Tag: music

In the Key of Sagittarius: Benjamin Clementine

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Although he was born on December 7, 1988, Benjamin Clementine sounds like he’s lived for a thousand years. Wow. Here is his chart. Sadly no birth time. But I think you can hear that Sagittarian freedom and wildness in the way he unleashes his voice. And the generation with Neptune in Capricorn is really able to plumb musical soul-depths. His lyric writing also bursts out of bounds. I suppose “genius” is quite a Sagittarian word. Clementine is certainly someone who breaks mental boundaries — another Sagittarian speciality It’s been noted by astrologer John Etherington that around 15° Sagittarius-Gemini crops up […]

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In the Key of Virgo: Leonard Cohen

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The great Leonard Cohen: born on this day, September 21, 1936. Ascendant and Sun are both at 27° Virgo — a great heart — and they make a perfect square to the MC in Gemini (a career as a wordsmith). The two planets of art, Venus and Neptune, are also exactly conjunct too — at 12° Virgo in the 12th house of the collective soul. Cohen’s music has, arguably, now reached a wider audience even than his brilliant peers Joni Mitchell or Bob Dylan — with the incredible success of that one tune Hallelujah, reinterpreted over and over for each generation. […]

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In the Key of Virgo: Beyoncé

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It’s easy to see that Beyoncé must have a powerhouse of planets in the sign of partnership — Libra — after all she is one half (arguably the more glamorous half) of the most powerful marriage in showbiz. She was born on this day, September 4, in 1981 Indeed, Beyoncé has Venus and Pluto in Libra Rising. No wonder she’s famous for her powerful sexual charisma, and her straight-up good looks. Not only that, she has Mercury, Jupiter and Saturn in Libra too — no wonder she likes to write about relationships — for her they are endlessly complex and […]

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RIP Aretha Franklin

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Aretha Franklin brought everyone who listened to her glorious voice closer to heaven while she was here on earth. She seemed to her audience like a living vessel for the divine. Her voice seemed to effortlessly catalyse emotions. Just a quick look at her chart is instructive. • There is her label “Queen” of Soul. Look what she has rising: Juno, the Queen, in Scorpio, the deepest sign of all. • Moon (soul) is in Cancer, it’s own sign, so super-powerful, and making an exact trine to her Mercury in musical Pisces. Mercury tells us how we communicate — and […]

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Venus in Aries: Miles Davis’ Bitches Brew

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In the early spring of 1970, jazz fans were only talking about one album — a rich, textured blast of sound played with freestyle mastery and driven by an enormous rhythm section. Miles Davis, the prince of cool, had plugged in and gone electric. Not only was Davis’ use of electrical instruments an innovation on Bitches Brew, so was his use of post-production techniques in the studio. The double album was recorded over three short days in August 1969, but Davis went on to edit, layer, insert and resplice in the studio for months with his producer Teo Macero. The result was a chef d’oeuvre that spawned a new genre — […]

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In the Key of Pisces: Adam Levine

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Last year, we featured  a series of musicians born during the month of Pisces — one for each day, but there were just too many to fit in. Here is Adam Levine, another for our sweet-sounding Pisces male voice choir, that includes James Taylor, Chris Martin, Nat King Cole, George Harrison, Tom Chaplin and Kurt Cobain. Adam Levine’s smart, sexy band Maroon 5 have made a whole bunch of hits. This one shows off his voice well and that talented pattern connecting Venus (sugar) – Pluto (sex) – Neptune (music). And then there’s Tom Chaplin, Keane’s frontman and singer.

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In the Key of Pisces: Tom Chaplin

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Tom Chaplin, of the British band Keane, sings with all the tortured melancholy you’d expect from a fish-boy with Sun squaring Neptune, the planet of music. That Neptune is in Sagittarius, the sign of excess, so it also comes as no surprise that Chaplin has had his share of drug problems. One of his most beautiful compositions, Somewhere Only We Know, expresses all the nostalgic yearning that you’d expect from a Moon in Cancer — an emotional powerhouse, vulnerable and strong. His latest solo effort is, of course, called The Wave — and it’s an almost uncanny musical description of what it’s like to […]

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In the Key of Pisces…week one

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Last year, The Oxford Astrologer published a post on a musician every day during the month of the fishes — that most musical of signs. In case you missed it — or would like to do it all over again. Here is the list and links for the first week… Many, many musicians were born with the Sun in Pisces, so I’ll be adding some more this year as we go through the month. First off, the inimitable yet much imitated Nancy Wilson.. February 19 — Seal February 20 — Kurt Cobain and Randy California I’ve found a new video […]

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In the Key of Pisces: Nancy Wilson

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So versatile, so clear, so direct: there’s no one like Nancy Wilson. I love her easy listening albums from the late 1960s/early 1970s (which included some of the best interpretations of Latin American music in English). They sparkle. Her voice is so pure and powerful, but it’s her ability to tell a story that puts her in another league. Happily, she also fits both of this week’s astrological criteria: Sun in Pisces and Venus in Aries (and yes, she does wear red more often than any other colour on her album covers). The sharp, sweet, direct delivery must be that Venus in Aries Rising. Wilson has […]

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Magnified, Sanctified: Leonard Cohen

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A poet, a mystic, a lover, a joker — a man. Leonard Cohen, who died last week at the age of 82, wrote complexly layered lyrics, with deceptively simple tunes. His songs coil and then unwind, as images and fragments of stories twist freely into your imagination. “There is no God in Heaven And there is no Hell below So says the great professor Of all there is to know But I’ve had the invitation That a sinner can’t refuse And it’s almost like salvation It’s almost like the blues” — from Almost Like The Blues Cohen’s works are crafted like intricate jewellery, […]

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