|
Robert Downey
Jr., once an honorary member of the infamous 1980s Brat Pack, was born
into the lifestyle of the rich and famous. Indulged at home and introduced
to both film and drugs by his father at the ripe old age of seven, Downey
would take both to the edge. Nominated for an Academy Award in 1992 for
his performance in the film Chaplin, this talented but troubled
young man would soon see his career successes overshadowed by the excesses
of his personal life.
The hand
of destiny attached itself to the strong arm of the law in 1996 when Robert
Downey Jr. was stopped for speeding and police found heroin, coke and
an unloaded .357 Magnum in his car. This fateful event would begin a series
of arrests and court appearances that would eventually send him to prison
and lead him to say ,”I’m feeling a little nostalgic and I see myself—and
a lot of my issues—as being stuck in the 80s a little bit. So I want to
quote Donna Summer: ‘enough is enough.’”
Astrologically,
what brought Downey to his knees was a series of life-changing transits that coincided with the chaotic events of the last four years, revealing
that destiny often trumps free will. And it’s not over yet.
Boys
Just Want to Have Fun
Downey was
paroled from prison on August 2 after an appeals court ruled he had actually
served four months more than needed. With typical Aries speed (Downey
is an Aries), he wasted no time. He had been out of prison just two weeks
when he bounced on stage to sing with Sting
at the Greek Theater in Los Angeles and committed to star in eight upcoming
episodes of Ally
McBeal.
Robert Downey Jr. was born on April 4, 1965, at 1:10 pm in Manhattan,
New York. His Sun is in Aries, the sign of youthful exuberance and the
celebration of life. Surrounded by both Venus and Mercury in Aries, it
anchors a whirlwind of self-seeking energy that lives in the moment, leaps
before thinking and has a foolhardy disregard for authority or consequences.
Fueling his unbridled celebration of life is the self-indulgent hedonistic
nature described by his Jupiter (big and expansive) and Moon (habits and
needs) conjunction in Taurus (sensuous pleasures). Additionally, Neptune,
the planet of dreams, illusions, film and drugs is opposite the Moon,
drawing Downey to experiences that transcend the ordinary world.
Commenting
on Downey’s drug use, a friend from his teenage years says,” I don’t think
it was the pressure that drove him to use. He doesn’t have any pressure,
he just parties.” It would be easy to dismiss Downey as a spoiled brat.
Certainly, much of his horoscope could be interpreted as the recipe for
a self-indulgent party boy with an insatiable appetite for anything and
everything that gives pleasure in the moment. But Downey’s self-centered
hedonism is much deeper, darker and more complex.
Flirting
With Death
Downey has
Mars, Pluto and Uranus (all retrograde) conjunct in Virgo. This combination
reveals him to be a self-effacing (Virgo) man whose actions are directed
inward (Mars retrograde) and toward a desire to penetrate to the core
of every experience in a compulsive (Pluto) and experimental (Uranus)
need to eliminate, purify and perfect (Virgo) himself. Though his complusiveness
and his reckless desire to flirt with the agonies and ecstasies of life
may be central to his powers as a “liberated creator,” turned inward (Mars
retrograde), they speak of the sadistic pleasure (Pluto) he gets from
inflicting pain upon himself. Or in Downey’s own words, “It is like I
have a shotgun in my mouth, and I’ve got my finger on the trigger, and
I like the taste of gun metal.”
The
Dark Night of the Soul
Astrologers
use words such as power, passion, intensity, transformation, death, rebirth
and metamorphasis when describing the action of transiting Pluto. One
thing is certain, Pluto is ruthless. The seemingly endless barrage of
life-changing transits by Uranus, Neptune and Saturn to Downey’s horoscope
over the last four years seem to have been orchestrated to disrupt, restrict,
humble and weaken the head-strong Downey and bring him to his knees in
preparation for the greatest challenge of his life, transiting Pluto
square Mars, Saturn, Uranus and its own natal position.
Once in each
lifetime, a person is compelled to look at their life from the inside
out. Resist and your world is inverted, death seems near and you enter
a void of meaninglessness out of which arises questions about who you
are and what life is all about. As Pluto squares its natal position, destiny
challenges you to redefine who you are and find meaning in your life.
For Downey,
whose natal Pluto is conjunct both Mars and Uranus and opposite Saturn,
this is a painfully significant, long and drawn out transit that officially
began in early 1999 as transiting Pluto moved to square his Mars, and
will not end until late 2002, when Pluto moves away from its final square
to itself. During this time, the "powers that be" (Pluto) will force Downey
to change his self-destructive actions (square Mars retrograde), to discipline
and accept responsibility for himself (square Saturn) and to diametrically
change his lifestyle (square Uranus). It won’t be pleasant, it won’t be
easy and it definitely won’t be fun.
Fate
and Free Will
One could
reasonably argue that Downey could have exercised free will, moderated
his excesses and avoided the humbling events of the past few years. But
as we all know, change is difficult, and life is seldom reasonable. However,
with the bat out of the cave, Downey’s choices are clearly defined. Fate
has given him a glimpse of the future his excesses would bring. The question
now is: Having been given a glimpse of the future, will he exercise his
free will and find the courage to redefine his life and resurrect the
creative promise he once revealed?
|
