Prince: Master of Music
Written & published: August 2007
Prince's career has reached its Saturn Return, the point where Saturn is back in the same position it was in at the start. His first album release for a major label took place in 1978, when Saturn was at 24 degrees of Leo. It is now at 27 degrees of Leo.
As well as his career's Saturn cycle, Prince's success in the music industry resonates with his own transiting Saturn cycle around his birthchart. The first of these is Saturn's transits through the houses.
This cycle is based on Saturn's transits across the four angles of the chart - the Ascendant, IC, Descendant, and MC - are markers in time for professional development. They reflect distinct phases of life, each having a different tone and theme. Each passage across an angle is a turning point that builds a skeletal structure, upon which career threads are woven.
There is also transiting Saturn's cycle in relation to its natal position. This is the cycle which peaks at the Saturn Return, which many people have heard of and are familiar with.
This article will focus mainly on Saturn's transits across the four angles, to show how a person's career is formulated in harmony with the motion and rhythm of this cycle.
Prince's birth chart
Here is Prince's birthchart showing Saturn in Sagittarius in his 2nd house:
Saturn's position at 22 degrees 52 minutes of Sagittarius means that just prior to reaching the MC and passing into the 10th house, transiting Saturn will trine natal Saturn, reflecting a professional development that has the potential for easily flowing into achievement of goals. Prince's career bears this out.
Saturn's cycle
Here is a diagram showing a simplified chart wheel, with the four sectors of the chart clearly displayed. The Ascendant, IC, Descendant and MC are the demarcation lines between phases of life, labelled Withdrawal, Development, Achievement, and Stabilisation. These labels are a rough guide only.
The years of the transitions between phases are shown, along with brief notes as to how these played out in Prince's career. There follows a listing of further details.
Two other important points are shown: the natal position of Saturn, which enables the location of the all-important Saturn Return; and the 2004 'comeback' position which is the exact halfway point between the Descendant and the MC.
Transiting Saturn was at this latter point in early 2004 as Prince began what some have called his 'comeback' phase. It resonates with 30 years ago when Prince was preparing for his first launch on the music scene. This midpoint is the centrepoint of the phase when a person brings their gifts into the public arena, and moves towards the culmination of the dispersal and dissemination of those gifts.
Each movement of Saturn across one of these four angles is an echo of 14 years before. So, for example, Prince's earliest recordings from just prior to Saturn's transit of his MC were not released until 1995 when Saturn had crossed his IC.
There is also a resonance from the start of one phase to the ending of it. For instance, in 1994/5 when Saturn crossed his IC Prince started trying to free himself from his contract to his record company, and he achieved it when Saturn crossed his Descendant.
Here are significant years in Prince's Saturn cycles:
- 1976 - Demo tape and signed to label
- 1978 - Saturn conjunct MC - First album released
- 1984 - Saturn conjunct Ascendant - 'Purple Rain' album, film, single, tour
- 1987/8 - Saturn Return - 'Sign O' The Times' album, single, tour
- 1993/4 - Saturn conjunct IC followed by Saturn square Saturn - 'Slave' period, an underground (IC) artist once again, starts trying to free himself from his contract, the original recordings from when Saturn was conjunct his MC are released, changes name from 'Prince' to a now-famous symbol
- 1996 - Saturn square Saturn - 'Emancipation' album
- 2000 - Saturn crossed Descendant and into 7th house - free of record company contract, end of 'Slave' period, changes name back to Prince
- 2004 - Saturn on Descendant/MC midpoint - 'Comeback'
- August 2007 - Saturn conjunct MC again - full circle and another culmination of bring his gifts to the public which were developed during the previous phases
To understand more about how this Withdrawal, Development, Achievement and Stabilisation cycle works, see this article:
The Time of Your Life: Saturn's cycle around your birthchart
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