He was called the “bad boy” for stripping off his pants at fashion shows, for declaring his non-traditional orientation to his family at 17, or for doing something else “of that sort.” Jupiter conjunct Uranus in Libra is an echo of the hippie spirit and a fight against the law, a refusal to recognize anything but masterpieces from the 23rd century.
Tabloids reported the death of the famous British fashion designer Alexander McQueen.
His death occurred on the eve of the New Moon — the Moon was passing through the sign of Capricorn and formed a tense aspect to Mars in Leo. The Moon always governs the subconscious, emotions, and irrational actions, and when it travels through Capricorn, it often creates an aura of profound oppression and depression. The Moon plays a nearly decisive role in events, especially when it comes to personal choice.
Suicide is a decision that often comes spontaneously. If someone capable of preventing it is nearby, the intention to take one’s own life disappears within five minutes. Unfortunately, on February 11, 2010, no such person was present beside Alexander. Psychologists have a term — “midlife crisis,” and in astrology, this crisis is marked by the opposition of transiting Uranus to the natal Uranus. Uranus is a malefic planet associated with madness, crisis, convulsions, and psychological breakdowns, and on the physical level, it often corresponds to strokes, cancer, or death by electric shock, lightning, or accidents. Since Uranus moves slowly, its opposition can remain active for up to six months. During this opposition, Alexander experienced the loss of his mother — only nine days separated her death from his. Death not only frightens but also lures with its hypnotic inevitability. Consider this: nine days is the period when one must remember the departed, as well as on the 40th day and the anniversary. These terms are sacred and linked to the soul’s transition through different levels in the afterlife. During these days, the soul of the deceased is accompanied by loved ones…
If we examine the cosmogram of Alexander’s birth (born McQueen on March 17, 1969, in London), we see that Uranus, both natal and transiting, occupied a similarly negative position in his chart. Does such an opposition strike everyone? No, but the cosmogram of this famous fashion designer is distinguished by a large number of negative aspects and powerful “jubilee” degrees. Such a chart reflects a perpetual revolutionary, a person with an unstable, vulnerable psyche, and someone with an enormous amplitude of split energies.
Moreover, he was born during a New Moon, when the Sun and Moon were in the same sign — in Alexander’s case, the sign of Pisces. Since 2003, Uranus has been stirring in this sign, breaking stereotypes in the thinking of those born under Pisces, subjecting some to the operating table, and bringing change to all. For Alexander, these years were both triumphant and devastating. His entire spring/summer 2008 collection was dedicated to Isabella Blow, who had taken her own life in 2007.
He was called the “bad boy” for stripping off his pants at fashion shows, for declaring his non-traditional orientation to his family at 17, or for doing something else “of that sort.” Jupiter conjunct Uranus in Libra is an echo of the hippie spirit and a fight against the law, a refusal to recognize anything but masterpieces from the 23rd century.
In the cosmogram, the North Lunar Node (the life program) conjunct the Sun — brilliance — and Chiron — paradox — stands out, forming an opposition to the conjunction of Uranus, Jupiter, and the South Lunar Node. Typically, when the Nodes form conjunctions with planets, it indicates a strong personality, though not necessarily a fortunate one. In the chart of England’s Prime Minister Churchill (who suffered from alcoholism), planets were also conjunct the Nodes. The most malefic planet in the horoscope, Lilith (Black Moon), forms tense aspects to the Nodes and the planets conjunct them. At the apex of this T-square is a very strong configuration (the Nodes are also in jubilee degrees — degrees of fame and popularity, yet these same degrees led to his downfall), and it is further positioned in Cancer, hinting that Alexander carried some ancestral karma. Could his departure from life have been somehow connected to his mother’s passing? In a tweet, he complained of a horrific week and thanked friends for their support. His mother must have been ill for a long time, as transiting Uranus was aspecting the Moon (symbolizing the mother in cosmograms), and when transiting Uranus conjoined Alexander’s Sun, she passed away. The conjunction of the Sun and Uranus brings revolution in the mind and heart — a storm that cannot be calmed until it exhausts itself… Alexander’s departure resembles that of another celestial being who accidentally walked this sinful earth — Sergei Yesenin:
“I accept all, I will see all,
Happy and glad to bare my soul.
I came to this earth
Only to leave it sooner…”
Valentina Wittrock
