Billy Joel, Music as the Story of Relationships

Billy Joel, Music as the Story of Relationship

               “If you said goodbye to me tonight, there would still be music left to write.”

                                                          Billy Joel, The Longest Time

 

Download Billy Joel Charts:

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NOTE: This is the original, full length version of the chapter that appears in the book Quantum Majic: Claim Your Power, Be Yourself, Manifest Your Purpose. It includes material that was edited out for length in the book. If you are a Billy Joel fan, have an interest in Astrology or both, I hope you find this version worth the read!

In the last chapter, I used my natal (birth) chart to show how astrology can be a tool for manifesting majic in one’s life. I’m now turning to the astrology of a man whose songs have achieved worldwide acclaim, William Martin (Billy) Joel. In this chapter, I’m not going to analyze his birth chart in the detailed way that I did my own.

Rather, I am going to line up some of his significant life events against the astrological transits that were happening at those same moments. Transits can play out in a person’s life in a number of ways, within a range of potential possibilities on the energetic scaffold of one’s personal universe. Analyzing Joel’s transits will allow me to show the unique way that the potential of various transits were manifested in his life.

Any reader who is a Billy Joel fan, as I am, will hopefully find the connection of his life events to astrological transits to be interesting. However, unless you are also an astrologer, please don’t be intimidated in trying to follow the astrological details!

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Billy Joel’s is a story of a life lived in a landscape of the majic of music. His songs are stories about relationship-to ourselves and to others. This is not surprising for someone with a Sun, Venus and Mars in Taurus as well as a Moon in Libra. Taurus and Libra are ruled by Venus, the planet of love. Add in a Cancer Ascendant and his path of writing iconic love songs is not at all surprising. His works are love stories told through music, although not all of them are romantic in nature. Also, some of them are light and inspiring, others are darker and encourage introspection. In some of his songs, all of these qualities exist together.

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Some of the best examples of my theme of music as the story of relationship relates to the songs he wrote while he was with his first two wives, Elizabeth Weber and Christie Brinkley. For Elizabeth these songs included: Just the Way You Are, She’s Always a Woman and You’re My Home. The last one is a favorite of mine.

 For Christie the songs included: Uptown Girl, An Innocent Man, A Matter of Trust, Leave a Tender Moment Alone and The Longest Time. All but one of these songs is on the An Innocent Man album, which strikes me as an ode to Christie and how deeply he feels about her.

 As I mentioned before, however, some of Joel’s songs, such as Stiletto, The Stranger and This Is The Time, remind us that all relationships also have a shadow side. Working through such relationship dynamics is a major life lesson for all of us, as I outlined in the previous section on Psycho-Spiritual Development.

Joel doesn’t just write songs about romantic relationships. Regarding the dynamics between parents and children, there is Moving Out, Only the Good Die Young and The Great Suburban Show Down.

Even his social commentary is often written as a personal story (a soldier in Leningrad, a commercial fisherman on the Downeaster Alexa). Also, writing Goodbye Saigon was encouraged by friends who served in Vietnam. And one, of course, can’t forget Joel’s signature song, Piano Man, with its poignant personal stories.

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 There are two reasons why I have written a chapter on Billy Joel’s life story in a book about using magic to manifest your authentic self and highest life purpose:

 1. Joel’s life events line up wonderfully to his astrological transits, making his chart a strong illustration of how astrology works.

 Many of his significant life events have played out on the public stage, not only with his career but also with his four marriages. These well documented moments provided the information I needed to put together this analysis of the various transits moving through his life, from his teenage years to the present. He has also been open, at various times, in talking publicly about many of these events. This includes the 2014 Billy Joel The Definitive Biography, the 2022 LIFE magazine 50 Years of Piano Man and the 2025 HBO documentary, And So It Goes.

 2. As outlined in The Quantum Majic chapter, we each have a personal universe, with an energetic and physical component. It is our purpose in this lifetime to choose and manifest the various possibilities (reality shells) on the energetic scaffold of our personal universe and then manifest them on the physical plane. Joel’s story provides an example of someone who has done a good job of manifesting the possibilities within his personal universe. 

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Billy Joel was born 5/9/1949 at 9:30 am in Bronxdale, NY. According to the AstroSeek.com website, Joel’s birth information was obtained by astrologer Marc Penfield and has the highest Rodden rating of AA.

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In mapping the significant events in Billy Joel’s life to astrological transits let’s start at age 15, when he saw the Beatles appearance on the Ed Sullivan show. This experience provided encouragement for Joel’s emerging decision (choice of reality shell) to become a professional musician. I think that the astrology of childhood isn’t explored often enough, so I’m going to take an opportunity to briefly touch on it here and correlate this event with a significant transit he was experiencing at that age.

The first transit that most astrologers focus on is the “Saturn return” in one’s late 20’s, when the transiting Saturn returns to the same position it was at when one was born. However, before the Saturn return is the first opposition. At 14-15, transiting Saturn begins to move into a position opposite of one’s birth (natal) Saturn placement.

On 2/9/1964, when the Beatles were on Ed Sullivan, transiting Saturn was at 24° of Aquarius, approaching an opposition to Joel’s natal Saturn at 29° of Leo. Astrologers will argue about how close an aspect needs to be, to qualify as active, but I think most would agree that five degrees would count.

The first Saturn opposition occurs during the teenage years, when a person’s unique and individual identity is beginning to form. It is the beginning of separation from one’s parents and it can be a point of rebellion, to a greater or lesser degree. It is the first stirrings of the process of maturation that Carl Jung called “individuation.” The Saturn opposition can be a symbolic marker of this process.

Billy Joel’s decision to become a professional musician is a powerful manifestation of intention, at a time of one of the first milestones on the road to adulthood. A lot of children and teenagers boast about potential career choices they are going to manifest. These possibilities fall away for most as they get older. It is an indication of how uncommon it is to actual do so that Joel managed to successfully manifest his teenage career choice.

Joel’s parents and life experiences to that point seemed to help encourage him in his choice. His father was a classically trained pianist and his mother made sure he had piano lessons from the age of four. Despite being well read, Joel had little interest in formal education, preferring instead to play at music gigs rather than attend high school. These gigs would also serve to supplement his mother’s income, after his parents divorced. So, as seems to be true for many of us, Joel’s various life experiences as a child and teenager converged, to point him in a particular direction. In his case, it was toward a life of music.

