David Bowie Birth Chart, 8 January 1947, 9:00am, Brixton, London Rating B, www.astro.com

DAVID BOWIE’S BIRTH CHART

By examining David Bowies astrology chart, which many of us have now done as a tribute to the great legend, we can see how his astrology was a living breathing representation of his personality and life. Many hit songs and lyrics are revealed in his astrology chart. Discovering these connections makes us further realise as astrologers, how powerful the archetypal symbols of the planets, signs and houses are, in defining our characters and who we will become. For example, Venus is Bowie’s most elevated planet being the closest to the Midheaven the part of the chart that shows us what we aspire to be the most and what potentially we will be known for. Well yes, he became famous and the world loved him, he became a mega fashion icon, a leader in fashion trends, of being different, of following his own road. It all seemed so natural for him, he was just doing what he loved. His media and video’s of course broke new ground in so many areas, MTV, the digital world, sound experimentation came together as his unique Art. Venus rules what we love, like and want and what or who we are passionate about, as well as art, artists, aesthetics and cultural trends. Mostly, he had that unforgettable, most unique and powerful voice. Venus rules the voice and throat. In Sagittarius and in the 9th house Venus is was also the visionary, way ahead of her time,future oriented, with a focus on the meaning and philosophy of life, knowledge, the truth. For Bowie we see Venus in Sagittarius takes on the freedom to move boldly into the future, to be the gypsy, the metaphysician, the world traveler, the androgynous tart wearing latex and glitter and mesmerising his fans and the one who married an exotic Somalian supermodel goddess, Iman.

With VENUS in Sagittarius right on his world midheaven, the FAME spot in a chart, one of his top 10 hits was the song called Fame and other romantic, sensitive and touching songs we remember so well:

Fame
Golden Years
Sorrow
Heroes
Sound and Vision
China Girl
Suffragette City

David Bowie, was a Capricorn Sun, born David Robert Jones on January 8, 1947 in Brixton, London U.K. We are using the Birth Time, although with a B rating, found on astro.com website. This birth time, after studying life transits and other aspects of this chart seems quite spot on (Julija). Other birth times floating around are 9:10am or.9:15am, which move Bowie’s Leo Moon from the 7th to the 6th house, which I find takes away from the power of angularity (the angular houses have more impact in our astrology charts being in 1st,4th,7th,10th, as planets on angles also command more influence) of the Moon in Leo strong on the Descendant the 7th house cusp. This reinforces the showmanship and popularity of the man, with the Moon also in trine to Venus and the Midheaven. All perfectly fitting for Bowie’s persona and his life lived (we will explore this more in Part 2 of this article)

His 3 degree Aquarius Ascendant, Venus in Sagittarius on the Midheaven, Uranus in Gemini, Jupiter in the 9th house and all Leo planets describe his visionary, rebellious and daring signature, a revolutionary, higher-consciousness being. His androgynous appearance and proclaimed bi-sexuality made him a leader for many others which opened many to sexual taboos during the 70’s, inviting us all somehow to be a unique individual and just who we wanted to be. The symbol of lightning, a symbol belonging to the sky Gods, Uranus and Jupiter, freedom and rebellion and bringing in the new and fresh ideas, became one of the most famous icons for Bowie, boldly adorning Bowie’s face on the 1973’s “ALADDIN SANE” album cover. Now a lightning Bolt constellation has been named for Bowie, with 7 stars stemming from the fixed Star Spica within the constellation of Virgo.

The astronomers who picked the stars for the constellation write:
“Refer to his various albums, we chose seven stars — Sigma Librae, Spica, Alpha Virginis, Zeta Centauri, SAA 204 132, and the Beta Sigma Octantis Trianguli Australis — in the vicinity of Mars.”
Although strangely, the vicinity of Mars will soon be changing, this is where Mars is now in the sidereal landscape and but will be moving on. Their reasoning involves that Bowie sang about Mars, and nevertheless it will always remind us where Mars was at the time that Bowie left the planet. http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-01-18/david-bowie-astronomers-pay-tribute-with-constellation/7094720.
Currently Spica in the tropical zodiac is at 23° Libra right on the cusp of Bowies 8th and 9th house using the Porphyry house system. We’ll never think of Virgo holding a sheath of wheat anymore, but perhaps now also the lightning bolt to higher realms. (Please note this naming of the constellation has recently been debunked, but not sure maybe it will stick anyway!)

