Planet Waves :: David Bowie: Memoir of When Sex Was for Fun

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The last-known photo of David Bowie, shared this past Friday on his 69th birthday and the day that Blackstar, his last album, was released. Photo is by his personal photographer, Jimmy King.

David Bowie: Memoir of When Sex Was for Fun

Dear Friend and Reader:

For a few days now, we've had the opportunity to grieve the loss of David Bowie, one of those rockers who seemed for all the world like a personal friend -- and like someone destined to live forever. For me that has meant appreciating what I learned from someone I consider one of my most significant teachers of life and art.

And of sex. David Bowie had so blended into the landscape of culture that we forget when this gender-morphing, bisexual, polyamorous, potentially extraterrestrial glam rock star was shocking to the sensibilities of the Western world. I am sure when encountering so much as a photo of this seemingly bizarre weirdo, a good few people were assured that the end was near. They were right.

Cover art for Heroes, co-written with Brian Eno. Photo by Masayoshi Sukita. Here are outtakes from that photo shoot.

Among the many things we can thank David Bowie for was taking his hammer and chisel to the concept of normal. When he was done, it had (at least for the moment) been sculpted down to size, the better to clear space for everyone else.

If Jane's Addiction got to make hay out of the idea that nothing's shocking, they have plenty to thank Bowie for, as does nearly every artist who knew about his work.

Every kid who has ever dared to be different does as well, even though they may be hearing about him for the first time now that he's gone. Bowie was a bold advocate for young people getting to be who they actually are, and to actually live our lives.

In the song "Young Americans," recorded in 1974, he asks, "We live for just these twenty years / Do we have to die for the fifty more?"

As for those walking dead adults he's referencing, he had earlier cautioned them: "And these children that you spit on as they try to change their worlds / They're immune to your consultations / They're quite aware of what they're going through."

He knew just how to use his shock value for humor, style, beauty, fashion and for art. Yet that was not the point. The point was advocating the right to exist. That above all else is why David Bowie was our friend. Standing up for young people, who are bestowed with exceedingly little power in our society, he became a reference point of trust and of respect for kids who felt the most outcast. He was the ultimate spokesperson for, "They may think you're a deviant but that doesn't make you one."

The first recorded interview we have with him was from the BBC in 1964, when at age 17 he was heading up the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Long-Haired Men. I'm not kidding. Somehow he got on TV with that, politely demanding an end to the insults and accusations that the world was projecting onto guys who liked to grow their hair.

We forget, here in the days of the LGBT movement demanding transgender bathrooms in McDonald's, that not long ago men could be beaten and arrested for wearing clothing considered inappropriate for their sex.

We forget that people much braver than today's activists had to clear those brambles and build that long road with their bare hands, and their blood, sweat and tears.

There was a time when coming out, or being found out, was not a point of pride like it is in so many families today. When he said, "You got your mother in a whirl, she's not sure if you're a boy or a girl," that was actually liberating.

More than anything, David Bowie emanated sex. Not sexy. Not sex appeal. Not sexualization. Not porno. Not sex as a marketing tool. Bowie was about sex, the real thing, expressed boldly and unabashedly and notably, with no regard for gender norms, the ultimate social prison.

Today his early work is a time capsule from the days when sex was for fun, rebellion and creative expression. He is a reminder that those days in fact existed and that we can find our way to such a place again. What seems to be progress (mostly of the LGBT movement) has not been progress in all ways, or for everyone. Today society seems to have sexually polarized in three directions: monoculture, hookup culture and rape culture.

The vast experiment that was queer has been rendered solemn and homely, clad in white gowns and tuxedos without the slightest hint of irony. Marriage, hospital visitation and death benefits have been sanctified by the Supreme Court not just as a right under equal protection but a rarified fundamental right -- as well they should be.

But the party isn't nearly as fun. The culture of repression is so obsessive today that most young people I know have to be blotto before taking off their clothes. Anti-queer abstinence indoctrination is still taught in schools. LGBT activists, having won the Golden Globe of their Supreme Court victory, might turn their attention to that atrocity.

Becoming a pickup artist is now trained like karate, the better to hack the code of our frigid social environment (i.e., so you can get a date). Kids are still made to sign the abstinence pledge and wear purity rings.

