Randy Travis is one of the most well known country music stars in the US and right now he is in hospital fighting for his life in a Dallas hospital after a virus he picked up caused a serious heart condition. Randy one of the most decorated musicians in the United States has had a chequered past recently crashing his car in August last year with the police finding him lying on the road blind drunk and naked, and a couple of weeks later he was charged with a drunken assault after fighting outside a church in Plano Texas. The illness he is suffering right now is clearly seen through the Astrology of his natal chart.
Randy was born on 4th May 1959 in Monroe, North Carolina at 06.14 hrs (info from Astro databank) so he is a Sun Taurus with a Taurean Ascendant and a direct and straight forward Aries Moon. The combination of Sun and Moon here shows a need to be at the top of the tree in all his aims, and the nature of the Taurean Sun would give him the patience and perseverance to keep on going build and building his life, his work and towards his dreams. The double Taurean influence here impels him to make something beautiful and with grace and charm and this certainly meant that in his music career he was never going to be a rock god; no his particular style would always be more subtle and graceful.
His Taurean Sun sits in the background of the 12th house and I have found that this position does not indicate that the subject will hide away (as in old astrology textbooks), no I feel that the subject is most effective and most powerful when working and influencing behind the scenes. This is where his best work will be done, in Randy’s case in the preparation and the writing of his material. This Sun also sits on the fixed star Menkar, so he can tap into the collective soul of the population with his music and renditions. This is a position of fame and also of infamy. His Sun opposes artistic Neptune in the 6th house of everyday work, and since he was 8 years of age, that is what Randy has done, sing, perform and write music. This aspect brings sympathy, compassion and heightens the emotions and intuition.
This is a man with talent as this opposition squares onto Uranus in his troubled 4th house. Uranus rules his Midheaven (through Aquarius on the cusp of the 10th house) and this link is a to his father indicating a difficult relationship with him (10th house) at home (4th House) and it is known that they fought often. Randy was often in trouble as a youth, seen through Uranus and Pluto sitting in the 4th indicating a wild, trapped and brutal home life, and often this leads with young men to trouble on the streets and into crime. Despite all this, Randy I think was a bright young man, the t-square connecting Midheaven to Sun, Neptune and Uranus shows huge potential and creative and individual talent, but also a tendency to go off the rails through unpredictable behavior as well as having escapist tendencies via potential use of drink and drugs. Uranus makes a trine to his Moon Mercury conjunction so here was a brilliance in conveying direct emotions (Moon in Aries) through communication in an uncomplicated and coherent form (Mercury in Aries).
This is a man with great patience and fortitude (Sun trine Saturn and Saturn opposite Mars) yet one who functions best I feel when he works in solitude, with just himself and his guitar. Saturn in Capricorn sits on Facies, a most direct and focused star and this brings a true passion and direction to his work. Randy i think would always keep to his vision and work tremendously hard in the process. There is a serious and stern aura about him for sure, Saturn in Capricorn is very judgemental and uncompromising, and the square from this powerful Saturn to his Moon in Aries would not only bring him into relationships that would fail and break apart in his early years, he would then be able to put to use those emotions through his work and creations. Mars opposite to Saturn and square to the Moon as well as Mercury says this is a man with a non nonsense temper, a sharp brain and tongue as well as being a hard task master on himself, but also hugely ambitious.
There is so much more on this chart. The quindecile between Venus his chart ruler and Saturn highlighted the two musical signs Taurus and Capricorn and linking them across the finance houses. This is where he would make his fortune and his money. Jupiter quindecile to the Sun brings a wide optimistic outlook as well as a gambling instinct combined with a need for freedom and space. Jupiter’s square to Pluto would have brought him luck and fortune from powerful and influential individuals, just when he would have needed it, indeed that 7th house Jupiter in Scorpio brings a joviality and luck to most one to one relationships in his life and also a need to take every experience to the absolute limit. His Mars is conjunct the star Sirius, the dog star nicknamed “the scorcher” propelled him from an ordinary background into the limelight. This connection indicates brilliance in a narrow field of work, his dedication to country and in a lesser extent gospel music.
Randy’s health problems can be seen by transiting Saturn stationed bang on his natal Neptune in his 6th house of health rocking that natal t-square from Midheaven to Sun and Uranus. This is a huge amount of pressure being exerted as Saturn will be sitting pretty much on this spot in the next month. The transiting South Node is also coming around to sit on his natal Sun (which rules the heart) in the 12th house of hospitals and suffering, and this is not a nice influence to have either. Transiting Venus (ruling that 6th house of health too) has just come across his Uranus in Leo, probably initiating this virus rapidly taking him into hospital and again hitting another of the corners of that natal t-square. This was probably the trigger aspect which started this crisis in his life off. Transiting Uranus is very close to his detrimental South Node on the cusp of that 12th house of suffering and square to his natal Saturn and Mars. Again, this aspect very troubling and disruptive to his energy and his overall direction in life.
In truth this does not look like a very nice set of aspects for him to endure and with Jupiter starting to oppose his natal Saturn sitting in that 8th house of death, the house that Jupiter rules through Sagittarius on the cusp of this 8th house, I very much fear for his health. I wish him well in this fight against this illness.