On Bowie’s ascendant we also find asteroid Pallas Athena, a somewhat androgynous female in mythology, born fully grown from the head of Jupiter, without a mother, who became the wise mentor, strategist and advisor to war and of heroes. She was widely worshipped and Athens was named after her, she was a goddess of culture, arts and crafts, bringing the gifts of weaving and the Olive Tree to the people. The naming of a constellation, and previously in January 2015 an asteroid was named after David Bowie , currently at 24° Sagittarius, Bowie born with this asteroid at 17° Scorpio, conjunct his Jupiter in the 9th house! Even streets around the world, take on the Pallas Athena theme and show his immense popularity.
Check out where asteroid David Bowie was when you were born!

URANUS the modern ruler of Aquarius(traditional Saturn) is in his 4th house, the house of his roots and upbringing, in GEMINI, the sign of the twins, conjunct to the North Node. He was born to break the mould, to do things differently. The song Aladdin Sane (A Lad Insane) stems from his fear of depression and schizophrenia as it ran in the family, with mother, aunt and older brother suffering from it. Terry, David’s half brother, was diagnosed as a manic depressive and schizophrenic and suicided when David was 38. A Gemini North Node focuses on communicating, media and remaining intellectually curious. In a more esoteric meaning Gemini represents the duality of life, integrating opposites, black and white, life and death, good and evil. NEPTUNE, fantasy, glamour, mystery in Libra, in the 8th house of partners, money, power and transformation is in trine aspect to Uranus and his North node, bringing in the fantasy, inventiveness, otherworldliness and super creative energy that was this man.
We hear many of these themes in songs like:

“Space Oddity” – 1969

“REBEL, REBEL, you’ve torn your dress, Rebel Rebel, your face is a mess, rebel rebel, how could they know, hot tramp I love you so.” – Rebel Rebel

“Wham Bam Thank You Ma’am!” – Suffragette City.

“Who will love Aladdin Sane” – Aladdin Sane

“Jean, Jeanie, let yourself go!” – Jean, Jeanie

“Changes, turn and face the strange” – Changes

” Ziggy played guitar, jamming good with Weird and Gilly,
And The Spiders from Mars.
He played it left hand, but made it too far,
Became the special man,
Then we were Ziggy’s Band” – Ziggy Stardust

“Blue, blue electric blue, that’s the colours of my room , where I will live” – Sound and Vision 1977

And many more

Bowie was a Capricorn Sun, an earthy, creative and hard-working business man and many of his songs perfectly describe Bowie’s Capricorn Sun conjunct Mars in the 12th house. The 12th house brings in the collective fervour that was his music, the chameleon-like person ever changing and tells of his struggles with addictions and his deeply creative, yet worldly wise spiritual side, (together with Neptune in the 8th house, and Jupiter in Scorpio). The 12th house is connected to the shamanic dreamtime, deception, illusion, magic, the genius and the insane, all of which feature in his art.
“ALADDIN SANE” previously mentioned also reveals the hounding by his own demons, he was a cocaine addict for many years. Ziggy Stardust’s, backup band were called the Spiders from Mars. These two planets together bring extra drive, passion and purpose to an individual and helped drive him towards his worldly fame. Mars is exalted in Capricorn yet makes confronting aspects to Uranus and Venus, showing the difficulties he had with the drive for self expression. David was an astute business man who protected the copyright of his music and invested wisely. Ruled by Saturn he aged well and had a long and prosperous career.

