Amy Winehouse, Grammy winning singer, was found dead on Saturday July 23, 2011 at her London home.

A reader has asked about Amy Winehouse:
“She has four tight conjunctions. I am curious about what transits conspired against her to take her out?”

Amy Winehouse’s autopsy results aren’t yet in so this question presents a wee challenge. It is apparently “test the astrologer” time on the WWW. Certainly everyone loves a mystery, but the case of Amy Winehouse will make a better cautionary tale for the school kids than adult suspense fare.

Here is a tangent:

Transits cannot, and do not, “conspire” to take anyone out.

Why? because there are no hit-men in the heavens.

It is unreasonable to believe that any one person can be picked out to be a victim of an unavoidable fate. Each intelligent person has the ability to make a choice, although the transits might seriously tempt an individual to make bad choices or to remain complacent when a choice should be made.

Sorry, but a short time out to preach just a bit: It is ill-advised to analyze a “death chart” because the tendency is for everyone to see the aspects in the death chart in their own chart (or their friends’ charts or the chart of the friend of a friend) and immediately worry that they too will die from some exotic disease or accident. AN ETHICAL ASTROLOGER DOES NOT PREDICT DEATH UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES.

So to open this Pandora’s Box of troubles and look into Amy Winehouse’s chart it is necessary to offer this timely reminder that the very last thing that flew out of Pandora’s Box was HOPE.

No matter what is seen in this chart, or any other chart, remember that each individual makes dozens of choices EVERY DAY.  When you leave your home in the morning you choose to turn left or right or even go across the street. Where you end up at the end of the day depends upon this choice and many others. Everyone has the ability to overcome their natal aspects as well as their transits and progressions by using Intelligence and Prayer and making wise choices.

Here is what I say about the Winehouse chart:

Most people would not have died from transiting Mars creating a T-Square with a natal square between Mercury and Neptune (this T Square is easy to see without a birth time).

Mercury rules the lungs; Neptune can rule infections or hypersensitivity. Add Mars, and stir, to create a toxic mix.

This planetary geometry surely points to the potential for an accident as well as added sensitivity to chemical substances. Some people would have had a mildly bad day and some people would not have even noticed.

Accidents however do happen and that is why any school child knows not to walk out into the middle of a busy 4 lane highway, just as Winehouse surely knew better than to take drugs.

In 2008 Amy Winehouse was warned that her lungs were compromised by smoking and drug use and she underwent treatment for emphysema related conditions. She had been in and out of drug rehabs during the past few years, including a stay as recent as May 25th 2011 when she checked into the Priory Clinic for a week long stay. (see: http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-31749_162-20068315-10391698.html)

It also is interesting to see that transiting Chiron, the asteroid of impulsive behavior, was in square to Winehouse’s natal Jupiter (creating a T-Square that involved her natal Jupiter opposite natal Chiron).

When acting on an impulse a person with a substance abuse problem might say “I will just take one more pill.”

To paraphrase Alice in Wonderland, one pill makes you larger and one pill makesyou small, but the one Amy Winehouse took was the last one for her at all.

If we continue on track with the idea of impulsive behavior then perhaps the worst impulsive behavior is represented by Saturn and Chiron. We already pointed out that transiting Chiron was powerfully situated in a turbulent aspect to the Winehouse planets. Add to this the fact that the transiting Saturn/ Chiron midpoint was opposing the transiting Mars mentioned above and conjunct her natal Neptune, on July 23. This formed a square to her Mercury.

So we have much more than JUST transiting Mars making a T-Square to her natal Mercury/Neptune square. We have the transiting Saturn/ Chiron midpoint involved and this is a crucial midpoint that can represent impulsive behavior that results in dire consequences.

In May when she was admitted for a short stay in a drug/ psychiatric clinic the transiting Saturn/ Chiron midpoint was, oddly enough, also at 23 degrees, but Retrograde. By July 23 this point was not only fully direct but just a few tenths of a degree past its position in May, and closer to the Mercury/Neptune natal square.

It is almost as though she saved herself in May, only to succumb in July.

Click chart to enlarge.

That natal Mercury/Neptune square actually is part of natal T-Square that involves Vesta. Vesta is the most closely aspected body in her natal planetary configuration. We can further point out that the transiting Saturn/Chiron midpoint was opposite her natal Vesta, while transiting Vesta simultaneously was opposed to her natal Saturn/Chiron midpoint. Wow. Does this imply that her friends were somehow involved in her demise? Was she trying to keep up with her circle of friends? Only God (and maybe forensics) can know for sure.

We can even point out that transiting Saturn had just crossed Amy Winehouse’s natal Saturn/Sun midpoint. That is definitely a point that can be related to the health and long term consequences.

We will not say that she caused her own death. But it is also true that the transits did not kill her.
Since May there had been many wake-up calls, but the fact remains that Amy Winehouse chose NOT to answer them.

But as we all know, Character is Destiny.

This woman had a choice about taking drugs and getting help. Amy Winehouse had the money and connections to obtain the best medical treatment possible. She had health problems and substance abuse problems that forced her to sign into a rehab in May and to cancel a tour in June.

Although the autopsy results are not in it is almost certain that a drug, possibly a prescription drug, caused her death. When someone’s natal Neptune is in a square with a personal planet and then is under siege by transits, that person will be much more sensitive to drugs, chemicals and environment so it is likely that a heightened sensitivity to a substance was the culprit.

But here is yet one more thing about Amy Winehouse: in her progressed chart Saturn and Juno are in an applying opposition. The progressed chart tells much about the trends in a person’s life and she could be fooled, could be gullible, or could be hoodwinked. She might have even convinced herself that she was doing the right thing, suffered from wishful thinking, or misunderstood the instructions on a bottle that said take one. (Maybe she thought that “2 X a day” meant one now and one in an hour.)

The transiting Moon crossed her natal Saturn/Juno opposition on July 23rd.

Did THIS kill her? Absolutely not. That is totally ridiculous. (i.e., there is no hit man in the heavens)

But it might have created a brief period of time when her ability to differentiate between fact and fantasy was off center (or, rather, more off center than usual).

Just because someone is famous or talented or rich does not mean they are smart or that they have caring friends or even employees to protect them from their own bad choices.

It is a very sad matter to contemplate.

God Bless you all. And remember that although there are no Hit Men in the Heavens there might be Angels.