Rape is a serious problem, but rape cultists, whose practical definition of sex is rape, present a much more insidious situation, leading young people to wonder if merely having sexual desire makes them a perpetrator or pervert. Today many young men and boys are afraid to make any overture to girls or young women, afraid that they will be misunderstood and classified as rapists.

Many of what are today called helicopter parents -- the late Baby Boomers who tripped, boogied and fucked to David Bowie's songs -- are appalled at the notion of their young sons and daughters having sex. Many are too terrified to even have an honest conversation with their kids, much less to stand up against puritanical school administrators who still teach abstinence, and whose balls are in the vise of a few fundamentalist Christian parents.

It is my observation that the canonization of homosexual marriage has arrived in a parallel delivery with much else being deemed abnormal, immoral and dangerous. Queer is now considered OK because you can seal the deal with monogamous marriage.

Today we need David Bowie more than ever, to remind us that it's OK to be different, and to feel good. It's OK to be horny and frisky and creative all in the same gesture. It's OK to play and to experiment just because you want to, just for fun. It's just fine to be sexy and have that be about sex and not about power. Most of all, it's OK to offend your parents and their version of God or secular morality if that's what it takes for you to be who you are.

It was Bowie who arrived like his fictional Starman and indeed blew our minds -- though for most of us that was long ago and far away. He helped open that sacred window to the unknown. Have you left yours open, even just a little, or was it long ago painted over and sealed shut, so you might never smell the fresh air from that garden again?

Here's the thing: Sex actually does need advocates. The moral guilt trip today is so thick many people still feel ashamed of the least desire. As a writer, I do my best; but I think my polemics on the subject (while vaguely informative) are not nearly as useful as David's get-it-on rock and roll.

Most of what people -- younger and older -- now need is permission to feel as weird as they think they are, which is unlikely to be so weird after all. It's just that one can feel strange when exposed to heat and sunshine when you've been locked in a cold, dark room for decades. Maybe it took guts for David to say what he did, and to be who he was, but really, I think for him it was the obvious and only thing to do.

In a sense he took the revolution and made it personal. There was plenty of dancing, so it was a revolution that Emma Goldman would have been down with for sure. I don't know what it will take to get past the calcified hip and smug we are confronted with nearly everywhere today, but there must be something. I think it would help if people relaxed a little about having to convince everyone how supposedly pure they are.

That's going to require taking a risk. It's easier for young people to take that risk, because they have less to lose. Yes, you're being told that that one thing you post to Instagram could end up preventing you from being chairman of the board of some corporation in 30 years. But is that really true, and do you really care?

Well, you still may. You might think you have to protect your priceless image at all costs. But I can tell you that the moment when you decide you don't care is a beautiful one. The moment when you decide that you are who you are whatever anyone might think is bold and astonishing, coming from the inside out. It's as good as your first orgasm, because the two are directly related -- they are about giving up self-control long enough to have some fun, to experience yourself as alive in the moment, and to plant the seeds for the next phase of who you're becoming.

Drawing by Anna Galvao.

Sex sometimes makes babies, but it's procreative every other way as well. When you open up your sexual aperture, you open up your potential, your creative flow and your desire to live. If we're wondering why so many people today seem like zombies (and why zombie and vampire films are the rage), and why so many people are drugged on suicide-inducing antidepressants, maybe it's because there's so much pressure to be pristine and uptight.

Maybe, as my teacher Joe Trusso is fond of saying, the opposite of depression is expression.

• • •
I was not aware of David Bowie's deeply troubled early home life until I started researching him this week, to write about him for the first time. His life as a child was as messed up as any kid's is today, with what he described alternately as madness and as "emotional and spiritual mutilation."

His chart (whichever data you use -- there are two times) has the intensity of a serial killer. It speaks of isolation, violation, deception and an environment where trust was nearly impossible. He was surrounded not just by muggles but by aggressive and toxic ones.

But he was a gentle, graceful spirit. He was observant. He was creative and curious about that fact, and by some miracle he was able to keep that flow going. If we're looking for a possible explanation, I would say that he was well on the way to weaving that thing called soul when he arrived here.

I am not sure if doing this is a choice. There are some people who seem to use these devastating experiences and the lack of contact that they need to become some of society's most important and helpful teachers. Many, many others are hardened and become immune to empathy, passing the cruelty forward.

