The Life + Times of PRINCE: Reading by Howard Beckman, Vedic Astrologer

Author and Vedic Astrologer Howard Beckman is back with a special post about the passing of PRINCE. I know many taken the sudden passing of this phenomenal artist very hard. I know I have. To have lost PRINCE along with David Bowie in the same year seems to be bookending a collection of well-known creatives whose presence will surely be missed.

The House of Death
by Howard Beckman, Vedic Astrologer and Author

The famed musician Prince was born Prince Rogers Nelson on June 7, 1958 at 6:17 P.M. in Minneapolis, Minnesota. His music would come to thrill and move the spirit of two generations with his exotic style and captivating ‘sound’. A true musical genius, most of his life was filled with creating the musical vibrations that touched the hearts and souls of millions worldwide.

His Vedic astrological horoscope has Libra rising with Venus, ruler of his chart, in the 7th house. This made him a brilliant artist with an unparalleled talent and stage presence. As Venus also ruled the 8th house of transformations and hidden affairs, his love life was often somewhat bizarre, and there were many heartrending traumas of loss and confusion he had to deal with.

The 8th house is the house of death, or of deep psychological and spiritual transformations, which were a constant in Prince’s life. Sun and Mercury were both there at birth, giving him strong spiritual leanings, psychic intuition and a powerful sexuality. For most of his life, he sought to identify himself via his need to understand God and his own spiritual destiny, yet, at other times, his all-encompassing desire to push the limits of human sexuality urged him to somehow bring the two seemingly polar opposite desires into communion.

Early Years

Prince was born into a period of time ruled by the Moon’s north node, up to age 15, which being in the rising sign showed his music talent very early on. He taught himself to play the piano, guitar and drums during this period of his life. His early home life was very difficult. Both parents were musicians, but their marriage broke up when he was 10. He and his sister split their time between the parents’ homes, but Prince eventually ran away from home and moved in with a friend’s family, who were neighbors.

He started his first band in high school, which went through many metamorphoses until he landed his first recording contract at the age of 17. By this time, he had entered the 16-year period of the planet Jupiter, which was situated in the 12th house, ruling the houses of creativity, communication and also setbacks in life. The 12th house position showed him to have many feelings in his heart of charitableness and wanting to make a positive impression on the world. Yet the 12th house is also a somewhat secretive place. It also rules over “pleasures of the bed” -which encompasses sexual affairs, dreams -and on the other side- one’s spiritual desires.

Destined for Fame

During these years, Prince produced a lot of music, but due to the 12th house also being a house of losses, he met with many challenges in his personal life. Jupiter’s period was destined to bring him fame and influence, even if personal fulfillment always seemed to be just out of his reach. Nonetheless, he produced a plethora of hit singles and albums that rose to the top of the charts. In 1984, during the major Jupiter period and minor Venus one, he produced Purple Rain, which saw several tracks go to number 1 or 2 on the Billboard Hot 100. His foray into acting also flourished and he had by now become an American icon.

Prince’s Jupiter period lasted until May 1989. By that time he had become extremely famous and released 11 studio albums, becoming one of America’s most commercially successful pop artists. However Jupiter in the 12th house, especially late in Virgo, does not bolster confidence, so although he was so very successful, he had many questions plaguing his heart, both spiritual and in terms of his own identity.

It’s like a seesaw of desire plagued his mind, ranging on one end from a somewhat distorted desire for total sexual fulfillment, to the total abandonment of material desires, allowing him entrance into a state of spiritual union with God. Though Prince produced an incredible array of musical works and personal acclaim he must have always felt unfulfilled inside, as if Providence would not let him find the “jewel in the lotus of his heart” no matter his astounding musical and other artistic successes.

In September 1989 Prince’s life now moved into the 19-year period ruled by Saturn. This would be the most powerful period of his life as far as personal fame and wealth was concerned and he became well known all over the world. Saturn creates something in his chart called “the yoga of kings” which gave him much power and influence in several different spheres of the entertainment world.

Marriage, Children and Loss

In 1996, Prince married Mayte Garcia. One thing about his having had the north and south nodes of the Moon in the rising sign and 7th house (marriage house) of his horoscope is that they always bring trouble in marriage. The couple divorced in 2000. Their combined grief at having lost 2 children in less than two years of marriage simply tore them apart. Their first, Boy Gregory, died just a week after being born of a rare skull defect called Pfeiffer syndrome. Soon afterwards, she became pregnant again, but lost the baby to a miscarriage. His horoscope showed this due to involvement of the house of loss (12) and the house of death (8) in several of the most telling sub-divisional charts Vedic astrologers use to fine-tune predictions. Due to an affliction in the house ruling children in his natal horoscope he never had any children after this time.

In the following years Prince went through a deep internal spiritual transformation. Born into a Seventh Day Adventist family, he later became a Jehovah’s Witness in 2001. His Seventh Day Adventist upbringing gave him the apocalyptic beliefs that the “end of days” was always just around the corner, quite obvious in his “1999, Let’s Go Crazy”.

His overall accomplishments in the music world were simply phenomenal during these years, regardless that he withdrew from the limelight for a few of them. The powerful and rare combinations in his horoscope made him a famous pop star, while at the same time in his heart he felt that he was a child at the feet of his Lord. I have no doubt that anyone who knew Prince intimately would have to confirm his deeply spiritual nature.

