Prince: Are we gonna let de-elevator bring us down?

“Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today 2 get through this thing called life.”

Prince was hailed as an innovator, and known for his flamboyant stage presence, vocal range and guitar virtuosity. His music integrated a wide variety of styles that included rock, R&B, funk, soul, psychedelia and pop. He was a singer, songwriter, record producer and multi-instrumentalist. If anyone was capable of carrying a whole career on his shoulders, he had the chops for every aspect of it.

He sold over 100 million records worldwide, making him one of the best-selling artists of all time. He won seven Grammy Awards, a Golden Globe Award and an Academy Award. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and was ranked by Rolling Stone at #27 of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time.

Prince was born as Prince Rogers Nelson on June 7th, 1958, at 6:17 PM in Minneapolis, Minnesota. (Note: all positions in the sidereal zodiac.)

His chart presents something of an enigma, because it seems to have few of the elements that we typically expect for a performing artist of such stature. Nonetheless, there are a few positive yogas that promise success:

• Venus, his ascendant lord (functioning here as a trinal lord) associates with a strong Ketu in the 7th house to form Raja Yoga. Since Venus is the only true planet in kendras, its association with the arts is obvious, while the nodal axis invokes the innovation for which he was famous.
• Saturn and Mercury, lords of the 4th and 9th houses, mutually aspect each other to form Dharma Karma Adhipati Yoga.
• Saturn and the Sun, lords of the 5th and 11th houses, mutually aspect each other to form Dhana Yoga.
• Mercury and the Sun, lords of the 9th and 11th houses, associate to form yet another Dhana Yoga.

And yet, there are also a couple of yogas that presage difficulties in life:

• Papadhi Yoga is formed with three malefics – Mars, Ketu and the Sun – in a mala across the 6th, 7th and 8th houses. This concentrates negative energy in the 7th to aspect the ascendant, and can cause health problems.
• Shakata Yoga is formed with the Moon and Jupiter in a 6/8 relationship, thus invoking a bumpy ride with ups and downs in life. With Jupiter, the karaka of children in the 12th, and the Moon in the 5th, one of the problem areas would be children.

His parents were both African-American with musical backgrounds – his father a pianist and songwriter, his mother a jazz singer. His parents separated when Prince was 10 and, after being shuffled back and forth between parents and relatives, he was later brought up by a neighbor’s family.

“Are we gonna let de-elevator bring us down? Oh, no, let’s go! Let’s go crazy!”

As a child he was subject to fits of epilepsy, probably symptomatic of the nodal axis running through his ascendant, but he mysteriously out-grew the condition.

Since 2005 he was a candidate for double hip replacement, but it’s not entirely clear if he had the surgery or, as a Jehovah’s Witness, refused the operation on religious grounds because it would have required a blood transfusion. In any case, he was apparently often in pain in his later years, and allegedly taking Percocet for relief.

The hips are ruled by the 9th house. Its lord Mercury is in the 8th, afflicted by both the Sun and Saturn. Meanwhile, Jupiter, the generic ruler of the hips, is afflicted in the 12th.

Although slight of build and shy (both perhaps courtesy of that Papadhi Yoga), Prince played basketball in high school. He also began writing songs and performing in local bands in the mid-70s. This was the onset of his Jupiter dasha. In its period, Jupiter gives results for its star-lord (nakshatra dispositor) Mars in the Pisces 6th, whose sign Jupiter both owns and aspects. This 6th-house emphasis invoked Prince’s competitive streak, and the entire dasha was pretty much an unbroken string of successes.

He signed a recording contract with Warner Brothers during Jupiter-Saturn and released his first album, on which he played all 27 instruments. He released his second album Prince in Jupiter-Mercury, double album 1999 in Jupiter-Venus, and Purple Rain in Jupiter-Sun. He won an Academy Award for Best Original Song Score (Purple Rain) in Jupiter-Moon. Note that Moon is his 10th lord and, through its star-lord Rahu also invokes the support of both Venus (fame) and Mars (earning power).

