This Just In From Seattle Music History!!! This Goes Out To Everyone with a little extra thanks to #JamesWillis
Rock legends Jimi Hendrix and Kurt Cobain may have reigned during different eras, but there are more than just a few parallels between them.
Many are obvious, surface parallels: they both played guitar left-handed, they were both from northern Washington State, they both radicalized the music industry while fronting hard rock trios, and they both died tragically at the age of twenty-seven. But to an astrologer, their similarities are much more significant:
Jimi Hendrix: November 27, 1942, 10:15 a.m. PWT; Seattle WA [1] |  |
Kurt Cobain: February 20, 1967, 7:20 p.m. PST, Aberdeen WA [2] |  |
Days that changed everything
 | On September 1, 1957, fourteen year-old Jimmy Hendrix attended an Elvis Presley concert at Sicks' Stadium in Seattle.[3] Presley was at the peak of his fame, and his tour through the Northwest that week included a series of intense fan rioting. |
 | Jimmy couldn't help but absorb some of the more notable factors he observed in Presley’s success: his wild stage antics - the impact of which wouldn't be repeated until he (as "Jimi") took the stage a decade later - and the fact that he inspired awe by crossing racial boundaries with music. |
The Little Rock Nine crisis in Arkansas - whereby nine black students were challenging segregation in schools - was just heating up that same month. It would only take the small miracle of an Elvis concert experience to awaken the imagination of a young mixed black and Cherokee teenager to the possibility that some forbidden lines were ready to be crossed...
 | On September 25, 1985, seventeen year-old Kurt Cobain attended a Black Flag concert at the Mountaineer Club in Seattle, for which he sold his record collection so that he could afford to go. [4] |
 | Kurt,
already an avid rock fan, found his ideal vision of what a rock band
should be – musically and otherwise – when he saw them play that night.
The hardcore punk band, which had been releasing its own records since
forming in 1978, was a lightning rod of passionate anti-commercialism
crammed in the face of the commercial music industry. By the time Kurt saw Black Flag that night, the band had morphed its look and sound from a more basic punk rock style – Mohawk haircuts or shaved heads playing short, fast songs laced with acerbic humor – to a heavier, Black Sabbath-inspired sound, delivered by band members sporting long rocker hair and gritted teeth. |
Kurt imagined starting a band that could sound, look and exist as Black Flag did, defiantly producing music exclusively on it own terms...
Initiation Rituals
What is curious about these two concert events, in astrological terms, is that they both happened at times when transiting outer planets were making ingresses (moving from one sign to another). The changing of signs for outer planets tends to coincide with major cultural shifts, representing a new context to correspond with a new era.
 | At the time of Elvis Presley’s Seattle concert, transiting Pluto had just recently made an ingress (entered) into the sign of Virgo and transiting Neptune into the sign of Scorpio. |
 | During the time of the Black Flag concert, transiting Pluto had recently moved into Scorpio, and transiting Neptune was between its first and second ingresses into the sign of Capricorn. |
By the time these transiting outer planets were at the end of these same signs, these two adolescent boys would both be dead - by which time they had grown into men who shook the world with their music.
Considering their influence on these impressionable teenagers, these two concerts were like tribal initiation rituals, aimed at transferring command of the zeitg
Rock legends Jimi Hendrix and Kurt Cobain may have reigned during different eras, but there are more than just a few parallels between them.
Many are obvious, surface parallels: they both played guitar left-handed, they were both from northern Washington State, they both radicalized the music industry while fronting hard rock trios, and they both died tragically at the age of twenty-seven. But to an astrologer, their similarities are much more significant:
Jimi Hendrix: November 27, 1942, 10:15 a.m. PWT; Seattle WA [1] | |
Kurt Cobain: February 20, 1967, 7:20 p.m. PST, Aberdeen WA [2] | |
Days that changed everything
| On September 1, 1957, fourteen year-old Jimmy Hendrix attended an Elvis Presley concert at Sicks' Stadium in Seattle.[3] Presley was at the peak of his fame, and his tour through the Northwest that week included a series of intense fan rioting. |
| Jimmy couldn't help but absorb some of the more notable factors he observed in Presley’s success: his wild stage antics - the impact of which wouldn't be repeated until he (as "Jimi") took the stage a decade later - and the fact that he inspired awe by crossing racial boundaries with music. |
The Little Rock Nine crisis in Arkansas - whereby nine black students were challenging segregation in schools - was just heating up that same month. It would only take the small miracle of an Elvis concert experience to awaken the imagination of a young mixed black and Cherokee teenager to the possibility that some forbidden lines were ready to be crossed...
