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.