What's In the Stars for Whitney?

by Liz Houle 

Published in August-September 2005 NCGR Memberletter

Whitney Elizabeth Houston was born in Newark, NJ, on August 9, 1963 at 8:55 PM. According to www.whitneyhouston.com, her official website, she has sold 120 million albums and 50 million singles worldwide. Her listing in Lois Rodden's AstroDataBank Software describes her as a precocious beauty with virtuosity, a three-octave range, and lyrical authority [who] began a carefully planned career in 1981 with TV commercials and guest spots. She modeled in "Glamour" and "Vogue," and sang club dates with her mother Cissy [Houston]. At age 18 she recorded her first album, "Whitney Houston", which became the best-selling debut album in history. The record sold 13 million copies and earned her a Grammy, as well as seven American Music Awards. Since that time, she's earned even more Grammys and American Music Awards as well as People's Choice Awards, Emmys, and NAACP's Entertainer of the Year.

With all that going for her what went wrong? Over the last few years, Houston's erratic public behavior has led to a negative portrayal in the press as drug-addicted and the victim of abuse by her husband, singer Bobby Brown. Some of these rumors were substantiated in March 2005 when it was officially reported that she entered a rehab clinic in Antigna to over come her addiction to drugs and alcohol. By delineating Whitney's chart, one can see all of the influences that led to her great success, her recent foibles, and predict what the future may hold for her.  

The first points to look at are her Sun, Moon, and ascendant sign. Like divas Martha Stewart and Jennifer Lopez, Whitney Houston also has her Sun in Leo, which immediately portrays her as some one who is attracted to the limelight, and often, show business. The Sun is dignified in Leo and affords prominence in any career As a typical Leo, she is creative and loves to be the center of attention. She is a born entertainer, and needs to be in charge. Houston has the Moon in Aries, making her, like Sarah Ferguson with the same Moon, a fighter, independent, spontaneous, honest, and direct. With the Sun and Moon in fire signs, Houston has an enormous amount of energy and loves to enjoy herself.  She can also be combative if things do not go as planned or to her liking. Her zeal is toned down by her Pisces Ascendant, which makes her sensitive, idealistic, and easily influenced by others. Pisces makes her a talented artist but the lack of practicality can cause disappointments. She may try to project an image of a perfect life but will find it difficult to face reality, and may also be in denial that her own actions generated negative publicity.

It's very easy for someone with Pisces rising to feel victimized by others rater than face the consequences of their actions. Her erratic behavior, including cancelling concert dates, shocked those only familiar with her music and polished Pisces projection. As she fought back the perceived attacks on her character, her denial gave way to her proud Leo Sun and combative Aries Moon. She even called DJ Wendy Williams of WBLS, a top urban radio station in New York City, to complain about the press. Using expletives and a combative tone on the air, she warned the radio host to watch what she says. That created even more negative publicity.  Her susceptibility to drug addiction isn't simply due to her Pisces ascendant—although that doesn't help.  Pisces rising makes her extremely sensitive and prone to using drugs to numb whatever outside stimuli is too stressful or unpleasant. Additionally, Venus square Neptune indicates that she seeks perfection in love, and yet may be totally unrealistic and naive about it at the same time. Houston obviously wants a soul mate and perfect lover, and wants to experience true love in this lifetime. This often leads to disappointment in relationships. The healthy way for her to experience divine love would be to continue to create beautiful love songs. Venus-Neptune aspects provide the ability to create works of art that are ethereal, other-worldly, or even divine. The destructive and unhealthy application of this aspect, results in using drugs and alcohol to attain perfect bliss, but only at the cost of her physical and mental well-being. With Neptune as her ruling planet, the Venus-Neptune square takes on even more significance in this chart, and will cause her to sacrifice herself for a relationship (Venus) that may not be as perfect as she perceives it to be.

Grand Trine in Fire

Regardless of what is said and done, Houston will act appropriately and morally in any situation, with her Moon conjoined with Jupiter in Aries. This gives her the ability to be philosophical about life and to live and let live. While she may say harsh things in a fit of anger, she would never harm anyone. This is due in part to her upbringing, since the Moon also rules mother and childhood. Its conjunction with Jupiter blessed her with a stable upbringing with a supportive mother, Cissy Houston is a pop and gospel singer in her own right, and was instrumental in teaching Whitney to sing, and later in providing professional contacts. In fact, according to the Boston Herald her mother persuaded the court to send her to a rehab clinic in March 2005.

Her Moon conjunct Jupiter endears her to the public and shows the enormous assistance from the women in her life. In addition to her mother Cissy, her cousin Dioine Warwick, and close family friend Aretha Franklin helped her break in to a musical career. But while their influence helped her get started, it was her own enormous talent that allowed her to become a mega-star. Her tremendously successful career is shown by the position of her tenth house ruler Jupiter in her first house—ensuring that she would become a famous figure. Jupiter is part of a wonderfully beneficial fire grand tine that involves Moon- Jupiter in Aries, Sun-Venus in Leo, and the Sagittarius Midheaven. This combination gives her great talent, drive, inspiration, and a stable career in the entertainment industry.

