Join the Club: What’s the Deal with Rock Stars Dying at Age 27?

It’s fitting that I should revisit moments of the first issue of my zine, Astrobabble, in the light of Amy Winehouse’s death on 23 July 2011.

For those of you lucky enough to score yourselves that ripper first issue, you will recall that I banged on about the Progressed Lunar Return at age 27, coupled with Neptune completing one third of its orbit around the horoscope. There is an emotional and spiritual preamble during this time that prepares us for the work of the Saturn Return at approximately age 29. How we handle this lead-in depends on our development in the world up to this point. Young luminaries such as Jim Morrison, Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix, Brian Jones, Kurt Cobain, and Amy Winehouse rarely had the opportunity to develop spiritually and emotionally, having morphed into archetypes and losing their individuality to the collective in a blatantly open manner.

The Progressed Lunar Return phase can expose us in a way that can be painful since it necessitates brutal honesty of who we are as emotional and spiritual beings. In the case of Winehouse, transiting Chiron squaring her natal Chiron would have exacerbated this issue, reopening old wounds. Winehouse had a Virgo Sun. Those born with either a Virgo or a Pisces signature struggle with the polarity of addiction (Pisces) versus recovery (Virgo), an issue that needs addressing and rebalancing in this incarnation. There is rarely equilibrium for these souls.

Both Kurt Cobain (Pisces Sun) and Amy Winehouse (Virgo Sun) were casualties of the dying Age of Pisces. They publically displayed symptoms of collective disease: drug abuse, depression, anxiety, and psychosomatic illness. Their Progressed Lunar Returns intensified their susceptibility to environmental disorders in the current, unstable transition from the Age of Pisces to the Age of Aquarius.

Having said all this, there is great potential for growth and transformation if we manage the Progressed Lunar Return adequately, but we must be willing to open ourselves to new possibilities of awareness. It’s unfortunate that the lesson arrived too late for some. May they Rest In Pieces.