July 26th saw the passing of Sinéad O’Connor, the remarkable Irish singer with the incredible voice. She’d come on the scene in the late ’80s with a debut album that garnered some attention, and in the early ‘90s released a second album, I Do Not Want What I Have Not Got, which took her to the top of the charts. Her massive hit from that album was Nothing Compares 2 U, which was written by Prince, but had a stellar vocal quality that only Sinéad could offer. With that song and that voice, she endeared herself to fans worldwide.
Despite her popularity, her life was troubled and contentious. She grew up in a family where her mother was both physically and emotionally abusive. Besides which, her mother died in a car crash when Sinéad was relatively young, which left her with an unresolved trauma. For a time thereafter, she was a wild child, a school dropout getting into various kinds of trouble.
She was married four times and had five kids, the oldest of which later committed suicide in 2022, something that affected her deeply. But she was open about her troubled life, and admitted to mental health issues over the years. She was quite religious as well, and at one time was ordained as a Catholic priest, but later changed faith and embraced Islam.
She was in and out of the spotlight for all kinds of reasons aside from her music. For instance, she seemed fond of making outrageous statements, only to later withdraw them, whether due to her own conscience or public pressure. At one point she endorsed the Irish Republican Army, then retracted her support. Another time she declared she was a lesbian, then later said, not totally lesbian, just three quarters heterosexual. And yet, despite exhibiting the signs of being a troubled soul, she was still a brilliant talent.
In her horoscope, Saturn occupies its own sign Aquarius in a kendra, creating Sasha yoga, one of the highly-esteemed Pancha Mahapurusha yogas. This creates something of an archetype – a person who can be ascetic, austere, disciplined, enduring, organized, solitary, and strong as iron.
Sun and Mercury in the ascendant constitute a Budhaditya yoga, a mark of critical acumen, cognitive skills, and intelligence. Moon and Jupiter in mutual kendras create a Kesari yoga. Their placement in the 9th and 12th houses alludes to her spiritual nature, while the weakness of her 9th lord Moon as opposed to the double strength of Jupiter, her 2nd and 5th lord, helps to explain some of her vocal and contentious statements regarding the Catholic Church, especially with respect to child abuse.
But perhaps the most significant yoga in her chart is the Parivartana between Mars in Virgo and Mercury in Scorpio. This pattern is instrumental in explaining her combative stance in many aspects of her life, whether taking on the music establishment, the political establishment, or the religious establishment. She railed against them all. With this Parivartana, imagine in your mind’s eye Mars moving into the ascendant while Mercury exchanges into the 11th house. Now, with Mars in the ascendant, you get that antagonistic or combative personality. At the same time, that virtual Mars would aspect Saturn in the 4th. Meanwhile, Saturn in the 4th literally aspects the ascendant that Mars would occupy post-exchange. That pattern constitutes something of a self-destructive tendency which we can see only in light of the Parivartana yoga.
Aside from these yogas, Venus in the ascendant bestows aesthetic and artistic capacities. Thus, Venus alludes to her creativity, her writing skills, and her performance capacity. From the ascendant, Venus aspects its own sign Taurus in the 7th house and, although her relationships were troubled, she had an adoring fan base. Note that when we consider the 7th house of relationships, we can address personal relationships, but also one’s relationship with the world in general.
From the 11th house, Mars aspects its own sign Aries in the 6th, which reflects a competitive nature. And from the 9th house, Jupiter aspects its own sign Pisces in the 5th house, which reflects the love of her children, and her own personal cause in promoting the welfare of children in general.
As for her mental issues, we must assess the state of the manas, the operating system of the mind, the animalistic part of the brain which registers sense perceptions – sight, sound, taste, smell, and touch – and forms impressions that contribute to personality. To do this, we must examine the 4th house, its lord and the Moon. Problems arise when we find weakness in the relevant grahas, their poor placement by house, or influence from Saturn or Rahu/Ketu which are disruptive and deranging.
In her horoscope, 4th lord Saturn occupies its own sign, which is fine, but at 29deg38 it is sandhi, therefore unstable. More worrisome is the Moon, karaka for the manas, dark in the 12th house and associated with Ketu, absent any benefic influence. As a consequence, she suffered from a range of mental disorders – agoraphobia, borderline personality disorder, PTSD, and depression.
Her dark and afflicted moon in the 12th house remains a signature pattern, implying at one and the same time a difficult mother, a troubled domestic life, and mental distress. Her mom died during Rahu-Moon. Many years later in Jupiter-Moon she was hospitalized and put on suicide watch. Moon bhuktis were troubling for her, disturbing the tranquility of her mind.
One might well wonder, with Venus aspecting her own 7th house, and no other influences upon the 7th except for the Sun and Mercury, why was she married and divorced four times? For a clue to that, we must rotate her chart to Chandralagna. Then we see Rahu in the 7th house aspected by Saturn. Meanwhile, Mars lord of the Chandralagna 7th house has gone to the 12th.
She enjoyed much of her success during Jupiter dasha. Her Jupiter enjoys double strength – being both exalted and retrograde – and aspects her ascendant. Her breakout (Nothing Compares 2 U) came along in Jupiter-Saturn, the conjoined period of two powerful yoga-making grahas that both aspect her ascendant.
Saturn dasha ushered in some growing instability, and during this period she began to evidence mental health issues, and confess to them in public. She was under suicide watch at one point because she was so depressed. Her son Shane, her eldest child, committed suicide in January of 2022 when she was running Saturn-Jupiter. At that point she also began exploring her religious beliefs and eventually found something more comforting to her in Islam.
Overall, her life was a struggle, but it remains a testimony to her spirit that she was able to rise above it so often to produce music that left an enduring legacy. Indeed, many of her worldwide fans could say to Sinéad, “Nothing compares to you.”
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For a YouTube discussion of Sinead O’Connor’s horoscope, see https://youtu.be/wnbhbVdDg6g. Subscribe to my channel (https://www.youtube.com/@AlanAnnand) to stay abreast of more instructional videos dedicated to Jyotish (Vedic astrology).
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Alan Annand is a Vedic astrologer, palmist and author. He’s a graduate of the British Faculty of Astrological Studies and was for many years their sole tutor for students in USA and Canada. After being introduced to jyotish, he was certified by the American College of Vedic Astrology, and went on to enjoy advanced instruction from Hart de Fouw. Aside from consulting and tutoring, he has long been a professional writer, straddling the corporate and creative worlds. His New Age Noir crime novels feature an astrologer protagonist whom one reviewer has dubbed “Sherlock Holmes with a horoscope.” His books on Vedic astrology – Kala Sarpa, Parivartana Yoga, and Stellar Astrology, Vols 1-3 – have been praised for the quality of their research and writing. His latest book – Kama Yoga: Love, Marriage & Sexuality in Jyotish – is a complete guide to personal relationships as seen through the lens of Vedic astrology, and can be found on Amazon. http://www.amazon.com/Alan-Annand/e/B0052MM0PO
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