At her peak, fans could not get enough of her music or her films. As a result she is always assured a place on the music charts regardless of how long she waits between albums. This grand trine gives her tremendous energy and ability to reinvent herself and her music.

Finally, Jupiter sextile Saturn provides opportunities for lucrative business deals and great achievements, as long as she lives a balanced life. Add all of this to Neptune trining her Pisces ascendant which it rules, and you have glamour, mystique, and a diva extraordinaire. Unfortunately you also get illusion, substance abuse, and deception.

Perils of Neptune

While the grand tine in fire makes her unstoppable, Pisces rising, with her ruler Neptune forming a fixed t-square with Sun and Saturn, and an additional square to Venus, gives her great insecurity, and presents many opportunities to squander everything away Part of the answer may also lie in the Sun in Leo opposition with Saturn in Aquarius. People with Sun-Sat urn aspects are usually very successful in life as they are driven to achieve and are willing to work very hard. However, they often lack self-confidence at times. Their fear of failure is strong and this can cause them to worry and overwork. Since the Sun often indicates the father and authority figures, this tendency could begin as children if the father figure was difficult to please, and critical of accomplishments.

A troubled relationship with her father became public in 2002 when her father sued her for 100 million dollars for breach of contract. Her father's company was acting in a managerial position for her and claims it saved her from bankruptcy. Be sides a strained relationship with the father, the Sun-Saturn aspect may cause feelings of inadequacy, no matter how seemingly accomplished on the surface. In Houston's case, the opposition may have caused her to undermine her own success, or work herself into the ground. Raising her self-esteem is one key to overcoming this tendency.

On a positive note, Saturn is dignified in Aquarius making her both disciplined and a humanitarian. While recuperating from drug addiction is no easy feat, Houston has the ability to be very strict with her self when she needs to be, and practical about what needs to be done. Her Moon Saturn sextile shows that her mother will always assist her and help her to do this.

Transits 2000-2005

Her fans were shocked at the sudden bad turn her life seemed to have taken in the past few years. The tabloids portrayed her horribly with stories that included her arrest in 2000 for allegedly carrying marijuana into Hawaii (charges were later dropped), accusations of her husband abusing her, and her own drug addictions. The sudden and complete change in her public image was due in part to Pluto, the planet of transformation crossing her MC in 2003-2004. During this time her image completely changed and she went from the squeaky clean girl next door to abused drug addict. The good news for her is that this Pluto transit is over now and she can begin to build up a good image again. With Pluto what doesn't kill you makes you stronger, and at the end of all of this experience she could end up being a much stronger and influential artist.

Transiting Uranus conjoined her ascendant at the same time that she entered a rehab clinic at the end of March 2005. In her natal chart her Uranus is placed in the sixth house of health and daily routine. So in her case—drastic changes in daily life style and diet are normal. It would not be surprising if she were to suddenly turn around and embrace a healthy lifestyle in the near future.

Transiting Uranus opposes Mercury, ruler of her seventh house, indicating a drastic change in partnerships. This is further shown by progressed Uranus moving to conjoin her seventh house cusp. In June 2005, a reality television show Being Bobby Brown aired on BravoTV. Whitney and Bobby decided to have cameras follow them day and night to show the world what their relationship was really like. So far the reviews have been mixed. In fact, Whitney may be shocked (Uranus) at how others view their relationship and this may result in some drastic changes.

Another approaching aspect in her chart is transiting Neptune conjunct her Saturn in 2007. This can be a very trying aspect where her whole world may turn upside down. Neptune will force her to embrace the more spiritual side of life and not be as dependent on material things. Neptune may cause her to lose some things in order to wake her up to the reality that nothing is permanent in this world. Houston will have to struggle for a few years to get her life in order once again, but if she can come to term with these changes she can use this aspect to promote her artistry. This is a wonderful time to make even more powerful music than before, or appear in more films, as Neptune rules both music and film. Of course, Neptune also rules drugs and alcohol, and if she has not beaten her addictions by this time they may in fact come back and haunt her.

As we have seen, Whitney’s wonderful Neptunian talents can help to create a prolific artistic career, or can lead her down the path of addiction and self-destruction. The fact that she has entered rehab is a very positive sign that she taking responsi­bility and will no longer allow herself to be a victim. As long as she is truly ready to turn her life around, she is assured much more success in the future.

Chart Data

Whitney Houston, August 9, 1963, 8: 55PM

PM EDT, Newark, NJ, 40N44, 74W10.

Source: Birth Certificate.