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By 19, Joel was the keyboard player in a band called the Hassles. They released a self-titled album, under a contract with United Artists on 11/21/67. The album doesn’t succeed but still must have provided him with professional experience at what most would consider a young age. However, having played piano from childhood, the lack of success with this album might have been a frustration for Joel. This potential can be seen in the two major transits operative in his chart at that time.

These transits are the first Uranus square and the first “nodal” return. Uranus is the change agent planet in the zodiac. Its’ interaction with one’s birth chart often marks sudden and unexpected changes, as well as a desire for freedom and authenticity. Joel’s Uranus at 28° Gemini was in an “exact” square to the transiting Uranus at 28° Virgo at the time of the album’s release. An aspect is “exact” when the angle between two planets is zero degrees apart. It is significant that his natal Uranus is in the 12^th house which represents our connection to the collective unconscious as well as to our own unconscious. Karmic interactions are also possible when the 12^th house is activated.

The Uranus square would set up the underlying environment for and reinforce the effect of Joel’s first nodal return. From the last chapter, you will recall that a “return” is when a planet comes back to the position it was at when a person was born. The Nodal Axis consists of two points, the North and South Node. The nodes are an important placement, indicating karmic lessons and how they fit into our life purpose in this incarnation. We experience our first nodal return between 18-19.

The nodes are significant wherever they appear in one’s natal chart. However, they are particularly important in Joel’s chart. This is because his North Node is in his 10^th house. This placement speaks to one’s “place in the world,” including one’s career, public image, reputation, etc. I also think of it as an indication of the kind of legacy we are going to leave in the world. Legacy is a word that is often associated with the 8^th house but that placement addresses legacy more in terms of monetary inheritance.

Joel’s North Node is also in the sign of Aries at 25° while the transiting North Node was at 27° of that sign. The transiting node was in retrograde motion, which means it was actually approaching Joel’s natal position. Aries is a bold and ambitious energy. It strives for action in whatever area it resides, in this case career and legacy. Looking at this placement, I am reminded of the lyrics to Vienna.

The North and South nodes stand in opposition to each other. This sets up a “see-saw” dynamic that often frustrates us. As stated above, his North Node is in the 10^th house of career and legacy. In contrast, his South Node is in the 4^th house of home and family. Here I think the nodal opposition reflects a possibility of the desire for the excitement of road tours opposing a desire for resting within a home and family environment.

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During his period with the Hassles, Joel would meet the band’s drummer, Jon Small. They became good friends and later would form a band of their own. Small would play a significant karmic role, of both ups and downs, in Joel’s life. So it is interesting that they met during his first nodal return. This phase of their interaction would also include Joel’s introduction to Small’s wife at the time, Elizabeth Weber. She would later become Joel’s first wife. That he met Elizabeth during this same nodal return would also be significant but I will come back to that in a bit.

Like all of us at around age 22, Joel experienced the second square, also known as the closing square, of Saturn. This is the last Saturn aspect before completion of the planet’s first cycle, which happens during the “return” phase around age 29. The events in Joel’s life that happened at the first nodal return (recording the less than successful Hassles album as well as meeting Jon Small and Elizabeth Weber) will reverberate at the closing Saturn square.

Joel and Small will leave the Hassles to form their own two man band called Attila and record a self-titled album of heavy metal rock. Like the Hassles album, it won’t succeed on the charts. Their friendship would also break down when Joel fell in love with Elizabeth, which will be a catalyst for she and Jon splitting up. In July, 1970 when Attila is released, transiting Saturn was at 21° of Taurus, in an approaching square to Joel’s Saturn at 29° of Leo.

This closing square is often a testing time of how well our transition to adulthood is unfolding. Several failures were present in Joel’s life in 1970 and early 1971, when he was 21 and 22. There were the two album outcomes as well as guilt over his relationship with Elizabeth, who left both him and Jon. He had been living with the pair when the split happened which also forced him to move back home.

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By 22, society has an expectation of us and, in turn we usually have that expectation of ourselves. Namely, that we are an adult who is getting our act together about what our life is going to be. However, as indicated above, the closing Saturn square comes along to question such assumptions.

The ancient Greeks proposed four “humours” in the body that correspond to the four elements and seasons. The temperament of the Earth element is considered “melancholic,” which includes sadness and depression. In astrology, Saturn is associated with Earth energy. Transits of this planet can often include the experience of depression and a concern with death, including in the transits of a young person’s first Saturn cycle, up to age 29.

Saturn transits can sometimes also be associated with suicide and Joel had two such attempts during the period of the closing square. They were closely spaced, one with an overdose of a prescription medication and the other by ingesting a furniture cleaner. Before I go any further in this analysis, I want to make it clear that NOT everyone attempts suicide during a Saturn transit! Also, I want to make sure that I don’t add to the bad rap that Saturn often gets in astrology. While it certainly has its’ melancholic qualities, Saturn is also the planet whose qualities of determination, endurance and patience help us to build solid foundations and lasting structures in our lives.

I think Saturn is a more important planet in Joel’s chart than might normally be considered by some astrologers. Given this assumption, Saturn transits would also be more important for him than might otherwise be the case. I acknowledge to any fellow astrologers reading this that Saturn is not one of his ruling planets. The Moon rules his Cancer Ascendant and Venus rules his Sun. At the beginning of this chapter, I have briefly discussed the impact of both of those astrological bodies on Joel’s songs.

However, I think Saturn also plays a significant role because it is located in Joel’s third house. The third is Mercury’s house and rules communication in all forms, including writing. As a writer myself, with Mercury and Mars in the 3^rd house, I am well aware of the impact a strong planet, like Saturn, placed here can be in the creative process.

I wanted to determine if there were any other markers in Joel’s chart at this time that would point to a potential for taking one’s own life. Natal placements and/or transit activity in the 6^th, 8^th and 12^th houses are often markers of such events. Joel’s 6^th and 8^th houses are empty in his birth chart and also had no transits through them during this period. Uranus in the 12^th in his birth chart is an indication that a person may be challenged to process a lot of unconscious material and that it may emerge in a sudden or unexpected manner. However, by itself, it is not a strong marker for suicide. There was also no transit activity in that house during this period.