| On September 25, 1985, seventeen year-old Kurt Cobain attended a Black Flag concert at the Mountaineer Club in Seattle, for which he sold his record collection so that he could afford to go. [4] |
| Kurt, already an avid rock fan, found his ideal vision of what a rock band should be – musically and otherwise – when he saw them play that night. The hardcore punk band, which had been releasing its own records since forming in 1978, was a lightning rod of passionate anti-commercialism crammed in the face of the commercial music industry. By the time Kurt saw Black Flag that night, the band had morphed its look and sound from a more basic punk rock style – Mohawk haircuts or shaved heads playing short, fast songs laced with acerbic humor – to a heavier, Black Sabbath-inspired sound, delivered by band members sporting long rocker hair and gritted teeth. |
Kurt imagined starting a band that could sound, look and exist as Black Flag did, defiantly producing music exclusively on it own terms...
Initiation Rituals
What is curious about these two concert events, in astrological terms, is that they both happened at times when transiting outer planets were making ingresses (moving from one sign to another). The changing of signs for outer planets tends to coincide with major cultural shifts, representing a new context to correspond with a new era.
| At the time of Elvis Presley’s Seattle concert, transiting Pluto had just recently made an ingress (entered) into the sign of Virgo and transiting Neptune into the sign of Scorpio. |
| During the time of the Black Flag concert, transiting Pluto had recently moved into Scorpio, and transiting Neptune was between its first and second ingresses into the sign of Capricorn. |
By the time these transiting outer planets were at the end of these same signs, these two adolescent boys would both be dead - by which time they had grown into men who shook the world with their music.
Considering their influence on these impressionable teenagers, these two concerts were like tribal initiation rituals, aimed at transferring command of the zeitgeist from one open soul to another. Whether or not anybody knew it at the time, young prophets were being prepared for their future…
Hendrix (natal Sun in Sagittarius) and Cobain (Sun in Pisces) both have their natal Suns in signs traditionally ruled by Jupiter.
The sign Cancer is ruled by the Moon and is the exaltation sign of Jupiter, giving both planets a special prominence in the planetary hierarchy when they occupy that sign in a given horoscope.
Procyon & Sirius: Sudden Flash of Success
The co-presence of the Moon and Jupiter in the sign of Cancer in both Hendrix and Cobain's natal charts reflects the profound sensitivity that both men possessed, their ability to create music that was a direct reflection of their emotional core.
 | Curiously, both men had natal Jupiter conjunct the fixed star Procyon, the brightest star of the constellation Canis Minor. Author Bernadette Brady associates Procyon with "short, quick success",[5]which is certainly true of the way both men's careers were cut short by their untimely deaths. |
Historically, Procyon has more than just a passing relationship with rock and roll.
 | Transiting Jupiter and Uranus made a conjunction to Procyon in the summer of 1954, as Elvis Presley's first Sun Records single, That's All Right/Blue Moon of Kentucky went racing up local sales charts in Memphis,[6] marking the first hints of a phenomenon that would lead to Hendrix, Cobain and beyond. |
Presley's rock 'n' roll career during the mid-50's, though not cut short by death, was brought to a sudden halt when he was drafted into the U.S. Army in early 1958.
As the brightest star of the "little dog" constellation, Procyon appears to have an underdog quality. The appeal of a rock phenomenon, certainly in the cases of Presley, Hendrix and Cobain, is that the short, quick success is achieved by an underdog-rebel figure whose unlikely candidacy in the pop music world can only stir things up.