With the shift into Saturn dasha, things got bumpy. There were internal problems with band dynamics and financial losses on tours with too-elaborate stage sets. He was forced by Warner to sign away publishing rights for other considerations. He accelerated his production schedule in order to finish his obligations to his recording company, with some inevitable losses of quality. He changed his name to further distance himself from his history with Warner.

Interestingly, the unpronounceable symbol that he chose for his moniker was based on the western astrology glyphs for Venus and Mars, and was sometimes referred to as The Love Symbol. As it turns out, both Venus and Mars aspect his ascendant, and both planets are invoked by the presence of the nodal axis through his ascendant.

He married for the first time in Saturn-Ketu. Ketu occupies the 7th house. Unfortunately, so does Venus, and thus forms karako bhavo nashto, a problem for marriage when Venus is afflicted, as it certainly is in this case, sitting on the nodal axis and being flanked by Mars and the Sun. Mars as 7th lord in the 6th is also a spoiler of marriage.

A son was born in Saturn-Venus, only to die one week later. 5th lord Saturn is retrograde albeit afflicted by the Sun. The Moon in the 5th is ordinary and unaspected by any planet. The karaka for children, Jupiter, is afflicted in the 12th.

His first divorce came in Saturn-Sun. Sun gives results for its star-lord Mars which, as 7th lord in the 6th, threatens disruptions to any marital regime.

He married again in Saturn-Moon. Moon gives results for Rahu, which invokes Venus in the 7th and Mars in the 6th, both the making and unmaking of relationship. He divorced in Saturn-Jupiter. Jupiter gives results for its star-lord Mars (occupant of the 6th) and itself (lord of the 6th), something of a double-whammy against marriage.

Although Prince was romantically linked with many celebrities, including Apollonia, Carmen Electra, Kim Basinger, Madonna, Sheila E., Sherilyn Fenn and Vanity, monogamy was never really in the stars for him. As his first wife put it, Prince preferred relationships in which he was able to relate without any hint of “bondage.”

Throughout his career, Prince was a fierce litigator against any unauthorized use of his music or videos. Mars in the 6th is all the evidence we need for his occasional temper tantrums, his competitive streak and a legal team at his beck and call to take down any videos that appeared on YouTube or fan sites.

On April 21, 2016, Prince was found dead in an elevator in his Paisley Park compound outside Minneapolis. He was running Mercury-Moon-Jupiter. Dasha lord Mercury occupies the 8th and owns the 12th.

Bhukti lord Moon gives results for Rahu, which in turn invokes 8th lord Venus and Mars occupying the 6th. In addition, Mars is a double maraka owning the 2nd and the 7th, while Venus is a single maraka occupying the 7th.

Antara lord Jupiter gives results for its star-lord Mars as above, and also for itself, as an occupant of the 12th and lord of the 6th.

Transits at the time of death fulfilled many expectations of KP analysis. Transiting Jupiter was in a Venus nakshatra; Venus is a maraka. Transiting Sun was in a Ketu nakshatra; Ketu is a maraka, acting for its dispositor Mars and its associate Venus, both marakas. Transiting Moon was in a Mars nakshatra; Mars is a maraka. The transiting lagna was in Rahu nakshatra; Rahu is proxy for Mars and Venus, both marakas.

As Prince once sang in his song Let’s Go Crazy, “In this life, things are much harder than in the afterworld. In this life, you’re on your own.”

~~~

Alan Annand, astrologer and palmist, is a graduate of the American College of Vedic Astrology and the British Faculty of Astrological Studies. He is the author of several books, both fiction and non-fiction. 

Stellar Astrology offers astrological techniques, in-depth celebrity profiles, and analysis of world events, while Parivartana Yoga is a reference text for one of the most common yet powerful planetary combinations in jyotish.

His NEW AGE NOIR crime novels (Scorpio Rising, Felonious Monk, Soma County) feature astrologer and palmist Axel Crowe, whom one reviewer has dubbed “Sherlock Holmes with a horoscope.”

Websites: www.navamsa.com, www.sextile.com

You can find his books on Amazon, Apple, Barnes&Noble, Kobo and Smashwords.