What is up with Amy Winehouse?

AMY WINEHOUSE is an original, and she’s not an idiot. She went to the hospital two days ago and is now out — and nobody will confirm why. If you’re trying to figure out what mental disorder the crack-puffing young jazz sensation is going through, it’s called being born with Mercury retrograde conjunct the Sun — this gives her the feeling of burning very, very bright and doing things her very, very own way.

A natal Virgo, she’s one of those people whose mind can turn on itself. And she’s been going through a transit since around 2006 that all people in their young 20s must endure — Pluto conjunct their natal Neptune, which has been taking place in late Sagittarius. Imagine that everyone born in her era has a psychic and spiritual vulnerability that can function either as a source of inspiration or a place where the darkness can seep in (this is how Neptune works). Then along comes Pluto and strives to clean the clock. Some people wake up and discover their mission; some go to India seeking enlightenment and end up with typhoid; most of us go through a spell of disillusionment and the dread feeling of childhood’s end.

Winehouse has been propelled to global fame (Neptune is about music, too), but not without the kinds of trouble that can come with heavy Neptune transits — among them drugs, delusional thinking and various states of excess. She also has the Moon conjunct Neptune and the whole thing is aligned with the Galactic Core. She is seeking enlightenment and God through self indulgence — not exactly original for a rock (ok, jazz) star.

Pluto has been going over this Moon/Neptune/Galactic Core arrangement for nearly as long as we’ve known about her, pushing her into a profound spiritual crisis. It is like a confrontation with her soul essence through confronting deep isolation and death. It is nothing you would want to go through.

She has an asteroid mixed into this configuration, also in Sagittarius: Lachesis. According to Martha Lang Wescott, Lachesis “interrupts” an evolving sequence from going as one would have expected (from the way it began or is underway).

The Pluto transit is nearly over, but now she is entering a long series of transits from a more disruptive, challenging and at times inspiring planet, Uranus. In plain talk, it’s gonna pound her…and were she stronger, she could become a true creative force through her 20s and beyond, but the truth is that it’s more likely to engender instability, confusion and chaos. Anything is possible. Who knows – she might decide it’s time to really wake up. Yet the world seems to be on a death vigil. Her father has predicted she will die slowly. I propose that, barring some serious Lachesis-styled intervention, she will go through a series of shocking changes that she just cannot handle in her current weakened state.

Saturn is about to make conjunctions to her Sun and Mercury. This will compel her to confront herself and mature, and the truth is that people who are in this much spiritual crisis often don’t want to mature. Contrary to her father’s lovely prediction of a long, slow death from emphysema (of which she is reportedly showing the early signs) she has a good chance of joining the 27 club. And what is that? It’s that elite group of world-class musicians who died at age 27 (Hendrix, Joplin, Morrison, Cobain) under the combined influence of outer planet transits and something called the progressed lunar return (a progression that signals the start of the Saturn return between 28 and 30). This is the exact situation she finds herself in, and it’s prudent (rather than ominous) of astrology to send up a warning. We have seen the results of this kind of setup many times before.

Amy Winehouse needs to get a grip and keep it, but whether she wants to is another question.