Whatever data you use, judging just from Bowie's chart, he could have gone either way. But I think that, as evidenced by dropping his family name (Jones) at age 17, he was taking over the process of forming his own identity and his own reality. He claimed himself, and he made a life of doing so.

That's something that everyone who actually grows up must do, sooner or later. At a certain point, one must actually stop worrying about what 'they' will think. This is best taught by example, and David Bowie was just exactly the role model.

I would add that no matter how many times he morphed his persona, or reinvented or renamed himself (apparently one of his favorite hobbies), he was still the person who he was at the core of his being: someone who chose to live, to love and to work right until the end of his days.

With love,

PS -- My weekly horoscopes are now distributed to subscribers by email on Mondays. Note, they do not appear on our website. Here is a link to Jan. 11 and here is a link to Jan. 4. Len Wallick will be writing most of the Thursday horoscopes for now, except for weeks when we run my two monthly columns, which will publish on Thursdays. -- efc

PPS -- For those curious about David Bowie's astrology, I cover that in depth in the current edition of Planet Waves FM. Next week I will cover the phenomenon of his two different sets of birth data, comparing the two charts.

Planet Waves (ISSN 1933-9135) is published each Tuesday and Thursday evening in Kingston, New York, by Planet Waves, Inc. Core community membership: $197/year. Editor and Publisher: Eric Francis Coppolino. Web Developer: Anatoly Ryzhenko. Designer: Lizanne Webb. Office Manager: Lauren Gdovin. Astrology Editor: Amanda Painter. Astrology Fact Checker: Len Wallick. Copy Editor and Fact Checker: Jessica Keet. Client Services: Amy Elliott. Media Consultant: Andrew Marshall McLuhan. Eric's Assistant: Whitney Beecroft. Research, Writing and Editing: In addition to those listed above, Planet Waves is produced by a team consisting of Fe Bongolan, Judith Gayle, Kelly Janes, Amanda Moreno, Carol van Strum, Len Wallick.

Vision Quest altar piece for the sign Cancer, shell fragments from around the world.

Vision Quest Update: From the Inner Chamber

Dear Friend and Reader:

Vision Quest is my 2016 annual astrology reading, covering all of the signs and rising signs. The written interpretations were published two weeks ago, and the audio readings are now well underway.

What is different about this year's annual is the time I'm taking to do it. I retooled the schedule, allowing myself two months to write the chapter-length, book-quality readings that just published. Now, I'm taking the month of January to do the audio interpretations, which go deeper into the astrology, covering additional topics and adding new insights.

Sample rune reading from Vision Quest.

I'm also offering an artifact/rune reading for each of the signs, which takes us off the grid of astrology and into a more primal realm of symbolism. I am using tools such as power animals, minerals and ancient artifacts to illustrate and elaborate these recordings. All art will be presented with a high-resolution option for printing as an altar piece or background screen.

All of the audio readings come with custom-created music by the Vision Quest ensemble, and those who purchase all 12 signs get a double CD download included free. These tracks include meditation music, drum grooves and ambient music.

No matter how many online readings you've had, you will discover that this work exceeds them all, in quality, texture and relevance of theme.

Vision Quest is not so much Sun-sign readings as it is a set of contemporary, immediately relevant spiritual tools, based solidly in astrology.

Taken together, the project is like a weekend-long workshop with a book-length volume of writing to go with it (5,000 words per sign), complete with original art and music. It is designed to be imbibed slowly, and to have lasting relevance.

I cover aspects into 2017, though more accurately they address a key turning point in personal and social history. I'm aware from many reader comments that readings in this 17-year series have a perennial quality, lasting for years. If you want to experiment with that, you may travel back in time and explore all of the prior editions at no cost.

How am I able to do your readings without your natal chart? Ahhh, that's something of a mystery. Let's say that I've found a way into astrology that bypasses the natal chart and goes to the level of collective soul.

Reader comments on the 2016 readings have been extraordinary and heartfelt.

Symbols come in many forms, including numbers, shapes and minerals. These help expand the story told by astrology. All photos will have a high-res option.

D.H. wrote in recently, "I am an Aries with Cancer rising and a Gemini moon, and I have to say that the Cancer reading resonates very, very strongly with me (I have not yet enjoyed the Gemini reading)."

