Whitney Houston - Pisces

I feel a bit ghoulish about this but several people have asked me if her chart can give us some insight as to the tragedy of Whitney Houston. The answer is fairly clear when we see her first house. Whitney was born with Pisces rising and more importantly she had a retrograded Chiron, the sacred wound asteroid, on her first house cusp. The shadow of Pisces is illusion and escapism. Pisceans in a tail spin will want to leave reality and addiction is a big problem. With her wound issue also in Pisces and right on the cusp of her personality house - which is basically I don't feel worthy to connect to the universe - I am not worthy of spiritual blessings - we can see how her demons had to be huge.

Pisces is ruled by Neptune and her Neptune ironically was in Scorpio and in the 8th house - the house which vibrates to Scorpio energy. Scorpio is a very dramatic sign and the 8th house is the house of death and transformation. It would be too pop-psychology to say she had a death wish but the idea of challenging death of going to the edge - would have been fascinating to her.

That Leo Sun conjunct Venus gave her the artistic talent and that huge collection in the 7th house - the house of intimate relations - how we connect to the other showed how she reached us deeply with her talents.

Your birth chart is an indicator of what you are dealt...it isn't set in stone. She wasn't "doomed" at birth nor did she have to develop her considerable talents. We have free will. However, some people are dealt harder hands than others.