David’s Moon is conjunct retrograde Saturn and retrograde Pluto in Leo in his 7th house of others in our life, loves and marriage and this powerful combination indicates a past life karma of commanding power. Pluto is in harmonious aspect to his nodal axis and shows how he used his personality, Leo, what he felt right doing, Moon to structure an empowered life that was his, Saturn, and become a world changing individual, Pluto and 12th house Sun, and now so revered in his death. Of course his whole life was not a walk in the park, but filled with many ups and downs, extremes and personal tests. David was every inch the actor, a larger than life hero to many, a royal star a showman who refused a knighthood from the Queen, twice. He possessed an intense obsessive drive to creatively express himself and to be successful in his own right. Saturn rules his 12th house Sun and his Aquarius ascendant , making him both a hard worker and a visionary that could ground his visions and became a leader in his field. He seemed to burn with passion by doing so.

Saturn, Pluto and Moon themes come across in these songs in various ways:

“Life on Mars” –

“Serious Moonlight” –

“Time” –

“Ashes to Ashes” –

“ 1984 ” –

“Blackout”

“Heathen”

“Rock and roll suicide”

“The Man who sold the world” Perfectly describes Bowie’s Sun Mars conjunction in Capricorn sextile Jupiter in Scorpio with Pluto , Saturn and Moon in Leo in the 7th

Related to this aspect is another of David’s most alien like features, the enlarged pupil of his left eye. Caused by an injury from a jealous schoolboy’s punch in the spring of 1962, he had two eye operations. The left eye is ruled by the MOON, which conjunct Saturn and Pluto indicate eye problems, but literally symbolized enlarged visionary capabilities and suited his already different appearance and the Aquarius Ascendant. To ad to the the symbols and imagery of this signature, the Sabian symbol for his Saturn at 7° Leo is “A constellation of Stars”. The stars being a huge source of inspiration for him over the years. Definitely our kinda bloke!

Starman

Life on Mars

Lady Stardust

Ziggy Stardust

Blackstar

David Bowie , birth chart declination table

In all astrology charts we look for rarity, although no charts are ever the same , in astrology the rarity of what we find helps us to understand the individual we are working with or looking at. David Bowie’s birth chart features a rare Out Of Bounds Mercury at 24 degrees 23 minutes, by southern declination.(Planets beyond 23° declination are considered out of bounds as they move beyond the path of the Sun extremities North and South of the ecliptic) David communicated in an uninhibited and unabashed way. David’s androgyny stems from this Mercury placement in the 11th house of friends and and equals, as well as rules his 5th house, North Node and 8th house, adding to the futurist, rebel, dual natured individual with the many personas of the daring trickster in him. David’s Moon and Mars , Uranus and Pluto are all very close to the threshold of being O.O.B. also and should be included in understanding his unique talents and genius that went way beyond the norm.

Bowie’s South Node in Sagittarius at 11 degrees in his 10th House of worldly success is conjunct to the Great Attractor 14 ° Sagittarius. The G.A. is a massive gravity anomaly in intergalactic space whose mass is so large it sucks everything into it. According to Philip Sedgewick people with this point prominent have lives that impact the world in ways far beyond their perception. The G.A. aspect brings “around the bend” vision, a precognition of events. David could well be seen as a metaphysician in a past life.

Just to add a few fixed stars into Bowie’s astrological profile, we find two royal stars flank his North and South node, Aldebaran and Antares, both red coloured giant stars which add to the strength and purpose of who he was, what he came here for and what he ended up doing. Aldebaran, at the North Node is the star known as the Bullseye, the eye of the Bull in the constellation of Taurus. Aldebaran is the star of the East, denoting the great aim he had to push beyond and start new things, the east always associated with new beginnings. According to Vivian Robson, “it gives honor, intelligence, eloquence, steadfastness, integrity, popularity, courage, ferocity, a responsible position, public honors and a gaining of power” for anyone with this star prominent in their charts. Aldebaran also trines fame planet Neptune . Antares (anti Ares) at the South Node, is the heart of the Scorpion in the Scorpion constellation, recognised as the western gate of the heavens, is associated with mental alertness, strategic ability and having the courage of a dare-devil, which Bowie certainly bought with him into this world from the 10th house. The 10th house 4th house polarity shows almost the ease of his fame and his confidence, as though he’d had it before and knew how to handle it, the karmic growth the North Node would then be looked at as his evolutionary soul growth, the gorgeous song “Soul Love” comes to mind.