She continued, "Thank you, Eric, for helping with the order/chaos and leadership themes. I do feel that this Cancer reading was written specifically for me. I am still working on integrating it with the Aries reading, but I suspect that is what the journey is about at this point in my life. Maybe I will have to call on you at some point for a personalized reading once you get all the audio files done and have a well-earned rest."

Dorothy Rodriguez wrote, "Eric, your gifts are priceless to me. Everything you wrote immediately resonated within and opened me to lay claim to needed changes and so much more."

She continued, "You've created this beautiful model with your annuals: the readings, art and music -- loved it all and deeply moved by the impact of it. Really looking forward to the audio/artifact readings! Sure to be a treasure to turn to again and again. Thank you, Eric, for your work, and to all of your staff who help to bring such insight, beauty and guidance every day."

Anna Marie wrote to me and said, "I just finished listening to your reading, teaching the solar house system, and re-reading the Vision Quest for Gemini. All I can say is I am so stoked. Not only are you giving us a reading, but a teaching that is invaluable. Thank you so very much, Eric. You rock!"

My readers and clients say it better than I ever could. I invite you to sign up at the still-discounted price prior to publishing the audio readings (expected before Imbolc, in late January or soon after). You can access all 12 here, or individual signs here.

With love, your astrologer,

Push and Express

By Amanda Painter

Wednesday a friend of mine recounted a story on Facebook about her morning that seems to perfectly illustrate some of today's significant astrology. The standout planetary event is that Mercury makes its 'interior' (traditionally called 'inferior') conjunction to the Sun today in Capricorn.

Photo by Amanda Painter.

Sun-Mercury conjunction that happens at the midpoint of a Mercury retrograde, so take heart: the retrograde is half over.

Mercury and the Sun make some interesting aspects with other planets, which flesh out the interpretation. Also, Venus and Chiron are active. But first, my friend's experience.

We just received a few inches of snowfall where I live. Not a huge amount, but enough to make the morning commute messy as sunlight hit the snow-salt-sand mixture and the cars mixed it up. As my friend walked to work, she saw three cars near each other stuck on a particular hill downtown; everyone just drove around them without stopping to offer assistance.

My friend approached a woman who was spinning her wheels, used the shovel that was in the trunk and pushed, but no luck. Spotting the YMCA nearby, she ducked in, grabbed their bucket of rock salt, told the employee she'd be right back with it after helping three stuck cars, and set about sprinkling it beneath the tires of each. My friend writes:

"As I pass the YMCA to get back to [the first car] at the top, the front desk guy comes out in his crisp blue polo and khakis and hollers at me: 'You know, when you said you were going to borrow it that usually means you're supposed to bring it back.' I. Am. Outraged. I drop the bucket at his feet and shout: 'I saw three people stuck in the snow, I was borrowing it to get them OUT! But hey man, if you want your ice melt back so badly, here you go.'"

Here's what I see there astrologically; I'm going to start with Venus in Sagittarius, which is still square Chiron in Pisces (it was exact Wednesday). At its most basic, squares are push energy; felt internally, they push us to take action and then integrate the influences. Besides the literal image of my friend trying to push the stuck car, she also felt the push of her convictions (Sagittarius) and her awareness of collective (Pisces) need. Read more...

Alan Rickman as Professor Severus Snape in the Harry Potter movies -- the role that introduced him to an entire generation of fans. But Rickman had been long established as a major presence on stage and film before that. The Guardian features clips of ten of his key performances here.

Call Off Christmas

By Amy Elliott

As if the loss of the magnificent David Bowie wasn't enough, a mere four days later we awoke to the news that British acting legend Alan Rickman has also passed. Also at age 69, also of cancer, and also a great shock to many.

The world of film and theater is certainly going to miss that sonorous bass voice, that extraordinary gift evident in his portrayal of heroes and villains both. Action fans will no doubt remember Hans Gruber with fondness, but my own rather specific tastes recall other roles. Colonel Brandon, for example, in Sense and Sensibility; Doctor Lazarus in the hilarious Galaxy Quest; and the brilliantly sarcastic Sheriff of Nottingham, which stole the film and bagged a BAFTA into the bargain.

At the premiere of the final Harry Potter film, 2011. Photo by Joella Marano / CC.