Before leaving the topic of Joel’s closing Saturn square, I wanted to note one more thing. In Vedic astrology, the third house represents one’s courage and will power. I wonder whether his experiences with the Hassles and Attila albums might have created a momentary break in Joel’s will power as a song writer. Luckily, however, this lapse in strength did not last. Joel has talked about his realizations from a stay of a few weeks in psychiatric observation after the second suicide attempt. He concluded he was lucky that his issues were nowhere near as serious as others he saw in that facility. As a result of these experiences, he was determined to continue to hone his craft as a song writer. Vedic astrology would seem to imply that his Saturn in the 3^rd house would be a marker of this mind set.

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That determination would be rewarded with the release of his first solo album on 11/01/1971. In Cold Spring Harbor, his style as a song writer would fully emerge and begin to show the power of his musical abilities. There is an old adage that says “write what you know” and the songs on this album reflect that. Particularly Tomorrow is Today which alludes to the suicide attempts but also Got to Begin Again which shows the fragile determination to do just that with his song writing. Both songs also have passages that seem to refer to Elizabeth, who will soon come back into his life.

Unfortunately, there was a production error that ruined the presentation of his voice and thus would torpedo the album. Thankfully, it would later be remastered and released again. Despite the production error, the songs themselves were a major step forward in Joel’s career. This is reflected astrologically in Joel’s transits. During the 1971 recording and release of this album, the closing Saturn square had passed, with transiting Saturn having moved from Taurus to Gemini.

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After the issues with Cold Spring Harbor and a resulting dispute with Artie Ripp, the man who owned the rights to his music, Joel made a temporary detour from his native New York to California. In this process, he reunited with Elizabeth. They would be together in CA during his now famous six month run of playing piano at the Executive Room bar in Los Angeles. This experience provided the setting and characters for what would later become his signature song, Piano Man.

As I mentioned earlier, they had initially met during his first nodal return. This transit can indicate a karmic interaction with other people which, in this case, included both Jon and Elizabeth. For example, it was Jon who got him to the hospital during his first suicide attempt, an indication that the rift between them had been closed.

Joel’s transits during this period are a stark example of how we can at certain moments, either consciously or not, strongly play out the potentials within our personal universe. Working under the alias Bill Martin, because of the ongoing issue with Ripp, Joel was literally in hiding during this period. This can be seen in his transits. I have chose Saturday, 12/2/1972, to illustrate this point. At "9 o’clock on a Saturday", Saturn is hanging out in Joel’s 12^th house. When this planet passes through the 12^th, it often indicates an extended period of withdrawal from the world. Sometimes transits can be as much literal as metaphoric!

At the same time, the asteroid Chiron was transiting Joel’s 10^th house of career and one’s legacy in the world. This body is a relatively new addition to the process of astrological interpretation. Chiron is known as “the wounded healer.” It indicates where healing one’s own emotional wounds can be a gift to others. So it seems fitting that Chiron was in Joel’s 10^th when he wrote Piano Man. The stories about the struggles of the characters in the song holds up a reflective mirror for the rest of us to think about our own emotional wounds and life path. If Joel’s career was in a period of chrysalis, before the butterfly of Piano Man would emerge, his relationship to Elizabeth was in a very active phase.

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They would be married on 09/05/1973. On their wedding day, transiting Jupiter was at 3° of Aquarius in Joel’s 7^th house of bonded partnerships, which includes marriage. Jupiter transiting one’s 7^th is often an indication of getting married. His natal Jupiter is also in the 7^th, at 1° of Aquarius. This placement can indicate an expansion of one’s self within the bounds of marriage, as part of ones life lessons. It can also predict the potential of having more than one marriage.

On that day, Joel was also experiencing a Jupiter return. This happens every 12 years when Jupiter comes back to the place it was at when you were born. There was a small 2° “orb” of separation between the natal and transiting Jupiter, so that transit was definitely in effect. Interestingly, twelve years later, Joel’s next Jupiter return would occur during the run up to his marriage to Christie Brinkley.

Despite much searching, I was not successful in finding Elizabeth Weber’s birth information. Thus, I can’t do a relationship comparison between them.

The 1973 Jupiter return transiting Joel’s 7^th house may have pointed to his getting married. However, a much longer term transit seems to have been a marker describing the marriage itself and its’ eventual dissolution. That sign post would be Pluto transiting Joel’s 4^th house, which was in effect during their entire time together.

This transit had just began a decade plus journey for Joel at the time he and Elizabeth were married. It would only end around the time that he and Christie were married in 1985. With the 4^th house, we seek to define who and what constitutes “home” for us. This includes one’s family, physical home, people who make us “feel at home” etc. Of course, the answer is different for each of us and sometimes changes over time.

When Pluto passes through the 4^th, it encourages a transformation in one’s definition of home and family. Following is yet another example of how the possibilities within our personal energetic universe can sometimes be manifested in a literal manner. It was during this transit that Joel wrote the song “You’re My Home” for Elizabeth, as a Valentine’s Day gift. At that moment, his definition of home appeared to be her. Sadly, Pluto transiting his 4^th house signaled this would not continue to be the case over time.

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A 4^th house Pluto transformation can sometimes also indicate relocation of where one lives. In Joel’s case, he didn’t feel comfortable living in California, which seems to have affected the quality of his 1974 album Streetlife Serenade. He and Elizabeth would soon move back to New York. Joel would also solely produce his 1976 album Turnstiles which is, in part, a love letter to his home state. It includes the song “New York State of Mind.” This is yet another example of music as the story of relationship, in this to a place rather than a person. There were other planetary transits that supported the transformation process triggered for Joel during this period. It was Pluto’s long term passage through his 4^th house, though, that provided the bass note. It set the tone that would be reinforced by the other transits. 

