact trine to her natal Uranus expresses this sudden release into another sphere.
MINOR ASPECTS ARE OFTEN VERY IMPORTANT
Practically any astrologer can look at Whitney's big aspects, the awesome trines and conjunctions and see the successes in her life. But often the minor aspects are key to explaining the inexplicable, the mysteries, the confounding personality traits, the detours in one's life.
Natally her Ju/Ur is sesquiquadrate [135 degrees, a 'square-and-a-half,' a minor aspect indicating tension and challenge]. 
The very unique talents of Ju/Ur seem to have challenged her tremendously, considering the years [gaps] when she left show biz because of the pressure. Also this challenging minor aspect touches two important points in her natal chart.
One, Jupiter conjuncts her Moon, shown by her mother Cissy Houston's tremendous impact on her career and her family of songbirds [Dionne Warwick, a cousin].
The very unique talents of Ju/Ur seem to have challenged her tremendously, considering the years [gaps] when she left show biz because of the pressure. Also this challenging minor aspect touches two important points in her natal chart.One, Jupiter conjuncts her Moon, shown by her mother Cissy Houston's tremendous impact on her career and her family of songbirds [Dionne Warwick, a cousin].
Two, Ur/Me sits astride her 7th H. cusp, dealing with the public, marriage and open enemies in classical astrology terms. Certainly it describes her public career, her choice of marital partner and their public battles/reality show. Ju/Mo trines her Su/Ve which shows the beauty,the great fortune, the recognition. Su/Ve is also opposed by Saturn in the 12th H., where the unbidden blasts from the past reside in all of our charts. I watch Sun opp. Sat in natal charts closely, having read that this aspect is troublesome from mid life on. Seems to have been so here.
MANY PLANETS IN THE SECOND DECANATES OF SIGNS
Also, 12 of her natal placements, from the Sun through Lilith and MH, are in the second decanates. Other than prog. Sun at 3* Aries, which is formidable, she wasn't getting hit by the tr. Sa/Pl/Ur cardinal square. However, she was hit by it last year; perhaps her associations with drugs/dealers/unsavory influences deepened then and set the stage for now.
A TROUBLED NEPTUNE IS NOT A GOOD FRIEND
With a Pisces Ascendant or rising sign, her ruler is a troubled Neptune [music, drugs, fame, illusions] in Scorpio; it is the highest planet in the chart in the 8th h., and the focal point of a t-square with Saturn, troubling in the 12th, and Su/Ve in the 6th. Good sixth house influences produce the model employee. From her debut as a teen to the very last day of her life, she had a strong bond with mogul Clive Davis, her boss at Arista. She was such a good girl! She produced for him and everyone around her. But n. Nep. is disposited by Mars in Libra which is quincunx or 150* from the Asc and sextile Su/Ve.
QUINCUNXES: The illness aspect, yours or someone else's
Quincunxes mean illness/disease/discomfort, but one can subvert the meaning of a quincunx in one's chart by helping others with their illness. Hence we have the time honored tradition in courts of serving "time" by helping the less fortunate. I think the enormous pressure of being a superstar, and a fading one at that, sucked up too much energy for her to be more of a humanitarian. However, many other stars get it, i.e. volunteering their time in Haiti or Dar es Salaam or New Orleans is one way of countering the unhealthy effects of fame and its excesses.
During her final illness, my fellow Buddhist, Arline, happily told us as we chanted nam-myoho-renge-kyo, "See you next lifetime." With all due respect, see you next lifetime, Ms. Houston!
During her final illness, my fellow Buddhist, Arline, happily told us as we chanted nam-myoho-renge-kyo, "See you next lifetime." With all due respect, see you next lifetime, Ms. Houston!
