Billie Holiday

“when the will (conscious mind) and the imagination (subconscious mind) are antagonistic, it is always the imagination (subconscious mind) which wins, without any exception.”

Moon in the chart constellates energy that is of feminine spirit – the feminine creative aspect of Godhead, Isis on her silvery throne, Hera in Heaven, Persephone on earth. This feminine aspect of the psyche takes us into unknown territories hidden beneath the surface, where infinite mysteries of the feminine path of power are activated.

The Moon, in general terms, corresponds to the subconscious mind. She is the Creatrix, called the medulla oblongata 5 of the Grand Human,  and is located right at the tip of the spine. Her purpose is to accept vibrations from the eyes and ears and transmit messages to the rest of the body. The Moon is about two things: receptiveness and reflection 6.

“blue moon you knew just what I was there for, you heard me saying a prayer for someone I really could care for.”

Capricorn moon opens the door to energies of security, both practical and emotional. The position of her sun and moon, respectively, predisposed her to have an ambitious, striving personality which in turn helped her amass great wealth 8. This is because, in the middle of Billie's universe full of stars, she inherently knew she was destined to shine.

On the day of her birth, Billie’s Sun entered the constellation of Aries, with fiery Mars as its ruling planet. The Ram, being the chief that guards the flame of courage is the first archetype 9 10 of celestial soldiery and, as such, is endowed at birth to be the force that directs the will into powerful action.

Sun signs in astrology carry the masculine energies of Godhead, representing the conscious mind and will; the soul facility that constructs and maintain us. 

Aries-ness bravely declares – I AM creation, and creation is what I AM, breathe deeply and feel my pulsating vitality, the basic characteristic of my energy. Aries is the initiator of individuality, meaning it is not interested in the affairs of the Sheep (the collective) but the affairs of the Shepard (the self), never sacrificing its individuality by falling under the spell of another. The formative force of Aries nature is to live boldly, beautifully, imperfectly, and wildly. Very much like the life led by our Jazz signing luminary, Billie 11  12

As an Aries, Billie was not afraid to be honest with herself, to stumble upon irritants, to learn lessons, and to proudly, without apology, own her wounds and pains. The Mars-ruled person forever believes with all their heart, even when falling down, they get up again to try once more. Nothing keeps them down forever, failure least of all. 

“Somebody once said we never know what is enough until we know what’s more than enough.” 

Her upbringing was troubled and vastly different from a normal, happy childhood. She was born in 1915 in Philadelphia to two free spirits, 16-year-old Sadie Harris and 18-year-old Clarence Holiday, who yearned for glory and the excitement of life’s adventure. Her father, Clarence 13, left the family home shortly after Billie’s birth to pursue his passion for music as a jazz banjo player and guitarist “I never had a chance to play with dolls like other kids. I started working when I was six years old.” 

In her autobiography, Billie tells the story of her wounded life, experiencing racist indignities and abusive men, prostitution, heroin addiction, heavy drinking, corrupt cops and jail time: “I never hurt nobody but myself and that's nobody's business but my own”.

Poverty and racial prejudice were present in every area of her life 14. She endured various forms of rejection and humiliation from her family and public authorities; she became streetwise and sexually experienced beyond her years. 

This survival-of-the-very-fittest certainly led our leading lady to quickly acquire the two most distinguished Arian qualities: resourcefulness and independence. She developed what Sigmund Freud called 'sublimation'. The concept of sublimation relates to the idea that one can take destructive, harmful energies and transmute them into an opportunity for growth.

It appears that Billie’s experiences in life, however uncomfortable, were all initiations, a step towards building and moulding her character on her own terms. While working in a brothel 15 and hanging out with the luminaries of the night, the hustlers, and the harlots, young girl Billie heard and responded to the call of destiny, her ‘first jazz’. It can only be assumed that this was the sacred moment when the Wheel of Fortune was set into motion, activating her internal compass and pre-ordaining her to recognise the opportunity of her destiny.

She engaged in countless peculiar escapades of self-discovery 17, leaving clubs with men and women and smoking hash in a cab while driving around Manhattan:

“music everywhere, feet are pattin' puttin' tempo in old Manhattan everybody is out high hattin' spreadin' rhythm around”.

With humbled awe and swooning adoration, Billie admired the music of her celestial siblings Bessie Smith 18 & Louis Armstrong 19. They were her major source of inspiration. 

Despite not having any formal musical training Billie was commonly known as someone who had an extraordinary understanding of music, often playing by the ear without rehearsing. “If I’m going to sing like everyone else, then I am not going to sing at all.” The training of the voice did not appeal to her either.

Herein, Billie being Billie, is invoking the presence of her Arian archetype 20, an imminent initiator who shapes her artful revelation. An Arian vanguard truly knows that there is a voice hidden in every work of art. The voice that conveys the artist’s ethereal expression, going through the senses to the mind, to the heart, to the soul, riding high towards the infinite sky. Billie certainly touched this infinite sky 21, and while the art in her music was strongly influenced by hymns of gospel, spiritual and religious themes, Billie recorded almost nothing that could be considered religious. Instead, she sang not for the audience but for eternity.

She knew in her bones that a thousand years from now, as long as language endures, people will still listen to and be moved by her music. Even though she was not religious, she must have felt guided and recognised in some ethereal way, citing the Matthew principle in her lyrics: 

“them that’s got shall have, them that’s not shall lose…God bless the child that’s got his own” 22

However temporary her physical experience was, in her music, she left us a symbolic portrait of who she was; a self-reliant powerful spirit that invoked every principle and value natural to her journey. She laid her own personal tribute at the feet of the great goddess and rendered a great service within the culture, a service that pours like a miracle balm into the souls of those ready to hear it.