Cobain Gets Sirius: Beyond Expectations
 | For Cobain, who was born with his natal Sun below the horizon (making his a nocturnal chart), the Moon is the dominant light in his chart, which along with the fact that the Moon rules Cancer, places it at the top of his planetary hierarchy. |
 | Cobain's Moon is conjunct the fixed star Sirius (Canis Major), one of the brightest in the sky, which Brady associates with "gain far more than what is expected" from one's efforts.[7] |
Indeed, it was when transiting Uranus in Capricorn – the planet signifying radical principles and rapid-fire change - made an opposition to Cobain's natal Moon, that his career went through the stratosphere, far beyond his (or anyone's) expectations.
| The first of three times Uranus made an exact opposition to Cobain's Moon (in the course of its direct-retrograde motion through an overall period of about sixteen months), coincided with the period when Nirvana's hit song Smells Like Teen Spirit was first performed live (April 27, 1991; evening; Seattle WA)[8] and the subsequent recording of their classic Nevermindalbum (May-June 1991), on which Smells Like Teen Spirit appeared.[9] |
 | Transiting Neptune was also in Capricorn at this time, and like Uranus, was also headed for opposition to Cobain's Moon – the last pass of this exact transit occurred in August-September 1991, when Nevermind was released.[10] |
As Uranus and Neptune approached their conjunction in Capricorn (which would occur in 1993 – more on this ahead), popular culture rebelled against itself, adopting a look, sound and attitude that was defiantly rugged and anti-mainstream. Of course, it wasn’t long before that aesthetic itself was swallowed up by the mainstream, forever blurring the lines between the rebels and the establishment.
However, Nevermind was released just at the time when these lines were being drawn. Youth culture, after almost a decade of being co-opted by the sterile commerciality of MTV, was finally seized by the generation it supposedly represented. The growing popularity of a wide variety of bands that were emerging from the independent music scene forced a huge turnover in the industry.
Smell Like Teen Spirit's rousing chorus – which Cobain adeptly screamed in melody – made its success all the more poignant, as it represented a real break from the musical aesthetics of commercial rock's past. Radio stations and nightclubs that had never played anything remotely punk-sounding were now forced to play Nirvana, by simple virtue of the fact that they were the most popular band around at the time.
Out of Control: Riding the Crest of a Double Opposition
Cobain's reaction to the rapid changes in his life at this time reflects the intensity of this double opposition transit of Uranus and Neptune to his natal Moon.
Despite his success, Cobain was highly uncomfortable with the spotlight. Like many youths born during the 1960s, he was contemptuous of the clichés of rock stardom and did not accept record sales as an automatic gauge of musical merit. Ironically, he felt that having enormous popularity undermined his legitimacy among his peers, and even to himself.
 | The second pass of Uranus' opposition to Cobain's Moon occurred in late 1991-early 1992, while Nevermind was at the top of the charts and the band made its notorious performance on NBC television's Saturday Night Live.[11] |
 | The third opposition occurred in August – October 1992, coinciding with the birth of his daughter Frances (with wife Courtney Love), the publishing of a scathing profile in Vanity Fair magazine, and Nirvana's colorful appearances at both the Reading Festival in England[12](where Cobain hammed it up Pisces-style, sporting a hospital gown and riding a wheelchair) and the MTV Video Awards (where he famously clashed with Guns 'n Roses singer Axl Rose backstage).[13] |
 | Cobain was so traumatized by his experiences at these times that he largely withdrew from public life, all the while falling deeper at the mercy of his personal demons. Although Nirvana more than managed to develop musically in the last year and a half of his life, from this point on he was so psychically damaged that he would, sadly, never recover. |
Hendrix: Moon Turn the Tides
 |  Even though Hendrix had a diurnal chart, transits to his natal Moon were apparently quite powerful as well. Hendrix had been playing and recording with his London-based band the Experience for a few months, when he met inventor and sound experimenter Roger Mayer at an Experience show in Chislehurst, England on January 27, 1967.[14] |
Mayer was a pioneer in designing sound-altering gadgets for guitar players, and Hendrix – who had already begun using powerful Marshall Amplifiers to drive his feedback-driven sound – was a prime candidate to put Mayer's work to use.
 | Mayer attended Hendrix's next recording session at London's Olympic Sound studio on February 3rd, where Hendrix employed Mayer's new octave-divider invention for his overdub solo on a song called Purple Haze.[15] |
The far-out, psychedelic jolt of Hendrix's guitar work on Purple Hazewas to become his most identifiable sonic trademark. Transiting Jupiter was making a conjunction to his natal Cancer Moon at the time he met Mayer and recorded his Purple Haze solo.