 Circling back to their marriage in 1973, the Piano Man album was released two months after the wedding. Although his issues with Artie Ripp were still not resolved, having the power of Columbia Records as his new label was a significant boost to Joel’s career. Astrologically, the planet Mars is the planet of action and can provide an infusion of energy to achieve what you desire. When Piano Man was released on 11/14/1973, Mars in Aries was within a 1°conjunction to Joel’s North Node in 10^th house which, again, is the house of career and legacy in the world. It would become Joel’s break out album, thus being a significant step in fulfilling his life’s purpose. As mentioned earlier, the nodal axis is symbolic of karma and life purpose.

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 Of the four albums that Joel released between 1971 and 1976, only Piano Man was a significant commercial success. That would change dramatically in 1977, with release of “The Stranger” album. At age 29, the timing of this album would correspond with completion of his first Saturn cycle. When the album was released on 9/29/1977, transiting Saturn was at 26° Leo, within a 3° degree orb of Joel’s natal Saturn.

This is a phase known as the “first Saturn return” and we all experience it around age 29-30. In Joel’s case, it would also be a culmination of a 15 year period of effort that began when he first saw the Beatles, while playing piano gigs instead of attending high school. Having survived two suicide attempts, he has now reached a pinnacle. The Stranger wins two Grammy awards, becoming Columbia’s best seller at the time. Joel’s Stranger tour also does more than 100 performances in one year, indicating a new mega-star status for him.

Joel’s first Saturn return shows that this planet’s movements can signal a complicated set of dynamics in one’s life. This is true for many of us. On the one hand, the huge success of The Stranger showed what is possible when one does the hard work necessary to successful negotiate the first 30 years of their life and the Saturn transits encountered in that period.

 On the other hand, the songs on Stranger also reflect the more challenging side of Saturn. This can include being melancholic about the darker side of human life, including relationships. This quality goes without saying with regard to the title song. It includes Joel’s assertion that the parts of ourselves that we sometimes hide in relationships are not automatically evil or wrong. Movin’ Out, Only The Good Die Young and Scenes from an Italian restaurant are also commentary on the frustrations of life and its’ various relationships.

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 Before leaving Joel’s Saturn return and The Stranger album. I would like to address one more song on that recording. After a trip to Vienna to see his estranged father, which didn’t resolve the rift in their relationship, Joel writes a song named after the city. It talks about not rushing to achieve everything you want in life all at once. Even though he will stop writing rock music during his mid-life astrological transits, Joel would then compose an album of classical music instead.

Fantasies and Delusions would be recorded in 2001 by a classical pianist, rather than by Joel himself. However, some of the pieces on it had been written and performed as early as October, 1997. In recording the 2001 album at Vienna’s Mozart Hall, I wonder if this process may have returned Joel full circle to that earlier visit with his father. By the time the album was released on 9/27/2001, Joel’s chart showed only the last gasps of some transits that began when the recording was conceived several years earlier. For example, in 2000, Joel experienced two aspects that we all undergo in our early 50’s. One was the second closing square of Saturn, as it approached the completion of Joel’s second Saturn cycle a few years later.

The earlier transits of this planet had corresponded to critical life passages in his first 30 years. Perhaps the second Saturn cycle brought closure to what was left from the earlier cycle? The other transit he experienced in 2000 was the Chiron return. It has a 50 year cycle, so most of us only experience one return for it. Was it only coincidence that Joel writes an album, in the genre his father so loved, during a transit of an astrological body known as The Wounded Healer? Did it help close a wound for him?

 That Joel composed an album of classical music years after he stopped writing rock songs is a good example that you can’t manifest all of the various energetic possibilities of your life in one moment. However, in a life as well lived as Billy Joel’s, you can manifest a damn lot of them! We should all take inspiration from that.

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 The Stranger album, released during Joel’s first Saturn return, saw the pinnacle of one journey for him. A new one was about to begin. His next two albums, 52^nd Street and Glass Houses, are also successful, with several more Grammy awards presented to Joel and his producer, Phil Ramone. The year 1981 seems to be a harbinger of the shift taking place in this new phase of Joel’s life.

On 9/14/1981, Songs in the Attic was released, which contains songs previously released on Cold Spring Harbor, Piano Man and Turnstiles. Somehow this album feels like an emotional coda, a summing up of the previous decade. It contains pieces that were either personally or professionally important for Joel. For example, the song Captain Jack raised his profile after he performed it, as part of a set, during a 1972 interview with the Philly radio station WMMR. It became “viral” in the days before the Internet. Listeners kept requesting the song long after Joel’s appearance was over.

 In the period of 1971 to 1973, when Cold Spring Harbor and Piano Man were released, transiting Pluto was just beginning its long journey through the 4^th house of Joel’s natal chart. As mentioned earlier, this Pluto transit, among other things, is a marker of a psychological transformation of how one defines home, including family. During the 1970’s period, the answer for Joel seemed to have been Elizabeth. This was shown in the songs She’s Got a Way and You’re My Home. However, by 1981, as Pluto continued to work its way through Joel’s 4^th house, Elizabeth no longer appears to play that role.

 

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On 4/15/1982, an elderly driver would run a red light and hit Joel’s motorcycle. His injuries would be significant, including a broken arm and leg, a dislocated wrist and a crushed thumb. Elizabeth and Joel had separated the prior year and she filed for divorce shortly after the accident. At this time, Saturn had joined Pluto in transiting Joel’s 4^th. Here Saturn reinforces Pluto’s message to transform one’s sense of home/family. However, when Saturn is also in play, one’s life events can be difficult, including the brush with death that Joel experienced with that accident.

 The transiting nodal axis was again in play at this time, with the North Node in Cancer in Joel’s first house and the South Node in Capricorn in the 7^th house. This might be considered symbolic of a karmic restructuring of one sense of self in the first house vs. one’s place/role in 7^th house relationships. Getting a divorce can certainly qualify as a form of restructuring.

 All in all, the energy was encouraging Joel toward a new expression of his personality and life experiences. Therefore, I don’t think it is coincidence that this moment leads into a period where he records the album he is most proud of, The Nylon Curtain and also meets Christie Brinkley.

