It's been announced that David Cassidy in going to stop performing because he is suffering with dementia. Apparently he's been forgetting the lyrics of his songs and can no longer continue on in the capacity that he would like to. This obviously is a rather sad development for all of his many fans.
Singer and actor David Cassidy is a Sun Aries, born on 12th April 1950 at 9.55 am in NYC. On his birth chart, his Sun rules his 3rd house of the mind (Leo on cusp) and is in a wide opposition to Neptune retrograde, which itself is square to his Cancerian Ascendant, thus David would not be a strong person - he would be impressionable and rather escapist. These connections alone explained his attraction to TV and music (Neptune rules these) where he made his name, especially as a teenage star. He had alcohol problems too (another Neptune trait) and was caught and charged several times for DUI. Neptune can cast a shadow in health terms over anything it touches, but I believe there needs to be more than one influence for there to be a potential future problem. In David's case, he has one.
Saturn sits retrograde in the 3rd house of the mind, thus as I've mentioned before the retrograde motion of Saturn brings a twist to the way his mind works. Often one doubt's one's intelligence with Saturn in the 3rd and the retrograde nature turns this inclination inwards on itself. I think he may have beat himself up over it, causing stress and anxiety, from which he found solace in escapism. School and early education may have been difficult or harsh for him and he may have struggled there. You'll notice that Saturn makes a trine up to his natal Mercury both forming sextiles to his Cancerian ascendant.
Those who follow my work know I dip into midpoints sometimes and indeed, David's Ascendant sits at the midpoint of Saturn and Mercury, just 0.10 from exact. Ebertin, my trusty guide to midpoints said of this combination "tendency to seclude oneself, going one's own way in life, tendency to be preoccupied with one's ideas and thoughts". That he certainly did, however I feel this connection also added to a weakness of his mental processes that went to the heart of his being.
Now to the present, and two things to consider. Transiting Uranus is now conjunct to David's natal Sun, the ruler of his 3rd house of the mental processes. It has been hanging around the Sun for quite a while, making direct conjunctions in May and October of last year. This right now is the last of the three it will make. You can feel a short circuiting of David's mental processes through these conjunctions, can't you? If David wasn't so vulnerable and didn't have the Saturn retrograde in the 3rd house I think these conjunctions wouldn't have been such a problem, but as we get older, those outer planetary connections do tend to exploit weaknesses in our natal charts.
Secondly, transiting Neptune is now moving into a direct opposition with that natal Saturn. In the past few months Neptune has been about 2-3 degrees away and it is now heading for 13 degrees Pisces. David's Saturn sits at 13 degrees Virgo. Neptune dissolves and disintegrates, and whenever these two planets get involved with each other, there is always a danger of medical problems and illness and unfortunately this is the scenario that David is now facing up to in the weeks and months ahead.
I wish him well as he endures this condition.
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