ProteusAstrology (@ProteusAstrology)

Remembering Nina whose solar return is today. Nina Simone: Born February 21st 1933 'I Put My Spell on You: Nina Simone' (from Pisces: The Ultimate, Indescribable Endpoint, 2021) Nina Simone was a Pisces but might at first be a firebrand activist kind of Aquarian- there is this overlap as Aquarius morphs into Pisces. She had Aquarius rising with Saturn right there on the Ascendant guarding the portal, and a Moon in Capricorn, considered quite neglected and the truth was she was touchy and difficult. But it did not stop her expressing fierce emotions. She suffered for art, and perhaps wanted others to suffer equally. She was capricious, truculent, willful and very unpredictable as a performer, often appearing late. With Mars in Virgo working hard at her craft opposite sensitive psychic Mercury in Pisces there is huge tension in her words. Her Pluto in Cancer squares rebel Uranus in Aries, so this turbulence is not surprising. She could fight for what she believed. This is the problem of having standards as high as a Pisces sun sign. They are placed beyond most mortals. Nothing satisfies. Her bodyguards joked that they were there to protect the fans from Nina and not Nina from the fans. People disappoint the Piscean sooner or later. It is as though this world just is not made for them. She has asteroid Vesta conjunct her Chiron, in Taurus on the IC, so dedication and pain were joined at the hip. But her voice was soulful, drew devoted crowds and could rouse anticipation and excitement in her audience. There is no-holds-barred quality, something raw and emotional (Pluto in Cancer) to the way she sings that touches a nerve - perhaps the Sun conjunct Ceres cemented her role as mother of the civil rights movement, radiating compassion for her ‘people’ as she was there soldiering on with Martin Luther King and James Baldwin. She declared that her goal when she sings was solely to move the audience. She sang from intelligence and instinct and only began to touch the piano keys when she was poised enough and when the audience was ready, so if that meant making them wait, then the bleeders just had to wait, or be scolded. This was the ‘Nina Simone’ experience: the star and the woman, the activist and the classical pianist were all rolled into one. You had to take the rough with the smooth. She sang from an inner fire as fire ‘moves things.’ With a Moon opposite Pluto, she had difficulties with women in the family, including her daughter, and she could not stand Billie Holliday (an Aries with a stellium in Pisces). She was often paradoxical and irascible (Mars opposite Mercury) as an interviewee: she said she didn’t sacrifice anything for her music yet at the same time sacrificed her whole life for her music, running rings around the interviewers. Pisces is resistant to labels-they can mould themselves in different directions. ‘Be like Water,’ the advice given by Martial Arts master, Bruce Lee makes no sense to a Pisces as they already more flowing than water and to become more earthbound has no appeal but they often need grounding by a Taurus, Virgo or a Capricorn. Religion was also deeply ingrained in her blood, but Simone believed in all religions. She studied yoga, Buddhism, Islam- all of it. Simone said the USA was too racist to live following a tradition of Josephine Baker and James Baldwin. They felt more at home in Europe. Her unique style of music she called ‘black classical music’ which is a fusion of gospel, pop, jazz and classical so it is essentially the labels do not stick. This is the Neptune (or Poseidon) element- is it the droplet in the wave or the wave in the droplet- or both? She felt martyred and was paranoid with good reason as the FBI had a file on her. Pisces can be about loss and feeling abandoned. She lost the rights to her songs as she sold them too soon, aged 24 . Her song ‘My Baby Don’t Care For Me’ which boomerangs back into fame from time to time, and is a perennial for advertisers to exploit. But Simone didn’t get any royalties and was abused at the business level. Hers was a dedicated artistry that demanded her whole self. Pisces can be about madness and Simone had a troublesome combo of Mars, Jupiter and Neptune on the South Node in the seventh house. She had an unstable period where she suffered paranoid episodes and hallucinations - and was diagnosed as manic depressive, just like the lyrics of the song, as if she ‘intended to be independently blue.' There is a sad, poignant feel to her work, but it is ultimately cathartic and affirmative. See full article at proteusastrology website. #NinaSimone #Aquarius #Pisces #Music #Singer #Astrology #SolarReturn #soul #jazz #piano