Jupiter's transit was especially powerful at the time, not only because it was in its exaltation sign (Cancer), but also because it was moving into a grand trine with transiting Saturn in Pisces and Neptune in Scorpio , which were both also trine Hendrix's natal Jupiter at the time.
Hendrix's transits truly reflect the open channel he was sharing with the cosmos at this time. As any serious Hendrix fan has always suspected, Jimi's musical message was sent directly from the highest authority.
Merging in time: grand water trine
Of course, the grand water trine transit of Jupiter, Saturn and Neptune in 1967 is of great relevance to Cobain as well, since he was born not long after Jimi put Purple Haze down on tape. In fact, Jimi was still hard at work in the recording studio on February 20th, the day Kurt Cobain was born.
 | In what could only be considered an eerie cosmic foreshadowing, Hendrix recorded the gritty, noisy, angst-ridden I Don't Live Today,[16] a song so emotionally bleak ("No sun comin' through my windows, feel like I'm livin' at the bottom of a grave") it could have been written by Cobain himself. |
The grand water trine of Jupiter, Saturn and Neptune in early 1967 reflected the merging of the diverse principles these planets represent. While Jupiter was making its transit to Procyon, its "quick flash of success" was aligned equally to the visionary collectivism represented by Neptune and the isolation and despair signified by Saturn.
| For Hendrix, this grand trine period coincided with his emergence as an innovator, a time when he took his craft to a level that no one had dreamed possible. For Cobain, however, this same grand trine in his natal chart suggested not only the complexities of his creative genius, but also the sense that life for him would involve making compromises he would find hard to live with. |
Jupiter’s co-presence with the Moon in the sign of Cancer increases the strength of the natal Sun in both Hendrix (Sagittarius) and Cobain's (Pisces) charts, since those are the two Jupiter-ruled signs.
Ingress: The Intensity of an Experience
 | Both men wrote lyrics that reflect the spiritual/philosophical concerns of their respective Sun signs, from Hendrix's Sagittarian cosmic laissez-faire in If 6 Was 9 ("I've got my own world to live through and I ain't gonna copy you") to Cobain’s odd-but-thoughtful Piscean-style humanism inSomething in the Way ("It’s okay to eat fish 'cause they don’t have any feelings"). |
 | Hendrix and Cobain not only have their natal Suns in Jupiter-ruled signs, but in both cases their Suns are in the early degrees of their sign. What is mainly significant about this is the fact that their natal Suns would receive transits from planets that have just made an ingress (changed sign), as we saw in the introduction to this article. Hendrix would have had transiting Pluto in Virgo square his natal Sun (as well as his natal Mercury in Sagittarius and Uranus in Gemini) not too long after he saw the Elvis concert, by which time he had acquired an electric guitar and started playing in his first band. |
Cobain had transiting Pluto trine his natal Sun (conjunct his natal Mars in Scorpio) not long after he saw Black Flag play live, during which time he also began playing in his first bands.
In both cases, the impact of Pluto's transit to their respective natal Suns coincided with a time when they were sparked into action, heading both of them on a course for infamy.
Uranus Ingress: Cosmic Genius
Earlier I demonstrated how the opposition transits of Uranus to Cobain's natal Moon coincided with Nirvana's tremendous success in 1991-92. As with the example of the Pluto and Neptune ingresses at the time of the Elvis and Black Flag concerts given in the introduction, the ingresses of Uranus also coincided with important stages in the lives of Hendrix and Cobain.
 | For Hendrix, transiting Uranus made its first Virgo ingress (it always makes two for every sign, the second following a retrograde regression back into the previous sign) on November 1, 1961, just as he arrived for parachute training in the 101st Airborne Division at Fort Campbell, Kentucky.[17] |
Until his arrival in Kentucky, Hendrix had mainly been exposed to mainstream R & B or rock music, as variety was limited on local Seattle radio at the time. But in Kentucky, he came into much closer contact with Southern blues music, immersing himself in the more obscure but genuine style of music that he would later take to a whole new level.[18]
Although Hendrix had left for Kentucky without his guitar, he soon asked his father to send it by mail. Once reunited with his instrument, he reportedly slept with it by his side every night in the barracks, while practicing constantly during off-hours in the day, tuning in to the influences around him.