 The Nylon Curtain album was released 9/23/1982. It appears to have been a form of catharsis for Joel, including in the song Where’s The Orchestra? A lot of intense feelings, that seem both personal as well as social commentary, are also vented in songs like Goodbye, Saigon, Allentown, Laura, Pressure and Surprises. Astrologically during this period, the transiting North Node in Cancer had moved backward from his 1^st house to the 12^th.

 A good way to describe a North Node in the 12^th transit is to refer back to the quote I used earlier to introduce the section on Psycho-Spiritual Development. Jung said: “Until you make the unconscious conscious, it will direct your life and you will call it fate.” This nodal transit is a relatively fast moving one that “pings” the underlying “bass note” of Pluto, which was still marching through Joel’s 4th house. Emergence of unconscious material, during a significant 12^th house transit, is not easy. However, if you don’t fight it, it can be an important moment of transition. In writing Nylon Curtain, it appears Joel was allowing this process to unfold.

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Honoring a difficult process, such as the one described above, will often result in a reward from the Universe. In this case, it was about to initiate a moment of synchronicity for Joel that would again change his life. Phil Ramone was the producer for both Joel and Paul Simon. Crossing paths one day, Simon would tell Joel that St. Barts is a good place to go on vacation. In January, 1983 he would take Simon’s advice. At a bar on the island, he would be introduced to Christie Brinkley and be immediately smitten. It would take her a little while to return the sentiment.

Christie’s chart activates Joel’s chart in a number of significant ways. Her Uranus and South Node placements fall into his 1st house, impacting one’s sense of self. The South Node can indicate an activation of one’s past life patterns, with Uranus indicating this could sometimes happen in sudden and/or unexpected ways. Her Mars and Saturn fall into his 5^th house of joy and pleasure, which adds a serious and active dimension to their romantic attraction and also to the process of raising children. Her Moon, North Node and Chiron fall into his 7^th house of bonded relationships, including marriage. As mentioned before, the North Node is symbolic of a karmic pattern that may play out in one’s direction and purpose in this lifetime. Her Moon placement there soothes him but her Chiron placement also challenges his emotional wounds.

Her Sun, Mercury and Venus fall into his 8^th house of transformative processes, Finally, her Jupiter falls into his 12^th house. This may give an expanded sense of consciousness, especially since it dances with Joel’s natal Uranus placement in that house. It is no wonder that he wrote a song like All About Soul to describe Christie. It speaks to embodying the qualities of strength and character yet softness and compassion.

It should be noted that her birth time is not publicly available so I have chosen a sunrise birth time for her. If she was born at a different time of day, the Moon and Mercury placements may change.

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 When the two met in January, 1983, Christie was in a relationship with another man. He was a French race car driver, who would be killed in a crash that March. She initially wasn’t interested in a romantic relationship with Joel and considered him a friend during a difficult time. He, on the other hand, seems to have been a man in love, writing the songs that would compose his next album, An Innocent Man. 

 In addition to the way in which Christie’s birth chart affected his, Joel was also again experiencing significant transits to his chart at the start of their relationship. Pluto, which had started transiting his 4^th house all the way back in 1971 when he was with Elizabeth, was finally getting ready to leave. When he met Christie that January, Pluto was at 29° of Libra.

 When a planet reaches the last and 29^th degree of a sign, it is called “anaretic.” There is often an urgency, when a planet is at 29°, to complete an old phase and begin a new one. In this case, that old phase may have also meant releasing a karmic element. Recall that when Joel was 19, he met Jon Small and Elizabeth Weber during his first nodal return, which can symbolize a karmic interaction with others. Perhaps Joel meeting Christie when Pluto is finally getting ready to move out of his 4^th house of home and family was the final closure of that earlier karmic period?

At the same, Jupiter the planet of luck and expansion and Uranus, the catalyst planet of the sudden and/or unexpected, were transiting Joel’s 5^th house. This is the house of pleasure and joy, including romance. These planets had actually been transiting through his 5^th for a while, going back to his separation and divorce from Elizabeth. Now they appear to be the marker of his developing relationship with Christie. During this period, Saturn would cross back and forth between Joel’s 4^th and 5^th houses. This might be characterized as Saturn supporting his connection to Christie in the 5th while, at the same time, making sure that his transformative process of Pluto in the 4^th was not halted.

 The above transits were still in effect when the An Innocent Man album was released on 8/8/1983. Eight of the ten songs appear to be about Christie, their relationship or the reactions of others to it. Interestingly, the North Node in the 12^th transit earlier described in the release of The Nylon Curtain was still in effect for An Innocent Man, even though the two albums couldn’t be more different. However, Jung’s comment about controlling one’s fate by making the unconscious become conscious seems to have had an effect on Joel and the songs that appear on both albums.

 

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 When Joel had married Elizabeth, transiting Jupiter was in his 7^th house and tightly conjunct to his natal Jupiter. He marries Christie 12 years, or one Jupiter cycle later, on 03/23/1985. On their wedding day, Jupiter had actually recently passed through Joel’s 7^th house of bonded partnerships and had been conjunct to his natal Jupiter. I am reminded of Mark Twain’s comment that “history doesn’t repeat but it does rhyme.” This would seem to apply to the timing of Joel’s second marriage. Jupiter is important on both wedding dates but is not in the exact same configuration on both days.

At this time, transiting Saturn and Pluto had both moved into Joel’s 5^th house of pleasure and joy, which includes romance. However, it also includes children. Christie has indicated that she believes their daughter, Alexa Ray, was conceived on their wedding night. This timing tracks with Alexa’s birth date. Saturn is the planet of assuming one’s responsibilities as an adult and Pluto is a sign post for deep transformative processes. So, it isn’t surprising that Joel would become a father during this period especially since, as mentioned above, Christie’s Saturn also falls into his 5^th house. An important part of their relationship, it would seem, was that the two of them were meant to parent a child together. It seems they quickly jump started that role with Alexa.

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 Saturn transiting Joel’s 5^th house was also in an opening square at the time of his second marriage. As I indicated earlier, I think his natal Saturn in the 3^rd house is an important marker of Joel’s career as a song writer. This second opening square encourages one to examine the life one has created in the seven plus years since the Saturn return at 29-30. It is also a harbinger of the more stressful mid-life transits that occur in one’s late 30’s to mid-40’s.

