Bothered by the crazy driving behavior last night, I consulted my astrologer friend and asked for insight. He replied simply, “Mars is in Sagittarius.”

Mars has been transiting Sagittarius since October 8 and will be there until approximately November 17.

It was an “aha” moment. Yes, Mars is in a fire sign. I have a Sagittarius rising. I have been drinking too much coffee this week, sometimes while driving. And I had the sudden urge to hear Jimi Hendrix, which I’ve been playing in the car since Thursday.

Hendrix, coffee and driving do not mix.

Was it me, then?

Yes, of course, but I still beg (pretty please with sugar on top?) others to stop driving and talking/texting. We’re just not present at the wheel when we do that and often can’t quite make that sharp turn while handling a large vehicle and talking on the phone.

The more important, higher, lesson here is that Jimi Hendrix’s energy is with us.

Jimi – you died too young. The fire burned within. I can feel it in your music:

“Music, sweet music
I wish I could caress, caress, caress”

[From: http://www.metrolyrics.com/manic-depression-lyrics-jimi-hendrix.html ]

Jimi Hendrix

Astrotheme’s chart has Sagittarius sun Hendrix with a Cancer moon. The moon is awful close to Leo, the rock star of the zodiac. But I could believe Cancer.

Several years ago while at the Country Music Hall of Fame in Nashville, I saw a video of a young Hendrix as a backing band guitarist for Night Train. I found it again here:

Leo moon would say, “Hey look at me.” Hendrix appears involved in his guitar, swinging back and forth as the choreography dictates but increasingly separated by his own movements, fully engaged in his playing. Seeing the video for the first time, I felt Hendrix wanted to jump out of that line and start dancing across the floor. He’s having fun. He’s in the moment.

Although Sagittarius is a fire sign, I consider it a more sensitive fire sign than Aries (the Ram) or Leo (the Lion). Sagittarius is a mutable fire sign, expressive but also impressionable.

Cancer is sweet and sensitive and I feel the Hendrix I saw in the video was divorced of self, pure feeling.

Now Sagittarius is still a fire sign, headstrong and very willing to tell you about its crazy, unusual experiences and suggesting your life might be enhanced by doing the same – if you could walk a tightrope between skyscrapers while wearing only henna tattoos, you might see life a little differently, you know.

I’ve kissed a goat during the full moon and you haven’t . . .

I’m a lover of Sagittarian stories but others might find it a bit arrogant, especially if you don’t want to hear about kissing others of your gender during ancient Druid festivals and would prefer to talk about something here and now, like the price of gas.

If the Astrotheme chart is correct, Hendrix’s sun was in the 12th house, the hidden house. Any energy of any sign in the 12th arises, if it ever does, like a chick breaking out of an eggshell.

Breaking out of the 12th house with Sagittarian energy means leaving your monastic or prison cell and walking straight onto the main drag of Las Vegas – bright lights, shows, slot machines, temptations – so much to experience!

Drugs, of course, can help us crack our shells, but with detrimental impact. Breaking the shell before we are fully formed brings us into a new universe unprepared physically, emotionally or mentally. It’s like a preemie baby who must be quarantined from the world until it can build strong enough defenses.

With his Jupiter conjunct moon in Cancer and Neptune in Libra in the 9th, Hendrix would have been emotionally dependent, contrary to the energy of his Sagittarius sun. Cancer is dependent while Sagittarius is independent. True independence for Sagittarius in this chart would have involved independence from the appetite for food, drink, sex, indulgence and ultimately drugs.

Since Sagittarius longs for experiences that bring heightened awareness – new tastes, foreign lands, alternate universes and different jam on the toast this morning, drugs are a great and powerful allure. I want “different,” please, and, oh, make it fast because I’m leaving for a flight soon to meet my foreign lover in Dubai.

“If you can just get your mind together
Then come on across to me
We’ll hold hands and then we’ll watch the sunrise
From the bottom of the sea

But first, are you experienced?
Have you ever been experienced?
Well, I have”

[Lyrics from: http://www.lyricsfreak.com/j/jimi+hendrix/are+you+experienced_20071527.html%5D

Saturn and Uranus were conjunct in Gemini in Hendrix’s chart, opposite the Sagittarian energy. The man who wrote the song “Manic Depression” may very well have been diagnosed with that illness.

As an aside, someone recently in the news has a teeter-totter chart of Sagittarius and Gemini, with sun moon and Uranus involved – Newt Gingrich. I think he may have a little manic depression with that wild surge of creativity and mental agility.

“Will I live tomorrow?
Well, I just can’t say
Will I live tomorrow?
Well, I just can’t say
But I know for sure
I don’t live today
No sun comin’ through my windows
Feel like I’m livin’ at the bottom of a grave
No-ho sun comin’ through my windows
Feel like I’m livin’ at the bottom of a grave
I wish you’d hurry up and rescue me
So I can be on my miserable way
(well), I don’t
Live today
Maybe tomorrow, I just can’t say, but, uh
I don’t
Live today
It’s such a shame to waste your time away like this”

[From http://www.lyricsfreak.com/j/jimi+hendrix/dont+live+today_20185371.html%5D

The Veil of Time

Is Jimi busting through the veils of time, adding his own energy to the Mars in Sagittarius transit? Is the essence of Jimi whispering into the ears of peeps consumed by daily concerns that the music can flow through you, forget about all that other dumb stuff?

Are you still with me on my journey through the purple haze? Maybe if we made it this far together we can crack out of our 12th house shells and survive.

“Is it tomorrow or just the end of time?”

[From: http://www.lyricsfreak.com/j/jimi+hendrix/purple+haze_20071539.html%5D