Cycles of Friendship
 | It was also in Kentucky that Hendrix first met Billy Cox, a bass player with whom he played in several bands.[19]Years later, Hendrix would summon the trusted Cox to play in his band for what was to be the last fourteen months of his life. |
Hendrix's time in Kentucky was short but critical in his growth as a musician. He was discharged from the army after breaking his ankle on July 2, 1962[20] a month before the second Uranus ingress into Virgo.
He soon moved to Memphis, Tennessee and began playing music professionally, gradually shaping his playing technique and flair for performance – all the elements that would make him famous a few years later.
Soon after he first moved to Memphis, Uranus moved up to 4 Virgo, making an exact square to Hendrix's Sagittarius Sun, coinciding with his blossoming talent as a blues guitar player.
 | His rapid rise to fame began in the autumn of 1966.[21] He moved to London to form his band, The Experience, and at this time Uranus had moved far enough through Virgo that it was now square his Ascendant at 24 degrees Sagittarius. |
| Interestingly, the original line-up of the Experience played its last concert on June 29, 1969 in Denver[22] – just after Uranus made its second ingress into Libra , beginning a whole new cycle of influence. Cox would rejoin Hendrix’s fold not long after that, reflecting the earlier Uranus ingress that first brought them together, though sadly not for very long. |
Cobain's First Chords
 | In Kurt Cobain's case, the Uranus square transit in Sagittarius to his Pisces Sun happened at a much earlier stage in his development than Hendrix. For Cobain, Uranus made its first ingress into Sagittarius on February 16, 1981, just four days before he received his first guitar as a fourteenth birthday present.[23] |
 | Once Uranus moved its way up through Sagittarius square Cobain’s Virgo Ascendant in 1986, he began playing in a band with a local bass player named Krist Novoselic,[24]who would play alongside Cobain in Nirvana to the very end. |
 | The next transiting Uranus sign ingress, into Capricorn (now making a sextile aspect to Cobain's natal Sun), occurred on February 14, 1988 – right around the time Cobain and Novoselic first met Jonathan Poneman of Seattle's Sub Pop records.[25] |
Poneman recognized the band's emerging talent and released its earliest records (several singles and one LP), until they graduated to David Geffen’s major label in 1991.
 | The second Uranus ingress into Capricorn happened on December 2, 1988, shortly before Cobain and Novoselic's band – by now named "Nirvana" – recorded the tracks for their first album,Bleach,[26] with their new drummer, Chad Channing, on board. |
Uranus Transits: Backward Transference
Just as a new Uranus ingress coincided with major shifts in Hendrix's life, as it was with Cobain. What is different between the two men's charts, in terms of how they responded to the transit of Uranus, is the timing in regard to major success in their respective lives.
 | For Hendrix, transiting Uranus' exact square to his Ascendant coincided exactly with the periods in which he recorded the Experience’s three acclaimed studio albums:Are You Experienced(November 1966 – February 1967,[27] during which time he was also launched like an explosion on the London music scene), Axis: Bold as Love(October 1967) andElectric Ladyland (April – June 1968).[28] |
 |  |  |
In Cobain's case, transiting Uranus' exact square to his Ascendant merely coincided with his partnership with Novoselic. Success was still five years away for Cobain at the time of this transit.
 | Hendrix's period of highest professional success coincided with Uranus' transit (from his 10th house) to his natal Ascendant, while Cobain's period of highest professional success coincided with Uranus' transit (from his 5th house) to his natal Moon. However, natally, Cobain had natal Uranus conjunct his Ascendant in his birth chart, while Hendrix had it opposite his natal Sun and Mercury. |
In other words, there appears to be a two-way transference in the nature of these transits, from light-to-angle and angle-to-light: Cobain's natal Uranus is on an angle and therefore its transit to his dominant light (the Moon) triggered his sudden rise to success; Hendrix has natal Uranus opposite his Sun (his dominant light) and Mercury, and its transit to his Ascendant (by square) triggered his sudden rise to success.