 Earlier, I mentioned that Joel’s nodal axis in his birth chart seems to set up an opposition of the desire for the excitement of concert tours vs. a desire for home and family. His second opening Saturn square seems to be highlighting this dynamic and it is reflected in the next two albums that are released. The first is Greatest Hits Volume I & II, released on 08/02/1985. Columbia issued this as a stop gap because Joel didn’t have enough material for an album of new songs. The next album was The Bridge, released on 7/25/1986, which was soon panned. Joel noted later that it lacked inspiration.

 Pluto was fairly early in its’ transits through Joel’s 5^th house, both at the time of his marriage to Christie and at the release of The Bridge. There is a “hodge podge” of themes contained within the 5^th house of joy and pleasure. This transit seems to have had a positive manifestation for him with regard to the themes of his romance with Christie and also the birth of Alexa. However, creativity is another theme of the 5^th house and Joel’s creativity seems to have suffered during this transit. Perhaps this was due to that nodal axis opposition of career vs. family and home?

Piling on to this Pluto dynamic was Saturn, which was also transiting the 5^th. This planet has shown itself to be a marker of major life events for Joel, which I would again argue relates to his natal Saturn in the 3^rd house. Then add in Chiron, The Wounded Healer, transiting the 12^th house of the unconscious and approaching a conjunction to his natal Uranus, the astrological change agent.

The Chiron transit is heightened by his natal Uranus, at 28° of Gemini, just coming into opposition with transiting Uranus at 18° of Sagittarius. Taken all together, these transits might be considered to add up to one big sandwich of frustration, at least where Joel’s career was concerned.

They might also be seen as the first stirrings of the “divine discontent” that often characterizes the generational mid-life transits of one’s late 30’s and early 40’s. There are usually vague feelings of dissatisfaction. The Uranus opposition, in particular, can symbolize such feelings. You are not entirely sure what you want but you are sure there is some issue in your life. Is it a coincidence that this was Joel’s last album with producer Phil Ramone? Also, I find the album’s title, The Bridge, an interesting choice. A bridge from where to where? Is this a “soul calling” for change in one’s life direction, one that will afford more freedom and authenticity?

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At 40 years old, Joel would be smack in the middle of those astrological mid-life transits when Storm Front was released on 10/17/1989. Again, we have an interesting choice of name for the album title. The Uranus opposition that was approaching during The Bridge release is now fading, as transiting Uranus has changed signs from Sagittarius to Capricorn. However, the two other generational mid-life transits, the Neptune square and the Pluto square are in full force. Both transiting planets are in a close orb of influence to Joel’s natal placements.

 The fact that one is approaching middle-aged hits many people hard when they go through these transits. It becomes apparent there is a real possibility that there will be fewer years ahead than behind for us. Saturn isn’t always front and center during the Neptune and Pluto squares. We nonetheless face, perhaps for the first time, the Saturnian truth of our mortality. Hopefully, this also gives us an urgency to examine what isn’t working in our lives and helps us to choose a more conscious path going forward.

A song on Storm Front seems to echo this dynamic. With the lyrics to I Go to Extremes, Joel questions whether he is “over the hill” and how much potential he has left. During these transits, one’s concerns have shifted from the Saturn transits of young adulthood, which focus on development of one’s personal identity and early accomplishments. Now the emphasis is on the trans-personal forces symbolized by Neptune and Pluto. Questions of one’s legacy begin to take hold. This theme will emerge again during the second Saturn return in one’s mid 50’s.

 

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 Joel’s next album, River of Dreams, was released on 8/10/93. It would turn out to be the last rock studio album that Joel would write and record. By age 44-45, the Uranus opposition as well as the Neptune and Pluto squares have largely done their work and a new life pattern has been solidified for him.

During these mid-life transits, I made a move from my native New Jersey to the unknown wilds of Maine. These transits appears to have done something equally important for Joel, with the decision to stop writing and publishing rock albums. There are a couple of points of commonality in our natal charts. One of them is Pluto in the 2^nd house, although his is in the sign of Leo and mine is in Virgo. You will recall that, in the previous chapter, I outlined Steve Forrest’s assertion that Pluto in the 2^nd requires that one take major risks in their life. To stop writing and recording rock songs certainly qualifies as a major risk on Joel’s part. Despite not having new material to offer, Joel would build a strong “second act” on the concert circuit.

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 I believe we each have a spirit guide, who points us in the direction of spiritual development throughout our lifetime. On several occasions, Joel has mentioned in interviews about how particular songs were driven by dreams or other experiences. I would argue this sounds like he was being guided and was wise enough to follow the guidance.

The marker in his natal chart for this might well be the astrological change agent, Uranus. It is at 28° of Gemini in his 12^th house of the unconscious. Gemini is a sign that gives one the ability to take in and process a lot of information. In the 12^th house, that information is transmitted from the ethereal realm of Neptune, which includes intuition and dreams. An obvious example of this dynamic is River of Dreams. Joel has indicated a lyric he woke up with one morning just wouldn’t leave his mind and he felt forced to write the song. Another is when he left a business meeting to go home and write. In doing so, he would recapture a melody that would turn into Just The Way You Are.

 Beyond the placement of Uranus in the 12th, another interesting element in Joel’s chart is that this planet is also in a strong sextile with Joel’s Saturn. In astrology, a sextile is thought to be a “soft” aspect, one that needs conscious activation to be useful to the person who has it. This is in contrast to the “hard” aspects of the square and opposition, whose effect we can’t escape. Here, Joel’s Saturn in the 3^rd, which I have argued is an important marker of his song writing skills, has been yoked to his Uranus in Gemini in the 12^th.

 This Saturn/Uranus combination may provide an innate ability for creativity. However, Joel has also shown a strong commitment and work ethic regarding his craft. Perhaps it is a function of both elements, working together, that has helped produce such a large body of musical work?

 Was this placement of Saturn and Uranus an astrological marker of Joel’s potential reality shells regarding his choice to be a musician? Or was this choice built so deeply into his genetic and spiritual DNA that he had little ability to reject a musical career? The genetic component can be easily seen in the musical interests of Joel’s parents. However, I wonder if there wasn’t also a pattern in Joel’s spiritual lineage that would be addressed by a life lived in the landscape of the majic of music?