Not only that, the Black Moon Lilith, the collective visceral Moon shadow is conjunct the Galactic Centre at 27° Sagittarius in his 11th house. We can understand that to mean that on a collective level, he influenced so many to embrace the shadows and taboos of our times, sex, sexuality, drugs and now so famously death and what comes next. Together with David’s Jupiter in Scorpio in the 9th and his Venus Midheaven, he carried an extremely sexual appeal, he also had a most jovial and warm attitude to life, also personified by his Moon in Leo, always joking and laughing. Jupiter rules his South Node in the 10th house and shows a natural, yet sexy comedian and artist with a flair like no other. David’s sexy performances were legendary. His music is erotic, charismatic and powerful with a touch of occult and philosophical meanings strewn throughout.

“I had this more–than–passing interest in Egyptology, mysticism and the Kabbalah. At the time it seemed transparently obvious what the answer to life was. My whole life would be transformed into this bizarre nihilistic fantasy world of impending doom, mythological characters and imminent totalitarianism.”
– David Bowie, Musician, May 1983

“Quicksand”

“Here are we
One magical movement
from Kether to Malkuth” – Station to Station (referencing the Kabbalah)

See more here http://vigilantcitizen.com/musicbusiness/occult-universe-david-bowie-meaning-blackstar/

There could be no end in putting David Bowie songs, his art and creation and who he was with signatures in his astrology chart, this almost feels just like a sample. Yet for two big Bowie fans it reiterates doing what we love the most, learning astrology more through amazing and inspiring people.

Simply, as nothing is ever simple in astrology yet complex and multilayered, David’s Sun sign Capricorn, the Sun signifying our purpose and what we shine for in life, reaching new heights, climbing the top of the mountain, doing it our way, the best way we can and making a place for ourselves in this world shows David’s success. Capricorn is about harnessing the gifts of life and using them to our best advantage and capabilities, represented by the the blessings of the cornucopia of life. He used his gifts so well! Bowie has three Capricorn planets all ruled by Saturn, as is Aquarius his ascendent, Saturn itself is a strong planet angular and conjunct the Moon and Pluto and he leaves us with perhaps such a profound parting message of his death, Blackstar.

David was gracious, talented and a wonderful gift to our world. As a 12th house Capricorn joined and exalted Mars, David Bowie’s gifts were handed over to the collective, to live and vibrate for eternity and now resound amongst the undying Stars. With his Neptune in the 8th house, we will now also see the true artist, made even more famous, as a maverick, trickster that is remembered also by his death. His OOBounds Mercury squares Neptune in his 8th house of death and is the ruler of his North Node in the 4th house of endings. The North Node joined to the fixed star aldebaran, the final Bullseye of what he was to be on this planet Earth and perhaps a signal of where he is off to next. The ruler of his 5th house is also Mercury, house of creativity and individuality, as well as the ruler of his 8th house cusp of death and transformation.

Thankyou David Bowie, not only did you leave us all inspired with your songs and words, but now you have left us with a precedent for all contemplating the realm of death and in true uber cool Bowie fashion, like no one ever before. We will continue to be blessed with your eternal gift of sound and Vision!

For a list of 100 Bowie songs go listen here http://www.mojo4music.com/18149/david-bowie-100-greatest-songs/

The C*I*A have been big Bowie fans and made it our theme song for our Star Camps, our tribute from years ago https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BrkFNVGrddw

Find out more on the esoteric meanings of David Bowies works here:
From the Oxford astrologer http://www.oxfordastrologer.com/2016/01/bowie-turns-to-face-the-strange.html
and http://vigilantcitizen.com/musicbusiness/occult-universe-david-bowie-meaning-blackstar/