Since the three outer planets (Uranus, Neptune and Pluto) move slowly through the zodiac, their transit conjunctions to each other are quite rare. Uranus and Pluto will make a conjunction at alternate intervals of approximately 110 and 140 years. Uranus and Neptune make a conjunction approximately every 170 years.
Outer Planet Conjunctions: the Quality of an Era
Hendrix and Cobain are remembered not only for their music, but also for their significance to the larger cultural context of the time. Hendrix is associated with the psychedelic 60’s, a brief period where an entire sub-culture fled the dark reality of social unrest and reached for an idealized worldview too beautiful to resist.
Cobain will always be linked with the post-punk/metal hybrid style that emerged as the so-called "grunge" period of the early 90's: an era when the indie rock scene that had sparked from the ashes of independent post-punk bands of the 1980's, including Black Flag, peaked with Nirvana’s enormous success just following their departure from Seattle’s Sub Pop label.
Astrologically, what is special about the mid-sixties and the early nineties is that they were the only two periods in the twentieth-century during which there were conjunctions being made by two of the three outer planets.
Uranus and Pluto were conjunct in Virgo during the time Hendrix was making his initial impact in Britain in 1966 (where he first became a star), and Uranus and Neptune were conjunct in Capricorn during the brief time Cobain and Nirvana was the most influential band in the world (note that Cobain had natal Pluto and Uranus straddling his Ascendant).
In Hendrix's case, we have seen how transiting Uranus square to his natal Ascendant in Sagittarius coincided with the recording of his first three albums. But immediately following that time (from about late 1968 to the summer of 1970), his career hit a series of bumps.
It was at this point that transiting Pluto followed Uranus with its transiting square to his natal Ascendant: the Experience broke up, the band he launched at Woodstock didn’t cut it,[29] and he had to release a record with another band, on a different record label, to settle an old contract dispute.[30]
Hendrix’s eminence as a black celebrity, who happened to have a predominantly white audience, was also caving in on him at this time.
Following the disbanding of the Experience, Hendrix was struggling with pressure both ends of the racial spectrum: his management wanted him to continue to perform with the original members of the Experience (both of whom were white), largely in order to maintain his interest among white audiences.
At the same time, he was personally drawn to playing with musicians (including his old army buddy Billy Cox) who happened to be black, and was becoming more vocal on social - particularly racial - issues, including playing various benefits and speaking out in support of the Black Panthers during interviews for teen magazines.
Just as Hendrix was a witness to Elvis Presley's popularizing of a largely black music style for a white audience during Pluto's Virgo ingress in 1957, he was now himself aiming to reconcile racial biases as transiting Pluto squared his Ascendant.
After a bit of shuffling, Hendrix eventually settled on a new Experience lineup featuring Cox and original Experience drummer Mitch Mitchell, ultimately basing his choice not strictly along racial lines, but rather on overall musical compatibility.
Although he continued to make great music throughout this period, it did seem like all that had been promising during Uranus’ square transit to his Ascendant in 1967-68 was now going to pieces. Hendrix died - allegedly following a drug mishap - in London at approximately 11:25 a.m. on September 18, 1970,[31] as transiting Neptune was making its way to its Sagittarius ingress in three months time.
Uranus-Neptune Conjunction: Live Through This
Cobain, as is widely known, died at the same age Hendrix did (27), from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. His body was found on his property in the Seattle area about three days after he died, at 8:40 a.m. on April 8, 1994.[32]
Cobain died just as Uranus was moving away from its conjunction with Neptune. Although both planets, when they had been opposite his natal Moon, had been astrological players in his whirlwind experience as a rock star (see Part One), upon his demise it seemed to be those closest to him who were now receiving the fruits of their own transits.
Nirvana's drummer Dave Grohl (January 14, 1969; 7:33 a.m.; Warren OH, AA)[33] had the Uranus-Neptune transit conjunction of 1993 on his natal Ascendant, during a time that he was growing more and more disenchanted with being Nirvana’s drummer.
Grohl, a talented singer-guitarist-songwriter in his own right, had transiting Neptune conjunct his natal Sun when Cobain died (Uranus was still hovering around it too), marking an opportunity for him to come out from behind the drum set and have his own shot at the spotlight.