Then, of course, there was Professor Severus Snape; surely a perfectly turned performance, capturing precisely the haunted, complex character from the Harry Potter novels. Rickman was also known to have mentored the younger actors in that series, as shown in this moving post by Daniel Radcliffe.

What might be less well known includes his involvement in charity, particularly the International Performers' Aid Trust, and in the play My Name is Rachel Corrie, created from the diaries of the young activist tragically killed in Palestine.

The Guardian article announcing Rickman's death carries a beautiful eulogy from his colleague Emma Thompson:

"What I remember most in this moment of painful leave-taking is his humour, intelligence, wisdom and kindness. His capacity to fell you with a look or lift you with a word. The intransigence which made him the great artist he was -- his ineffable and cynical wit, the clarity with which he saw most things, including me, and the fact that he never spared me the view. I learned a lot from him. He was the finest of actors and directors. I couldn't wait to see what he was going to do with his face next. I consider myself hugely privileged to have worked with him so many times and to have been directed by him.

"He was the ultimate ally. In life, art and politics. I trusted him absolutely. He was, above all things, a rare and unique human being and we shall not see his like again."

Rickman was born on Feb. 21, 1946. His birth time does not appear to have been published; but his Sun is in early Pisces (alongside Venus and Mercury) and his Moon is most likely to be in early Scorpio. With Mars conjunct Saturn in Cancer, this adds up to a lot of Water -- emotion, intuition and imaginative ability.

The Cancer pairing specifically (which is also in his solar 5th house, the area of creativity and play) seems to reflect the suppressed intensity characteristic of several of his roles. Watching him on screen, one consistently senses both that watery passion and the fragile shell that masks it, often with an effort. Yet Jupiter in Libra implies a sense of humor, too, both clever and mischievous.

The whole chart really speaks to his versatility, and his ability to inject each role with a touch of greatness. His devotion to his work -- both as an actor and as a socially conscious human being who lived his convictions -- is evident in this comment from him: "Actors are agents of change. A film, a piece of theater, a piece of music, or a book can make a difference. It can change the world."

Well, Alan Rickman certainly did that. And his absence is deeply and tangibly felt. Today the world has lost another of its best ambassadors.

Far Above the Moon: A Tribute to David Bowie

Dear Friend and Listener:

This week's edition of Planet Waves FM [play episode here] is a tribute to the life, music and astrology of musical innovator and all-round genius David Bowie, who passed on Sunday.

I focus on some of David's lesser-known early work, listening carefully to the words and music. I also connect David's family background to his astrology, looking closely at Neptune rising opposite Eris, Saturn conjunct Pluto and Mars conjunct the Sun. The astrology is presented in an easy-to-follow way, with interviews illustrating my observations.

The program contains several excerpts from Bowie's music and some interview clips. I invite you to share your memories and thoughts with us at the Planet Waves website.

Lovingly,

So I turned myself to face me
But I've never caught a glimpse
Of how the others must see the faker
I'm much too fast to take that test

Planet Waves

Your Monthly Horoscopes -- and our Publishing Schedule Notes

We published your extended monthly horoscopes for January on Wednesday, Dec. 23. Your extended monthly horoscopes for December were published Wednesday, Nov. 25. Your Moonshine horoscopes for the Cancer Full Moon were published Tuesday, Dec. 22. Please note, we normally publish the extended monthly horoscope on the first Friday after the Sun has entered a new sign.

Planet Waves Weekly Horoscope -- Jan. 14, 2016, #1083 | By Len Wallick

Aries (March 20-April 19) -- In Star Wars, Luke Skywalker -- restless and eager to leave the confines of his home planet -- complains to C3PO that, "If there's a bright center to the universe, you're on the planet farthest from it." He says this at a crucial point in his life when he is yearning to claim his own identity and assert himself, in spite of not knowing the full truth about who he is. The current astrology suggests you find yourself at a similar juncture. Unless, of course, you have already matured (like Obi Wan Kenobi) and are looking for closure regarding older responsibilities and unfinished business -- which would allow you to move on and become an initiate again, but at a higher level. Either way, what you are looking for is probably just around the corner, even if it seems long ago or far away. Yet, passivity won’t get you there; teach what you would learn, to orient and advance yourself past your current proficiencies. -- by Len Wallick. For your Eric Francis horoscope this week, please see this link.