RIP Aretha Franklin

Thursday August 16th 2018

Aretha Franklin brought everyone who listened to her glorious voice closer to heaven while she was here on earth. She seemed to her audience like a living vessel for the divine. Her voice seemed to effortlessly catalyse emotions.

Just a quick look at her chart is instructive.

• There is her label “Queen” of Soul. Look what she has rising: Juno, the Queen, in Scorpio, the deepest sign of all.

• Moon (soul) is in Cancer, it’s own sign, so super-powerful, and making an exact trine to her Mercury in musical Pisces. Mercury tells us how we communicate — and Aretha’s is right on her South Node (exactly). That Node connects us to the past, to the spirit — and here in Pisces to the infinite world soul. But the other end of that axis is in precise, crafted Virgo in the 10th house of career.

• Sun in Aries, acting as the perfect channel for spirit. One of the reason, Franklin was magnificent was because of her attacking style. She grabbed a song by the neck and shook it up. Listen to what she does to Bridge Over Trouble Water, for example. The Sun is empowered by a trine from Pluto in dazzling Leo.

Franklin’s musicality, her perfect timing and her perfect diction are there in every recording. She delivers a song, making every word count. She never sang a song she couldn’t feel. Her deep understanding of the lyrics shines through and illuminates the words. And there is that understanding in that Jupiter in the songsmith’s sign Gemini, expanding her repertoire. Jupiter is sharpened by Mars, and what is more, it’s in mutual reception with that Mercury in Pisces. This mutual reception strengthens both Jupiter and Mercury. Both planets are supposedly in “bad” signs — well, you can hear how inaccurate that is. That Gemini side of her also showed in her willingness to experiment with styles from gospel to hip hop to opera.

She had a wonderful life and leaves a lasting legacy (Vesta in Capricorn).

Jupiter, in his guise as the angle of death, is on her Ascendant, while Neptune, directing that choir of angels, makes a perfect trine aspect from Pisces. A great soul has joined the chorus in the sky today.

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  1. mimi says:

    Mars has been in opposition to her Pluto in the recent weeks, she could not win this battle and Juno is in opposition to her ascendant, the queen has gone, Mercury retrograde – her singing stopped.

    May she rest in peace, I loved her music very much.

    mimi

  2. Christina says:

    I love this description from the NYT of the impact of Respect sung by Aretha Franklin. “Nothing that’s over so soon should give you that much strength. bBut that was Aretha Franklin: a quick trip to the emotional gym.” How’s that for Aries Sun/Cancer Moon!

    • mimi says:

      I can relate to that, I too am an Aries Sun / Cancer Moon. Deep feelings that have to be expressed somehow. She did that brilliantly.

      One minor difference : I can’t sing like her.

      mimi

  3. Lu Sadler says:

    Beautifully written, Christina.

  4. mimi says:

    Hi Christina,
    Aretha Franklin (Aries) died on Friday and yesterday we learned of the death of Mr. Kofi Annan (Aries) and on Friday in Holland we heared of the death of one of our comedy actors (Aries too).

    Would you say this has to do with the retrograde of Mars and Mercury or is something else going on in the sign of Aries ???

    mimi

    • Christina says:

      I wondered that too. I wish we had a birth time for Annan, such an interesting man.

      Well, there’s the square from Pluto to Annan’s Aries Sun, and the square from Saturn to Aretha’s Aries Sun — as well as that Mars Retrograde into Capricorn. So we’ve got three Rx planets squaring Aries. Plus Aries’ ruler Rx.

      • mimi says:

        I wonder if these are the only deaths in this period or will there be more famous people going to pass away.

        I’ve noticed this before, when Grace Kelly died there were some other famous people (actors) dying around her date of death. I remember I found that so weird and astonishing.

        mimi

  5. Christina says:

    Hmm mimi — so it turned out to be not another Aries, but another public servant of great integrity, John McCain.