George Michael. A Cowboy and an Angel

Although George Michael was seen as a poised, clever sex symbol, he had strong principles. He firmly believed in giving what he got. In April 2014, he told fans he’d been watching his 2011 tour video: “I saw the luckiest man on earth. So much love given to one man,” he wrote. “…I love you.”

The Envelope

His chart looks like an oblong envelope pierced by an envelope opener. The box has Venus/Mercury at one corner – Michael’s sense of aesthetics and his communication: his song writing and singing. These two energies are at an angle in both the Large Learning Triangle and the Projection Figure. They thus play a key role in the ‘movie’ Michael’s creative and loving energy – a consciousness-shifting Neptune – projected throughout his life with Jupiter at the other end of the screen: top achievement in his field. He was one of the most successful singer/songwriters reaching number 1 in both the UK and USA time and time again. But he didn’t want to be just another pop star. He wanted to be taken seriously by like-minded listeners and his Pluto/Mars at the blue/red angle of the Large Learning Triangle kept him on his toes to constantly do so.

The Envelope Opener

The envelope opener piercing the box has Saturn at its sharp point. On a mundane level, it implies that the child in him – his Moon – was always aware of Saturn, the mother out there in childhood and in himself in adulthood. Mother and son doted on each other. She was the main reason why he didn’t reveal his homosexuality while she was alive, but only after her death. In an interview he said he wanted to spare her the terrible fears of losing her son in an era when there was no cure for AIDS. Most people afflicted with the disease simply died after much suffering and feelings of shame. His awareness of a mother’s pain at the loss of a child is clear in his 1990 song, Mother’s Pride:

Mother’s pride
Just a boy
His country’s eyes
He’s a soldier waving at the shore
And in her heart the time has come
To lose a son

On a higher level, Saturn is at irksome angle of an Irritation Triangle, opposing the Moon, his emotional ego, making him aware throughout his life of his North Node, his path in life. This implies that Michael’s creative self-worth was constantly challenged by Saturn demanding he pay his humanitarian dues – Saturn is in an Aquarian 8th house. At the end of his life, he was worth £ 105 million. Throughout his financial success he donated generously to causes he deemed worthy.

A Loving Soul

In November 1984 when his North Node in caring Cancer was squared, Michael joined other British and Irish pop stars to form Band Aid, singing the charity song Do They Know It’s Christmas? for famine relief in Ethiopia. This single sold 3.75 million copies in the UK and became the biggest selling single in UK Chart history.

In 1986, when he received much support from the Uranus, Pluto and Mars sextiles and the Sun trine, Michael took part in the Prince’s Trust charity concert held at Wembley Arena. In 1988, when his age point was ignited by the Moon and Saturn squares, Michael participated in the Nelson Mandela 70th Birthday Tribute at Wembley Stadium in London. In 2003 – after he had experienced the low-point of the 7th house – he joined other celebrities to support a campaign to help raise £20 million for terminally ill children run by the Rainbow Trust charity of which he was a patron. Said Michael: “I bow down to people who actually have to deal with the loss of a child”. And when he learnt that a contestant on the quiz show Deal or No Deal  had revealed she needed £15,000 to fund IVF treatment, he anonymously paid for the treatment personally. Following his death, many charities such as Childline, the Terrence Higgins Trust and MacMillan Cancer Support said he had supported their causes generously for many years.

He was indeed a very caring person and this was not only a mask, a persona, as indicated by his Cancer rising, but a true reflection of his Cancer Sun. His North Node is also in Cancer, which suggests that asserting his mindful self was the right path for him to follow. It is noteworthy that when his North Node was opposed in 2000, he released Songs from the Last Century, a studio album of cover tracks. It was his lowest-charting album in the UK, becoming his only solo effort not to reach number 1; as if any album that was the music of others and not of his caring self was not the right thing for him to do.

From Projection Figure to Project: Wham!

In 1981, a year or so after his age point had conjoined Pluto/Mars in communication, it fired up his Mercury/Venus at the blue/green angle of the Projection Figure in the 11th house. Michael then formed the duo Wham! with Andrew Ridgeley whom he had befriended in his early teens. Wham! was an instant success with its Fantastic album, followed by another chart-topping album Make it Big. But it was Michael’s first solo effort, Careless Whispers, that rose to number one in 25 countries.

This was a turning point for Michael who, in 1987 – at the conjunction of his age point with creative Neptune – began his solo career. As his age point traversed the 5th house of creative self-expression, the success of his Faith album saw Michael’s faith in his own ability richly rewarded. It won a Grammy for Album of the Year; as if his yearning to reach the Jupiterian peak in his chart had been fulfilled.

Michael wanted to be seen as a serious singer, not just as a pop artist and sex idol. The songs he wrote that were not rock or pop, but described as blue soul, evoke a soulful melancholy in sensitive listeners. Could this be due to the preponderance of green aspects (3 quincunxes, 1 semi-sextile) in his nature? Songs like Jesus to a Child and Cowboys and Angels make you want to cry – like Michael did when his lover, Anselmo Felepa whom he had met at the 1991 concert in Rio was diagnosed with AIDS. This happened during Michael’s low-point in the 5th house. Later, he said: “It was terrifying news. I thought I could have the disease too. I couldn’t go through it with my family because I didn’t know how to share it with them – they didn’t even know I was gay.”

Felepa died in 1993. “It was a terribly depressing time. It took about three years to grieve, then after that I lost my mother. I felt almost like I was cursed,” Michael said. He would for the rest of his life dedicate Jesus to a Child to Felepa at concerts. (His mother died at the low-point in his 6th house, in 1997.)

Despite his losses, Michael continued to create songs that inspire listeners, particularly when his age point was traversing the 6th house of service to others. After a long period of seclusion following his losses, he released Older, his first studio album in six years. It was ‘his most commercially successful album ever,’ said one chart specialist.

Then in 1998 when his age point paved the way for Mars, he released The Best of George Michael. It was an instant success spending over 200 weeks in the UK charts and certified seven times platinum in the UK. To date it has reached worldwide sales of 15 million copies. Whilst the already mentioned Songs from the Last Century was his least successful album, the Patience album in 2004 sold over 200 000 copies in the first week; as if his fans’ patience to hear more magnificent Michael music had run out.

In 2006 when his Pluto/Mars longed for more action with like-minded people, Michael released Twenty-Five to celebrate his two-and-a half-decade long career. It was his second greatest album. With his age point now on the cusp of the 8th house, Michael paid his dues to fans all over the world with several concerts. In 2010, with his age point conjoining due-demanding Saturn, Michael announced that his songs could be downloaded for free, with contributions for them going to certain charities rather than to him.

From 2011, his health started deteriorating so that his tour of Europe had to be cancelled due to a near-fatal case of pneumonia. Then, last Christmas, he died. Was it heart-failure or suicide as some believe? Either way, it reminds me of his song They won’t go when I go in which he says:

Since my soul conceived
All that I believe
The kingdom I will see
‘Cause they won’t go when I go
When I go
Where I’ll go
No-one can keep me
From my destiny

Epilogue

In the eighties and nineties, I wondered why Michael’s songs evoked such a strong sense not just of love, but of soul. Because of all the singers I liked at the time – Sting, Van Morrison, Chris Rea – Michael touched me on the deepest level. Could it be due to the surplus of water (-22) in me? Or my and his Sun both in a watery 12th house? I couldn’t say for certain, but to me, his music speaks like Jesus to a child.

Thank you, George.