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 I find the cynicism of professional critics regarding popular songs and movies to be very annoying. In the case of Billy Joel, their criticism seemed to be that his music, with a few exceptions like Goodbye Saigon, lacked angst and therefore sophistication. However, for centuries humanity has been enamored of a troubadour whose ballads stay with us and inspire us long after the song ends. I put Joel in that category, at least for my generation.

River of Dreams was released on 08/10/1993. The Neptune and Pluto squares, so powerful during Storm Front, are fading away. They are replaced with the second Saturn opposition. The first opposition, at age 14-15, was when Joel decided to be a musician. At that time, he was playing local gigs and saw the Beatles for first time. In his biography, Joel argues that you wrestle all your life with the idealism you had at 19-21. But was an idealism about music true for him even earlier?

After all, idealism about the role of music in human affairs was prominently shown by his concerts in the Soviet Union in 1987. He did several interviews at that time about the power of music to bring people together. He even poured a large chunk of his own money into the Soviet concerts.

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 The second Saturn opposition, like other transits of this planet, is a check in point on where your life stands. In this case, it was a marker of his decision to make such a life changing decision as to stop writing and recording rock songs. This is a decision that he will not change going forward, with one exception. In 2007, he recorded an original single, All My Life, as a Valentine’s Day gift for his third wife, TV chef Katie Lee.

Before Katie, however, would be the ending of Joel’s marriage to Christie Brinkley. The couple were divorced on 08/26/1994. The 2^nd Saturn opposition present at the release of River of Dreams is out of orb at the divorce, as Saturn changed signs from Aquarius to Pisces. The most obvious sign post of the divorce was Uranus transiting through Joel’s 7^th, which had also been present at the release of River of Dreams. As Jupiter in the 7^th is often a sign of getting married, Uranus in the 7^th is often a sign of getting divorced. Neptune was also transiting this house, which can indicate confusion in a relationship and also a dissolution of the boundaries of a bonded partnership.

 

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 So what happens when a man suddenly decides, in middle age, to stop writing songs? How is that energy channeled going forward and what can his astrological transits say about this new process?

Giving up writing songs about relationships does not mean Joel would get to side step the spiritual development that relationships provide for all of us. In the ensuing years there would be lessons in this arena through various relationship types: romantic, family, professional and also his relationship to the fans of his music.

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 During the summer of 1994, at the same time of Joel’s divorce, he begins what will be called the “Face to Face” tour. During it, he and Elton John would be seated at pianos facing each other to sing songs from the repertoire of each. They would perform together on and off for almost two decades. There seems to be a “frenemy” relationship between them over the years, one that would eventually be reconciled.

At this time, Pluto is still making its’ way through Joel’s 5^th house. It has been there all the way back to 1983, when Joel meets Christie, then records An Innocent Man and then also in 1985, when he marries her. As I indicated earlier, when it is in the 5th house, Pluto is the sign post of transformation in one’s life around romance, children and creativity. It seem that this dynamic entered a hiatus with regard to the first two themes. However, the process related to Joel’s manifestation of creativity is about to take a major turn, in his shift from song writing and album recording to only touring. Given what Joel had accomplished, both creatively and financially, another man might have retired at this point. However, the work ethic of his Sun, Venus and Mars in Taurus keeps him hard at it.

His concert touring in the late 90’s and early 00’s includes some moments significant to being New York born and bred. There was a live concert at Madison Square Garden on New Years Eve in 1999, as the calendar turned over to a new century. Also, singing the national anthem in 2000 at the opening of the World Series between the Mets and Yankees. Meanwhile, Sony, having acquired Columbia Records, just kept turning out compilation albums of Joel’s hits in various combinations.

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 By 09/11/2001, Pluto had finally moved out of Joel’s 5^th and its emphasis on a transformation of creativity. The tragedy of that day would happen several weeks before the 09/27/2001 release of Fantasies and Delusions. The two events are weirdly entangled in my mind, even now. I can still clearly remember seeing an announcement for the album in the midst of what we were all processing then, especially those of us living in the New York corridor at that time.

2002 would see more significant events in Joel’s life. Choreographer Twyla Tharp would convince him to work with her on a Broadway play, Movin’ Out, based on his songs. The production would win a Tony award for each of them. In November, he would meet Katie Lee. During the early period of their relationship he wasn’t touring much, instead spending a lot of time at home with her. A look at his transits would show a sextile of transiting Saturn, within a 2° degree orb of his natal Saturn. This transit is a period of relative ease ahead of the second Saturn return.

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However, in this time period, Pluto has also moved into Joel’s 6th house, whose themes include health and daily routines. Both of these seem to come into play for Joel at that time. He went into alcohol rehab after a major car accident on January 25, 2003. This is a good example that sometimes Pluto initiates havoc as it moves through the various houses of our natal chart.

Joel marries Katie on 10/02/2004. The Saturn sextile has moved on but Pluto is still slowly working its way through his 6th house. More important, the transiting Sun, Mercury, Mars and Jupiter are all making a quick hit to his Libra Moon in the 4^th house of family and home. This concentrated energy places a strong focus on the theme of this house. This again seems to echo all the way back to his relationship with Elizabeth, whom he met during his first nodal axis return. That transit asked the question who and what is home for you? It seems to be a question that often resurfaces during the various transits to Joel’s chart.

In 2007, the Valentine’s Day release of All My Life centers a new tour around the song. It corresponds to the approach of Joel’s second Saturn return, with the transiting planet being in an 8° orb to his natal placement. The question of one’s legacy often becomes a focus at the second Saturn return. Joel was 58, a time when a lot of folks turn their attention to thoughts of retirement but he is focused on a new tour. Was the desire to add to his legacy a motivation?

Legacy was also a theme on 7/16 and 7/18/2008, when Joel performed in the last concerts to be played at Shea Stadium, before it was replaced by Citi Field as the home venue for the Mets. The first concert ever played at Shea had been by The Beatles. The roster for Shea’s last concert would include the Beatles guitarist, Paul McCartney. 

