alanis_3Alanis Morissette started acting at 10, had her own record company at 14, went platinum with her debut album at 17, and at 21 came out of nowhere (Ottawa, Canada) to sell 33 million albums worldwide with Jagged Little Pill.

Morissette was born June 1st, 1974, at 9:39 AM in Ottawa, Canada.

Alanis has the chart of an artist. Ascendant lord Moon is bright in a sign of Venus. Moon and Venus exactly oppose and mutually aspect each other in kendra/angular houses 4 and 10. Aside from being a Dharma-Karma Yoga (ruling houses 1 and 4), this is also a generic artist’s yoga. In fact, the very tight opposition between Moon and Venus also means that the two will mutually stimulate each other in all of the amshas/vargas, the harmonic charts so unique to Jyotish.

Morissette’s birth time courtesy of Astrotheme.com. Note all planetary positions are with respect to the sidereal zodiac, as per Vedic astrology.

chart-alanis-morisetteHer 5th lord (where the mind goes, drama, spiritual practice) is Mars, debilitated in the lagna/ascendant, from where it aspects ascendant lord Moon. Mars was activated right from birth because Alanis was born into the dasa (major period) of an exalted Rahu, one of whose functions is to do the work of its dispositor Mars. Thus was born a spiritual warrior.

Among the few yogas in her chart is a Viparita Yoga. Viparita is formed when all three trikasthana (6-8-12) house lords also occupy trik houses. Alanis has a perfect example. Mercury and Saturn, the 8th and 12th lords, occupy the 12th house. The other trik lord Jupiter, ruling the 6th, sits in the 8th from where it also happens to aspect Mercury and Saturn. All three trik lords are in trik houses, and further linked by Jupiter’s aspect.

Viparita Yoga tends to cause a sudden and unexpected rise in life, often as the result of a mishap. Viparita means inverted, contrary, reversed. It’s the astro-logical equivalent of algebraic math, where multiplying two negative numbers produces a positive number.

Her Viparita Yoga involves all three trik lords: Jupiter, Saturn, and Mercury, who just happen to follow each other in Vimshottari dasa sequence. That means that when her Jupiter dasa begins, its first three bhuktis (sub-periods) will be Jupiter, Saturn and Mercury. And when the combined periods of those dasa and bhukti lords run, they will bring the results of their Viparita Yoga – sudden unexpected rise.

alanis_2When Rahu dasa ended and Jupiter dasa began, the Viparita Yoga was activated. Alanis was 16. Within the next four years, she wrote songs and performed and made two dance/ballad albums under the name Alanis. In 1995, when she was 21, Jagged Little Pill was released under her full name, selling 33 million units worldwide, the biggest international debut album ever. Suddenly she was a major star.

But what was the mishap out of which it grew? Alanis was mugged in 1993 during her JU-SA period but her reaction to it was delayed for more than a year, until Xmas 1994, after which she went through a long period of crying jags and fainting spells.

Jupiter lord of the 6th brings confrontation and illness, while in the 8th, trauma. Saturn lord of the 8th in the 12th brings trauma, secret enemies, and loss, but also catharsis. And out of personal adversity came her fiercely creative reaction. In June 1995, just as she was shifting into Mercury bhukti, Jagged Little Pill was released.

Mercury is the third trik lord of her Viparita Yoga, powerful in its own sign, and the strongest planet in her chart. During their bhuktis, both Saturn and Mercury do work for Rahu, because they occupy Ardra, one of Rahu’s nakshatras.

Rahu in the 5th will express itself with drama (Rahu can be flashy), anger (Mars is Rahu’s dispositor) and angst (Rahu is deranged, and Mars is debilitated). Indeed, Jagged Little Pill summed up the anger and angst of adolescence. Since then, she’s gone on to write many other albums, and continued her acting career, appearing off-Broadway, in TV series like Nip/Tuck and Weeds, and in a number of films.

alanis_51She went into Saturn dasa in 2006, another of the trik lords that keep the Viparita Yoga going. Saturn as lord of the 7th house placed in the 12th is not a promising indicator of marital stability. Alanis was engaged for three years to actor Ryan Reynolds. Although they met late in Jupiter dasa, he broke it off early in Saturn dasa, in Saturn bhukti. It affected her deeply, and spurred more soul-searching and scathing songwriting.

She’s since married and had her first child in Mercury bhukti. Just as JU-ME delivered fame and fortune, SA-ME delivered happiness in her personal life. Indeed, success of some sort is exactly what we expect from the bhukti of a strong planet. During its period, Mercury participates in the “turnaround” results of Viparita Yoga. It also works for its nakshatra dispositor Rahu in the 5th, thus producing romance and a child.

What lies ahead? For the balance of Saturn dasa, let’s expect divorce and remarriage, and a continued career mix of music and acting. After age 51, in Mercury dasa, she’ll become a philanthropist, take up foreign residency, write a book, and disappear from the limelight to embrace spiritual life.

And what it all comes down to, is that everything’s gonna be fine, fine, fine…