The following year he released his acclaimed album Foo Fighters,[34], while transiting Neptune was still conjunct his natal Sun, and transiting Pluto was conjunct his natal Neptune in Scorpio.
Another contender for the spotlight upon Cobain’s death was his wife Courtney Love (July 9, 1964 (not 1965, as is so widely reported); 2:08 p.m.; San Francisco CA, AA)[35], who had had the transiting Uranus-Neptune conjunction of 1993 exactly opposite her natal Sun, during which time she, like Grohl, spent working on her own music, preparing for her own opportunities.
When Cobain died, transiting Neptune was now opposite her natal Moon (again, with Uranus still hovering around), which by bizarre design coincided with the release of her band Hole’s album, Live Through This, which, like Grohl’s Foo Fighters, went on to considerable success.
Closing Time: Return to Seattle
Both Hendrix and Cobain died with transiting outer planets in the very last degrees of their tropical sign, signifying the ending of eras that their very deaths helped bring down. When Hendrix died, Neptune was at the end of Scorpio, and in less than two months would make its ingress into Sagittarius, where it would soon make a conjunction to his natal Sun.
Cobain died when transiting Pluto was at the very end of Scorpio, tying into his natal grand water trine by virtue of transiting Pluto’s conjunction to the North Node . By January of the following year, it made its ingress into Sagittarius , where it would soon make a square transit to his natal Sun in Pisces .
The fact that both men died just as transiting outer planets were set to make powerful new ingresses directed at their natal Suns connects to their respective legacies, which show no sign of waning. In both cases, the circumstances of their deaths not only contributed to their respective cults of personality, but also wild conspiracy theories that refuse to go away.
As cultural figures, they represent very specific micro-eras in time when a unique sense of community emerged from popular culture. Their rise and fall over the course of specific outer planet transits through a given sign provides the astrologer with some idea of what those periods of time were “about”, what large numbers of people were experiencing at the time.
The music Hendrix and Cobain made during those brief spans of time continues to fascinate millions. That these two periods were the 20th Century’s only instances of outer planet conjunctions underlines their special place in the lexicon of popular culture.
Notes:
[1] Rodden Rating: AA
Source: B.C. in hand from Janice Mackay, 2/1996.
His birth certificate originally read Johnny Allen Hendrix, but was corrected by affidavit on 9/11/1946 to James Marshall Hendrix.
[2] Rodden Rating: A
Source: Muriel Foltz quotes his mom in WTPE Gemini/1994
(Thomas Germine obtained the B.C., same date, no time given.)
[3] http://www.elvisconcerts.com/liv1957.htm
http://www.historylink.org/essays/output.cfm?file_id=3440
Two conflicting sources give September 2, 1957:
Crosstown Traffic: Jimi Hendrix and Post-War Pop, Charles Shaar Murray, (Faber and Faber, 2001), p. 46
http://www.elvis.org/live/liv57.html
[4] http://www.livenirvana.com/history/84.php
Heavier Than Heaven, Charles R. Cross, (Hyperion, 2001), p. 63
Nirvana: The Day by Day Eyewitness Chronicle, Carrie Borzillo, (Thunder’s Mouth Press, 2000), p. 13
Conflicting source:
Come as You Are: The Story of Nirvana (Doubleday, 1994), Michael Azerrad, p. 31 gives "August 1984", which has since been corrected to the given date of September 25th.