This must have been a surreal experience for Joel, who had been helped in his ambition to be a musician by seeing the Beatles all those years ago. Now he and Sir Paul together sang I Saw Her Standing There and Let It Be, closing the era on that Queens venue. Joel’s 2^nd Saturn return was slowly fading on those two days. However, the transiting North Node and Chiron, both in Aquarius, were in his 8^th house of transformation. Perhaps this was a process of coming full circle for Joel?

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 While Joel’s professional career was very much in motion, his third marriage was soon about to come to an end. He and Katie were divorced in June, 2009. You will recall that the nodal axis moves backward through the zodiac. By the time of his third divorce, the North Node, at zero Aquarius, had moved from the 8^th house of transformation, where it was during the Shea concerts, back to his 7th house of bonded partnerships. It was also conjunct his natal Jupiter. Earlier, I had indicated that Jupiter in one’s natal 7^th house can indicate multiple marriages in one’s lifetime. In this case, the North Node transit seems to add a spiritual dimension around divorce as well.

Joel’s divorce would come on the heels of a lawsuit, filed in May. He was sued by his former drummer, Liberty DeVitto, whom Joel had back fired in 2005. A close business relationship can also be considered a form of bonded partnership. Liberty had been in Joel’s band going all the way back to 1974 and the Streetlife Serenade album, which would certainly qualify as a close relationship. Was it significant that the lawsuit was only filed three years after DeVitto had been fired, during Joel’s 7^th house North Node transit? This transit moves out of his 7^th house by the time the suit is settled in April, 2010. As with Jon Small and Elton John, Joel’s relationship with Liberty would eventually be repaired. Indeed, he would later write an introduction to Liberty’s autobiography.

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The North Node transit would move backward again, this time into Joel’s 6th house of health and daily routines. On 11/20/2010, he had a surgical replacement done on both hips. Pluto had begun its journey through this house back in 2003 when Joel had a major car accident and it was still transiting the 6th during this surgery.

 Earlier that year he had met his current wife, Alexis. After the surgery and in a new romance with Alexis, Joel didn’t tour for the next two years. His return happened on 12/12/12, at a benefit concert for victims of hurricane Sandy. Not only were the critics’ reviews good for a change, they also seemed to be looking at his career overall in a new and more favorable light.

A marker for this shift seems to be the perennial change agent, Uranus, at 4° Aries, transiting his 10^th house of career and legacy. This transiting Uranus was also making a slow but steady return toward his natal North Node at 25° Aries. Uranus conjunct the natal North Node in this period seems to be a marker of Joel finally getting his due from those who had criticized his music for much of his career.

 The Sandy benefit concert would be the start of a new tour that included Australia, Great Britain and the US. He would end 2013 back in New York, with a New Year’s Eve concert. Uranus is still approaching his 10^th house North Node. Joel receiving the Kennedy Center award that year was a further indication of how this placement is an indication of accolades for his career.

However, transiting Saturn was, yet again, approaching another opening/waxing square to his natal Saturn. 2014 would see a new phase of Joel’s performance career, a monthly residence at what can be considered his “home venue,” Madison Square Garden. He had already performed there 65 times.

 

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 On 07/04/2015, Joel marries Alexis, one month ahead of the birth of their first daughter. The transiting North Node is at 4° Libra, in his 4^th house and conjunct his 7° Libra Moon. Again comes around the question of who and what do you consider your home.

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 Joel continues his monthly MSG performances until COVID causes their suspension but they were restarted on 11/05/2021. The critics again were positive. There would be 104 monthly concerts by the time he brings them to an end on 07/25/2024. In Spring 2025, a planned concert tour was canceled because of Joel’s diagnosis with Normal Pressure Hydrocephalus. This condition requires surgery to insert a shunt to drain fluid away from the brain.

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 I wrote this chapter in March and April of 2026, noting that Joel’s 77^th birthday was approaching on 5/9/26. The transits of Pluto have had a significant impact on Billy Joel’s life experiences, as it does for all of us. It has worked its way through the astrological houses that speak to one’s sense of home and emotional security, romantic relationships and marriage, parenting and health. At his birthday, Pluto will enter Joel’s 8th house, which is a powerful and sometimes difficult placement. The 8th is the house of transformation. It is my hope that this transit may provide Billy Joel with yet one more opportunity for positive growth and change.

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 In River of Dreams, Joel argues that he has “never been a spiritual man.” However, I believe that each of us has a spirit guide and I think that is true of Billy Joel as well. In his case, though, I might label his guide as a muse.

 I also have to acknowledge that Joel’s process of manifestation seems to be very organic and intuitive. He appears to have an innate ability to resonate to the unique energetic possibilities of his personal universe. He doesn’t seem to need the aide of any spiritual “tool,” including the Quantum Wizard Model. ^TM

 Does that invalidate the use of such tools? I would argue that it does not. It simply indicates that there are many vehicles one can use to manifest their spiritual destiny. Some of us need a tool upon which to focus our manifestation process. Others, like Billy Joel, seem to be able to just do so naturally.

 However, that doesn’t mean that the process of doing so is always smooth and easy. Joel has talked publicly, on various occasions, about things he has wrestled with in his life and the sometimes unfortunate consequences his actions had on himself and others.

 Yet, in the end, it appears to this observer as if the positives have far outweighed the negatives. Collectively, his choice of reality shells have manifested a life of wide ranging experience that has also created a significant musical legacy the rest of us can enjoy. This may be especially true in the music that he has given those of us who are part of his generation.

 

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 At the beginning, I indicated that I had two reasons for selecting Billy Joel to write about in this chapter. First, his life events line up wonderfully to his astrological transits, making his chart a strong illustration of how astrology works. Second, Joel’s life story provides an example of someone who has done an excellent job of manifesting the possibilities available within his personal universe. I hope this analysis has helped you gain a better understanding of astrology as a tool, to help in the practice of majic in your own life.

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If Mr. Joel encounters this narrative, it is my hope that he will see it in the spirit in which it is offered. That documenting his life story from an astrological perspective could be of service to those reading this book.

Yes it is also, on one level, a fan tribute. On a much deeper level, however, it is acknowledgment from one soul to another, of the joy and pain of a life lived to its’ highest purpose. Namaste.