True Compassion

Prince was a vegetarian all his life, later becoming completely vegan. (The difference is that vegetarians may eat dairy, whereas vegans eat a solely plant-based diet). He often said, “Compassion is an action word with no boundaries.” When he was asked why, he said that he doesn’t “eat anything with parents” because “Thou shalt not kill means just that!”

These moving lyrics from his song “Animal Kingdom” betray his heart’s love for all beings:
No member of the animal kingdom nurses past maturity
No member of the animal kingdom ever did a thing to me
It’s why I don’t eat red meat or white fish
Don’t give me no blue cheese
We’re all members of the animal kingdom
Leave your brothers and sisters in the sea

Prince walked his talk. He actually donated this song to People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals for use as a musical invitation to their 20th anniversary celebration. In 2006 was crowned PETA’s Sexiest Vegetarian Celebrity. Years later, when someone tried to give him a leather jacket during a concert in Washington, D.C., he refused the gift saying, “Please don’t kill a cow so I can wear a coat!” Once he publicly remarked that, “We need an Animal Rights Day when all slaughterhouses shut down”. He agreed with Paul McCartney, who said in his video “Glass Walls” (link is to the youtube video) “If all slaughterhouses had glass walls, everyone would be vegetarian”.

Final Chapter

At age 50, Prince entered what would be the final planetary phase of his life. He had health problems when he was very young. Mercury in the 8th house actually causes nervous system disorders and he was epileptic from his earliest years. Hard for many people to understand, I know, but his “psychic” abilities let him promote healing in his own body as a child, and they did not come back in a different form (at least to a great degree) until now. There’s no question in my mind that Prince had the ability to not only draw from the energies around him, but could reach out into other dimensions of existence, further expanding his extraordinary creativity in music.

Though none of this information would have been known to anyone that wasn’t extremely close to him. I can see clearly that his health problems would have begun as soon as he entered this Mercury period late in 2008. By 2011, he would be dealing with health issues that had shown themselves to be significant. This would have become compounded from 2012 through 2014 as the minor period would have been that of Venus, who rules both his rising sign and the 8th house ruling among other things, incurable disease leading to death. Following that time was the minor period of the Sun, which was also in the 8th house of death with Mercury, the current major period ruler.

It is said in India’s ancient yoga philosophy “for one who is born…death is certain, and for one who dies…birth is certain”. The experiences that we all have in life are like scenes, or acts from a play. To use the parlance of Shakespeare, “all the world is but a stage, and all the people merely players”. We come into life with certain unfulfilled desires. In our first few decades of life we form an identity amalgamated from the combination of those desires (reincarnated along with us) and the impressions gained from our early experiences.

It is also clear from Jupiter’s 12th house position that Prince was extremely charitable, as well. Much of it was most likely done without a desire or need for any public knowledge of what the Indians would call his “punya”– selfless actions done in life to benefit others. This, they say, is what accrues as positive merit (karma) giving a person their birth in a good family, gain opulence, beauty, fame or wealth. At the time of Prince’s death, the Sun and Mercury were in his natal 8th house of death, with retrograde Mars and retrograde Saturn in Scorpio casting their most severe and harmful aspects. Nothing in lif–or death– is by accident.
At the time of leaving the present body, our still unfulfilled desires will carry us to another birth, dependent on what we deserve, another opportunity to not only fulfill our material desires, but to search for knowledge of our very selves. For is it not true that unless and until we begin such a spiritual quest, can we call ourselves fully human?

Next Life
The 12th house in Vedic Astrology also gives an indication of the next lifetime. I cannot always see a person’s next birth when looking at a horoscope, although there are certain rules and noting of influences that may give us an indication. But our actions in this life have the most influence over the final disposition of who we become in that next life.
Sometimes there is so much karma to be “burned” that the astrological influences speak to a very probable next life identity, as well as the present birth. Prince’s Vedic horoscope indicated an even more powerful birth materially in his next life, as well as the inner fulfillment of his spiritual longing. Now THAT is success!

Howard Beckman

Bio: Howard Beckman

The lessons that Howard has learned throughout his amazing life has helped him counsel countless individuals to come to terms with their lives and develop healthy identities. He overcame drug abuse in his twenties and went on to become a World-renowned Vedic astrologer and teacher of the ancient philosophies of India. Including Ayurveda, Bhakti Yoga and Vedic Astrology. He has authored four books on these subjects, but in his latest “Tempting the Devil in the Name of God – The Heavy Hand of Fate” he shares his memoirs, his deep struggle with heroin and how he achieved physical, mental and spiritual freedom to not only survive, but thrive.

Howard lives in Ocala, Florida and is a Director of The Vedic Cultural Fellowship and Ocala Equine Rescue. He can be contacted for Vedic astrological consultations at www.vedicworld.org or to book him as a speaker at www.HowardBeckman.com.

Thanks to Howard Beckman for such amazing insight, awareness and detailed explanations. His information and insight into the ‘life and times’ of PRINCE really helped clarify some muddy waters caused by the tabloids.

If you are looking for guidance from the stars (astrologically and astronomically), you have landed in the perfect spot. You can obtain guidance on the potential events in your life for 2016 courtesy of Howard Beckman‘s guest blog. Author and Vedic Astrology expert Howard Beckman can help you get a bead on the general tenor of the VEDIC Astrological year which will help you get the bead on this unique astrological system.

Stevie Wilson,
LA-Story.com

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