[5] The Fixed Stars, Bernadette Brady, (Samuel Weiser, 1998), p. 89
[6] http://www.elvis.com.au/presley/elvis_presley_sun_recordings.shtml
Last Train to Memphis: The Rise of Elvis Presley, Peter Guralnick, (Abacus, 1994), p. 123
[7] Brady, p. 85
[8] Cross, p. 180
Borzillo, p. 68
http://www.livenirvana.com/tourhistory/banter/1991/t_04-17-91.php
http://www.livenirvana.com/tourhistory/index.html
[9] Cross, p. 181
Borzillo, p. 69-70
Azerrad, p. 173
http://www.livenirvana.com/sessions/studio/may-june-1991.php
http://www.livenirvana.com/documents/mojonevermind.html
http://www.livenirvana.com/history/index.html
[10] Cross, p. 204
Borzillo, p. 81
Azerrad, p. 228
http://www.livenirvana.com/official/index.html
[11] Cross, p. 226-228
Borzillo, p. 98
http://www.livenirvana.com/tourhistory/index.htmlhttp://tvtome.com/SaturdayNightLive/season17.html
[12] Cross, p. 251-253
Borzillo, p. 119
Azerrad, p. 271-275
http://www.livenirvana.com/tourhistory/index.html
[13] Cross, p. 256-260
Borzillo, p. 120-121
Azerrad, p. 276-280
http://www.livenirvana.com/tourhistory/index.html
[14] Jimi Hendrix and the Making of Are You Experienced, Sean Egan, (Unanimous, 2002), quoted from an excerpt published in the May 2002 issue ofUncut magazine (UK), p. 59
http://www.nii.net/~obie/jimi_hendrix_live.htm
[15] Hendrix had started writing Purple Haze backstage at a show London’s Upper Cut club on December 26, 1966 and recorded the basic tracks with the Experience on January 11, 1967.
[16] Egan in Uncut, p. 60
http://hendrix.free.fr/chansons/i-dont-live-today.htm
[17] Murray, p. 47-48
http://www.jimi-hendrix.com/biography.html
[18] Murray, p. 47-48
[19] Murray, p. 47-48
[20] Murray, p. 47-48
http://www.jimi-hendrix.com/biography.html
[21] Egan in Uncut, p. 50, 53
http://www.nii.net/~obie/jimi_hendrix_live.htm
[22] http://www.jimi-hendrix.com/encyclopedia/document,19690629,1.html
Murray, p. 66
http://www.nii.net/~obie/jimi_hendrix_live.htm
[23] Cross, p. 37
Borzillo, p. 11
Azerrad, p. 22
[24] Cross, p. 74
Borzillo, p. 16
[25] Cross, p. 102-103
Borzillo, p. 21
[26] Cross, p. 125
Borzillo, p. 29
http://www.livenirvana.com/sessions/studio/december-1988.php
http://www.livenirvana.com/history/88.php
[27] Egan in Uncut, p. 53-61
http://www.chromeoxide.com/hendrix.htm#Areyou
http://hendrix.free.fr/chansons/foxy.htm
[28] http://www.inet.hr/~abubalo/albums/chronology.txt
[29] http://www.jimi-hendrix.com/encyclopedia/document,19690818,1.html
[30] http://www.jimi-hendrix.com/encyclopedia/document,19700325,1.html
[31] Murray, p. 72
http://www.geocities.com/SunsetStrip/Balcony/5802/jimisdeath.htm
[32] Cross, p. 356
Borzillo, p. 183
http://www.livenirvana.com/history/index.html
[33] Rodden Rating: AA
Source: B.C. in hand from Frank C. Clifford
[34]
[35] Rodden Rating: AA
Source: B.C. in hand from Nancy Hastings, Love's astrologer for four years. The B.C. reads Courtney Michelle Rodriguez Menely. Every time her mother remarried, the new stepfather would adopt her, a string of them. The B.C. only shows the last two. Her biological father is Hank Harrison, a former groupie with the Grateful Dead. Love herself gives both 1964 and 1965, 2:08 PM on the Internet.)
(Dennis Sutton quoted biographer Poppy Z. Brite, 'Courtney Love, The Real Story', p.21, "born at St. Francis Memorial Hospital," giving July 9, 1965, 9:15 AM.
(Melissa Adams quotes her dad for the same date and place with 9:18 AM.)
(Sy Scholfield quotes her bio by Poppy Z. Brite in which her data is given as 7/09/1965, 9:15AM, San Francisco, birth name: Love Michelle Harrison. Ed gives the same but name of "Courtney Michelle Love Harrison/C.Menely" and 2.08 PM as time from mother, year uncertain (1964/65?). However, the on-line California Birth Index gives her data as: Courtney M. Harrison, 7/09/1964, San Francisco County, CA. Mother = RISI. She was therefore definitely born on this day with this name in 1964 in San Francisco, so the Brite bio has the wrong year, wrong name and quite possibly the wrong time."
