Amy Winehouse, dead at 27

The number of musicians who have died at age 27 (putting her in the sadly named “27 Club”) has just increased by one.  Amy Winehouse died Saturday July 23 of a drug overdose at her home in London.

I profiled Amy Winehouse back in 2007:

Amy Winehouse is a Virgo (see chart), the sign known for its reticent and modest behavior which just shows how little validity Sun Sign astrology has. There is another brand of Virgo which some call the “Radical Virgo” in which the famous Virgo powers of analysis and perfectionism are combined with other elements in the chart to create a more reactionary personality. Amy’s chart shows six planets in fire signs which keep her locked forever in a battle between the conservative side of her Virgo nature and the urge that the fire element evokes for a freer life.

Her Sun is squared by Neptune, the planet that dissolves the boundaries of ordinary reality. While this combination stimulates tremendous creativity, there can also be difficulty establishing boundaries and confusion over one’s own identity as defined by the Sun. Neptune conjoins her Moon which is another significator for creative brilliance as well as musical ability, but again there is a struggle to keep one’s feet on the ground. This strong Neptunian signature often suggests an individual who is either a saint or a drunk as the desire to transcend reality can go in either direction. …

This conjunction of Jupiter and Uranus is opposed by Chiron, a small planet in the Kuyper belt that signifies the Wounded Healer. When in a difficult aspect to other planets, Chiron indicates a deep psycho-emotional wound that doesn’t heal, but which ultimately serves as the guide to the individual’s ability to heal themselves. In Amy’s chart, Chiron is in Gemini which shows that this deep wound for her is in her ability to express herself to others. We see another indicator of that in the fact that Mercury is retrograde in her chart (meaning it appeared to move backwards at the time she was born). Chiron is also retrograde, suggesting that this wound runs deep. The opposition of Chiron to Uranus, which is not uncommon in individuals born between 1955 and 1985, has a well-documented tendency to evoke addictive behaviors because of its intense effect on the nervous system.

This is a dramatic combination of diverse planetary influences that can be difficult to reconcile, and Amy’s strong Neptunian influence facilitates her amazing creative expression but also creates delusion and illusion in her life. read the whole article here.

The 27 Club

Other musicians who died at the age of 27 include Jimi Hendrix, Brian Jones of the Rolling Stones, Janis Joplin, Jim Morrison and Kurt Cobain.  See this article for more information about the astrology of the 27 Club.

Astrologically this age is defined by the progressed lunar return – the time when the progressed Moon returns to the same degree as the natal chart.  (There is a second Return at around age 56-57 before the second Saturn Return, and if we’re lucky a third one as well.)  During the progressed lunar return there is an emotional opening that prepares us for the work of the Saturn Return.  During this time we are opened up in a way that can be painful for some since it necessitates a frank and honest awareness of who we are at the emotional level.

All of this would have been more difficult than usual for Amy Winehouse since transiting Chiron was (wounding and healing) making a challenging square to her natal Chiron and likely bringing up many past wounds in order to open her heart.  Because alcohol and drug addiction was her coping mechanism, it probably took more of those substances than usual to numb the pain.

Sadly, I suspect that this was an accidental overdose rather than intentional.